Well, he is finally here. And he's just perfect. Conner James was born yesterday (Wednesday, April 23) at 12:45 PM. He weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and is 19 and 3/4 inches long. He's a good looking little guy with some dark fuzz on his head, in kind of the same hair line as his dad. He has great big eyes, also like his dad.
So here's how it went (as far as I can remember): Tuesday afternoon Amber called me at work, saying she thought she was having contractions, but that she wasn't sure. She was also at work at the Conference Center ticket office. She stayed at work until the normal time to go home, and then came and picked me up from work. The contractions were about 10 minutes apart at that point, and they were bearable, so we went to young women/scouts.
We came home and Amber wanted to try and get some rest, but by this time the contractions were intense enough where they would keep her awake. I dozed and she tried to rest until about 1 AM, at which time I called our doula (a doula is a professional labor assistant). Jan, our doula arrived at our house at around 2 AM. A little bit before Jan got here, Jan's doula trainee arrived. Her name is Laura. They both helped Amber labor through the night and let me sleep for a few hours. They were fantastic.
By about 7 AM Amber's contractions were about 2 minutes apart, and gaining strength. The doulas and I agreed that it was time to go to the hospital. We loaded up and made our way through rush hour traffic to St. Mark's. We checked her in, and worked through the contractions. The tub really helped her relax and make it through some tough times, and the doulas were amazing. I think I would have had a very tough time if they weren't there. They really kept Amber going, which in turn kept me going.
Late in the morning Amber began to transition. I can only imagine the pain that she was feeling, but she did awesome. Again, the doulas and Amber's mom kept her going. At about noon, Amber felt like pushing, except we had one small problem: our midwife was at cottonwood hospital, working with two other patients. The nurse checked Amber and said she was at a 9 (10 is when the kid will come out) and that she wanted amber to wait for Julie, our midwife to get there. That was tough. We found out later that she was really at a 10, but the nurse said 9 to stall until Julie got there.
Fortunately, Julie walked in a few minutes later, and it was time to get the kid out. Everybody got in position. It was crowded with 2 doulas, Amber's mom, me, the nurse, and the midwife. I think she was getting a little bit too much coaching, but she remained calm. Amazingly enough, I did too. All of Amber's family was there. Her two sisters, her brother, and her dad.
Julie got all set up, and Amber started pushing. She did so good. She's not that sturdy of a girl, but she amazed me with the energy that she found to push. After less than an hour of pushing, the kid came out, all cold and wet. Everybody cried, including me. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen.
You may be noticing that there is something missing from this story: a visit from the anesthesiologist. That's right, my wonderful wife did the whole thing completely unmedicated and without an epiziotomy. I gotta say, I am very proud. I may be bragging about that for some time. Everything worked the way it was supposed to. I really credit the doulas for helping her work through it all. And our midwife did some fantastic work, too. My parents arrived just moments after the kid was born, and my mom was very impressed by Julie's stitching abilities as she repaired a small tear.
As I write this, my little family is still in the hospital. We will bring Conner home tomorrow. He is well behaved, and is figuring out how to get some nourishment from his mom. His head is almost a normal shape now. It was a little bit of a cone shape right after he came out. It is so wonderful to finally have him here. We are very blessed.
1:40:44 PM 
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