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For those interested in the details of the most recent addition to our family:

• 9:00 am – I get a call from my wife. She is calling as she is leaving her doctor appointment for a regular weekly check-up before her due date. She tells me that we have to go to the hospital. The doctor said to be there in an hour because we’re going to have the baby today, even though my wife isn’t feeling any contractions. We decide to wait until lunchtime or she feels contractions, whichever comes first.
• 11:45 – I get home from work and greet my sister, who is over to watch the kids while we’re at the hospital
• 12:25 – We get Alpha off the school bus. They had a half day, so now all the kids are together with some cousins.
• 12:45 – We leave for the hospital
• 1:05 – The nurse chides us for not arriving sooner. “I’ve been waiting since 9:00,” she says.
• 1:15 – They hook up monitors to see how contractions are going. There are some contractions – they’re just slight enough that my wife had been dismissing them or not noticing them.
• 1:30 – two students from a nearby nursing school arrive. It’s their rotation on the maternity floor.
• 2:20 – the doctor comes in and checks things
• 2:30 – the doctor decides she wants to deliver the baby soon, so she breaks the water. The nursing students get to help clean up
• 2:35 – contractions every 3-4 minutes, looks like the doctor will get her wish.
• 3:15 – parents arrive. I greet them and usher them to the waiting room. They do get to peek into the delivery room and say hi.
• 3:30 – epidural is in. Good thing, because the contractions are coming in waves now.
• 3:40 – the doctor checks things again. She brought a resident with her. There are a lot more people in the room this time than for the other 3.
• 3:50 – the doctor and resident get suited up and then the pushing starts
• 4:08 – baby is born. He is silent for the first few seconds, but then he starts crying like one would expect. It’s always amazing how the baby can go from not breathing air one second to breathing air the next second.

For those keeping track:

• Baby #1 – at least 90 minutes of pushing.
• Baby #2 – 20-30 minutes of pushing.
• Baby #3 – 6 minutes of pushing.
• Baby #4 – 5-10 minutes of pushing. I didn’t keep good track this time. Things progressed too quickly and I wasn’t facing a clock.

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