After The Tenth..... When The Fun Really Begins

I sat down to write a recap of 2009, which turned out to be a pretty good year for the Sznitken family, but then it hit me. If you want a recap of our year, just go to the first blog entry and start reading. When you reach this posting again, you've got your recap.

Wait...stop the presses. I almost forgot to tell you the latest good news in the Sznitken family. It was once thought impossible, but now this very impressive feat has been accomplished not once but TWICE in the last 5 years. Another Sznitken boy has convinced, tricked, bribed or fooled a girl into taking on this unique last name. That's right...perennial bachelor, Adam, has popped the question to Kim and she said yes! There were signs that this was coming, but now that it is official we are all really excited for the both of them. Before anyone asks, no they haven't set a date, location or time yet. (Let's give them at least a week or two before we start peppering them with questions). My guess is a Sayville wedding during the summer of 2011, but that's just my gut, with no real evidence to back up this prediction.

 So back to our recap. Who needs another yearly recap, so instead how about a Hospital visit recap? Seems different, so let's give it a shot. There are a few stories that I haven't included on the site, and since I'm sitting around being nostalgic about the passing of another year, this seemed to make sense.

 After the intake nurse completed her questions of Annie, she left the room and we were visited by the anesthesiologist, because Annie indicated that she planned on getting an epidural at some point. The nice doctor entered the room and began speaking with Annie about her request. She immediately began speaking about alternative medicines that could be used to numb the pain. I thought it a bit strange that we would start with the alternative methods rather than the primary method, but I went to Law School and not Med School. Anyway, Annie finally interrupts her and questions this same point. The doctor responds with "Well some medications interact differently with the narcotics." At this point Annie and I both glanced at each other and I believe the uncomfortable-ness on Annie's face was pretty obvious. The doctor then asked her if she was comfortable discussing this in front of her husband. She said yes and then the doctor hit us with "well, I only mentioned the alternatives, because it says here in your chart that you are a regular crack/cocaine user." There were some uncomfortable chuckles and then we explained the mistake and she assisted us in getting Annie's chart corrected. I'm guessing that things were cleared up, but not entirely in time. We were visited by a social worker in the morning and Macy did get a drug screening..which she passed with flying colors!!!

With the narcotics incident behind us, labor began. Approximately a half hour after things starting progressing, we were visited by another medical person who asked Annie how far along she was, to which Annie proudly responded, "about 25 minutes." More laughter and then I was finally able to inform them that she was 1cm along at this point. That's one of the best parts of our marriage..Annie never ceases to make me laugh.

20 some odd hours later, with labor moving along nicely, the doctor showed Annie and I the correct positioning for pushing. I guess it was obvious to the medically trained professionals in the room, that this was going to take a while. They assisted us with a few rounds of pushing, correcting me when I counted too fast, or when Annie wasn't holding the back of her knees. Unbeknownst to us, they must have become comfortable with our abilities and the fact that Macy wasn't coming in the next hour or so, because both the doctor and the nurse announced that they had some quick items they needed to attend to, and promptly left the room. No problem, I could watch for a contraction or two and ensure that Annie pushed properly. Why not, it would only be 2-3 minutes before someone came back to take over. Well contraction after contraction passed and I would get Annie into position, count out the pushes and then tell her when to rest. Good thing I was paying attention when the doctor did it, because it was about 30-45 minutes before anyone checked back in with us. My first time doing this and already they left me in charge of the birthing room. WOW, I'm talented.

As things continued, Annie's epidural was not only working, but it worked too well. Turns out they had to turn it off because it had numbed Annie's lower half, which doesn't really help when you need her to push. Once feeling started to return to her legs we were able to pick things up and get her pushing. During the time that things got really hot and heavy, she didn't have any feeling in her right leg, which was totally limp. I would hold her left leg and the nurse would actually have to lift up the right one and then gently lay it down after the contraction. During the course of Annie's pushing, we reached a point where it was shift change for the nurses. One very friendly and helpful nurse left the room, only to be replaced with another friendly and helpful nurse. I'm guessing that she didn't hear the doctor when she entered the room, because the doctor told her about Annie's dead leg. Here comes the first contraction and we get her into position. As the contraction passes and Annie is able to rest, we both let go of her legs and her left gently lowers to the bed. Her right leg, which has no feeling in it, drops like a rock, hits the table and bounces off, and is just dangling off the side of the table. What a strange site that was.

So there it is, my recap of a few stories from the hospital. I hope you enjoyed it and I look forward to keeping you entertained in 2010. Please have a safe and fun New Years Eve and if you don't get a phone call from us after midnight, its not because we passed out from exhaustion, it is because 2009 ended so well, that we wanted 2010 to begin as soon as possible!

Based upon an increase of traffic on this site, I want to welcome all of our new readers. Glad to have you. For the original and very loyal group of readers out there, I want to apologize for the lack of updates. It is weird how assisting in the care of a 2 week old just saps your energy.

You may have already noticed, but there is a new page on the site. In the menu above, there is a new link that says "Friends of Macy". This page is a collection of Macy's friends. For a 14 day old, she's building quite a collection. To qualify as one of her friends, you have to visit with her, hold her and rave about how adorable she looks and then pose for a photo. (It doesn't hurt if you follow up the "how cute" comment with "she looks just like her daddy" That will score you bonus points.)

I've been a little lackadaisical with the updates, so if you have joined the "Friends of Macy" club, but do not see your photo, please be patient...it’s coming.

In order to make room for this new page, I had to rename the "The Progression of Baby Sznitken" to "The Progression." That reminds me...the Progression video only showed Annie's belly through week 38 and the progression actually went 40 weeks. So I just performed the final update on the movie and it now shows Annie from week 13 until week 40, the last week of her pregnancy. I hope you enjoyed watching Annie change from week to week. While it was sometimes a struggle to remember to get that picture in every Tuesday morning, before running out the door to the office, I'm REALLY glad we did it. I laugh now thinking about how we thought Annie's belly was so large way back in week 28, compared to what it eventually looked like in December.

The snow up north stopped long enough for the aiports to return to normal and my folks were able to fly out. They arrived on Monday and as expected, mom cried when she finally got to meet Macy. They are in town until Sunday, so Annie and I figured we'd get to hold the baby again on Monday.

What has surprised me is that its not my mom who won't let go of her, its actually my dad. They were both a little hesitant to pick her up, but once we put her into grandpa's arms, I didn't think he'd ever let go. I went down the hall to get a camera and upon my return I caught the tale-end of him receiving a smile from his grandaughter and announcing "she smiled at me...she can have WHATEVER she wants." This also just happened to be the first time we saw her smile and she proceeded to smile for him another 2-3 times. Now I'm jealous, because I haven't gotten a smile yet...maybe she's still holding it against me that I'm the one that makes her cry when I change her diapers.

That's right...for all of you doubters out there, I've stepped up to the plate and I now change my daughter's diapers without even being asked. (I'll admit it...I've surprised myself. I was sure I would gag and puke the first time, but it hasn't happened yet.) Somehow I've avoided ever changing a diaper until I was 37 years old and now I've done it over a dozen times. Go me! (I'll be the first to admit that at 8-10 diapers a day, a dozen in 7 days isn't many...but its A LOT more than I changed before Macy arrived)

Having my folks here has really been enjoyable. I'm really having fun watching them get used to being grandparents and hearing about what they went through when I was born. It is now Friday, Christmas night and Sunday's departure time is looming. These visits seem to go so fast, and I get bummed when I think about them leaving. Enough. I'm not going to focus on that.

 The other day we let Annie rest in the house and the three of us took Macy for her first walk. We didn't get very far (about 6 houses) because someone was walking up the block to come see Macy, so we turned right back around. Undeterred, we tried again the next day and we had a nice long walk in the warm sun.

Besides our walks, we are hanging around the house, taking turns holding the little one, and playing hosts as people have started popping in for visits. I'm starting to think that when I go back to work in January, its going to be TOUGH. I've really gotten used to being around the house.

As I mentioned, it is Christmas and this has been an exceptionally long day that started late last night, with some last minute wrapping jobs. I'll try to get some Christmas photos put together and get them posted. While I don't have them ready, I can tell you that Macy was dressed as Mrs. Claus tonight, which was a huge hit.

 Coming up on the horizon, we look forward to seeing Grandpa Kupper, who has just confirmed that he'll be here on January 5th. I'm bummed that I'll be back at work during his visit, but its great for Annie since she'll get to spend some one on one time with her dad and he can assist her during my absence.

(As always...if you click on an image, it will enlarge)