And Beginning

Welcome to Elias James Donovan, who born January 28th, 2010 at 10:31 PM. Weighing in at a measly 7 pounds 15 ounces after my fears of a 12 pound baby were thankfully unfounded. Apparently I was measuring 43 weeks pregnant when I was 39 weeks pregnant not because of a large baby, or too much fluid, but because of a gigantic umbilical cord that was a whopping 2 pounds! The clamp didn't even fit around it. I was admitted to labor and delivery at 8pm with mild and irregular contractions and two and a half hours later was holding my baby. No pain medications, not like there would have been time even if I had wanted them, and I gave birth standing up, like a cow in a field after pushing for twenty minutes. It was very intense, and very cool. Elias did great, and has a bit of facial bruising as a badge of honor of his Bad Ass Birth. He looks just like Hazel when she was born, but with a lot of black hair and darker eyes.

So far he has been even more mellow and sleepy than I think Hazel was, and that's saying a lot. I don't know that his eyes have been open for more than ten minutes total today, and he has only cried twice. He has already been sleeping for five hours at a stretch at night, and I have to wake him up to feed him. He is a great eater and has been working hard on his pacifier and is the jumpiest baby I've ever seen, startling constantly, wether or not there is even a stimulus. Keep it up, kiddo. I hope he is as good of a sleeper as his big sister.

We came home from the hospital today, and Hazel has been having a difficult time. She is very fussy, sensitive and hyper. She has not removed her pacifier from her mouth for even a second, and has not put her "beeko" down. She has been vacillating between clingy and angry with us, curious about the baby and jealous that he has socks. Things will be ironed out in time, but this is not going to be an easy transition and the poor thing is breaking our hearts in the meantime. My mother took this picture of her in the hospital room, paying me a visit. Heartbreaking, no? Especially wearing her big sister cape, and big sister shirt.

We are trying to get her back into her regular schedule as soon as possible, back to normal life. She has been "helping" as much as she can and getting lots of extra attention. Thats really all we can do at this point! Someday she will be happy with her little brother. Unless she is like me, that is... cross your fingers, folks.