HE'S HERE!

HE'S FINALLY HERE! After two full weeks of anxiously (the correct word here - it was both eagerness and nervousness, given our pending labor induction on Saturday) waiting for Ian after his due date, he arrived. Below was the birth announcement that we sent to about 120 of our family and friends:

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At 4:57 A.M. this morning – July 17, 2008 – our lives changed forever when
Ian Jonas McVey took his first breath.

He was born at the Women’s Birth & Wellness Center in Chapel Hill, NC. He
weighed in at a robust 9 pounds, 13 ounces and measured a fairly lengthy 22
inches. Elaine delivered him in the absence of anesthetics or induction
drugs after approximately 8 hours of active labor. I suppose you could call
Elaine’s labor “a 9-to-5 job.”

Ian has been eagerly awaited and affectionately pre-loved. His name was
chosen years ago. Ever since the vague notion of the abstract possibility
of the chance of future offspring first occurred to us a decade ago, we have
referred to the potential person as “Ian.” I suppose if we had had a girl,
she may have felt odd about that. By the way, her name would have been
Jaina; we did not know until Elaine delivered that we in fact had an Ian all
along. But now, the wave function representing her quantum existence has
collapsed, and our vague notion of the abstract possibility of the chance of
future offspring has crystallized into a perfect, beautiful, and rather
hirsute little boy named Ian.

He caused more than a little bit of apprehension by choosing to arrive
exactly two full weeks after his due date. However, Elaine and I believe
that all of the waiting, worrying, hoping, and hard work of delivery was
worth it.

I have attached a collage of photos of Ian. I have found it entirely too
difficult to capture the essence of Ian in only one snapshot, so I felt the
need to merge several.

Elaine and I left the birth center at about 11:30 AM to bring Ian to his new
home. Ever since, Elaine and Ian have been nursing and sleeping, and I have
been mostly sleeping. I am amazed at the fatigue that has followed on the
heels of a sleepless night filled with so much striving and so much
catharsis.

Elaine and I would like to thank those of you who have kept us in your
thoughts and prayers, pre-loving and anticipating Ian along with us. We
would also like to apologize to those we never got around to informing about
our upcoming arrival who are now doubtless staring slack-jawed at their
monitors. We are looking forward to sharing our lives’ journeys with Ian,
and with sharing Ian’s life journey with our family and friends.

Please feel free to browse our blog for more information, stories, and
pictures at:
http://www.the-life-of-ian.blogspot.com/

We plan to keep posting updates, media, and our thoughts as Ian grows up.
Of course, we'll have to tell him about it someday, and he may feel as if
his life has been something akin to the Truman Show. On the other hand,
we're not really scrapbooking people, so we hope that keeping this record of
his early years will serve as a trove of treasured memories for us and a
glimpse for Ian into his past as he begins to ponder where he came from and
where he will choose to go in his life.

Sincerely,
Doug (typing)
Elaine (resting)
Ian (nursing/sleeping/crying/fidgeting/grasping/twisting/nuzzling/amazing…)

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Douglas McVey
kDy Automation Solutions
www.kdyautomation.com
m: 13200 Strickland Rd Ste 114-202 • Raleigh, NC 27613
p: 1 (888) 219.0049
f: 1 (919) 341.4883
c: 1 (919) 208.3879
e: doug_mcvey@kdyautomation.com

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The original e-mail included the collage of Ian posted above. By clicking on the picture above, you will be taken to a LARGE version of the collage, suitable for photo printing.

And, yes, there have been many more photos of Ian's first hours which, I presume, you may be interested in seeing in lieu of reading more of my ramblings. Here are a few.

Elaine with her newborn son, just a few minutes after birth.

Me with Ian, using skin-to-skin contact to make sure he stays warm. Apparently, newborns treat body heat kind of like Imelda Marcos treats her shoe budget.

The overnight nurse (we had two nurses - a nurse midwife who oversaw the birth, and the RN who saw to the other tasks) weighs Ian. 9 pounds, 13 ounces it is!

Ian grabbing some shuteye at the birth center before coming home.

Ian, Elaine, and the day nurse, Ellen, in the birthing room. Ian is all buckled into his approved car seat, waiting for Dad to fire up the air conditioning during a warm (but not unseasonably so) day.In his first outfit at the birth center. He owns a lot of yellow and green, given that we didn't know his gender until about 4:57 AM yesterday.



He sleeps - a lot. Here he is on Elaine's bed, located in the nursery right next to his crib.

Ian with Grandma.

Ian, just after being dressed for bed, lying on his changing table waiting to be moved to his crib.