Hendrix's First Video

Here is some video of Hendrix shortly after he was born, its the first video that we have of him, and its too good not to share.  At least we think so.  We've added some minor production value to it too.

SEE HENDRIX - LIVE!!!

This Saturday, SATURday, SATURDAY!!! See the one, the only, Hendrix , Live. For the first time, since . . . forever. Now appearing at Casa de Gustafson.  Cover is minimal, and preferred guests get in free.  Prepare to have your mind blown!

oh. He's here alright.

Apparently I don't know what I've been talking about.  Last September, the doctors told us that our little man was due May 21, 2008.  After all the nervousness and anticipation, what do you know? They were spot on.  Marina went in to labor on her due date, and delivered at 4:45 am this morning, May 22, 2008.  "Our little man" is in fact, Hendrix David Gustafson.  He came in at 7 lbs 4 oz, and 19.5 inches tall. We was weighed, measured, poked, and prodded for the better part of the day and at the end of it all, it appears that we have a very special and precious baby boy on our hands.  His hair is (i think) a bit long, though thin, and a lighter shade of brown. For now his eyes are a very deep blue, which could work wonders on the ladies down the road, but we'll see how that holds up over the next three months.  This skin is very white and pink, surprising considering that he's half Puerto Rican.  He's got long legs, arms, fingers, and toes. And if this means anything to you, it does appear that he has the Schwarting Toe!  He so alert, and had eyes open like right from the very beginning.  Crazy little man.

The Prologue

We've had quite an exciting week thus far, which seems to have concluded in a sensational finish.  Marina had been having braxton-hicks contractions all week, and as of last Friday there was no dilation, and he hadn't dropped.  Yesterday, I picked Marina up from work at 3:10 (what a trooper), and we went out for a nice long walk once we got home.  Her contractions continued, and were sometimes more intense. But we knew that we had something in the works as "the show" began at 6:30.  Not long after that her contractions got a lot more frequent.  We tried timing them a few times and even called the doctor to see about coming, no chance.  He suggested that it'd be sometime between the next day to 48 hours.  Great!  Well, not so much. At 9:20, Marina started contractions at 2 minutes apart, and held steady for about 75 minutes before we called again.  Now, we'd never been through this before and knew nothing about nothing, so we weren't even sure if we should call again.  Well good thing we did.  After we got off the phone with the doctors, we headed to the hospital at 11:30 where we found out not long after that Marina was 6 cm dilated, with a bulging back and at a +1 station.   Apparently, thats very far along.  We were rushed upstairs, Marina's labor was validated, and we (in our minds) we no longer crazy.  "There may be a baby in there yet!"  The doctor finally came in about 1 am, and she was just as far along, no movement, still at 6 cm, but feeling fine after the epidural took hold.  The plan was for another measurement at 3 am to see how far she was along.  So, we kicked the grandparents out at around 2 am so that we could get some sleep as birth was seemingly several hours away (thinking 8 am). Again, not so much.  At 3 am, she was fully dilated, quite shocking to both of us because we did see anything happening.  I mean after she got her epidural, everything got very calm.  So, we were quite confused when the nurse told us that we could have a baby within the hour.  Yeah, that made no sense at the time.  Well, she was close, as I said, he was born at 4:45, not bad.  About 90 of pushing, and it sure didn't seem easy in the long run. Marina's first impression was a laughing "wow, this isn't what I expected at all".  Well her smiles never seemed to fade, she ended up working real hard and was sweating pretty good by the end of it all.  Lots of hard bearing down, a lot more than I would have liked to have done.  I'll have to put my birthing perspective in another one, apparently all the nurses in the room were laughing at me.  But, I'm way too tired to add that section in, and this is a fairly decent synopsis of how the labor story unfolded.

Three is a magic number!

1+1 = 3. It's magic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPzAjiLr5Zw

Here we go

Alright it can't be that far off now, right?  Today is the due date, which we've been staring down now for nine months.  Its seemed lately that it would pass without incident, but we're starting to get a little action as of late.  Marina started to have contractions last night on a little more regular basis.  She was 20 minutes apart for a while, and then they shortened up to 10 minutes for about an hour.  And then . . . stopped.  Well maybe that doesn't mean today, BUT, its gotta be soon, right?  I think so.  SO, I've put my catcher's mitt on and I'm ready for anything. I better be!

By The Way

Marina may have neglected to inform you that she'll be bearing the fruit of my loom. Well needless to say, she's terribly excited. I excuse myself from excitement as it is more important for me to be the steady hand that steers the ship. Yes, there is a baby on the way and I think the US postal service has a better chance of being on time. Marina seems to think he's been doing chin-ups with her falopian tubes. He's getting all beefed up for his big day, and he knows that he needs to look his best for all the googling, dawdling friends and relatives. I say good thinking little G. Just like dadda did. I came out a very beefy 9lbs 9oz. Enjoy that one Marina, jumbo fetuses run in the Gustafson family! Get ready for the biggest baby at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. When our little fella thinks that its time to come out of the dressing room, he'll arrive just when he's supposed to, and only he knows when that is exactly.

Be excited. b-e excited! Be EXCITED! B-E EXCITED!!!

The Dad has arrived.

OK. So the baby isn't here yet. But its not too late for me to make my FIRST post to the "Team" Gustafson Blog. Many of you don't know this, but my presence on this site has been forbidden up until this point, but NO MORE! I've broken through, and I'm here to speak my mind and let all you web-o-philes know every stinking little thought that the new pappa gus's brain has.

First things first. Hello. Welcome to my blog (our blog). Thank you much for coming by. I hope that you're comfortable. Marina has done most of the decorating so far, but I plan on making a few "guy-friendly" improvements. Maybe some risque links, extensive sports coverage, spirits & lager write-ups, stuff like that. This is a blog for the people dang it!!! Lets gets this party started . . . .

The Dad has arrived.

When are you coming Baby G???

It is the day before D-day and we are READY! Constantly analyzing every pain, cramp, contraction, wondering..."is this it?" My doctor's appt last friday didn't go as well as I had hoped, I had still made no progress as far as showing signs of getting ready for labor, no dialation, no effacement...no fun. I had planned on stopping work last friday, but figured I'd go crazy sitting at home just waiting when I was pretty sure I had some time to go still. So here I am, STILL at work, wondering if he will ever decide to leave the temporary home I've made for him and enter the real world. Good thing is that I lasted until my parents got to Chicago. They flew in on Saturday and have now joined us in the waiting game!

So that's the plan now...wait. I've been pretty uncomfortable lately with back pain, headaches, overall moodiness and a ridiculous amount of Braxton Hicks contractions (enough "practice" already). I have another appointment on Thursday and I pray that at that point, we've made some progress, anything...a cm....1/2 a cm...anything!!!

Full Term

I've reached the final milestone, 37 weeks and baby boy G is officially full term and technically, I'm ready to go at anytime. Although, no need for excitment yet, I'm not ready to go :-) I had a doctor's appt today and everything is right on track. The tummy is measuring at 36cm, baby's heart rate is right on, my blood pressure is great, and as the doctor put it "your cervix is doing nothing". So unless I fast track into some crazy active labor, I think I'm good for at least another week until my next appt and then we'll see where I am...but I guess you never know. Everyone keeps telling me to stop being so sure that I'm not having this baby anytime soon, but I'm just not "feeling it" yet!