Welcome Home

Okay! That was a longer absence than expected.

Archimedes Thomas Matthews Lee was born at 7:31 a.m. on February 18, 2012. He weighed 7 pounds and 10 ounces and was 21 inches long.

He also had his umbilical cord wrapped twice around his neck, and he wasn't breathing when he came out. My wife had to have an emergency C-section after the heart monitor detected some worrying symptoms (we'd been planning on a natural childbirth). Archie had dangerously low blood sugar and suffered several apnic seizures during his first hours of life. However, he pulled through it thanks to the swift and skillful responses of the doctors and nurses in the NICU, and right now he's off of all of his IVs and medication (except a maintenance dose of phenobarbitol, pending a second EEG on Friday). He is eating well and thriving; we expect him home next Tuesday. (It would be sooner except for that follow-up EEG and a short observation period to see if he has any reaction to going off the phenobarbitol completely.)

It could have been much worse. As it stands, it was kind of a rough couple of days.

But now I am back to dance for your entertainment and edification. You may resume throwing coins (or just buy some copies of "Splinters of Silver and Glass" for your friends and family; hey, we're going to be short half of our income for a couple of months here!)

It's nice to be back.

(Here is a photo set of Archie during his first few days, for those of you who are interested and have not already seen them.)