He's Here! (edited in red because I forgot stuff)

I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long for news...I was waiting till I had the pictures downloaded off the camera (we have a new thingy for pictures and I don't know how to use it, so I had to wait for help).

Without further delay, here's our newest family member:

Quinn Reuel Stevenson Kortan
Born May 5, 2009 at 8:03 p.m.
8 pounds 10 ounces, 20 inches

The meaning of Stevenson is pretty obvious. Quinn Reuel means "wise and strong friend of God." Reuel is an ancient Hebrew name that comes from the same word as Ruth, which is my mom's middle name. (It's also the name of at least one of the fathers of the Church of Christ, and my nerdiest friends will recognize it as one of the Rs in JRR Tolkien's name.)

I'm having trouble getting a space between the paragraphs and it's driving me nuts.

Here's how it went down for those of you who are interested in my agony: The doctor was busy with a procedure when we arrived at the hospital, so they didn't actually start the induction till we'd twiddled our thumbs for almost 2 1/2 hours. Then 4 hours later, we discovered the first round of medicine didn't do much, so we had to wait another 4 hours to find out the second dose didn't do much. We were pretty freakin' bored and irritated by the time anything started to happen (and the fact that I'd only gotten about 3 hours of sleep the night before didn't help). The doctor broke my water at about 5:40 (I was at 3 cm), and I got in the Jacuzzi tub a few minutes later--I was in hard labor by around 6 p.m. and at 7 cm before 7 p.m. when I got out of the tub. The doctor had gone home for dinner, but the nurses called him when they realized I'd gone from 7 cm to 8 cm in about 5 minutes. He told them to call when I got to 10, which wasn't much later. At that point I was pretty much incoherent with the pain and I informed them that I was pushing no matter what anyone thought about it. I only got a few seconds of rest between contractions, and I felt like I was giving birth to a speeding freight train (with sharpened wheels). I have no idea how long I pushed, but thank goodness it wasn't 2 1/2 hours like last time--it hurt so much worse this time that I would have passed out if it had lasted much longer. (The doctor lives 5 minutes away from the hospital, but he only got there in time for the last 3 or 4 pushes.) I was screaming my fool head off for the last hour or so of labor--probably did permanent damage to Steve's hearing. I'll never make fun of actresses for over-acting in labor scenes again--if I had been on a movie set, the director would have told me to take it down about 10 notches. The nurses are lucky I didn't rip their faces off for annoying me with all of their "breathe, breathe, don't let the pain take over" crap. If I hadn't been busy getting ripped in half by a freight train, I would have told them that since I'm capable of screaming the place down, I must be getting some air into my lungs. The end of the story makes it all worth it, though. We have a beautiful, robust, precious, sweet, healthy, perfect baby boy who we love. And I'm miraculously still able to walk.

Here he is in car seat ready to come home from the hospital

At home with Daddy and his adoring big brother

Big brother and baby brother in their matching pajammies with Grammie and Granddaddy

After his first bath

After church on Mother's Day with 4 generations (4 1/2 days old)

Feeling a little snuggly

His hair isn't nearly this red in person, but it might have a bit of red in it

Sweet little baby face

Quinn is a sweet, easy-going baby--only cries when he needs something and actually gets the concept of sleeping at (if not through the) night. He's snuggly and adorable and alert, and he's already trying to smile and hold his head up.

Bennett loves him so much! In fact, the only problem we're having with him is keeping him from smothering the baby with affection. All he wants to do is hold and kiss "baby bwrother." It's so sweet and we're so proud of him.

Quinn is begging for his lunch, so I have to go. Sorry for keeping you waiting so long!