Our First Day Home

We're home! The doctor gave Abbott a clean bill of health and we got discharged this morning around 11:00. First order of business was to introduce her to the dogs. Sam, Frodo, and Lola were very excited to see us since we've been gone for 3 days, but they were also very curious about the baby. After some sniffing and licking, everything seems to be great. Frodo seems to have taken to her the most. He has been very curious all day and he keeps lurking around whenever we hold her. He likes to sit next to me in protective mode. Emily got a long nap today and I hung out with the sleeping beauty on the couch. She spent a lot of the day in the cradle that Em's dad made for us. Not much else has happened today. Max grilled some awesome filets on the Green Egg and went ahead and rewired and installed a few light fixtures... just because. I just wanted to give a quick update and let everyone know that we are home, Em and Abbott are both doing great, and we couldn't be more thrilled. I've put more pics at MobileMe so check them out when you get a chance.

Abbott Clare

Where do I even start?! How about... I'm a DAD! Words cannot describe the last 48 hours. Once Em was fully dilated, which happened super fast, the doc wanted her to "labor down" so that she wouldn't have to do a bunch of extra pushing. So about an hour and a half past 10 cm, the nurse came in and got the party started. (NOTE: I'm fully aware that this post, and probably the rest of my life, is going to be full of cliches about childbirth and feelings that every first time dad has... and I simply do not care.) Obviously, I'm not going to go into detail about the birth, but it was absolutely amazing. Emily was a true champ! It was my first rodeo so I don't have anything to compare to, but she made it look like a piece of cake. I'll say this too, for any of you dads-to-be... watch the birth. I don't care what you think now, or how queazy you are, it's not gross, it's freaking amazing. So Emily pushed for about an hour and 10 minutes and at 2:22 pm on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009, Abbott Clare arrived. And as soon as she did, there was a huge gasp of amazement throughout the room when we all realized how big she was! 9 pounds, 12 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long! Are you kidding me?! She is the most beautiful thing on planet earth, I don't even know how to describe it. All the stuff they say about your life changing instantaneously is absolutely true. The rest of the day was spent putting Abbott through the ringer... poking, prodding, pushing, pulling, cameras, tons of people, bathing, screaming, crying... sounds awesome. Both of our families were here for the event and we have had waves of visitors. Things wound down last night around 10:30 and it was finally just Mommy, Daddy, and Baby. Once it was quiet and just us, the reality and emotion and joy of the entire day came crashing down on both of us. We kept her in the room with us until about midnight and then called the nursery to take her for the night so we could sleep. And sleep we did. They brought her in around 3 am so Em could feed her and then took her back. Speaking of that... so far, Em and Abbott are taking to nursing very well. We pray it will stick! We both slept great and then this morning they brought her back in and we've spent the entire day with family and visitors. Mer came by with Allie and Mary this morning because they've been dying to hold Abbott. My mom surprised us by dropping in this afternoon and Em's dad got here around 5:30. The pediatrician is gonna clear us to go home in the morning so we're crashing here one more night. But the room is nice and big and the service has been top notch the entire time, so it's actually not that bad. It has been a whirlwind and we're pretty beat, despite the good sleep last night. Now we're just ready to get home and start the next chapter. Emily and I want everyone to know how much we appreciate you all. We have been inundated with phone calls, voice mails, text messages, Skype chats, and visitors. Technology has made it possible for us to share this with so many people. I feel like there is so much more to write about, but I'm beat and slightly distracted by this little piece of perfection next to me. I will say this... this has been the greatest birthday of my life. Here are a few pics from the last 2 days. To see more, go to my MobileMe gallery. I'll also get an album up at emmyadam as soon as I can.

The Waiting Game...

Well, it's finally here! We're having this baby whether we like it or not. We got to the hospital last night around 8 and got settled into our rather large room. By the time everything was done and Em was all "patched in to the system" it was almost 11. They gave her an Ambien and it knocked her right out and she got a few hours of sleep. Her water broke about 1:45 this morning so there was a lot of activity for a while. The contractions really started getting her attention after that and they gave her the epidural around 5 am. Some tiny spurts of shuteye was all either of us really got once her water broke. Em's mom got here around 7 this morning and Mer around 8. The doc checked her around 8:15 and she was dilated to 4 cm. Another check around 9:30 and she was at 6 cm, so it looks like things are moving along. Her contractions are pretty strong and fairly regular, but she doesn't really feel them. Her biggest issue has been some nausea, which the doc says is a good sign and very normal. So we're just waiting now. Uhh... the nurse just checked... 9 cm! Looks like she's coming way sooner than expected! We'll keep you posted.