Well Gee Wally!!!

The Vitals:

Born at 12:18pm
March 7th
18.5 inches long
5lbs 15 ounces
Mathew Joseph Wright (a.k.a. Wally)

Wally World

I hate to admit it but once again I was woken by Mindy’s alarm going off. But I was genuinely exhausted after such a long day Tuesday and really needed a full eight hours of sleep, so I wasn’t too hard on myself. I checked my phone, which I left bedside, just in case Tommy, my dad, or work called. Tommy was expecting a baby any minute, my dad at the hospital with Sheila, and work could’ve called to report winning the giant Mega Millions jackpot. Wishful thinking! There were no calls.

I quickly got moving with my morning by knocking out my exercise routine and Ykraps’ walk before 6:20am – 15 minutes behind my desired pace. Still, no reason for alarm. I decided not to check the lottery numbers until I got to work. And just as expected, Mindy was already well into her shower when I delivered her coffee, but she thanked me just the same.

I decided to make tuna salad for our lunches, and scrambled eggs topped with shredded marble cheese for breakfast. And just as I have all week, I headed off to the shower at 7:15am. I forgot to ask Mindy to walk on my back before heading up. Having her do so has dramatically improved the frequent spasms thus reducing the number of anit-inflammatories I’m taking – a classic case of treating the higher cause rather than the effect. I had plenty of time before leaving for work. I chose to play a little guitar.

I left the house at 7:45am and arrived right at 8:00am. It was spitting snow all the way into work. An hour later it was a total white out in Hilliard. We had an inch of snow on the ground when it cleared. But the high sun began breaking through around noon and it quickly melted. There was nothing but a few traces her and there during my run. My back was beginning to tighten something it hasn’t done in a handful of days. I made a mental note to be sure and have Mindy crack it tonight.

Tommy left a voice mail while I was out for my run that he and Heather gave birth to Mathew Joseph Wright (aka Wally) at 12:18pm. He’s 18.5” and weighs in at a paltry 5lbs - 15 ounces. I made plans to visit my step mom & now Tommy in the hospital tonight after work.

I left work ten minutes early to help facilitate the hospital visits. Mindy had already walked Ykraps and Jim picked up the kids as he does every Wednesday. The only change was asking him to keep them about a half hour longer. And as he often does, he willingly agreed. We left for the hospital by 5:30pm and arrived at Mt Caramel West at 5:39pm. I remember because we had to feed the meter enough coin to keep us legit till 6pm. We arrived at Sheila’s room to a closed door. We knocked and were told to com in. Her only visitors were her sisters. To our surprise, Sheila was gayfully chatting with someone on the phone and in much better shape than last night. Mindy and I both were completely dumbfounded! But this is what I intended last night. To see her last night then again this evening anyone would be astonished at the seemingly miraculous change.

Margie and Brenda ducked out while we visited. We had a comforting chat with Sheila who despite being a hundred times better was still drugged heavily. We were reminded of this as she frequently stopped talking mid sentence forgetting what she was talking about or that she was even talking in the first place. At one point she started taking off her clothes and apologized to us for it saying that she’s been doing that a lot for some reason. She laughed it off, and so did we. We were just happy she was coherent and cheerful.

We didn’t stay long. We left at 6:20pm for Mt Caramel East. It was 6:50pm when we parked at Mt Caramel East. What a difference a simple directional inference makes. This place is palatial compared to Mt Caramel West. We made our way to their room rather easily. They do have much tighter security, however. Wally was being held by his momma as we entered. Mindy quickly whisked him away. He was surprisingly alert for a new born, and seemingly looking all around following sounds and such. It was down right eerie. He looks exactly like Heather. There were no discernable ‘Wright’ features that I picked up on. But that often changes in short order. Come to think of it, he did have a miniscule member just like Tommy! :)

We snapped a few pics, gave them a gift, and each took a turn holding him. Heather looked like she needed sleep. We left at 7:15pm. It was 7:21 when we pulled out of the lot. Mindy called Jim to let him know that we were on our way. We gave him the garage code since he was already sitting in the drive. It was the least we could do.

We arrived home at about 7:45pm. It’s a relatively fast drive given the distance, but it is all freeway. After Jim departed Mindy and I quickly readied the kids for bed. We had them tucked in and lights out by 8:15pm. With a quiet house we each went about making ourselves a light snack. I hadn’t eaten again tonight. I was ravenously hungry, which his never good. While updating my blog I ate peanuts. But because I was so hungry I ate too many. While Mindy reviewed my jottings, just as she often does, I popped some popcorn which tasted so good.

We retired to our room a little after 9pm. As Mindy will atest, I was asleep in minutes.