Busy fall

After a few false alarms, I went into the hospital October 3 for a scheduled c-section. Seriously, if one has to have a c-section, that's the way to do it. I was well-rested, I didn't have to go in at an obscene hour, and it was over so quickly. Monte and I had time to get before pictures, he was able to run and get snacks, I worked on Sudoku puzzles, and it was just a relaxing morning before the surgery.

Of course, as with any surgery, there was concern about the procedure. I hate needles and knives, so I was not looking forward to getting poked and sliced open. But the nurses and my doctor and the anesthesiologist were so nice and reassuring. I walked into the OR at 11:40, and a mere 25 minutes later, Quentin made his entrance into the world.

He was the goopiest baby I've had, and also the biggest, weighing in at 9 lbs 2 oz. He was 22 inches long, with a 15 inch head circumference. I am so thankful for c-sections. Have I mentioned that before?

A nurse brought him to me fairly quickly so that I could kiss him, and then, after a few more tests and a little wipe-down, she brought him back so I could hold him. He was only half an hour old - I've never been able to hold my babies that soon after birth. He stayed with me as I was wheeled into recovery (I have no idea where Monte was), and then he was placed in the bassinet, in the recovery room with me! I was able to start nursing him at an hour old, which is almost unheard of with c-sections.

I was so worried that I wouldn't have a great birth story with this one, since it was lacking the elements of surprise I'd had with the other two. But I wouldn't have wanted this one any other way. It was perfect, and so is Quentin Matthew Herford.

See how relaxed we are?



Proud parents


Loving siblings


Super cute baby

My preschooler

Today was Isaac's first day of preschool! It was only an hour long today, instead of the full 2.5 hours, just to get kids warmed up to the idea. One parent was allowed to stay, since both parents would have made the room too crowded and overwhelmed the kids. So Monte was the one who took him.

Monte said that Isaac did really well - he sat and listened when he was supposed to, he got along with the other kids, and seemed interested in everything around him. He even talked to the girl in the class :)

So here are some pictures of my big boy:







About the only person who was not excited for Isaac to go to school today was Audrey. She cried as Monte and Isaac pulled out of the drive, and then continued to cry as she wandered around the house. She finally gave up searching for him, crawled into bed, and promptly fell asleep.

And just because she's so cute and silly, here's a picture of her today:

Preschool orientation

Tonight, Monte and I attended the parents' orientation for Isaac's preschool. We received the handbook, turned in the multitude of required forms, and met the teacher and some of the other parents. We are really excited about him starting school next week, and tonight's meeting really confirmed that this school would be a good fit for him.

There will be 11 kids in his class, 10 of them being boys. I feel so sorry for the girl and the teacher! But Isaac will love having boys to play with.

Pictures!!!

Four weeks later, I have my CD! I picked them up at my appointment tonight. The problem with waiting this long to get them is that I have no recollection of what most of the pics are. There are some goofy angles. So I'm just sharing the recognizable ones, since I'm sure you don't really care about the size and configuration of the umbilical cord.

A lovely profile shot:

Thumb in its mouth!

Long legs:

Little foot:

And of course, the super cute face!

I love odd numbers!

Yesterday was my ultrasound, so I was able to see pictures of my beautiful baby! Everything looks really good, and the baby is big. It weighs 1 lb 2oz right now, which is larger than Isaac and Audrey were at this age.

The baby is measuring 12 days bigger than expected, so there was a lot of talk about moving the expected due date (October 16) up a couple of weeks. Eventually, the doc decided that we'd leave the due date as is, but she'd be more flexible in scheduling the c-section (she normally will not do it more than 10 days ahead of the due date). Considering my history of early big babies, we decided that October 3 was a reasonable date. So I finally have a baby born on an odd date! Still in an even month and year, but at least the date is odd! That's assuming that this baby waits until the scheduled time to arrive.

The office has the 4D machine now, so we have silly putty pictures of the baby. Usually, Monte and I have been able to guess the sex based on different features, and we thought it'd be even easier with the 4D, but we can't tell. Our guts are still telling us BOY, but we're not confident enough in that to give up the search for a girl name.

I'd post pictures, but I forgot to get the CD from the ultrasound tech. I'll have to stop in next week and pick that up.