I was fiddling around with stuff on the side bar and thought you might like a grandbaby update while I'm here. She's still as cute as can be. Her skills include sleeping through anything and expelling various fluids and gases from bodily orifices (and do not think I speak lightly about the proficiency with which she does either of these things.) Her likes include nursing, being held, and long walks along the beach. (Okay, I'm just guessing about that last one, but I'm pretty sure she'd like it.) Her dislikes include car rides, being away from her mommy, and extended visits from the nasal aspirator.

This blog entry is about Gabe

(Not really, but he is standing over my shoulders giving me a wonderful shoulder massage as I type and he said I should blog about him. Who is going to argue with a guy under those circumstances?)

She's here!

Okay, so here's the scoop. Julia and Pablo are now the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl named Elaina Kathleen (previously known as Bubba.) She was born at home at 5:14 PM Jan. 7th and weighed in at 7 pounds even and 19 1/2" long. I knew Julia would do well but she exceeded even my high expectation for her. She bearly made a peep and sometimes it was hard to tell she was having a contraction right up to the end. Pablo did a beautiful job supporting her, massaging her back for hours on end. For whatever reason the placenta did not want to detach, however and so we wound up transporting her to the hospital for that after the blood loss and trying to move caused a brief fainting episode. The shot of pitocin worked it's magic and all was well but she stayed overnight for observation since her iron levels had dropped so low. The midwife and I went home and picked up Elaina so she could visit Mommy in the hospital (along with Pablo and myself) until it was time for her to go home. All our home now and other than being very tired (hospitals are still ridiculously hard to sleep in) are doing very well. Elaina seems to be a very efficient nurser...she doesn't seem like she spends much time doing it (big on sleep this girl is,) but her wet and poopy diapers tell us that she is getting plenty to eat.

And now what you've all been waiting for...