As a matter of fact, I WAS born yesterday...

So here is a video of Benjamin awake. It's 25 megs, so if it doesn't come up right away, be patient, it's loading. Since Jordan made the brilliant decision to go to Switzerland, he decided to make up for it by getting me a video camera for my birthday. However, now I am obligated to keep this site updated with pics and video's for uncle Jordan's benefit. Not a bad trade off really.

This video was taken, despite the title of this post, 2 days after he was born. The day he was born was not a good day. Beth and I didn't sleep almost the whole day and night after his birth. Benjamin, then and now, refuses to sleep by himself, so most of my time was spent with Benjamin on my chest trying to keep him asleep so Beth could recover before the next feeding. He slept ok, but with the help of the nurse, we found the main issue to be that he was just too hungry. A little formula (we cut him off at a little over an ounce), and he slept much better.

Back up. We had around 6 nurses at Meriter, 4 good, 1 bad, 1 friggin awful. Nurse awful was probably part of our main non-sleeping problem, and in fact exhibited all of the behaviors of a speed addict. A blur of talking and motion, she came in, pulled Ben off Beth while he was feeding, ruthlessly took his vitals and Beth's, then proceeded to tell us the exact opposite of everything we had been taught by our 2 birthing classes and every other nurse. She told us to tilt his bed up (very precariously wedged between 2 metal bars), and lay him sideways against the side of it. She said we wouldn't have to worry about SIDS because he was way too strong, and if he happened to fall on his belly he would be just fine. Beth didn't make eye contact. I gave her my best impression of Clint Eastwood right before he blew the guys head "clean off." Unphased, she continued and expounded on the experiences she had had whilst hatching her own crack addicted larvae back at her layer deep in the recesses of hades.

Overall, the formula saved us. Ben still breast fed, but that little bit of formula really helped fill him up and calm him down and we ended up getting a little rest, though I don't think Beth got any sleep.

The day after his Birth wasn't a whole lot better than the night after his birth. But we made it through, and I made sure that we did NOT get any more meth fiends for nurses from then on.