The World As It Was When You Were Born

Hey Madison,

I've always thought it was pretty interesting to know how the world was back when you were born.  For example when I was born in 1979 there was no internet, gas was less than a $1, and you were pretty much stuck watching the big networks (ABC/CBS/NBC, FOX wouldn't be born until the late 80s) on TV.  So what was the world like in 2012 when you were born?

- Broadband internet was becoming more prevalent and dial up was becoming a thing of the past.  At our house, when it was working correctly, our internet download speeds were around 15MB/sec.  A far cry from back when I was in high school and I though our 14.4kb/sec modem was the business.

- The internet has become accessible pretty much anywhere via laptops, tablets, and smartphones through either WIFI or 3G/4G LTE connections.  The mobile connections aren't as fast but again still much faster than my "awesome" 14.4 baud modem from the late 90s.

- I can't imagine a world without the internet now.  Any question you have you can get immediately answered on Google.  Whether it be what time the movie is playing, where is the closest Chinese place, how to get to Wisconsin, or what was that movie with that guy who had a beard.  All of these things weren't possible in the world I was born in.  We had to use Yellow Pages, maps, TV Guides, and encyclopedias to answer our questions.

- Music is available on the Cloud now.  You just buy something in iTunes and it magically downloads to all your connected devices.  Tapes are non-existant and CDs are on their way out.  Pretty much everything is digital download.  Even DVDs and Blu Rays are most likely going away.  We can find almost anything we want to watch online through Netflix or Hulu or...illegal downloading (I would never do such a thing though...).

- 2012 is an election year which means that all year democrats and republicans have been slinging insults at each other trying to convince us, the public, to elect them.  The economy is a mess and unemployment is higher than its been since the depression.  President Obama has had 4 years to get us right but I haven't seen any progress.  Rep nominee Mitt Romney seems to have a business background which I would think would help him with our economic woes but he's not as relatable to the American public and is painted as a "rich white guy".  Nobody likes rich white guys.  Unfortunately politics has gotten very bipartisan and really nobody seems to be interested in actually fixing our problems they just want to make sure we know the other guy definitely can't fix it so you might as well give us a chance.  I hate politics :(

- The top song on Billboard's top 100 for the week you were born was Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together".  I don't know if Taylor Swift is still around when you're reading this but back in 2012 she would date famous guys, breakup with them, and then write a scathing song about how terrible they are.  I believe this one was written about Jake Gylanhall.  Your aunt Kim loves Taylor Swift.  I hate her.  She has such squinty eyes!

- We have a crazy number of TV channels.  Probably like 500.  Way more than the 20 or so I grew up on.  Thanks to cable there are channels for pretty much every interest.  My favorites are Discovery and the Learning Channel.  Your mom's seem to be Lifetime (television for women) and E!.  I can't stand E! and their Keeping up with the Kardashians.  A family only famous cause Kim Kardsashian was in a sex tape that got "leaked".  I don't know how old you are when you're reading this but if you don't know what a sex tape is ask your mother...

- Cars are pretty stylish these days.  Very aerodynamic unlike the boxy things we had when I was growing up.  Due to rising gas prices ($4+!) hybrid cars are getting popular.  These are cars that run on gas some times and electricity other times.  I might get a hybrid once the Nissian gives out.  I would really like them to master hydrogen fuel cells for cars.  I think that'd be even less gas reliant than electric cars and oh so futuristic!  No flying cars in 2012.  Maybe in your time? Please!

- Speaking of flying - airports security has gotten crazy since 9/11.  Before 9/11 anyone could walk into an airport, go through a metal detector, and sit around in the gate areas whether you had a flight or not.  Now only people with tickets can go through security and in security you have to go through a metal detector, take off your shoes, possibly get a full body scan, and get swabbed for gunpower residue.  Once you get on the plane you have to pay for any food you want, only the drinks (non-alcoholic) and lame snack (peanuts/cookie) are free.  Back in my day you got a full meal on the plan for free!  Sure they tasted terrible but they were free!!!  Also you have to pay to bring your luggage.  Lame.

- People say global warming is causing some havok with our planet these days.  Given the very weak winter we had and the drought this summer maybe those folks are onto something.  Hopefully there is still weather when you read this.  Even more hopefully we control the weather by then!

- Probably the biggest group of idiots in our country this year were the Occupy people.  These are people without jobs who would go to popular places in big cities and protest the fact that they couldn't get a job.  Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Atlanta, Occupy Chicago, ect.  If they dedicated even a fraction of the effort they dedicated to occupying a park to finding a job they wouldn't be unemployed anymore.  Just an example of the sense of entitlement  a lot of people have these days.  They think they should have everything provided to them for little or no work.  Both your mother and I worked very hard to get ourselves to the position we were in when you were born and don't expect anything to be given to us by the government.  I'm going to sound like my dad here but hard work is what this country was built on not handouts.  I hope we don't raise you to be an entitled little brat!

- You can get a fast food meal for around $7 these days.  That'll get you a burger, fries, and a drink.  You can watch a movie for around $8 ($15 if you want one of those fancy 3D movies, forget them I say!).  You can rent a movie for around $5.  Gas, as I mentioned above, is over $4 a gallon.  Flying from Chicago to Atlanta to see my family costs about $300 a ticket.  And a new 60" LED TV probably would set us back $1,500 if your mom ever let me buy one....

Well thats about all I can think of to talk about right now.  Hopefully the world you're reading this in is full of crazy things I never thought were possible when I wrote this in 2012.  I'm looking at you flying cars!

Love,
Dad

A Long Hospital Stay

Hello Madison,

When we last talked I had just finished telling the tale of your birth.  Having already been in the hospital since Wednesday we were ready to go back home but since you were delivered by c section that meant we had to stay THREE nights afterwards to make sure you and your mom were healthy and ok.  We moved to the postpartum wing though which meant I got a hospital bed like your mom rather than that terrible fold out chair bed thing.

The day after you were born, Saturday, my parents and my sister Erin arrived in the suburbs from the city to meet you for the first time.  My mom just couldn't stop taking pictures of you.  Unfortunately for her she's not very good with digital cameras and I had to spend a little time instructing her how to use them.  She had just gotten an new smartphone so she was trying to figure out how to take pictures with that as well.  She took so many pictures that she stopped taking pictures of you as a whole and started taking pictures of individual body parts - feet, hands, ect.

That Saturday also happened to be the season opener for my Georgia Bulldogs.  We played a cream puff team, Buffalo, which made it ok that I had to watch the game intermittently on my phone rather than on the big screen at home like I had originally planned (since you were supposed to have been born 6 days ago...).  It gave me an excuse to put on your Georgia baby hat.  We had plenty of other Georgia clothes for you but unfortunately they didn't fit a newborn so all you had was the hat. It wasn't a pretty game but Georgia won.

Midday Saturday I was able to head home with my parents to get them set up in the guest bedroom and also to steal a nap.  While I was at home your Grandparents Reining and Uncle Chris and Kathleen came to meet you.  They left before I got back though.  Really I don't remember much about that day outside of the family visiting.  When nobody was visiting us your mother and I tried our best to sleep.  Between you and the hospital staff waking us up every hour it was pretty difficult to get rested.  That night was probably the toughest your mother and I have had with you thus far.  You just would not stop crying.  We were both tired and frustrated and once your mom started crying I started crying.  Thankfully we got a nurse to swaddle you up and you seemed to calm down.

Sunday my parents and Aunt Erin (Aunt E as I called her.  Hopefully that name stuck and you call her that to this day...) came back over for more holding of the baby and picture taking.  I had to take Erin back to the METRA station around 430 and my parents went back to the house.  After that I remember going down to the hospital cafeteria and getting a fairly good sloppy joe, like a pound of green beans, and a free chocolate milk the cashier forgot to ring up.  That night we sent you to the nursery for a couple hours so we could get some precious sleep.  It wasn't alot but it was better than what we had gotten the past two nights.

Monday morning we were cleared to take you home!  After spending five nights in that darn hospital we finally got to take you to your real home.  I loaded up all our stuff (of which there was a ton) into the Honda Pilot (I wonder if we still have that car in the time you are reading this...) and made sure the baby car seat base was securely fastened to the seat while they wheeled your mom and you down in a wheelchair.  That drive home I must have driven like an old man - 10 miles below the speed limit.  I was nervous with such a precious cargo in the car!  Its not like it was a dangerous drive though - probably saw like 2 other cars the entire ride.

Finally after so long we were home!  With our beloved Madison.

The Birth!

Hello Madison!

Man a lot has happened since I updated this blog.

When we last talked your mother and I were patiently waiting in the hospital for her induction to work and for her to dilate enough to deliver you.  After spending Wednesday night in the hospital while they gave Meghan Cervadil we then spent all of Thursday there while we waiting for the pitocin to start contracting the cervix and get her into labor.  After doing that most of the day the doctor decided to give your mom a break and start the pitocin again Friday morning at 3am.  So we had dinner from the hospital cafeteria (yuck) and went to sleep.

The next morning I awoke and your mom was already on her second round of pitocin.  The doctor came to check up on her and decided to speed labor along by breaking your mom's water.  After that happened her contractions definitely started getting stronger.  So strong that I started feeling just awful watching her writhe around on the bed in pain.  Thankfully they gave her an epidural and all the pain vanished.  At least until early evening when it started wearing off.  Around 8ish the doctor (Dr. Zieno this time rather than Karney, who had left to attend a wedding) came to check on your mom and she still hadn't dilated any more than 5cm.  We were going to have to do a Cesarian section :(  It was the one thing your mom said at the very beginning of this pregnancy that she didn't want to do and again I felt terrible for her but she was willing to do whatever she had to do to get you into this world. So a c section was what we did.

After spending the past 49 hours in the hospital waiting around for something to happen I figured it'd probably take them a couple hours to get ready for the surgery but they almost immediately handed me some sterile scrubs, a face mask, and a hair guard and told me to get ready.  They took your mom into the operating room within the half hour and after she was prepped they called me in to sit by her side while the operation went on.  There was a big curtain all around her body so I couldn't see anything.  Surprisingly they had you out of there within 2 minutes of starting the procedure.  Since your mom was laying down and behind the curtain she couldn't see you but I could.  You were beautiful.  I immediately was over come with emotion.  Words failed me.  I couldn't say anything without crying.  Of course your mom is laying down there waiting for me to report back to her and all I could get out was "She's beautiful".

They rushed me out with you to the nursery for tests while they sewed back up your mom.  I felt terrible leaving her but she wanted me to be with you.  She kept asking me if she was alright cause she could her the doctors "whispering" and figured something had gone wrong.  "You're doing great honey", was all I could say before heading out the door with you.

At the nursery they did the Agpar test which measures how healthy a baby is out of the womb. In our baby class they told us rarely do babies get 9-10s on the Agpar right out of the womb so not to be disappointed if your baby gets a 4 or a 5.  I'm proud to say you scored a 9.  I felt so much relief knowing you were so healthy given that when I was born I was all sorts of sickly.

After the Agpar they weighed you, a whopping 9lbs 8.87 ounces rounded up to 9lbs 9oz.  Then you got all your blood tests.  You did not like those at all.  All the time I'm still weeping at the wonder that is you.  The nursery nurses had to give me a box of tissues.

While all of this was going on they were finishing up with your mom and moving her to recovery.  I headed back over there to see her and let the nurses get you nice and bundled up.  Of course I still can vocalize much about you at this point.  Any time I think of you I get all teary eyed.  I knew I was going to cry when you were born but I didn't realize how powerfully emotional the whole process was.  I don't think I've ever cried that much out of happiness in my entire life.  I got a little misty when I proposed to your mom and when we got married but never like this.  Gosh I'm getting teary eyed just reliving the moment.  God help me when you get married and I have to deliver a speech!

After you were done with all the tests the nurses let me cart you over to your mom and meet her for the first time.  Of course she though you were so so beautiful.  And she said she had never seen me cry before.  Eventually I got clearance to bring your grandparents Reining back to the recovery room so they could meet you as well.  Everyone just thought you were the most amazing thing in the world.  Eventually we were moved to our new postpartum room and your grandparents left for the night.  We had to wait until around 1am for the nurses to finally bring you back after another round of tests.  I honestly am not sure what time we went to sleep that night.  Maybe around 4am?  We just sat there holding you and looking at you.  That was to be the first of many many sleepless nights...

We still had 3 more days left in the hospital; what would happen next?  How would having a newborn affect our lives?  I'll detail that out in additional posts cause I'm tired.  Mainly because of you :)