what's in a name

We knew we'd have to explain Slane's name, and we like explaining, so here is an explanation. In a much earlier post we joked that we would name our child after a hymn, and every Sunday in church we would laugh at the names of hymns we were singing, or would say, yeah, I like that one.

At the end of October, I had a sinus infection and stayed home from church. Q came home and told me he had the perfect name. They had sung "Be Thou My Vision" and the tune name was Slane. That hymn has always been special to us. I played it at my Profession of Faith when I was in college, and Dan and I had played it together on our Louisiana trip too...and we had our friend Megan sing it and friend Julian accompany at our wedding.

We spent a few days rolling it around on our tongues, and decided it was perfect, boy or girl. It seemed even more appropriate when we considered that she was due on St. Patrick's Day and would have an Irish last name. I did a bit of research to make sure it didn't have any terrible connotations, and Wikipedia assured me it didn't.

Augusta comes from Q's grandfather. Grandpa Daniel's middle name was Augustus. We wanted to use a family name, and most of mine are taken, what with almost 30 great-grandchildren between my two sets of grandparents. Grandpa Daniel was a very special person to both of us. I lived with him for almost 3 summers, and he taught me and Q a lot about life. We wanted to honor him by giving our child part of his name.

So, we've known Slane's name since October, but we did a pretty good job of keeping it a secret...

Home

Slane, MamaCue and I came home yesterday after over five days at the local hospital. Slane is adjusting to her new digs and all the new sights, sounds, and smells.



One of our nurses, Kari, had a baby at our hospital a few months ago. We asked her what she felt was her biggest adjustment from hospital to home. Kari said the first few nights are rough. Kari was right. Slane's cries and fussiness gave us a few stretches of sleeplessness and tested our patience. I figured much of it came from Slane's desire to communicate, limited by her vocabulary of cries and wiggles.



We're still learning the difference between hungry, diaper, hold me, and chatty. We joked last night that we should invent a machine that translates her cries into generic adult communication: term papers, salon gossip, infomercial, etc.



Posts will be sporadic the next few days as our world reorients itself to the addition of Slane. More stories and pictures will come as we find moments to steal away and share more stories with you.

Photos

I've snuck away from the hospital to share a few photos. Slane and MamaCue are doing well. We'll leave the hospital Friday.




Coming soon: What's in a name?

BabyCue by the numbers:

Born: 6:24 am
Weight: 8 lbs., 14 oz.
Length: 20"
Head and chest both 14"

It's a girl

MamaCue delivered a baby girl by C-section. More details soon.

C-section

BabyCue will be born later this morning by C-section.

Labor Day

MamaCue is still dilating and contracting. NuBain has helped with the pain. We're taking naps. More details soon.

MamaCue update

MamaCue received her first pain medication a few minutes ago, 5mg of Nubain. It has taken the edge off of the contractions, helping her relax.

We're now in our 14th hour of labor, just over 12 hours at the hospital. We're still the only ones in the OB wing. Given the contractions and dilation, we may be parents very soon. Stay tuned.

Non stress test and spring break is almost over

So, here is how that works. They put two belts on the belly. The pink one tracks baby's heartbeat (it sounds like a horse running, or squeaky rubber), and the blue one tracks contractions (which I wasn't aware I was having, I mean, I felt them, but didn't know that's what they were). For about a half hour this machine monitors all of that, and then the nurse looks at it, says all is well, and after calling Dr. B, sends you on your way. We get to do it again on Monday.

Today is the last day of Spring Break, and it looks like I might be headed to school on Monday. I hadn't planned on going next week, but I might as well earn a little more cash before the baby comes. I told Q that I really need to get out of the house today, or I need something to do, and he suggested I do more laundry. Not the answer I was looking for. So I have laundry going, and I took a big morning nap (again). After I finish with this, I'll head to the post office to see if we got anything interesting in the mail. Then maybe I'll get a coffee or a chai before heading home. Everyone should have a spring break this exciting.

the other guy

Yesterday we met the "back-up" doctor, who is on call while Dr. B goes on vacation. He tried to reassure me by telling me that he has delivered over 500 babies and all will be well. I took that to mean, "you're just another notch on my belt." Woo-hoo. I really don't want a different doctor, but I know I'm not the first in this situation. My mom tells me that our family doctor was in Germany when my sister decided to show up. I guess it would be hard for doctors to go on vacation if they had to schedule around the babies that might show up while they are gone.

On facebook last night Dr. B's wife did mention that her house, especially Dr. B and their son, is on standby and trying to be patient. So are we.

I really hope that the baby comes before the induce day, though, because going that late means I get only two weeks with baby before I have to go back to school to get my kids ready for a concert. I wanted more than two weeks, but we've been working on this concert since January, and we can't afford for me to take more time off. I did cancel all of my piano lessons next week though, which may be too hopeful of thinking on my part.

So we celebrated St. Patrick's Day and no baby by grilling steaks ( a splurge, but I needed to splurge) and walking to Dairy Queen for some soft serve happiness. Dan has stopped telling the baby to wait a couple more days, and now in the mornings tells Babycue to come today. That would be good. I am not patient when it comes to schedules and being on time, and this is I guess a good lesson for me. What I think is good timing is not always good timing and things will work out, or come out, as the daycare kids say.

No baby yet.

The due date has come and gone with only a few irregular contractions. We'll post a message when "it's time."



We've scheduled a non-stress test for Thursday. It will measure BabyCue's heart rate and response to movement to see if it is under any stress. If nothing happens, we'll induce March 26. We really hope BabyCue comes this week.



For now, think good thoughts, send karma, and say a prayer for MamaCue and BabyCue. We'd like the little one to come this week, but more importantly, we want health and safety for mother and child.

000:00:00:00

The countdown clock is all zeroes, but BabyCue remains in the womb. We have a doctor's appointment this afternoon. It looks like BabyCue will be neither a St. Patrick's Day baby nor a due date baby. This is not a surprise, as 95% of babies enter the world on a day other than their due date.

4 days

That's right. The counter on the bottom of the blog says 4 days to go. Yesterday we had a checkup, and I am dilated a little bit. Not much, but enough for Dr. B to say any day. He is hoping it is soon too, because he wants to be here when the time comes. He goes on vacation the 21st.

At the daycare this week, everyone kept saying, "hope we don't see you next week." One little girl said she hopes I get the baby out. Another lovely child tried to look up my shirt for the baby.

Yesterday morning I stopped for some coffee, and saw Dr. B's wife and daughter. I teach their kids at the daycare, and E was very excited to see me. Even when I was standing in front of her, and talking to her, she kept asking to see me. Cute. Dr. B's wife mentioned that their 4 year old son wants to come see me and the baby in the hospital and would that be okay. Sure. I don't mind. I'm a little flattered. One of my piano students also asked if he could come to the hospital to see the baby.

So, back to waiting. Every morning Q tells the baby not to come yet, because he has more to catch up on at work. I tell the baby today is as good as any. Meanwhile, I tell my piano students who are sticking around for spring break that if there isn't a baby, I'll see them next week.

When will BabyCue arrive and what will BabyCue look like?

If Linda is right, BabyCue comes tomorrow morning at 8:30. (Good thing we packed last night.) But what if Erik is right? Then BabyCue won't come until Friday, March 27. SmileyCue gets to enjoy nearly three more weeks of pregnancy. Awesome! (Says the not pregnant one...)

We learned these predictions at the Avenue BabyCue, a baby shower held last month by two colleagues. Fancying myself a social scientist, I present some findings from the (highly un)scientific survey of guests.

When will BabyCue be born? Everyone chose a date between March 10 and 27. In fact, all responses except Erik's (March 27) were between March 10 and 20. The median date was March 15, the mode was March 14. As far as time of day, both the median and mode are high noon, though the mean time is 11:54 a.m. The time of birth ranged from midnight (Suzanne) to 9:15 p.m. (Erik).

How long will BabyCue be? With a range of six inches, most people think BabyCue will be 19-20 inches long, with a mean of 19.64". (That's 48-51 cm for the rest of the world, with a mean of 49.9 cm.) Chris (not my brother) thought it will be a diminutive 17" (43 cm); at the other extreme, Mollie guessed a GoGoGadget 23" (58 cm). Maggie wisely predicted, "long enough."

How much will BabyCue weigh? With a range of 4 pounds, 5 ounces (nearly 2 kg), MamaCue may be giving birth to anything from a melon to a Thanksgiving turkey. Katie guessed the lightest weight at 6 pounds, 2 ounces (2.77 kg) and Chris (again, not my bro) guessed a scale-breaking 10 pounds, 7 ounces (4.73 kg), nearly twice as heavy as Katie's prediction. Despite the range, the median averages out to just under 7 pounds, 15 ounces (3.60 kg). The median is 8 pounds, 1 ounce (3.66 kg), and the mode is both 8 pounds, 1 ounce (3.66 kg) and 8 pounds, 2 ounces (3.69 kg).

What color of hair will BabyCue have? The overwhelming choice is brown. A few answered blonde. Taking note of our mechanic's looks, Tom chose black. Two others chose bald.

What eye color will BabyCue have? Brown wins, 12-8, over blue. Green received two votes, and the mysterious "hazel" received a vote from Elaine.

We've tallied the results, which are available online through Google Docs.

birth day

Babycue is due to join us soon. Fortunately, if Babycue does not arrive on the predicted day (the 17th), there are many days in March that would still make us happy parents. Some days we like because of their personal significance, others because we like the number combinations, and still others just because. We would prefer an odd numbered day, because we were both born on odd numbered days in odd numbered months in odd numbered years. Here is a list of days and why we like them:

3/6/9 -- 3 is a magic number.
3/9/9 -- Smileycue was born on the 9th.
3/11/9 -- Smileycue's parents' anniversary, and a rock band (311) has claimed it too! This day is also a non-emergency number.
3/12/9 -- 3 is a magic number, but not as magical as 3/6/9.
3/13/9 -- Q's half birthday, and a Friday this year!
3/14/9 -- Pi, enough said.
3/15/9 -- Ides of March, Smileycue's grandma's birthday, and Q's cousin's wedding anniversary. Et tu, Babycue?
3/16/9 -- like John 3:16, except this is Babycue, not the Messiah.
3/17/9 -- this is the actual due date, and St. Patrick's Day. Babycue will have an Irish last name, so this is appropriate, and also cool since only 1 in 20 people are actually born on the day they are due!
3/20/9 -- a day for celebration, the first day of Spring!!!
3/21/9 -- Q thinks it is cool because it is sequential, and Smileycue thinks it is cool because it reminds her of a locker combination she had in Junior High.

Given our preferences, naturally this means BabyCue will be born on 3/10, 3/18, or 3/19.

So, it isn't too late to make your prediction...leave one in the comments, and tell us why that day is significant to you.

Watch SmileyCue Grow.

It's two weeks to D-day. Here's a montage showing MamaCue's growing belly: