I was looking back at the post detailing Milo's first week and I must say that it was much more stressful, exciting, tiring, etc. than the past week has been. It's made me wonder precisely what the difference has been, aside from already having gotten used to being slaves to a little dictator. Or, if that (becoming used to being parents), in and of iteself, has made all the difference. I've decided that while that has helped greatly, there was one other major difference: Esme took to nursing much faster than Milo did. Without all of the pumping, finger feeding, and hospital visiting that we had to do because Milo was starving himself, we've had a relatively easy time of it. Things will change drastically for Jill, though, come Tuesday, as I unfortunately have to go back to work (the original plan, when we thought that I'd be able to take medical/sick leave for the time Jill was in labor/the hospital, was that I'd be off through next week and wouldn't return to work until the end of January. But now that we've found out that those 4 days are coming out of my vacation...This has made both of us incredibly frustrated that we aren't up in Canada yet. It's hard not to think about the fact that if we were in the same position there - Jill staying at home while I work - I could take a year of paternity leave...but I digress). Let's not get ahead of ourselves...Instead, let's look at a few photos from the past week:
Waking up in the Hospital
Preparing to Leave the Hospital
Close-up
My colleagues from work, the staff at the Ryan Matura Library at Sacred Heart University, sent us a food basket. Thanks! Milo was definitely into it and it's been providing some useful snacking options:
Milo and Esme. Lounging. Couch.
Milo at his Gentlest
Sleeping Baby
So, yeah...that was week one. Esme's gaining weight well. Jill seems to be doing quite well, all things considered. Milo's having fun with Esme, Mom, and, especially, hanging out with me, which means:
Playing with trains, cars, his marble run, and puzzles
I leave you with the song that Milo requests at least 30 times a day (oh, and don't sing Doodle, Doodle to personalize it; he will correct you, as I've found out):
Who would have guessed that Milo would be into Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye? When I put White Christmas on, I certainly thought it would only be a matter of minutes before we'd be switching over to some Toot and Puddle episode on Noggin. But incredibly, Milo loved the movie. Perhaps it was the free flowing Organic Valley nog, gingerbread cookies, and/or the christmas spirit that kept him entertained. OR, perhaps it was simply Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen dancing to The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing (how I wish I had a video of Milo dancing around our living room during this scene):
Whatever it was, White Cristmas was a hit this year. And while Jill, in my estimation, would have liked to have watched Holiday Inn or The Sound of Music, I think White Christmas successfully spread the Holiday Cheer about the apartment.
Something that was not a hit, however, happened to be Jill's attempt to build a gingerbread house for Milo to decorate:
Last year we bought a kit from Trader Joe's and although Milo doesn't look like it in these two pics, he loved decorating the prefab house:
On to the loot... The quiet before the storm:
Last year, Milo was just a bit too young to understand the whole PresentOpening thing. This year, on the other hand, he looked as if he were a pro:
Zelda wasn't too shabby either:
Milo loved his new cars:
...new puzzles:
as well as his new guitar and firetruck, but his favorites thus far are definitely his marble run (expandable from his basic set, just in case grandmas need gift ideas):
and especially the family present, Mario Kart Wii:
Anyway...happy belated holidays! and since the Flaming Lips are always good for spreading cheer, I'll let them have the last word:
On Tuesday January 6th at 7:00pm, Jill started to have the contractions that would end some 38 hours later, at 9:02am on Thursday January 8th, with the (natural) birth of Esme Bogart Gavin:
Weighing in at 8 lbs 12 ounces, Esme was almost a full pound lighter than Milo was (9 lbs 11 ounces) at birth ("practically petite in comparison," said one nurse). To round out her stats: she's 20 inches long, has a remarkably circular head (the nurses are all confused when they find out she was not a c-section baby), and seems to have quite long feet and fingers...
Jill and I spent the morning getting to know Esme:
and others:
showed up later that afternoon to play:
While there might have been one or two "Lennie moments":
...overall, Milo was amazingly nice and compassionate (and really seemed to understand and enjoy what was going on!):
Just before leaving this afternoon, Jo Ellen snapped this shot of me, Milo, and Esme:
Thanks to everyone for the many well-wishes, etc. I'll post more photos (including a Christmas backpost) in the coming weeks. Cheers and happy 2009!
Addendum: Jill has instructed me to provide more information surrounding our arrival at the hospital and the delivery. Hmm...what should I say...well, I'll start with noting that the fact that I insisted that we stop for Dunkin' Donuts on the way is understandable considering that just 24 hours earlier we were on the way to the hospital and were promptly sent home. How was I to know that this time we would arrive and Esme would be out and the whole matter completed in about an hour? As an aside, I probably would not have been as good of a support person without the coffee. If I had known how many people would ask me some variation of , "Wow...you stopped for coffee?" I might have done without. Probably not, though. So yeah...an hour after getting to the hospital; a half hour after getting into the room; upon pushing 4 times; and after screaming (the epidural made her much nicer with Milo) at me and Freyr, Jill gave birth to Esme (who decided to enter the world "sunny-side-up," which, apparently makes for a much more difficult and painful labor/delivery process).
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