MichaelandChrissy.com

The remnants of Hurricane Ike came up through the Midwest from Texas and hit Northwest Indiana hard. It rained for several days straight, causing all of the local rivers to flood.  The Little Calumet river crested and flooded many Northwest Indiana towns along its banks.  Nobody seems to notice the Little Cal until it rains too much, but no one could have expected the nine to ten inches of rainfall that we received last weekend.

The news is showing aerial footage of Calumet Avenue in Munster where the Target and all surrounding roads are under water.  Lake George has gone all wonky in Hobart (where I grew up) and washed away the Third Street bridge.  In Highland, the Highland Plaza parking lot was completely under water.  The Lake County Board of Commissioners declared a state of emergency Monday morning in the wake of last weekend’s record rainfall.

The heavy flooding is causing road closures all over the place. The Borman (80/94), which runs parallel to the Little Calumet, was closed from 394 in the west to Cline Avenue in the east. The Bishop Ford was closed completely. The onramps to the Borman were under water at Calumet Avenue and Kennedy Avenue.  Cline Avenue was closed as well, but I’m not sure how bad the flooding was there.  Since I live south of the Borman, I couldn’t get to work at all this morning!

I really like to write for the family web site, but the last week has been a whirlwind of new-baby activity.  We’ve done this before, being second-time parents, but it’s still taking a bit of time for everyone to get acclimated to caring for a new life again (or for the first time, in Aiden’s case).  Maybe I’ve been too busy to compose anything or possibly too tired to think straight, but it’s been difficult to come up with an adequate description of how I feel right now. So, let’s get analytical.

Gavin James Wilson was born on Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008.  He was six pounds and fifteen ounces, and twenty and one-quarter inches in length, just a tad smaller than Aiden was.  Chrissy and I went to Community Hospital in Munster to try out their new single-occupancy post partum rooms (they didn’t have these last time we were there).  We showed up at 5 AM, got into our room by 5:30AM, and then prepped for surgery at 7:30AM.  After a short wait, Gavin was born via c-section at 9:09AM.

I accompanied Gavin to the nursery to be weighed and warmed up while Chrissy rested up in the recovery room.  Chrissy’s mom was there waiting for us, and she got to watch through the window.  I’ve got some video of the nurse checking Gavin out, so I might be able to post that some time.  Chrissy spent the next few days in the hospital, and we were able to bring Gavin home for the first time on Friday, July 25th.  Which brings us to the present, home again with a new baby in tow.

Thanks to everyone who came to see us at the hospital!  We got visits from Chrissy’s parents, her three sisters, Aunt Linda and Uncle Marve, Aunt Paula and Grandpa, and Felice and her mom, Pam.  My Dad and Diane stopped by as well, which was a very pleasant surprise.  We appreciate being in your thoughts!  Keep watching this space, as we’ll be updating with new baby pictures as often as we can.

Chrissy and I went to Lamaze classes this weekend at Community Hospital in Munster. We took the weekend crash course that was eight hours on Saturday and five hours on Sunday. Two very long days. But we brought our own pillows from home and were relatively comfy.

It was very interesting though, and we learned a lot. Surprisingly, the class wasn’t all about breathing for pain management. The instuctor talked to us about pregnancy issues, and then the birthing experience, and then postpartum issues. We found out that the Yoga Ball that Chrissy put away long ago could be used to strengthen the birthing muscles and ease the pressure during labor.

We did practice the breathing techniques for a little while each day, but the class was mostly about what to expect and how to prepare for the next stages of pregnancy and birth. I feel a lot more confident about what I’m supposed to be doing now. And the instructor was very good about answering everybody’s questions. I was sort of dreading the long classes, but now I’m glad that we went.