Obligatory new dad commentary and update

It's true. It really is worth it. Watching Alex being born is nothing short of amazing. As much fun as it was to parade around a pregnant wife, it's going to be even more fun to parade around my wife and son. His head was shaped like an avocado when born, but that has since settled out. All fingers and toes accounted for.I got to be there for a lot of firsts. First cry, first sneeze, first poop, and first trip to the ICU. Alex had a trouble a couple of times getting enough air while feeding, so they put him under observation for 5 days. Apparently the veins going to lungs are pinched shut during pregnancy, and are supposed to open up once he's born. His did, but apparently not quite enough. Not all that uncommon, but they wanted to keep him under observation. Beth Israel is a fantastic hospital, one that's 1.5 hours away from our house. A single trip for birth isn't that bad, especially when you're doing 80 at 11:00 at night and there's no traffic. But commuting for 5 days was going to be hard. Fortunately, my sister stepped up and let us sleep at her condo in Somerville for the week. Much closer, though the commute still a bit of a hassle when the Red Sox were playing. All in all, it worked to our advantage. We got to spend time with nurses who really knew their stuff, and we only had to stay for 5 days. Most babies in the NICU are there for weeks, if not months. I caught glimpses of babies in other rooms who weighed around a pound. Sad stuff. I don't envy the parents, the babies, or the nurses.Now Alex is home and dictating to us his schedule. All efforts to adjust him to something we think would be a little more reasonable have met with unmitigated failure. I've gotten a crash course in how to hold a newborn, how to hand him off, how to change him, how to feed him, and I've played around with different ways to get him to fall asleep. I've learned how to suppress my swearing when I stub my toe on a bassinet in the dark for the 5th time while carrying him around at 2 am until he falls asleep. I've mostly learned to protect myself when changing him, as little boys apparently decide that's the perfect time to pee. I got to see one of his first smiles. It turned out later to be gas. I later got him to actually smile with a rattle. I can say that was the highlight of the week. It is exhausting, and I sometimes get cranky (ref. stubbing toe at 2 am), but I really can say I wouldn't trade it for anything else. Life reboot complete. God only knows what's going to happen now.