Baby Frederick!

Our much-anticipated baby brother arrived on December 18!  Of course, you probably already know about him.  But we can officially proudly present (with photos!) Frederick William Reitz.

He arrived on December 18, weighing in at 8lb 15oz and 20.75 inches long.  He was very prompt, just a few hours shy of his December 19 due date, and giving us a full week to rally for our first Christmas in our new home.

From the point where a sitcom would have cast me as "Lady in Labor" to delivery of baby, Henry took 24 hours, Ingrid took six, and Heidi took two.  So I expected this labor to be lightning fast and was relieved when I found an OB who delivers at the hospital five minutes from our house.  But baby Fritz gave us plenty of time.  His labor was much more like Ingrid's.  I had painful but very irregular contractions for most of the day on the 18th.  I felt basically okay for long stretches between contractions, but could not really tolerate the presence of other humans (and there are so many in the house now), so I holed up in our bedroom with the contraction timer app and a stack of Christmas presents to wrap.

The contractions got more intense and regular around 5:00 and we headed to the hospital.  This hospital was much more supportive of natural labor than the one I used in DC.  At the old hospital, they basically offered you the epidural in the parking lot.  The Minnesota nurse clearly thought I was a quitter because I wanted the drugs.  My average-of-9.5lbs-babies and I are perfectly comfortable with your judgment, lady.  Call the freaking anesthesiologist.  Unfortunately, the first epidural did not work at all.  This was the worst of it, because I was stuck in bed with the spinal needle, IV, and monitors, so I couldn't move around to get more comfortable, but wasn't getting any drug relief either.  The anesthesiologist came back and re-did it, and for the fourth time, I wondered why anyone would want to deliver without drugs.  To each her own.

About an hour later, I was ready to push.  My own OB happened to be the one on duty (3 out of 4 kids with my own doc!) and came in to break my water and rally the team.  There was meconium in the fluid so they had to have two neonatologists in the room in case the baby had aspirated any of it and needed to clear his lungs.  This facility is a teaching hospital, so there was also a resident with us.  It felt like a LOT of people in the room compared to the DC hospital.  I pushed for about half an hour -- and there was our little man!  He wailed loud and clear right away, so the neonatologists immediately disappeared.  The nurses left us mostly alone for a nice, long time before taking him for tests and clean-up, which I really appreciated.  They also let me take a bath and remove the IV port after just a couple hours, which I appreciated even more.

We passed a rather sleepless night in the hospital, with the usual annoying blood pressure and sugar tests, plus one midnight run for Taco Bell.  Henry and Ingrid came to visit the next day.  They were SO EXCITED to see their new brother.  Henry told the nurse, with great earnestness, "I've been waiting for a brother for six years."

We picked the name Frederick, despite my reservations about too-easy nicknames, because it's strong and no one else is using it.  Also, Henry and Frederick were the pair of Albers brothers who first immigrated to America from Germany.  William was the pilgrim from Grandma Jane's O'Dell family who first came to America from England in 1639.  It's a lot of name to live up to, but I think he can handle it.

Frederick had an eventful first week.  The Reitz crew was here, Jane and Alan and Matt came to visit, and we had all the Christmas festivities.

My guys, in sweaters.

All the cousins!

Cutest Christmas gift ever

In his first days, he looked so much like Heidi, it was eerie.  Then we started putting him in Henry's baby clothes and it was deja vu.  But he has Ingrid's fretful look (and an upper lip, unlike the other Reitzes).

Heidi's look-alike

Henry's twin in his old sleeper

You people still don't know what you're doing, do you?

Much as we talk about which sibling he resembles, he's the only baby I can see.  It happens with each kid.  I think the sight of each baby will be so imprinted on my mind that I'll be able to call up the image forever.  And then the next baby arrives and I can scarcely conjure the look of the previous newborns.  Perhaps that's the last baby's big advantage.  I may not get his welcome post written for a month after his birth, but his newborn face is the one I'll see most clearly forever.

I feel like I have a lot less time to rest and savor this newborn phase.  When Heidi was born, Ingrid was a very independent 2.5 year old, in school three mornings a week, and napping every day.  Now we have Heidi, who is much less inclined to play independently, at home all morning and Ingrid around all afternoon.  There's just less time to go around.  To all the fourth children of the world: it's not that your moms didn't love you.  They just decided to spend every spare moment staring at your tiny face instead of writing things down.  Or showering.

But I did manage to take pictures!  Lots more in the December google photos album.

Welcome to the world, little man!  Lots of people here to love you.