Baby Hank Would Say Hi, But He Can't Talk Yet

Name: Hank Michael Lemmon
Born: Friday, August 19, 2011 @ 9:44am (8 days overdue!!)
Height: 21 inches
Weight: 9 lbs, 5 oz
Labor: appx 11 hrs


Because he was so overdue, we were scheduled to induce labor on Saturday morning, but apparently no one tells Hank what to do, and he just had to come into the world on his own terms. He was born with a full head of hair, so long that the doctor was playing with it and shaping it into a mohawk while waiting for me to finish pushing him out.

I wasn't going to use any drugs, but then I went into labor and changed my mind, so I got an epidural. Getting the epidural was probably the most painful thing I've ever experienced, but afterwards, you get to be on the lovely, lovely lidocaine. I spent the rest of my time before pushing Hank out alternating between cracking jokes and being unconscious.

We were discharged from the hospital around 4pm Saturday, after a long day, long night, and long second day of not sleeping much because Hank didn't sleep much while we were in the hospital. The food at Ashland Community Hospital, by the way, is delicious. Hands down, the best part of being pregnant was the hospital food. Saturday night, Brian's parents came down from Heppner (northeastern Oregon, about 8-9 hours' drive away) and took care of Hank for a few hours while Brian and I caught a quick, much-needed nap. It's been great having them here to help us out until Monday morning. Sometimes you don't realize how badly you needed a nap until after you've woken up from it.

So now, Hank's three (almost four!) days old. He's sleeping in 4-6 hour stretches, eating whenever he isn't asleep like a starved barracuda, and exercising those healthy lungs whenever we try to change his diapers (often). He's already holding his head up and turning it from side to side by himself! He spends more and more time with his eyes open staring at things with a confused look on his face every day. He developed a mild jaundice this afternoon, but that should clear up soon.

Every time Hank screams, it terrifies the cat, who runs and hides like the brave hunter that he is. Tiger is jealous of the baby getting all the attention, so he's been whining a lot and following us around, hoping for some belly rubs. We try to pay attention to him when we can, but it's just not as much as he's used to.

Verdict: Hank is cute. I think we'll probably keep him.



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