Born at 11:52am

8 lbs. 10 oz.

21 inches

4:00 pm: We arrived at the hospital and checked in.

4:05 pm: Leigh put on her hospital gown.

4:15 pm: Boredom set in.

4:30 pm: Leigh and I tossed around a few baby names. I’m leaning toward Thor if it’s a boy.

4:45 pm: Channel flipping was completely unsuccessful.

5:00 pm: Doctor arrived and commenced with procedures that were gross enough for me to leave the room.

5:15 pm: Further attempts at channel flipping remained unsuccessful.

5:30 pm: Contractions began.

5:45 pm: Leigh ordered food, and I set out to find the cafeteria.

6:00 pm: I ate my food. It was gross.

6:45 pm: Leigh’s food arrived: macaroni, green beans, and an unidentifiable rubbery meat-like substance, possibly chicken. It was gross.

6:50 pm: Leigh vowed never to eat hospital food again.

I'll never eat hospital food again!

7:30 pm: We have abandoned the TV and have resorted to posting on the blog for entertainment.

Just kidding! I know that was cruel, but I went for my second sonogram yesterday. For most expecting mothers, this would be the time to announce the baby’s gender, but to the disappointment of most people around me, we wait until the baby’s birth to know if we should buy pink or blue booties. Most of the time when I tell people this, it is always the same response. They scrunch up their nose, shake their head, and say, “Oh I could never do THAT!”, like I just told them I was going to try something really crazy and give birth through my nose.

What is funny to me though is how many times I am asked the question, “What are you having?” It doesn’t bother me or anything, except for the fact that I always have to justify my decision to them. My pat response is that “it adds a lot of excitement to the day of the birth.” These days there are very few couples who experience the whole “water breaking at inopportune times, frantically throwing suitcases into the car, and husbands driving off leaving their pregnant wives in the driveway” type of birth stories.

I mean with Edie, I checked into the hospital the night before. I had a sweet nurse who was kind enough to break my water for me, clean it up, and save me the humiliation of having it happen in the check-out line at Wal-mart. All my friends and family were able to be there for the main event because we’d scheduled the date a week beforehand, and the pain meds were sitting there waiting on me to ask for them.

Truth is I’m praying that we will have exactly the same experience this go round because it was so smooth. I mean, when everything goes like clockwork, it’s nice to have a much anticipated surprise at the end of such a memorable day.