Excellent news today: Bug's bilirubin numbers dropped to 11 today. That's borderline not-really-longer-jaundiced-at-all, and withing the bounds where her body should knock the rest of her jaundice out on its own. Which means she doesn't have to sleep under the blanket from Tron anymore, and we don't have to worry ourselves to hell about what could happen if her numbers went up to 30.Some people will tell you your life changes as soon as the kid comes out. Not so for me nor Damn Wifus. The kid came out, was hauled away to the nursery for tests, and the two of us talked about weird normalcy of sitting there in the hospital. We were still us, and it seemed like we could head out for a dozen pints that night or hop a flight to Accra if we wanted. The crushing responsibility we were warned of did not come.
But then Bug got a little sick. (A little. I do not want to compare our trouble with that of the folks who have had to unpack oxygen tanks to roll into the pediatrician's every AM. We are quite lucky to have our healthy girl.) Suffice to say there is no panic like the panic accompanying the news of a strangely, possibly dangerously, sick family member.
First I was wired, and then I thought I had adapted. I just focused on keeping her on top of the blanket that's hooked up to the hose that's hooked up to the slide projectorish box that's hooked into the electrical socket. I learned how to hold the Bug in two arms and maneuver the Biliblanket paraphenelia around the apartment with your foot.
Ours a very low risk, but it madee the weight of responsibility very palpable very fast. If you're like me, you don't realize how powerful the fear is until you hear for the first time that your kid is getting better from something.
There is no high like that high. Bug is now hiccuping in her bassinet in our bedroom (she was confined to the bouncy chair for most of Grandma's 62nd, above) and, 14 hours later, I need a drink to come down from this high and go to bed.In other news:
- I love that Duke kicked the stink out of the UNC almost as much as I loathe hearing Jay Bilas refer to Coach K running "this Phoenix Suns-type offense." In this comparison, Greg Paulus is Steve Nash, right? Yeah, OK. Just checking.
- First movie I'm taking Bug to see: Martin McDonagh's In Bruges. Don't be fooled by the frighteningly Guy Ritchie-esque previews, this movie is going to offer fecking buckets of blood and dialogue to put Mamet to deserved shame.
