Introducing Alexander

We are proud to introduce someone who will figure prominently in this blog in the months and years to come. Alexander Soon-Won Kwon was born Monday, February 5th, at 6:19 pm. I had gone to the hospital the night before for an induction, since we wanted to take advantage of Mom and Dad being here as long as possible. The first twelve hours or so were very slow, but once my waters were broken, things moved very fast. So fast, in fact, that I took everyone by surprise. I had started to feel sick to my stomach after my epidural was topped off, and I spent about an hour lying on my back. Our dear friend Tedra stopped by at the end of her work day, and I managed a feeble hello. The nurse came in to flip me on my side, and as soon as she did, I insisted it was time to push. I had only been four centimeters dilated an hour earlier, so the nurse was not entirely convinced. Still, the intern came in to check, and lo and behold, she told me I was right. She went to get Dr. Redick, the attending, who told me with about twenty or thirty minutes of pushing, we should have a new baby.

Six pushes later, Alex was born.

We had a lovely time holding him while he yowled furiously. Chris cut the cord and was the first to greet Alex by name. Then they took him to the nursery to get weighed and get his eyedrops, and we called Mom and Dad, who were home watching Jonathan. They got excited and wanted to come see the baby, but I didn't feel up to giving directions to the hospital. So they found our phone list and called Tedra, who, needless to say, was kind of surprised to hear I'd had the baby twenty minutes after her visit.

Mom, Dad and Jonathan wound up visiting the next morning. We had carefully choreographed the first introduction of the two brothers. When Jonathan came in the room, Mom was holding Alex, and I was all ready for a hug from my big boy. He took it all in, asking for a hug at first, and getting lifted up onto my bed. Then Alex started to cry, and Jonathan started spitting in disgust. Grandpa had to take him out for a walk around the hospital. The toy bulldozer, however, was a big hit.

It's been a week, and Jonathan is much more likely to want to kiss Alex or make sure his hat is on. He has had a lovely time with Grandma and Grandpa, and we are most heartily sorry to see them go back to Belgium. Alex is a night owl, but we hope to get that sorted out soon. And we have been overwhelmed with email and calls and visits from all our friends. Thank you all for giving our son such a warm welcome to the world.