one minor hiccup

here are the promised pictures that round out our last few days in the hospital:

my mom came to watch the boys at our place so that auntie bonnie could come meet asher

papa al came by thursday afternoon, all decked out in his hip new flannel

derek and beth came down on wednesday night, brought me red robin, and met their new nephew

he was pretty tired by the end of the day

...and annie's feet were a little swollen from all the fluids. there is a reason we call her p diddy after she gives birth. (hint: the p is for puffy)

this morning started out pretty well...

until our fantastic pediatrician dr. metsch told us that his bilirubin levels were borderline and that we were going to have to stick around to do a new test at 2pm.

after a visit from my mom in the morning, we spent rest of the morning and early afternoon just hanging in the room, trying to get asher some rays to help him with the jaundice. it was tough to be patient, but it made for some great pictures


please note the aforementioned hair on the shoulder

as we waited, my mind began to play progressively worse case scenario generally revolving around us being separated from asher when we left the hospital and he had to stay there. but dr. metsch called around 330 to set us free, and we were home by dinner time.

the short road home

**i am dreadfully sorry for the completely unacceptable lack of photos. the wifi at the hospital will not allow you to upload, or even to view, blog photos. (no social networking either. what good is the internet without social networking?) i promise that there will be a whole catalog tomorrow.**

our time in the hospital is coming to a speedy and largely uneventful close. although annie's shoulder pain returned with a vengeance yesterday afternoon and evening, she remarked this morning that this has been her best recovery of the three, and i would have to agree with her. we are scheduled to go home tomorrow, fully expecting to subject asher to a baptism of the kind if not brutish fire of his brothers.

this delivery has been by far the most mellow of the three, probably due in large part to the fact that it was the least dramatic as well. between isaac's cleft and ryder's stint in the nicu, asher's constant hiccups and mousy squeaks seem quite tame. we have spent many hours in our room just as a partial family of 3, our visitors having left us to the eternal air flow of the hvac unit and the parade of muffled hallway sounds just outside our oversized door.

all the solitude has been a gift for me as a strong introvert, allowing me space to read anne lamott while cradling him in one arm and time to notice that he is entirely covered in soft, fine hair much like the large leaf of some exotic rain forest plant or james' magically mutated peach. he seems to be able to, accidentally at least, raise only one eyebrow, a skill i am insanely envious of.

given the fact that annie and i both have dimples, i am not sure that it is even genetically possible for our spawn to avoid them, but asher apparently has gotten a double dose, one adorable muscle deformity on each of his munchable little cheeks. his hair is fuller than either isaac's or ryder's was, a medium brown that straightened after his bath and already looks like it is threatening to go blonde for a time at least.

i feel like we have hit a rhythm this third time around, the chaos of the first and second runs informing our expectations and assumptions surrounding the process. while i am sure there will be adjustments when we get home, i imagine our system will equilibrate pretty quickly. while i enjoy the relative structure and predictability of our pattern, i also hope i am able to be aware of the potentials of what my friend ryan calls the new normal.

ASHER HENRY MONTGOMERY

yesterday we were able to welcome our third son, asher henry montgomery, into the family. the day got off to a slightly inauspicious start when we showed up to labor and delivery at the ungodly hour of 5:30am and they told us that our appointment was not until 9:30, not 7:30 as we had been told repeatedly by our OB's office. the delay did give us a chance to run home and see our other boys though, and once we got back to the hospital things got under way.

thumbs up for high fashion

quite unexpectedly, even the doctors and nurses got into the numerical fever (one reason we chose to have asher yesterday is so his birthday would be 1/11/11) going so far as to wait to pull him out until 10:11am. our friend megan said he was probably on mountain time, which meant he was born at 11:11 on 1/11/11. 7lb, 7oz, 19.5 inches long of pure man.

having had two less than easy pregnancies/deliveries in the past, we were on our guard for any potential complications throughout this one. turns out asher wanted to give us a scare, spending a few hours in the nursery with symptoms similar to his brother who spent 10 days in the nicu, but then was able to pull it together and get himself out of there. his reaction in the mean time went from polite...

"may i be excused, please?"

to downright belligerent:

"somebody stop this madness and get me outta here!"

finally settling down into a mellow, yet very alert, rhythm

our typical stream of visitors has been curtailed slightly by new hospital rules, but that didn't keep gaga from coming to meet the little man.

auntie allie says looks like his brothers. actually, everybody says that. nobody compares him to annie or i, they only try to figure out which of his brothers he looks most like.

my mom and dad brought me dinner from my favorite mexican food place and held him until we had to break out the jaws of life to pry him out of their grip

i am pretty excited about him too

it is a very funny idea to think about when my wife is not the one occupying the bed

annie has been true to her form as a natural, nurturing and totally hardcore mother. although the nauseousness has been worse than in the past, her shoulder pain has been far reduced, a fact that we have celebrated greatly since that is typically the worst part.

asher sneezes...a lot. not sure if i missed that the first two times around or if he is just especially sensitive. he also makes a lot of noise. in his sleep, in his waking, pretty much all the time.

his middle name was the middle name of my grandfather who passed away back in august (and the first name of annie's great grandfather.) the last time i was next to a hospital bed was as i knelt beside him to tell him i loved him and that i was going to miss him. i had no idea how huge a whole his absence would leave. i still ache, but hope that in some way asher is able to continue his legacy and gentleness.

asher seems to know what is going home to, eating constantly as if bulking up for football season. that may not be far from the truth. his brothers have a cabbage patch they call baby asher, and they alternate between being very sweet to him and throwing him from the couch in a heap.

the boys talk about him lots, and isaac prayed for him the night before was born. this is more significant due to the fact that isaac's first and only prayer is usually "thank you for shamu." we are pretty sure they will like him.

thanks for all the calls, texts, emails, etc. we are tired, but we are excited to see how he becomes a part of our family.

our graduate

last night we celebrated my favorite! he finished his graduate program at fuller! being that he is a complete introvert, he chose to invite only a few friends and our families for a little dinner celebration.

take one

take two

of course i wanted a group shot (allison, sorry you missed the photo).

"good night!" we kept the kids up way too late!

happy new year!

here comes a new year. we woke up and watched the rose parade, hit the park and then had dinner at my parents. it was my kind of day.

these boys make my days so much fun, exhausting, rewarding, and full of learning. i can't wait for asher to join their team. more good days to come...

new year's eve

we spent new year's eve with the mattingly family, celebrating over happy hour at chevy's. it was great to be friends. we were home by 7:30 and in bed close to 10:30. we're young and hip like that.

almost the end

the last few days of december have been spent preparing for the new year or maybe i should say the new baby. fortunately we were able to fit some fun in here and there.

forts at aunt bonnie's house

always my funny little pistol