May 2005 Archives
The LA Times has a great story about Jake, calling him the New Sensation. For those who may not be family (what are you doing here anyway?), Jake is my Brother-in-Law, married to my sister Jane. In Jake's own words, "She [is] so rad."
Good luck in Santa Barbara this weekend!
This is Snowbird's Tram Plaza deck at the bottom of the mountain. Over 6" of new snow fell last night pushing the season to date snow total to an amazing 629"!
Guess where I'll be this weekend. Nope, sorry. Guess again.
Baby Boy Watts, as he is known at this point, was born today.
We were at Wal-Mart yesterday, buying a baby car seat, and Nannette was timing contractions. They were small, but starting to get consistant, so she was timing them on her watch. I get embarassed when she gets a cramp or contraction in a public place, because I feel like everyone is watching, expecting this pregnant lady to give birth in the children's section. Anyway, I didn't think much of the contractions, he wasn't due for five days, so we got our car seat (good thing) and headed home.
Nannette continued to time the contractions until about 10:00 she was convinced and we headed to the Hospital. I hoped (and expected) the baby would be born before midnight, but the night dragged on and although the contractions were frequent and strong, Nannette made little progress. I was doing my job as a good coach, reassuring her that she was doing great and getting closer. Nannette was doing the hard labor. Rita Rudner used to say, "To me natural childbirth is backward; nowadays everyone takes drugs except when they need them." But this little guy was in no hurry. Nannette kept hitting the lap button on her stopwatch at the beginning of each contraction.
By the time the sun came up again we were both exhausted. It's tough to sleep during the 2-3 minutes between contractions, while finding new and creative birthing positions. Nannette's doctor suggested breaking her water to speed things up. Nannette wasn't excited about this idea, because it intensifies the labor, but eventually she gave in. At 7:15 the doctor broke her water, and one contraction later, one huge, intense, 25-minute long contraction later, Nannette was ready to push.
But she was too exhausted to push. It got a little bit scary to me, when the baby's head just kinda got stuck in the birth canal, and Nannette wasn't able to push. Amazingly, she found the strength, and at 7:40 AM, Baby Boy was born. I was almost as relieved as Nannette was, and just as elated. He's wonderful, and beautiful, and finally here. 8 lbs, 12 oz. and 19 1/2 inches with lots of dark hair.
Now we just need to find him a name. We could always go with big-brother Mason's suggestion. "Mushroom"
Click here to see some pictures
Kodachrome, Paul Simon
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, Oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take my Kodachrome away
