mommy and daddy took me to see the doctor today.  normally, the doc would have come to see me in the hospital, but since we got outta that place so quickly, we went to see him in his office instead.  he says that i look great!

i weigh 7 pounds 4 ounces and am 20.25 inches long.  that’s 1/4 pound lighter and 3/4 inch shorter than when i was born!  what?!  i am shrinking!  but i learned that it’s normal for me to lose weight in the first week and to shrink in length as my head finds its normal shape.  i am 26 %ile for weight and 58 %ile for length.

when the nurse did my bilirubin test in the hospital, she said that i was at low to medium risk for jaundice.  so to make sure i poop out all the bilirubin, mommy and daddy have been supplementing my feedings with a tiny bit (10-15mL) of formula to make sure i am eating enough.  today, the doctor said that i don’t need formula anymore now that mommy has enough milk for me.  yay!  daddy is especially happy because now he doesn’t have to get up every two hours to feed me a bottle.  double yay for him!

our first night at home was a little bit rough.  aside from eating constantly, i had a hard time sleeping between feedings because i have a stuffy nose.  daddy went out at 4am to buy me a humidifier to help me breathe.  i didn’t think the humidifier store would be open in the middle of the night, but he found one for me.  yay daddy!

so we made it through the night, and then i got to meet another family member — my brother!  he had been at a sleepover at his friend’s house, but he came home this morning.  he sort of looks like me — we both have big ears, long legs, brown eyes, and we’re both very hairy.  yes, i am frighteningly hairy.  auntie barbara says my fur is called lanugo and that it will fall off by itself.  mommy says that if it doesn’t, she is going to shave me.

i think my brother’s name is “koda-leave-it”.  that’s what mommy and daddy call him.  he mostly just sniffs me, but when nobody is looking he licks my face.  bleccch!

in addition to my furry brother, i had lots of visitors and met some new people today.  i am so loved!  obviously, i know mommy loves me, but she keeps telling me over and over again.  she keeps saying that she never wants me to grow up so that she can always take care of me and protect me.  daddy wishes i would grow up faster and can’t wait for me to be potty trained already.

i’m only 1 day old, and i’m already at home!  the nurses said that we would normally be in the hospital for another day or two, but mommy really missed her comfy bed and daddy missed his big tv.  daddy tried to watch his downloaded shows remotely from the hospital, but he wasn’t able to.  when we got home he figured out that there had been a power outage at home and the media server needed a hard reboot.

before we could go home, the nurses gave me a long list of things to do and tests to take.  sheesh, if i had known, i would’ve studied!  i had a bilirubin test, hearing screen (which i failed a few times because daddy’s laptop was interfering with the test equipment!), PKU test, hep B shot, and most importantly… i had to get a name.

after some negotiation, mommy and daddy decided to call me “kyden”.  and my middle initial is q.  what does it stand for?  nothing.   just q.  daddy says i’m going to be teased relentlessly when i grow up.  mommy thinks i’ll be the coolest kid in town.  (daddy doesn’t know, but mommy had already made my birth announcements with my name:  “kyden q.” — she just had to jedi mind trick daddy into liking it :))

on october 1, 2009 at 10:42am, i made my grand entrance into the world!  i had one hand raised, waving “hello world!  here i am!”

mommy was thrilled to finally get to hold me and so happy to see that i had 10 fingers 🙂  (she never got to see my fingers in the ultrasounds because i was always clenching my fists.)

daddy tried to cut my umbilical cord, but mommy moved just as he was snipping, so he really just nicked the cord with the first attempt.  ha!

i weighed in at 7 pounds, 8 ounces, and measured 21 inches long.  i have mommy’s button nose and long fingers.  i have daddy’s “lucky” earlobes and strong chin.  i hope i didn’t get those dreaded quon eyebrows!

it’s so bright out here, so i don’t like to open my eyes much — and when i do, i only open one at a time.  if you look closely at the photo of mommy and daddy holding me, you’ll see what i mean.  i wonder why everyone is calling me a flirt 😉

mommy and daddy took their time packing up the car and getting to the hospital.  but once we got there, things happened so fast!

1:30am – we arrived at good samaritan hospital and checked in.  in the labor and delivery room, the nurse was asking lots of questions and filling out forms.  every 4 minutes, there would be a long pause because mommy couldn’t think or speak during the contractions.  mommy had said all along that she was going to try to be tough and not get any drugs, but when the nurse asked if she wanted an epidural, mommy answered very matter-of-factly, “umm, yeah.  i think so.”  so much for being a tough chick.

3:00am – by this time, the epidural was in place.  daddy said that the contractions looked so painful that he thought he needed an epidural too!  he’s so funny.  mommy felt so much better after getting the drugs, but i guess they made me sleepy because not much happened during the next 3 hours.

6:00am – the nurse gave mommy pitocin to help move things along.

9:20am – i was sooo ready to get outta there.  i braced my feet against mommy’s sternum and i started to push my way out.  mommy also started pushing to help me out — literally.  i came out in about 90 minutes!  daddy stayed conscious the entire time.  we are so proud of him! 🙂

i know that y’all are not expecting me for another two weeks, but i can’t wait to meet everyone!  (did i really just say “y’all”?!  i must be eavesdropping on too many of mommy’s conference calls with her coworkers in the south.)  today was mommy’s last day of work before starting maternity leave.  she wanted a couple of weeks to put the finishing touches on my room, complete some projects around the house, and just rest.  rest?  ha!  fuhgedaboutit.  now that she’s done with work, i think it’s time.

mommy has been having contractions since last night and they continued throughout the day today.  still, she is in denial.  today, she did some touch-up painting in the living room, joined all her conference calls, and swears that the contractions are fake.  at least she finally packed her hospital bag after two weeks of hearing daddy bug her about it.

by the time daddy got home from work, mommy’s contractions were so strong that she would curl up in a ball and grimace in pain.  daddy was getting anxious and wanted to go to the hospital, but mommy refused.  she wanted to wear tight jeans and cross her legs so that i wouldn’t come out until the weekend (3 days away) 😛  but the contractions kept coming stronger and closer together, so daddy started timing them.  good thing he has an iphone — there’s an app for that!

just before midnight, daddy finally convinced mommy that it was time.