This morning I received my Dtap immunization. Now Iltflinthills and IMO will feel better about letting me near NDM.
Unsurprisingly, the grocery store would have been a madhouse, except the employees and customers all seemed to be endowed with a great deal of holiday goodwill. I have to go cook and bake now. Dinner is at our house tomorrow.
| ESL | ESL | ESL |
|---|---|---|
| ESL | THE GRANDSON: | ESL |
| ESL | THE UPDATE | ESL |
| ESL | ESL | ESL |
NDM is gaining weight! His pediatrician and the hospital nurses were concerned last week because his birth weight of six pounds, one ounce didn’t give him much wiggle room. NDM’s weight was five pounds, eleven ounces when he left the hospital last Saturday, so we were all worried about our tiny little boy.
But, good news! When Iltflinthills and IMO took NDM to the pediatrician for his weigh-in on Tuesday, NDM weighed five pounds, thirteen ounces. And, Iltflinthills just telephoned us to let us know that this morning NDM weighed six pounds, four ounces. So, apparently he is on the right track. Now NDM just has to avoid overdoing it like his maternal grandparents.
(Note: apparently pediatricians now have the babies come in to be weighed during the first week to make sure the babies are getting enough to eat. Back in the Dark Ages when I was having children, it would have been a big help with fussy eater Marisol to have done that. She was still losing weight at her first checkup at four weeks!)
Iltflinthills was going to wait the four weeks to give NDM a pacifier as per the lactation expert’s advice. However, NDM seems to have a strong need to suck. So, he has a pacifier already and holds onto it strongly. Hopefully this will give Iltflinthills a chance to catch up on some of her sleep.
Thursday, December 11, 2008 was a major day in my family’s life. At 7:07 p.m., NDM arrived, weighing 6 pounds, 0.6 ounces and stretching a whole 19 inches long.
Iltflinthills and IMO do not want any photographs of the new baby posted on the Internet, so devoted readers will just have to imagine how beautiful my grandson is with his definitively brown eyes and oodles of black hair. The entire family agrees that NDM is just wonderful.
Mother and baby are doing fine now, but they and Father are quite tired. Iltflinthills had an extra painful labor because it was induced; I think she was quite wise to save her strength for the end by finally agreeing to an epidural. About two hours after NDM’s birth, Iltflinthills began bleeding severely. After several anxious hours, the hospital staff finally controlled the bleeding, but none of her family slept much that first night. In fact, I ended up spending the night at the hospital because I just could not leave until I knew for sure she was going to be all right.
Yesterday the new family returned home. Iltflinthills and IMO found out how long it takes to do even simple travel with a newborn. Now they are trying to manage without much sleep.
I am trying to help them out for the next couple of weeks by fixing them their main meal of the day. When Marisol was born, people in our church brought us dinner every night for two weeks and THAT was the best baby gift ever as far as I am concerned.
After church today, I cooked dinner at the baby’s house. Iltflinthills, IMO, IMO’s father, Marisol, Tremor3258, and I all enjoyed being together. The Professor missed this Sunday’s meal because he was one of the chaperones at a church youth group lock-in last night; consequently, he really, really needed to return home at noontime to get some sleep.
It is truly amazing how long adults can just stare at a sleeping newborn.
I love having a grandson.
After lunch, The Professor, Marisol, and I plan to visit a local winery to celebrate her legality. I hope the winery’s dry wines are as advertised because I do not really care to taste the sweet wines.
This evening we’re probably going somewhere like Chipotle, which Marisol loves, to eat dinner before going to the Unicorn Theatre to see The Women of Brewster Place. The Professor and I have semi-season tickets and, luckily, we were able to obtain another ticket for Marisol. So, we’ll have something like a celebration today.
The family was going to eat at our favorite restaurant on the Plaza tomorrow night for Marisol’s birthday, but we have had to postpone that. Iltflinthills’s obstetrician is concerned about our grandson, so he most likely will be born tomorrow. I hope everything goes well for everybody. We have been waiting for this little boy for a long time and are anxious to meet him.
This is so minor in the great scheme of life, but Marisol is disappointed that her nephew will miss being born on her birthday by one day. I, however, think they’ll both end up being happier not sharing their birthday, especially with all the seasonal competition from Christmas.
No doubt I will have more to add later. 
