Ok so this is an attempt at some pictures for the Blog. I know it kinda sucks that you have to sit here at watch it in order to see them all but, it is what it is. I'm stretching out and checking my limits with the blog thing and thought I'd throw some pictures in a slide show to see how it worked out? Anything you'd like to see? The comments button that so many of you have found is near the bottom and please feel free to ask and I'll try to honor all requests. Let me know what you think of the layout of the blogger...anything you'd like to see...things you don't like at all and so on. I can't actually believe that I've posted this much in the last week? Whatever will I do. The apocalypse must be upon us. Nope just me with time on my hands and a desire to show you all the things I made.....baby and blogger both. Next I'm going to work on video. I haven't taken any of the baby yet. She really has been quite the sleeper. Nurses assure us its not always going to be that way. So while we're on the subject of baby Sedona...... She's doing great. Healthy as can be and sleeps like crazy. She's having a bit of trouble eating, as she doesn't quite have the sucking thing down yet. Everyone seems to think she'll figure it out, so I'm not overly worried about it....yet.
Well everyone new things are upon me this day. As of this very morning I am no longer taking Chemo. My last round was early this month and I have been taking my chemo pills like a good little boy and I am done. Last night (29th of Nov) was my last chemo pills. So all the things I couldn't do are coming back, but very slowly. I am going to start going to the gym again, oh how I've been looking forward to this. I can now drink beer, hence the need to get to the gym. I can go out without a concern about my white blood counts and getting infected. I don't care anymore. World here I come. Better watch out too cause I'm a daddy now and I've got an agenda. Ok well its all well and good that I've got an agenda, but I need to get moving if I'm going to accomplish it. Thanks so much for everyone that reads and comments. I really enjoy hearing them and will be answering your questions in time. Until next time....

Yesterday.......

Hey Everyone,
Ok so the intent was to induce this morning. But apparently around 7:30 the water broke anyway…so it just happened to happen today anyway. Doc came in and started the oxytocin (help strengthen contractions) even though she had already started. That was about 8:30. Epidural was started around 9 and the pain went away totally. Then they upped the oxytocin and they came back pretty strong around 1 in the afternoon. They just came in to check her again to see how dilated her cervix is and wouldn’t you know it……. 9 cm. They’re going to call the doctor and its damn near pushing time. We’ve been competing against 3 other women in labor….we’ve decided we’re gonna go first. So we’ve been thinking fast labor thoughts. This will be it for now…I’ll blog the rest when the baby is born. I feel kinda bad sitting here typing as Sarah is contracting. I have to go be with my wife.

Ok so here’s the update. Sarah went into pushing labor at 2:30. Sedona was born at 5:20. Sarah is a freaking champ. She pushed for 3 hours and wanted to give up after 2. We encouraged her to keep going and lo and behold she had another hour left in her for more pushing. We are now the proud parents of Sedona Rae Fredrick. She is seven pounds four ounces and nineteen and a half inches long. Healthy as a newborn baby should be and lying in the little heating bed waiting for her first bath.

Overall the day was exciting, breathtaking, exhausting, wonderful and million other things. What the hell am I going to do now? Ok I’m going to close this for now and save it so I have something to take home and post.

WOOOOHOOOO!

Hey Everyone,
I am blogging from the hospital. Actually I am blogging from the hospital on the laptop and going to save it and throw put it online when I get some internet service, as there is none here in the hospital. I figured there would be as there was internet @ Yale. Well that’s what I get for assuming I suppose. Ok onto the Meat and Potatoes of why I’m posting. Preggers had an appointment today to see the OB. Well her Blood Pressure was through the roof @ 164/116. So the Dr. decided to admit her to the hospital for observation to make sure all is well. So here we are. Her Blood pressure is slowly going down but her contractions are picking up. So not getting my hopes up as the doc says he wants to observe for a few days. I don’t think Sedona is ready to come out yet but we’ll see what happens. If she comes today then I’m gonna be super excited. Ok I’ll be super excited even if she doesn’t come today but whatever. Ok well this is it for now unless I think of something.
Ok I thought of something. The nurse came in about a half an hour ago and told us she thinks the doctor is going to want to induce tomorrow morning. That’s what she thinks is going to happen. So I’m writing this writhing in complete agony that we can’t do it today. Beggars can’t be choosers I guess. Well I bout did back flips when she mentioned that. BUT, the words haven’t come from the doctors mouth yet so I’m only doing jumping jacks in preparation for the Back flips. This room is big enough to do back flips in let me tell you.

Ok so Doctor came in and gave the news. He’s going to induce tomorrow morning. Sedona is going to be born Tomorrow. WOOHOO. I couldn’t be anymore excited and I didn’t do any backflips but man I’d like to. I don’t know. Well I need to head towards home now so I have to save this and get ready to go.

Two in a Row???

Ok I'm not sure what I was thinking but I felt the need to come in and update the blog yet again. Preggers had another appointment today. This one however was for a non stress test. For those of you who don't know (myself included before today) its just a look see at the baby to see how she's moving and if she's moving enough. So that being said we went to the hospital and Sarah got hooked up to a couple of monitors and she laid on her left side and we talked to the nurse. The idea behind the test is to make sure that the baby is moving around enough, and that when she moves that her heart rate raises. Its to make sure she's not being adversely affected by anything that may be bothering Sarah. In this case Sarah has developed some mild pre-eclampsia. Nothing we're worried about though the doctor is monitoring her well enough, and I'm keeping her chair bound or in bed lying down. She still wants to conquer everything in front of her that she thinks needs doing. She's tough to keep in check, but I'm doing what I can. Next appointment is on Tuesday and is part of the weekly checks that we're now doing, as is traditional at this point in the pregnancy. I'll try to keep everyone posted. I'm going to post some pictures here in the bit. I have to figure it out first. I thought I had a video to post but it didn't work so I had to can it. Oh well I'll figure something out.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hello Everyone. This blog was once a dream, well at least I envisioned illusions of grandeur with it. To think I was going to try and blog daily...then weekly. Now its come down to monthly I guess. I am getting harrassed yet again for not blogging, so I thought there could be no better choice of day for a blog than Thanksgiving.


So this year I have about a billion things to be thankful for. Every year I sit and ponder for at least a few minutes the things I should give thanks for, and every year I really don't come up with much and default to the usuals....family, friends health. Yadda Yadda Yadda. Turns out this year that Health is really something to be thankful for. To be finished with chemo in another week, and hopefully never having to poison my body with that is a blessing. I am eternally grateful for my wife who has been by my side during all of this. I'm thankful for family and friends, all who have supported me in this trial. These are so just the major ones. I don't really suppose you want to hear me talk about all I'm thankful for. So I'll keep it to that. Thank you all for being there for me. Ok onto something new.

So Sarah had a scare two days ago. Lots of contractions and cramping and what not so we thought it was time. We held out and waited to see what the result would be, she went to bed and had a little nap. Woke up and all was well. So just a bit of a false alarm. So we got a bit excited but no luck. 14 days left today.... this is worse than when I was 8 and waiting for Christmas. I'm foaming at the mouth waiting for her to show up. So Sarah's last doctors appointment resulted in "modified bed rest". Which goes to show that she is all go no quit..and that her body is telling her that she needs to relax a little and sit down. So now she must be sitting or laying most of the day. She's been taken off of work and now she's relaxing comfortably in her recliner. It's been a long pregnancy and we're coming to the end. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

How am I to Raise a little girl?

I guess this will be a rant/rave blog. I've been sitting on this for a few days and it hasn't gotten any better. Which is good for readers I suppose. How am I to raise a little girl in the condition of the world as it is. I can't fix it so I suppose I'll have to just learn to live with it. Ok so a little background to go with my concerns. Preggers and I went to Yale New Haven hospital for a new doctors appointment. Its over an hour away and with traffic in the morning trying to get down to New Haven, it can be kind of a drag. I had a CT scan of the chest to check out my lungs at 9 am, and an appointment to see a pulmologist (lung doctor) at 2:20 so there was some time to kill. By the way pulmologist said that my cough...just a little pneumonia, here take some antibiotics.

So Sarah and I went to lunch, little local diner as we had some time to kill before 2:20 and my next appointment. She orders up a rootbeer float and I a coke no ice and we decide to split a corned beef reuben, if you've never had one they're delectible and I recommend one immediately. Ok so long intro to say that in the background Fox news is on. I don't make a habit of watching the news as is it just normally upsets me, as it did on this particular day. A man accused of videotaping the sexual assalt of a 3 year old. So this only put me in a rage, how can this man live with himself? What are they going to do to him in prison? Actually I hope he gets justice due in prison! Then I started to think about the things I would do to someone for wrong doing against my own wife let alone my daughter. I would go to prison, of that I'm sure.

Then the third thing on the list to get my goat (as gram says) was that the State of California has passed a bill banning the use of "Mom and Dad" and "husband and wife". As these are discriminatory against gays,l The bill in question is SB777 and if you look online you'll read all kinds of things about it. Until about five minutes ago I was vehemently against it and now after actually reading the bill it eased my anger only a little bit. One of the things allowed by this bill is for boys to use the girls locker room in school and vice versa if they want. Not to discriminate based on gender or the gender that the person identifies with. Ahh what the hell is this world coming to? If you have dangly bits then you're a boy and if you don't have dangly bits then you're a girl.....proceed to the proper locker room.

The first thing that annoyed me in the news was that in CT they are going to or are thinking of banning things at recess and gym that cause body banging...no more tag, no more fun games, soon it will all be just stare at each other, and we're concerned about how obese our children are becoming. Good thing McDonalds has a milk option instead of soda.....what kid wants milk as an alternative to soda? Anyway this will be the end of this rant. I have a check up appointment with the surgeon. I have to go get ready.

Ok I suck

Ok so heres a quick update because I don't want to subject you all to the pain and agony of a complete update that would normally go right here. So heres another down and dirty. Surgery went well...Better than they hoped. They were gonna let me go at day seven but I wanted to stay an extra day. So eight days in the hospital and then home. Healed well and at home.....Chemotherapy has started again. If I could have three wishes I would use each one of them on each round of chemo I have left. I hate Chemotherapy. I could go on about how much but really if you can imagine how much one could hate something you'll just be grasping how much. Preggers is doing well, very well. We couldn't have asked for a less eventful pregnancy. Now I might add that for preggers it really has been uneventful for the pregnancy but she has had to deal with me....and for that she deserves Sainthood. She has had to deal with all the pregnancy stuff and me...and I am no easy patient sometimes. I love that woman very much. 71 days from today is Sedona's scheduled birthday. Hopefully things go as planned, although the way things advance with the baby she'll be born the day she's supposed to. I'm not making any predictions though I'll leave that to everyone else. So thats kinda the update for now...I'm trying to figure out how to add video so that we can post video when its time...still working on it. You'll know when I figure it out. Thanks for being patient all.....