He's Here

Just when we thought he would never come (mostly Erika)... He's here. Erika had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday afternoon and the baby was 9 1/2 pounds. After the ultrasound, Dr. Lewis shook Erika's hand and seemed like he was about to leave the room. Erika said "can you strip my membranes or something? He said "I'll do you one better, go to the hospital." Erika got checked in and monitored up and I arrived after getting our bags from home and letting Cajun out.

They started oxytocin and she started having pretty strong contractions pretty soon. After about an hour of good ones coming every couple of minutes Erika quit being a hero and got an epidural. After that it was pretty amazing because she was texting and chatting on the phone during pretty strong contractions... the miracle of modern medicine.

It seemed like about an hour but really about 8 hours later Erika started pushing. The doctor showed up within 25 minutes and he didn't wait long. Erika asked the nurse if his birthday would be the 26th or 27th. She said it would be a miracle if he was born on the 26th. Within 20 minutes he was out, at 11:56pm... and way bigger than I expected! It was like the movies where the baby comes out as a toddler!

All the tests and exams for mother and baby checked out beautifully and we left the hospital this afternoon after a day and a half. Matthew slept most of the day yesterday. He's been really good so far. I'm especially impressed by the wonders of swaddling. It's like an off switch for crying.


We read a book about acclimating your dog to a new baby. I think it was a waste of time because Cajun has been about as good as you could expect from any dog. We brought Matthew home and and then let Cajun out. Cajun gave him a couple good licks on the head and then looked up at me to say "He's cool, let's play, I haven't seen you in two days." Erika thought it would be funny to get Cajun a shirt that says "Big Brother".