Title courtesy of the White Stripes.

Without much further ado...

It's a boy!!! Ian William born on January 27, 2010, at 4:56 PM, weighing in at 7 pounds 12 ounces and 20.5 inches long! Mommy and baby are doing great... I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole thing! More details to follow when I have time, but here's a picture of the little guy!

...is the hardest part! Thank you to Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers for that one.

It is so very true indeed, the waiting is the hardest part. After going to the hospital the other night and having them tell us that Missy was starting to have minor contractions, we thought we'd be back there very soon and getting ready to have this baby already. But, the contractions haven't intensified in either duration, frequency or intensity. So, we're back to the waiting game. 48 hours later and still no change really from how Missy was doing on Tuesday. At least no change that Missy is noticing.

So, we wait. And its killing me!!!

As always, check out the Baby Blog for the latest belly pictures of Missy...

Title courtesy of John Mayer, the lead track on his new album "Battle Studies" It's an awesome album, and a great song. I especially love this verse:

As of yesterday Missy was in her 39th week, one week away from her due date. She had her weekly appointment with her OB/GYN last night and I came along because its so close to the end, and I wanted to be there in case anything happened. My sister-in-law and brother got sent to the hospital directly after an OB appointment in her final week, so I figured better safe than sorry. So, we go to the doctor, he does his usually examination, and tells us that Missy is now 75% effaced, but no dilation. An improvement of about 25% from last Thursday's appointment. The doctor also broke out the ultrasound machine to monitor the baby's fluid levels, and all looked good. But, he also used a separate machine to listen to the baby's heartbeat and he didn't like something he heard. Something about an irregular heartbeat, either the baby's heart was skipping the occasional beat, or something to that effect. As a result, the doctor told us to head to the hospital so that the situation could be monitored more closely.

Thankfully he told us the chance of Missy being induced that night was very, very slim, so that made us a little calmer. Regardless, it definitely wasn't how we saw the night going down, that's for sure. I, for one, had a Ranger game I wanted to watch! (They did win 8-2, which was sweet!) We drove to the hospital, parked and went to admitting. After signing a few forms they took us up to labor and delivery. After waiting there for a few minutes, a nurse brought us into a room for obstetric evaluation. They got Missy into a gown, into a bed and hooked up to a fetal heart rate monitor and another one to monitor any contractions Missy might be having. The nurses came in every so often to check the print outs from the machine, a med student came in to take a history, and eventually a resident came to talk to us. After being on the monitors for about an hour and thirty minutes or so they sent us home. Everything on the monitor looked fine, no problems with the babies heartbeat whatsoever. Missy had been feeling some cramps throughout the day and it turns out they were actually minor contractions. They're not regular enough, or strong enough to be considered labor, but they're the early part for sure. The resident also did another exam and found that Missy was slightly dilated, at about half a centimeter, so only 9.5 more centimeters to go!

And that was our evening. We got home and made sure we were ready to go when it actually is go time! I plugged in my digital camera, camcorder, laptop, iPhone and everything else I could so that it's fully charged. When it is go time I plan on just throwing that all into my laptop bag and bringing that with me to the hospital (they have free Wi-Fi throughout the place!).

So that's about it. Any day now... I hope... the waiting is killing me! I can only imagine how Missy feels!

All aboard!!! Ha ha! This song has been stuck in my head all week, so I figured I would share the wealth. Classic Ozzy Osbourne tune with legendary guitar work by the late, great Randy Rhoads!

Nothing more is going on really, and its driving me a little crazy. I am very anxious about this whole thing, so I'm hoping everything gets put into motion sooner, rather than later. Basically, the waiting is killing me! Missy on the other hand, despite the fact that she is beyond uncomfortable with her ever expanding belly, is cool with waiting until her due date is closer. I can understand her logic. The longer she goes to her due date, or past it, the later she has to go back to work. She's aiming to go back to teaching in early May, instead of late April. That leaves like a month and a half of school and only a month and a half to pay for day care before the summer starts.

I, on the other hand, can't wait. I'm paranoid that she's going to go into labor while I'm at a customer in the city or something and that I'll have to race out of there at a moment's notice and rush home. I don't think I'd miss anything, because most women labor for a really long time, or at least that's what our birthing class teacher said, so I'll take her word for it. After that, I'm just terrified of getting through the whole labor and birthing process and being able to do what I'm supposed to do. I realize I have it easy as I don't have to push any babies out of my body, but I still hope I can do my job and coach her through it, especially since she wants to try to do it without an epidural!

Mostly, I just want to know what we're having already! The suspense of waiting 9 months is driving me nuts. I'm going off the rails on a crazy train! Indeed!

Please tell me you remember this song by Europe? It's like the epitome of cheesy 80's hair metal. "It's the Final Countdown!" Anyone that was a fan of the canceled before it's time show "Arrested Development" will know it. One of the characters, a magician, always came onstage to this particular tune. Awesomeness.

So, I feel like we're in the final stretch. Less than two weeks until Missy's due date, if she even goes around her due date. I'm thinking she might go a few days early, but who knows? I feel like its a crap shoot anyway you look at it. From Missy's weekly doctor visits, it doesn't seem like there's much going on. But who knows. I'm baffled. She's got another doctor's appointment tonight at 6:00 PM that I'll be attending. Hopefully there will be some progress from the past two weeks. The waiting is starting to kill me, and I'm sure its a million times worse for Missy, since she's the one that's got the kid inside her, taking up way too much real estate!

Other than that, there isn't much going on. I've put Missy under strict instructions not to go into labor this Sunday, because the Jets are going to be on. Do I think they're going to win? Against the Chargers? Winners of 13 straight going into the playoffs? Probably not. But, anything can happen on any given Sunday, or so the slogan goes. It should be a good game, hopefully. What I'm really rooting for is the Jets to win and the Ravens to win, setting up the AFC Championship game at Giant's Stadium. Crazy, huh? I think the Jets have a shot. On a somewhat related sidenote, I became a fan of an interesting group on Facebook, it's called "The Earth is covered by 75% water, the rest is covered by Darrelle Revis!" Nice, right? If you don't understand, look it up!

That's about it for now. I'll try to update the situation again as soon as I can.

Title courtesy of Led Zeppelin. Anyone out there see the movie "It Might Get Loud" with Jimmy Page, The Edge of U2 and Jack White? I saw it back in September or so with Missy at a small art house cinema on Long Island and it was awesome. Missy didn't really want to go and was just entertaining me by coming with me, much like most of the movies and concerts I drag her to, but after the movie was over she said she really enjoyed it. Cool deal. I ordered the movie on Blu-Ray on Christmas Day with some gift cards and stuff, and it still hasn't shipped from Best Buy. It's been on back order forever. To quote a very funny Saturday Night Live sketch, "What's up with that?"

Well, happy 2010 to everyone out there. Hope you had a great New Year's. Our was very low key. We just had another couple over our house, ordered in some pizza, watched some TV, saw the ball drop and they were out the door by 12:05. It's been a pretty relaxing weekend as well, which is very welcome, considering this is probably our last chance to really relax. It's 2010, and it's January, and that means in about three to four weeks, give or take, our baby will arrive. Pretty crazy and scary if you ask me. I know we're ready for it to get here already, Missy especially, since I think she's entered that perpetually uncomfortable stage of the pregnancy. No matter what she does, she can't get comfortable and she's constantly feeling a foot (a very big foot I might add) or something hitting her ribs.

Speaking of that Big Foot, which might be a new name for the baby until it's born, we had a 36 week ultrasound at the hospital last week, and the tech was measuring the baby and told us that the baby has a very long femur (thigh bone) and a very big foot for a baby. Were we shocked? No, not really. Considering this baby's parents are 6' 5" and an even 6' 0" tall, and wear a men's size 15 and a woman's size 11, its not much of a shock. So, we're in store for a long baby. Kind of figured that one. Thankfully it only weighs about 6 pounds at the moment, and should maybe hit 8, tops. Missy's big fear has always been that this baby is going to be 10 pounds or so, which is pretty rare, and a somewhat ridiculous fear to have. But that's doubtful unless the kid doubles in size in the next four weeks.

That's about all the news on the baby front. In other things, my ass will hopefully be firmly planted on the couch all day watching football. The Jets aren't on until after 8, but, if they win they're in the playoffs, so let's go Jets!

Catch ya later!

Title courtesy of the good old standby, 311. It's off of their album entitled "Music" Great tune!

So, is it time to freak out yet? If not, then when? Ha ha... just kidding, sort of. Missy and I are almost done with the birthing class we've been taking the past few weeks, and I don't know why exactly, but I think last night's class freaked us both out equally! I think we both had dreams, or nightmares, depending on who you ask, last night about being in labor and delivery. I know it's all worth it in the end... it's the getting there that might be a little rough. I'm sure we'll get through though.... worst case scenario... there are drugs and epidurals! But what do I get? Kidding... again.

Other than that, nothing new to report. I posted a new belly picture of Missy on the Baby Oster Blog so check it out if you're so inclined!

Had an easy week of work this week. I've been in training all week and will be until tomorrow. And, its instructor led online training, so I've been taking it from the comfort of my home, which is even more awesome! After this week, next week is Christmas, so in theory I should coast to the end of the month... and then January rolls around... and then its a countdown to January 26th, or past that depending on when Missy pops.

Alright, take it easy people, and Happy Holidays!

Title courtesy of Black Sabbath for no other reason than I'm listening to them right now.

So once again, it's been awhile since I've last updated this space. Sorry! Bad of me, I know. But, in my defense, it has been a little hectic lately. So, what has happened since the last time I wrote?

For one thing, it was Thanksgiving, and then my birthday all in one weekend. I had a decent Thanksgiving. We spent it at my parents house this year, and all the family came, including my brother, sister-in-law and niece. It still seems a little weird to type that, but hell, in less than two months I'll be typing about my son our daughter, so in comparison, that's not that weird. So, Thanksgiving was good, and my birthday was good as well. Went out with my parents one night, then had Missy's family over the next night for a Beatles Rock Band game night. Got myself what I believe is another cursed Jets jersey from my in-laws. Last year for my 30th they got me a Brett Favre Jets jersey, and right afterward he started playing like crap, turns out he was injured, the Jets missed the playoff and he retired, again, only to un-retire over the summer and go to the Vikings. This year they got me a Mark Sanchez jersey, and while he won his first game after I got the jersey, he nearly injured his knee, only to really injure it during the next game. So yeah, basically I think my jersey purchases are cursed. Want more proof? I have a Chad Pennington Jets jersey too, and I don't think he has enough tendons and ligaments in his shoulder to keep it in the socket, let alone attached to his body.

In other news, Missy and I started going to birthing classes last week. It's four weeks of classes spread out over the month of December. Basically, last week, this week, next week, Christmas week off, then the last week in December, followed by a visit to the hospital to take a tour of everything that goes on there. The first class was definitely interesting. I know its a lot of information to take in and assimilate and hopefully recall at a later date, because something tells me Missy won't be in any state of mind to do so. I just hope I can remember all this stuff that we learn when it comes down to go time, because I'm sure that will be a very panicked situation, and it might be hard to remember it. But I shall give it my best. That's all I can do, right?

Work has been pretty busy lately. I've been on a somewhat long project that is going very smoothly and hopefully will continue to do so. It'll be nice to have something like that happen, especially at the end of the year. I should also be pretty busy from now until the end of the year, which is nice too. After that it's January and we're basically on baby watch. Any time after the 36th week, it's OK for the kid to be born, and that's pretty much any time after Christmas really. Crazy, again.

And that's about it for now. I shall try to update more as we get closer. And as always, check out the baby blog for the latest pictures and whatnot! Peace!

Title courtesy of 311. Been a long time since I've even listened to that band... and to think they used to be my favorite, and that number is actually still in use by me in my AOL IM Screenname and my XBox Live Gamertage. And, also to think I once seriously messed my knee up at one of their shows. Oh well... the memories!

So, despite what my wife Missy might think, I think we're in the home stretch of this pregnancy thing. She's at 30 weeks, and according to our last doctor visit this week anytime after 36 or 37 weeks is OK. It's kind of crazy to think that in about two months or less we're going to be parents! I know we've had quite a lot of time to prepare for this, and it seems like an eternity since when we found out that Missy was pregnant, but its still a little nuts to think its almost here. Ready or not.. its coming! But honestly, I'm really psyched for it all. Mostly, at this point, I just want to know what it is... boy or girl? The suspense kills me sometimes. Soon enough though, right?

Other than that, I'm definitely psyched for the upcoming Thanksgiving holidays. As always, its also my birthday around that particular festive holiday, so I'm looking forward to the four day weekend more than ever this year. One, because the four days off will be really nice! And two to see family, friends and to celebrate my birthday is always something to get excited about. There's nothing crazy planned for my birthday this year, not like the party that Missy and my parents threw for me last year. We'll probably do something with my parents one night of the weekend, and the other, on my actual birthday, it'll be the inlaws at our house for pizza, beer and Beatles Rock Band! My idea of an awesome time... I love that game!

That is all for now... peace out good people!