Well, there's lots to tell. And there have been lots of requests for photos. Please excuse any long delays in loading this page, but you asked, so here come the photos.

The short version of the first four or so days in Alexander's life go like this:

Friday morning, 7:30am. We load up and drive in to the hospital. The plan is to be induced, because we are two weeks plus one day past the due date, which makes getting that baby born as soon as possible Medically Necessary.

We show up at the hospital on time (8am), check into our room (it's like a hotel, fer crying out loud) and meet our nurse, who is amazing. Monitors are set up, vitals are taking, IV is begun, and the process gets rolling.

I won't describe all the gory details of how induction and labor work. The long and the short of it is, things are going great until, well, the baby refuses to come out. By around 11:30pm, the doctor decides that we may want to try some clever techniques (like vacuum extraction), so we move into the "delivery room."

"Delivery Room" is a euphemism for "Operating Room," by the way.

They try everything, realize that the baby isn't coming out that way, and decide to go for a cesarean section. The entire team is quick and professional, and they take care of the baby and Paulette with a minimum of fuss.

Alexander doesn't cry when he's born. I get to hold him, then bring him over to Paulette. His hands and feet are purple, but the rest of him looks mighty normal. He has some hair, and these big blue eyes. Here's what he looked like after he was two hours old. Notice that the hands have already pinked right up:

After we return to our room from the operating-- delivery room, the nurse suggests that I put on the first diaper, and she took a photo since I had the camera out. I think she was surprised that I had no problem with putting on the diaper.

Anyway, Paulette and the baby get to take in some sleep after the first feeding, and all is going well, but I can't sleep at all. The accommodations for the father are, uh, not so good. At least, in our room. I return the next day to find Paulette and her mother (who is visiting from out of town) have things well under control. Day one proceeds fairly smoothly, with the occasional feedings, sleep, and soiled diapers. I leave that night in the care of Paulette's mother, and we decide that I'll take the day shifts and she (Paulette's mother) will take the nights. So far, so good.

When I come back the next morning, I discover that one of the nurses has decided that the baby looks a little bit yellowish, so they check Alexander's blood tests. Turns out that he *may* be creeping into jaundice territory, so they take even more blood, which sets him to screaming for the first time. This (combined with an increasing case of jaundice, as it turns out) tuckers the poor kid out, so feeding becomes very difficult. However, feeding is very important to combat jaundice. Day Two was rough, with lots of crying and resisting the program. (And, no, I'm not just referring to myself.)

We had to keep Alexander wrapped up with an illuminated pad against his back which emitted ultraviolet light. This is supposed to help the jaundice.

I go home. Come back the next morning, and it turns out that the pad isn't working. So, they've put Alexander into an incubator that is bathed in ultraviolet light. They've attached Geordi LaForge-like fasteners on his temples to hold a cover over his eyes to protect them from the light.

While they look like "visor implants" from Star Trek: The Next Generation, they are really just velcro pads in the shape of a heart that are Crazy Glued to his temples. His "visor" is a little cushioned set of sunglasses with velcro fasteners at the ends. When he sits in his incubator, it's hard not to imagine all sorts of science fiction images.

In fact, I must digress for a second to point out just how science fiction-esque the whole birth process is. Let's see, there's Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the 1974 version, with the hatching of the pod people. There's Alien with the c-section (and the hospital food, har, har). The Abyss, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Species also come to mind.

The writer's mind at work, I suppose.

Our Martian Baby had a much better Day Three than Day Two, as he got into a routine with the coming out of "The Box" (my term for the incubator) to feed, getting a chance to see the world for about half an hour or so, and then going back into blind-folded contemplation in his ultraviolet solitary cell. He slept better, fed better, and his mother was doing likewise. Everyone was happier.

Day four, and the routine hasn't changed much, except that we're tired of the routine and we're pretty much ready to all go home. The food at the hospital is actually not bad, but it's a limited menu. Paulette is ready to spend some quality time at home, and we'd really like the chance to let the kid enjoy his new home rather than spending time in the Box. The doctors are optimistic that we'll be able to bring him home tomorrow (Wednesday). Wish us luck.

As for me, I just want to hold the guy. Right now, all I get to do is change a diaper or two. It breaks my heart to keep blindfolding him and putting him into an incubator. :-(

And that's the one thing I'm really leaving out of this little description of events: the emotional ups and downs of labor, birth, and recovery. I'm as analytical as the next guy when it comes to solving a problem or pursuing a goal, but the emotions that go along with the events of the past few days are something else. They are hard to describe without sounding mushy to anyone who hasn't been there, or sounding woefully inadequate to someone who has.

I'm pleased to say that Paulette is recovering quite nicely from the operation, and she appears to be in excellent spirits (although, as I mentioned, she'd like to come home now). Her mother has been a wonderful help, and we're all glad that Alexander and his Grandma Dwen will get to spend some quality time before she heads back home. (Alexander's paternal grandparents will get to visit in a couple weeks.)

That's all for now. I need to get some rest before driving back to the hospital in the morning. There will certainly be more news to follow, and I'll bet there's even some non-baby-related news that awaits us all. In the meantime, Thanks again for reading, and don't be bashful about dropping me a line!