TZT » « Somebody is going to have to explain comedy to me

Good work, Wife of Rieux!

You may remember Rieux, indefatiguable quality poster who wrote many good things here before getting overwhelmed by the volume of comments, and who more often now comments on various other blogs around these parts? He was at the CONvergence party this weekend, and he kept fretting that he ought to get home to his greatly pregnant wife, and I kept telling him things like ‘nah, she’s probably just sleeping, stay longer’ and ‘it’s your first, she’ll probably have a late delivery anyway,’ and I kept him around ’til 1 am. I was a cavalier jerk.

Well, now I learn that after the late night carousing, when he was probably all worn out, of course his wife went into labor the next day and delivered a robustly healthy baby boy. Now I feel guilty. Although probably with the adrenaline and the terror and the yelling, he probably didn’t fall asleep during his wife’s labor, so maybe it was OK in the end.

TZT » « Somebody is going to have to explain comedy to me

Comments

  1. 'Tis Himself says

    I was a cavalier jerk.

    Are you complaining or bragging?

    Congratulations to Rieux and Mrs. Rieux on the birth of their son.

  3. Crip Dyke, MQ, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    Congarats to Rieux & Fam.

    I remember Rieux fondly.

    But, “indefatigable”?

    I do not think that word means what you think it means.

  4. Cuttlefish says

    Congratulations! Enjoy!

    I remember those days fondly–everything is better than people tell you it will be, and much harder.

  6. FossilFishy (Νεοπτόλεμος's spellchecker) says

    I remember Rieux too, not that he’d know me from a hole in the ground.

    Happy bubby day!

    I’m sure he’s heard this before, but try and enjoy each moment in the moment. My daughter is 4 now and I miss some of the things that used to drive me crazy, as odd as that might sound.

    She can dress herself and brush her own teeth for instance and I feel a pang of loss over that along side of the usual parental pride because she no longer needs me as much. And one day, too soon, she’ll be completely capable of surviving without me, if I do my job right that is.

    So instead of whinging and stressing about the boundary pushing, the willful obstinance and all the other difficulties inherent in shepherding a tiny little human through to adulthood, I try my level best to appreciate these moments where she needs me so very, very much. YMMV of course.

    All the best you and your family Rieux.

  8. grignon says

    Congratulations to the new parents.

    A word of advice. When you choose to nuzzle your son on the changing table, put a towel/diaper across his nether regions.
    Unless you want to wear the golden badge of parenthood.

  10. otrame says

    Congrats to the Rieux family. My advice: sleep whenever you can for the next six weeks. Whenever. You. Can.

    Advice my mother gave me: with little boys, open the diaper and let the cold air in a sec, then loosely lay it back over while you arrange the cleaning stuff and new diaper. Give it a minute or two. This will limit the number of times you catch it in the eye. Trust me.

  11. Gnumann, quisling of the MRA nation says

    Congratulation to the Rieux family!

    And otrame’s advice is very sound.

  12. JohnnieCanuck says

    Congratulations, indeed.

    While we’re on the subject, there’s something called a tee-pee. An absorbent cloth cone just the right size to rest on top and intercept any such stream from the little one.

    I wouldn’t know first-hand though, having only had girls.

  16. jojo says

    Congrats to the Rieux family.

    And PZ, you really are cruel for making him miss the last chance he had to sleep for a long while.

    Parenthood, the days are long…the years are short.

  17. Beatrice says

    Congratulations to mrs. Rieux and mr. Rieux, welcome banners for little Rieux!

  18. Stevarious says

    Although probably with the adrenaline and the terror and the yelling, he probably didn’t fall asleep during his wife’s labor, so maybe it was OK in the end.

    I was so tired during my son’s birth (having come home from a 12 hour night shift only to leave again for the hospital, stayed up all day for the labor, and on to a 2 AM delivery) that I was dozing off between each contraction.
    I suppose I had the easy half of the job though.

  21. Rieux says

    Oh, goodness—I missed this last week!

    Thanks for the well-wishes, everyone.

    The IMG tag doesn’t seem to be working for me (maybe PZ or FTB has disabled it, or maybe my HTML-fu is just too weak), so anyone looking for a few cute pictures can click here.

    Rieux Jr. is doing fine at age 5 days—as in, he was alternately wailing and jumpy from 1:30 A.M. to 5 A.M. Sunday morning. Which, er, made for a difficult night. Now, as you can see in the latest of the pictures at the above link, he’s done the mirror-image thing by sleeping from 1:30 to almost 5 P.M. Sunday afternoon. My wife accuses me of giving him night-owl genes.