For those of you keen observers who noticed the countdown stopped you are correct in the assumption that I went into labour on my own.

It started on Wednesday at 0930 hrs. I was able to comfortably labour at home until around 2200 hrs that night at which point we headed for the hospital. In typical Calgary fashion we were somewhat delayed by traffic. I was dilated to 3 cm and they sent me to the cafeteria for a couple of hours while we waited for a room. That was less comfortable. My contractions were about 5 minutes apart and I was basically sobbing my way through each one. When I was finally assigned a room I called uncle after 17 hours of labour and got an epidural. That was probably the best decision I've ever made. I can't even begin to describe the relief I felt. I was put on IV solution to keep my electrolytes up.

After the doctor ruptured my membranes, baby's heartbeat began to dip when I had a contraction so they monitored him with a probe on the top of his head and kept topping up my amnio fluid. He did best through contractions when I was on my right side. For most of the night and the morning I was able to sleep. It was some of the best sleep of my life. I didn't notice anyone buzzing around me or the machines or anything else. It was amazing.

At 1100 hrs I was 10 cm dilated and it was time to push. At 1119 Simon Walter Dubois-Nishiyama was born (apparently I'm some kind of champion pusher). He was 7 lbs. 9 ozs., 20 ¾ inches.

We're at home now and Evil Scientist is off for the next few days. All is well and Simon is getting used to his new home. The cats seem totally unaffected and haven't even bothered to sniff the baby.

A few notes of interest; Baby Simon is a Virgo and shares his birthday with astronauts Edgar Mitchell and Thomas P. Stafford, singer/song-writer Hank Williams Sr. and actor John Ritter.

I'll post some pictures in the next few days or so.

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