Hello Anya JoLin!

Announcing the arrival of our newest Chaos Maker!

Anya JoLin
Born March 5, 2010
Weight: 1/2 lb more than her brothers
Length: 1 inch more than her brothers
Hair: More than her brothers, darker than her brothers

So, this morning Andrea woke me up at 6:00 after pacing the floor for 5 hours with the words we've all been waiting to hear. "I think today's the day!" Indeed it was. After getting the older boys off to school she was beyond "I think," with regular contractions and some back pain, and so I sent a note to my boss to tell him we were heading in to the hospital and canceled my meetings for the day. It took us until about 9:00 to drop off Paxton and make our way in to town. The contractions were powerful enough to interrupt conversation - definitely past ignoring - but our hopes were dampened a bit when the first exam declared only minor progress and the resident midwife suggested that we would probably be sent back home. Surely not! How about we stick around for a bit and see what happens?

We got up to walk around (I didn't need the walk, but I went along anyway) and Andrea's contractions almost immediately started picking up the pace. Before long she was having to stop at two minute intervals to steady herself against the wall, or me, or whatever cart happened to be nearby until the contraction passed. We made our way back to the exam room in fifty foot intervals while I was trying to remember the Lamaze breathing techniques that we learned ten years ago. (Is it "Hoo, Hoo, HEEE", or "Hoo, Hee, Hoo, Hee?") By now the pain is getting intense.

Andrea had wanted to try delivery without getting an epidural if at all possible, mainly because you loose the options to get into more natural or comfortable positions during labor and because it can complicate recovery a bit, but she realistically knew that if the pain got to be too much she would ask for the relief. By 10:00 the pain was getting to be too much. Let's examine you again, the nurse said. Oh, my. You've been working pretty hard! Progress, but we'll have to get you into a delivery room and get some blood work done before we can start the epidural, so it will take a while. Just hold on, you're doing great.

By this time Andrea's own midwife had showed up and so we got set up in the delivery room, moving in fits and starts between contractions. Baby monitors on, IV started, blood drawn, papers signed. Ow, ow, ow here comes another one! I didn't know quite what to do except hold Andrea's hand and remind her not to hyperventilate. So that's what I did. I could tell by her grip that we were starting to hit the '10'-mark on the pain scale and it was difficult to not squeeze right along with her. Every now and then the midwife would remind us to relax.

It was becoming evident that the epidural would not get there soon enough.

At one point the nurses had Andrea sit up to see what the effect on pressure and pain might be, but the baby didn't seem to agree, so the midwife suggested getting up on hands and knees instead. The seemed to calm the baby's heartbeat and seemed to make the next couple of contractions more bearable, but after a couple of minutes Andrea said, "I feel like I'm ready to push" Ah, those magical words! Now things really start to get exciting. Okay, just stay how you are - if this baby wants to come out with you on your hands and knees then that's what we'll do. And that's what they did.

And when baby decides it's ready to come, that's it. You'd better be ready too. No matter that the midwife has only one glove on and the nurses have hardly gotten the receiving bed warmed up and the instrument cart still has the cover over it. I want out. And three hours after checking in to the hospital, my brave wive gave one more painful push and little Anya JoLin was born.

The chord was wrapped tight and the exit was fast, so our little girl was whisked into the warm hands of the nurses for some oxygen and some encouragement.

There's no silence like the expectation of a baby's first cry and it seemed to take forever. But finally we heard it - a little peep, then a cry, then a full-throated howl. Such a wonderful sound, such a miracle! I had tears in my eyes.

Welcome to the world Miss Anya J!

The boys and I left mom and little sister resting peacefully this evening. They'll get to hold her tomorrow and we'll get a chance to make more proper introductions - we all look forward to getting to know our little princess better over the next couple of weeks.

All is well. Let the next chapter of Pandemonium begin.