Meet Baby Nate...

Nathaniel Ross Dickerson was born on Tuesday, June 26 in the morning at 10:09. Like his big sister, Mia, he arrived roughly three months early. He was a bit smaller than she was, weighing in at 1 pound, 15 ounces at birth (compared to her 2 pounds, 4 ounces).

The story is this: Stacy felt funny last Sunday; she was spotting just a bit and felt like something was not right. She called her doctor and spoke with the doctor on call, who told her to go to the ER if she felt pain or if the bleeding got worse. Otherwise, she was to relax and keep her appointment with her doctor on Monday. So, that's what she did--she did go in to work on Monday before her appointment, just to do paperwork, though.

By the time Dr. Flannagan saw her at 9 a.m., she was dilated to 4 cm! That bought her a ticket to admission into ETMC for bed rest, which would last as long as we could make it last.

We could only make it last a matter of hours, it turned out. She stayed at 4-5 cm. Monday, but had grown to 6 cm. Tuesday morning, which meant that she could not be transferred to Dallas. Dr. Flannagan called in the neonatal transport team from Methodist Hospital in Dallas--the same hospital where Mia was flown when she arrived in Nacogdoches. Once they showed up, we retrieved Nate from her womb. I watched: it was disconcerting but very cool!

The flight nurse who came to get Nate was Griselda, one of our favorite nurses who took care of Mia for so long. Having her there sort of inspired extra confidence in me; I have always admired her and her coworkers for their sense of mission and compassion. Anyway, seeing her and having her take care of Nate reminded me that God is in control, and that is the best thing to remember when you are in an incomprehensible spot.

Nate in Tyler pre-flight; that is the smallest diaper they had! The Saran Wrap blanket will show up on our bill as a $400, space-age polymer warming blanket. Gotta love our health-care system!

I drove up and visited Nate, stayed at Dianne's house, and visited Nate again the next day. Then, I drove back to Tyler to stay with Stacy. She has since been diagnosed with sepsis (she had e-coli in her blood and was spiking fevers of 103, and feeling terrible. her mom was her first choice of caregivers, but I would have to do, since Sally was on the road to Seattle to help Kelly move up there. Today, Saturday, Stacy has finally licked the e-coli and is feeling better at last. She will hopefully go home on Monday.

Today, I went to my mom's and retrieved Mia. She is taking a nap in her own bed and we are going to spend some good time together before taking food to Stacy this evening. Our little family of three has been expanded to four; we are not out of the woods with Nate, but he is very strong and seems to be a fighter like Mia. If you pray, please remember us in your prayers as we try to work and heal and visit Dallas and keep healthy. I pray the Mia will get the attention she needs during this process, as well. She is too great to be overlooked!

This is what you shall do:

Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body… .

Adventures in feeling like an old man, day #1157

Saturday, January 19, 2007: The First Haircut!

For some time, we had noticed that Mia was gifted at looking at the world through a tangle of hair. Stacy and I were divided between allowing Mia's hair to just grow until she hits college (my position) or having her hair cut so she could see and so she would look more groomed (Stacy's position).

I held out for months, but finally came around, so Stacy made an appointment for herself and one for Mia, and we all began to get excited.

This is Mia before her haircut. Say bye-bye to those 70s-esque locks!

Here she is with her tendrils covered just before we headed out.

Check out that distressed face! Although she maintained an air of excitement about getting her hair cut, she seemed to find the actual sitting-in-the-chair part daunting, at first. She came to relax, and really enjoyed watching Stacy get her hair done afterward.

Here is Miss Pam in the middle of trimming Mia up a bit.

The finished product: Here are Mia and Stacy sporting their brand-new looks. Mia apparently aged a year, and I have been assured by many people that this will not be the last time I am shocked by time. This first haircut will pale in comparison to Mia getting her hair done for her prom, for example.

Do my girls look beautiful, or what?! :o)