Introducing...

Andrew 

Reed 

January 18, 2009

Time: 1:31 A.M.

Weight: 8 lbs. 8 oz.

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Mommy and Baby Andrew

The Proud Papa

Big Brother Christian

Here is the story (according to Jonathon):

Sarah began feeling contractions at about 8pm on Saturday night. However, they weren't very hard, so we decided to watch the second half of "Pride and Prejudice" while we were timing them. After the movie, we called Sarah's doctor and told him how close and long the contractions were.  He said, "Good, you will probably need to go to the hospital in several hours, so we will probably see you tomorrow morning."* We kept timing them as we waited to see how things were going. Christian took 32 hours to come after Sarah first felt contractions, so we were in no hurry. Around midnight they were getting really strong, so we called our friend Derek to stay with Christian. When Derek came over, I chatted with him for a little while (Sarah adds: "while I was writhing in excruciating pain"), and finally decided to get going at about 1 am. We hailed a cab and headed for the hospital.  The poor cab driver kept driving faster and faster with every contraction and got us there in record time. At the hospital, the nurse took one look at Sarah and got her straight into a delivery room. I filled out the paperwork and walked in just in time to see Andrew's head come out. That's right, she gave birth no more than 20 minutes after we got there with no medication at all (although at the end she was screaming for drugs). It was so fast that there wasn't a doctor present (other than a brand new resident who was being coached by the nurse), and Sarah had yet to be officially admitted to the hospital. How is that for speed and efficiency? A few minutes later and Andrew would have been born in the back of a cab in New York City.  Anyway, fathers are not allowed to stay at night (we are technically visitors), so I was home by 5 am.

*Sidenote:  The funniest part of the adventure happened the morning after at around 7:30 a.m.  Sarah received a phone call from her doctor asking if she was still feeling contractions and if she was making any progress. Oops, I guess they didn't even have time to call him.

Sarah and Andrew are both doing great and Christian says that he "just loves" his baby brother. He has spent most of the time since Sarah got home showing Andrew his cars and ball. We are so grateful to all those who watched Christian both before and after the birth. We are especially indebted to Derek who had a long and sleepless night.