What a day!

Today's post brought to you by Andy:

Well, today started off like most Sundays. Tricia walked on the treadmill, Andy made coffee and read the comics, and Stella slept in a bit. Only, today was most certainly not like most Sundays. Tricia finished with her walk, and told me that she was feeling contractions. A little strong, but not all that close together. Little did she know...

We managed to snap a quick photo before we hopped in the car:

So off we go to Good Sam Hospital...or so we thought. We, for whatever reason, decided to take I-71 South to get to Clifton (90% of the time, I would have taken I-75). We were on 275, and I remember asking Tricia if she thought we could make it to Good Sam - she was REALLY beginning to feel the pain and have major contractions. At this point, we could have gone to another hospital on the north side that delivers many babies. She thought she could make it, so we continued by heading south on I-71. We passed Pfiefer (last good shot at Bethesda North), passed Cross County, and were approaching Montgomery Rd when she proceeded to inform me that there was NO WAY she could make it to Clifton (quick change of heart, huh?). So... we decided to head for Jewish Hospital Kenwood (which, funny enough, does not have a maternity/labor/delivery ward). After running a couple of lights, we pulled into the parking lot, where Tricia's water broke (author's side note: the Pathfinder seems OK, as my lovely and talented wife had managed to place a sweatshirt on the seat, which caught the heretofore mentioned water breakage). I pulled up to the ER and, like out of a movie, ran to the receptionist and said, "Ma'am, I know you don't normally deliver babies here, but you are going to today. My wife is in the car, and we need help. Now." Before you even think about it, I was actually extremely calm about the situation. So calm, in fact, that the ER staff came out with a wheelchair. Tricia, also fairly calm given the situation, promptly told them that there was no way she could get into a wheelchair, as the baby was CROWNING. At this point, they realized we were not playing around. They grabbed a gurney, wheeled her in, and in three pushes we had a new addition to our little family.

Total elapsed time from garage to new baby: 30 minutes.

So, please welcome our little Charlotte Amelia. She was born at 10:10am today, February 15, 2009. She is beautiful, and both mother and baby are doing great. Tricia was a ROCK STAR, and never ceases to amaze me. See below for a couple of pictures. You'll notice a crazy contraption in one of the pictures - that is how they transported Charlotte down to Good Sam.