Zain Comes Home

Saturday afternoon, June 23, parents pack up Baby Zain into the carseat and head out of CMPC. Surprisingly, we're not terrified.

The car ride home was perfect. The little guy slept the whole way. Of course, I was driving about 35 MPH on the freeway.

Upon arrival home, he had a big meal and proceeded to sleep the night away, much to the relief of his parents.

The next day, courtesy of good friend Ari Swiller, a bag filled with 10 lbs of deli meats, breads and spreads arrives from Genova Deli, Oakland's premier italian deli. That food fed us, and our guests, for the next 6 days.

Speaking of food, everyone has been so awesome -- Ghielmettis, Eskews (twice), Tilins, Buraks -- all deserve kudos for droppong by yummy already-prepared food. Totally saved us.




Finally, the grandparents have been amazing as well. Papa Jeff, Nana Donna, Grandpa Stewart, and Grandma Barbara have brought food, relieved us so we could sleep, and overall been saviors.


On Tuesday, Zain had his first pediatrician office visit. He weighed 7 lbs 1 oz. He gained weight! Dr. Myles Abbott, Zain's pediatrician gave Amy two high-fives and said her milk must be like cream because most babies don't get back to their birthweight until end of week two.

For the most part, the first week has been wonderful. Our Little Z man is sleeping, eating, and pooping (I know, TMI) well.

Check out this photo. Like mother like son. They sleep in the same position. Crazy.

Boxer Boy Arrives -- His Name is Zain

Summer Soltice, June 21st, the longest day of the year. It also happens to be the day that our boy decided to show up on Planet Earth. This also happened to be his "due" date. Although from what we hear these "due" dates are pretty much just educated guesses. The amazing this is that while this guy was "on time," his mom hasn't been on time in about four years!

I know you've probably heard it from everyone who has had a child but there are no real words to describe the event of childbirth from the perspective of a father. I stood there in amazement as my beautiful wife pushed and pushed, following the nurse and doctor's instructions perfectly. Using all her energy, in about 75 minutes, baby Zain was born. I can't tell you the pride in and love I felt for Amy at that point. Then, there's the arrival of the child. First the top of the head, then the whole head and then, in a blink, out pops this blueish looking little person, wailing from the moment he took his first breath. Baby Boxer is alive and well. But, at this point, still nameless.

Dr. Karen Callen, our truly extradordinary OB, asked me to cut the cord, which I did. That cord provided life to that little guy. I guess I never thought about what it would be like but it's an amazing piece of anatomy. About 1 1/2 in diameter and strong!

After the cord was cut, the baby made his way up to Amy's chest. The tears are now flowing freely from both mom and dad as the baby bonds with his mom.

After we stopped crying, we realized that we needed to name this little guy. We wanted to do this before the grandparents and Auntie Nicole and Great Auntie Mo came back into the room. We knew that we wanted to follow the Jewish custom of naming the baby after important relatives by using the first letter of that relatives name. We had lots of propects but in the end we chose to name the little guy after Amy's paternal great grandmother Zina and my maternal grandfather, Ira. We consulted our list of names agreed that the "Z" name would be Zain. For the "I" name, we agreed Ian would be a great middle name.

The Start of the Beginning of a New Life

It was June 20, 2007 around 7:20 pm. We were getting ready to have our "last meal" as a married couple w/ no kids. As we were posing for a photo in front of our house, a curious conversation happened:

Amy turned to me and said, "Uh oh."

I said, "what's wrong."

She said, "I think my water just broke." (see photo above. Notice Amy's mouth. She telling me right there that her water broke)

I said, "No way"

She said, "Yep."

Long story short...we were told to head the hospital. When we arrive Amy got hooked up to a machine to monitor her contractions and the baby's heartbeat.

About 30 minutes into observation, Grandpa Stewart showed up totally unannounced to be with us. We never even told me what hosptial. He just figured it out. We were so happy he came.

Amy was admitted around 11 pm and labored naturally until around 3:30 am, when she asked for an epidural.

Grandma Barbara, who had flown in from Washington, DC (missing the cloture vote on the Energy Bill in the procees) rolled into the hospital room around 3:00 am.

Around 9 am, Jeff and Donna (soon to be Papa Jeff and Nana Donna) arrived along with Nicole Lynch (Auntie Nicole) and Maureen (already Auntie Mo and soon to be Great Auntie Mo).

Now all we needed was a baby! On to 10 CM!