I stopped by Trader Joe’s on the way home from our “28 Week Party” at the hospital to pick up something for dinner. Unfortunately, that “something” turned out to be the makings of a wickedly awesome Chicken Tikka Masala and whole bottle of Charles Shaw Savignon Blanc.

Cheap date, I know.

I was eating this heartburn-inducing Indian food and drinking wine while exchanging text messages from Rebecca in the hospital. We were both watching the Indians no-hit the Cardinals late into the game.

Then I got a phone call: Better hurry, there were contractions and they were getting serious.

I frantically packed a bag with all sorts of stuff I thought I’d need – our Canon DSLR, my iPhone charger, my laptop (why? I have no idea), a Baltimore Ravens cap, some toiletries and hauled ass out to St. John’s to meet Rebecca in her new downstairs room. Antipardem was so yesterday’s news at this point: we were back in Labor and Delivery.

Try as I might, I couldn’t beat Rebecca’s parents to the hospital. Odds are, though, they hadn’t been wrecking their stomachs on Indian and a whole bottle of wine. I digress.

I had the hardest time sleeping in a really uncomfortable chair in the L&D room. Nurses would come in and out, checking on Rebecca, looking at charts – the usual. No matter how bad I think I had it, poor Rebecca had it worse. Fighting contractions, just trying to keep Jane from making an early entrance into the world. Plus, she was doped up on a pretty odd cocktail of drugs.

At around 6am, we had some activity in the room, and were told that we’re likely having a baby today. Around 8am, we were told that we’d be at the top of the priority list for delivery. That was fast, right? I chronicled as much as I could on Twitter:

Pretty heavy stuff.

A bit closer, I kept people in the know. And then, before I knew it, I was a dad.

It’s been fun watching her grow. Here’s a spreadsheet I put together of her weight while in the hospital. This was over the span of a few months:

And here she is, today, totally demolishing a cupcake:

1. My daughter, Jane, is turning one on June 15.
2. World Cup.
3. iPhone 4 pre-order drops on Jane’s birthday, shipped a week later.
4. Roadie up to Madison, WI for a wedding. Oh, and a metric ton of butter burgers. Hot damn.
5. My homey Nicholas is visiting St. Louis with his ladyfriend all the way from Hamburg the day iPhone 4 is released. DOUBLE WHAMMY, BROHEIM!
6. Did I mention iPhone 4 yet? Oh, well, yeah. iPhone 4.
7. The new house is really starting to come together.

There’s more, I’m sure – we’re only 11 days deep in the month – so I’ll make edits as necessary. But just know that iPhone 4 and Jane’s birthday are pretty awesome.

I know I keep saying that this is a personal blog with professional insight all the time, but how could I not want to show off my baby girl and her first Christmas?

Unrelated – Jane’s first Solid food experience:

Anyway, here’s a video we shot with our Canon EOS Rebel T1i yesterday of Jane dancing to her Fredbrid/St. Louis Cardinals Mobile. She really loves that thing.

Y’see, my wife and I just had a very complicated pregnancy, where our daughter, Jane, was born at 28 weeks. Prior to all of this happening, we had enrolled in Great West’s Great Beginnings program, which, in a nutshell, waived our $250 deductible and sent us some neato pregnancy and child development books.

Well, we’re currently fighting with Cigna over the matter of Jane’s monthly RSV vaccination – a vaccination that’s absolutely 100% without-a-doubt necessary for her long-term health and general well-being.

If you want to know more about how frackin’ expensive the RSV vaccine is, check out this great About.com article (did I just type that?!) about it:

One of my forum readers posted a great question today. Synagis, the vaccine for RSV (respiratory synctial virus) is very expensive. The cost varies depending on the dosage, but each shot for this reader’s baby costs $2600! That’s $2600 per month for the entire RSV season.

Well, thankfully Cigna doesn’t want to do more than play a financial game of just the tip. Cigna has mercifully negotiated with Synagis and has a provider cost of $414.00, which, compared to the $2,600.00 cited above, is a freakin’ bargain (84% off list price).

Now, here’s where this little tale gets interesting: Cigna doesn’t recognize the Great West Great Beginnings program, so we’re on the hook for all $414.00, due every month, OR OUR DAUGHTER COULD CATCH RESPIRATORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS.

Fine. Great West/Cigna don’t recognize the enrollment in the Great Beginnings program. Surely, then, we’ve met our $250 deductible and our $1,000 maximum out-of-pocket expenses, right? We shouldn’t have to pay a dime, right?

Well, they don’t have records of that.

So we’re paying the full amount until those asshats at Cigna can figure out how not to fail at a Merger/Acquisition of another company.