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in the past several months, our basis or ‘normal’ has changed a lot.

carrie was put on strict 24/7 bedrest, and i thought, okay. she’s home. i can take care of her. we can do this. and we did. guess what? “normal,” is different.

then we found out that strict bedrest at home wasn’t enough, she was transported to DHMC. 90 miles away. and i thought, okay. she’s in Lebanon. i can go back and forth. we can do this. and we did. normal changes, again.

then justin arrived 14 weeks early. we already knew he would be staying in the ICN. we hadn’t quite figured on it being three months. normal? yeah.

well, the good news is he is doing very well. he’s over 1500 grams (3lbs 5ounces). he’s doing his part – eating, breathing, pooping, sleeping, growing.

as for us? a thousand miles of driving a week. our diet is shot. trying to fit in housework when we’re actually home AND awake. but we’ve made this ‘normal.’ it’s almost commonplace.

“normal” is supposed to be crying baby waking you up. dirty diapers. spit, burp, vomit, cry. repeat. “normal” is supposed to be sleep-deprivation and frustration.

but “normal” is also supposed to be holding, rocking, bonding, teaching, learning, growing. and joy. repeat.

we are halfway between Justin’s birthday, and his original due date. normal is going to change, again. and i can’t wait.

so our days hauling up to DHMC to see Justin end up being almost entirely non-productive. we take two days off per week and try to pile all the chores and projects into those two days. here’s today’s To-Do list:

• check P.O. box
• go shopping @ walmart
• vacuum bedroom
• clean bathroom(s)
• clean out fridge
• keg kolsch (batch of beer)
• transfer ipa to secondary ferment (another batch of beer)
• move stuff from upstairs freezer to downstairs freezer
• do Justin laundry
• finish painting guest room
• fold all clean laundry
• empty dishwasher
• fill dishwasher

finished it all. tomorrow’s drive up to Lebanon will be the relaxing part of the weekend!

yes, it’s overdue, but hey – we’ve been busy.

justin is doing well, breathing almost entirely on his own, and gaining weight. they are very pleased with his progress.

mom & dad are tired but happy. we’ve decided basically to spend most of the week in lebanon, taking two days off each week to stay home and get done house work, web work, and tax work. these days will vary as our schedules demand it.

when we do head up to DHMC, we either make it an early day where we arrive in time to attend the doctors’ rounds, and leave before dinner, or a late day where we arrive just after lunchtime and stay until early evening.

it’s tiring, yes, but we’re motivated, and we’re finding sleep where we can get it. alternating early/late days lets us catch up within 24 hrs.

we’re hesitant to publicly post medical info and pictures.  we will post more details when we are comfortable doing so, and we appreciate your understanding with this.

at 11:14am today, Saturday May 9th, we welcomed Justin into the world.

he was born naturally at 26 weeks and 1 day, and weighs 1 pound 14 ounces. he is now in the care of the Intensive Care Nursery at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.

mom is doing well also, and we rolled her in on her robo-bed to visit him.

imagine your bed was tilted backwards by 7 or 8 degrees, and you shouldn’t get out of it, or even sit up, for a week.

or two weeks. or eight. or twelve.

these are the measures that my courageous wife is undergoing in order to stay pregnant. after two weeks of strict at-home bedrest, we continued to have complications that would lead to her delivering early, so she was transported and admitted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH. she will stay at DHMC until the baby is born.

the nurses there (who are awesome, btw) call this backwards-tilt position “standing on your head.”

current status

• today marks 25 weeks, 4 days
• carrie and edgar are both fine
• edgar is measuring correctly for this gestational age, no anomalies detected
• the tilt position seems to have stabilized the situation, but there are no guarantees

we’re taking it one day at a time.

this is how the conversation went.

mike: i also need to order ink
carrie: ink? for crazy printer?
mike: crazy printer, yes.
mike: perhaps it needs a name.
carrie: Let’s name it Yar.
carrie: As in Lt. Tasha Yar.
mike: which one was that again? the psychic one?
carrie: No, that was Troy.
carrie: Yar is the one that got consumed by the tar monster then replaced as chief security officer by Warf.
carrie: Since she, uh, died when consumed by the tar monster.
carrie: That was when they finally let Warf grow his hair out and look less Vulcan and more Klingon.
carrie: Before that, he looked like a Vulcan with an acne problem that got knocked in the head.
mike: hrm. okay.