Hunger in Africa - online

I just got an email in from UN University and Cornell, indicating that my hunger in Africa presentation with Per Pinstrup-Andersen is now available online. I'm in the first two-hour segment. There are three people who introduce the symposium and me (including my noble chair), and then I speak for 20 minutes. There is then a 20 minute presentation on health in Africa, and then Professor O. and I do a Q&A. QC?

You can find the video here.

The Short Version

Hyrum was born by C-section at 3:56 am on March 11.


He is 7 pounds 3 and 21 inches. (It's easy to remember: 7x3=21)

Mother and baby are doing fine, but are very tired since not a one of us got any sleep last night.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD,
HYRUM SPENCER WATSON.

The Long Version

On March 10, Hyrum's due date, we drove up to our regular doctor's appointment in Montour Falls. He was a touch concerned that Joy's blood pressure was slightly high, so sent her over for a non-stress test at the hospital. Contrary to its name, it was a very stressful test. They were more concerned because Hyrum's heartbeat showed more decelerations (from the 140-150 range down to the 100-120 range) than accelerations, so the doc said he didn't want us to go home. The plan was that they would give Joy some cervidal to thin out her cervix and prepare her to be induced on Tuesday, March 11.

Hyrum did not like the cervidal. His heart rate dropped to 86. So they yanked the medicinal string out without warning -- freaking Joy immensely -- and called the doc. Dr. Saks said this meant that he wouldn't be able to stand labor, so they couldn't induce her and would have to bring him out themselves.

This was decided at 3am. At 3:56, Hyrum's head was brought out of her stomach. He coughed and immediately began to cry with the breath of life. Then he thrust his hand upward into the light. It was quite dramatic. They got him all cleaned off and awarded him first an 8 and then a 9 on the APGAR scale. He weighs in at 7 pounds 3, and is 21 inches long, so he's a tall, slender thing of delicate beauty.

He has brownish hair and the universal blue eyes nearly all babies start with. We think he looks a lot like Joy's brothers, DeWayne and Doug. The nurses agree that he is a very well-behaved baby, and he really doesn't cry very much at all yet. He likes laying down on Mommy and Daddy, who are thrilled and happy as can be.

Joy is recovering nicely, up and walking about today. Neither of us got a wink of sleep last night, and Hyrum appears obliging, so hopefully there will be some z's in our near future. We expect to be in the hospital Wednesday and Thursday, and we'll see if we get our "get-out-of-Schuyler-expensively" card Thur afternoon or Friday morning. Guests are welcome, but we do recognize the distance is a bit off-putting.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD,
HYRUM SPENCER WATSON

Winter. What is it good for?

D: Well, maybe I can come up with something....
J: "Little do they know how qualified you are to ask that question."
D: It has been raining, and the rain froze on all the trees and bushes with their thin, spindly branches. So now every tree glistens and sparkles like a chandelier. I went out to try to capture the effect, but don't do it anything like the justice it deserves. Unfortunately, my camera just doesn't capture the full effect, but here are the top 10 or so shots of the 3-5 dozen I took.


This is how the branches look zoomed in

What I learned in school today

The UN - not content with turning power over Kosovo over to the Europeans, failing to police Sudan and the DR Congo, and finding any opportunity to bash the US - has made an important announcement. This year is officially ... the International Year of the Potato.

"And they don't mean Mr. Potato Head OR the Couch Potato."

There was apparently some talk of letting Dan Quayle be in charge of it, but someone nixed that idea....

So don't be a dud ... eat a spud!
*Joy singing*"Have you planted your potato today?"
"Potato huggers instead of tree huggers!"

Peru is apparently quite thrilled about this, as the country that domesticated the potato.
"Did it eat us before we ate it?"

You can find out more in this highly informative video. (Seriously, we know you women will just tune in to hear the educated British voice telling you all about it. C'mon, it's British!)


More seriously, the potato is the #4 starch in the world and a serious source of ending world hunger.
"And I love them, especially the funeral potatoes! and french fries! and hashbrowns! *lip smacking* twice-baked potatoes! mmmmm."
And spudnuts and potato bread (of all kinds) and mashed and chips...
"sour cream and chives!"
It's a great food, to be sure.

So welcome to the wonderful Year of the Potato.
"Plant. Eat. And be prosperous."

40 degrees and loving it!

Yesterday was a beautiful day. The trees all had icicles in the morning on the shady side of the streets that were dripping and looking like crystals. The sun was shining and it felt like Spring. I have never considered myself a person that needs Winter to end, I like winter, but this day of Spring had a healing effect on me. For the first time since I wrecked our last car on the ice, I remembered that I like to drive and as I ran errands I sang and had a good happy day. It was such a pleasure to be in a warm car on a beautiful day. I stayed out much longer than I had planned and enjoyed every minute. Today it was in the 50s, God is good to the home bound (I am not home bound, but nesting is quite the way with me at present).

The polls are closed

Well, we've finally heard from all our first round job interviews, and the survey says .... XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

All of you who voted for somewhere else are still in the running because we have no job yet and everyone else has said no. So the field is wide open and ready to harvest. We're still thrusting in the sickle with all our might, and still hope for a harvest. At the rate we're going, we'll have doubled the number of applications within 2 weeks.

I have been growing a protest beard (now a true Ithacan. eek) for the last two weeks. The first beard that I'm growing for me instead of for Joy in our marriage. But she doesn't mind. "Nope. She doesn't mind," she says.

The election was rigged! We demand a recount! There will be rioting in ... the chin? until our demands are met. Actually, there have been some pretty good riots in my stomach for a couple weeks, and I've learned that a sports medicine doc may not be the best choice for a stomach complaint, but that's who they handed me this time.

Contractions!

There's no baby yet, but Joy felt her first contractions last night! WOOHOO! All the books say she could have been feeling them since month 3, and since we hadn't, we wondered if anything were wrong or if she would even feel them until it was time for him to come. But she felt the first, irregular contractions last night before falling asleep. WOOHOO! And now, on to the real, female reaction:

"I'm exhausted. But I'm alright."

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. What a trooper! But wait, there's more!

"It made me totally be freezing and shake violently when I got out of bed ... but I guess that all passed because I got to sleep. The funny part is Derrill had really wanted to know about it, so I told him. I said, 'I'm sorry I have to turn over Derrill, but I started having some labor contractions,' and he just said, 'That's okay.' And now he tells me he was asleep"

Three-quarters asleep. I honestly didn't hear the last part, just apologizing for turning over. I didn't mind - she apologizes for a lot of things - and I just tell her it's okay. I fell asleep within seconds after. We had even talked about it LAST NIGHT BEFORE BED. I wanted to know, I wanted to be there. I feel like I missed Santa Claus.

"Well, the baby didn't come yet, so there's a lot of Santa to see."

Speaking of which, here's Joy being excited about a pair of tennis shoes we got him at Babies R Us on Monday:

Hyrumisms

So, it's a little too early yet to post the cute things Hyrum says ... since he hasn't been BORN yet and doesn't talk. But he does communicate ... with his elbow or maybe his feet. or knee. who knows? So here are some things that get Hyrum bopping:

Thomas Spencer Monson -- whenever Hyrum hears him speak, he gets very excited. That's where his middle name comes from: Hyrum Spencer.

Orange juice and chocolate (preferably not together). Especially if Joy has a whole bowl of chocolate ice cream. It's cold AND it's sugary.

Hunger -- "Sometimes when I haven't eaten in a while, he'll start moving around more than usual, like he's asking for some food."

Daddy jiggles -- If I come knocking around the bellybutton area or jiggling the tummy to wake him up, he responds quite readily and starts punching me out again.

Time's up -- He's started tapping on Joy's pelvis again, so we think he knows which way is out and is thinking about it. "He's been in to that for most of the pregnancy, since I could feel him move."

He's spent most of the pregnancy on Joy's left side, but recently she reports it feels like he's everywhere. While we were in California, though, he switched over to the right side one Sunday. When we went miniature golfing the next day, Joy was completely off-balance and we figured that was why. "I was tripping. I couldn't hit the ball straight. I'd lose my balance going downhill."

"One thing I would like Hyrum to know someday is how it makes me chuckle and smile whenever he bounces around. I'll just chuckle out of nowhere, and Derrill knows the baby's moved."

Countdown: one week to go for the due date and no one is wrong yet in our poll because NO ONE thought he would already have come. Good for you!

Sunrise

A little over ten years ago I was in the Missionary Training Center getting ready to go to the former East Germany. On one particular morning (6 am), I woke up groggy and stiff while my 'roommates' were dancing and shouting and carrying on. When I grumbled or something, they commented very smugly that I was clearly not "a morning person."

That didn't help.

I left to go collect myself. I went over to the stairwell that had a large window where I usually went to practice my singing (good echoes). It was still a dark purple morning and I began singing "I Need Thee Every Hour." As I finished, I saw one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen. Against the dark sky, a thin group of clouds suddenly lit up a brilliant rosy pink. Its brilliance overcame the fact that those aren't my usual colors. I stayed watching it for about 5 minutes until the effect faded away with the gradual lightening of the sky.

Then I started thinking about it. In the part of town I could see from our upper floor, no lights were on. Most everyone there was still asleep. There might have been only two or three other people in all the world who got to see that particular glorious shining, and I was one of them. It felt very much like the hand of God reaching out to tell me it's alright, to calm my soul, and help me find peace. Whenever I am reminded of Elder Bednar's talk on tender mercies, that's the first image that always comes to mind.

I've been thinking about that the last couple days. It's been a very difficult few months, and I've needed to reach out and rely more and more on God to reassure me in those things I cannot see or control. And on those days when I manage to reach out in faith without fear, the reassurances of the Spirit seem particularly beautiful. Like a beacon of hope against a darkened sky. They testify that the day will dawn and give me the strength to go on just a little bit farther. No matter how dark our Friday, Sunday will come.