Introducing Charlie...

Charles Gregory was born on February 22nd, at 4:15 pm. He was 8 lbs and was 20 in long.

Tuesday morning - 9:45 am Gretchen called me at work to tell me that she was having contractions (at school no less). She said she would call me back after speaking with the doctor. Cue the sweat glands.

Tuesday morning - 12:00 pm We hadn't heard from the doctor yet, so we decided to head into the hospital. I had spent the last couple of hours preparing for 2 weeks away from the office. Gretchen had been home frantically cleaning the house. I'm not sure if that sped up or slowed down labor, but it sure put an added note of urgency to the whole thing.

Tuesday afternoon - 3:00 pm The great nurses at Legacy Emanuel decided that Gretchen was in fact in labor, and we were ready to be admitted. We called the gang (Gretchen's sister and parents) in for the party.



Tuesday night - eveningish Gretchen's contractions had slacked off, but the doctor decided that it wouldn't be prudent to go home, since we would just be back anyway. Pitocin (inducement) would commence at 4am sharp Wednesday morning... ugh.

Wednesday morning - 4:00 am After a VERY restful night consisting of hourly visits from the nurses, they got the Pitocin drip started.



Wednesday afternoon - 1:00pm
Contractions were about 1 minute apart when the epidural was performed. The doctor came in and worked her mojo to get things moving along a little faster.

Wednesday afternoon - 4:15 PM
Have I mentioned that my wife is a stud? Gretchen pushed for about 6 minutes and Charlie was born. I got to cut the umbilical cord and check him out. What an experience. With Claire, I was excited and nervous until about an hour after her birth. Then I dissolved into hysterics when the enormity of it all hit me.

With Charlie, as soon as the doctor said, "Let's get ready to push", I started getting emotional. They say things like this happen in a blur; which is true, because I was trying to see through tears most of the time.



Claire got to meet her little brother in the hospital, but she ended up getting a little tummy bug while at Grandma's house. We would have liked to have her come to the hospital more during our stay, but we didn't want her to barf on her little brother. That's his job.

Wednesday night...up to now
We brought Charlie home and have been doing all the new baby stuff. Eating, pooping, burping and crying...even Charlie has joined in.



We wanted to thank everyone for their support and love during our pregnancy and birth. Gretchen rocks my world with how she can manage a kid, a job and a pregnancy; give birth and jump up off the bed to feed Charlie; all while looking great!



We will be posting pictures and video in the days to come.