Beniah Mark Whittaker

After over two weeks of learning to care for a newborn, we are finally alert enough to post about our firstborn. After 41 hours of rather intense (yet frustratingly non-progressive) labor, Beniah Mark Whittaker was born by Cesarean on November 15th at 5:20 am. He weighed 9 lbs 6 oz. The reason for the lack of progress? His very large head. The circumference was 15 inches, while the average newborn’s is around 13 or 13 1/2. He has his daddy’s head!

Here are a few pics from our 6 day (!) hospital stay.

Heather soon after getting settled on the fourth floor.

Fingerless gloves are SO in!

Dressed in scrubs for the C-Section. (Obvious, right?)

Mama's first look at her son!

Jeshu Kumar being oh-so-gentle with his tiny cousin.

Beniah was hungry, and mama was busy. So, of course, Grandma Luse offered her chin as a substitute! Got a hickey for her trouble, though.

A less-drugged version of mama enjoying her sleeping son.

Beniah does NOT like hats!

All dressed up to go home. And though you can't tell from this pic, those little socks are quite embarrassing. Beniah's Auntie Jo bought them for him before we knew his gender, and insisted that our child wear them, even if it was a boy. So, of course, Beniah decided to be a male that wears socks with a picture of Ariel, the Little Mermaid.

A close-up of Beniah in his adorable hat.

The Whittaker Three on their way home from the hospital.

We’ll post some more pics of the newly enlarged Whittaker family later. Hopefully in less than the two weeks it took for this post!