Is My Baby Ruined?

So we had a baby on Saturday. The labor and delivery went pretty smooth, took about six hours total. I missed my target temperature by a few degrees and forgot to take a weight reading, but it should still be a kid, right?

So the problem is that it got off to a good start, crying every few hours. But now the crying seems to have slowed down significantly. In fact, most of the time it looks pretty dormant. I know crying isn't a good indication of presence of life, but I'm wondering what to do next.

Should I raise its temperature a little bit to try to rouse it up? Maybe it needs some sort of additional nutrients or O2? I've thought of shaking it a little to see if that helps.

I know I should just RDWHAHB and that while I create the conditions for life, really the cells make the baby, but I can't help being nervous. I'd hate for all this nine months of work and planning to end up being for nothing. Any help would be appreciated.

you probably didn't pitch enough spunk. was your spunk liquid? Did you make a starter?

Whatever you do, DO NOT SHAKE the BABY! I repeat DO NOT.....SHAKE........the BABY!!!!

You might want to rig up a blowoff tube in the near future. Babies can get messy in an explosive fashion.

Have you checked the babies vitals? What's the weight of the baby (sugar to alcohol through a hydrometer)? When babies are first born, they like to sleep for a while after the initial crying.

Don't dump your baby! Give it a couple of months and see how it tastes then.

You have to make sure to empty all trub from the primary every few hours.

congrats on the new addition!

Berock said:

Have you checked the babies vitals? What's the weight of the baby (sugar to alcohol through a hydrometer)? When babies are first born, they like to sleep for a while after the initial crying.

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Well, at this point if it is pissing alcohol and farting co2 that would be an indication of early maturation. Not very good at this stage. Especially the pissing of alcohol. The farting co2 I wouldn't be too worried about as that seems normal for infants at this stage.

They are pretty temperature sensitive at this stage. At least the swmbo's always seem to think so.

Don't worry about the smell coming from the posterior airlock. That's natural. You're going to have to clean up and resanitize around the hole if you have blow-off, though.

And before you ask, It will get infected at some point, it happens to everybody sooner or later.

Congratulations!

This thread has me rolling!

ksbrain said:

I've thought of shaking it a little to see if that helps.

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This is funny, because I know you're joking.

So I did take a sample, and it tasted actually pretty good. Sort of milky... sweet and fattish.

I did not make a starter. How would I make a starter? I just smacked my smack pack for a little while and then pitched. Was that wrong? Should I have started smacking earlier? I'm thinking things might have come out different had I pitched into the other vessel, behind the main one.

What I'm wondering now is how will I know when it's done? Right now it's all kegs, but should I maybe bottle some off, in case I want to share it with friends?

Thanks for all the help so far!

All I can say is 9 months in the frementor.... that's gonna be something great to enjoy for a long time! Congrats!

I can't get my wife to sample the homebrew anymore - thankfully the babysitter swallows it right up.

matthewgardner said:

i can't get my wife to sample the homebrew anymore - thankfully the babysitter swallows it right up.

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ftw!

I want a baby that tastes like grapefruit. How can I do that?

matthewgardner said:

I can't get my wife to sample the homebrew anymore - thankfully the babysitter swallows it right up.

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Just to clarify, still talking about beer, right?

Lolz...just kidding.

matthewgardner said:

Lolz...just kidding.

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She's watching you type, isn't she?

I gotta tell you, although it may work out fine, without the OG it's pretty much a shot in the dark as to the development of the kid. Don't even bother entering it into any comps without all your numbers.

Comps are all overrated. If you like it, keep it. If you don't, share it with your friends who'll think it's great anyway.


That came out wrong.



That's what she said.

curlyfat said:

She's watching you type, isn't she?

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No - but I thought for a second I had offended someone...

She gets my sense of humor and I can say stuff like this all the time.

if it is infected, don't try to 'blend' it with another kid, you'll just end up spoiling both batches.

by the way, congrats! was it a blonde ale or an amber? now that the primary is empty again, you should have a brew buddy over and the three of you can mix up a batch of chocolate porter.

Yeah... the fermenter seems to be contaminated or something. Nothing will ferment in there any more. It couldn't be a yeast issue, could it? I figure it must be a problem with the fermenter. I'll have to see if a different yeast strain makes a difference. I'll be sure to take pictures and watch, and maybe add my house yeast too.

If is kinda thin add some more lactose for body.

Just wanted to update that I did have an actual baby yesterday. Fourth kid, 22.5" 9 lbs 10 oz - a girl. This baby is small for us. My last two (both boys) have been 10 lbs 10 oz and 10 lbs even, though both shorter than this one.

This one is going strong, putting out lots of CO2.

congrats!

ksbrain said:

Just wanted to update that I did have an actual baby yesterday. Fourth kid, 22.5" 9 lbs 10 oz - a girl. This baby is small for us. My last two (both boys) have been 10 lbs 10 oz and 10 lbs even, though both shorter than this one.

This one is going strong, putting out lots of CO2.

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Those are big body brews. Might want to wait about 18 years before you sample.