Welcome, Brendan! (Or, "Craziest Week Ever")

Brendan Walter Kline Kator
Born May 29, 2009 3:23 pm
5 lbs, 17 inches long

Well, after the last post, things really got interesting! After last Thursday's tests were reassuring, I went to my Friday checkup with an induction scheduled for Sunday evening. Nick went off to school, and Megan and Keeley accompanied me to my appointment. After talking with the doctor, it turned out that the ultrasound measurements we'd had on Tuesday weren't as reassuring as the other tests - baby's head was measuring quite a bit bigger than abdomen, which was an indication that the placenta might not be nourishing as well as it should. After confirming that baby was still breech, my doctor decided against inducing labor and sent us to the hospital for a c-section.

So... Nick headed home from school, and we arrived at the hospital at about 1. I was nervous about having surgery, but the nurses in triage were great, and Dr. Moore (who we'd seen on Wednesday), came in to do the delivery. Nick got to wear a spiffy jumpsuit and hat. By about 3, I was wheeled in, got anesthesia (weird feeling), and Brendan was born at 3:23 pm! His weight was about 3/4 lb more than the ultrasound had estimated, which was awesome, but the pediatricians still took him to the nursery for observation after Nick got to hold him for a little bit. Brendan's first name is a name we chose for its Irish origin and really just because we liked it, and his middle name Walter is after Nick's late Grandpa Gaspard. You can probably figure out where his other middle name of Kline and last name of Kator come from.

We stayed in the hospital until Monday afternoon. The Beaumont nurses were fantastic, and were great in helping me get started with nursing. We're having to do a combination of nursing and pumping with a small amount of supplemental formula, just to make sure he's getting enough to get much bigger.

It's absolutely amazing how quickly we've fallen in love with this little guy - we've loved him for a long time already, but now that he's here, there are things that make him truly endearing as well. When he opens his eyes, he wrinkles up his forehead in the cutest way, and his starting-to-get-hungry cry gets interrupted by snorting - I'm going to try and record this in the next few days.

We've had visitors, most of whom come bearing food (awesome!). Megan and Keeley came over this afternoon - Keeley looks like an Amazonian giant next to her little cousin! Our friend Kati also stopped by this evening - when she left, we had one of our funniest moments at home so far:
Kati - Make sure you cover him during diaper changes...
Me - Oh, he really hasn't done anything like that yet...

I shut the door, and turn to see Aunt Andrea changing Brendan, and Brendan turning himself into a human fountain, shooting over his head and onto the couch. Nice timing, Brendan.

This evening, Brendan and his dad are watching game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Brendan seemed to enjoy the first two games of the series in the hospital. It's been a crazy week, involving letting go of a lot of the things we had imagined would surround the baby's birth, but we are happy and blessed to have him here.