Kids

Baby Tech

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I do not hide the fact that I am a tech person, or that I love gadgets.  If they have a usefull purpose and they are easy to use I am all for them.  Tech for me was always easy.  I found what I liked and just used it.  When we found out we were having a baby I knew there were some tech items we would need, but I didn’t realize how much stuff we would have that would help.

The first thing I thought of when I thought stuff we needed was a video camera.  My friend Jayson had one for his little ones and I thought it was the coolest thing to be able to see and even interact with them from your iPhone.  When the time came to look I narrowed my search down to the Withings Baby Monitor and the Dropcam.  Withings makes another device I have used and they seemed like their camera was pretty well built but it was $300.  The Dropcam was half the price but it wasn’t designed specifically as a baby camera.  We wanted 2 cameras anyway.  One for the play area the baby would eventually play in and for her crip.  I bought the cheaper camera first to try and if we didnt like it i would use it for the play area and then buy the other camera.  In the end I love the Dropcam and we will be buying another one.  As I write this post I have my Nexus 7 in a stand with the Dropcam app running on it.  I leave the Nexus 7 by the side of my bed with the camera app running at night.  MC switched from a blackberry to an Galaxy Nexus because Android devices could display the video.  She also leavs her phone proped up at the side of her bed with the video on.  When I am at work she props the phone up by the TV in our living room so she can see it on our couch.  I have been leaving the camera site up on my computer at work so I can easliy switch over to see if Teagan is napping.  We still use the audio monitor and leave the sound off since there is a few seconds delay.  We do realize that we may be quick to react sometimes because we see Teagan moving on the video but not making much noise.  We know now to stop and wait a bit before we go check on her but it is still a fantastic tool!

We also have the traditional baby monitor, but even thought it is a common house hold consumer electronic device it is still baby tech.  I got a model that was the best customer reviewed on Amazon and the same day we got it my friend Jenn sent us one from our gift registry.  Thanks Jenn, we use that thing all the time.  The battery lasts all day, and we only plug it in at night when we goto sleep.

The video camera and baby monitor were both items we knew we would be buying.  What I didn’t think we would ever need was a humidifier.  It is very low tech, but it is still tech.  We have steam heat and it gets pretty dry in the winter.  Teagan was very nasal sounding almost from right when we brought her home.  I have a video of her sounding like Darth Vadar.  The doctor recommended a humidifier.  Its a pain to clean often but it works.

Another item we didn’t think we would need was a temperature & humitity sensor.  When we realized it was dry we wanted to know how bad it was and when we should run the humidifier.  I bough a humidity sensor and MC put it in Teagan’s crib.  We put another one on my desk were my computer is since that is near were we will setup Teagan’s play area.  It tells us the humidity and temperature, and also says when humidity is high or low.  We are not sure how accurate the readings are but it has been good so far.  Consumer electronics have come a long way when a decent big LCD temperature sensor like what we got goes for less than $9.  I can just imagine how much something like that would cost 20 years ago.

The last major item that we use daily that you wouldn’t really consider tech.  My mom bought a Giraffe that plays music.  It also will play sounds simulating a human heart beat.  it is supposed to be soothing to the baby, and we find it great to use when putting her down for a nap.  Its a stuffed animal but it is a consumer electronic device with a mini music player inside and buttons up its back for the different options.  Not as high tech as the video camera but tech none the less, and we rely on it every time we put Teagan in her crip.

Other items we use are our phones to view the Dropcam, as well as my Nexus 7.  I am finding I use the Nexus 7 more at home as a clock and dropcam viewer than I do taking it to work.  That is due to other reasons i posted in late October, but because its around the house more I find myself using it for the baby more.  When we sit down to eat dinner or watch a movie we prop it up and use it to keep taps on Teagan.  When I feed Teagan in her room I will take it in and use it to play a sleep play list I made to calm her down.

It seems like a running theme for me in recent posts to point out that yes we dont need most of this tech, and things like the Dropcam weren’t really a viable option for kids as young as my 3 1/2 year old niece but they are pretty common today.  Need or not, they all make caring for our newborn significantly simpler than it would have been.  Raising a baby still isnt easy but it could be much much harder.  I look forward to talking about more tech I get to use with or for Teagan as she gets older.  I am personally waiting for the GPS tracker bracelet or neckless so i know when she is going or coming from school.  i know that is a way off but she is only 6 1/2 weeks old.  I have time.

My First Smile

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Today was a first for me.  Teagan gave me a smile, and it wasn’t gas!  She has been giving smiles here and there to MC and her parents last week but I have not gotten any love till today.  I was working from home and when Teagan was getting up from a nap I had some time so I went in and was the one to wake her.  As she was stretching out after her nap (thats a thing she does) she was totally giving me smiles.  MC thought it was so cute, and I was a happy father!

Other than that it was a normal day except for the fact that I worked from home since I was concerned about the subways conditions after the storm.  MC’s parents left to head home today since they were working during at the election.

The Long Road to Naming T…

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One of the hardest things about having a baby was picking the perfect name. For my wife and I picking a name was a multi-month process. Personally I thought it was amusing enough of the story to want to blog about it.  We didn’t really begin to discuss means that all until we knew we were having a girl. That wasn’t until late March. We both decided we didn’t want to know the sex of the baby. I always said it’s a surprise when you find out, see you don’t need to wait until the baby is born to be surprised. One of the added bonuses of knowing the sex is making it easier to pick a name. I cannot imagine going through that process having to have two choices, a boy and a girl name.

Once it was a girl who started out in earnest to come up with a list of names we like. That didn’t last very long when my wife was questioning my list. Instead of both of us coming up with a list of names we liked a friend or two of mine suggested that I simply retain veto power over names that MC comes up with and likes. I agreed to that and MC began collating a list of name she liked. To start with she had three general criteria she was looking for.  She wanted to find a name that wasn’t super popular, we generally traditional (aka not some oddball new name), and if possible be an Irish name. I did not mind popular names but if we found a non-popular name network I was cool with it. I agreed with her about not having some oddball name, so traditional was okay with me. I also thought it was a great idea to look for an Irish name especially since the baby would have a very Jewish last name. I thought it was a good idea to have the heritage of both parents represented in her name if possible.  What was funny to me about her initial list of names was the generally did meet her own criteria. Most of the names were very popular ones that were in the top 10 or top 25 popular lists of the past decade. I think we had three of the top five most popular names on our list at one point. All of them were at least classic names but most of them were not Irish in origin.

At this point I already dropped hints and suggested the top names I liked. My two favorites (Zoe & Teagan) were rejected. I had always liked the name Zoe. I think one of my father’s friends had a child that he named that I always thought it was an awesome name. It was always in the back of my head to the possibility if I ever had a girl.  Unfortunately Zoe was the name of one of MC’s college friends daughter, as well as being the middle name of my youngest niece.  Teagan is a name that I got from another Scott that I work with whose oldest daughter is named that. His wife is Irish so he named all of his kids very Irish names. I always liked the name and suggested it when the time came for us to pick girls names. MC rejected it out of hand. I think she just thought it was to non-standard or something like that.

Since my top two picks were discounted we went through the process of whittling down the list of names MC came up with. Over a month or so we were able to narrow down the list to three or four contenders. There were one or two that I really liked and wanted to use, and MC also agreed on those pics.  As we were narrowing it down MC decided to buy a huge book of baby names even know we’ve been looking extensively online. MC then proceeded to read every girl name out of the book. It took a while. I was surprised when nearing the end of the book MC asked me “How about the name Teagan?”.   My immediate reaction was “are you %^*$^ kidding me?” Her response to that was is that yes or no? I proceeded to remind her that I propose that name weeks before and was shot down immediately. At first she didn’t remember but then got a laugh out of it. I guess she just needed some time to become cool with it on her own. I wasn’t complaining. I totally discounted it and now through her own process of elimination had thought of using it herself.

Right around the time Teagan was back on the table of an option I was continuing to push to consider Zoe as a name. It was in that neither of us didn’t like it, that was far from it. We like it but others were using it. She spoke to her friend who has the little girl named Zoe and she was completely okay with us using if we wanted to. The only other stumbling block was that it was my niece’s middle name, but did not think that should be a factor in our decision since it was a middle name only. I brought it up to my sister and she wasn’t thrilled but was cool if we decided to use the name. She actually liked the name a lot (obviously since she used it as a middle name) and we’ve used it as a first name if she didn’t already have a son named Zachary. Side note I would’ve thought it would be awesome to have Zach and Zoe, but she didn’t think it would work with the oldest named Morgan. After that conversation Zoe we went back on the table as an option.

The next month or so we went back and forth between Teagan & Zoe. Pretty much the entire time I thought Zoe was the front-runner between the two. We asked friends and family who we trusted for their vote and it was basically split down the middle. I would champion one option than the other. And then for a while I just pushed for us to use Teagan. It was just different enough and it met all of MC’s requirements. I don’t know why it did that since I love both names. After realizing that it doesn’t matter between the two of them since I did like them both I stopped pushing one over the other thinking Zoe would win out. My wife surprised me after about a week of me being neutral on the situation saying she wanted to go with Teagan. That was pretty much it. We went through two or three weeks of we were pretty sure we really use that name but not definite, to this is what we are doing.

Being a tech junkie that I am I researched the name of bit more. We already knew of its Irish heritage and that it meant little poet. I looked deeper into his popularity and were surprised to find that over the past 10 years it had risen from somewhere in the neighborhood of 900 on the list of popular names in the US to be in the low 200s in popularity in the US in 2010. That is not by any means super popular but it showed a very positive trend. I also learned the reason it’s becoming more popular is because it’s an alternative to Meagan, and Reagan.

For full disclosure for all my sci-fi friends and I do acknowledge the fact that Teagan is a Doctor Who companion name. I rediscovered that when doing research on the name.  I had actually forgotten that. I was surprised since the fifth Doctor was one of my favorites.  I pointed it out to MC and she didn’t mind since it was a different spelling. It was Tegan, vs the Teagan we are using.  My friend Amanda pointed that out as we were pulling people for their opinions of names.   MC was more concerned about the fact that one of the only notable people with the name Teagan was some foreign porn star or something. What I realized later forgot to mention to Amanda was that neither of us remembered that so we happen to also be a doctor who companion name. The show was on the air for 50 years silver band overlap some names used.

For a middle name we wanted to see if we can use the middle name to name the baby after someone we loved who is no longer with us. We kicked around options using the K and the E as well as some of the more popular names from our final list.  The K would’ve been for MC’s friend Kim who died very young. That E was for my grandmother Ethel and MC’s brother Edward. We ended up picking Emma.

And that’s the story of how we named Teagan Emma. I have been surprised how many people who are very vocal about how much they love the name. I think the reason is the same reason why we love it. It has the right balance between being different enough in mainstream enough to be just cool. Hopefully Teagan thinks so when she gets older. The only other Teagan I know was her name, at least according to her father. Searches online have done similar feedback from people with the name.

Fussy T

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Before I write this post will preface it by saying that T has been a fantastic little person. She lets you know what you want to eat or needs to be changed. Otherwise she is not a very loud. This past week however she has decided not to nap a lot. For someone who’s not yet five weeks old that’s not a great idea since she should be sleeping 80% of the time. I’m not sure if it has anything to do with her getting more formula now than she did as recently as last week, worth it’s just a phase.

Were not sure why the sudden change. Her doctorate knowledges that between two and six or eight weeks babies just cry and are generally uncomfortable.  T doesn’t really cry for no reason but has been crying when she gets fussy and doesn’t want to sleep. It’s been hard on M since she bears the brunt of it while I go to work. The solution has been to put her in a wrap that you wear. It supposed to mimic the way or something where the baby is next to your body and you cover her up so it’s dark. It’s been working it’s uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time. Your back starts to hurt and it gets very hot. On the plus side T generally fall asleep in 5 to 10 minutes in that getup. We are hoping she gets out of this phase soon, but we also know how lucky we have been because she’s been overall a fantastic little baby.

Groundhog Day

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Having a baby is sort of like living the movie Groundhog Day, but doing it every 3 hours.  T has been fantastic, but after a few weeks of the grind of change, feed, try to get to sleep, sleep and repeat after 3 hours it does feel like deja vu. M agrees with that assessment and she is dealing with it 10x more than I am since I at least goto work 5 days a week and am only home for 2 cycles before i have to goto bed for wrok.

Thankfully we have been lucky that T hasn’t been too bad.  She has recently been fussy and not wanted to nap but she isn’t screaming all the time like horror stories we have heard so neither M or I am complaining.  Lets just hope she gets out of this phase and we are able to get her to sleep through the night consistently   She has been doing it every once in a while.  Tonight she slept for like 7 hours i think, but normally she does get up after 4 or 5 hours.  Lets hope for the same kind of luck again tonight!

T’s First Week

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Who would’ve thought having a baby takes up so much time. Okay, so you know I’m kidding about that. Even the 15 to 20 minutes I wanted to set aside to write out the window when T came home. I am posting this blog entry so my mind to be a little fuzzy about T’s first week.

Wednesday of this week was not much different than Monday and Tuesday. I got up I went to the hospital I saw the baby and M, I stayed all day and came home. The only differences by Wednesday I realized that taking the train was not fun in the morning. I decided the expense of the car service was worth it for my mental health, so I took car service to the hospital.

Thursday my dad picked me up and we went to the hospital to pick up M in the baby. I was happy to find out that the car seat and base that we bought did not take very long at all to set up in my dad’s car. I ended up leaving the base in the car since MC and I will use that car periodically anyway so it made sense to just have one there.

When we got the hospital M was feeding T. She went quickly to sleep, and other than some drama getting wheelchair to get out of the hospital the trip home was uneventful. Just the way we wanted it.

We had the postpartum doula that we hired come over Thursday afternoon after we got home. We were going to wait till Friday but we decided her over the day we came home. She was extremely helpful in getting the babies room finished and transitioning us into being at home with her. We had her back again on Monday.

Friday M had to make an unexpected trip to her doctor. That left me alone with T for the first time. Generally she behaved very well, but did not want to go to sleep. My dad came over to spend some time with me and T while M was out. He was also unsuccessful in getting her to sleep.

Saturday and Sunday are pretty much a blur and really not sure what happened to write about specifics. Monday we went to the pediatrician for the first time. T had gained 2 ounces since birth and was doing great. The doctor was pleased, so so were we.

I Have Been a Little Busy

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The past few days I’ve broken my own new rule about trying to write every day. I have a really good reason for doing. Sunday morning we had a baby. My wife started going into labor early Saturday morning. Made one trip to the hospital early Saturday morning that turned out to be false alarm, so they sent us home. Full on labor began in the early evening Saturday. We finally had the baby, T Emma at 7:15 AM Sunday morning.

I was able to get a little sleep in the late morning Sunday before going back to the hospital with M’s parents to see her and the baby. She was still out of it so we didn’t spend much time with her, but I did get to sit with T for a while before going home.

Monday was spent all day at the hospital with both of my girls!  T had to stay in the critical care nursery for two days because of a potential infection. She was a trooper, and slept through most of it. M was able to start nursing Monday morning, but the baby needed a bottlefeeding here and there. I was able to give her one of them.  M was sure to get several photos. I didn’t leave the hospital until after 10 PM to head home. In the morning I took the train to try to save money on car service, but at night I took a cab.

Today was pretty much a repeat of Monday. I got up to the train to the hospital, grabbing breakfast on the way. I stayed until around nine when I headed home. I can’t wait to have both M and T home on Thursday.

Due Date +2

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As of today the baby is now officially two days late. I know that first children tend to trend late, but it still doesn’t make it any easier that we are here waiting. I have to give credit to MC, she has been staying at work regular hours. She doesn’t have to, but I think she wants to get things squared away before she takes off.

The Due Date

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Today is not typically a day I like to think about. I try to go most of the day without hearing people referencing the date. Today also happens to be the projected due date for our baby. We’ve thought about this a lot, and ideally just want a happy and healthy baby. That being said I’ll be perfectly happy if she’s slightly late to avoid this birthday. that last statement is pretty moot at this point because it’s 6 o’clock and so far no labor signs. I don’t want to jinx myself, but it’s already pretty late in the day and labor takes a while.

Now we wait. If the baby doesn’t come on her own I believe they will induce next Tuesday. Let’s hope she decides to show up sometime soon, there are plenty of people that want to meet her.

With today being 9/11 and the due date I really can’t remember much else from work today. I am usually pretty good about remembering high points, but not today.

Monday August 27

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I am working towards a deadline for a big project at work. Were not late yet, but I have concerns about making our date. I generally am very sensitive to this sort of stuff but there is still a lot of work to be done, not a lot of time to do it, and I may have to run out any time have a baby. That last part about having to leave in a moments notice is probably what’s causing me to be the most concerned. Generally this kind of hectic work pace happens towards a deadline but as I said it is a little different this time because MC is due in two weeks.

Most of my day today involved making sure things were on track for the project that is due, and generally ensuring that we haven’t missed anything. The other half of the day was making sure everybody on the team knew what their priorities were.

I left work a little after 5 PM because MC and I have an appointment after work interviewing a perspective postpartum Doula.