Welcome to NewsLand 1996!

Thursday, December 26, 1996
As I was checking my email this morning, I heard Donna take Gregory into the nursery, probably to change him. A few minutes later I heard a bone-chilling scream coming from the nursery. I sprang from my chair to see whether we were victims of a home-invasion robbery or whether Donna had dropped the little spud on the floor. Having never heard this noise from my wife in the over twenty years that I had known her, something absolutely horrible must have happened. I was ready to call 911 and make the run to the local hospital when I caught sight of Gregory laying comfortably on his changing table and my wife patting her face with a paper towel. If you have a male baby, you have heard this bone-chilling scream and know it well. I now know it. Donna will be more wary next time.

Wednesday, December 25, 1996
Merry Christmas! It's my most favorite day of the year and, with Gregory, it's beginning to feel more as Christmas should. At eight weeks, Gregory doesn't have a clue about what's going on, but then neither does his Dad! Donna decorated the house and tree beautifully for the holidays. Uncle Mark ate most of Donna's Christmas cookies, but there were still enough for Santa when he arrived last night! Santa brought lots of goodies for Gregory and a few for Mom and Dad as well. It's a great time of the year to enjoy family and friends. Please accept our best wishes of the Season!

Saturday, December 7, 1996
Well, it's Pearl Harbor Day and Gregory hasn't bombed us as yet, so we are thankful. If you arrived here via our Main Entrance, you have seen Gregory's 1996 holiday greeting picture. This picture was taken at about 5 weeks of age. He's 7 weeks now and doing just great. Donna is still breast-feeding him and handling most of the feedings. Gregory still wants to be fed about every 3 hours, so there is quite a bit of night duty. For me, the most difficult part is adjusting to being awakened three or four times each night, then spending a half hour or so each time trying to get back to sleep. Gregory makes these cute little baby noises at night that I'm still not used to hearing. Yesterday I awoke at 3:00 a.m. and never did get back to sleep. I did get quite a bit of work done at the office, though, so maybe I had been sleeping too much. Ha! Luckily most folks at my office are understanding and supportive. Today is the big Los Gatos Children's Christmas Parade. Donna and I are meeting some folks and going to watch some of the parade. The parade consists of lots of kids and their pets, mostly dogs. Since this is California, that means, mostly kids and Golden Retrievers, the official California dog, just like our neighbor dog, Vino. All for now. We have to run to see the dogs, uh, I mean the children, at the parade.

Thursday, November 28, 1996
Happy Thanksgiving! It's Gregory's first Thanksgiving. He's right at 5 weeks of age and weighing almost 10 pounds! The other turkey is 13 pounds, so they make a funny picture together. We're keeping him busy. Last weekend was spent at the Big Sur Lodge in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park where there are redwood groves, hiking trails up into the mountains and camping plus a beautiful Pacific beach. The lodge is in a remote area about 35 miles south of Carmel, California, on the Coastal Highway, California State Route #1. Gregory enjoyed the solitude and did very little to damage it. He's very good, but as demanding as expected. It looks as though we'll be home for the holidays, so drop us a note if you have the time.

Sunday, November 3, 1996
If you've been an avid NewsLand reader, you know that Donna and I had a baby boy on October 21st. Since then there have been a few milestones. Gregory left the house for the first time on Monday, October 28th, to see his new pediatrician. He got an A+ on his first exam. Yesterday, we really started to abuse him! We took him to Good Earth for brunch. He slept most of the time except, of course, when Donna got up to go to the rest room. I began to count the seconds until she returned to the table. Later in the day, we took the little spud on his first grocery shopping trip to Safeway. We clipped his car seat onto the shopping cart and away we went. He was just perfect, attracting looks from several California girls on the way. He grumbled a bit at the checkout, but don't we all.

Saturday, October 26, 1996
Time surely does fly when your having fun and/or taking care of a newborn! I glanced at the clock a few minutes ago and realized that it was early afternoon already. It's curious that we instinctively map our sleep patterns to those of our newborns when, in reality, it needs to be the other way around. Donna is feeling much better today, and, although newborns aren't, in and of themselves, pains in the a--, delivery of them certainly is. For my part, I'm still a bit awed by all of this and expect to be so the rest of my life. It's great.

Wednesday, October 23, 1996
Gregory was two days old today. If the last two days are any indication of how fast time will now go that we're a family of three, it will, indeed, be a short time until he is off to college. We received beautiful potted plants and flowers from the folks at Bay Networks today. We also had a visit from our childbirth consultant who taught our pre-natal class and is now helping Donna and I post partum. Be sure to read the entry for Monday, October 21st, if you missed it before. I managed to find time to edit and post some pictures on the Thomasland web site late this evening. I hope that you'll enjoy them!

Monday, October 21, 1996
Well, we missed the due date by one day! Donna delivered a beautiful 8 pound 5 ounce baby boy at 4:41 P.M. PST (7:41 P.M. EST) time today. His name is Gregory Warren Thomas and he is 20 inches from stem to stern. Mother and child are doing just fine. Dad is still a bit numb, but aren't most Dads? Sunday night, about three hours after returning home from our first trip to the hospital, Donna was experiencing quite a bit of discomfort. At 10:30 P.M., after consulting the perinatologist, we decided to return to the hospital and stabilize her for the night. I was able to stay overnight in the room with her on an oddly comfortable chair that converted to something that resembled a flat surface. Donna continued in "early labor" until about 2:30 P.M. today until she transitioned to "active labor". There was a "transition labor" phase in there somewhere, but I was too busy delivering ice chips, pacing her breathing and doing other coach things, to be able to say when. Time is somehow suspended. A friend said that having a baby was the defining moment in his life. I now understand what he meant. Many thanks to Dr. John Kitzmiller, Dr. Alan Fishman, Dr. Robert Ross and the many health care professionals at Good Samaritan Hospital near Los Gatos, California, for doing what they do. Thanks, too, to all my family and cyberfriends, including my extended family at Bay Networks in Santa Clara, California.

Sunday, October 20, 1996
It's started! Donna woke me up at 3:00 A.M. this morning saying that "something was going on". We double checked all of our childbirth instructions and, after an hour or so, decided that the right thing to do was to call Good Samaritan Hospital. to ask for advice. When we got there, at about 4:30 a.m., they set us up in one of their new birthing suites just in case, put Donna on a monitor and examined her. She stayed on the monitor until about 7:30 a.m. and until everyone was convinced that both mother and baby were just fine. Donna spoke with the doctor on the way out of the hospital and all is okay. We have since driven home, stopping at the obligatory Noah's Bagels, for breakfast. So, Donna is in "early labor". Today is her updated "due date" so we may be right on schedule to the day!

October 12, 1996
Happy Columbus Day! Donna is now into her 39th week of pregnancy and she will be 100% full term as of October 19th, so we're poised and ready for the hormones to kick in and the mad rush to the hospital to begin. Through the magic of modern science, her perinatoligist was able to determine that the baby's weight is now 7 lbs. 11 oz. and growing. He grows at about 6 oz. per week at this point, so we're hoping that this doesn't go on much longer. He's still very active and finding new things to kick all of the time. We're about 10 minutes from the emergency room and everything is lined up to admit her when the time comes. So what else is going on? Well, in an ironic twist of events, Donna received a summons to jury duty this Friday. What makes this interesting is that she had premonitions that she was going to be called for jury duty for several weeks. How about that? Maybe she's been around me too long. I just completed the first of two satellite television training sessions for Bay Networks channel partners. The second one is scheduled for October 17th. On top of that I picked up a cold, so it will be interesting to see whether I'm available for the second session this coming week. Ah, stress. What would life be without it?

September 29, 1996
Today is the beginning of Donna's 37th week of pregnancy. Statistics show that over 85% of babies are born during the 38th week of pregnancy. If you believe in statistics, well, we're going to be parents in about two weeks. Donna's suitcase and my munchie-bag are packed and check list approved. The suitcase and the infant car seat are in the back of the Ford Explorers ready whenever Mother Nature calls. Donna continues to do very well. She hasn't gained much more weight and the baby is just the right size for an easy delivery, at least so they say. We bought a new Maytag washer-dryer combo today to replace the aging (and leaking) General Electric washer-dryer that we purchased in Media, Pennsylvania. This past week was a big one for Gary. He spent five days with his parents in Broomall, Pennsylvania and visited friends in Media and Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania.

September 13, 1996
Well, it's Friday the 13th again. In a bit of a cruel trick, the weatherman made it drizzle for the first time this season. If you haven't lived where it doesn't rain most of the year, this might surprise you. It usually doesn't rain here from April until October or, during really dry years, from March to November. So the Friday the 13th drizzle joke caused many spin-out accidents when the moisture mixed with the well-oiled roadways. Sorry to be a broken record, but Donna is still absolutely fine!

September 7, 1996
It's been a month since I updated NewsLand, but the last month has gone really fast. The big news, no pun intended, is that Donna is still doing just fine. She's held to her diet and is at about +12 pounds -- right where her perinatologist wants her at 33 weeks. Gregory weighs just over five pounds and is doing great. Per normal, he's really active when Donna relaxes. We just completed our series of childbirth classes, plus a truly fascinating breast-feeding class (it's not as easy as anyone thinks) plus a "getting started on the right foot" class. Infant CPR is coming up in the next several weeks, then that's it. We've just stocked up on all of the infant consumables and have a terrific pediatrician signed up to work with our perinatologist, then take over after Gregory is born. Two of the ten families in our childbirth class have already given birth. This is truly exciting. EDB (estimated date of birth) is October 20th. If you have about a few minutes, stop by VideoLand to see some new pictures of Donna and the yard sale booty. We've had great fun finding bargains and Donna will show you some of them there.

August 1, 1996
The doctor told Donna that kicking is the sign of a healthy baby and that it was normal for the kicking to hurt. That isn't exactly what Donna wanted to hear. Her pregnancy continues to go very well. The baby is almost three pounds and is slightly ahead of his weight gain. He must take after his father. Donna has been through the denial phase and has moved from her normal Leggins stretch pants to maternity dresses. What a change! Donna and Gary attended their second childbirth class last night and learned entirely too much about what Donna was in for. In all, the news on her progress couldn't be better. The sonograms are not worth posting at this point. The sonogram that is posted is the best one. Gary turns 46 tomorrow on August 2nd. Donna turned 41 on July 11th.

July 4, 1996
Gregory has been kicking the heck out of Donna. The doctor says that this is a sign of a healthy baby, but he still catches her off guard a dozen or so times each day. Sorry but we have no new sonograms as yet. The one that we have posted is definitely the best that we have captured. Gregory looks a bit like Casper, the friendly ghost. Click on Gregory to see the sonogram. Donna's doctor is requesting a second 24-hour glucose and, uh, bodily fluid test for July 5th. To get an accurate test, she must load up on carbohydrates, which she absolutely loves. Potatoes and rice and toast, oh my! Concern is growing that we may have to deliver the baby sooner than October 18th because of complications. We have excellent medical care here in San Jose at Good Samaritan Hospital, so we are not overly worried. We're off to several more yard sales tomorrow.

June 23, 1996
Gary made some changes to ThomasLand this afternoon to add frames to the Main Entrance page thereby creating a menu. Please let us know if you like the change or not. Just go to FeedbackLand and drop us a line. Also today we awoke early and headed for the yard sales by 8:00. The first location had pounds of infant's clothes, a swing set and baby walker, safety gadgets for child-proofing the house and a very nice rocking chair for the soon-to-be Mom.

June 22, 1996
Donna is doing really well in her 6th month of pregnancy. She has gained only about 7 pounds. She is watching her diet very carefully to prevent gestational diabetes and increased high blood pressure. Today we went shopping at about two dozen yard sales in the San Jose area where we live. We found strollers, toys, clothes and all sorts of necessary things for our new arrival, who is currently named Gregory Warren Thomas. He's due on or about October 18th, so we're getting things ready for his arrival.

May 12, 1996
Gary flew to Portland, Oregon, to attend the 100th Anniversary of the Portland Union Station, which included a three-day rail fair. Locomotives on display included Amtrak streamliner 802, Portland's #700 4-8-4 Northern steam engine and the magnificent Southern Pacific Daylight #4449 GS-4 4-8-4 steam engine which makes excursion runs in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and, hopefully, Montana in April 1997. Watch for pictures from the fair!

May 11, 1996
The big news is that Donna's amniocentesis results are back and our baby boy is just fine! The doctor is watching her glucose level and has her on a restricted. She's changed blood pressure medicine several times and is adjusting to the latest changes. So far, other than feeling like a pin-cushion, Donna's major problem is that she's exhausted most of the time. We're both working on names. Gregory is top on the list at the moment.

April 23, 1996
More check-ups at the doctor and Donna is still doing well. A few bumps with some elevated sugar and blood pressure, but we'll hook her up to some tubes to straighten it out. Had a series of three minor earthquakes last week.

April 9, 1996
More heartbeats from the kid and all is well. Two rock doves that hatched from their nest in the hanging pot outside take their first flights. Major weekend of gardening makes Gary and Donna creaky.

March 27, 1996
Donna sees an ultrasound image and hears the heartbeat of her baby for the first time. Wow!

March 17, 1996
Donna and I learn of the passing of Donna's grandmother, Sue Atz, in Vero Beach, Florida on March 16th. We remember Sue, or Nanny as she preferred, fondly as the hostess at the Atz farm in Thornton, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, where she and her late husband, William, shared years of wisdom and experience plus bushels of wonderful fresh vegetables with family and friends. Sue and Bill are together and all is as it should be once again.

March 16, 1996
The first rain-free weekend in the Bay area this year. Temperatures in the mid-70s and clear skies. All of the crazies are out for the first time to enjoy the weather. Donna and I set out for our breakfast at the Los Gatos Cafe as usual. We then head to Orchard Supply Hardware to check out the electrical goodies plus grapefruit and euryops trees for the garden. Backing out of our parking space a local person runs into our spare tire and totals his front fender. We go Ford Explorer shopping and realize that Eddie Bauer Ford Explorers sell for $35,000. We go to GTE Mobilnet to shop for a cellular phone and realize that they are giving the phones away these days, but the service is more expensive than ever. We retire home for the afternoon.

March 9, 1996
Gary and Donna breakfast at their favorite haunt, the Los Gatos Cafe. Donna makes some chile for dinner that just about puts Gary away. He'll need to post that one in GastronomyLand. We hire a gardener because Donna can't handle as much of the gardening this year. How Californian. Gary finally dices up GastronomyLand and adds an inline index. Hey, I never said this was Earth-shattering news!

March 2, 1996
Gary and Donna celebrate their first year in their new home. Gary gets up enough nerve to tell his parents that they're going to be grandparents. We finally hike all of the way around the block as part of their new fitness program. This is no small accomplishment!

March 1, 1996
ThomasLand moves from CompuServe to Best Communications, Inc. in San Jose, California, for faster response time and easier access. The URL is now http://www.thomasland.org/

February 19, 1996
We learn that we're going to be parents! Wow! Big day is October 18th.