GET EXCITED!   You can now stay updated on Baby Brooks’s life at www.thekentobeans.blogspot.com

 I’ve posted it on the other site as well, but let me say once again how grateful I am to Chad Sellers for setting up and hosting www.bf2k7.com.  It’s been so fun and I look forward to more adventures on our new site!

I didn’t post anything over the weekend because I was too busy being consumed with maternal guilt.  When we took Brooks to his pediatrician’s appointment Saturday morning, we discovered we had been starving him.  (Ah– THAT explains the crying jags that were so different from his first 24 hours.)   He had dropped from a birth weight of 8 lbs all the way down to 6 lbs 12 oz, which was understandably alarming.  We were sent home with instructions for supplementing with formula through syringe feeding every 2 hours.  As soon as we got the first dose of formula in him, he absolutely became the most quiet, calm baby again.  It’s been so nice.  And even nicer is that we just had our follow-up appointment this morning and he already is back up to 7 lbs 10 oz.  Hooray!

So now that I’m not completely anxious about his health, let’s check out some Baboo pics…

His first visitors were Gen, Drew, and Ethan “Thor” Sogn who brought us a scrumptious lasagna dinner on our first night back.  Check out Ethan eyeing little Brooks here.  I’m sure Brooks is also eyeing Ethan’s awesome Cookie Monster suit but it’s hard to tell for sure.

And here we have Grandma (Seth’s mom) and Seth checking out the Brookster.  Lots of checking out going on these days.

Last night, Kathy and Joel brought us a warm and hearty dinner of chicken and dumplings.  So yummy!

And finally, here’s our little 7 lb 10 oz boy now:

Seth found out yesterday that when his department chair sent out an email to the entire school about Brooks’s arrival, he for some unknown reason concluded the paragraph of stats (including correct full name) by saying “Mom, Dad, and LITTLE ANDY are doing fine.”  And seriously– we just got a really sweet welcome baby card in the mail with a message for “Little Andy.”   How crazy is this?  I didn’t realize I gave birth to Little Andy!

Speaking of the birth of the child I did have (BROOKS), I thought I’d provide a quick sketch of our hospital experience for the so-inclined.  I will not be offended if you stop reading now, although it’s not going to be gross or anything! 

I really meant to update the blog one last time before going to the hospital because the story actually took one more turn after my post about the induction getting put off until 6 AM Tuesday due to lack of beds.   It turns out that BROOKS really wanted to come on the 15th so he decided to get things jumpstarted himself.  I started having contractions around 1 AM so we ended up getting to go to the hospital before 6 after all.   We got there about 3:30 and while many of the rooms had cleared, they had not been cleaned yet.   Apparently this week has been crazy for births here.

Anyway, here’s the scoop:   I ended up getting an IV and pitocin around 5 AM even though the contractions had started already.   Nothing was too bad for awhile…but then I started feeling what thankfully was the only real pain of the day.  I probably had about 1.5-2 hours of yucky contractions made worse by the fact that they felt very much like they were in my back.  Thankfully (and miraculously), when the doctor checked me around 8:30, I had progressed enough to get an epidural.  The anesthesiologist (whose name–seriously–was Dr. Payne) was already on the floor and I was getting me some drugs by 9 AM.  After that, I felt just fine and was unaware of any contractions.  By 1:45, I was 9 cm dilated and we could get on with things.  I ended up pushing for about an hour and 45 minutes and there he was!  (BROOKS)   The whole experience was really so much better than I feared and I am so thankful that it went smoothly.  

Later that evening, we got transferred over to the Maternal Child wing where we stayed until yesterday just after noon.  We took advantage of the nursery but also spent some time hanging out with BROOKS.   He was so amazingly quiet the first 24 hours that this recent discovery of lungs is probably more stressful than it would have been if he’d come out crying!    So we’re off on this adventure called parenthood, already sleep-deprived and constantly confused by what to try next.  Only 18 more years to go!

Thanks so much for all the well-wishes and prayers!

We just got home from the hospital…took us almost an hour because we’re having our first big snow:

Anyway, he’s starting to squirm in his sleep so I should probably attend to my new duties (internet no longer can take precedence!!)  Just wanted to post a few pics.  More narrative to come later! 

Brooks Andrew Kenton arrived this afternoon at 4:31 PM ET

21.5 inches

8 lbs

Mother and son are doing great! Pictures and further updates forthcoming, so for now imagine that he looks like this:

So… around 9:40 or so as we’re getting ready to pack everything up, the hospital calls to tell me that things have gotten crazy busy and there are no beds.  They tell me they’ll re-evaluate at midnight.  Just talked to them and still no beds.  So we’re now arriving at Labor&Delivery at 6 AM.  So much for the overnight plan!  Oh well.

We just got back from the doctor.  Things had progressed enough that he didn’t question proceeding with induction, although he still seems to think it could be a long process.  So, unless something happens on its own in the next 10 hours (and clearly THAT is likely with our track record!), we will check into the hospital late tonight for this whole adventure to start. 

Geoff will post birth info on this site as soon as he can after we have news. 

I’m pretty much a big wimp who has never been a patient in a hospital so the fact that there is now a DATE and TIME is making me a bit nervous.  Please excuse the blatant neediness, but any positive thoughts would be gratefully appreciated.  This prenatal blogging journey has been so fun and I am ever thankful to you for humoring me in your reading of my thoughts.  

Lovies to each of you!  And if anyone has any suggestions on what to actually DO with a baby, let me know.  We have no idea…. 

I’ve gotten emails this morning from each of our fathers saying they think today is the day.  In that case, it’s good that Grammie brought little Baboo his own bag so he’s ready to go.  Seth models it here….it’s a bit small for his shoulders!

When I was at my last doctor’s appointment, I asked the doctor if I should do jumping jacks.  He suggested that I “just watch the games.”  I really think I’ve watched more football games on TV in the last week or two than I ever have before.  And it’s actually been kinda fun!  I think Seth gets annoyed with me because, even though I can remember minute details of the personal lives of others, I can’t get all the positions straight.  I’m working on it, though.   Anyway, I generally root for the underdog and really wanted the Jaguars to win (sorry, Big D and Kathy).  Apparently I have about as much pull with them as I do with Baboo so I’m sorry that your season is over, Uncle Fred and Aunt Sylvia.

We received a fabulous present the other day from Seth’s brother, Matthew: SIX kinds of cheese (plus a beef stick!) from his recent trip to Wisconsin!  The Green Bay game put us in the mood to eat some of that so we ended up having nachos for dinner made with a mix of the Colby and the “Mousehouse Jack.”  Mmm….nachos.   And we tossed my preference for homemade treats aside and made Seth a yellow box cake for snacking.  As Sheils pointed out, “cake mixes are SO much better than they used to be.”  I must admit that the golden fluffiness was pretty darn good.

I bet you all now wish Baboo would show up as much as we do so you can stop hearing about food and football!! 

You all know that, in my quest to soak in lots of details about people, I often turn to the lives of celebrities.  It’s not that I really care about most, if any, of these people, but it does allow me to keep my mind sharp with new knowledge. 

 I see this morning that practically every celebrity birth happened in the last couple of days.  Apparently there are still competing stories about whether Christina Aguilera has had her baby, but people.com’s 3 top stories are the births of babies to Nicole Richie, Courtney Thorne-Smith, and David Alan Grier.  Toni Collette had hers on Wed.  I am SO glad to see that everyone else’s children have decided to come out and play. 

Out of the 27 guesses made by you all on the BabooBirth poll, I do believe the latest guess is for today, the 12th.  Carrie K– you’re the only one left who can win the cruise (as Big D seems to think was the prize).  I won’t even point out that your precious son–due AFTER Baboo–has been here for 10 days!