* Clark had a short umbilical cord. That's what everyone told me.
* I felt a piece of the umbilical cord this time. It's thicker and stronger than you might imagine.
* After I delivered the placenta, everyone commented on how big it was. I guess you need a giant placenta if you're going to have a giant baby. My belly was really stuffed full! No wonder I got stretch marks this pregnancy.
* Clark came out with bruises all over his face and down his left forearm. Apparently that's common with big babies. They scrape past the pelvic bone during birth and get bruised up. He had bruises on his forehead, nose, and chin. The bruising on his forearm was because he had his left arm up to his chest when he came out and it rubbed past my pelvis. That arm being up was also the reason I tore a little bit and needed stitches, according to my midwife.
* Clark had very mild jaundice but it never became an issue. It was probably at least partly due to the bruising, according to Clark's doctor. As a person's body deals with the bruises it raises the levels of bilirubin in that person's system and high levels of bilirubin lead to jaundice.
* Due to the fact that he was "large for gestational age," Clark was tested for diabetes right after he was born and then again the next day. Negative. Negative. He's just big.
* Clark was born at 9 lbs 5 oz. His weight was 8 lbs 14 oz when he left the hospital two days later. His weight was 8 lbs 13 oz at the doctor's office the following day. Then 3 days later at the doctor's office (when Clark was 6 days old), Clark weighed 9 lbs 6 oz, one ounce above his birth weight.
* Newborn clothes never fit Clark. He barely fits into newborn diapers.
*Just before being discharged from the hospital, a nurse hurried into my room. "You didn't circumcise him!" It sounded more like a statement of alarm rather than a question. "Right," I said. I guess she thought I'd forgotten. "Okay. Just making sure you didn't need me to arrange something before you left..."
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