Grandma & Grandpa "D" Go Home

It's almost like a tradition. Just about everytime one of Paul's parents grandchildren are born, at least one of Paul's parents go to help out right after the birth. This time was no exception. Paul's parents arrived about a week before Sammy was born and stayed about a month.

While Michele and Paul were looking after Sammy and recovering from the birth, Paul's parents kept the household running. That meant cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, feeding the cats, and combing Veto's fur. Their being here was an immense help to Michele and Paul.

Grandma and Grandpa "D"...
...with little Sammy.

The $25,503.72 Boy

While he was not as expensive as the Six Million Dollar Man, the hospital bills for our son Samuel's birth arrived the other day. Easily over $25,000. Wow. Earlier today we went to a photographer to have pictures of Sammy taken. The photographer just had a son himself and said it cost $15,000 with a cesarian section. What a difference in cost! The photographer's jaw dropped when he heard how much our son's birth was. Sammy had some difficult circumstances at his birth (we still need to writeup the post-delivery on this blog) so he required some extra care. We talked to the hospital and the benefits folks and found we will be responsible for less than $2,000 out of our pocket. By participating in a medical reimbursement account that amount will effectively be even less because of the tax savings.

In any event, you can't put a price on the health of your child. We are thankful that Samuel left the hospital with a clean bill of health.

The original 6 million dollar man, Steve Austin...
...we think our son is better looking...
...although he can't run 60 mph...
...yet.

Veto the Cat and his furniture

Recently Veto the cat took over an empty bottled water box. What a cat. He does not like anything soft. He enjoys sleeping on hard surfaces. But this low box just hit his fancy. When Paul's Dad tossed the box on the ground, Veto walked up, sniffed it, hopped in it and went to sleep. He's been using this box for several days now. Later Paul's Dad put another box like it upstairs and Veto uses that too.

A big orange cat uses a small box for water bottles as a bed.

Veto is quite the cat. He weighs almost twenty pounds, is orange, and has a great disposition. Just about everybody who meets Veto remarks he's just about the friendliest and handsomest cat they've ever seen.

A portrait of Veto taken by Paul with his Sony DCS-T1 camera.

Sammy with his Daddy

Michele took the first picture of Paul with his son Samuel. Why the shirt and tie? Paul decided as a New Year's resolution to wear a shirt and tie to work every day this year (while still wearing blue jeans...he calls it the "grocery-boy" look). Some speculate that his resolution somehow is related to Paul reaching the same admitted age as Jack Benny this year.

Paul with his son Samuel

Little Sammy loves Dino!!

It wasn't until a couple of years ago when we discovered our fondness for the singing of Dean Martin . We had just purchased a convertible and were looking for some cool cruisin' music to play. On a lark, Paul picked up a cheap Dean Martin CD at Michele's suggestion at Paul's favorite store -- WalMart. We instantly were drawn to his smooth singing voice even though he wasn't from our generation.

Anyway, Michele left Paul a message on his voice mail at work today. Our infant son little Samuel was feeling a bit cranky, so Michele put on a Dean Martin CD. Little Sammy loved it and was almost instantly soothed. We suppose it's only fitting...that our son would be drawn to the same kind of music we are...until he becomes a teenager!

Carbon monoxide?!?

Early this morning, the carbon monoxide alarm sounded a warning in the guest bedroom (soon to be little Samuel's nursery once we move him out of our bedroom). Paul's mother is staying in there right now. Michele woke Paul up and he called the Rochester Fire Department. They came out but could find no traces of it. The alarm we have is probably close to ten years old, so it was a good reminder to go out and buy new ones. The firemen believed the alarm warning is due to it being really old. They were kind enough to lend us a carbon monoxide alarm to use overnight (in the picture below...the one with the digital display). A couple of years ago, we put in this heater so it should be ok. Our gas water heater is fairly new and all our other appliances are electric.

But it's best to be safe.

This evening Paul and his father will go to Paul's favorite store Wal-Mart to buy a new carbon monoxide alarm...one with a digital display so it will show the highest recorded level (something that is very useful to the firemen). Given little Samuel's small size this is a serious issue we need to be wary of. Oh, and we better remember to return the alarm the fire department lent us!

The alarm lent to us by the fire dept. on the left and our

very old alarm on the right.

February 2006 Birthday Celebrations

With Paul's parents in town, his sisters and nephew Brian came down today to celebrate everyone's birthday who's in February. By some cosmic chance, the vaste majority of the people in Paul's family were borne in February. Our new son, Samuel just managed to make it into February. Little Samuel's great grandmother told Michele that "all the smart people were born in February."

The birthday cake for Paul's Mom, Anne, Diane, and little Sammy.

Aunt Diane holds little Sammy.

Aunt Annie with Sammy.

Sammy Comes Home!!

We finally managed to get Sammy home from the hospital on February 7th 2006. He had a rough start of it, being put on IV's for antibiotics and dextrose...and having a feeding tube as well. But like a champ he came through with flying colours. The pediatrician who did the exit exam found him to be perfectly healthy. Here are some pics of his arrival and the very first time he was held by Grandma and Grandpa "D"!

Little Sammy in his travel seat...
...he just arrived from the hospital...
...notice his diminishing bilirubin...

...and his cool hat!

Samuel with his Grandma "D"...
...the first time she ever held him...
...but when will Grandma Rothdeiner come visit?

And here is the first time Grandpa Samuel "D" held little Samuel...
...the man our son is named after...
...Samuel can't wait to meet his other Grandfather "R"!

Superbowl 40 with Dad

Paul's father is from Western Pennsylvannia, so they both have always been Pittsburgh Steeler fans. The last time they were able to watch the Steelers in a Super Bowl (let alone win) was over 25 years ago. So Paul snuck out of the hospital where his wife and newborn son were to watch the game with his Dad. The Steelers didn't dominate the Seahawks, but they won an exciting game nonetheless. As an added bonus, since the owner of the Seahawks is Paul Allen (a Microsoft co-founder) it added to the pleasure. But the real treat for Paul was being able to watch them with with his Dad. Go Steelers!

Our Son Samuel is Born!

I am Sam
I am Sam
Sam I am
- Green Eggs and Ham

At the beginning of February 2006, our first son was born at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Here is a summary of what happened.

On Tuesday January 31, 2006 Michele's water appeared to us to have broken. We had come in the preceding Sunday for what we thought might be the water breaking, but the physician resident sent us home after doing a test for "ferning" to see if it was amniotic fluid. The resident was really nice and sharp and we hoped that if our physician was not on call, that she would be the one to conduct the delivery.

Anyway, back to Tuesday. Michele had what appeared to be breaking of the water so she called in and we arrived at the Mayo Rochester Methodist Hospital by about 3pm. Unfortunately, the resident we had on the previous Sunday was not there. It was another one (hereafter referred to as "resident2") who had a medical student ("Hans") with her. Resident2 spent more time speculating about the origin of Hans' name than looking at Michele but managed to take a sample to test for the presence of amniotic fluid. About an hour later a nurse came in and told us Michele's water had indeed broken and that they were going to induce labor (as Michele had not started getting any labor pains).

So off to a room we went where they induced labor with some drug called Pitosin® . Michele's close friend Johanna snuck in and the three of us along with our nurse waited for her cervix to open up. George Bush gave the State of the Union address so while Johanna supported Michele, Paul's eyes were glued to the television set. As the night progressed, different nurses came on and off shift, but we were grateful that they were extremely skilled and kept a watchful eye onMichele and medical resident2. The pain increased quite a bit for Michele, so she opted for an epidural. Paul had to leave the room for that. They gave her one of those push-buttons for the epidural so she could give herself booster shots.

Through the night, Michele bore the pain while Paul fell asleep on the chair. Later on, about 9am resident2 came in and said Michele was fully dilated and then left the room. So the nurses started making preparations for the delivery. About 10am the resident we had on the previous Sunday (hereafter referred to as resident1) came in. Our spirits were immediately lifted. She noted that the cervix was not yet fully open and we would need a little more time. Noticing that Michele's temparature was a bit high, she ordered Michele put on antibiotics. Then, checking Michele's birth canal, she realized that the baby had gone to the bathroom in the womb. As a result, she said we would need to deliver in the OR.

Michele with the resident (aka resident1) who delivered our son.

Michele did an excellent job of pushing even though she was physically exhausted. Paul just kind of stood off to the side and rubbed her arm and head. To avoid passing out, he didn't look down there. Once Michele had the baby far enough along, they took us to the OR. Paul got to wear scrubs...just like George Clooney does on ER...well minus the good looks!

In the OR they wheeled Michele in. The people in scrubs would try to talk to Paul, but not recalling his name they kept calling him "Daddy." Not being used to being called "Daddy," Paul did not realize that they were talking to him. Additionally, since they were all wearing masks, he did not know who to look at. As a result, they kept worrying that Paul would pass out...which we are proud to say never happened. The anasthesiologist gave Michele some more epidural kind of stuff to help with the pain. Resident1 came in (thank God) and Hans was there too. Michele was pushing hard but then the baby would go no further. The baby's neck was off center in the canal. The chief resident came in as well as the consultant on call. In the wink of an eye there were like over 20 people in the OR.

The medical chief said they would have to use a suction cup to help the baby get out. The baby's heart rate was high (over 180) and they couldn't leave him there or go in with a ceserian at that point. So they put a suction cup on his head. They again had Michele push really hard. Now they had Paul standing by Michele's head to "be there" for Michele. Suddenly Paul was yanked back by a man in scrubs who almost lept on Michele's tummy. Boom. The baby was out. The man turned around and told him he was the consultant and that "sometimes you just have to push from on top to get them out."

An abrupt entry into the world by our son!

Our baby is beautiful. His name is Samuel "D" (I'm leaving out his middle name since this is on the internet). He's named after Paul's Father. The way we figure it is if Sammy is even 1/2 the man his grandfather was we will be extremely proud. Paul hopes he can live up to the example his father gave him of how to be a good parent...kind, decent, loving, selfless, and above all, extremely patient.

Sammy's grandfather Samuel "D" circa 1960.

Thus Samuel was born. Michele did great and is recovering well. Little Sammy was put on antiboitics because of the meconium and on dextrose because his glucose levels were iffy at the beginning. We'll do a followup posting on Sammy's time in the nursery at the hospital but just so no one worries, Sammy is just fine (rumors of missing eyebrows, etc. are not true although the one about no teeth is).

Our son Sammy...note we'll be making faces like this when he's in his teens.

During the labor, the nurses, the anesthesiologists, chief, consultant, and resident1 were excellent. It helped us better see why the Mayo Clinic is considered one of the premier medical facilities in the world. We would recommend to anyone having a baby or needing help with any lung related issues (such as COPD and others) to come to the Mayo.

And now, what we've all been waiting for...a pic of Samuel "D" and his beautiful mother Michele!

Samuel and his lovely mother Michele.