I’ve just finished adding more pics of Maddox – categorized under ‘Maddox – Weeks 2 & 3′ – in the Maddox Pics section. Sorry for the long delay, as I’ve been (as you can imagine) a bit busy between feedings, diaper changes, burpings, cuddlings, etc. – not to mention trying to go back to work part-time and working on several web contracts! Talk about sleep deprivation.
As I’ve urged everyone before, please feel free to post your own pics (of whatever you like; not just Maddox) and don’t hesitate to contact me if you’re having trouble doing so or need instructions.
Hope you like the new pics. I look forward to hearing from everyone (by posting to this website, people!!). Enjoy.
October 12th, 2006
Hello everyone! Well, after careful consideration and much deliberation, I decided to migrate the MaddoxHeise.com website to the popular blogging platform WordPress. This simply allows me (and others, I hope) to more easily add, edit and manage content, while still providing the kind of design flexibility I wanted.
With the new site, you can easily add posts/articles, simply by clicking on the ‘Login’ link at the bottom of each page, then registering with a username and email address (a password will be emailed to you the first time you do this). You can also add your comments to the bottom of each post/article, or just drop in to say ‘Hi’ by filling out the Shout-Out form in the right column – making for a truly interactive experience.
So friends and family alike, please register and add your own two-cents to this site; that’s what it’s meant for. If nothing else, post a comment to this article, telling me whether or not you like the new format and design.
Thanks,
Coby
October 8th, 2006
He’s Here!!!
WOW!!! That pretty much sums it up for me. Everything has been a blur since Thursday, the 21st (my mom’s birthday, by the way), starting at about 9pm. That’s when Niki started having strong contractions for the first time. Frantically, I grabbed the clock off the wall, a notecard and a pen, to keep track of how long and how far in between her contractions were (see notecard below).
Car trip from hell…
After a couple phone calls to the doctor, we decided to jump in the car and head to FAHC, just to play it safe. That was a good decision. Niki’s contractions grew stronger and closer together – I have a scar on my finger from her squeezing it to prove – and the 1-hour jaunt to Burlington never seemed slower despite my driving nearly 85 mph. We arrived at the emergency room at about 11pm.
Where’s my epidural?
That night dragged on for what seemed like forever. Thankfully, Niki chose to have an epidural, so the pain of her contractions were somewhat nullified as she, Cami & CJ (her sisters), and I hung out in the delivery room all night.
It’s go time!!!
At about 6am, after 9 or so hours of labor, the doctors said it was time to push! I thought, “Thank God, the worst is over”, hoping that Maddox would just pop out as easily as a football into a quarterback’s hands. Boy, was I wrong.
Am I even in the room??
All of a sudden, there was blood…way too much blood, I thought to myself. I think that’s when I started to cry. The doctor started yelling. Ten or more other doctors marched into the room, in a frantic, yet eerily calm and ordered fashion. I barely noticed that I was gritting my teeth so much so that I broke one of my molars in half; the large chunk of dentin fell to the floor in what seemed like slow motion. I barely remember what happened, or what was said, other than an obvious plethora of babbling and profanity on my part. I do remember saying to the doctor, “What the hell is going on? You’re scaring me! Why won’t you fucking talk to me?!”. It was as if I wasn’t even in the room, as the doctors methodically – and very professionally – went to work, effectively saving the life of both my child and wife, as I would later find out.
Hut! Hut! Hike!!
So visceral and real this is, I thought, as my first-born child was finally tourqued free and into the light of day, his dark-purple complexion making him look utterly lifeless. Before I knew it, he was rushed away to be worked on, and I was left holding my wife’s blood-soaked hand, sobbing uncontrollably, not knowing what just happened. As I looked up at Niki, I saw a smile rush across her face. I realized then that she had it together the whole time, and that it was me that was totally losing it! She’s a total badass.
The worst noise I love to hear…
I finally consciously felt myself breathe at approximately 6:51am. That was when I heard the first loud shrill of my son’s voice, 30 seconds after he had been born. The problem, we found out afterwards, was that there was a large cut in the umbilical cord. This accounted for the profuse bleeding and for Maddox’s heart rate and blood pressure dropping so dramatically. We actually just found out today, on the 27th, after speaking with the delivery doctor, that it’s quite rare for the child to survive any kind of extensive umbilical cord rupture. She said that “someone must have been looking over him that morning”, and it was even more of a miracle that Niki came away as unscathed as she did, despite her needing more than 50 stitches post-delivery.
Well, I’ve always been rather agnostic, so I’m just fine sufficing to say that it was Niki looking over Maddox that morning, because she’s the strongest power in the universe that I’ve ever seen. And one of the most beautiful, just like my little man, Maddox.
September 27th, 2006
We’re…uhh.. ready?
That’s right! The little sucker is on his way. Only FOUR more weeks until Niki and Coby will enter parenthood, whether they’re ready or not. While it is obvious we had trouble keeping the name of our first-born a secret, we plan on revealing everything about the life of our little guy once he’s born (and assuming we’ll have one free minute to do so). That means this website will be the place where you can see pictures, information and stories about the newest member of the Heise family.
Not trying to sound too self-important here or anything, but this is the most significant event in our lives so far, so we figured we’d at least try to document it in a way that, if nothing else, will serve as a digital scrapbook we can look back on years from now. And what a better way to share with friends and family (not to mention embarrass Maddox when he’s older) than by putting everything online!
In the meantime…
There is not a whole lot to see at this point. I’m in the process of setting up a photo gallery, guestbook and baby shower registry.
However, stay tuned, and check out any of the links to the right if you seriously have nothing better to do with your life. Just kidding – have fun, and email any questions you have to shower@maddoxheise.com.
August 21st, 2006
