Congratulations. I am happy for Megan.
Oh, I'm actually crying. I had no idea who anon was and had thought of her for so long. Love and best wishes to all of them! I'm glad to see the shawl made with such love put to such good use.
Oh, how lovely! xoxox for all. Much love.
I had no idea who anon was and had thought of her for so long.
Me too, this. Congratulations to Megan and Megan's honey! Welcome, little Steadfast!
SO WONDERFUL. Hooray! Baby! xoxo!
Congratulations and Best Wishes to Megan et al.
Hooray! Congratulations! Great name, too.
I don't really understand how Megan and this other woman had the same baby (probably something involving end times) but congrats to them both!
19: Baby time-share. Much more convenient than a full-time baby.
Contratulations! Many happy returns! Etc!
heebie is also Thorn and Blume, which is even more confusing.
Congratulations!
Congratumalatibulationings! Like baby.
Oh, this is a very fine way to begin the day. Mazel tov to Megan and her family. And thanks to LB for sharing this wonderful news.
Congratulations! Hooray for healthy babies!
Congrats to both Megan and anon on the timeshare! Just as awesome as the baby cuteness is that, to my eye, the pattern in the shawl seems to have arrows in each quadrant pointing to the middle as if to say, "Place baby here."
34: I think that's where the baby was beamed down from the baby mothership.
35- Sounds messy, I guess the shawl had some good stain treatment.
Oh, congratulations. I agree with 34, everything in its right place.
Congratulations! I hope the joy and relief sustain you through the newborn crazytime. This is really great news.
Oh my goodness. What wonderful news! I had no idea.
Also, that is the cutest little dumpling I have ever seen.
Isn't it amazing what a good head of hair does to make a newborn look cuter?
That is what Freud would have you believe.
All my kids were born with hair like this, then it fell out and took almost a year to grow back. They were like, "Ok, send out the cure newborn pictures- done? Good, I'm going bald."
Yeah, I think that's pretty standard. Sally was born with lots of hair, and everyone told us that was going to happen to her. Didn't in her case, but it's certainly a thing.
Congratulations, Megan! Positively delightful!
Thank you all. It has been a very rocky three years. It got a lot better when there was no sign of hydrocephalus at Steady's 23 and 26 and 29 week ultrasounds. It got amazingly better last Wednesday when he was born (slightly early, 36 weeks) alive. It is still sinking in that this baby will stay with us.
28: I love the Piritan virtue names. I have been lobbying for Steadfast for years. I think it goes well with his last name. But it will have to be a nickname, if anything.
I didn't realize Estonians were known for their virtues.
Megan, I'm so happy for you guys. I can't imagine what you've been through. Has there been any genetic/medical insights? Does Steady's success change the medical diagnosis? Are you getting any sleep and are you doing okay with pumping/nursing? (Within one week my default assumption is that most are not doing okay.)
28: A good Puritan-style from-the-archives baby name would be Provenance.
Holy moly. Congratulations, Megan.
Congrats!
That's fantastic! Congratulations, Megan.
Wow, congratulations.
I had no idea that Megan was anon. That sounded like such an ordeal, I'm glad to hear that there's good news.
I have been lobbying for Steadfast for years.
"Steady" is such a great nickname for either sex, I think I might have to steal this name for the child I am not likely to actually have but enjoy daydreaming about.
Hooray! So happy for you, especially after all your anon disasters.
If it's one thing I've learned from unfogged it's that bad things happen to anonymous people. Just stick with your usual pseud and you'll be ok.
Count me with 4/6/15. Hallelujah and hurrah forever! What a beautiful child.
Yaaaaaaay! Congratulations to Megan, Partner, and Steadfast!
I don't know, the lurkers seem like a positive group of people.
Has there been any genetic/medical insights? Does Steady's success change the medical diagnosis? Are you getting any sleep and are you doing okay with pumping/nursing? (Within one week my default assumption is that most are not doing okay.)
No, no helpful genetic insights yet. A year ago we sent our DNA to Yale to sequence. They got the four of us sequenced by February. We got pregnant in February. Then we hoped for Yale's analysis to come in time to tell us about the third pregnancy (knowing that the hydrocephalus would be visible by twenty weeks). But it never did.
Our genetic counselor lined up another way to analyze the exomes that Yale sequenced. A start-up type company is trying software that analyzes exomes (if you have them already sequenced). They ran ours and got us results in a couple days. Their best guess was a recessive mutation in a gene called NOTCH1. We tested Steady's DNA for NOTCH1. He had both of our recessive mutations, but the hydrocephalus never showed up. So our only hypothesis has been disproved. Maybe one day Yale will get back to us with their analysis.
Are we sleeping, breastfeeding well? Probably about like all new parents. Some successes, some struggle. He's great, though. I keep hearing that he's drowsy because he's slightly premature and that he'll get more awake soon. But for now he sleeps lots.
Great news and that is one handsome fella.
The important question: how is your dog handling all this?
Let me be the first to shout hooray!
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I have a friend who's been working for 3 years at this organization in DC which has been forced to lay him off. Don't know how good a lawyer he is of course, but he's one of the most positive people I know, and of the lawyers I know, he's the most enthusiastic about lawyering. So, just thought there might be a chance one of the lawyers here could have an idea for something for him to do.
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And, congratulations! Did I say that already... OK! Nice shawl too.
Was a flaming couch thrown from the roof in celebration?
The dog is doing pretty good. He likes the new guy, and likes that all we do is sit in one room of the house. That way he can be in the same place as all of us. He has gotten more protective, though, and more determined to bark at passersby. I hope that eases up.
OMG! Have not read the thread yet but I am so so so happy for you three + pup! (And so thrilled to hear about a happy ending to anon for now's story.)
78: Huh. Well, it'd be nice if those questions got resolved more satisfactorily, but this moment is at least dedicated to celebration. Incredibly happy for you guys. And he is beautiful.
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Here's a frivolous threadjack which I assume will not prevent anyone from gushing over Steady:
What shall I pseud the new baby? Hawaiian Punch and Hokey Pokey were a pair of guinea pigs we had when I was very little. We always got pets in pairs, but I don't necessarily feel attached to the pet name that went with Ace. So, here are the choices:
1. Terry, the name of the dog acquired with Ace. (My dad named them. Their names were Acyclovir and Terramycin.)
2. Popo, short for Popocatepetl, or Chompsky, a pair of cats acquired before I was born who died when I was a young child.
3. Epi, short for Eppendorf, or Splotch, the next pair of cats acquired after Popo and Chompsky died.
4. Rascal, Jammies' childhood dog. Which kind of plays well with Ace, as a name.
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Surely you can come up with some cute communicable disease name.
I don't know how you could not go with Chompsky.
Rascal is cute as a name. As is Popo. Epi is bad. I will always be thinkign of anaphalactic shock if you pseudonymously name your child Epi.
Since this baby will be the youngest, I think Popo, Rascal or Splotch would be the fittingest.
Congrats to Megan!
83: The Plaintiffs' class actions firms that represent employees, of which there are several in the DC area, would be a natural fit. My firm does some of that and my email is attached in case he's interested in moving to Philadelphia,
Heebie - Rascal.
Megan - congratulations! Also had no idea you were anon, and am so pleased this pregnancy has been so evidently successful. Wishing all of you all the best.
Congrats and I'm so glad everything is going well.
Popo sounds like the little kid word in German for butt.
Ha. VSOOBC, knecht thinks so too.
It would be hard for Popo to get into the street drug trade, everyone would run away whenever they called his name.
Congratulations, Megan and family, that's great. I didn't remember much of a history to pregnancy-related "anon" commenters, but looking back through it now, this comment must have been incredibly stressful at the time.
89: Given those choices, I'd go with Chompsky.
Wonderful news, Megan. Congratulations!
Holy smokes, I had no idea this was in the works! I'm such a bad comments reader. Congratulations Megan!!!!! Yay!!!
Splotch! The best possible pseud for a child
Popocatepetl, or Chompsky, a pair of cats acquired before I was born
Your parents are very unlike mine. In a good way.
I like Ace and Rascal.
Agreed. Rascal drives, Ace shoots? Or the other way around?
I feel like it would be a shame to break the pattern you've established, which means Terry or something from Terramycin. (Harold Ramis?) But Rascal is good on its own.
Chompsky is much more a pet's name than any of the others.
Ace and Rascal do seem like extras on the Dukes of Hazard, in an appealing way.
Epi, but I am preferential to cute science-related names.
106: what's the Harold Ramis connection to terramycin?
106: what's the Harold Ramis connection to terramycin?
And can go with La Scar when you need to reverse* the name for anonymity.
*With minor fudging
Minor Fudge can be the online pseud of the next pet we get.
Popo sounds like the little kid word in German for butt
The word my wife used with our children, because her mother had used it with her.
Lascar also means rascal* in early 20thc French slang,
so that's handy.
*Maybe more "hoodlum." Others I am sure will opine.
Thank you 94! However, it seems that he is still required to work in the non-profit or government world because of scholarship terms, or something like that.
Ned, the lawyer friend who worked there has moved on (so no current connection to offer), but Emily's List might be somewhere to consider for a lefty nonprofit that hires lawyers.
Lascar's a racial term isn't it? South Asian sailors crewing western ships. The French usage presumably derived from that.
Lascar also means soldier (or sailor) in Anglo-Indian. It's Arabic by way of Persian.
Or maybe I meant Persian by way of Arabic. Anyway I like Rascal.
Rascal's Wager: Even under the assumption that getting away with it is unlikely, the potential benefits of misbehaving are so vast as to make obedience irrational.
MEGAN!! How overjoyed I am to hear the news. (And what a total shock.)
Wow, this is just so lovely. Wow.
Ned, more from Phila:
This place is a good nonprofit and they're hiring for a staff attorney. I don't know who's currently running their legal dept, but their (relatively new) ED seems to be a mover and shaker.
There's also F/r///n/d/s of F/rmw/rkers, though as far as I know they are not currently hiring an attorney. At some point their 40-year veteran is going to have to retire, though.
My office is hiring, and scuttlebutt is that the market's gotten better, which means that we aren't getting lots of great applicants. If he's interested in working for NYS, give him my email -- I can't do much, but I can walk him through the process. And if our office's experiences are typical, it might be a good time to check out the AG's office in whatever state he wants to be in (VA? MD?)
Maybe he wants to work somewhere that pays enough to afford haircuts?
I'm starting to feel as if admitting to my haircut routine was a mistake. Look, it goes from a short bob to long straight hair with some layers in it -- there isn't a stage inbetween where it looks terribly strange. I think.
Don't judge me. You're all judging me, aren't you?
Of course not. We assume you use a flowbee for touch ups in between.
I read that as it has some lawyers in it.
I am the male version of LizardBreath. My hair goes from buzzcut to dirty hippie length. People are always shocked when it goes back to buzzcut.
Wow. Congratulations, Megan. Made my day.
Oh my gosh. Yeah, I'm crying. This place I tell ya. So, so happy for you, Hooray!
Oh, I mean, I aim to get my hair cut every couple months but don't usually end up doing it until Blume fairly explicitly says "wow, yeah, that's really pretty bad". But I'm a scientist, not a high-powered Manhattan lawyer. We get an awful lot of leeway.
I used to be high-powered. Now I'm a scrappy, underpaid civil servant. Eccentric grooming decisions are totally in character.
"Representing the State of New York will be Cousin Itt."
Aw, thanks. I feel all warm and objectified.
I don't think I have the slightest idea what you look like.
She looks sort of warm and objectified.
Terrifying, isn't it? I could be standing behind you right now.
Or remaining severely in place, depending on where I am in the cycle.
Oh dear god and I read that as "I say fuck that nose." It it possible to develop dyslexia in the course of 24 hours? What have you people done to me?
149: "I say! I say, old chum. I have rather a favor to ask."
This reminds me. I should take a selfie for my linkedin page.
Megan: Echoing 4, 6, 63, etc., I too had no idea who anon was, but I'm glad you've been able to get such a happy ending this time around. Congratulations to all three of you!
Delighted for Megan and her sweetie. I had no clue who anon was - didn't spend time trying to figure it out or anything but certainly successfully concealed her distinctive voice.
didn't spend time trying to figure it out or anything but certainly successfully concealed her distinctive voice.
Yeah, agreed. I also had no idea, and I generally think of Megan as having a distinctive and recognizable way of commenting.
89. Late to the fair. due to getting a good night's sleep, but Splotch is completely onomatopoeic for most baby activities.
122. Urdu from Persian from Arabic. Arabic al askar also finds its way down the opposite side of the Indian Ocean to emerge in Kiswahili as Askari: a soldier or policeman. Well travelled word.
As in one of the many pullulating jihadi groups in Pakistan, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (Army of Righteousness).
This lurker supports the babysplosion in email, and also right here in the comments! All the best to Megan and Sweetie and lovely Steadfast.
May I ask a question? Yes? Okay, here goes: I'm scheduled to give a talk tomorrow night at a small, non-profit historical society in the Mountain West. They're selling tickets, so this appears to be a fund-raiser of some kind for them. They've also done some publicity, so they're already out a few bucks on the deal.
The problem is this: a very good friend of mine, someone who figures prominently in my book and with whom I've remained close in recent years, just died yesterday. The wake is tonight; the funeral is tomorrow. Although I won't be able to make it to the wake, I'd very much like to go to the funeral. Both for personal and professional reasons, I feel like I should be there. But if I go, I'll have to cancel on the historical society.
So what should I do? I honestly don't know the etiquette in this situation. Is it okay to leave the historical society in the lurch, realizing that I'll be creating some problems for the people there?
You're excused from the talk. The historical society can reschedule. They can be irritated; you can apologize and offer to reschedule. Sorry for your the loss of your friend.
163 gets it exactly right. I add my condolences.
Okay, thanks so much. It's terribly sad, as he was a truly great person.
I agree with ydnew that if they respect your work, they have to expect you to do it properly. I'm sorry for your loss but glad you'll be able to be there.
And ajay, thanks for 160. I wondered about that during last night's discussion and meant to look it up this morning and now don't have to!
Yes, 163 is the right thing to do, and they would be churlish to be visibly irritated at the news. You should offer to reschedule, though, because as you say it will be putting them out - and if there's some sort of extra you can throw in to make up for it, that would be a gracious gesture ("Sorry I have to cancel. I appreciate your understanding. Of course I'll be happy to reschedule next month instead, and I'll bring along a co-author/give two talks instead of one/ sign books/ do my legendary impression of General Sheridan".
"I will offer everyone who attends lifetime immunity from cholera, so you'll all have that going for you."
And my condolences to you and the family of your friend.
Congratulations, Megan and family!
I encountered the word this morning, in the way one often does when thinking about particular uncommon words.
In Jonathan Edwards' Doctrine of Original Sin Defended, he quotes from John Taylor's The Scripture-Doctrine of Original Sin:
It seems to be with a like view that Dr. Taylor says, "We must not take the measure of our health and enjoyments from a lazar house, nor of our understanding from bedlam, nor of our morals from a gaol."
Megan! So happy for you! What a wonderful little boy! (Also, very pretty blanket.)
177: a lazar-house is not a house for lascars. It's a leper colony (after Lazarus the leper).
180:
That makes sense.
Also interesting is Lascar's relation to Askari. I think of Askaris as African soldiers, in the service of colonial powers. So in the WWI campaigns in East Africa, a lot of the soldiers on both sides were Askaris.
Would Idi Amin's background be describable that way, or had the word passed out of use in the immediate post-WWII period?
It's still in use today - a company called Askari Security Services was hiring Ugandan mercenaries to serve in Iraq.
Further to 180: Philadelphia's Lazaretto, the nations' first quarantine facility for new arrivals (built 1799, following horrible yellow fever epidemic of 1793).
159 > 181. Askari is Kiswahili for soldier, and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Also means policeman.
R.W. Emerson uses the term lazzaroni disparagingly somewhere I can't find, and looking it up I find it too refers to Lazarus, the namesake of a hospital in Naples. It means layabouts.
Megan, that is wonderful news. Your tribulations as anon were heartbreaking. I am so glad for you and your sweetie. What a lovely, lovely, baby.
Congrats Megan. He's so precious!
My little one is losing all her hair except for a thick patch in the middle. It would make an awesome mohawk but her dad insists that we style it as a comb over.
Congratulation, Megan and family!
(Baby!)
Haven't read the thread or the OP, so let me be the first to suggest Fresh Salt.