Ever since I went back to work after paternity leave, Jessica has made an effort to make me feel like I am tapped into what’s happening with the rest of our family. Whether it is a photo of Liam, her and Liam, or Ani and Liam, she keeps me appeased. When it comes to Liam, there’s plenty of cuteness to go around, but sometimes she sends me a really intimate photo that truly makes me appreciate our lives together. Case in point, our beautiful boy soundly asleep in her arms. Adorable? Of course.
Liam was born in January and as we all know, January is not a month for walking outside, particularly with a newborn. And somewhat uncharacteristic of DC over the past 10+ years, the month of February was quite snowy. Ok, ridiculously snowy. It was so snowy in fact, that the paths we typically walk on weren’t plowed/melted until about a week ago. Since it is March and for thousands of years the weather starts to get warmer this time of year, we were blessed to take a walk as a family. Liam was a trooper and Jessica looked like her pre-baby fabulous self. I cannot wait for this to be a daily occurrence very soon…
by Tim on January 30, 2010
On January 26th, 2010 at 5:14am, Jessica and I proudly welcomed Liam Seth Cripps to our family. He’s a beautiful and healthy boy and everything we hoped he’d be + more.
After a week of anxiously waiting and anticipating his arrival we had some difficult decisions to make as Liam’s due date approached. Our doctor initially gave us the option of inducing three days after the 25th (his original due date), but because of some scheduling difficulty, we were given the option of inducing the day after our official due date. Yeah, it sounds confusing to me too when explained that way. Throughout the pregnancy we’d hoped that he would arrive naturally, but tried to remain open the possibility of induction. So when we were told that Jessica was “favorable” for induction, we were happy yet uncertain about what we should do. We ultimately decided to induce due to several factors, the most prominent of which were the projected (large) size of the baby and our strong desire to have our doctor deliver the baby. After we made the decision, we went to have a nice breakfast at Cassatt’s and then took a long walk with Ani, the whole while trying not to obsess about whether or not we were making the correct decision.
That evening Jessica’s parents came into town and we all made plans to go out to dinner at a quiet Thai restaurant near our house. (Of course Thai food! We were trying everything!) Around 5pm though, Jessica and I were sitting on the couch watching TV when all of a sudden Jessica says to me, “Tim, I think I just wet my pants.” Uh… of course we were excited. After the pants-wetting happened three more times, we decided to call our doctor and hear what she thought. Her guess was that the baby was simply kicking Jessica’s bladder and we didn’t have much to worry about, but she still directed Jessica to contact her if the pants-wetting continued. So, we somewhat disappointingly left the house, opting to still have dinner with Jessica’s parents and get our minds off the possibility of baby coming before our next-day induction appointment.
After a pleasant spice-infused Thai dinner with Jessica’s parents, we returned to our home and shortly after received a phone call from our doctor, inquiring why we didn’t call her to provide an update regarding the mystical pants-wetting Jessica experienced earlier in the evening. The end of the phone call found us packing our bags and heading to the hospital so that Jessica could be “observed.” Long story short, the minute Jessica stepped out of the car at the hospital, she started feeling uncomfortable contractions.
Now I could tell you all the crazy details that most folks love to hear, like how insanely long the labor was and how severe the pain Jessica felt was, but I really feel the need to emphasize that my wife was (and is) amazing. She was amazingly tough. Amazingly calm. Amazingly courageous. Amazingly beautiful. I won’t lie, I was slightly concerned she’d have difficultly with the pain. But thanks to the epidural and her bad-assness, she was a rock.
After a few hours of waiting (post-epidural) and after pushing for only 15 minutes, Liam officially entered our world. He’s got all the necessary equipment: 10 fingers and toes, hearing is good, eyesight seems fine, and his little man parts seem to look a-okay as well. I guess you could say that we’re pretty delighted and he’s close to perfect. It was a long time coming for this little man and now that he’s here, we intend to enjoy every minute we can.
by Tim on January 11, 2010
In case you weren’t aware, Jessica isn’t an egg eater. Like, she won’t even kiss me after I’ve eaten eggs. So it is always surprising when she offers to make me eggs. She’s been mastering the various forms of breakfast eggdom—scrambled, fried, egg sandwiches, and this past weekend the Pièce de résistance: Huevos Rancheros. For a girl who won’t even try eggs, she knocked it out of the park.
We’ve been trying to enjoy the last of our pre-baby days by eating nice meals, seeing movies, and spending time with friends. People always tell us to go out and enjoy ourselves before it is more difficult to do so, but I think we’re honestly ready to welcome baby into our lives. In the meantime, fingers crossed for eggs next weekend! 