birthday

Saturday morning, Jan 3rd, I woke up feeling terrible and made the executive decision that I would spend the day on the couch. If anyone wanted to join me, that would be fine. Owen took me up on it, and we spent some time watching cartoons. Soon, I realized that I was feeling REALLY bad on 5 minute intervals. Richard hopped in the shower and gathered up our gear. We left Owen in Grandpa's capable hands and headed off to the hospital, assuming that there was a good chance they'd send us back home.

We made our way to the maternity ward (after finding the correct entrance- maybe we should have done a dry run) and they examined me and checked me in around 10:00 AM. The contraction pain was eased by an epidural about 2 hours later, and by 3:00 PM I was ready to push. At 4:24 Fuzzy Baby emerged into the world, accompanied by laughter from the OB and delivery nurse. This was the same OB who I had met with on New Year's Eve for my weekly appointment- I had told her that I wanted to have this baby ASAP since I didn't want to give birth to the world's largest baby. She assured me he was 9 lbs or less. Well, Fuzzy was born, and the OB admitted she was wrong- I had just given birth to the worlds largest baby.

I was able to hold and nurse him for an hour before they did all the weighing and clean up, and Richard and I finalized the name Benjamin George. George is for his Grandpa Kumpf (Owen's middle name, Gerard, is for his Grandpa McManus). Benjamin was one of our final four options, and Owen's favorite.

They measured Ben and he came in at a robust 10 lbs 14 oz, and 22 inches long. They washed him up and then Richard got a chance to hold and admire him. The newborn size diapers were too small for him- the delivery nurse called them "baby thongs" and she had to hunt in the nursery for size 1's.

Grandpa, Owen and Aunt Susie came to visit while Ben was 3 hours old. Owen brought him a balloon, and was very proud to give it to Ben. Owen was very cautious but very curious. He said Ben was larger than he expected. He stayed in the room for only a little while, then took Richard into the hall to talk. He asked lots of questions (as usual). When he realized this was Ben's birthday, Owen said that we needed to make a birthday cake. Richard told Owen they could make one together when we came home. Grandpa and Aunt Susie both enjoyed their time with Ben.