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.