Details (not too gory)

First of all, thanks to everyone who has called and e-mailed. It's been a busy few days and learning to do this is a little bit like the beginning of college, law school, or living in a new country. Lots of mistakes; a bit overwhelming; getting used to that nothing will ever be the same again. I'm sorry I haven't been able to answer my phone too much and am getting sorely behind on returning calls, but I will try to get better at that in the days to come.

Here are some highlights from the last few days.

-- Johan was delivered by c-section at 3:18 pm on November 15. My mom and Eduardo were in scrubs and in the room with me. Eduardo described himself as "doctor for a day."

-- Johan weighed 7lbs, 12 oz and was 21 inches long. Ummm...very much in the 50th percentile, and not at all over 9 lbs like the doctors were estimating. He is perfect and beautiful (see pictures in previous post).

-- Johan had lots of visitors in the first few days of life- lots of family and friends, including Michelle who came all the way from Chicago and Sarah who came all the way from Madison so that all important cities in the upper midwest were represented in welcoming him.

--Eduardo did a great job in the delivery room and then carried Johan to the nursery to be weighed and cleaned off. After that was over, he stepped out of the nursery and fainted. Like a true telenovela story. He didn't hit his head and Michelle together with a nurse wheeled Eduardo down the hospital emergency room to be checked out. He was diagnosed with a case of being an overwhelmed new dad. Other than that, he was perfectly fine. And continues to be perfectly fine, a great dad, and a 50-50partner with me in navigating this new life.

-- Sarah is Johan's godmother and will take care of the "My First Hanukkah" page of Johan's baby book. She will be responsible for kindness, a social conscience, and has already started giving out spiritual guidance ("Anything that you poop on should be easy to clean.").

--Johan is sleeping right now and seems to not grasp the concept that we stay awake during the day and sleep at night. I am hoping he learns this soon, although I must say I am bursting with pride at all the things he has already learned: to breathe; to eat; to burp; to open one eye while leaving the other closed; to furrow his brow; to cry; and to suck on his finger.

So, my mom is cooking us dinner right now, and I am going to sign off and start sampling the spaghetti sauce.

Thanks for everyone's well-wishes. I will update again soon.