Rory Edwin

Yesterday we welcomed Rory Edwin into our family. He is, as Little C would say, "buck."
Some of the highlights:

- I arrived home from work around 4:30pm just as Janelle was finishing up her first contraction. I scurried around the house making sure all the bags were packed (they were, except for my stuff - I only packed a pair of sweatpants and a long sleeved t-shirt so I'm feeling a little... rough), making sure all the bills were paid, etc.

- Janelle labored at home, comfortably for the most part, while I recorded all the contractions (I highly recommend the Labor Mate iPhone app!) until we called the doctor at 9pm. The doctor said it sounded like it was time to head to the hospital so we packed up the car.

- Without speeding or running any lights (barely) we made it to the hospital in 4 minutes.

- The rest of the night is a blur of contractions, nursing shift changes, a bath tub, and a cinnamon pop tart.

- Around 2:45am Janelle decided that it was time for an epidural. After it was successfully set up she was able to rest and even sleep a bit. Me, not so much. (no bed)

- The doctor and nurses agreed it was time to push around 10am. Janelle is a magnificent pusher. Around 11:35am the doctor (who, by the way, said that I was so helpful that they should hire me!) showed me the head starting to poke out just a bit.

- At 11:40 the doctor asked the OB nurse to step out for something. The doctor, who was absolutely amazing, was sitting on the end of the bed encouraging Janelle to push. Which she did. Hard. So hard that the head went from barely there to over half-way out in one push. The Doctor forcefully instructed Janelle to stop pushing and then, in an absolutely ridiculous display of experience, panic, and aplomb did the following in less than 30 seconds:

• Hit the button for the nurses station and called for our nurse, a baby doctor, and a baby nurse
• Went from basic scrubs to her "delivery outfit"
• Set up her delivery table and tools and brought it over to the end of the bed
• Transformed the bed from labor to delivery (removed the bottom half, got Janelle's feet in the right position, etc.
• Delivered Rory

He was, of course, perfect, as you can see in the video above. The nurses did a great job of getting him cleaned up, weighed, and such in no time. They were all stellar.

Janelle was an absolute trooper given the stuff I saw happening at the business end. Trust me when I say she's been through the wringer.

So now we're hanging about in the hospital watching Rory squirm around. The local paper was delivered this morning with Janelle's breakfast. The horoscope had the following entries:

Aries (Janelle): "A partnership appears to be limiting. You must resolve any personal or professional issues you have with the people you deal with in order to advance in the new year." This seems to be off the mark, but who knows?

Pisces (Me): "Avoid overindulgence. You have so much going for you that it would be a shame to ruin your chance to achieve the goals most important to you." I'm pretty sure I won't be overindulging tonight in the maternity ward!

Capricorn (Rory): "You must mix the old with the new this New Year's Eve. A wide variety of people, both young and old, will give you a greater sense of what you can do." I'm relatively sure he's going to get a good sense that he can do anything he wants.
Happy New Year everyone!