Charlie!

Charles Brian Fox

Arrived February 14 at 4:33 p.m.

8 pounds 14 ounces, 21 1/2 inches long

Charlie made his big arrival on Monday afternoon...our very own little cupid! His entry into the world was not a particularly easy one considering my epidural stopped working when I needed it most, he was facing up instead of down, and then he got stuck under my pubic bone. Because he was stuck, he was under some stress and his heartbeat kept dropping to a level that was lower than what the doctor wanted to see. They put a monitor on his head to track how he was doing with each push and he managed to stay in a safe zone. Once he arrived, his head was the craziest thing you've every seen. Every time I look at the picture I am amazed at what a baby's body has to go through to get here and even more amazed at how fast it bounces back. His head looked normal again in less than an hour. The pediatrician didn't give us a time that we could go home today, but he said everything looked great. The nurses said there was no reason to rush off, but Steve and I responded in unison that we were ready to go. I think after all of the discharge paperwork was taken care of, we made it out of there by 10:30.

Charlie is doing well, so far. He is an eating and pooping champ. I know it is early, but he has given us no problems at all. Even with all the extra blood work and his circumcision, he hasn't fussed since he arrived and wasn't allowed to eat. I'm interested to see how it goes tonight. The hospital doesn't allow the baby to sleep in the room with the mother (at least not the formula fed babies), so we haven't actually spent the night with him.

We brought Maddie in first after the delivery without the rest of our anxiously awaiting family. She was not impressed. Charlie cried for the first hour of his life because he was hungry. (He wasn't allowed to eat until they ran a blood sugar test.) Between the crying and the weird setting and her mom being in weird clothes in a weird bed, she barely acknowledged that he was there. She would say his name and point, but the basket of suckers had a lot more to offer. She wanted nothing to do with me, either. Tuesday morning, Jim and Mary Anne brought her by for a bit. It went a little better, but she still seemed confused. That afternoon, she did a little better again. Now that we are home, Maddie has good and bad moments, but she seems really confused. She really wanted to hold him, but when I tried to get her set up she had a complete fit. She wants to hold his bottle and then she wants to bonk him on the head. She is definitely testing her boundaries with both of us. We are trying hard to remember that she just had her world rocked, but I think Steve is quickly beginning to see why I can be in such a bad mood at the end of the day! She is very strong-willed....to put it nicely.

I'm doing as well as can be expected for a lady who just had a 9 pound baby that didn't want to come out. I'm always disappointed in myself when things don't go as planned, so I haven't been happy that I've needed more help in this recovery period. With Maddie, I was able to be up and around on my own pretty much immediately. With Charlie, Steve had to pick me up out of bed for the first night and do a lot more for me than I would like. Luckily, he will be at home for the next 2 weeks. I may be able to drag my own feet onto the bed now, but I would not be able to deal with Maddie on my own. I guess one good thing about my stubbornness in accepting help is that I did not want to have a C-section. I knew the recovery would be a lot worse, so when the doctor was beginning to talk about that as a likely option I willed myself to get Charlie out on my own. It worked!

The final countdown....39 weeks done, 3 hours before induction

I told you this picture would blow your mind! It is no wonder that he screamed every time someone touched it in his first 12 hours. It still has a bruise, but it doesn't seem to cause him much pain.

Baby Cha-Cha's milk. Here she looks helpful. Really, she likes to put it in his mouth and then pull it out to see what he will do.

Snug as a bug

I bought a doughnut cushion to ease my sitting situation. Maddie thinks it is a great toy and sometimes drink carrier. Notice that she isn't wearing pants. She NEVER wants to wear pants.