Thursday, June 9, 2011

More from the hospital

Well, when you have a newborn, time has a funny way of just morphing into one big day and it's easy to lose track of.  We can't believe that Elliot has already been here with us for a whole week!


Here we are in the labor and delivery room, less than half an hour after he was born.

Everything about our two children has been different so far, and labor and delivery were no different.  Heck, for this one just going into labor on my own was different!  I was so scared of being the woman who cried, "Labor!" only to get to the hospital and be sent home...but luckily that never happened.

When we saw him, we both commented on how small he was.  We were sure that he was significantly smaller than Kendra had been (who came in at 8lbs 8oz).  In fact, one of the reasons I had worked so hard to stay in shape and not put on too much weight was because she had been so big.  I figured less weight meant smaller baby, so if putting on 60 pounds gave us and 8lb 8oz baby, only 26 would mean like...


9lb 2oz.

Dang.  That seems like a pretty big baby!  I guess we are just so used to toddler Kendra!  We think he definitely looks like a boy.  A Richardson (Grant's maternal grandparents) boy, actually (because Danielle--Grant's cousin for those of you who don't know her--there has been a consensus that he looks remarkably like your last two boys).

Grant accompanied our new baby boy to the nursery for his going-overs and took lots of pictures.  I had more than one nurse report to me that they don't often see new fathers quite as enthusiastic as Grant.  I love that about him.



After giving birth the first time, I realized something that I found a little unbalanced.  A great deal of attention is given to how difficult birth is for the mother...but after seeing 2 newborns now, I'm even more convinced that it's just as difficult and painful for the baby, too.  I think this picture captures pretty well just how wiped out we both were.


I guess even "only" 8 and a half hours of labor (versus 25) is pretty draining.

But he's worth it.





It's funny...we didn't realize how incomplete our family was until he arrived.  He's only been here a week and in sometimes it's still hard to believe (yesterday I walked into the bedroom totally surprised to see him in the bassinet because I was used to seeing it empty) but other times...it's like he's been with us forever.

6 comments:

Danielle said...

Ha ha! He looks like (my) Grant cuz he's chunky. :) Seriously, he's a beautiful baby. A couple of those last pictures of him in the cap, I see a lot of Kendra in him. Something about those kissable lips of his.

And did you make that little hat? Or is your hospital just awesome? Very cute!

When Grant was born Caleb and I were totally surprised when he weighed in at 9 lb 7 oz because we thought he looked smaller. Of course, the midwife said something along the lines of "oh no, he looks big." Your perspective is probably a lot different when you're not seeing newborns on a regular basis like doctors/midwives. Newborns always seem tiny, even when they are huge. :)

Congrats, woman! You did good!

Belkycita said...

Oh wow! big baby boy!!!
He is just adorable though.
I am amazed though the difference between the two babies.
Congratulations, a new baby is always so refreshing :-)

Lily said...

Oh, Ashley, I am SO happy for you! Elliot is precious, and I am so happy that you two are doing so well. I think you are right about the baby being wiped out by labor--that photo is adorable! And kudos to Grant for impressing the nurses with his fatherly enthusiasm. My heart is happy for your beautiful family!

Kristina said...

And I thought Alivia had cheeks! Actually his pictures remind me somewhat of Alivia's newborn pictures. That is totally the Richardson mouth right their. Alivia's lower lip / chin tucked in just like that! Seriously, go find her newborn picture! Amazing! Everyone says that Simeon looks so much like Seth but as a newborn we thought he was such a little Hamilton child. I always thought Alivia favored Seth's family a little more. Anyway, Beautiful little boy! I haven't had the chance to tell you yet but we are so so so happy and excited for you! We're glad that things went well and that you have an adorable new addition to your family. Can't wait to meet him!

Finally Simeon has another boy cousin!

Kathleen said...

What a cute boy!!! You are lucky to have two wonderful men in your home!!!

Lybi said...

Yea! Thanks for the pictures! Such a sweetie. My favorite one is of the 2 of you asleep. You are amazing to be blogging again already.