Erin in the nursery, minutes after making her appearance.  I came upstairs with the baby while they stitched Kristin up.  "What in god's green earth am I going to do with a baby for two hours while they take care of Kristin?" I had never really thought about that, assuming that a tired but enthused Kristin would just reach down, grab the baby from the doctor, and begin nursing her.  Time for Plan B!

As it turned out, we got along just fine.  I shot about 2 or 3 dozen pictures of the little kiddo, played little stupid games for my enjoyment, picked her up, rocked her, and shook my head a lot.  Erin was a little worse for wear (much like her mom!) after spending 24 hours trying to get out--see how pointy her head is?  By Tuesday afternoon a little of that cone would just barely show as K pushed, but it was a tease because her head was so elongated and swollen--she was really further up there than we hoped, so she had to come out the side door. They brought Erin out head-first, and I couldn't believe how big she was--my friends Paul and Liz's daughter Abby, who checked in at 4.5 lbs. when she showed up at 8 months was the only newborn I'd ever really seen up close, so when they kept tugging more and more baby out of Kristin I was very surprised.  Kristin was too when they pulled down the drape and brought her around.  No wonder!  You can't quite see it in the pictures, but Erin also had an abrasion on the left side of her head--our doula (labor support person) said she'd never seen a cut like that.  We guessed that must have been the part of her putting on the brakes while Kristin tried to jam her out for 3.5 hours!

Little tiny feet.  Actually, all the staff kept giggling about Erin's "thunder thighs"--they don't see many newborns with such nice plump little legs, evidently.  That extra week (she was due 10/28) certainly had something to do with filling her out a bit more than usual.  The extra week also took a little toll on her skin initially--babies are covered with some kind of white goo while they're in utero, which prevents them from turning into little prunes.  Babies born early are sometimes still covered in it; it starts to fade in the last weeks--in the case of post-term babies, it may be all gone and they can get a little wrinkled and flaky.  

Here's Mom & baby earlier today--Erin's skin has pinked right up and she's now all soft & downy, while Kristin has been making a great recovery too--she's up and walking, and was free of all attached tubes by the afternoon after the operation.  We'll all be coming home on my birthday, whee.  With wife, child, dog, and house, I guess I've completed the set and am a grown-up.  Oh wait, I don't have a real job.  Oh well, I'm 30 anyway (in six minutes, eek).

Dad (urgh, not quite ready for that!) & Erin

 
And finally a closeup of the star of the show.  She's been really good-natured so far; she's been sleeping for 5+ hours at night, doesn't fuss too much, and has been doing great nursing.  Kristin thinks she has my eyes; it looks to me like she has Kristin's mouth.  The rest is up for debate. We've got a dog in this fight, but we think she's a cutie.