Posts Tagged ‘baby’

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LITTLE SISTER

by Tom on December 4, 2009 at 12:00 am
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baby, birth, born, daughter, family

As you may have guessed from the image above, I have some wonderful news to share with everyone!

Yesterday, at 11:07 AM, Cami delivered our little baby girl into the world. She weighed 7lbs, 11oz and measured 19.5" inches long.

We named her Pearl Eveyln Brazelton.

Pearl joined us a little sooner than we expected - her original due date was the 16th and her C-section was scheduled for the 10th - but we're thrilled to have her with us.

Things went much more smoothly with Pearl than they did with Henry. Basically because we knew a natural childbirth was off the table from the get-go. Since having a c-section was always our plan, it was just a mater of being taken into surgery once Cami was admitted to the hospital.

I first had a sense that something was up about 5:30 yesterday morning. Stirring from my sleep and barely awake, Cami tells me "I think I'm having contractions, but I'm not sure. It's no big deal."

"That's kind of heavy to lay on someone first thing in the morning, honey," I replied, still hazy.

But we went about our morning, getting Henry out of bed, dressed and preparing to take him to day care.

Funnily enough, Cami and I were supposed to meet with our doctor yesterday morning to discuss the C-section that was scheduled for one week later. Cami and I had planned on carpooling to work and dropping Henry off at daycare. But Cami's contractions didn't ebb and she sent me and Henry out the door without her. Our plan had morphed slightly. I would take Henry to day care, work a couple of hours and then meet her at the doctors office at 9:00 AM.

After dropping Henry off, I got a call at my desk from Cami. "I'm not going to make it to 9:00 o'clock," she said. I rushed home to get her.

Bags packed, we headed to the hospital. We arrived at 8:30 and they quickly confirmed that Cami was in labor.

Long story short, they took her into the operating room and Pearl was born at 11:07 AM!

Since we didn't have our parents waiting around in the lobby like we did when Henry was born, Cami and I were able to relax a little bit and enjoy our time with Pearl before we started to welcome visitors.

I cradled my daughter in my arms. Bundled tightly in her blankets, she chirped and cooed. Snow flurries swirled outside our window overlooking the hospital's garden. And I knew peace. It was a wonderful feeling.

There will be more information later. But for now I wanted to share the good news and thank everyone who has already sent message of support. We appreciate your kind words.

Look for a series of guest comics in this space starting Monday. Until then, have a great weekend!

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ADDITION TO THE FAMILY

by Tom on September 21, 2009 at 11:37 am
Posted In: Blog
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If you read these blogs, you know that 2009 has not been a very good year for me. I've seen the lives of friends shatter and crumble around me - divorce, miscarriage and death. My own life has been beset by difficultly - my job being eliminated, emergency room visits. In general, 2009 has been tough to muddle through.

But I have something waiting for me in December that I think is going to make everything worth while...

Baby Brazelton

Cami and I are expecting our second child.

As you can see from the date on the sonogram - July 23 - I've been sitting on this information for a while. Not for any particular reason. Except sometimes it's hard to wrap my mind around the thought that we're having another baby. I mean, Henry keeps us so occupied already, the fact that Cami's pregnant sometimes slips my mind.

I would feel bad, but I've talked to friends who are also in the middle of their second pregnancies, and they admit to the same thing. You're so busy trying to keep the first one from stabbing his eye out with a fork, you kind of forget the second one is on the way.

Well, there is no avoiding it now. Cami is showing beautifully and thoughts of the pregnancy consume my thoughts every day. Sometimes those thoughts are "Holy crap, I don't have a job. How are we going to afford two kids in day care?" But most of the time, they are less panicked.

At any rate, for those of you wondering: Yes, we do know the sex of the baby and; Yes, we are sharing that information...

It's a girl.

As for the name? We're keeping that one close to the vest.

Having a girl let alone having a sibling for Henry to interact with is new territory for me. I'm not worried about the burping / feeding / rocking phase of development. I feel like I have those skills finely tuned. What freaks me out is what will happen when the kids are older and start bouncing off each other.

I never had a brother or a sister, so I understand very little about family dynamics. Cami has a younger sister, so she brings some experience to the table. But I'm coming at this with no idea if or how these two are going to get along.

This is my problem as a parent - I'm always thinking three years ahead of myself. Before Henry was born, I had all these big ideas about going to the zoo, playing catch and hanging out all the time. I gave no thought to the burping / feeding / rocking, etc.

I feel like I'm falling into the same trap with the new baby. "What's it going to be like when she comes home crying because another girl said she didn't like her shoes?" That kind of thing. What kind of advice can I give? Except for the highly acerbic kind?

Like anything else, I suppose I just have to play things by ear. All I know is that it will be a different experience for me.

Cami's due date is sometime around the middle of December. But since Cami is planning on having another C-section (after delivering Henry by Cesarean last time) we won't know the exact date until we meet with our surgeon.

All I know is that I'm very much looking forward to meeting Baby Brazelton and as I know more, I will be happy to share details with you.

In the meantime, I just wanted to put the good news out there and share a little bit of my life with you.

Thanks and take care.

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GUEST STRIP – JOE DUNN

by Tom on February 21, 2007 at 12:00 am
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guest strip, Joe Dunn, Joe Loves Crappy Movies, Digital Pimp Online, baby, crib, Blu-ray

Apologies to Joe Dunn for not publishing his guest strip earlier. The reason for which is two-fold:

1.) Uhh... having a newborn is time consuming. I have recently learned this.

2. Tycho from Penny Arcade linked to the site on Monday and TH was on the receiving end of a proper"wanging." I'm not complaining. It's a good problem to have. Service is spotty right now and we're looking at opening up a little more bandwidth, but I'm kind of on the periphery of those changes at the moment.

Be that as it may, I wanted to get Joe's comic in front of the new influx of readers because his web comic Joe Loves Crappy Movies is quite wonderful and I want all of you to know about it.

It may have been the lack of sleep, but when Joe sent me his comic not long after Henry had been born, I teared up a little. I found it to be very personal and touching, which is always appreciated. Love that Iron Man reference, Joe!

Thanks also to Tycho for his link. Not for what it means for the site, but so I could share my joy not only with my readers but with Penny Arcade's readers as well. What a privilege. Not everyone can say they can share the news of their son's birth around the globe to tens of thousands of people. It sounds like a cool story to tell him when he's older. "They celebrated your birth around the planet, little guy."

At any rate, if you're new to the site, WELCOME! I hope you keep us in your bookmarks and come back to visit us when things have settled down a little.

Thanks to everyone who left their well wishes in the comments section of Monday's blog before the site went ker-flooey. I read all of them to Cami in the hospital. Both she and Henry are doing great. He was sleeping about 3 hours at a stretch while we were in the hospital, so that gives us hope.

We brought him home today. It's been a little rough because he's been very gassy and nearly inconsolable. But as I was typing this, he let out the biggest gurgle of a fart you can imagine and I almost started crying. It sucks when you know what the problem is with your child and you can't help him. So, just as he was relieved, so was I.

Pictures and whatnot are still forthcoming. We just have to find some gaps in the day when we aren't sleeping to do it. It's nice being home. All three of us were getting a little annoyed at how often people were coming into the room for one reason or another. I'm not talking about the friends and family that came to visit us. We were always thankful to see them. I'm really not even talking about the doctors or nurses. They provided us with EXCELLENT care and we were thoroughly impressed.

It's just that... after a while... it all becomes a little overwhelming and you need a quiet moment. Coming home with Henry today was all about having that quiet time together. Phones were unhooked, televisions were turned off and we spent all of our time just staring at him.

Oh - for anyone who was wondering, Truman took to Henry immediately and their introduction couldn't have gone smoother. We put him down in his car seat and Truman stuck his nose in under the blanket we were using to cover him up. We took the blanket away and Truman sniffed him all over, wagging his tale happily. He didn't lick or bark or do anything to startle him. I think he was happy to see Cami and I after three days and really happy to meet the newest member of the family. He's been great all day. He can certainly sense that Cami is a little tender from her surgery and that's she's recovering. He's not as rough as he sometimes can be. He's curling up at the foot of our bed and sometimes giving us our space by sleeping on his floor pillow - which he NEVER does.

Anyway, we were thrilled that he took to Henry so well. We were a little worried he'd get too excited and would be careless.

As for me? What can I say? I'm happy and that sums things up perfectly.

Come back to the site again on Friday. I'll have a whole new comic from yours-truly posted on the site. Hopefully on time.

Thanks for your patience and support as we sort things out around here. Cami, Henry and I appreciate all the kind words!

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BABY BORN

by Tom on February 19, 2007 at 12:00 am
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baby, announcement, Henry

Henry Finn Brazelton was born at 1:27 PM on Sunday, February 18, 2007 weighing 9 lbs. 2 oz. and measuring 20.5" inches.

Incidentally, his head measured a little more than 14" inches around. A "normal" baby has a head circumference of about 11" or 12". - victim of the famed "Brazelton Head Syndrome" or B.H.S. A condition in which you a born with a friggin' huge noggin. Seriously - it has it's own weather system!

Subsequently, medical professionals in attendance concur - THAT'S a big baby.

For those of you monitoring "Brazelbaby Watch 2007," the wait is over. Cami performed like a gladiator through 30 hours of labor including 5 hours of pushing before Henry was delivered by C-section on Sunday afternoon. I am beside myself with pride. Never once did she complain and she gave to me a beautiful baby boy. Both Mother and baby are doing great.

I know you may have been looking forward to a new comic here (and there will be one on Wednesday). But since this has been a moment that I've been building up toward and involving you guys in for several months, I thought it would be a nice thing to take this time and celebrate it with all of you as well.

Many thanks for your previous messages of support. We've saved every one of them and it means the world to us.

It's been a long ride for the three of us. I think we both got about 4 hours of sleep between us in the last 48 hours. Stay tuned, though. It's a great story and we're looking forward to telling it!

With love,
Tom, Cami and Henry

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