and then there were three

His name is Finn Michael Rohl and he was born at 9:41 Wednesday May 31. He is 8lbs 11ozs, is 21 inches long and I cut the his cord. Me, the one that faints getting a flu shot or gets dizy when Mark talks about his surfing accident. I watched him come out, I cut his cord, and cried in amazment at my wife's strength, my sons beauty, and my incredible good fortune. His name is Finn Michael Rohl and I love him so much.

Baby Update

A Quick update for those of you interested:

We Got to the Hospital at 6 AM, got into a room at 7:30, and got the party started at 9:30 with the first dose of Plutocin (sp?) at 9:45. Kate went until 5:30 PM with a contraction every other minute until they got to frequent for her to handle and got an epidural. She is now resting and laughing with her parents, her sister Heather, and me. She is 6 CM dialated as of 7:45 PM and she has great feeling in her legs and looks beautiful still. More to come..........

The night before

This is my beautiful the night before our 6 AM induction appointment. Kate is 1.5 CM dilated as of 3:30 PM Tuesday May 30. That means that some time tomorrow or Thursday our son will be here. Pray for us if that is what you do, think about us if it isn't. We are excited and scared, ready and unprepared. I have been in a glass case of emotion since our Dr. told us we were ready. I'm going to be a dad, soon, and I'm going to be a good dad too.

NCAA Championship here I come

Sunday afternoon Kate and I were at the Indy 500 with her Dad and his co-workers. We got a call Friday night asking if we wanted to go. Now I’m not a car guy, let a lone a race car guy but getting a chance to see one of the premier sporting events is something I like to do. It was hot on Friday and going to be hotter on Sunday so I was sure that Kate wouldn’t want to go sit in the baking sun with 300,000 other people for 4 hours but I thought I would ask anyway. Not only did she want to go she was excited.

Tom picked us up at 9:30 and we made our way across town to the Brickyard. Traffic was brutal for the last 5 miles but we had a great parking spot two blocks from the track. We loaded up coolers of water and beer and hoofed in with the throngs of people. We were on Corner 1, 16 rows up. Kate got light headed just before the race started so we walked down behind the stands to this shaded grassy hill and sat down. She had some water and some food and sent me back to the seat to catch the start. It was amazing! When the cars came around that corner at 215 MPH I could feel it reverberate through my whole body. I jumped up and cheered with the rest of the folks caught up in the pomp and circumstance. I went back down with Kate and ate some lunch with her and then she came back up feeling much better.

The finish to the race was incredible and as we started to make our way out I thought about the sporting event I have seen since moving here to Indy:

The Indy 500
20 basketball games (including Reggie Miller’s last game)
5 Football games (including the devastating playoff lose to Pittsburg)
1 Dodger game in Cincinnati
2 Minor league baseball
1 minor league Hockey

A nice run by any standard, marrying Kate was the best sports fan decision I have ever made.

With the diagonal stripes you can't even tell

Seriously, How Hot is this?

New Subscribe Feature

I know a number of you have signed up with the brilliant BenC and his email that lets you know when this blog is updated but I have also added an email update of my own. It is located on the right hand side under the previous posts. This feed will give you the text of the post in an email so that those of you that are behind a curtain of web monitoring can still get any updates that you might want. I realize that it is incredibly arrogant to post this but there is a baby coming and those pictures could end up here, you don't want to miss that do you?

A little give and take

So at today’s appointment Kate is having Minor contractions. So minor in fact that she is unaware of them all together. We will go in on Tuesday for the Dr. to check if she is dilated at all, she didn’t check today. The baby is testing well on his NST though he was a little slow to wake up this morning. So to reset the timeline if Kate is dilated at all on Tuesday we schedule an induction for around Thursday of next week. If she isn’t then we will check again on June 6th and regardless of where she is in the process we will set up a time to check into the hospital. So we are looking at either June 1st or June 8th as the check in time.

That means we have to make sure we have the hospital bag ready to go. We have PJs and robe for Kate and a change of clothes for me. There is a Baby boy sack to bring the little dude home in and various toques, shirts and blankets. For massages we have a tennis ball and lavender lotion. I’m not sure what else is in that bag but for those of you who have been through this what should we make sure is in there that we might not think of?

Thank you AZ family!

This afternoon I got to go to Best Buy armed with a small plastic card that equaled a little more then a digital camera, a case, a 512 Mb flash card, and extra batteries all because some dear friends and family got together and turned their hard earned money into a little plastic card for me. So now we have a camera to post pictures of stuff like the baby's room and Kate's belly. (those are the two most requested things) There are some pictures up on Flickr but when the baby comes most of the baby pictures are going to be labled for friends and family only so you will need to create a free logon at Flickr and let me know what it is so I can add you. Until that time please enjoy these photos of the baby room Kate put together for Finn (that's what I call him)

Just some Male

Kate had her appointment this morning and I tagged along for moral support. I saw how they did the Fetal Non-stress Test and watched as our sons heart beat increased and decreased as he moved. Then our Dr. came in and talked to Kate, not us, just Kate. I know that Kate is the focus of this whole thing but “I don't know how to put this but I'm kind of a big deal. I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.” There was even a time when talking about the drugs used to induce labor when the Dr. said the same thing is produced by the Male’s semen without even a glance in my direction. Seriously she couldn’t have at least given me a wink or something. It was like she was making sure not to offend Kate by inferring that I might be that “Male”, making sure that she kept the options open just incase I wasn’t really the father.

Even with the complete lack of acknowledging my presence it was a cool appointment. She talked about who would be in the room when the baby was born and when she said “I will put him right up on your chest when he comes out” I almost started sobbing like Kyle when American Idol ends each year. The emotion snuck up on me and bravely fought it back so as not to lose respect in front of the Dr. that hates me anyway. There are a lot of things lately that have that effect. I start to think about things like the car seat or music that I want to play for him and tears well up. It is sudden and powerful, and I know that the closer we get the harder it is going to be to fight it back.

Rambling but informative

Kate has been having a hard time getting and staying asleep yesterday. She wakes up really tense and unable to get back to sleep. She will often go take a bath and that helps a bit. It is odd to wake up in the morning with Kate's wet hair in my face when we both went to bed and her hair was dry. So far she hasn't woke me up but I would hope that if she did I would help out by giving a back rub but I don't know. I'm kinda selfish when I'm sleeping and I might just put my hand on her back and fall back to sleep. I have read that this is Kate's body getting her ready for the baby to come and so I know that soon Kate's body will be getting me ready by waking me up. We have another appointment tomorrow to see if the baby still raises his heart rate when they poke him and to see if Kate is dilated at all. Kate says I have to use the right words like dilated instead of the term Ripe. But the Dr. is the one that came up with the word ripe not me so I don't see why she is so upset with me. I guess since it is her body I'm talking about I should just do what she says and not argue. Any way we will see how Kate is doing and what the time line is if we can. My guess is nothing will have changed and they will say see you next week. Kate has been taking her blood and checking her Keytones (see honey I know how to say it, it's just more fun making up words like "Tetons" to watch you laugh at me) and the numbers are good. Last night Kate had a Brawt with a bun, potato salad, and two brownies. Definitely not on the Diabetic diet and her number was still well below the target. We are not sure why her body wasn't processing sugars a month ago but now it seems to be breaking them down just fine. Our Dr. says it's because of the adjusted diet but Mandy says she probably doesn't really have diabetes. Either way she is doing well but the baby is really really big. For the last three weeks Kate's weight hasn't changed but the baby is getting large. Kate thinks he's 10 pounds right now but he's probably around 8 pounds at the moment. Well this was a disjointed rambling post but at least it was full of good information right? Word is there is a birthday gift coming that may or may not equal a digital camera. If so you might see some pictures of the bitchin baby room and Kate in all her belly beauty. Fingers crossed

It's Fantastic!

Seriously how sweet are these playoffs this year. From the emergence of Bron-Bron to the fighting in Miami, these games have been close and hard fought. I got Punked by the Lakers in the first round. They made me think they could win that series when they went up 3 to 1 and came home for game six. Then Ashton came out hamming it up and laughing while pointing to the cameras. You got, I got Punked! If you ever loved the NBA and left because of the selfish play of the last 6 or so years these playoffs are your invitation back. Stars like Nash, Lebron, Chauncy, and Brand remind you why you loved basketball. Steer clear of Miami games though, watch the west coast games and that Cleveland-Detroit series. It has been very hard for me these playoffs not getting to watch many of the games. We don't have cable so I read the games more then anything. Even reading them seems different this year. I think we will look back on these playoffs as being among the best of all time. There are still many games to play before that can be decided but I like what I see (read) so far. NBA action.........It's FANNNNNTASTIC!

2 maybe 3 weeks

Kate had an appointment today to see if she was "ripe" enough to start inducing her. She is at 37 weeks right now and the baby is getting ready to come out one way or the other. He sometimes looks like he is going to come straight out the center of her stomach. She wasn't ripe enough I guess so they will check again on Monday morning. It really is coming down to it, and it should be any day now. I have included a picture of me holding John and Tonya's baby girl Cosette just so you can picture what a great dad I'm going to be. She was squirming and crying at me but she was still so damn cute while crying that I didn't mind.

Gmail is the new I love you

My wife is not technologically challenged or anything she just doesn’t care. A computer online in the living room with a connection to the outside world goes completely unnoticed and untouched for days at a time, so this morning when I saw “Kate Says” on my gmail box I felt a giddy rush of joy. I couldn’t even move the mouse to click on it fast enough as I wondered what would compel Kate to cast off her techno-indifference and slum it a little bit in my world. Baby Beeler that’s what. Our friends checked into the hospital last night, 2 weeks past their due date, to have the baby persuaded to come out. “How now, Tubal! what news from Genoa?" Kate asked. While chatting away with Kate on this wonderful medium I was struck byt just how differently Kate and I view the computer. The idea that Kate could have a conversation with me with a few simple clicks and doesn’t is almost impossible to understand. It is easy, and fast, and easy. But Kate does not see it that way. Not that she thinks it difficult, she doesn’t think about it. If she wants to talk she calls, she doesn’t get in front of the computer, the computer never even enters her though process. It is funny how “I love you” sometimes sounds like keys tapping on a keyboard that doesn’t mean anything to you, but does to the person on the other end.

It's the little things sometimes

One of the biggest differences between my great job in Santa Barbara and the dumb one here in Indy is illustrated well in the birthday card. When I was in SB and a card went around everyone dropped a line or two in there. Some were funny, some were heartfelt, some were cheesy but the effort was made to personalize. Here when a card goes around everyone just signs there name and passes it on. The don’t need to know who the card is for or to take some time to think about it they just sign their name and get back to the mindless tasks before them.

There are so many big things that separate good companies from bad ones but sometimes it is these small things that get to you because they sneak past your defenses. This morning I am really missing Softshare and the folks there. I miss Esse and his machine gun sounds. I miss commiserating over Laker Losses with Len, and talking baseball with Troy and BenO. I miss the cards that meant something and people that you cared about. I miss being excited to come into work.

There must be more then this

"Are you looking for a spiritual encounter or a spiritual family?" That is the question that was presented to us last Wednesday at our New Deal leadership meeting. Good question I think but I didn't have an answer that night. After ruminating on it for a week I think I might be closer to an answer. At first I thought that a spiritual family was what I wanted most out of church but more and more I am seeing that for me that is not true. I love the connection and the intimacy but I want an encounter more. The two go hand in hand for the most part and elements of both lead into each other like a tightly woven rug, but if I had to choose, if I was forced I want to see God, I want the encounter with something bigger, something other.

This is actually kind of a surprise for me because what drew me to the church we are at now was the community, the family aspect. Friendship blossomed out of shared pain and joy. Connections were forged through common struggles and successes and the makings of a family started solidifying right before our eyes. Kate and I went from strangers in a strange land to friends, family, locals. The thing is the people we are close to and care about do not go to the same church we do, some of them wouldn't go to church even if they held the local wrestling matches there. The spiritual family aspect comes from something bigger then the church that we attend, it is life shared together come what may.

So this morning while playing basketball I thought about the question with each pick and pop. Every dribble was a question and response, rapid fire, in my head, every shot was a test of theories. I lost all three games but I left happy and lose. Feeling like I was learning something, coming to some new realizations inside. I'm not sure what to do about the New Deal but I like the questions that are bouncing around.

I've had questions without answers

I am not enjoying church at all and I don't want to go anymore. There I said it. Now maybe this cloudy malaise will get caught in another jet stream and blow away from me. Probably not though, I think it is my storm to weather at the moment. This isn't what I thought Church would look like for me.

For the past couple of months I have been looking forward to church the way I looked forward to dentist visits as a little kid. I knew I had to go but I couldn't think of the reason why. Don't get me wrong I am still a Christian, I completely believe in the tenants of Christian faith if not the way they have been lived out over the years. I see the value of Church service and the institution of the Church but sometimes it all seems so boring to me. Kate and I are part of Church Plant from Redeemer Presbyterian Church in downtown Indy called New Deal. I like the idea of this plant but the realization of that idea just seems to be the same old thing. Being a child of the Vineyard this whole Presbyterian thing is very different for me. Most of the time I am scanning through my bulletin trying to see how many minutes are left until I can leave without raising any eyebrows.

I'm not sure how to reconcile the idea (which I like) with the practice ( I don't like) just yet and most the time I feel like I am being selfish or that I am looking for something akin to a momentary high like Lenin's opiate for the masses. Other times I feel like I longing for something that I know others are longing for as well.

Birthday Bar-b-que

This past thursday was my 32 birthday and it was a great time in the square. Kate invited over a bunch of our friends and we grilled burgers and brawts in the back yard. There were kids running around, pregnant ladies galore, and some tasty Gin and tonic provided by Carrie and Nathan that went over really well. There are more pictures here.

T minus 31 days

Kate has gestational diabetes and has to use this tool that slices her open so she can check her blood four times a day. OK so maybe it is more of a pin prick then a slicing but blood is drawn. She has to have a number less then 130 come up on her handy little electronic monitor that seems to run on blood and expensive strips of paper with computer chips in them I am not sure what that number means but it is a statistic and I love stats. I plan on writing a Bill James style abstract on “Cookies, coconuts, and the magic number in spring night games.” So far Kate has not even gotten close to the 130 threshold and it is starting to make her angry. Her Dr. and dietician applaud her for taking control of her diet but when I asked what Kate thinks has made the biggest difference she say “Maybe I don’t freaking have diabetes!” Either way her numbers are low and we are eating much better. Along with the constant blood letting Kate has to have a Non Stress Test two times a week to make sure the baby is still pissed when you poke him or scare him with a loud noise. So far so good, dude hates when they buzz him just like his daddy. All in all things are going well and Kate and I are learning quite a bit in the process. We feel completely unprepared to be parents and with a month to go that puts us right on schedule.