Moments After The Delivery

After Ashley was born, my memory and focus became super foggy. I followed her around the room with my video camera as they cleaned her off and weighed her. After the nurse confirmed the baby was healthy, she said "do you want to hold her?" I've never held an infant and have only held older babies a few times so I was apprehensive at best. But what was I actually going to say, "Nah, I'm cool. Just give her to momma and she'll take care of her. I'm calling my buddies to go celebrate at the local pub." Into my arms came this teeny-tiny person and into the pool of life I dove.

At this same moment, Kelly was getting instructed by the doctor to push through a contraction to give birth to a purple mass of nastiness called the placenta. Thankfully I missed all of these sites and sounds and was soley focused on the eyes of my genes staring back at me. At the time I didn't think anything of it but later in the evening when talking about the event, I couldn't remember anything after the doctor said "it's a girl". During the first few moments with Ashley in my arms, I felt a drop of water running down my cheek and thought the damn ceiling must have a leak. Nope, those were tears of elation. So I quickly wiped them off and pretended like nothing happened.

The contractions continued for Kelly as her body tried to stop the bleeding. Let me tell you there was a lot of blood. She'd attempt to stand up an hour later and blood would pour down her legs. And that was just an attempt to stand up which wasn't successful. She was so exhausted and fatigued from the birth that her legs wouldn't support her weight and she became light headed and close to passing out.

After a bit, Kelly regained enough strength to roll over into a wheel chair. We were being transitioned into a post partum room where we would stay until Wednesday afternoon. We come to find out that visiting hours are from 12:00pm until 7:30pm. Since both of our parents were in town and we knew about as much about taking care of an infant as we do about servicing an automobile, I was hoping someone would be able to be here the entire time. Thankfully, that is what nurses are for.

We're leaving for home right now so I'll post either tonight or tomorrow about our first nights alone with Ashley.

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Surreal. That's the only word I can use to describe the events that have just taken place over the past 12+ hours.

Kelly woke up this morning at 4:30am with intense contractions. I knew they were serious because while sleeping next to her, the mass of fluid and baby moved away from my hand without any movement from Kelly. So we started timing the contractions and they were only 9 minutes apart but regular. After they started occurring more frequently (about 5 minutes apart), we had to convince Kelly it was time to head to the hospital. Being the sensitive person she was, she tried to insist that we "wait it out because it could just be gas pains". Since she was 5 centimeters dilated for the past week, it was time to roll out.

We arrived at the hospital around 7:15am and after they evaluated Kelly, we were sent up to a delivery room. To speed things up , they broke her water at 8:55am.

Now I've seen some things in my life, but the feelings Kelly experienced after that point, uh, was an indescribable amount of pain. She was adamant about going without an epidural and I fully supported her. Talk about strong and impressive, I have a new hero in my life and it's Kelly. Good lord. The contractions would be so intense that she would grip the railings of the bed, her knuckles would turn white and her eyes would roll back into her head as she would convulse from the pain.

After about 8 waves of pushing, I see "something" start peeking out down there. I had no idea what this something was. It was blueish, bumpy and hairy. I thought Kelly was giving birth to a creature from the movie Aliens. After a few more pushes suddenly an ear popped out and my bearings were back and it was apparent that the baby was facing the floor. The head was fully exposed and they immediately sucked all the junk out of it's mouth. We heard the first sound uttered from the little ones vocal chords. After another push or two, the damn thing slide out like daddy around the catcher in softball.

Ashley Jane Strauss was born at 11:44am weighing in at 6 lbs and 14 ounces and measured 19 inches in length.

Crazy.

Here is the direct link: http://picasaweb.google.com/rstrauss/20070312BirthOfAshleyJaneStrauss.

Picture from 1978

No, this is not a picture of our baby. This is yours truly rocking out with a full head of hair. It's all making sense on why I'm losing it now!

Still Waiting By The Lake

Kelly woke up this morning and exclaimed "we are going for a walk outside until the baby comes". No argument from daddy! So we just got back from a beautiful walk with Kelly's parents, Katie and Tom in the most ridiculously nice Chicago weather we've felt in awhile. It's 52 degrees outside without a cloud in the sky! Here are some pictures from the walk as well as some pictures of the baby's room.

Here is a direct link: http://picasaweb.google.com/rstrauss/20070310StillWaitingByTheLake.

5 Centimeters And Counting

The doctors have decided to not induce labor. Kelly was told that inducing labor at this point would increase our likelihood of having a cesarean section. So, the baby will remain cooped up inside momma for a few more days/weeks.

They took an ultrasound of her belly and said that there is plenty of water for the baby to be healthy. So much water in fact that if it breaks, daddy's going to need to put on a life vest.

Some fun facts:

• Kelly is 5 centimeters dilated
• Baby currently weighs 7lbs and 13 ounces
• Baby is the 75% for weight

Looks like we'll be waiting some more! We'll keep everyone posted once we get more details.

Today Is The "Due Date"

It's finally Friday, March 9th 2007. 9 months ago the doctor's said today was going to be the due date. Uh, it doesn't seem like that's going to be the case. Supposedly she is super dilated and fully effaced, but no contractions and no signs of impending labor. We have an appointment today at 1pm so we're a bit anxious on what they'll say. Will they say "it's time to induce so that the baby can start practicing the mechanics of a baseball pitch" or will they say "let's wait another week as the baby seems to enjoy stretching so it can be fully prepared to practice pitching".

Kelly's been having trouble sleeping for a few weeks now. She sleeps from about 9pm until 3am. Around 3am, the baby kicks her awake and says, "yo, listen here. i'm hungry". So I hear Kelly get out of bed and walk around the apartment. She waddles around noticing chores I need to accomplish the next day and then I hear the rustling of cereal boxes and then the crunching of her eating. It makes me smile because I know how much she likes cereal!

We'll provide an update after today's appointment. BTW, I brought all my "gear" into work today so I'm ready to go!

Is today the baby's birthday?

When do we get to meet baby Strauss? I wake up each day and say the date over and over in my head, just trying to imagine myself holding that date near my heart forever. The only problem is that I have been doing this for four weeks. So I decided that tomorrow I will not continue on with my morning ritual and maybe that will help the baby to come. I have exhausted all other efforts. This is my last resort.

The Circle Of Life

My mom emailed me this picture this week. That strapping young fellow is none other than Tommy Strauss holding yours truly probably close to exactly 29 years ago. BTW, it's impressive that he could hear anything with all that hair in front of his ears. The picture is amazing, isn't it? In just a few days, I'm going to be doing the same thing with my baby. It's a crazy thing. Love you pops!

Engagement Video

I put together a small video from the engagement last Friday night. The quality was degraded after the upload to youtube and the audio is now a tad out of synch so I'm not happy but ah well! I promise better videos in the future.



Here is the direct link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZulaJBBIMY.

My Sister Is Engaged

I arrive home from work last night to a bottle of champagne and a gift bag on the dinning room table. "What a nice gesture from my lovely wife! It looks like it's my lucky day!" With bottle in hand, I had already started the opening process when, in walks Kelly exclaiming "Ryan, that's not for you! It's for Katie and Tom, he's proposing tonight!" Wow is that something you don't hear everyday. She goes on to tell me that Tom is planning on heading over to his new apartment and plans to propose out front on the stairs. I immediately start running around our house getting my cameras all setup as the plan was for them to head over to our apartment after the proposal to celebrate.

While counting down the minutes to their arrival, Kelly and I have some discussions about possibly getting some photos of the actual proposal. Now this is a risky endeavor. I wanted nothing to do with it. The possible risk of getting seen with camera in hand wasn't worth the reward in my eyes. However, Kelly felt otherwise and we all know how this turns out.

So it's 7:00pm CT. I put on my coat, grab by camera and catch a cab to their new apartment. As we get close, I feel like an undercover agent. I have the driver drop me off a few doors down the street and I quietly slide out of the cab on the opposite side of the street. My heart is pounding by now. Across the street from Tom's new apartment is a big church with an open parking lot. I first think this would have been an ideal hiding spot but after walking around there was nowhere to hide. The row of bushes providing my cover felt like the game you play with a baby. The one where you put your hands in front of your face and exclaim to the baby, "You can't see me! Peek-a-boo!"

So it's now 7:20pm CT and I'm a sitting duck and Katie and Tom are going to be here any second now. I walk back where I got out of the cab and cross the street. I get to the sidewalk and glance towards his apartment and who do I see? You're damn right. Tom with Katie in hand. "@#$%. That's it. I've just ruined one of the biggest events of their life. Good work Ryan."

I dive in between two houses and try to figure out how to dig myself out of this one. By the time I even attempt to take another peek down the sidewalk, I hear Katie yell with excitement. I peek out and they are already walking away from me to presumably catch a cab to our apartment.

Since I already missed this big event, I didn't want to miss them at our apartment. So I take off running. I'm dressed in a nice black coat, dress shirt, pants and shoes but am sprinting as fast as my Kenneth Cole's will take me. After the 8 block sprint, I bust into our house and explain the dilemma to Kelly. I'm dripping sweat and we're both thinking we've just ruined the night.

About 2 minutes later, the front door buzzer rings and Kelly and I hold our breath. They walk in and Katie tells us everything. As I'm listening and wiping the sweat off my brow from the sprint, it becomes clear that they never saw me. So Tom's plan was executed without hitches, Katie said yes and now Tom's my new brother. Life is good.

Here are some pictures from a truly great evening. I'm working on a video from the night as well which I hope to post by EOD.

Here is a direct link: http://picasaweb.google.com/rstrauss/20070223TomAndKatieSEngagement.