Yup! I'm a dad!!!

On the 4th of July, while the rest of the country was celebrating the birth of our nation, I was celebrating the birth of our daughter...well, I was in the hospital waiting for her to be born. She just made it on the 4th - she was born at 11:18pm. A screaming, 6lb, 13oz little wonder. We named her Emma Florence.

For those that don't have kids yet, but are planning on having them here's a little secret: the pregnancy and delivery are the easy part! That's not coming from me, that's what Cheryl says! Life as we knew it is done. You'll note that I have not posted to this blog for a very long time. This is the first chance I've had to put something down.

So much has happened, I don't know where to start. Best to start at the beginning, eh? For those with weak intestines, don't read this paragraph. We woke up on Friday, July 4th and Cheryl's water had broken. Off to the hospital. This was a normal drive. None of the Hollywood speeding on the shoulder of the freeway through rush hour traffic. We took our time. Got to the hospital about 10am. From then until about 6pm, not much happened. Weak contractions and real boredom. Cheryl's doctor decided it was time for the Pit. By the time the decision was made, the IV set up, and everything ready, it was about 8pm. We were getting ready for a long night. Then the fireworks started...not the ones outside, the ones induced by the Pitocin. Cheryl's contractions got more...intense. The barely gave her any, but my clean-living wife is not used to drugs and they really impact her. Little Emma was born three hours after the labor really kicked in. Cheryl pushed for about 10 minutes, and she says to this day that she faked it and didn't really push. The little monster came out on her own.

I didn't faint. I didn't cry. I did cut the cord. Not being macho, but it is not that bad to watch. The first time I saw a birth in the 9th grade on that movie they made us watch, it was a little troubling. After nine months of prep, this wasn't that crazy. As for the crying - huh??? I was as happy as I've ever been in my life. I was excited and I was kidding with the cute pediatrician, but I wasn't crying. Who cries and why? And, finally, I did cut the cord - of course I cut the cord!!! That's what dad's do!

The first night was awesome. I slept like a log worry-free. There were nurses coming in to check on Cheryl and the baby regularly. And the nurses at the hospital were the most incredible people on earth! I wish we could have brought a couple of them home with us. It might have saved us a trip to the emergency room.

As we were getting ready for the baby, they kept telling us that formula is bad. Stay away from formula. Stay with breast milk. It is best for the baby. It was drilled into our heads. So, we stayed away from the formula. Cheryl's milk hadn't come in yet - if you don't know what this means, FIND OUT BEFORE YOU HAVE A BABY!!! The munchkin was trying to eat, but was not getting enough.

So, after a long painful night of us worrying about what was wrong with her, a call to our friend from high school who is a pediatrician, another couple of calls to her new pediatirician, and a frantic call to the nurse at the hospital, we loaded the kid in the car - sans diaper bag - and headed back to the hospital. What did they tell us? Give her formula, she's getting dehydrated. Bastards! Why didn't you tell us this BEFORE! 2 oz of forumla later, she perked up and was fine. Peeing like a champ! - which is when we realized we'd forgotten the diaper bag. Felt kinda silly asking them for diapers, but again, the nurses were lifesavers and made us feel much better. We hung out, talked to a doctor there, made sure the kid was okay, and went home. On the ride home from the hospital this time, I cried. We starved our kid. Way to get things started.

Then came the hard part. We were alone with the kid. We didn't know what to do. She was crying all the time and we didn't know why. All the people that kept putting the pressure on to have kids - where were they now??? It was a rough couple of months. I'll talk more about that as time permits. For now, I'm soooo tired! Last couple of nights I've averaged about 3.5 hours of sleep. I've been falling asleep in meetings at work. I'm going to call it a night and turn in.