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 :)

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.

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.

Where is he though? He’s still playing hide n seek.

Last Sunday Michelle’s family celebrated her father’s birthday with a Vietnamese banquet @ Green Tea restaurant in China Town Brisbane. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and finishing it off with fried ice cream and a cup of joe was the perfect way to end the afternoon. Not to be left unspoilt, Michelle had Ray over on Thursday for his actual birthday and baked him the most delicious chocolate cake I’ve eaten in a long, long time.

Today, some of the Priebe’s gathered together to have a farewell lunch for my sister Leisa who will be moving to Abu Dhabi for two years later this month to teach English. We went to this awesome Greek restaurant called Ouzeri’s and woofed down mountains of tasty Greek food before ducking down to Freestyle’s for a coffee and saying goodbye.

Now we just need little Marmaduke to make an appearance to top off a great week celebrating family.

I work with a great set of skillful developers, testers and business analysts who have all put in efforts beyond the normal call of duty. It feels really great to have developed and delivered a product that will be used by the business to improve efficiency and profitability.

Of course with any project it is far from over but I am now comfortable enough with the stage it’s at and know that I have a great team capable of progressing the product while I get ready to take time off when my son arrives.

With my work pressures behind me, I am really starting to look forward to the coming days, weeks, and months. Not only are we having our first child (any day now) but we are welcoming home our best friends Gerrod and Kristy from the UK. And to top it all off, I got an iPhone 4 on Friday so everything is coming up roses.

I really look forward to the second half of this year. Bring it on.

A few random observations from my time at home –

• To all the full-time workers who can think of nothing more blissful than a daytime tele session – it gets very old after about a day. And Ellen DeGeneres is still very painful. I must say I am enjoying the reruns of All Saints, even though i should probably be avoiding all things involving hospitals + drama.
• I can’t really say I’ve been overcome by a ‘nesting instinct’. I think the main reason i’m doing things like washing the outdoor furniture covers, baking and organising cupboards is that All Saints only goes for an hour and I have lots of time on my hands. Maybe it’s yet to come – I hope so, there’s still plenty of chores to do!
• I am eating a lot of baked goods.
• Everyone needs to update Facebook more, i.e. for my entertainment
• Today I am off to the doctors for my weekly check-in, and then meeting Lou at Chermie for a preggie pedicure. Should be nice.

Update at 1.41pm: I now have pretty toes…and the doctor says bub’s head is ‘deeply engaged’ which I suppose explains all of the above!

I’m a week and a half into maternity leave now and really, really enjoying it. While still working I felt pretty emotional at the prospect of finishing up, farewelling my great work buddies, and knowing it would be very different when I returned. But when the time finally rolled around, the overwhelming feeling of relief somewhat drowned out the other emotions. The final weeks and handover period were pretty hectic and my body was telling me it was time to go into my dark corner – or at least call it quits at work!

With just over 2 weeks until the little one is due, I’m trying to relish every minute of this very rare period of freedom. Fortunately I am feeling pretty good – quite a few aches and pains and a little someone drawing heavily on my energy reserves and making sleeping difficult, but I can’t complain. I’m not (often, anyway) at that ‘get it out of me’ stage, but ask me again in 2 weeks I guess! We are really itching to meet the little fella though :)

I’m enjoying lots of catch-ups, plenty of long baths and telly watching, and also ploughing through my to-do list – both for the bubs and general stuff like our tax returns and household things we never get around to.

It’s a rare feeling knowing that something huge and life-changing is going to happen very soon, but exactly when is completely unknown.