Embedded Reporter...

This would be my right hand cutting Nitzahn's umbilical cord.

Circle of Life...

When we found out that my sister-in-law was having a boy, my mom secretly (read: told everyone) wished that we would have a girl.

You see, both the NFO and my sister-in-law were pregnant at the same time.

And my mom was thinking about our beloved Nana and Poppy who both died just about a year ago.

Her dream: to have one child to "replace" (not the best word, but it's 4am) each one of them.

And, in some divine type of circle being closed, that is in fact what has happened.

Of all the things that happened to night, it was that thought that brought tears to my eyes.

 

Other Notes

Congratulations to Aviva who won the ad-hoc Baby Pool.

And it looks like the sibling birth sequences are unique

first weigh in

a new girl

born at 3:37am

It's a GIRL!!!

Born at 3:37am

(Updated)
The NFO pushed for a whopping 9 minutes...may be some sort of record.

Speaking of records...

Of our 3 kids, this one is:

• the lightest by birth weight
• the earliest before due date
• the latest in terms of birth hour (if you think about night time and not the midnight idea, but whatever...)

Game on!!

head is coming down

doctor is here

let's do it!

live from labor room

video documentary of the room

Labor intensifying....

I can see it in her face. She's feeling a lot more pressure. Just paged the nurse.

I'm scared, but mostly because the lady in the next room is screaming bloody murder.

the baby team

dina, the nurse on the right with dr. dequattro

Mobile post sent by jer979 using Utterz.  Replies.  mp3

Ineffective Epidural...

Seems like our anesthesiologist hasn't done the same level of service as the previous ones.

The contractions are still hurting (granted, it's not as much), but she was hoping for NO pain (as was the case before).

That's annoying.

7 cm dilated.

Membrane to be ruptured....

It's getting serious now....

looks like a sword that they use to do that.

Man, this isn't for the faint of heart.

Ok, we're done.

Birthing Update...

Thanks to Dina, our great nurse, the Dr. (Johnson) and his tech (Mervis) got here quickly. Epidural is in.

No need to repeat the challenges of Baby #1 (see here)

Baby Timeline-Update

New prognostication from the OB: 3am

Call is going out for the anesthesiologist to deliver epidural

She's 6cm right now. Contractions still about 5 minutes apart.

Current weather conditions can be found at www.weather.com

Epstein Baby #3 Baby Pool...Enter Now...

If you're up and following the blog, you can enter the impromptu Epstein Baby pool.

Guess

• Gender
• Weight
• Time of Birth

Winner of the baby pool gets a charitable donation made in his/her honor to charity of his/her choice AND naming rights (ok, just kidding on that one).

Add via the comments.

First two bets are from my sister in law and brother in law.

Aviva- Girl, 5 lbs 3 ozs, at 3.10am EST
Ami- Girl, 6 lbs 10 ozs at 2.43am EST

Now, it's your turn....

• Gender
• Weight
• Time of Birth

Tie breaker will be closest time by minutes (over or under)

Random Comments from Labor and Delivery room...

Why I'm predicting girl.

Ok, healthy baby is most critical, but here's why girl would be neat.

The NFO (my spouse, aka Nameless/Faceless One) has 6 siblings. Four of them are married. All four of those have at least 3 children.

What's incredible to my mathematical mind is that NONE of the sequences of children repeat.

For example (if x= girl and y=boy)

Sibling 1 has X Y Y Y

Sibling 2 has Y Y X X

Sibling 3 has Y Y Y

Sibling 4 has X X Y

We are X Y

 

By my calculations, there is a 1/8 chance of a sequence repeating, so it's pretty neat that the odds have played out. Of course, if we have a boy, our sequence will repeat with that of Sibling 1. Hence, why a girl would be cool.

Regardless, healthy baby, but let's have a little fun (and, if it's a boy, yes, I'll still love him as much.)

Other random thoughts....

 

I'm finishing up our taxes.

Why is figuring out cost basis so difficult?

I'm tired. It's 11:30 pm.

Why can't kids be born in the middle of the day?

Wireless connectivity rocks.

Using my laptop to bluetooth to my phone to connect to Net. Sweet.

Baby Arrival-Timeframe

I said to the OB, "Ok, if you were in Vegas and had to bet on the arrival time of this baby, what would you say?"

"Around 1-2pm" was her call.

We'll see if she's on the money.

Hiring with Diversity in Mind...

The OB was just talking about her appreciation of the "patient diversity" in her new practice since moving here and leaving the military.

Made me remember a thought I had....my buddy Tjada will be happy.

There's a mantra at Microsoft called "Hiring with Diversity in Mind."

At first pass, it smells of affirmative action.

But, I was thinking about it the other day after I joined my 4th or 5th con call in a row and realized..."hey, everyone with whom I've spoken to today is white."

A lot of women, yes, but everyone was white.

On the flip side, that's obviously not the make up of our customer base, so it got me wondering..."what assumptions are we making about behavior that may not be accurate? What are we missing?"

It put the concept of "hiring with diversity in mind" in a whole new light.

Now, obviously, there's a fine line, because quality of employee needs to be paramount, but ethnic and racial component of a candidate is an element of quality.

Ok, now back to helping my wife give birth...

"Are you having a boy or a girl?"

Doctor and nurse just asked.

Our answer, "we don't know."

Both of them say "COOL!!!!!"

They told us that fewer than 3% of parents take that route these days, so they are part of the adventure.

labor command and control center

my laptop is up and i am connected in the roomsready to roll