Finally, the Crawford Family Zoo (CFZ) has announced the arrival of their primate, Michael Sagan Crawford (homo sapien sapien). He was born on May 9th, 2008 and arrived at his final destination (the newly added Primate Wing) located at our main facility in Martinsville, IN on May 11th, 2008. He weighed in at 7lbs 8 oz and 22 inches long.
This current zoo with 14 members (including the latest addition but not counting the two co-directors) was actually at one time two even smaller zoos. In July of 2008 negotiations begun about a joint merger and on December 22nd, 2008 the merger was finalized with both taking Daniel S. Crawford and Melissa E. Crawford (formerly Ostrum) taking on the position as co-directors; plans for making accommodations of the arrival of the new primate had begun since October once the CFZ had confirmation of the primate coming to their zoo. The construction for the newly redesigned Primate Wing was finished in the later part of April. The arrival of the primate was pushed up by a week due to holding constraints and scheduling difficulties.
Both co-directors said that they were excited and thrilled to finally have him here and were quick to mention that he seems to be settling in nicely with the other members.
Seriously….
Ever since Missy and I found out we were pregnant (back in October of 2007) I made the joke that since between the two of us we have a total of 13 animals (9 of them living in the the house; 5 dogs, 4 cats, 3 rabbits, and one bird) that we will soon have a “primate” on the way. After all, human beings (homo sapiens sapiens) still belong to the Order of Primate–so we are all primates. So it didn’t take long to think of our marriage as a joint venture between two smaller zoo (the truth in fiction so to speak) and from there the announcement sort of wrote itself. It may seem that I making light of a joyous but serious event–hardly. Missy and I consider our animals very much apart of family and now Michael is as well.
As I type this (I started it the night before and am finish it today) my son, Michael Sagan Crawford is sleeping in my lap (having just been feed). He has been in this world for little over three days (72 hours) and the feeling is indescribable. He is so small and yet makes such an impact on me every time I look, touch, or even hold him. It is truly amazing. We did have a bit of trouble getting him out (the holding constraints I mentioned in my little announcement). One, Missy was at 39 weeks and was truly miserable and was starting to swell so after talking to the doctor he said he could induce on Thursday, May 8th with him being born on Friday the 9th. Well after 12 hours of Cytotec she was given pitocin and Missy went into labor–however once the pitosin was turned up it seemed that Michael couldn’t tolerate it so around 2:45-3pm, the doctor decided that due to his heart rate and the possibility of a placental abruption-he was going to go ahead with a c-section and so at 3:30 he was born; weighing 7lbs 8 oz and being 22 inches long–he was a healthy hollering baby. We were in the hospital until Sunday 5:15pm and arrived home around 5:45pm.
A more detailed account of our hospital stay and all the feelings will be posted on all three of my blogs–this was just more an announcement.
