'Word to your Mother

He's here! Howard Gary Anderson was born yesterday at 4:09 p.m. He was 6 lbs., 8 oz. and 20 inches long...just barely bigger than Maggie was. He has a head full of blonde hair, loves to snort and loves to cuddle.

Yesterday was an interesting day to say the least. Gary left early to travel to Pittsburg for a couple of days. Maggie went to her grandparents for the morning, and I headed over to my weekly doctor's appointment. My usually quick appointment was prolonged a bit when my blood pressure was reading high, and then ended abruptly when the doctor discovered I was 6-7 centimeters! (Other than 2 hours of contractions the previous weekend, I had felt nothing all week!)

I called Gary to let him know he needed to head BACK. Muggs met me at our house and we drove promptly to the hospital, where it seemed that the entire L&D staff was waiting for us. It was a little before 12:30 at this point. I still was not feeling contractions.

Gary arrived at the hospital around 1:15. My contractions were JUST starting at this point. Fast forward to the sweet sweet epidural and me basically falling asleep on the bed when the doctor came in and informed me that it was time to start pushing. (Yes, it was this anticlimactic) After about 5 minutes of pushing, they told me to stop, and on the next contraction out he came! I am convinced it was the easiest, fastest delivery ever.

And I must say, it is much nicer to deliver at 4:09 p.m. as opposed to 3:15 a.m.