Life, the Universe, and Everyone

To start. . . FOOLED YOU! Those of you who have read Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy might, might, have mis-read my title as "Life, the Universe, and Everything." Har har

Ok, enough non-sense.

I KNOW that many of you have been wondering about our child.

I took two weeks off and went back to Penang to, hopefully, be there for the time that Siew gives birth to our child.

My timing was lucky. Within a few days of being there, Siew began to have contractions at 12:30am May 22nd. After a long, painful wait she delivered our boy at 7:47am May 22nd, 2010.

Felix Songze Travers weighed 3.23 kilograms, 7.106 pounds, and was 51 centimeters long, 20.07 inches.

Siew and Felix had to remain in the hospital for 3 days and 2 nights before we could return to her parents' house.

While in the hospital we began to have minor conflicts with her mother.

Siew's mother and Siew's youngest sister came to visit. Siew's room was a shared room. So, I was shocked when her mom walks into the room and starts talking very loud. One, it is a hospital! Two, we are in a shared room and there are people, with a baby of their own, in said room. I asked them to speak more quietly. They gave me bad looks for having the nerve to ask them to talk softly. . . in a hospital!

Later there was more conflict over use of a child-safety seat. There is a lot of established history of death or severe injury to children who are not properly restrained in a vehicle. However, here in Malaysia, it is commonly believed that a baby should be held in a vehicle. . . I won't tell how much I HATE that this is the way things are done here. Anyway, there was a short disagreement with Siew's father and I about using a car-seat, but he finally accepted that I would be using a safety seat.

Once we got Siew and Felix back to her parents' house we found out that Siew's mother had allll kinds of ideas about what should and should not be done, but she was unwilling to TELL them. Instead she just acted on her own ideas, without informing anyone about what she would be doing. She, additionally, set up a double standard of things that are ok for her to do, but not for anyone else to do.

I'm not going into details here. Let's just say that it was stressful for Siew and I both and ended up having a big family debate over a bunch of bullshit that all stemmed from Siew's mother.

After my 2 weeks off, I had to return to KL, alone. Siew and Felix remained in Penang and I had to come back to life alone here. Leaving them behind was very very difficult. I cannot wait until I can go and get them and bring them HOME.

Felix is a healthy boy who is being breastfed well by his mother. Siew is doing a terrific job in taking care of him. When I was with them I tried to help as much as I can, but there are just some things that I cannot do. . . like breastfeeding.

When we're all together again, I will continue to help as much as possible. We are also using cloth diapers instead of disposables. That is good for the environment. .. but the REAL reason we're doing that is that it is better for Felix's skin and future potty training efforts.

Well, I guess I will throw up a few pictures, not many though, I don't want too much lost privacy in this regard.