Welcome to the World Baby Boy!

I am sitting in our room at the hospital trying to come up with words to describe what the last 24 or so hours have been like. Steph is getting a few minutes of well deserved sleep. I'm looking at my son in awe.


A word like exhaustion doesn't seem to do it justice. Yesterday started as a normal day. I worked from home to help out with the kids since Whit was too sick to go into school. At about 1:40 pm Steph and I went to our weekly doctor appointment. The contractions that had been going for almost 2 weeks had come to a stop and we had given up on the child coming anytime soon. That was more than a little frustrating when I had about 5 days of no teaching at work he could have chosen to come. (But since when were kids ever convenient?) We scheduled an induction for the 18th and went out to eat. With the induction scheduled I felt that it was safe to make plans for my Thursday at work and the meetings I needed to attend. That's when things started getting interesting.

Mimi's is one of our favorites and is near the hospital. I was craving a grilled ham and cheese. The meal was yummy, quick and uneventful. We quickly hurried back to Brenda's to pick up the kids. Shortly after returning home I started feeling a bit queasy and ill. My first thought was indigestion, that's how us acid refluxers think. Tums didn't seem to do the trick though and within an hour or so I was hurting pretty bad. After about 6 hours of suffering I finally decided that it must be food poisoning so I forced out the offensive food that was causing so much pain. That wasn't the end of it but it certainly did help.

While I was upstairs thinking the end of the world had come, Steph was downstairs in a bit of pain of her own. Contractions returned and they were pretty strong. By the time I was rinsing foul tastes from my mouth, the contractions were coming regularly about every 10 mins or so. By 11 pm they were just 5 minutes apart and we knew we'd be heading to the hospital. We were timing the contractions and watching Bill Cosby on Leno when Whit came into the room. She wasn't feeling well and just wanted to cuddle. Unfortunately Steph was in worse shape to comfort her than I was. She decided to lay on the bed with us. When a big contraction was tapering off she said to Steph "Mom, I know you're hurting but I don't think it's as bad as I hurt!" We just chuckled thinking someday she'll know better. For all the pain my insides were giving me I knew it was nothing compared to what Steph was going thru.

After a quick midnight stop at Walmart for Whit's cold medicine and some ginger ale for me, we dropped off the kids and headed to the hospital. I have to say that when you're running to the hospital midnight is definitely the best time to do it.

The nurse who took care of us all night was amazing. She took great care of Steph and even tried her best to help me out. Unfortunately, baby was in no mood to come so soon. After 8 long hours (during which I got a couple hours of sleep while Steph watched Friends) our doctor finally said it was time to start pushing a little to "see what happens". About 15 minutes later he announced what so few of you guessed on the poll, "It's a boy!" I cut the cord and he's hardly left his mom's arms since.


Pride isn't a good enough word to use either. I'm enormously proud of my wife and how strong she is. I'm so proud as I look at my new boy and think of what lays in store for him. Humbled might be a better word, but it still doesn't do justice to all of my feelings.

Coming at 8:17 am and weighting a perfect 7 lbs 6 oz (my greatest fear for the last 9 months was that I had given Steph a big baby) and 21 inches long he's a perfect little bundle to hold. Now if we could just decide on a name. I asked him what it was but he just gave a cute little wimper.



Gratitude I think is the best word to use. I'm so grateful that both mom and baby are healthy and that there were no complications, something for which we prayed countless times. I'm grateful for the chance to welcome this baby into our family. I'm grateful for our loving family and friends that have always been such a support to us. Thank you all. I'm sure more pictures will be posted soon.