The Cookie Jar

2009 so far

2009-02-09T07:34:00.001-05:00

January pics

February pics

December pics

2008-12-28T19:41:00.001-05:00

December Abby pics

Halloween and COSI pics

2008-11-03T14:09:00.000-05:00

Here they are:

Halloween and COSI pics

Pic update

2008-10-16T23:38:00.001-04:00

Recent Abby pics:

September/October

August

More photos, of course

2008-07-27T22:59:00.002-04:00

Here are this month's Abby pictures on Facebook.

For those of you who are Facebook members, there's also a video of her nibbling on solid food.

Abby's One-Year Pictures

2008-06-16T23:43:00.003-04:00

Abby did such a great job last week for her one-year portrait session. We now have online copies posted here.

One year

2008-06-06T13:51:00.002-04:00

I was going to blog today about Abby's first birthday, but Katrina beat me to it and said it much better than I would have. Check it out here.

I have my first four-day weekend in a long time starting today. We'll have family from Iowa and New England in town all weekend, so it will be busy and great. Weather permitting, we will have picnic lunch birthday party tomorrow.

Now we just have to hope Abby stays happy and friendly all weekend ...

Thank you all for your support during the last year. And be sure to read Katrina's post. It's great.

Abby photos

2008-05-12T22:59:00.004-04:00

Isn't that a cute picture? Here are some more recent shots of Abby, who is growing and developing nicely.

She's scooting around proficiently but not yet crawling. She's keeping regular hours. She's eating several kinds of baby food -- she likes pears and bananas the most.

State AP awards

2008-04-28T11:07:00.003-04:00

As if I don't work enough, I headed to the Ohio Associated Press awards banquet yesterday. It was worth the time, however, as the speaker was pretty interesting, the food was excellent and, best of all, The Advocate hauled home a good number of awards.

As an editor, none of them actually had my name on them, of course, but it's still exciting to have been a part of many of them. The awards I played the biggest role in are general excellence (third place) and best daily sports section (third place).

The complete list of our awards is here.

Good weekend

2008-04-22T07:33:00.002-04:00

We just wrapped up a great weekend, with three of our Harding friends (Jake, Lyz and Megan) in town to visit. Sunday, the girls went to see "Riverdance" while the guys took care of Abby. Other than that, we just hung out a lot and had a good time.

The other big news from the weekend happened Friday when Abby went back in for an appointment in the preemie clinic. She weighed in at 18 pounds, 3 ounces, so her amazing growth is continuing.

Most of the visit was a developmental check, during which the physical therapist used a lot of toys to assess Abby's cognitive development and motor skills. She tested extremely well (good standardized testing runs in the family!), scoring at or above where she should be in every category.

Abby's first Sunday

2008-04-07T11:13:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was Abby's first time attending our home congregation in Columbus. She had attended church services twice before (once in Massachusetts, and last weekend in Cincinnati), but this was the first time most of the members at F&K had a chance to meet Abby in person.

Coincidentally, it also was the day she turned 10 months old.

As usual, Abby did exceptionally well. She was quite well behaved during both morning and evening services, only having to go out once toward the end of the evening service. Her worst behavior was her loud sucking when drinking her bottle -- hopefully, nobody was too bothered by that!

She was, of course, the star of the show, with countless people coming up to meet her. She handled it well, and even smiled most of the time. She even did well in the nursery while both of us went to Bible class.

It also was the first time ever Abby got to leave the apartment three times in one day. It was such a nice day that we took her for an afternoon walk.

Today's agenda: Abby needs a bath and another walk. Also, Bravo is showing a marathon of "The West Wing," so I'm sure that will keep my attention for the next few hours.

In bad news, Columbus-based Skybus shut down late Friday, forcing us to scramble to make alternate plans for our summer trips to Iowa and Massachusetts. Not cool.

17.5 pounds!

2008-04-02T21:02:00.002-04:00

Abby had a follow-up appointment with her surgeon today, and the mere fact she's up to 17.5 pounds had him convinced that everything is fine. That's right: 17.5 pounds!

It's April, which means Abby now has been released from her virtual house arrest that was cold and flu season. We've taken her freedom quite seriously, taking her on our weekend trip to visit Jake and Lyz in Cincinnati over the weekend and then showing her off to Katrina's friends and colleagues at OSU today.

Next up is her first Sunday worshiping at our home congregation here in Columbus. We're looking forward to it, of course. It will be interesting to see how she handles it, although her response to larger groups of people thus far has been good.

Abby's latest photos are here.

Yet again, more photos

2008-03-26T13:08:00.003-04:00

Funny how time slips away and keeps me from more than the occasional photo post for family and friends.

Speaking of family, my parents, sister and grandma were in town for some of last week. It was great seeing them, and they had fun catching up (mostly) with Abby.

Speaking of friends, we'll be heading down to Cincy to see Jake and Lyz this weekend. Even though we only live about 90 minutes apart, it's hard to arrange times to get together. I'm looking forward to it; hopefully Abby will enjoy the trip.

As you might have guessed from the preceding paragraph, Abby's winter sequestration is ending. We have the green light from the doctor to take her out in public more, including to church. She'll make her debut there April 5. It will be great to actually go to church and other places as a family.

Abby is demanding attention, so I will close with links to recent photos on Facebook: The albums are here and here.

New photos and videos

2008-03-13T14:46:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I even somehow didn't take the time to post about the biggest snowstorm in Columbus history (20 inches in two days!). Let's just say commuting wasn't much fun last Friday and Saturday, and work was busy.

Anyway, I have posted some new photos and videos to Facebook. To see the photos, click here. To see the videos, click here (but I think you have to be my friend on Facebook for that to work).

Election Day

2008-03-04T11:36:00.002-05:00

Believe it or not, I just voted in a primary/caucus for the first time.

Considering my job, I figure it's not a good idea to mention who (or even what party) I voted in this forum. Let's just say those of you who knew my politics 10 years ago would be pretty surprised today.

It's a nasty day here in Columbus, but Katrina and I took turns heading to the polling site this morning. We were going to make today Abby's first election, but it was too cold and rainy to take her outside voluntarily.

That's right -- Katrina voted, and for actual people, too. Again, those of you who have talked politics with Katrina should be shocked.

If you live in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island or Vermont, be sure to vote today. Even if you don't care about the presidential election, there's likely some local candidates or issues you can make a decision about.

I'll be heading in for a long day at the office in a few hours. I'll be updating our Web site with election results and doing all of my other normal duties; I'll be lucky to be home by 4 a.m.

Bowling and awards

2008-02-26T12:24:00.003-05:00

Not much new to report in Abby-land, so we'll go with a work update instead:

1. My love affair with high school bowling will continue Friday when I cover the state bowling tournament. Newark High School qualified for the event, and there's no way the rest of the sports staff will have time to cover the event this week because of state wrestling and basketball playoffs.

2. We received word yesterday that we (as a staff) have been named finalists in 12 categories in the state AP contest. I wasn't nominated individually for anything, but I certainly contributed in one way or another (usually editing) to most of them. The ones I was most involved in would be best daily sports section and best Web site. For a complete list of the categories were finalists in, click here.

High chair!

2008-02-18T08:34:00.002-05:00

Today's the big day: Abby is going to get her first real food. Now, of course, it will just be a tiny bit of rice cereal. It's still a big step. As you can see above, Katrina bought Abby's high chair yesterday. She also bought a playpen.

There's not a lot of other new things to report. Abby is moving a lot more these days, rolling over constantly and scooting around a bit on (and off) her floor mat.

She also loves playing with us more, especially anything involving a song.

For more recent pictures, click here.

Updates

2008-02-05T12:16:00.000-05:00

Abby is 14 pounds, 11 ounces as of today.

Also, she started rolling over last week!

That is all.

First story of the year

2008-01-28T08:43:00.000-05:00

As most you know, I do a lot more editing than actual writing in my current job. Thus, even though we're nearly a month into the new year, my first bylines of 2008 are in today's paper.

The topic? High school bowling, of all things. I actually enjoyed doing these stories, as bowling as a team sport is unique in several ways, most notably the camaraderie among the teams. I also finally met some people who actually choose to watch the PBA on NFL Sundays on ESPN rather than football.

If I've piqued your interest, the articles are here and here.

More great pictures!

2008-01-27T20:00:00.000-05:00

These are just two examples from our most recent batch of Abby pictures. You can see how smart she is and how tired I am! To see them all, go here.

January update

2008-01-15T13:14:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long delay between posts! When I'm home and not sleeping, I'm usually busy hanging out with Abby or Katrina.

It's been a great few weeks. Abby was 13.5 pounds as of her visit to the preemie clinic last Friday. She's actually growing a little faster than they'd like, but it's nothing serious. She's doing so well that they don't want to see her again until April, at which point they might cut her down to regular infant formula instead of the high-calorie preemie kind.

While there, a physical therapist did some screening. Abby is right where she should be or maybe even a little ahead in her physical/motor development. That's great news and amazing given how early she was.

She slept more than 10 hours straight last night, and she almost never wakes up more than once in the night anymore. We're actually catching up on sleep!

Some other quick notes from the last few weeks (if Abby doesn't call me too soon!):

- My parents came to visit between Christmas and New Year's Day. They, of course, brought amazing amounts of gifts for Abby from Iowa. They also brought us some great new games, including Settlers of Catan and Cartagena.

- Jake and Lyz came up from Cincy over this weekend. Katrina invited them up as part of one of my Christmas presents, which was tickets to the musical "The Wedding Singer." We were in the last row of the Palace Theatre, but it still was a fun show and a good time with friends.

- It's been a busy time at work with the BCS title game debacle on top of the usual. We had a great breaking-news video posted last week. I happened early in the day, so I had nothing to do with it. I'm linking it here because it's such a good video.

Well, Abby calls. Thanks for reading.

A great week

2007-12-26T12:32:00.000-05:00

We returned to Columbus last night after a great week in New England.

First things first: Here's a link to pictures from our trip, including the beautiful one above. Also, we had our first professional family pictures taken before we left. They are available for viewing on Target's Web site. If you'd like to see them, leave a comment or e-mail me and I'll send you the access code.

As for the trip, Abby seemed to develop a lot while we were gone. She became a lot more social and, best of all, slept through the night (9+ hours) twice! We're figuring it was in part because of all the stimulation and activity that she wasn't accustomed to, but it's still a good sign.

She also was a perfect traveller. She slept most of the time on all three flights, but she was content while awake in the air, too. In the car, she usually sleeps for most of a trip. Thus, flying to New England and driving around to visit people went quite well.

We stayed with Katrina's mom and step dad in Southbridge, Mass., which is about 90 minutes west of Boston. We stayed with them several days and went to visit friends and family in Mass. and New Hampshire other days.

We're off

2007-12-17T07:13:00.000-05:00

Abby gets her first plane ride today, as we're heading to Massachusetts to spend the week with Katrina's family.

Have a great week!

Abby is wireless!

2007-12-10T23:45:00.000-05:00

Great news! Tonight is Abby's first wireless night. We received permission from the doctor to stop using her heart/apnea monitor, even overnight.

More photos

2007-12-04T13:01:00.001-05:00

It's been a good, but busy few weeks.

My parents and grandma came to visit over the Thanksgiving weekend, and it was great to see them and host Thanksgiving for the first time. It's also been busy, as always, at work. We had two football teams play in state title games last weekend on top of everything else.

In two weeks, we'll be heading for Massachusetts to spend time with Katrina's family the week before Christmas.

Now, in the news you all care about: Abby continues to thrive. We're pretty sure she's past 10 pounds, and she is getting closer to sleeping through the night. Right now, she is hanging out in her swing that my parents bought for her and considering a nap. I just uploaded a few new pictures to Facebook. You can see them here.

New photos

2007-11-15T14:02:00.000-05:00

Here's a link to new pictures on Facebook.

A great day

2007-11-10T12:39:00.000-05:00

Abigail had a doctor's appointment Friday, and it was a great day.

She's just short of 9 pounds, and everything looks so good that she doesn't have to go back until January. While there, we got two great pieces of news:

1. Her mild ROP (an eye problem that many preemies have) is gone, so she won't need monthly eye checks anymore.

2. She no longer has to be on oxygen. It's great to see her face and to not have her attached to cords!

We're keeping her heart/breathing monitor for two weeks for use at night. If there are no problems, we'll get rid of it then!

$863,291.23

2007-11-05T18:54:00.000-05:00

That's the total amount our primary insurance company has been billed for Abby's care thus far.

Some claims are still working their way through the system, but that should be a ballpark figure for the bill for her first five months of life.

Nothing new to report

2007-11-01T13:06:00.000-04:00

By popular demand, here's an update: There's nothing new to report.

Abby is doing fine; we don't have a weight to share because she hasn't had a medical appointment in the last two weeks. She's behaving well most days and nights, but she has a tendency to keep us up a little more than we'd like from time to time. (I'm becoming very knowledgeable about late-night television.)

She's also showing great developmental progress, making more eye contact and focusing on things like toys. Developmentally, she's right on track for her adjusted age (around 1 month old).

Updates

2007-10-16T11:50:00.000-04:00

I suppose you all would like an Abby update.

She's still doing really well. As of her four-month immunizations yesterday, she weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces. The doctors are really happy with her growth and progress. She hasn't been the happiest camper since getting her shots, but she'll be fine.

Abby seems to be staying awake a lot more, which is fine except for around 3 a.m. She also had a really good visit with the preemie doctor last week; he said she'll probably get to come off oxygen when she returns in November.

My mom and sister were in town this weekend and did little other than hang out with us and, more importantly, Abigail. It was nice having so much help for a few days and getting to see them.

Their presence allowed me to get out and run a few errands, including finalizing our purchase of a car from some friends at church. We now are the proud owners of a dark green 1999 Saturn SL1. It's in great condition and only has about 66,000 miles on it.

My family flew in on Skybus. For those of you who don't know, Skybus is a Columbus-based start up airline that guarantees at least 10 $10 (pre-tax) tickets on each one-way flight. They're bare-bones, but my family was happy for the price they paid. If you're headed this way for visiting Abby or any other reason, you can check their fares and cities at skybus.com.

Finally, my dad turns 50 today. (Don't worry; he's not the type who would care that I'm sharing his age.) It's really sad that I can't be there for the big day, but happy birthday, dad.

The joys of October

2007-10-02T21:41:00.000-04:00

The Cubs are in the playoffs, the Cardinals, Braves and Mets aren't, and I'm spending lots of time with my daughter. It's a good week!

The postseason seems exceptionally wide open this year. I'll root for the Cubs, of course, but it will be extremely annoying if they finally make the series the one year there's no way I can even think about attending.

(If you're wanting news on Abby: There's not much to report. She's doing well and eating like crazy. She's right around 6 pounds.)

She's home

2007-09-25T16:52:00.000-04:00

We brought Abigail into the lobby of Children's Hospital at 2:09 p.m. Eastern Time today. (One of the information desk ladies printed out a visitor tag with the time on it as a keepsake.) A short time later, we were cruising across Columbus with a baby in the back seat.

It was quite surreal after 112 days being able to walk out without anyone stopping us. We had been told that the discharge process could be quite long and odious, but it really wasn't that bad. After we talked about a few things and signed a few papers, our nurse for the day (one we never had before, oddly enough) walked us to the door and said goodbye.

The photo above is us with Abby outside the hospital. To see more pictures from Abby's first day of freedom, click here.

We came straight home and got Abby and all her accessories in the apartment. She slept most of the way home, but she woke up not long after we arrive and started looking around. She then demanded her first at-home diaper change and bottle, and now she is resting happily on her mom.

I've taken a good chunk of the next two weeks off work, which will allow us to keep Abby home for almost all of that time. That is good for her health, obviously. After that, she still won't be going out much for a while.

She did come home on oxygen and with an apnea monitor, but they're easy enough to use. She's also on a medicine to fight thrush, which is the only other significant medical problem she's coming home with.

So we're home and happy. This blog now will return to its regularly scheduled programing, but I'm sure that still will include lots of cute pictures of Abby.

Thank you all for your support, love and prayers over the last several months.

We have a target date

2007-09-20T10:29:00.000-04:00

Assuming things continue as they have been, Abigail is scheduled to be discharged from Children's Hospital on Tuesday -- two days before her due date! For a baby born at 24 weeks, going home anywhere near due date truly is amazing and a miracle.

Abby has been doing wonderfully this week. She's been switched to on-demand feeding, and she is taking up to 60 mLs every three hours or so, which is a rather impressive amount for her age and size. If feeding continues to go well and there are no other problems, Tuesday's discharge should actually happen.

This, of course, means Katrina and I continue to make arrangements for her homecoming. It sounds like she will be coming home on oxygen, so we are making arrangements for that in the next few days. On the bright side, that means she'll still be on a monitor. That will help us not be paranoid about her, especially at night.

Homecoming is coming

2007-09-16T23:47:00.000-04:00

Abigail continues to be amazing. She is at 5 pounds, 2 ounces and looking good. She will be at full feeds tomorrow (Monday) and then getting fortification in the milk later in the week.

If she continues to tolerate the feeds as well as she has been, she will get her PICC line removed sometime this week. At that point, there will really be nothing left keeping her in the hospital.

In other words, she could be heading home as soon as this weekend. Next week is more likely, but we're probably talking two weeks max unless some other problem pops up.

She's still on slight oxygen, but they will continue to try to wean her this week. She can come home on oxygen, but it will be much more convenient if she's breathing on her own.

We're busy making final arrangements for Abby's homecoming, especially babysitting. If you're in the Columbus area and available from 2-7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and would be interested in looking after a very cute and happy little girl, let us know.

You can see recent pictures of Abby here.

The good news keeps coming

2007-09-13T01:54:00.000-04:00

As of Wednesday night, Abigail officially is five pounds!

She also is making great strides in other areas. Her bottle feedings have gone quite well this week. They started with 5 mL every three hours on Monday and have increased them by 5 mL each day since. She almost always is quite anxious for her feedings.

She was doing so well that her nasal cannula was removed for several hours on Wednesday, but it was put back a few hours later because her blood oxygen wasn't staying high enough without the slight supplemental oxygen she was receiving.

More good news

2007-09-09T22:04:00.000-04:00

Abby is continuing to make great progress!

She was moved back onto a nasal cannula on Sunday morning and did a good job of keeping her stats good all day. She also filled a few more diapers, but none while we were at the hospital.

All three of us got to hold her for at least an hour today, and she was pretty happy most of the time.

But here's the biggest news of the day: Abby likely will get her first bottle sometime on Monday. As long as no other problems crop up, Abby's ability to eat is going to be the determining factor in when she comes home.

That makes Monday a big day. We'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, you can see some new pictures here.

A very good day

2007-09-08T22:58:00.000-04:00

Abby is continuing to shed her post-surgery fluid gain and is being much more alert every day. Not always happy, but alert and interactive.

On Saturday, Abigail reached several great milestones:
-She was moved into a regular crib for the first time.
-She was held by her mom's mom for the first time.
-She was taken off the ventilator for the first time since her surgery. (And likely will go from C-PAP back to nasal cannula sometime on Sunday.)
-And finally, in a first that I'm sure she'd love me to share with the world: She had her first truly dirty diaper.

It was a great day all around. Abby also could get to return to the better unit (C4) at any time, but that depends on the availability of an appropriate bed spot more than anything.

She's huge

2007-09-07T10:25:00.000-04:00

Abigail is recovering nicely from her surgery, but she has gained about a pound in retained fluids in the last few days. Hopefully, she'll start losing this weight quickly and get back to her real size. Then it will be time for her to grow again.

She's still on the ventilator, and we've been told she will be until the puffiness goes down. As she's being fed via IV again, she's going through the IVs quickly like always. This means she'll likely get a new PICC line sometime today.

Yesterday, we moved to Abby's seventh bed spot at Children's Hospital. Let's just say we know the place quite well. We're now in Bed 41, which is one of the isolation beds in J4. Once she's done recovering from surgery, we should get one more move -- back to C4.

Katrina's mom arrived in Columbus last night, so we're looking forward to a good weekend with her.

Mission accomplished

2007-09-04T21:34:00.000-04:00

It's been a long, yet good 48 hours.

After working the holiday to write four football stories for our weekly high school football preview section, I obviously took Tuesday off for Abby's surgery to reconnect her intestines.

Her procedure was scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. As those of you familiar with hospitals might guess, that didn't happen. Not even close.

We arrived before 7:30 a.m., just in time to catch Abby being wheeled into an elevator to go down to the surgery waiting area. After more than 30 minutes there, we were told there were some emergency cases that would have to go first, so we were sent back up to her room.

We eventually found out she was rescheduled for 11 a.m., so we all took a nap until then. But 11 came and went with no word from surgery. As the noon hour approached, Katrina, Abby and I were all getting hungry and cranky. (Abby hadn't been fed since midnight in preparation for the operation.)

After a tedious amount of waiting and lack of communication, Abby was wheeled into the OR around 2:45 p.m. Katrina and I were strangely serene about the situation, as this was a "happy" surgery and Abby had already came through so many more difficult things. We even worked on thank-you cards while we waited.

We received word the operation had gone quite well a few hours later, and we got to see her in her new room around 6:30 p.m. She was still quite out of it, but looking good. She still is on a ventilator, but that likely will only be for a few days, at most. She also was moved back to the NICU for more seriously ill babies (J4), but that is standard procedure after this operation and she likely will get to go back to C4 before too long.

Today was a huge step in the right direction for Abby. It likely will be around a week before her intestinal tract begins to function normally and we can get back on the road to getting her growing and getting her home.

We thank you all for your prayers and support today and every day over the last three months.

More good news

2007-08-31T10:00:00.000-04:00

A few new pictures, including the adorable one above, can be viewed via Facebook.

As we've promised you all, no news is good news, and that continues to be true.

Abigail has had a good week, still trending up in her weight, although it has leveled off again the last few days in the neighborhood of 4 pounds, 3 ounces. She's been happy and alert much of the time, and the only problem of note has been keeping her ostomy bag from leaking. The nurses have been changing it about twice per day on average this week, which isn't good for the skin in the area.

But the good news is that her ostomy bag likely is going away soon. We've received word this morning that her "reconnection" surgery has been scheduled for Tuesday. This is, of course, subject to change. We should find out an "exact" time this afternoon.

Obviously, this will be a huge step for Abby. It likely will mean a tough few days as she recovers, but it will be first step towards her being able to come home.

In other news, we bought Abby's crib/changing table yesterday. Katrina started putting it together last night. (She loves assembling things, and I don't.) It's going to be interesting squeezing an office and a nursery into one small room, but I think it will work out.

Four pounds!

2007-08-26T23:50:00.000-04:00

Abigail finally made it to four pounds on Saturday, and she's right at 4 pounds, 2 ounces as of Sunday evening. It's just unreal how fast she is growing. At this rate, she could get to 4.5 pounds soon and then have a good shot of having her intestines put back together soon after that.

We're still loving Abby's new room. It's so much brighter and more convenient; we can even eat there! We spent a lot of time with her this afternoon and evening, with Abby's baby shower at church in between. (Obviously, Abby could not attend, but Katrina had fun and opened gifts on Abby's behalf.) Thank you all for your generosity.

Have a great week!

On the move

2007-08-21T23:26:00.001-04:00

Abby made a big move today, down the hall to a different NICU. It doesn't mean she's reached any big milestone; in fact, we've known this could happen for a while now.

She's still in isolation, which means she has a nice big room to herself and we have more comfort and privacy, including a private bathroom. The room also comes with TV and DVD/VHS player, so we can even have some entertainment now.

We gave Abby her bath tonight, and she loved it. She was awake and happy for more than an hour with us, so it was a good evening. She's back up around 3 pounds 11 ounces, so the doctors are quite happy with her growth of late.

We've also begun the process to get Abby ready for regular feedings that don't involve the tube to her stomach. So far, so good, but it might be a few weeks before she actually takes a bottle for her nutrition.

She's got clothes!

2007-08-19T20:46:00.000-04:00

Abby passed the magical 1,500 gram barrier within the last few days, which means we got to dress her for the first time on Saturday. As you can see, her first outfit was a little shirt my mom bought that says "Lil' Peanut" on it. It's quite cute.

Why 1,500 grams? In theory, she should be big enough now to somewhat maintain her own body temperature. That means her bed can be set to a different setting and she can start wearing clothing. Also, it means she has one fewer temp probe on her.

She dropped a little weight yesterday, back to around 3 pounds, 8 ounces. She had approached 3 pounds, 10 ounces on Friday. It's been a great week for weight gain. We've been told she likely will be put back together after she gets to around 4 1/2 pounds.

Abigail seems to be, as Katrina just put it, "the queen of the NICU." She's quite popular among the nurses as being exceptionally cute. She was really cute today!

We've finally received Abby's first hospital bill that they actually think we should pay. They're asking for more than $5,000, but thankfully it appears that they haven't submitted the claim to one of the insurance companies. Also, Abby has been approved for Medicaid. In other words, we probably won't have to pay much of that bill in the end.

In case you were wondering, Abby's first day of life appears to have cost $2,062. Her subsequent days in the hospital cost slightly more than $1,400 per day, not including any scans or X-rays or lab work. Insurance and Medicaid are very good things!

Finally, a good laugh for the day: Abigail recently was approved for Social Security Disability payments while she's in the hospital. In the eight-page letter telling us about her acceptance, page 3 included the following sentence under the heading "Things to Remember":

"Her prompt cooperation is necessary if she is contacted by the state agency or district office."

The "her" clearly is referring to Abby in context. Since then, I've had several serious talks with Abby about how she must cooperate if any Social Security people come by. As long as they don't try to deep suction her nose, I think she'll do what she can for them!

More pictures!

2007-08-17T10:04:00.001-04:00

Here's about 20 new pictures of Abby, including the first pictures of her beautiful face without C-PAP: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45362&l=554ad&id=502335575.

And yes, that is a birthmark on her chin. Also, she hit 3.5 pounds as of last night.

Great news!

2007-08-16T11:45:00.000-04:00

Abby is having a great week!

She is around 3 pounds 6 ounces, she went through her first round of vaccinations with no problems, and she has been off of C-PAP again for nearly 24 hours.

She's just been looking so good this week. I will post pictures as soon as I have a chance, but thing are picking up at work with football season starting next week.

It's so great to be able to see more of her face now that she is on a nasal cannula, which is just a small plastic tube in her nostrils that helps her breathe. In fact, she's so cute, I think I'll go to the hospital and see her now!

A good weekend

2007-08-13T23:05:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delay in updating; my parents have been in town all weekend to see us and, more importantly, Abigail. They've helped us get started on setting up the "nursery" and brought a lot of clothes and other gifts people sent from Iowa.

In general, Abby has been doing really well lately. She's up to nearly 3 pounds 5 ounces as of this evening, although that number might be skewed high because of a blood transfusion she got earlier today.

Over the weekend, we all got to hold her a lot. She's been generally happy, but she was fussy tonight.

We're on track to try to remove her C-PAP again sometime this week, and they're planning to give her her first vaccinations on Tuesday.

Even though things are looking really good, we've found out that our estimates for Abby's homecoming were a little optimistic. We're now told that she should come home sometime in October if all goes well.

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers.

Three pounds!

2007-08-09T09:33:00.000-04:00

Abigail made it to 3 pounds as of last night. This is a big step, as she's gained a half pound in about a week. We like that trend.

In other news, she was put back on C-PAP yesterday because she wasn't able to handle the stress of breathing totally on her own. They could try weaning her back off of it as soon as today, but it depends. She likely will go back and forth several times.

Big news!

2007-08-08T11:06:00.000-04:00

(This was written Tuesday by Katrina; I'm posting it here so you all can know the good news!)

Abigail is without C-PAP today!

We knew it was happening soon, because she had been breathing room air (21% oxygen) for days, but when we got to the hospital, they told us it would be some time today. They didn't know when, so Ryan started holding her; a few minutes later, they came and took it off. It's so quiet now, without the machine. Abby wasn't quite sure what was going on (this is the first time since the day she was born that there hasn't been something helping her breathe). We watched her try to make sense of it all. She was looking around, as if trying to figure out what was different. Then she started moving her hands up to her face (with her uncoordinated preemie-movements), touching her nose and eye. At one point, she even went cross-eyed to look at her nose.

Of course, this is the day I didn't pack the camera.

We know it's a very likely possibility that she will have to go on nasal cannula or even back on C-PAP, because her little body will get very tired, but it's still a great step.

Tomorrow we'll take pictures of her beautiful little face (it was beautiful before, but now it's so much more visible).

She has a lot of brown hair, except on her forehead where they shaved for her IV (which is out now).

UPDATE:

As of Tuesday night, she was put on a nasal cannula. This is not a shock, and she likely will be on and off of it for a while. She might even have to go back to C-PAP, but let's hope not.

It really was a special moment yesterday getting to hold her as they took the C-PAP off. It was priceless getting to watch her explore and try to make sense of the new arrangement. We will post pictures of her face as soon as we can.

Thank you all for your support and prayers. This is a big milestone, and we're glad we can share it with all of you.

Also, as of Tuesday night, Abigail continues to grow. She was just .5 ounce short of 3 pounds when she was weighed last night.

Good news!

2007-08-06T12:04:00.000-04:00

Abigail has resumed growing the last few days!

As of Sunday night's weigh-in, she checked in just short of 2 pounds, 14 ounces. Also, she probably will get a new PICC line put in sometime today so that she can continue getting the liquid nutrition without the continuous need to find new IV sites.

Overall, it was a great weekend for Abby. She seems so happy lately!

2007-08-04T19:46:00.001-04:00

Abigail still isn't growing, but she looked good today. She also was quite happy. We both held her for about an hour, and it was some quality holding time.

I just had to share this photo with you. There are 34 new photos from the last few weeks posted on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41837&l=291ed&id=502335575

Enjoy!

She's not growing

2007-08-03T11:03:00.000-04:00

After some promising growth last week, Abby has been holding steady or losing a little weight every day this week. She's still hovering just above 2.5 pounds, but the doctors and nurses are disappointed in her progress in that department.

They've started adjusting her feeding again, even giving her liquid nutrition through an IV rather than giving her as much milk. She's been dumping again, which means she's getting rid of nutrients before she can absorb them. At this point, they're just going to keep trying to make her gain weight by messing with her feedings. The goal now is to get her to grow enough so they can reconnect her intestines.

There also was some concern the lack of weight gain could be caused by an infection, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Also, that resistant bacteria on her skin seems to have gone away, but she still has to stay in isolation for several more weeks worth of negative tests for the bacteria.

Overall, Abigail still is doing well. She is breathing well and generally is content. She just needs to grow!

We've started making preparations for Abby coming home, even though that's still at least a month away. This weekend's big project will be moving stuff into a storage unit so we'll have space to turn our office into an office/nursery.

Abby on camera

2007-07-29T21:35:00.000-04:00

We recently remembered that our camera has a video function. So, at long last, Abigail has made her video debut. They're silent and taken with a digital camera, so don't expect much quality-wise. But she's still quite cute.

In other news, Abigail still isn't growing enough. Her weight gain has stalled out during the last few days since she lost her IVs again. She's otherwise healthy and happy, but we think the doctors are going to give her a PICC line again so she can get some liquid nutrition and, hopefully, get back on the road to 3 pounds.

Abby's still on CPAP, but she's on a new kind. It's really no big change, but it is another sign that they might be moving her to another unit soon. Her breathing is really quite impressive for her age.

I finally got to hold Abby again today. She slept and played on my chest for more than an hour. I was so tired that I fell asleep when she was sleeping. It was almost like we were at home. We also got to help with her care, including her bath.

We also started our baby registries today. It was a little awkward at Target, because their computer system wouldn't let us use a date in the past as the arrival date. We had to settle for her due date instead. By the time we were finished at Babies R Us, we were exhausted. But it's fun to get to play with a scanner gun for a few hours, as I discovered when doing our wedding registry five years ago.

It felt good to do the registries. It was a concrete sign that Abby has turned a corner. We've left behind the "if Abby comes home" feeling and replaced it with "when she comes home, likely in a month or two."

A good week

2007-07-27T09:48:00.001-04:00

It's been a good week in the NICU. I've been working a bit too much, which explains my lack of updating.

Monday was a bit of a tough day, as the doctors decided Abby still wasn't growing enough and needed a blood transfusion because she was anemic. So, there's been an IV in her all week. And, to make matters worse, we haven't been holding her since it was put in because she has small veins and they don't want to lose the IV.

But things have been much more encouraging since then. Her weight gain has been impressive every day this week; she is about 2 pounds 11 ounces as of last night. Despite her growth issues, the doctors and nurses are so impressed with her progress that she might be moving to a different NICU (in the same hospital) that is for older babies with less serious issues. Although that's obviously a good sign, it will be hard to get used to a new area and (for the most part) new nurses.

Abigail, whose due date still is nine weeks away as of yesterday, is growing up. She has become much more interactive this week -- she keeps her eyes open more often and seems to even be smiling sometimes.

Also, Katrina shot our first videos of Abby yesterday. (I can't believe we haven't thought of doing them earlier!) She used our regular camera, which means no sound, but they're really cute. I'll try to get them posted over the weekend.

More photos, all extremely cute

2007-07-22T18:41:00.001-04:00

For more great recent pictures of Abigail, go to:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38503&l=d5ea9&id=502335575.

Another great day

2007-07-22T18:14:00.000-04:00

Abby had yet another great day today. She is up to 2 pounds, 6 ounces as of last night, and she just seems so content all the time. She also has kept her breathing and heart rate going very well on her own for the last 24 hours.

My sister was the first non-parent to hold Abby. She held her for about an hour this afternoon. My mom is going to hold her tomorrow. Abby tolerated that and everything else today really well. We've also had a super-nice nurse the last three days, so hanging out at the NICU has been a bit better than usual.

Abigail's breathing is going very well. Today, she was essentially breathing room air through her C-PAP, which still is providing pressure to keep her breathing. But the fact that she's down to 21 percent oxygen (normal room air) means she could come off C-PAP sometime soon.

They cut back on her feeding a little bit today because she was showing warning signs of wasting food again. But she seems to be responding well. The real test will be seeing if she keeps growing.

It's been great having family here again. They'll head back to Iowa on Tuesday, minus the large number of gifts for Abby they brought along.

1,004 grams

2007-07-18T11:11:00.001-04:00

As you might know, hospitals (like 99 percent of the world) use the metric system.

Thus, when we ask about Abigail's weight, the first response is almost always in grams. They then have a chart to convert to pounds and ounces for us.

Abby has been hovering between 2 pounds and 2 pounds 3 ounces for about a week now. But, last night, she finally broke a metric milestone: 1 kilogram (1,000 grams). She's at 1,004 grams. For the record, that's just more than 2 pounds 3 1/4 ounces.

So she is starting to grow again, but the doctors are still wanting to see more progress in the next few days. In the meantime, they're messing with her feeding schedule and amount in an attempt to encourage growth.

Abby's still looking good and doing well overall.

Still looking good

2007-07-15T20:56:00.001-04:00

Abigail is still doing well. Katrina and I both got to hold her for an hour or so today, and we welcomed seven first-time visitors to see Abby over the course of the afternoon. It was tiring, but a lot of fun. Abby hadn't seen that many people in one day since her fourth day, when parts of both families were in town for a total of nine, I believe.

The big problem right now is Abby's failure to gain as much weight as she should. She's still hovering between 900 and 980 grams, depending on the day. The doctors think she's just processing things through her system too quickly and thus not getting all the nutrients they're trying to give her. Thus, as of yesterday, they have cut back her milk to 11 mL every three hours and starting giving her a small quantity of the liquid nutrition instead. It's too early to tell if that will work or not.

We will keep you posted. Have a good week.

Another move

2007-07-12T11:19:00.001-04:00

Abigail has been moved again.

She's still in the same NICU at Children's Hospital, but she was moved last night to a small private room with glass walls. She was isolated more for the safety of the other, sicker babies than for herself after a routine test revealed she had a drug-resistant bacteria on her skin. She's not currently sick, and they're not extremely worried about her getting sick; it's just a precaution. She's also on antibiotics as a precaution.

She'll likely be in isolation for at least a month. We can still visit and hold her, and others still can visit her. She's just not so close to the other babies.

In other news, she's still getting full feedings for a baby her size -- 16 mL every three hours. She's up to 988 grams (nearly 2 pounds 3 ounces) and growing nicely. We've been told she's on track to go home sometime in September if everything continues to go well.

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers.

Long-awaited update

2007-07-10T10:00:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, but there really hasn't been anything new to report.

Abigail still is hovering around the two-pound mark and looking good. She's been tolerating her feedings quite well. She's now getting 16 mL of fortified milk every three hours, and they've been able to stop giving her the other liquid nutrition that she survived on before she was able to take milk.

They also removed her PICC line (essentially, a long-term IV) last night, as she had been weaned off of the food and everything else they were giving to her through it. That's one fewer thing to deal with while holding her.

I can't think of anything else substantial to report. Thank you all for your continued prayers; Abby still has a long way to go.

Two pounds!

2007-07-05T09:42:00.001-04:00

As of last night, Abby officially has shattered the two-pound barrier! She has been growing rapidly and looking really good the last few days.

She still is on CPAP, although the breathing tubes become dislodged sometimes. It seems that she's rather stick of having so many tubes attached to her face. So much so that sometimes she seems to try to pull some of them off!

Katrina and I have been able to hold her for an hour each every day this week, and Abigail's getting more and more content in our arms every day. She's also tolerating her feeding better each day; she's up to seven mL every three hours. We're not sure how there's room for seven mL at a time in that little body, but she seems to like it.

It was great having a day off in the middle of the week to spend more time than usual with Abby at the hospital. We had planned on going to a July 4 party/devo with a bunch of people from church, but we opted to stay home and spend time with Ann before she leaves today. (Also, we had stayed up until 3:30 a.m. the night before playing Scrabble with Jake and Ann, so we weren't exactly well-rested!)

A good weekend

2007-07-01T21:55:00.001-04:00

First things first. Here's a fresh batch of pictures that were taken the first two times we were able to hold Abigail (the last two Saturdays): Link to new Abby pictures

Abby's having a great run of days again. We've been able to hold her for about an hour a piece each of the last two days. We're doing what's called "kangaroo care," meaning we hold her against our chests under our shirts. This helps keep her warm and secure. It also gives her lots of skin-to-skin contact, which is good for her development. As she's still less than two pounds, it's not very hard to hold her for a long time.

While we hold her, we talk with her about a lot of things and sing to her. We also are quiet sometimes to allow her to rest. She usually keeps her eyes closed, but it's great when she opens them wide and looks right at us.

As I said, she's doing well. They have resumed her feedings and are giving her 3 mL of milk every three hours. She's reportedly handling it well, which is good for her and for our freezer space!

She continues to be a fighter. She works so hard breathing that sometimes she gets tired and decides to stop. Sometimes, her heart rate drops too. This is, believe it or not, normal for premature babies. Alarms go off, and, if Abby doesn't fix the problem herself quickly, we or the nurses take steps to fix it for her. (We learned today to rub her chest and/or flick her feet when this happens; that's usually enough. The next step, which we've seen a few times, is to use a bag to force her to breathe a few times until she's back on her own.)

Anyway, it's back to work for me tomorrow. It will be an easier week, though, with the holiday. Ann (one of our friends from Harding and China) is coming to visit this week, and Jake and Lyz are coming up from Cincy one day, too.

Progress

2007-06-29T10:52:00.000-04:00

Abby has officially conquered the infection, although I'm not sure we'll ever know exactly what it was or what caused it.

What we do know is Abigail is back to being healthy and happy, and making progress. The doctors took her back off the ventilator and onto CPAP yesterday for the third time in her short life. Feedings likely will resume soon, and we're probably going to get to hold her again at some point soon.

Still fighting

2007-06-27T09:53:00.001-04:00

It's another busy, long week of work, thus explaining my lack of updates. Also, there really hasn't been much to report. Abby continues to fight the infection, and there are some encouraging signs that she is succeeding. For a more detailed update, visit Katrina's LiveJournal.

A step back

2007-06-24T22:11:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry to say that Abigail's streak of great days has ended.

We received a call around 5 a.m. Sunday letting us know that she had been put back on her ventilator because she had been having some episodes (brief drops in heart rate or breathing that are quite common in the NICU).

As Sunday progressed, it became clear that something was wrong. Now they're fairly certain she has some kind of infection. This is quite common in premature babies; in fact, it's amazing that she's gone this long without one. It will take a day or two to figure out specifics. For now, they've put her back on the ventilator, stopped giving her milk and started giving her a general antibiotic. She's also back on her blood pressure medication for the time being.

This is not a surprising development, but it is a tough one to deal with because we've been so used to the great progress she had been making. She should be able to get through this, but it might be a tough few days ahead. As always, we request your prayers on Abigail's behalf.

Happier news from Saturday
In happier news, we did get to hold her for about 20 minutes each on Saturday morning before I went to work. She was essentially asleep at the time, but it was still exciting. We had to put her back a little earlier than hoped because we weren't able to keep her temperature as high as the nurses wanted.

The best way to hold an infant at this age is called "kangaroo care," where you essentially tuck your baby inside your shirt on your chest. This helps retain warmth with skin-to-skin contact. So you'll probably see us wearing a lot of button-down shirts once we are able to starting holding her again.

An interesting bill
I know all children are exceedingly valuable to their parents, but this is insane. On Saturday, we got the bill for Abby's four days at Ohio State University Medical Center (June 6-June 9) before she was taken to Children's Hospital. Before I share the total, make sure you're sitting down:

$50,074.00.

No, that's not a typo. And that's just for Abby. We already received a much smaller bill for Katrina's care, including labor and delivery.

Thankfully, that is the total amount that is being submitted to our insurance. We're confident that insurance will cover most of that, and there is other financial help available for babies who are born so early and so small.

Just imagine what the Children's Hospital bills will look like when they start coming in. Katrina and I have been joking that we'll have to frame some of these things!

More good news!

2007-06-23T09:48:00.000-04:00

The good news just keeps coming. In the last several days, Abigail has:

-Been taken off the ventilator. She is now breathing with the help of what's called a bubble CPAP (as Katrina put it, "the next step up on breathing. It means she's breathing completely on her own but has Continuous Positive Airway Pressure to give her lungs support.")

-Started taking real feedings of milk. Not from a bottle yet, but via a tube down her throat to her stomach. We were there Friday for her first "feeding" of 1 mL. We've been told they're moving her up to 2 mL every three hours today.

-Been able to have her arterial line removed. This connection, which was taken out at 5 a.m. today, was the last obstacle stopping Katrina and I from holding Abby. We're leaving for the hospital soon, and, we've been told, we should be able to hold her today.

So, as you can see, it's been an exciting and blessed few days. Everyone seems so pleased with the progress Abigail is making! Thank you all for the role you have played in her life thus far by bringing her before the Father in prayer and supporting us.

2 weeks and counting

2007-06-21T10:01:00.001-04:00

Abby reached the 2-week mark yesterday morning, and things are moving along nicely.

-The brain scan earlier this week remained normal.
-Abby is recovering extremely well after her valve surgery on Monday. Apparently, she didn't read the part of the book that says she's supposed to be sick for several days after that surgery.
-She is breathing well enough to come off the ventilator, but they're waiting to make sure a minor problem with her ostomy is resolved before doing so.
-She is up to 1 pound, 14 ounces and is growing every day.
-They're working towards removing her stomach tube. Once they do, they will start feeding her.

Katrina had a chance to hold Abigail on Tuesday when she was helping with her care. Katrina held Abby up inside her incubator so the nurse could do a few things. For pictures of this and pictures of Abby's incubator and area of the NICU, click on the Facebook photos link in the previous post.

Progress

2007-06-20T11:18:00.001-04:00

I don't have time for a full update, but you can go to Katrina's LiveJournal for more on the great progress Abigail has made in the last few days.

Also, more photos are posted here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29819&l=b2484&id=502335575 .

Success!

2007-06-18T18:59:00.000-04:00

Good news: The surgery went well. Abby is resting comfortably tonight; she is obviously quite out of it, at least for the rest of today.

To our knowledge, this should be the last of the big issues that needed addressed. No doubt more difficulties will come, but things are looking up for the moment.

I just returned from taking care of the formalities involved in having someone give you a car. We now have the use of a teal 1992 Plymouth Acclaim with 185,000 miles. It's just what we needed to allow Katrina to get to and from the hospital when I am at work.

My mom is hopping on the bus back to Iowa tonight after two weeks supporting us and Abby in Columbus. She's already anxious to come back, of course, as are the other family members who have already visited and fallen in love with Abigail.

I might not update daily now that things are a little less critical. Please safely assume that no news is good news. We will keep you all informed, however, and we continue to request your prayers for Abby; she still has a long battle ahead.

Surgery delayed

2007-06-18T11:44:00.000-04:00

Obviously, in the previous post, I meant valve surgery -- not value surgery. (I always say it's hard to edit your own stuff!)

Anyway, Abby still is scheduled for surgery sometime today. As of 11:45 a.m., it has not begun yet. It seems when they said 8 a.m., they meant "8 a.m. or anytime later in the day that we feel like it is convenient for us." We've been told early afternoon is likely, but there's no guarantee.

We'll keep you posted.

Sunday update

2007-06-17T21:03:00.001-04:00

For those of you who haven't heard, Abby is having the value surgery Monday morning around 8 a.m. Eastern. It's a fairly routine procedure for premature babies, but, as with any surgery, there is risk.

Everything else is looking good. Her vital signs are stable and encouraging, and she seemed more content today than she had before. It's likely the surgery will set her back for a few days, but, after that, things should be looking up.

It was great to worship with our brothers and sisters in Christ again today. The F&K family has been taking care of us lately, with a lot of emotional and other support. One of the brothers is giving us an oldish car for Katrina to be able to go visit Abby when I'm at work, and people are taking turns preparing meals for us for a few weeks.

In short, we've been quite blessed all around in the last few weeks. Abby still has a long road ahead, but things are looking good.

Thank you to everyone who has been supporting us in any way, from prayers and cards to meals and cars.

I will post updates after the surgery as soon as I can, but it might be later in the day or evening before I can do so.

More photos added

2007-06-16T10:48:00.000-04:00

Friday was another good day for Abby; you can visit Katrina's LiveJournal for a more detailed update.

We've added some more pictures of Abby. You can view them here, even if you're not a Facebook member: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5650&l=d1e0c&id=502335575.

Have a good day!

Friday update

2007-06-15T10:14:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was another good day.

Abby did have to have another minor surgical procedure to insert a line that will allow them to stop giving her so many shots and IVs. That went well and should be very helpful in the long run.

During my time at the hospital yesterday, I had my best moment with Abby thus far. When I first arrived, she was alert. I was standing by her bed and talking to her. She was clearly looking directly at me, even following me with her eyes when my face moved. Then, at one point, she reached out to me with her right hand. I, of course, let her hold one of my fingers for a while. It's just great having her be able to see us now.

In other good news: Her heart valve problem might be fixing itself. In yesterday's heart scan, it was classified as a small opening rather than a moderate one. If they can keep her on low levels of supplemental oxygen, there is a chance the problem will be fixed without surgery.

Katrina's mom just left to go home; my mom will leave sometime this weekend. That means this is the time that people in Columbus can call and arrange if they want to visit. Just give us a call!

Katrina also posted about yesterday at her LiveJournal: katrinafcook.livejournal.com.

Thursday Update

2007-06-14T10:06:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the long delay between updates; going back to work and going to see Abby take up most of my time now.

Katrina has posted her first update on her LiveJournal: katrinafcook.livejournal.com. You can also check in there to keep updated when I don't get a chance to post here.

Abby had another good night overnight. Her blood pressure situation has improved, and her vital signs are still encouraging. She's also started gaining weight, which is very exciting.

So far, there are no signs of infection resulting from the intestinal problems earlier this week. The big issue today is getting a PICC line in. (A PICC line allows them to stop putting so many IVs in her.) They're having trouble getting one in, though; it might require a surgical procedure.

After that, we'll probably start looking at the heart valve problem. That likely is another surgery on the horizon.

In happy news, however, Abby's brain scan earlier this week was normal. Considering the situation, she's doing great. She opened her eyes for the first time on Tuesday, and it's been a lot of fun actually being able to have her look at us. (Sorry; no pictures of that yet!)

Thank you all for your continued support!

Monday Update

2007-06-11T20:59:00.000-04:00

Today was another rough day, but Abby still is hanging in there.

We found out late this morning that the minor surgery to insert a drain didn't solve the problem; the hole in her intestine had not healed. Thus, we spent most of the afternoon waiting for the surgery to begin and waiting for word of the results afterward.

The surgery was a success. She was given an ostomy -- in other words, her bowel currently is emptying in to a bag. This allowed the surgeons to cut out the small area with the hole. The ostomy shouldn't be permanent; they plan to revert the area to normal in several months, after she is more stable and her numerous other issues are dealt with.

The next few days will be spent fighting the serious infection that has been created by the bowel problem. After that, doctors will attempt to starting dealing with other issues.

Abby actually came through the surgery quite well; considering her condition, her vital signs are looking great, but the infection is a serious problem.

This was a hard day, as any surgery is a risk, especially for a tiny preemie. My mom decided to stay, and Katrina's mom already planned to stay through later in the week. If things continue to be stable, I'm planning to return to work on Tuesday to save my paid days off for later.

So many people have continued to offer us support in various forms. We appreciate your love and concern!

Pictures of Abby

2007-06-09T22:46:00.000-04:00

To see the pictures we've taken of Abby, follow this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5650&l=d1e0c&id=502335575

Please feel free to pass this link on to others who aren't on Facebook who would like to see pictures of Abby. Facebook members can access the photos via my profile.

Nothing new to report this evening. Things are still looking good overall. We've survived our first hard day, as has Abby.

Thanks again for your support.

5:30 p.m. Saturday update

2007-06-09T17:47:00.001-04:00

Abby remains stable at Columbus Children's Hospital, where she will remain for at least the next few weeks.

Around 2 p.m. today, she underwent a minor surgical procedure in which a drain was inserted into her abdomen to allow gas and fluids out of areas where they should not be. By all accounts, she responded quite well to the procedure.

We were able to go see her before and after. She was heavily sedated most of the time, but otherwise seemed in relatively good shape. The doctors are "cautiously optimistic," as she seems to be doing quite well considering the situation.

We were told that after this procedure, there was about a 1/3 chance that the problem would be solved, about a 1/3 chance that more extensive surgery would be required, and about a 1/3 chance that she wouldn't make it. So far, things are looking good.

We will know more after some tests that will be administered around 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., but it might be a few days before we totally know if that problem has been solved or not. All other problems are on the back burner until this one is resolved.

We're heading to dinner and then going back to visit her again. I'll probably update again late this evening.

Urgent update

2007-06-09T10:22:00.000-04:00

At this hour (late Saturday AM), Abby is being transferred to Columbus Children's Hospital. X-rays have revealed some stray air in her abdomen, which likely is caused by a hole somewhere in her intestinal tract.

When she arrives, she will be evaluated and possibly be facing surgery later in the day or soon.

We will update you all as soon as we know more and can get back online. Obviously, your continued prayers would be appreciated.

Saturday update

2007-06-09T08:33:00.000-04:00

Abigail is still doing exceptionally well, all things considered. We just received a phone call informing us that she has been put back on a ventilator for now. We had been warned this was a likely occurrence at some point, so it's not too worrisome. Some of her other signs are looking up, so that's good.

Abby spent Friday looking like she couldn't decide if she wanted to go to the beach or go skiing. To help prevent jaundice, she had a large overhead light on her and an odd-looking neon light underneath. Because she's still so sensitive to light, this meant she spent the day with most of her face covered -- kind of like a ski mask.

She also got a heart ultrasound on Friday. There were two problems discovered, but neither one is critical in the next few days:

1. There apparently is a valve that is supposed to close between the artery that takes blood to your lungs and the artery that takes blood to the rest of your body. In premature babies, it often doesn't close on its own. They are giving Abby a drug that often corrects this problem. If the drug is not successful, though, doctors will have to go in and fix the problem.

2. This one sounds bad, but it's actually much less serious. Abby has a very small hole in between two of the chambers in her heart. Again, this is common in premature babies. This often fixes itself, and often doesn't cause any problems in any case. One of the nurses said there are probably many people walking around with this problem who don't even know it.

Katrina was discharged from the hospital late Friday morning. She's still doing well and feeling good overall. She hasn't had a chance yet, but she'll likely start updating her LiveJournal later today. (The link is on the right side of this page.) That's about the most strenuous thing she's allowed to do for several weeks.

Three more family members (my dad, sister and grandma) arrived in Columbus last night and had their first chance to meet Abigail late in the evening. Now we just have to juggle visitation arrangements and figure out what to do with everyone when we're not visiting Abby. (By the way, it's no fun only being able to "visit" your child.)

Again, thank you all for your love and support.

Abby Update

2007-06-07T23:59:00.001-04:00

Abigail is now more than 40 hours old. There's not a whole lot new to report. She's still doing as well as can be expected at this point. She's lost a little weight, but that is very common in the first few days after birth. She was taken off her ventilator today, which is a huge good sign this early. She still has a ton of tubes and wires attached, and there's still a long way to go.

We've been told the first 48-72 hours are critical, as is the first week. By this time next week, we should have better insight into the situation. She's set for a heart ultrasound in the morning, and a brain ultrasound next Thursday. (These are both normal in this situation.)

We got to go and see Abby a lot today. There are about 16 hours a day that the NICU is open. We're allowed two visitors at any time, and we can rotate in and out whoever we want. Abby was moved to a special eight-bed area, which is, as Katrina called it "the ICU of the ICU." It's where the eight babies most in need of care stay.

Abby certainly recognizes her mom's voice and is calmed by it. By this evening, she was having a similar reaction to me. We love spending time with her and learning things from the staff, which, by the way, has been outstanding. Now we just need to learn everyone's name ...

She's spending most of her time under a bright light to help prevent jaundice, which is quite common in premies. When we come to visit, we can touch her and talk to her. Maybe we'll work our way up to singing, but I'm just now becoming good at talking to her without breaking down a bit.

Katrina is set to be released from the hospital Friday morning. She's doing wonderfully and enjoying the taste of Diet Pepsi again.

We had a lot of visitors and phone calls again today. After Katrina's released in the morning, you'll need to call our home or cell numbers to arrange if you want to visit Abby, as you can only do so when we're there too. (Obviously, we'll be there a lot; just call and we'll arrange a time for you to meet us there.)

Family members continue to arrive as they can. Katrina's grandma arrived this evening, and another handful of Iowans should arrive Friday evening.

We are continually hearing about groups, individuals and congregations who are lifting Abby and the rest of us up in prayer. We truly appreciate your support in this and every other way.

Making An Entrance

2007-06-06T23:26:00.000-04:00

Abigail Grace Cook was born at 8:30 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, June 6.

Katrina is doing wonderfully; she'll likely get to come home Friday. Abby, on the other hand, faces a long road. She would have hit the 24-week mark on Thursday, so she is just on the line where a baby has a reasonable chance of survival with intensive care.

Given that fact, Abby's doing quite well. She weighed in at 1 pound, 8.5 ounces, which is actually quite large for her age. She is 12.5 inches long. She will be at the neonatal intensive care unit for the foreseeable future, likely several months at minimum.

Katrina and I got to go see her and touch her in the NICU several times today. We also were able to let several visitors take a turn seeing her up close, but only the parents are allowed to touch her at this point.

Speaking of visitors, we really appreciated all the support we received from so many people today. We had a steady stream of friends and family visiting throughout the day and an even more steady stream of phone calls of support from all over the country. We received word that Abby had been lifted up in prayer by at least a half-dozen congregations and many more individuals from New Hampshire to China. God is good!

For those of you in the neighborhood, calls and visits are welcome. If you're wanting to visit, you probably should call ahead (614-293-1131 is Katrina's direct line) to make sure our little room doesn't run out of room. Also, the NICU is closed for several stretches throughout the day, so you'll probably want to make sure you're coming at a time you can go see Abby. (By the way, Abigail and Abby are both fine. Your choice.)

Here's a Cliff's Notes version of the last 27 hours, for those of you who'd like to know what in the world happened:

Tuesday
9:45 p.m.: Katrina calls me at work to report a worrisome symptom. I convince her to call 911 and start getting ready to leave work early.
10 p.m.: As I prepare to leave the office (~1 hour away from home), Katrina says the medics are on the way.
10:30 p.m.: Katrina says the medics have examined her and determined the situation isn't urgent. They say they can take her to the hospital, or she can wait for my arrival. She decides to wait.
11 p.m.: I arrive home, grab a few things, and take Katrina to the hospital.
11:15 p.m.: We arrive at the emergency room and are immediately transferred to the labor and delivery wing, which handles all pregnant women who come to the emergency room in this kind of situation.

Wednesday:
Midnightish: By this point, we have talked with several medical students, residents, nurses and doctors. They are asking us about the situation and running some tests in an intake room.
12:45 a.m.: We get the news: The cervix is essentially gone, and there is some serious dilatation. In other words, the chances were very slim they were going to be able to stop Abigail from being delivered in the near future.
1 a.m.: Katrina is moved down to a labor and delivery room. We're told that they're going to give steroids to try to develop Abby's lungs and some other chemical to try to calm the contractions. Their hope was to delay delivery for at least 48 hours to allow time for a full series of steroids to help her lungs.
1:30 a.m.: We try to call our parents with the news so they can make plans to move towards Columbus ASAP.
3 a.m.: Things seem to be stable, with contractions every eight minutes and holding. They even got weaker for a while.
4 a.m.: With things still stable, I run home to pack a suitcase and do a few other things while Katrina gets some sleep.
5:30 a.m.: I arrive back at the hospital and get a total of about an hour of sleep before phone calls and hospital activity start a new day.
8 a.m.: All of a sudden, Katrina vomits. In the ensuing examination, it is discovered that delivery is imminent. The delivery room fills with about a dozen people. Because we hadn't had a chance to take childbirth education classes, I was fairly useless. The staff really stepped up and took care of things, though.
8:30 a.m.: After a short active labor, Abigail is born. She is immediately placed in a special bed in the room to be cared for by a group of specialists. I get to see her some, Katrina barely gets to see her at all.
8:45 a.m.: I follow the staff as they wheel Abby to the NICU. They say it will take several hours to stabilize her.
9 a.m.: I make an urgent round of phone calls to spread the good news.
10 a.m.: We get our first visitor, Jeff Darby, the college minister at our congregation. He comforts us and keeps us company as we wait for news and as Katrina drifts in and out of the conversation because of fatigue.
Noonish: We finally get word that Abby is stable and we can go see her in the NICU. She's so small! We stay about 20 minutes, but Katrina needs to go back to bed. It was so hard to not be able to hold her!
Rest of the day: A whirlwind of visitors, phone calls and hospital stuff. By the end of the day, we had gone to see Abby several times, and she seemed to be a little more comfortable each time. She grasped her little hands around a finger several times, especially when Katrina touched her hand.

I will post updates as warranted and as I have an opportunity. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. They truly carried us through an extremely difficult 24 hours.

Urgent Pregnancy Update

2007-06-06T04:34:00.000-04:00

Your prayers are urgently requested.

As you can see by the tag, I'm typing this at 4:35 a.m. Wednesday. Katrina has been admitted to Ohio State University hospital with serious complications. She and the baby are doing fine for the time being, but there is an extremely good chance that Abigail will be born sometime this week.

As we're at 23.5 weeks, that's obviously a problem. There's hope, but even the best scenario is dicey to say the least.

I'll update as I have the opportunity. Thank you in advance for your prayers and concern.

"Headlines"

2007-06-05T00:06:00.000-04:00

3. (an ad) "Come to work for Subway and have your dreams crushed like the rest of us."
2. (a classified ad) "Sausage stuffer $5, meat grinder $5, animal carrier $5"
1. (a cheerleader's biography) "When she isn't cheering, she likes to spend time with your boyfriend."

Promotion

2007-05-27T15:40:00.001-04:00

Ah, the start of a three-day weekend. I know most of you get a three-day weekend, too, but mine lasts through Wednesday afternoon, making it nearly a four-day weekend.

Saturday also was my final day as an hourly worker. For those of you who haven't heard, I've been promoted at work. Starting this week, I'm the night local desk editor. That's a bit of jargon, so here's the translation: I'm essentially in charge of the newsroom in the evenings.

I'm the official supervisor of four reporters: the night news reporter (who's coming back from maternity leave soon, or so I hear) and the three sports reporters. That makes me, in essence, the sports editor, so I'll also be in charge of planning the sports section. I'll also get to go out and cover games at peak times (read: Football Fridays), so I'm really excited about that.

Another change will be my hours. As soon as my former position is filled, I'll be shifting to a Monday-Friday schedule. I'll also probably starting going in earlier, working from around 1 p.m. until around 10 p.m. Shifting to salaried means I won't have to watch the clock quite so carefully, but I don't plan on living at the office, either.

This is my first time as a high-level editor anywhere other than The Bison, so it's going to be a big change, and a big challenge. Your prayers would be appreciated, as would any advice you have to offer.

Have a great holiday!

Introducing Abigail Grace Cook

2007-05-11T00:12:00.000-04:00

At long last, here is last week's ultrasound. This is when we found out it's a girl. A few days later, we finalized the name: Abigail Grace Cook.

We had been mulling boy and girl name options for at least a month, so it was just a matter of finalizing the first name and picking out a middle name. It was a lot of fun picking out a name, and it seems we did a good job as we've been getting rave reviews from family and friends. (Maybe we just have polite family and friends ...)

And, for the record, Abigail really likes strawberry yogurt. Or at least she is making her mom start liking it.

By the way, Abigail means "the father is joyful." I think you can figure out Grace on your own.

"Headlines"

2007-05-08T00:04:00.000-04:00

3. (a grocery ad) "85% fresh lean ground beef"
2. (a classified apartment ad) "Drawback: Big hairy spiders drop off bedroom ceiling at night."
1. (a kid's quote bubble in an ad for an educational book) "Should I say nine and five is 13 or nine and five are 13?"

It's a girl!

2007-05-03T12:54:00.000-04:00

Nothing else to report; everything is looking good. I'll post the ultrasound later this week, as soon as Katrina gets it scanned at school.

Ballet and Baseball

2007-04-29T21:03:00.000-04:00

Ballet
As Katrina's anniversary gift last month, I bought us tickets to today's local performance of the ballet "Sleeping Beauty."

This was my first ballet (I think), so I went in with low expectations for my enjoyment potential. The first act wasn't too bad, but the second act had no plot and was hard to follow, so I got bored. I think I still much prefer theater, but I told Katrina she might be able to get me to go back to the ballet again.

Baseball
In other news, I listened to an interesting book on tape on the way to and from the office this week: Bob Costas' "Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball." Although it's about seven years old, he still made some great points about baseball: its problems, its strengths and its needs for the future.

His No. 1 priority was finding a way to institute a salary cap (both for individuals and teams) and revenue sharing. He made a compelling case that the majority of owners and players, and the fans and the game itself, would benefit from this arrangement. The ultra-elite players and top few owners would be sacrificing, but doing so for the greater good, ultimately growing the game and making everyone involved with it richer.

His other big objection is to the wild card and the way it removes all hope of a real pennant race. When you think about it, he's right. The only way there is really a life-or-death battle for a division title now is if both teams are so mediocre that they have no hope of the wild card. His solution is to only allow three teams from each league into the playoffs and give the team with the best record in each league a first-round bye. This, he says, would restore the drama of real races for division titles, plus give a true advantage to the team that has the best regular season. It's an interesting proposal, to say the least.

I don't have the time or the memory to summarize the whole book here, but it comes recommended if you have a chance to pick it up at your local library.

Bonus joke for making it to the end of the post
On the way home from evening services tonight, I pointed out a little sign on the side of the road advertising a "psychic fair" last weekend. Without missing a beat, Katrina asked me: "Why do psychics need to advertise?"

Bonus news for making it to the end of the post
For those of you who didn't see on Facebook, our next ultrasound is scheduled for Thursday, so tune in later this week for official boy-or-girl news.

Cool News

2007-04-23T13:30:00.000-04:00

Not that I usually care that much about the women's soccer World Cup, but this year's event is being held in China. Not only in China, but in several cities around the nation -- including Wuhan.

The draw for the 16-team event was held over the weekend, with the U.S. team getting a tough group of Nigeria, North Korea and Sweeden. (Apparently NK has a good women's soccer team, unlike anything else.)

Sadly, the US women will play most of their group games in Chengdu, but they could have a quarterfinal match in Wuhan if they come in second in their group. The full listing of groups and matches is here.

Makes me wish I still were over in Wuhan. It would be awesome to be able to cheer for a U.S. national team in any sport at an event like that. I might even travel to Chengdu just for the experience and the chance to be on ESPN.

Wuhan's group-stage matches will include China, New Zealand, Brazil and Denmark.

I know I have a few occasional readers in Wuhan. Anyone planning on going to any of the matches?

The possible end of an era

2007-04-19T10:28:00.000-04:00

In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: The police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories. (bum bum)

Our chances to hear those famous lines on NBC might be coming to an end.

With the constant slip in the ratings the last few years, the following news from The New York Times doesn't come as a shock: Both the original "Law & Order" and the spinoff "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" are in danger of being canceled after this season.

It's not a done deal yet, the article reports, but they're both in danger. NBC says they're too expensive to make and aren't as profitable as their ratings slip. The other long-lived spinoff, "Law & Order: SVU" is still a hit and in no danger.

Of course, the series' creator, Dick Wolf, is in no hurry to see the original's 17-year run end. The article says he's still hoping it can pass "Gunsmoke" and become the longest-running prime-time entertainment series. That would take three more seasons to tie the record.

I know the original show just isn't the same without Lennie (the late Jerry Orbach), but I'd hate to see it go. But, as the article mentions, the show surely will live on for years with its copious reruns on NBC-owned cable networks.

Anyone else a L&O addict? Who's your favorite character?

"Headlines"

2007-04-17T00:19:00.000-04:00

They're back. Tonight's batch was a great one, including several that were too long to clearly recount here.

3. (in an ad) "Mammogrammed towels and T-shirts"
2. (in a classified ad) "My girlfriend just died. Want to go to Puerto Vallarta?"
1. (in an ad) "Burger King unveils new low-fat cashier!"

Dreams

2007-04-11T10:52:00.000-04:00

Note: I haven't been interesting enough to get many comments lately, so this is going to be an attempt at an interactive post. Take your shot at any or all of the three questions below, if you'd like.

I'm sure you've all heard about the Cubs being up for sale at the end of this season. If 599 of you can come up with $1 million each to go with my million, they're all ours! A Midwestern guy can dream, can't he? First player to go: Bob Howry (o-2).

Question 1A: What MLB team would you like to own? Why?
Question 1B: What would you do if you owned the Cubs?

In association with another longtime dream, I've been reading several books written by famous Jeopardy! champions -- Ken Jennings, Bob Harris, etc. Katrina and I grew up dreaming of being on the show. I even tried out for the college edition once. The next time they have an audition in this area, we're there. It would be a great way to pay off HU once and for all, or maybe get enough for a down payment on a house.

Question 2: Do you have a secret desire to get on Jeopardy!? Or is Wheel of Fortune more your style?

My fantasy baseball league finally is underway, although I don't think a few of the guys have realized we've started. Kind of by default, I'm in second place after the first day. It was the first time I'd had a team picked by an auto draft, so it was weird waking up and "meeting" my team.

C Michael Barrett (ChC)
1B Adrián González (SD)
2B Ray Durham (SF)
3B David Wright (NYM)
SS Felipe López (Was)
OF Carlos Beltrán (NYM)
OF Chris Burke (Hou)
OF Mark DeRosa (ChC)
Util Aramis Ramírez (ChC)
SP Roy Oswalt (Hou)
SP Aaron Harang (Cin)
SP Brett Myers (Phi)
RP Trevor Hoffman (SD)
RP José Valverde (Ari)
P Clay Hensley (SD)
P Jason Schmidt (LAD)
P Jonathan Broxton (LAD)

Bench
Nomar Garciaparra (LAD)
Edwin Encarnación (Cin)
Rich Aurilia (SF)
Roger Clemens (Hou?)
Scott Olsen (Fla)

Question 3: Turned out pretty lame, didn't it?

Let's just hope:
A. Roger Clemens actually plays this year.
B. Adrian Gonzalez has many more days like yesterday.

New Job

2007-04-04T11:24:00.000-04:00

I have a new job.

OK, not exactly. I have a new job title. What I do on a day-to-day basis isn't substantially changing. We're in the middle of bit of newsroom upheaval to better align our resources for the different things we do. I can't elaborate too much yet, as the full details won't be public until later this week.

But I can talk about my job. It sounds a like a demotion (Assistant City Editor to Evening Web/Copy Editor), but it's really the same thing with a new name. My two primary duties are keeping our Web site updated and reviewing local content for all platforms. There are dozens of other things I do from time to time, so it keeps my job interesting. (And I recently was added to our key staff list on the Web site, so that's something.)

What will really be interesting is seeing what kind of reaction the changes bring. We've been really blessed with low turnover since September, which is uncommon at a paper of this size. Here's hoping that trend continues, as it makes all of our jobs easier and allows us to put out a better product.

In other news:
-Katrina had another pregnancy checkup last Thursday. It was short and uneventful. Everything is looking good. We'll have another checkup at the end of April and then the big ultrasound sometime in May.

-We went on a tour of OSU Hospital's maternity ward Sunday afternoon. It was a fun experience, if a bit early. It's good to know what to expect in September. Not sure who put maternity on the sixth floor, though ...

-Apparently, this is Spring Sing week at Harding. Oh, the memories. As ordered, I shared my thoughts on the subject over at Miller's Menial Musings.

-I think I'm going to be playing fantasy baseball this year. I'll share my team once we get around to drafting them ...

Recent Misc. Stuff

2007-03-24T12:23:00.000-04:00

-It's been a strangely quiet NCAA Tournament, with seven of the top eight seeds (all except Wisconsin; sorry Joel) advancing to the Elite Eight. Thankfully, I picked a perfect Elite Eight in one of my brackets, so things are looking good. Normally, as a fan of the underdog, I wouldn't be happy that all these powerhouses are advancing.

-Katrina currently is on spring break. In one of her winter quarter classes, she was part of a group digitizing an 1851 journal written by an Ohio man touring Europe. You can see their work thus far here.

-A good laugh from The Onion for fans of the NHL.

-In honor of last week's Sunshine Week, Congress is considering three bills that would improve access to government records and strengthen the FOIA. Sadly, the White House doesn't like them.

-Breaking AP news via CNN: Some governments (that shall remain nameless on this blog) try to control thought.

So far, so good

2007-03-15T14:02:00.000-04:00

Stanford and BC are up, so my bracket's holding up so far. I've done a few different brackets, but my gut pick to win on most of them is Kansas. No special reason; I don't even like the Jayhawks. There aren't even any Iowa teams for me to pull for in the men's tourney this year. But it's still one of the best few days of the year, and I'll get to spend most of it at work with people who care even more than I do. (Of course, there's no office pool going on there ...)

Also this weekend, my parents will be visiting us in Columbus for the first time. They have a long weekend because of conferences and then Spring Break next week, so they'll be arriving Friday evening and leaving Tuesday morning. Not sure what we'll do to entertain them, but it will be good to see them and spend time together.

We did some cleaning this morning, mainly throwing out things we don't need or want anymore. This was needed because my parents will be bringing the first round of baby supplies when they come.

How's your bracket holding up?

"Headlines"

2007-03-13T02:06:00.000-04:00

3. (a car ad) "1991 Blazer -- Loaded with miles!"
2. (an ad) "Back to school special: Eat kids free!"
1. (a classified ad) "Squirrel in a wheelchair, free to a special home"

Baseball Cards

2007-03-05T17:16:00.000-05:00

Unlike the last few weekends, I actually have an excuse for not posting much in the last few days. Our friends at Time Warner decided to take more than 48 hours to restore our Internet and phone service after it went out Friday afternoon. It was a minor annoyance, and they're saying they will credit our bill, so I can't complain too loudly.

In other news, we had our first visit with our new doctor today. We had to get a new doctor for Katrina's pregnancy because the one we had seen before was not going to be available for the whole term of the pregnancy. So we met the new doctor today. She seemed very nice, and there's not really anything of significance to report. Things are looking good. (Other than the rude receptionist, but that's another story ... )

My other big project this weekend has been going through my old baseball cards. They're just taking up too much space, so I'm thinking about getting rid of them. I picked up a 2006 price guide last week and the bookstore, and I'm evaluating how valuable my cards are. As most of my cards are from 1986-1993, the simple answer is: Not very. The best cards I've found so far have been an '87 Topps Barry Bonds rookie and a '93 Topps Derek Jeter rookie. Both are worth $10, according to my price guide.

Does anyone have any experience with selling baseball cards? If so, I'd appreciate any advice you have to offer.

Random China-related news

2007-02-28T11:10:00.000-05:00

-The city I work in (Newark) is considering a sister-city relationship with Huangshi, China (黄石市). Oddly enough, Huangshi (which, of course, no one, not even the mayor, can say correctly!) is quite close to Wuhan in Hubei Province. For the record, Columbus' sister city in China is Hefei, Anhui Province (合肥).

-The Washington Post reports that China is cracking down on media freedom during the run up to the 17th Party Congress, which will be held this fall. An interesting read, but none too surprising for those of us familiar with the Chinese media. Just go to the English-language national paper's Web site here and look around for a few minutes. You'll see what I mean.

Baby Cookie unveiled

2007-02-26T21:24:00.000-05:00

As promised, here are the first pictures of Baby Cookie. We'll stick with that name until we find out boy or girl. (Here's hoping boy!)

Katrina has labeled the first picture for your convenience. These are both larger than actual size. We are at about 9.5 weeks, so we've been told he/she is actually only about 1 inch long.

The ultrasound was fun and fast. We go see the doctor next Monday.

'Tis the Season

2007-02-23T13:29:00.000-05:00

I guess it is the season for college students to be studying AP style, as I have had at least 10 hits on my blog this week from people who have Googled "AP style quiz" or something like that. They have come from locations across the nation, from Newark, Del., to Los Angeles.

If you're one of those people who has found my blog in this random way, I'm sorry to disappoint you. No formal quiz here, although I did have a post with that title last month.

Google should be able to help you find some relevant study materials. Also, here's a page with style and other quizzes at copydesk.org, the online home of the American Copy Editors Society. (Now those are my kind of people!) I just wish I could go to their convention this year -- it seems that Dave Barry is going to be one of the speakers.

When The Lights Go Out In The City ...

2007-02-22T11:22:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was shaping up to be a second consecutive calm, normal day in the newsroom -- a refreshing break after last week's weather frenzy -- when disaster struck.

I was giving a front page article a second read when, suddenly, the screen went out and the newsroom went dark. It was 7:20 p.m. -- six hours before we go to press -- and the electricity was out. The lights made a few efforts to come back in the minute that followed, but to no avail.

I called our managing editor and the electric company immediately. We could see out the window that it seemed to be a small area that had lost power, and we quickly found out that a transformer had caught fire down the street.

It took until around 9 or so to get a generator going that allowed a few of us to get back to work in the newsroom. It was strange working on a computer in the dark.

We had to send our reporters home to type their stories, as we didn't have enough juice for them to work in the office. They e-mailed them in. As for our Web site, we had two of our employees who were at home update the site as needed from home until we could take care of it from the office.

Overall, it was a strange night. The power came back around 11:45 p.m., just in time to allow the paper to be printed relatively on schedule.

Here's our account of the outage. It was actually quite minor, except for the fact that it hit us, so there wasn't really a lot to report.