He's Here!

That's right folks, our baby girl is a baby boy. And we are loving him!

Quinn Randall Peterson was born Sunday, January 17 at 11:56 a.m.

8 lb, 5 oz 20.5 inches

We went to the hospital Saturday evening for induction. Of course I hadn't slept much the night before and even though I didn't start feeling contractions until 4:00 a.m., I didn't get much sleep that night either. After pain, puking and passing out, by 8:30 I had my epidural (probably the best thing ever invented) and an hour and a half later I had diliated 4 more centimeters and was ready to push. Then things got tricky. They started pitocin to get regular contractions for pushing, but the baby--she at this point--didn't like it and the heart rate dropped. Troy got really worried but he hid it very well. Once they gave me oxygen his heart rate immediately recovered and I was so tired that I didn't think it was a big deal at all.

Once they had me start pushing, it became clear that this baby wasn't going to get here without help, so the midwife they originally called in to deliver attached the little suction thing to help get him through my pelvis. I thought it was simply a matter of me just not knowing how to push, but he was really stuck. No matter how hard she pulled there was no movement (keep in mind that I'm pretty oblivious to all this as it's happening). So they called in the actual doctor (hooray) and his yanking (that sounds so scary) didn't do much either. Troy said that at this point he and everyone else in the room was sure we were headed to the OR for a c-section, but they decided to give the forceps a try. Once the doctor figured out how to use them (they hardly are used at all anymore), our baby finally squeezed his way into our family.

Learning we had a boy really wasn't a shock. At our appointment a couple weeks before the doctor wasn't sure he was seeing a girl, but because he's not the ultrasound pro, couldn't say for sure. So we spent the next week and a half worried that we had an intersex baby on our hands. Let me tell you, it was a rough time. So when they said we had a boy, Troy and I weren't upset at all. Sure, we had pink clothes, but that is easy to handle.

I was then wheeled off to the OR to get stitched up and Daddy staying with the baby as they did all the regular testing. Quinn even got an x-ray to make sure his head wasn't damaged from the forceps delivery.

The worst part of the whole thing was waking up from the stitch-up. Between the epidural, general anesthesia, and having just delivered an 8 pound baby, I was miserable. The shaking was the worst, then the pressure from the swelling, add all that to running on seven hours of sleep in the last 54 hours and I was not in good shape. I remember being so overwhelmed by it all that I actually thought, "I know lots of people that want babies. I should just give this one to them." How awful of me! Now that it's over I think it's funny. I'm sure that's pretty normal because of all you've been through, but at the time, I really considered doing it. Thank goodness I didn't. He's bruised and a little yellow, but for the most part he's healthy and very happy.

I'm sure I'll have much more to say on the subject later, but for now, enjoy these pics of our little boy!

"Tanning" to keep jaundice at bay.

His standard "I'm full so leave me alone" look.

Making faces like his daddy.

We were sure he'd have obviously blue eyes, but they are VERY dark. It will be interesting to see what happens.