Quinton Edward Cannon is Born

Quinton Edward Cannon was born on November 4, 2009 at 12:50 PM. Both Quinn and Shelley are doing very well.

Speaking as someone who really had nothing to do with the birth other than to support Shelley, I realize how I would describe the birth might be totally without base. But it seemed like the birth was relatively uneventful. We had a bit of a fright when the doctor couldn't get the epidural quite right. We thought we were in for another surprise drug-free, max-pain delivery. Thankfully that was not the case.

All told, we checked in to the hospital and were the labor/delivery room and hooked up to the IV by 9:30 and Shelley began pushing by 12:35. The baby was out 15 minutes later. Again, from my totally unexperienced view of things, a relatively uneventful delivery.

So what do we know about Quinn so far? He was 7lbs 1oz and came in at about 20 inches in length. He came decked with a lot of dark hair. The Japanese don't wash the baby at all for the first day - not even the hair. The second day they'll wash the hair, but the body I guess isn't supposed to be washed until after a week. That's why in the pictures it looks like he has junk in his hair...it's because he still does.

Anyway, back to Quinn. We're not quite sure who he looks like. Both Ella and Anthon looked so much like each other. Quinn has a rounded nose and gigantic eyes. He's eating and pooping and sleeping quite well.

When Anthon and Ella met Quinn I think they were excited. Ella was a bit scared and while she was curious she refused any attempt to touch him or hold him. She warmed up after a few minutes, but I think she's still very confused as to who Quinn is and why he's here and what this might mean. You hear stories of children regressing a bit when a new child is born. And we might be seeing the first stages of this. Ella, who has never once taken a pacifier and stifled any and all attempts by us to put one in her mouth, picked up Quinn's pacifier and began sucking on it for about 20 minutes tonight. Uh oh.

Anthon on the other hand is a vet when it comes to welcoming new babies in the family. He held Quinn, sang to him, talking to him and held him.

We're very excited to have Quinn in our family. I've taken some photos and video from the first 24+ hours. Please click on any picture to go to the gallery. The video is posted below on youtube.