Charlotte got to meet her Pom as well as her Mimi and Papa over a 10-day span in April, when we celebrated her 3-week and 4-week birthdays. We took lots of walks, but mostly just watched them beam at Charlotte while we took a moment to ourselves. As Tiff said, it’s pretty amazing to see how much she grows up everyday and evolves into a person with each new interaction.
We can’t wait for them to come back. Some clips of their visit from her one-month video post as well.
And finally, we’ve found that music tends to calm this one down so here’s one with Charlotte and mom:
The post headline really should say abandoning my absolutely heroic wife and baby (but I don’t like headlines breaking over). Yes, I did abandon my 10-day old daughter with the permission of my amazing wife, traveling across the country and back in a little more than 24 hours. Why? Because my wife is awesome and I am crazy. And so when my school, which I have followed since my oldest life memory, took the floor for the national championship game, I got to be there. Tiff allowed it to happen, friends and family made the experience wholly memorable, and the most likeable Michigan basketball team of all-time nearly pulled it off.
Less than 12 hours after the game ended I was back holding my daughter in the same shirt I had been wearing when I left her. I think the clip from my brother in the video from the previous post sums it up best (and it’s worth noting that as a result of this trip I got to include a snippet of Charlotte’s aunt and uncle in one clip and her great uncle, great grandmother and grandfather in another. Right?). But until she reads this post she’ll never remember and it’s something I’ll never forget. Thanks Tiff.
Charlotte Alice Grandstaff was born March 29, 2013, at 11:20 p.m. PT, weighing 6 pounds, 5 ounces and measuring at 20 inches long. The cliche term is miracle — a term I used to half smile at and half roll my eyes at when others would describe the birth of their children. And yet that’s what I’m falling back on. She is an absolute miracle. It’s difficult to communicate the amount of anxiety you feel in the hours — and in our case days — leading up to the birth of your child as you lay cooped up inside a hospital delivery room. Without getting into too many details, there were complications with Charlotte’s delivery. After nearly 20 hours, her heart rate dropped dramatically and the doctors called for a Code Blue emergency. Plugs were quickly pulled out of the wall and Tiff’s hospital bed was rushed instantly out of the delivery room along with a dozen doctors while I stood there alone and in shock. Thankfully, they were able to stabilize Charlotte almost instantly, but preparations were made for a C-section. When things got dicey an hour later, doctors began the emergency procedure. I have never been to a more terrifying place than this sterilized C-section room, surrounded by doctors with worried faces under ultraviolet light. But when Charlotte finally cried out, everything suddenly became OK. A beautiful baby girl. The doctors were able to determine the cause of all of our problems almost instantly upon birth: Charlotte’s umbilical cord had been tied into a perfect knot (if you’re into things that are grody, aka science, there’s a picture of it below). According to the doctors this is an extremely rare event, the result of which is that each time she descended toward the birth canal her oxygen supply was squeezed off, thus accounting for the dip in her heart rate during larger contractions.
Turns out she fought pretty hard to get into this world and thanks to some pretty great doctors, she made it with nothing more than a little nick on her ear from the initial incision (some pictures below of them stitching it up as she was just minutes old).
She’s incredible and has some pretty proud parents who are enjoying (almost) every second of parenthood so far.
We celebrate her first week by sharing the first 100 or so photos/videos of what will shortly become thousands on this blog. Cheers
We traveled to South Africa with friend Tim Ball, carrying Big 5 and World Cup dreams. To follow our travels during the 2010 World Cup click here.
Pyramids & Petra
In 2009 we traveled to Egypt, Jordan and England. You can check out our journey by clicking here.
Asia
In 2008 we took a trip through Asia with our friend Kimi. Follow our adventure from Beijing to Cambodia by clicking here.
Greek Honeymoon
Look back at our honeymoon in Greece following our wedding in 2007 by clicking here.
France/Amsterdam
In April of 2006 this newly-engaged couple made its way from Amsterdam to the south of France -- via Paris and several locales in between. Check it out by clicking here.
Italy
In 2005 we took our first trip together -- to Italy! We visited Rome, Florence, Venice, Tuscany, Capri and along saw a new Pope get elected. Check it out by clicking here.
