I love my five-month-old daughter StarGirl greatly. But that’s not to say that she can’t be very, very trying at times. Like last night. Or should I say yesterday morning? I put her down at around 11 p.m., then headed downstairs to finish up a level in Futurama, a PS2 game I’m in the process of … Read more
There have been a lot of changes since the baby came, but one of the biggest is that we rarely, if ever, go to Blockbuster any more. Instead, we rent movies from Netflix. For about $20 a month, we can rent three DVDs at a time from the company. We have a standing queue, and … Read more
Keyboards are Fun: Stargirl loves pounding on computer keyboards, and has already managed to send a few e-mails (with a tiny bit of help from Mom). Seeing that she enjoys hitting the keys, we wisely decided to get her some new toys — now she’s got a little laptop of her own, as well as … Read more
Smiles are Addicting: I can’t get enough of StarGirl’s smile, whether it’s the wide, gum-filled happy grin or her crooked little “ain’t I cute?” smirk. Even when this smile is the result of her having just peed all over her clothes, the changing table, and her daddy, I can’t help but smile back. Grabbing Things … Read more
Ok, so StarGirl’s almost three months old and this column is about three weeks late, but one of the lesson’s learned this month is how ever little free time you think you’ll have, divide it by at least half and you’ll have a number that’s still wrong, but closer to the post-baby-reality. You Say It’s … Read more
First off, everyone’s ok — StarGirl’s fine, Sue’s fine and I’m fine. Or at least, we’re mostly fine.
I got a call at 3:30 Monday from Sue, who was in hysterics and was on her way to St. Luke’s in Bethlehem. Seems that StarGirl had turned absolutely white — no color in her lips or her extremities, and scared the crap out of Sue. She called our pediatrician, who told her to take her to the hospital immediately.
When I got there an hour and a half later, Sue and StarGirl had been admitted, and they were running different tests on the baby. Mostly they were trying to pin down her heart rate, which seemed high. Well, one EKG later, and they knew that it *was* high. Way too high. Her normal heart rate should be around 140-160, something like that. Hers was twice that — it was running around 250 to 280, with spikes to an absolutely horrifying 300.
The cardiac pediatrician was concerned — heck everyone was concerned — and they spent an hour or two trying to get an IV started so they could give her medication to bring the heart rate down. When they couldn’t get it started — and when other techniques failed to keep the heart rate down — they Medevac’d her to Lehigh Valley Hospital, which has a pediatric intensive care unit. That’s right. A freaking helicopter.
StarGirl turned one month old yesterday, which is a fact I find absolutely astounding. It really doesn’t seem like it’s been a month already, and at the same time, it seems like StarGirl’s always been here. Regardless of perspective though, a month has passed and we’ve learned a lot over the last few weeks. Baby’s … Read more
Before StarGirl was born someone–I don’t remember who– asked me if I was going to teach the baby how to play Dungeons & Dragons if it was a girl. The question took me aback somewhat–not because I’d ever considered teaching D&D to a girl, but because I’d never not considered teaching it to a girl. … Read more
StarGirl’s a little over two weeks old now, and a lot of folks have been asking how we’re doing. The short answer is “good but tired”. StarGirl wakes up every few hours, sometimes gretzing, sometimes crying, rarely screaming. Then it’s time to change the diaper, feed her, or just do laps around the downstairs trying … Read more
Jordan’s been here for a week. Actually, 8 days. And over that time, while gently rocking her to sleep while doing my Nth circuit of the downstairs, while changing her diapers, while just looking with wonder into her open, attentive and intelligent eyes, I’ve had a few moments to speculate on babies, fatherhood, and my newborn daughter.
Walking, Rocking, and Singing Beats All: When Jordan’s upset, there’s one thing that will almost always calm her down: taking a stroll around the house, singing calming songs and slowly rocking her.