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We got to come home from the hospital on Monday afternoon. It's been pretty much a standard new parent experience so far... things are going well, but we're very tired emotionally and physically. We just have to get past this initial adjustment period to find our new normalcy.

Also, happy 30th birthday to my wife, who has taken to motherhood like a fish to water.

-P

Who's your daddy?

Below is a side-by-side comparison of my baby picture and Ben's. So far, we're pretty certain that he favors me. Some of the details are pretty cool to compare... I have a little notch in the cartilage in my left ear, and he has the same thing in the same ear.

-P

Kettering Medical Center Photo

Here is the official hospital photo. An outside photo company took some other pictures this morning - but the hospital photos were 10 times more precious. Last night and today have been surreal. It's hard to look at Baby Ben and believe that he came out of me. I found myself talking to my belly in the shower this morning, and I still hear the fetal heart rate monitor when I close my eyes.

-M

The day in pictures

Presenting...

Ben and mommy.

Mackensie did a fantastic job, and both she and Ben are resting comfortably. More pics to come tomorrow after some rest for all of us. Thanks to everyone who followed along and shared your encouragement and prayers.

11:11 PM

Benjamin Philip Wittmer
8 lbs. 4 oz.

more to come...

10:00 PM

Puuuuuuuusssssshhhhhh!!!!

9:30 PM

Very nearly to 10cm. The sterile cart is in the room, the doctor is called, and they're going to start us pushing very soon.

Edited to add: Average push time for a first-time mother is 2 hours. Just saying.

7:45 PM

7cm... 90% effaced. Still relatively comfortable, but we'll probably have to back off on the epidural a little bit later on, since Mackensie can't move very much on her own right now.

6:00 PM

God bless the epidural man. To quote Ron Burgundy, "Boy, that escalated quickly... I mean, that really got out of hand fast."

4cm, with very regular contractions. According to the nurse, they're "textbook." The epidural has helped a great deal. Updates may be less frequent now as we get into the serious phase.

5:00 PM

Geting much more intense... epidural on the way...

4:00 PM

Trying to nap for a half hour, then walk for a half hour...

3:15 PM

3cm... contractions are about 90 seconds in duration, but still not very intense. Mackensie has to stay in bed for a little while so they can monitor the baby, but she's still hoping to get up and walk around some more.

Are you watching this OSU-Xavier game? I mean, are you watching this?

2:25 PM

Mackensie has been doing laps in the hall for the past 45 minutes, and she's pausing briefly to use the restroom, then she'll start again. She wants to keep going as long as she feels good.

Thanks for the comments and encouragement, everyone. I've been reading them to her.

1:45 PM

Nothing new... haven't had an exam in awhile, but the contractions are beginning to get closer together. They're not very long or strong yet, though. Mackensie is feeling very little pain at this point.

12:30 PM

Mackensie is now 2.5 cm dilated, and they just broke the rest of her water. (Up until this point, it had been just a trickle.) She describes the sensation as not her favorite thing in the world.

For real this time

We're live at Kettering Medical Center! I'm joined by my wife Mackensie, seasons 1-3 of Arrested Development on DVD, and lots of nervous energy.

This morning, at around 6:30 AM, Mackensie's water broke. Of course, we thought the same thing yesterday, but this was in much greater quantities. So we set out for the hospital, but we didn't even bring our bags because we expected to be turned away again. But this time they said it was definitely the real thing. Mackensie was 1 cm at that time, and they started her on Pitocin since she hasn't been having strong contractions. As of a few minutes ago, she's up to 2 cm. It's still not very intense at all, and she's still relatively comfortable. More to come as things progress...

Never mind

It looked like Mackensie's water might have broken, so the doctor sent us to the hospital to have it checked out. We were there for just over an hour. Here's the condensed version of events:

1. Looks like it's probably amniotic fluid.
2. No, maybe not.
3. Yep, it is. We'll be admitting you.
4. Nope, it definitely isn't. Go home.

So we got a nice dry run of the process for hospital intake. Also, I got a chance to practice encouraging Mackensie while she was in pain. I was spectacular.

-P

Something could be happening...

...going to the hospital to check it out. Probably nothing to get excited about, though.

The shape of things

Last night I was encouraged because I was appearing a little more symmetrical in the tummy region. I was hoping that the baby had dropped a little and straightened up. Well, today he is back to his comfortable pike position - giving me an asymmetrical tummy or as I call it, my "triangle tummy."

-M

Bummer

No progress to report at the latest checkup: still 0cm dilated, and the baby's head still hasn't entered the pelvis. The doctor ordered an ultrasound so she could verify that the baby wasn't breech or in any other position that prevented him from descending. The ultrasound confirmed that he's head-down. So we continue to wait. It was discouraging to find out that there had been no progress whatsoever.

It was nice to at least see the baby on ultrasound again, but at this size, there was very little to make out. The only things we could see clearly were his spine and his man-tackle. According to the tech, he has a good amount of hair, he's short, and he's chubby.

-P

If it's false labor, it can't be real pain

Mackensie had her strongest round of false labor yet on Saturday night. The contractions were strong and frequent enough to make her think that it might be the real thing, but once she got out of bed and moved around, they stopped. Still, it's an encouraging sign that the end is near. We go to the doctor again tomorrow, and we're hoping she tells us that Mackensie has begun to dilate.

-P

Week 38 checkup

Mackensie's week 38 checkup was yesterday, and there's not much progress to report. For those who know what these things mean, she's 50% effaced, but 0 cm dilated, and the baby's head is still relatively high. That was a bit of a surprise, since it seemed like the baby had dropped considerably over the last couple of weeks. The doctor did show me how to find and feel the baby's head, which was pretty cool.

All of this could change overnight, but as it stands right now, we may be here for awhile.

-P