Monthly Archives: August 2010

On becoming a Dad

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It’s cool. Very cool.

It’s easy to say this though when I’m not the one responsible for flying the plane. I just support the pilot from ground control. But there’s not much for me to do because Michelle is “Maverick” from Top Gun. Truly awesome.

Apart from the unending bouts of crying at night, our little dude is a true champion. He’s just so darn cute.

I took him for his first outing today. I loaded up the pram with all the required baby goods (wipes, nappies, wraps, iPhone) and headed down to McDonalds to give the guy a taste of his first cheeseburger. He like it so much, he ordered a 6 pack of nuggets and a vanilla milkshake to wash it all down :)

Ted Benjamin Priebe

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Our little boy, Ted Benjamin, was born on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 at 1:38pm AEST via a cesarean – eleven days past his due date of August 6th. Because he baked a bit longer than expected he was born a healthy 3.750kg (or 8.3 pounds in the old money) and was rather long at 55cm.

Because Ted didn’t seem to want to come out, Michelle had to be induced. We went in early Monday morning only to find out that Northwest had a surge of women in labor and were told that Michelle was to go home and to try again the next day. It was really heartbreaking and depressing being sent home. It’s hard to describe but there is a lot of untapped emotion stirred up inside while you wait to meet your newborn. To wallow away our sorrows we headed out to Redcliffe for some fish n chips by the ocean.

On Tuesday, we woke up early – again – and made our way back to Northwest for attempt number two. Michelle had prepared herself to throw a tantrum if they told her to go home again, so right from the outset it looked like Tuesday was going to be the day – whatever it took. Thankfully, being eleven days past due date and having been sent home once before, we were a priority and they had a room waiting for us.

The next few hours went by very quickly. The obgyn broke Michelle’s waters at 8:40am, contractions started pretty much straight away, and the labor was nudged along swiftly by drugs administered by a drip. Michelle went from discomfort to needing gas to requesting an epidural all by 12pm. After the epidural was administered a midwife did a check of baby and noticed that he was breeched (wrong way around – his bum was gonna come out first). This both answered and raised some questions. We now knew why he wasn’t coming out all by himself and we now wondered how on earth the obgyn missed this. At the time however all that didn’t really matter, more important things had to be done and Michelle was quickly prepared for an emergency cesarean. Within an hour she was prepped, moved to an operating theater and operated on.

Ted Benjamin Priebe greeted us with cries of joy at 1:38pm on Tuesday, August 17th.

Immediately following the birth, Ted was checked out by the paediatrician and was found to have a dislocated right hip – due to his breeched position in the uterus. A problem with a simple fix – he just has to wear a full body brace for 8 weeks and he’ll be good as new.

The next few hours, and then days are a bit of blur – but have been very exciting. I’m amazed at how well Michelle is coping with it all and chuffed that I seem to be taking it all on with ease – so far…

Thank you everyone for your warm wishes, congratulations, visits and gifts. We are very grateful and have really appreciated the support.

Supersize me

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A workmate was recently lamenting how tempting it was to have an Indian restaurant across the road from his house. I had little sympathy for him and recounted the multitude of fast food outlets and restaurants available to us if we went out for a two minute lazy stroll.

Within a 500 meter radius of our house we have:

McDonalds, Baskin Robbins, Hogs Breath, Fasta Pasta, KFC, Hungry Jacks, Coffee Club, Top Nosh Cafe, Brumby’s Bakery, Miss India, Subway, Enchiladas, The Cheesecake Shop, Saucy Wok, Fish n Chips (x2), Another Indian Restaurant, Best Thai in Aspley, Another bakery, Chinese Restaurant (x2), Pub Lovers, Dominos, Scrumpy’s, and a Pizza Hut.

If you ventured out for a five minute walk, you’d also find:

A Yum Cha restaurant, a kebab store, a donut store, Red Rooster, Lone Star, Outback Jacks, Assorted Cafes (x4), another fish n chip shop, and two mates houses where we can go for a feed.

It’s not my fault if I get fat. It’s capitalism’s.

Still baking

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Pineapple upside down cake Yep, still baking. Yesterday it was a pineapple upside down cake, something Ben has been telling me about his mum’s version of for many years. With that kind of pressure, I’d always stayed well away. Perhaps it was a hormone rush to the head, but yesterday I thought I’d have a go. And it was seriously divine. There were no comparisons to his mum’s cake – he knows to tread carefully at the moment ;) – but the look of pure joy on his face when he saw the cake and then inhaled a large piece was a sight to behold. Wish I had a photo of that. Now if only I could convince him to take the rest to work so it’s not here tempting me all day!