PINTERTAINMENT: Meet Max

Max Daniel Pinter was born on October 19, 2011 at 11:02am. He weighed 9 pounds, 9 ounces and was 22 1/2 inches long. He has been an absolutely precious baby from the start. I delivered him naturally (HOLY MOLY!!! is all I will say about that) - he is the only of the four boys.

I am not sure who had the rougher time: me or him? Oh wait, it was me. :)

He had an Apgar of 9.5 (I didn't know they could give halves).

Getting poked and prodded.

Max was our tallest boy at birth.

Within minutes of Max being born, the nurses discovered that Max did not have an opening in his bottom. They stuck him in this incubator and rushed him to a NICU across town to get help from a pediatric surgeon. I was so fortunate to have delivered naturally because my doctor released me from Lakeside Women's Hospital 3 hours after I gave birth so I could follow Max to Integris, where the NICU was.

Luckily, on a spectrum from mild to severe, Max had the most mild case of "imperforate anus" someone could have. The doctor essentially took a pair of scissors and poked a hole in Max's bottom region and the miconium started flowing all over the place, according to Jeff. Later when he was 5 weeks old, he had to have a surgery to line everything up down there, but I am happy to say he is pooping with the best of them now!

Poor guy had a rough start to life.

Jeff and I slept in a tiny waiting room that first night since the NICU doesn't have separate rooms like a delivery room. We were thankful to only have to stay for one night since the first prognosis was that Max would have to stay in the NICU 1-2 weeks. We actually went home the next afternoon - sooner than if I had had a normal delivery at the first hospital.

Jeff and I snuggled this guy all we could while he wasn't having tests run on him. That first evening, the two of us ran to Cheesecake Factory instead of dining on hospital cuisine. I was so sore, though, so Jeff pushed me in a wheelchair in and out of the hospital everytime. My body was so beat up.

It still boggles my mind that something that size had just been inside of me.

Here we are going home the next afternoon. Max had no idea of the chaos awaiting him at home. No one had really seen him when he was born because we couldn't have visitors in the NICU so we had lots of people dying to see our little dude.

Max came at the same time that my sister and bro-in-law were on an anniversary trip, so my parents were watching my sis's 3 girls and our 3 boys. When we came home 2 grandparents and 6 wild children were waiting for us. Here is Jack holding him littlest brother for the first time.

And Easton.

And Isaac.

Grammie's turn.

Now Poppaw.

Relaxing at home after such an eventful entry to the world.

Jack adores his baby brother. And he is a huge help.

One thing I had to do to Max between the time of birth till his surgery was to dilate his bottom with these "pokers". As he got bigger, so did the dilator. It kept things open so things continued to flow freely down there until after his surgery.