The birth

Because it was all a blur, I'm just going to write it as I recall it. This might come out confusing, but it was a crazy time. Thanks for bearing with me.

So it all started about three weeks ago. My wife is feeling cramps during the night. It continues all night long, and we think it may be the beginnings of labor. At 5 am, she concludes that it's not labor and it's just a bowel movement waiting to happen. At 6 am, she reverses that decision and goes into labor. We calmly woke up and began cleaning and prepping the house for labor. The plan was to labor at home for as long as possible and then deliver the baby at the hospital. This plan worked almost perfectly for our son, and we were hoping for a repeat. The contractions started sporatically. Most importantly, they were actually bearable for her this time. Last labor, the contractions started at 3 min. apart and were so intense that I could not leave her side AT ALL the entire time. This time, however, she could walk around the house, have a conversation, eat food, take a bath, etc. This was such a relief. We shipped the kids next door at about 10 am so they were not all up in our business during the drama. Since we don't have family here in CA, it was nice to have someone to watch them. Our doula arrived at about 10 am, and she monitored the progress of the labor and provided some instructions to ease the process. At some point, I went next door to get our son. He needed a nap, and the best place for that was in his own bed. About 6 hours into the labor, my wife was having her doubts. She wasn't sure if she was dialating at all, since this felt so much different than previous labor. Our doula suggested "curb walking". The name sums it up pretty well, but the idea is to shift the hips/pelvis by walking with one foot on and one foot off of the curb. She went up and down one car length and was done with this because it was too brutal. We came inside and she suddenly felt the urge to push. She decided it was time to head to the hospital. I called her doctor, but being Saturday, the office was closed and I left the wrong number on the call-back machine. I called the neighbors and told them to bring our daughter over and stay here for a bit since the boy was still napping and we were leaving for the hospital. So... the neighbor walks in with our daughter and my wife has a contraction in the kitchen and her water breaks! We quickly determine that we're not going to make the 20-25 minute ride to the hospital. We ship the neighbor/daughter back next door, and I call 911. This was my first time ever calling 911, but something very unexpected happened. I got put on HOLD. All operators were busy! Can you believe that? What great timing. Eventually, I got through, and told them to send an ambulance because we were having a baby at our house. We through the futon mattress onto the floor and my wife got into the most comfortable pushing position (on hands and knees, in this case). I was down in "catching" position, scared out of my mind. Luckily, the first medical team showed up (in a fire truck) about 2 minutes before the baby came out. They caught her, not me. I was able to cut the cord, but they didn't have the medical scissors like they do at the hospital. I had to use a scalpel, and I didn't get all the way through the cord on the first attempt. Blood shot out and I froze up. They told me to cut again and I did, and everything was fine. After a few minutes of clean up, we began getting my wife and baby ready for a trip to to the hospital. At the last minute, I realized that my son was still in the next room sleeping, so before rushing to the hospital, I woke him up, showed him his new sister and ran him next door.

The hospital was not a good experience, and I'll spare you the details. Mother and baby stayed there for about 26 hours, and then came home. Everyone is healthy and recovering just fine.

Next time, I think we're going to try for a PLANNED home birth. It's amazing how peaceful it was, actually. The baby came out and didn't cry for the first 30-45 minutes of her life. At first I was concerned, but the doula told me that it's a sign of a non-traumatic birth experience for the child.

So... that's the story.

She's Here!

A little over a week ago, baby Bojo # 3 arrived. I'll make a post with the exciting details of the birth story, but I wanted to at least get a picture up.

San Diego Comicon

Ahh... Comicon. Good times. Despite the fact that it took me two hours to find a parking space, I really enjoyed myself at the convention. I saw some old friends, had some quality business meetings, and saw some really neat toys.

My only regret is not being there longer. Because it was so close to home, I treated it more like a "field trip" than a convention. I wish I had gone on Thursday as well as Friday so I could've seen more of the show. I wish I could've hung out with the old friends and enjoy the convention night-life. Next year...

Also, I will not be attending GenCon Indy this year. Baby #3 is coming right about the same time (3 weeks from now!). Of course family comes first, but I will miss it. 

Ten things you may not know about Bojo

All the cool bloggers are doing it...

1. I'm a gamer that enjoys watching games more than playing them. It hasn't always been this way, but for the past few years, I get much more joy and satisfaction from my gaming as a spectator. I'm a strange duck.

2. My favorite band in the world is The Wedding Present. They're a brit pop band that has been around forever. They have a gritty guitar sound and lyrics that focus on relationships. I just looked through my collection, and I have 24 albums of theirs. They've been around since the late 80's and have gone through infinite line-up changes, but the singer is always the same. For a while, the band broke up and reformed as Cinerama, but now they are back together as The Wedding Present again and I couldn't be happier. I don't talk about it much, but I'm a really big fan. I've only seen them live once, though, because they mainly tour in Europe.

3. I never took even a sip of alcohol until I turned 21. I went to plenty of parties and such in high school and college, but never chose to get into drinking. I attribute this mostly to the good example that my brother set for me, and I don't regret it at all. I drink occasionally now, but it's definitely not a major part of my lifestyle.

4. I have no idea what I want to do when I grow up. I am currently living out the fantasy of my hobby as my career, but I'm not sure how long this will last. I'm enjoying the ride, but I fear for the industry in the long run. Outside of this industry, I have absolutely no idea what I want to do. That scares me a little.

5. I did not have any serious dating relationships before I met my wife in college. I went out with a few girls in middle school and high school, but it was always very short term, and wasn't anything deep. I met my wife during the first week of school my freshman year at college. Eight years later we married. No one has ever connected with me like she does.

6. My family grew up in geographic isolation from the rest of our family on both sides. We lived in Wisconsin. My Mom's family was on the east coast, and my Dad's family was spread out all over both coasts. The Bojos were isolated, and we liked it that way. We were (and still are) a tight-knit group. Of course, we love our extended family, and visited them often, but it's not like they were just down the road. So far, both Bojo boys (my brother and I) have repeated this with our own families, though it hasn't really been on purpose. I'd like to live near my family one day.

7. I took piano lessons for 12 years. I started in first grade and played until I graduated from high school. I haven't really played since then. Really, I wasn't any good at it. I don't think I had any natural talent, what I had I worked for. It was sort of frustrating, though. My lessons, though private, were only during the school year. I never played during the summer, so I would have to re-learn a whole bunch from the previous year every time. These lessons helped me to hone my work ethic and stick-to-it-iveness. I didn't want to be a quitter.

8. Before I started working at Decipher, no one ever called me Bojo. That nickname was used for my older brother a bit in high school, but it never really applied to me. At my current job, I'm mostly just known by my first name, but some people call me "Bojo", "d-boj", or one adventurous guy calls me "bojanator" or "bojanopolis" sometimes.

9. My faith is a large part of my life. Some of you know this, some may not. I don't "preach" at people, but I try to not compromise my beliefs in all areas of my life. My Mom has her doctorate in Theology and founded and runs a Bible College in Wisconsin. In the early 80's, she released two Christian records. It was cool. The college and grad school I attended were both Christian schools, and I enjoyed the integration of faith and learning. Currently, I regularly attend a church and a bi-weekly small group Bible study. I went there tonight, actually. God has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.

10. I have NEVER been in a physical fight. It's just never come up. Why would I need to resort to violence? We can work it out! We're reasonable people, right?

Uninspired...

I keep meaning to post here, but alas... I'm uninspired. I don't have anything particularly exciting to share, so I guess I'll just ramble a bit.

• The wife and I are now hooked on Joss Whedon shows... it started with Firefly and has spread. I thought I would never watch Buffy... It has sucked us in. Very entertaining.
• The Allman Brothers are really good. I'm listening to them right now, and I'm fondly remembering seeing them in Milwaukee with my brother. What a blast.
• I was extremely pleased with Apple's customer service recently. My 4-month old iPod randomly died. I couldn't do anything to it. I went to the Genious Bar at an Apple Store and 20 minutes later I walked out with a brand new iPod, with very little paperwork or questions asked. No fuss at all.
• My feet have been hurting lately. It's strange because they've never been a problem before. I'm chalking this one to getting old.
• Two months until baby # 3 comes. E is feeling very pregnant lately, and all that comes with that. Trouble sleeping, frequent naps, lots of peeing, nesting, etc. We're very excited, though.
• M is doing great in school. She's finally starting to like it. Her class is putting on a musical later this month. They are going to be singing "Under the Sea" or something. We're switching her from five 1/2 days to three full days per week. I think that will help us all.
• We've cut out soda recently. It's not as hard as I thought it would be. Still, I crave Mountain Dew frequently.
• Unexpected bonuses at work are nice. At my previous employer, the bonuses ended the year I arrived, never to return.
• My favorite kind of pizza is a toss up between ham and pineapple or pepperoni and black olives.
• I am eyeing up Hybrid cars. Wouldn't it be nice to get 40-50 miles per gallon? It sucks paying $75-80 for a tank of gas. Unfortunately, there aren't Hybrid minivans in the US yet. They've had them for a few years in Japan, but their arrival date here is uncertain. Bummer.

Maybe I did have something to say... random babble.

Snot bubbles

For all of those parents out there...

How do you feel about the snot bubbles on your 1-2 year old child? I had seen them before I was a parent and was *totally* grossed out by them. I always wondered why the parents couldn't keep the kid's nose clean and clear! As a parent of a full-fledged snot bubbler, I can honestly say that I'm still really grossed out by it. Of course, I love my son more than anything, but geez... where does it all come from? We wipe it (or more appropriately, he wipes it on our clothes) and it comes right back in full force. I feel bad for the little guy... I can't wait until he's feeling better.

Get well, son!

Is anything really free?

So... I know better than this... I really do.

I overheard a co-worker talking about a great deal he just got. I wanted to know more, so I asked. He said that for sitting in on a time-share presentation, he was going to get a $300 digital camera, a trip to Vegas, and something else cool. I said some off-handed remark about wishing I could get cool deals like that and walked away.

Fast forward a few days and I get a phone call. It's from this same company, offering a "special" deal to me and my family. Being the sucker that I am, I listen and ask a bunch of questions. Here's what I could figure out:

What I have to do:
* Go to a 90-minute "tour" (sales pitch) for their time-share plan

What I get:
* Free trip - AIRFARE and HOTEL for 3 days to my choice of several interesting destinations
* Either $75 Shell gas card OR $50 Am.Ex. gift card

Hmm... I'm intrigued. One of the locations is San Francisco, and we have friends that we like to visit up there. The place we'd have to go for this 90-minute "tour" is right up the road. It seems like a good deal. I spoke to the co-worker that gave them my number and asked him how the sales pitch was. He said it was bearable, and they would back off if you really weren't interested (which we won't be).

Still.... something inside me says to stay away from this at all costs. Will there be lots of hoops to jump through to get my free flights? Is it worth me wasting a couple of hours on a Saturday? I really value my time on the weekends with my family... and this doesn't seem like a good use of that time.

Please note that I do not hold any ill-will toward this co-worker for giving them my name and phone number. I clearly walked right into that, and am considering taking them up on their offer.

So... what say you, my friends? Should I give it a try, or run far away? Have you ever done anything like this? If so, how did it turn out?