Well, our little blog poll called it. We have a son, as you, the voters, correctly predicted. What was not predictable, however, was how blessedly well everything went, from the water breaking to today's slow drive home from the hospital in sub-zero temps. We have many people to thank for a truly amazing birth experience.
Angie announced the start of an eventful weekend at 1:45 a.m. on Friday with a rather matter-of-fact "Tune, I think my water broke." That set off a chain of events that included a quick call to my sister, Gabi, who must have been sleeping with the phone in her hand. She arrived at our house within minutes. I took a two-minute shower to wake up, while Angie got dressed. We ran a couple red lights on the way to Abbott-Northwestern, and got there by about 2:45 a.m. The contractions were pretty strong and frequent by then. I wheeled Angie up to station 55, suddenly thankful for the dry run we'd had in 30 below windchill about 10 days earlier. As we checked in, I sensed things would go much quicker than they did with Coco. I did not anticipate that things would go quite as quickly and smoothly as they did.
Angie was amazing. She leaned on her yoga breathing techniques (thanks, Jenn!), and soldiered through labor like a prize fighter with just a couple rounds to go for the title. She hardly broke a sweat, and made it through without drugs. Dr. Petersen and the nursing staff were also calm and clearly in control, which allowed me to relax a bit through the final pushes. Elliot popped out at 4:27 a.m., his face a little purple and blotchy, but gorgeous. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 3 ounces, and measured 21 1/4 inches.
We hadn't really discussed names prior to the birth, preferring to size up the newest addition to the the family before making the call. Elliot was the name of a favorite student of Angie's. It was also the the name of the street where I first lived when we arrived in this country. Good associations. Alexander is a Pierach family name. There could be no other option.
Thanks to all for helping us welcome our wonderful son into this world. Coco is delighted to have a "bruddah," and the pictures above provide evidence that Elliot Alexander Pierach is surrounded family and friends who love him. He's a lucky kid. And so are his parents.
No comments:
Post a Comment