It's a Boy -- Daemon Joshua

Daemon has my head. It's a rather big thing as heads go, especially when it is inside someone tiny like Em. Much to my surprise this head came with a bunch of brown hair already installed. He has wrinkly skinny fingers that look like they should be attached to a very very tiny and very old man. He likes to flex his fingers into strange positions and point his hands at things. This reminds me of the emperor from Star Wars shooting lightning from his fingers and has lead to his first nick name, spell caster. I doubt that it will stick but his 5 year old cousin likes it. His little legs also have bulging thigh muscles, reminiscent of a cyclist, under his loose skin. Em, Rachael, and Cindy all say that he looks like me and is very masculine looking. Not being a baby connoisseur I have to take their word for it :) The official word is that he is what they call cute in women speak. Cute enough that the nurses happily borrowed him last night for a few hours to keep them company at the nursing station so we could get some sleep (even happy baby noises can keep you awake sometimes).

When Daemon first came out he was so excited to experience everything that he didn't go to sleep for 12 hours. He just laid on his back or cuddled up next to whoever was holding him looking around, waving his hands and casting spells of enchantment on all those who passed. He didn't scream at all, though occasionally he would do a little cry with one little quiet cry at a time with 30 seconds in between each cry, nothing like some of the other babies that I have heard that are just wailing as loud and as fast as they can. He then proceeded to sleep for 4 to 5 hours straight. We are hoping that this keeps it up!

Outside the obvious eating, sleeping, and excreting waste his favorite activities are: grabbing tight and holding onto grownup fingers, sometimes even getting them to his mouth; waving his hands around (he does not like to have his arms swaddled) generally accompanied by changes in breathing pace and grunts; fighting any effort to keep his head rested on anything because he would rather be holding it up himself and looking around; and pooping whenever I hold him. I have been the holder during 4 of 6 so far.

Em is recovering quickly as c-sections go, though it is an extremely painful and difficult recovery. Today she has had to get up for bathroom trips as well as a few extra curricular walks around the room, tomorrow they are going to have her walking laps in the halls. She is dealing with all this, still feeding Daemon, dealing with the frustration of not being able to take care of him herself like she wants to, and instead having the added pain of teaching me how to handle him (talk about difficult!), all without getting too stressed out, she really is amazing, or as she would put it 'tough' :) She knows so much about this little person, what he wants/needs, what will comfort him, I am truly happy to have her as my wife. We expect to be discharged sometime on Tuesday.

Here is what everyone has been waiting for, the stats.

Name: Daemon Joshua
Born: Saturday, 2007 June 30 at 5:02 PM EST (3:02 Utah time)
Weight: 7lb, 9oz (3,430 grams)
Length: 19.75 in (50.2 cm)
Hours in labor: about 24