A Quick Hello

Hello Everyone, this is Ken writing.  It's Wednesday morning, we had a very civilized evening - dinner in around 9 pm, gave Cornelia a bottle at 11pm, slept until 3 am when we gave her a second bottle and then slept until 7 this morning at which point we had coffee in bed with our daughter and watched CNN.  Not so bad for day 3.  I'm not kidding myself that this will be the norm, I'm just reveling in a nearly full night of sleep.

 Mike is not feeling well (a little Delhi Belly), so is resting.  Our Internet is down, so I'm writing this from the neighboring hotel as I'm getting the remainder of the documents ready for our meeting with the Visa people.  Mike feels the demand of his public, so wanted to make sure I made a quick post letting people know that he will be back at it later today and is also planning on getting some photos up as well.   In the meantime, I wanted to give credit where credit is do and let everyone know that all of these posts are coming from my ever dutiful spouse. Mike.  I merely review them and criticize - a daunting task in itself I know, but it must be done.

Farewell for now and your regularly scheduled programmer will be back this evening.

Where did the names come from?

Many of you know that we picked the baby's names many, many months ago but did not reveal them before Cornelia's arrival.  Cornelia's name honors both her grandmothers and their families.  Cornelia is Ken's mom's name, and the names Cornelia and Cornelius have been in Ken's mom's family for many generations.  The name originally comes from Cornelius Jackson who was one of the few free black landowners in Virginia before the Civil War.  Walsh is Mike's mom's maiden name and is a nod to Mike's mom, the Walsh family history (we recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Cornelia's great grandfather, Edward T. Walsh), and the Irish branch of the family. 

"That was a long night." (Sunday night / Monday morning)

So, we finally managed to break Cornelia out of the hospital yesterday.  More on that story later. 

We just finished our first night alone with Cornelia; just her two dads and our wits to make it through the night intact.  It went pretty smoothly.  There were not a lot of tears.  Mike only broke down once.  (Just kidding.)  We (and by "We," I mean Cornelia.)  had bottles at 9:00 p.m., 11:30 p.m., 2:30 a.m., 5:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m.  The times are all approximate because although we had a schedule - one bottle every three hours - Cornelia pretty much set the schedule.  In addition to bottles, there was good pooping.  But there wasn't a lot of sleep.  In fact, pretty much none.  Mike has firmly established himself in the "panicked and paranoid" dad role, jumpinng up every time Cornelia even squeaked just to be sure she was okay, and sometimes even when she wasn't making a sound just to be sure she was okay.  Ken handled it all like a pro - calm and fearless the entire time.  We just finished breakfast (thank goodness for Michael's wonderful housekeeping staff Rima and Biru) and are now back to bed hoping for a bit of shut-eye before Cornelia gives us the high sign for her next bottle.

Birthday Day

We arrived at the hospital shortly before 8:00 a.m. and waited a bit anxiously in the lobby for news of the baby's arrival. Ken paced – literally. While we waited, the neighborhood Hindu priest dropped by to light the candle in the lobby shrine and provide morning chanting. We don't know what he was chanting about, but we took it as a blessing and with appreciation. The small lobby was bustling with staff and patients coming and going, with only passing glances for the two foreigners sitting with computer bags, a diaper bag and a traveling bassinette.

At 8:50 a.m. we were sent up to the nursery. The receptionist just said, "You're requested in the nursery" and pointed us upstairs. So we didn't know anything until we saw Cornelia on the other side of the nursery window: a naked, squirming, blinking, fussing, pink and precious little baby girl. It was nothing less than amazing. After much "oohing" and "aahing" we called our families with the news of their new granddaughter and niece.

And then we started the business of the day. Shilpi – who is essentially our case manager at SCI – arrived at about 9:30 to check on us and to begin shepherding us through the business of the day. Also, since we were the first SCI clients sent to this particular hospital, she wanted to be sure everything was running smoothly. It was. The day's primary objective was to secure Cornelia's birth certificate. After Shilpi talked with hospital staff about the process at this particular hospital we went to the SCI offices to complete the necessary forms. We then went back to the hospital so that they could input and submit the information from those forms online. At the hospital at that point we met with the pediatrician who explained to us that the baby was doing very well, and explained the various tests and vaccinations she would be getting. After that meeting it was back again to the SCI office to settle our accounts.

Then back again to the hospital for Cornelia's afternoon bottle – and our first lesson in feeding a baby. We definitely have the impression that a lot of people are skeptical about whether two men can care for a baby. We chalked this up to the likelihood that Indian men likely do little in the care and feeding of their newborns. The pediatrician – who was very kind – told us that Cornelia would stay in the hospital until we were comfortable – and they were comfortable – that we were ready to take her home. So, on the first afternoon we learned how to measure formula, add water and shake it in the bottle, and the importance of sterilizing the bottles. And then we watched the nurse feed her behind the glass window. We didn't get to hold Cornelia at all the first day. While we might chalk that up to local custom – keeping babies in a sterile environment for 24 hours or so –we also know that other babies were going from the nursery to see their mothers for breast milk. Yet we spent more time waiting outside the nursery than anyone else.

After Cornelia's 5:00 p.m. bottle, we returned to Michael's home (where we are staying) and enjoyed a wonderful evening with a group of his friends.

Welcome Cornelia Walsh Gotham Wingard

Born Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 8:42 am local time. Weighed 5 pounds eight ounces and measured 20 inches long.

"Vacation Husband"

So, today Mike left the office for a six-week leave.  This is the first time he has had more than a two-week break from work in 16 years and there's been only one two-week break in those sixteen years - our honeymoon nearly two years ago.  Ken is giddy with the prospect of having his husband undistracted by work for six weeks.  "Vacation husband" - as Ken has dubbed the person Mike becomes when he fully disengages from work - is a rare and special visitor.  Of course "vacation husband" will be visiting along with "daddy husband."  Hopefully they'll get along just fine.

Today was a special day in the Gotham family for a reason unrelated to the baby.  Mike's parents retired today.  They closed their retail store in Port Angeles today for the last time.  Apparently many friends joined them for wine and much toasting after the doors closed this afternoon.  Now they will be able to enjoy time with their first grandchild.  We know they will be waiting for the baby to arrive in San Francisco and then to get the "green light" to jump in the car and race down to meet their new "grandbaby."  Let retirement and grandparenthood officially begin.

Thanks to Ken's planning and organization, we are packed for our flight tomorrow morning.  The birth is now rescheduled for Saturday morning local time, following our arrival on Friday night.

Counting Down - Less than 72 hours to departure

The countdown to departure (ours for India) and arrival (the baby's into the world) has begun.  We leave San Francisco this Thursday morning (4/21) at 9:00 a.m.  Ken thought we arrived in India on Thursday evening local time, so SCI planned to induce labor on Friday, (4/22).  However, when Mike checked our itinerary we realized we arrive on Friday evening, not Thursday.  We're hoping the birth can be delayed until Saturday and are waiting to hear from SCI about rescheduling. 

SCI reports that all is well with the baby.  At this point the baby will be considered full term, although it's likely to be a bit on the small side.  The birth will likely be cesarean since the latest ultra sound revealed a "single nuchal loop."  That means the umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby's neck.  It's not a big problem, but usually leads to a cesarean birth. 

Of course we still don't know if the baby will be a boy or a girl -- and the suspense is killing us.  But maybe not as much as the suspense about the names we've chosen is killing some of our family members.  Mike's mom and her sisters are anxiously awaiting the birth of the child and the news of the name -- and not necessarily in that order.