4 weeks old!

quentin is 4 weeks old! he is getting very big and is still eating like a mad man. i think he may have a little bit of a cold. he's sneezing and has a bit of a runny nose. we've gotten to use our booger sucker for the first time! he stays awake a lot more during the day, generally for about an hour after he eats. he's fascinated by everything around him and has thoroughly enjoyed swinging in his swing. it is a very exciting week for all of us, as we will be closing on the new house tomorrow morning and starting to move things in. finally!! it will nice not to be homeless! as you know, all of our earthly possessions are contained in 3 PODS in storage in ludlow, mass. i called PODS yesterday to determine how much it would cost to have them delivered to our new house in hanson, mass. it's about a 100 mile trip so i expected to pay a bit for delivery. i couldn't believe how much they wanted for it - $2480!!! it only cost us $3400 to move all 3 PODS from richmond to here - a 600 mile trip. so needless to say, we will not be paying the PODS company $2480 to take a short trip down the mass pike. instead, the 3 PODS will be delivered to my uncle's house at a total cost of $51. then, we have rented a massive 26' truck from penske for a whopping $286. throw it a bit of sweat equity to get the truck loaded and some gas money and we'll get the same end result at a rough savings of $2000.

the great chipmunk detective

a non-baby post for your amusement...

as you know, quentin, the cat, all 4 dogs, and i are staying at my parents' house while we wait to move in to our new boston house. my parents live in a wooded area and have a huge fenced in backyard that the dogs love. our dog abby really loves it because the dog door from the house gives her unrestricted on-demand access to the outdoors. she loves to be out there sniffing, and only comes in to get a drink of water and make sure no one in the house is eating steak or something like that.

all day monday, abby was outside. but instead of her usual patrolling of the yard, she was OBSESSED with the trailer hitch that my parents have to haul their car behind their rv. she was sniffing circles around it, trying to dig under it, scratching at it, etc. we thought maybe there was a chipmunk or mole hole near by that she was trying to infiltrate. or that the chipmunks were stealing tomatoes from the garden and abby was trying to sniff them back. (abby has fallen in love with fresh from the garden veggies of all kinds.)

after like 4 hours of her pacing out there, i decided to go check out what was so darn fascinating. i watched her circle the hitch and then try to gnaw on the steel center beam. when she started trying to get inside the hitch i finally figured it out. i heard squeaking. there was a chipmunk (likely, but could have been mouse) stuck in the center beam of the hitch. abby is sniffed it out and was trying to coax it out of the hitch and into her mouth. not sure if it couldn't, or just wouldn't come out, but that little squeaker was not budging.

my mom came outside to see what all the drama was. with her help (and now the help of 4 more hounds), we identified two spots where the little bugger could have gotten in and should theoretically be able to escape from. but we couldn't coax it out either, not with all the hounds around.

so when my dad got home, he got involved in the rescue. if there's one thing my dad loves, it's teaching rodents lessons. he had the great idea to prop the (really heavy) hitch on its side with a random piece of metal so that the center beam where the chipmunk was hiding would be slanted upward (see picture.) he then got the garden hose and shoved it in one of the escape holes mom and i had found, leaving chipper no other option but to run for the hills out the other end. the hose was then turned on and the remaining space around it plugged up with a plastic bag so that the beam would start to fill with water and push the critter upwards and onwards.

this is the point where i started worrying about the darwin awards, or at a minimum being that really sad but funny news story posted on the cnn.com front page. i could just see it - man, wife, daughter, son-in-law, grandson, and several hounds killed in tragic chipmunk rescue. i made jeremy take quentin inside - the boy should not have to bear witness to the death of his family at the hands of a rodent. he also corralled all the hounds and got them inside too.

the water was a good idea - it got the critter right to the very end of the beam. it was getting dark at this point, and there are no lights by the hitch, but we could see its beady little eyes.

giving up of the flush it out approach, dad decided to drop the hitch back down flat on the ground - thinking the impact might scare the little bugger out. that hitch is heavy so it hit the ground hard with an intense thud. but the chipmunk did not budge.

jeremy heard the crash from inside and came running out to make sure we were all ok. but he forgot about the dogs so the whole pack came running straight towards the hitch. and that's what did it. the now soaked chipmunk came flying out of the hitch and ran straight into the wood pile to avoid the hounds. he resisted abby's prodding, a thorough soaking slash near drowning, and a massive drop to the ground but the sound of a pack of hungry hounds was enough to make him throw in the towel.

bet he never goes in the hitch again. rodent lesson learned. poor abby has been depressed since - she worked all day for the chipmunk and never got a taste.

happy due date to you!

happy due date quentin! i think he was hoping we'd due something special today to commemorate the day he was supposed to be born. but the combination of a still-sick (though feeling better) mom and dad and the fact that the heat index here today was 110 degrees meant that we stayed in the only air conditioned room in the house all day. i think this disappointed him because he has been cranky all day. or he's hot, sick, and/or going through a growth spurt. he's been sneezing fairly often - baby sneezes - so cute. he's also been eating like a fiend, demanding 4 ounces (or more!!!) every two hours. and then there's times where he's been fed, changed, is being held, and still just screams his head off. fortunately he really seems to like the womb bear which calms him down. and he also digs the pacifier. probably hurts less than his little talons :) the boy's finger nails have gotten a little sharp. he's got a little scratch on his face. it's a little weird that the day i had spent months anticipating was so uneventful, but i suppose very few babies are born on their actual due dates. quentin just couldn't wait to get out!

just so darn cute

my fever is gone!

now to eat something!!!

i forget the best part...

he latched for 45 minutes last night and was actually getting milk. i could see a bit dribbling down his cute little chin. it's hard to say how much he actually got, and he did take about 2 ounces from a bottle afterward (after some serious bloody murder screams!) but progress is being made!

3 weeks old!

the little doodle is 3 weeks old today! he's getting huge - it's already time to loosen the straps in his car seat a bit. he's putting back 4 ounces a feeding. making it difficult to keep up with pumping. but we're doing the best we can and only supplementing formula as necessary. he keeps his eyes open much longer each day now, usually for about an hour after eating so he's got a little brightly colored toy dangling from the handle of his car seat. he can barely reach it but he just stares at it and i've even seen him grasping the very tip of it when he's sleeping. not surprising because he has very busy little hands! his social security number came in the mail today - he's legit!! now hopefully my insurance will hurry up and finish processing his application so the pediatrician can get paid! in other news, it is my turn to be sick. i don't seem to have what jeremy or my dad had but some other fun crazy virus. i have a fever and alternate back and forth between the worst chills ever and the deepest sweats ever. one minute - sweatshirt on, socks on, slippers on, burrowed in blankets, next minute dripping in sweat and have to lose all the layers and change shirts because the other one is soaked. i slept all day yesterday and the day before which i think helped. today i have been able to stay awake but the chills, sweats, and fever are still here. i really just hope quentin doesn't get sick. he's been sneezing a bit but doesn't seem to have a fever and he's not fussy. fingers crossed!

Father of the Year?

Unfortunately, not right now. Sunday morning I got up to feed Quentin and noticed my throat felt a little scratchy. This had me worried because Mr. Bard had been dealing with a sinus infection. All day Sunday, I had a runny nose but it felt like bad allergies. Then it happened, it was like I was hit by a ton of bricks. I started hacking, had a thick mucousy snot, and chills and aches. At about 8PM I told Keira I was going to lie down and then didn't get out of bed until almost noon yesterday. When I did get up, i felt a little better and helped out with the boy for most of the day. Last evening again, I felt horrid again. I literally had the aches so bad I felt like I was in pain. I haven't felt this sick for almost a year and half. Keira will tell you that I can be a little "dramatic" when I don't feel well, but this time was different. I truly felt KO'd. Hopefully, Keira and Quentin do not get this. I just feel awful because I have to go back to work tomorrow and have been no help to Keira and haven't been able to spend a lot of time with my son :( It just really hurts.

belly button!

quentin's cord stump finally fell off today so he now has a belly button! he's got an innie!

2 weeks old!

time flies!! the little dude is already two weeks old. he's getting big - weighed in at 7 pounds 14 ounces at the pediatrician on monday - so he's regained his birth weight (and more!) the little newborn onesies barely fit anymore and the newborn sized diapers cannot contain his incredible emissions. he certainly eats enough. last week he took about 2-2.5 ounces of milk per feeding. now he easily puts back 3.5 or more each time! i have created quentin's first excel spreadsheet to track feeding times and amounts each day - i'm sure folks at capital one will not find this surprising!!! what can i say - i love excel and so will quentin :) (cof folks may also have noticed that i conveniently didn't go into labor until after i had finished reviewing the 10131 moi! quentin knew he should let his mommy do her thing!) it is a little depressing that my paid maternity leave is already 25% done, but oh well!

look at me!

some random pics

just a few cell phone (hence the low quality) pics of my favorite little guy!

on our own

jeremy flew back down to richmond today to wrap things up at the richmond house - the project that little quentin so dramatically interrupted last time! he'll be back on thursday and hopefully we won't need to go back! taking care of a newborn by yourself is tough! i had to do the 6 a.m. feeding entirely on my own since jeremy was already gone and my mom was back in bed after bringing jer to the airport so early this morning. by the time i finished changing his diaper, changing his onesie, attempting to nurse, pumping, feeding, burping, washing the pump parts, washing the bottle, and changing his diaper again it was almost time to start the whole routine over again. so much easier with two sets of hands!! is it thursday yet?!?!

Wicked Pissa'

To borrow from the Boston vernacular, Quentin is a wicked pissa, literally. This kid pees like a race horse. He's a little small for the 8-10 lb diapers but we have to use them. If he's wearing the newborn diapers and lets fly, he soaks through the diaper! We have been averaging ~6-8 onsies per day. Since going to the bigger diapers he stays dry longer :) BTW, the down side to the bigger diaper is when the little waste factory drops a mega-deuce, which is often. I think you can imagine what i'm talking about it. It's okay, he's so cute and daddy loves him :)

hope is not lost!

quentin has latched twice in the last 24 hours, once last night and just now! he still loves the bottle, but at lease he's still giving the boob a chance! :)

quentin and the pups

we were a bit worried about how the dogs would react to the new baby. the four hounds have been our "babies" for so long and they are a teeny bit spoiled. we worried about jealousy issues, especially from bailey who is the ultimate mama's boy. but so far so good. jackson, abby, and martini have shown almost no interest in the baby. bailey has, but it's been pleasantly surprising. he LOVES his new baby brother. he loves to sit on the couch with us when we hold quentin. he follows us to the nursery when we need to change diapers and lets us know when quentin is crying. it's very very cute!

it's been one week

happy one week birthday quentin!

give em what they want!

baby pictures!!! he's really hard to get with his eyes open!

adventures in breastfeeding

all through my pregnancy i planned to breastfeed little roo, even though the thought of it kinda freaked me out a bit. there's just so many benefits (better for baby, cheaper than formula, etc.) to not give it a try. before we left the hospital, quentin and i worked with the lactation consultant a couple of times. he really didn't latch on very well, but she said that's normal for early babies. we just needed to keep at it. we kept trying and he'd get it it eventually each time we tried. we would just have to be patient with him as he fussed and slurped for 30 minutes. unfortunately, his laziness at the breast was worrying the nurses who didn't think he was getting enough to eat. they really wanted us to give him some formula but we resisted, being super stubborn about nursing and being patient with quentin. when we left the hospital, he had only lost 5% of his birth weight - perfectly normal, so we must have been doing something right! the hospital sends a nurse to the home of all newborns the day after they leave the hospital. so sunday roo and i saw a nurse at home. she checked us both out, making sure we were progressing as appropriate. when she weighed quentin, he was down to 6 pounds 14 ounces which borders on 10% weight loss and is a bit of cause for concern. quentin was a bit jaundiced so that could have been contributing to his suppressed appetite. she insisted we immediately start supplementing with formula and feed every 2 hours. we really didn't want to, but we also didn't want to starve our baby. unfortunately this was around the same time when quentin decided to flat out refuse nursing. not wanting to switch to 100% formula in fear we might not ever go back, i decided to give the dinky manual breast pump the hospital gave me a try. i was able to pump out enough that we could minimize formula intake. damn was it tiring, all that squeezing, but worth it for my little baby. each time, we'd try to get him to take the breast but he just wouldn't. the nurse also consulted with our pediatrician (who happens to have been MY pediatrician!) and they decided that he needed to go in first thing on monday for a weight and jaundice check. when they weighed him at the pediatrician's office, he weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces, so i am thoroughly convinced that the home nurse's scale was off and caused a whole lot of unnecessary concern. oh well. he is still a little guy, measuring in the 25th percentile for height, weight, and head size. but to be fair, he's being measured against full term babies, not early birds like himself. it only took a full day's worth of feedings using the manual pump for us to go to babies r us and buy the industrial strength pump we had registered for. and of course as soon as we got home from the store with our new gadget, guess who decides he'll nurse again??? but it didn't last long. we got through 2 feedings before he was back to being fussy and refusing. and that's how we continue - trying to nurse but end up giving a bottle of pumped milk. we're not giving up!

Flexing My Medical Muscle

Keira was supposed to get discharged from the hospital last Saturday. She was really ready to get the hizzle out of there. Late Friday night, one of the midwives came in and informed us that her hemoglobin was low. She had been giving blood since she got into the hospital but this was the first anyone told us about anything. Her level was actually very low. If she had been actively bleeding or had a hemoglobin disorder she would have needed a blood transfusion. However, she was not bleeding and had no symptoms. They drew her blood saturday morning while i was on my way to Hanson for the home inspection. They decided she should stay another night because her hemoglobin was still low. She was rightfully upset. In fact, the doctor who made this decision had not even seen her. I called the hospital from the road to voice my discontent. I argued that while low, her hemoglobin was trending up, she had no symptoms, and that there was no point on having her stay in hospital because if she started bleeding or had symptoms we would return to the hospital. If she needed a transfusion, the blood would not even be ready in the time if would take to get back to the hospital. The midwife listened to my argument and talked with the doctor who reluctantly agreed to let her go home. BTW, she has been fine. We went the next morning to have her blood drawn which showed further improvement in her hemoglobin level. Word to the wise, don't mess with a pediatric intern :)

against doctor's orders

it's been hard to work up the energy to write a new blog! you really don't know how much you value (and need!) sleep until you don't get any! so picking up where i left off... quentin and i left the hospital on saturday against the wishes of a phantom doctor i never even saw. i was in the hospital from wednesday evening through saturday and never saw a single doctor (except the anesthesiologist who did my epidural!) well, as most people know my anemia had been flaring up during this pregnancy. it took a pretty big hit with all the blood loss associated with delivery. right after quentin was born, my hemoglobin level fell to a new all-time low - 6.4, which is apparently in the blood transfusion zone. it was recovering but still not in a great place by saturday when we were supposed to go home. at about noon on saturday, the midwife came in and told me that i had to stay another night so they could monitor my blood. i was NOT a happy camper. i was so ready to get out of that hospital room, so sick of being cooped up with little access to the outside world. it was especially frustrating because i felt fine, and even more because they never even mentioned a concern about my levels until late friday night. it was pretty annoying not having a doctor because i had no idea what was going on the whole time i was there. nurses would come and go every 30 minutes or so, but there was no one person providing any consistency or coherence for what was going on. here it was friday night, and i was prepping to go home the next morning. sounds like a great time to drop a bomb like that. then all saturday morning things were proceeding as though i was going to be able to go home on schedule. then i find out i can't. i cried. lots. jeremy called and spoke with the midwife and busted me out. i don't think she was too happy about it, and i doubt the doctor who wanted me to stay was either. but i don't care. i wanted to go home! all we had to do was go back to the hospital the next morning to do another blood test to make sure my level continued to rise. that was easy! for someone who hates blood work i am now quite the old pro - they had to take blood from me every day for 5 straight days!! it's time for a roo-feeding - stay tuned tomorrow for adventures in breastfeeding!

Quentin's day through Daddy's Eyes

By now you have all heard the story of the false alarm and the basic about Quentin's birth. We thought it might be fun to hear the story through my eyes. Okay, here goes. On Tuesday night, the night after the false alarm, I took my prescription pad and wrote Roo a Rx for "Stay Put Pills." Roo was told to take these until Daddy got home. Anywho, got up wicked early to get the train to Boston. About a 1/2 hour into the trip, Keira texts me. For the last few weeks, everytime I get a text (keep in mind 98% are from Keira) my heart rates jumps because I'm worried that she's going into labor or something has happened while I'm not at home. So I get the text, freak out mildly before reading it, then read it. She thinks she is having some contractions. I call her back right away to assess the situation. They did not seem regular and I was hoping it was gas (we had Chinese the night before). I told her I'd call her back from the airport to re-assess. I figured, I'm where she would be coming anyhow if we had to make a change in the plans. I called her and the contractions were going away. With 10 minutes to go before boardings, we decided I should get on the plane. I make it to Richmond, check out the house and start working on spackling the holes and loading the truck. Around 7PM I check my phone and see a text message from Keira, obligatory tachycardia ensues, and I then read the text: "No big deal, give me a call when you have the chance." Okay, so I immediately call BS on the casual nature of the text and call her back. She is having the dreaded very painful contractions associated with legit labor. I tell her to call MGH and see what they think she should do. At this point I am a nervous wreck. Each minute feels like an hour. I was expecting to hear a responce in about 10 minutes. Keira does not call for about 30 more minutes with the news that they think she should go to a local hospital for triage. If it's labor, go to MGH. I am even more nervous than before but forge on with what needs to be done at the house. The update from triage: negative signs of water being broken but 2 cm dilated. She said they would follow her for an hour or so and see what happens. My nervous wreck proceeded to near full out breakdown at this point. Do I stay or go or what?!!!! I decide to see what the verdict is after an hour. To pass the time and preparge, I run to walmart to get some painting supplies. As I am driving back, I get the news: 4cm dilated, Roo is coming, and will be born in Springfield, not MGH. At that point, I make the call to drive back to Massachusetts. Seeing as we dropped 500 quid on the truck I need to finish loading it. I had had plans of mowing the lawn so left a spot in the truck for the mower and a bunch of other crap that would go on top of it. It was now 1030PM. It took awhile to load everything and clean up the house in case someone wanted to see it, even if it was still covered with spackle. By 1230AM I was on the road. At this point I had been up 19 hours. The trip went well for the first few hours. The only problem being that i was driving a truck and felt like I was moving on molasses. I was trying with all my power to get there on time but at times felt like I was about to fall asleep at the wheel. While I wanted to be at the birth more than anything, I also didn't want to be dead. I tried to stop more frequently than I usually do and drink sugar and caffeine. THis strategy worked pretty well except that not only was I getting really tired behind the wheel, I had to pee alot. As I side note, I will never forget the tone in Keira's voice pre- and post-epidural. Words cannot capture the change, it was very sweet. I keep getting updates on the labor: 5cm, still 5 cm, still 5cm. At this point I think I've got a chance, she's stalled. I was torn because stalling gave me a better chance to make it, but severe stalling could lead to C-section which Keira really did not want. Anywho, I though my odds were improving. Then, she tells me they are going to try to help things along with pitocin. Damn biomedical science! Damn you to hell! I am now in New Jersey. Our usual route takes us through the Garden state parkway. I could not for the life of me remember if commercial trucks we allowed. It was also starting to get to be rush hour so I opted for the 287 which is a much longer way around New York. It was now 7AM and right when I thought I had beaten the fatigue, I would need to take a quick break. I took one break and thought it would be a quick on and off. It was not, I was soooo pissed than I didn't feel the need to stop anymore and forged on. I got an update, 7cm. At this point I was about 3 hours away. I was praying that she would be a below average woman and finish dilating at less than 1 cm per hour. I was clinging to that, it was all I had left. Then 20 minutes later, 10cm the baby is coming. I was advised to pull over so that I could experience the miracle of birth via speakerphone. So here I am in what I think was Bloomingdale, New Jersey, sitting in a truck telling my wife how pround I am of her while she delivers our son. While I wasn't able to be there, it was one of the greatest and most exciting moments of my life! I was really happy to be a daddy and happy that Quentin and Keira were okay. That was all that really mattered to me. THe rest of the trip seemed like an eternity. I powered through on pure joy for about 2 hours until I had to make a fatigue stop. I mis-read the sign back to the interstate and went on a goose chase for 20 minutes before making it back on the road. I was so pissed because all I wanted was to see my new son and my wife. My frustration got me the rest of the way. I got to the hospital and, well I had a huge smile and I picked up my son for the first time. It was special and it made the trauma for the previous 36 hours worth it just to see him!

quentin's first photos

obligatory naked baby pics included!

cheesy hospital photos

can be viewed here working on getting some more up and taking lots of new ones!

the story (and boy is it one for the ages)

home from the hospital so i can finally relay the whole crazy story. little quentin certainly has a flair for the dramatic. at 5:00 a.m. jeremy and my mom leave my parents' house in western mass to drive jeremy to the train station in worcester so that he can catch the 7:07 train to boston and be at logan airport by 10:30 for his flight to richmond. after tuesday's crazy false alarm, i woke up wednesday around 7 a.m. with mild contractions every 15-20 minutes. convinced that it was just roo playing with me again i ignored them and waited for them to just go away. and they did. by 11 a.m. i was contraction-free. i figured there was no reason to alarm jeremy - i wanted to make sure he got on the plane to close out things in richmond once and for all. i kept on working, reviewing some documents for work and doing email just like any other day. but then around 6 p.m. the contractions returned with a vengeance. figuring they'd be gone in an hour or two just like the morning edition i tried my best to ignore them despite the ever increasing pain. but by 8:30 p.m. they had not gone away. i decided to nonchalantly text message jeremy to have him call me. i didn't want to alarm him and send him into a frantic drive home with a half-packed rental moving truck. i was CONVINCED it was just another roo prank, though a little worried because these contractions were the worst pain i had ever experienced in my life. we decided i should call the 24-hour on-call hotline for my boston doctor and see what they thought i should do. i called and spoke to the on-call physician. she said it could be early labor, but likely it was another false alarm. either way she wanted me to get checked out, but agreed that is was silly to drive all the way back to boston only to have it be another false alarm. she encouraged me to go to a hospital here to find out. that way if it was another roo joke we could be back home in 20 minutes. or if it was the real deal early labor, we could pack up and head for boston since labor usually takes a while for 1st time mommies. seemed like a pretty solid plan. the bag was still packed from the day before, though i hadn't had time to update its contents, pack up the finally correct "roo" bag, or do any of the other things i wanted to quickly check off my list. i didn't think it mattered anyway, i was sure i'd be coming right back home anyway. i got up to go grab my stuff and my mom and whoooooooosh. there it was. the big rush of water. guess my water finally broke. maybe it was time afterall. mom and i drove to mercy hospital in springfield, which ironically some random lady in babies r us told us was way better than the other hospitals in the area should roo want out in western mass. guess we needed that advice after all. after explaining the whole richmond/boston move and explaining why i was in springfield instead of either richmond or boston to like 6 different people, we got on with the same routine as the day before. nitrozine test, looking for ferning, etc. first test on wednesday - both negative. no explanation for the continued watery mucus. we'd repeat the test again in an hour. been down this road before! they did look to see how far dilated i was - 2 centimeters. but i could have been that way for days and not known it since mass general hadn't checked on tuesday. contractions continued this whole time, so i spent the hour staring at the water spots on the hospital triage room ceiling. an hour later, they ran both tests again. again both tests negative. the nurse had the on-call midwife come in to check me out. i was suddenly 4+ centimeters and in active labor. well how bout that. i have no clue when my water actually broke, or why it never showed on any of the tests they ran. i continue to be an enigma. there was probably not enough time to get me to boston so they got me admitted to the hospital there. i called jeremy and we tried to figure out what to do. at that point (11 p.m.) he was in richmond, in a half-packed house, with only a half-packed moving truck to drive. he had been up since 4 something in the morning and it would be an 8 hour drive at a minimum. even if he left immediately there was a high likelihood he wouldn't make it back in time. but we decided, this was roo, our first born. he had to at least try. he finished up a couple of quick things and got on the road by 12:30. i got set up in my room while he got on the road. i had already progressed to 5 centimeters so it was epidural time. life was damn good after that. i couldn't feel a thing. the next time they checked me, about 2 hours later i was still 5 centimeters. seems i had stalled after more speedy beginning. bad for labor, but good for jeremy's chances of getting there in time. unfortunately for jer, they started me on the pitocin to get me moving forward again. also unfortunately for him, he was exceedingly tired due to tuesday stress and wednesday's early start and moving activities. he had to stop often to prevent himself from falling asleep behind the wheel of a big yellow moving truck. i was 7 centimeters the next time they checked me and jeremy was in new jersey. he still had an outside shot. but they checked me again less than an hour later and i was 10 centimeters. it was go time. all hope was lost - daddy would not be present for roo's birth. the nurses had him pull of the road and had him on speaker phone in the delivery room so he could hear what was going on and could talk to me. it did not go as fast as we had hoped from there. unfortunately for me this time, my epidural had completely worn off and roo had a massive head to push through. i pushed for two hours before roo finally made it all the way out. (this is where it gets a bit graphic.) fun for me - one of the midwives took lots of excessively graphic photos of this for jeremy. when i finally got roo's massive noggin through, the cord was wrapped around his neck so they snipped it before he was completely out, splattering blood everywhere. quentin joseph rupon was born at 9:20 a.m. weighing in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces and measuring 20 1/4 inches. because of the cord thing, he didn't get to stay in the room with me for too long. they did the apgar tests (poor kid only got a 3 the first time due to the cord issue) and let me see him for about a minute before he was whisked away to the nursery to get started on IV fluids. i had a rough time pushing through the placenta, apparently because i had an extra fun 3-lobed one. the nurses were quite fascinated. i then got stitched from my awesome 2nd degree tears and thought maybe now i could get some rest. nope. that's when the endless parade a nurses, midwives, pediatricians, visitors, etc. started coming through. jeremy finally made it there around 2:30 and got to meet his son for the first time. yeah! more than 60 hours later i have yet to get more than 1 consecutive hour of sleep. there's more to type - adventures in breastfeeding, dangerously low hemoglobin levels for mommy, jeremy bullying a midwife... but i am way too tired to type any more. those can wait til tomorrow. i will also get my mom to email me some pics so i can get them up here asap! even after all of this, i heart roo.

Quentin Joseph Rupon

Roo made his debut today at 9:20AM weighing in at 7 lb 10 oz. Pictures and stories will be forthcoming :) Mommy and baby are both doing very well!