Charles Henry Veit

His day has arrived! Our son came into this world early this morning at 1:01 am, and weighed in at an astounding 9 lbs, 13 oz! His length is 21" (my lucky number) and he nailed a 9.9 on his APGAR score (I'd like to see how he would do in the wonderlic).

DEFCON 1 came around 10:00 pm last night and excitement was abound. Dr. Cain-Swope came in and our nurse Linda started assisting with the pushes. Unfortunately, Katie's epidural was wearing off a bit and a "hot spot" was really bugging her on her right side which was not allowing her to bear down as much as she needed to. So the anesthesiologist came in and did some configuring with her epidural and gave her a little extra juice, and that really helped. We continued to push and Katie was doing much better now and was able to really get some leverage. Erin, myself and Grandma-to-be were helping Katie as much as we could. As the clock ticked it didnt seem like we were getting anywhere with the pushing, so Dr. Cain-Swope came in and took a look at things and suggested that we go ahead with a C-Section. Charlie's big ol head just wasn't going to make it through past her pubic bone.

At the moment, it was such a disheartening thing for Katie to hear. She had come so far and had done so well, that she didnt want to give up now. But she really trusted the doc and we had time to talk about it, and it seemed best to go ahead with the C-Section.

Within 20 minutes, they had me in scrubs and Katie prepped and moved into the OR. I waited in the hall for them to call me in, and once I was in the OR, it was maybe 10 minutes and little Charlie was here! I am a bit squeamish so I kept my eyes on Katie's side of screen, but glanced up just as they were pulling him out. WHAT A SIGHT! Indescribable moment - I was amazed at how big he was! He started to cry almost instantly and they brought him over to the table top get him cleaned up and all. I got to watch as he squirmed and wiggled - I still could not believe that this was our son.

Katie got some good quality time and was teary eyed at the sight of this life that she has been waiting for so long to meet. After a few good photo ops, I got to take the little man down the hall for the rest of the family to see. It was like a movie star arriving on the scene at the Oscars! Lots of oohs and ahhs and camera flashes. The family was so excited to see him at last.

Charlie then was taken up to the nursery to get his weight and other details. The family watched from the other side of the glass as the nurse tried hard to get Charlie to cooperate with getting his footprints on the card. After a quick briefing from the nurse, I left to check on Katie who was just about to be wheeled back into her room.

She came in and was looking a little beat up from the surgery, but was smiling all the way. We got her settled in and we had little Charlie come down a few minutes later to get some more quality time with mommy and see how he would take to the breast. His instincts seem to kick in pretty well, as he latched right on. Not sure how much nursing took place, but he definitely had the mechanics down to a tee. I rocked him for a little while longer before we had him taken back up to the nursery so that mom and dad could get some well needed rest. The daddy couch wasn't the most comfortable, but after a day like that, I could have slept on pavement.

We are now moved into our room - didnt get the Titans or Preds suite - they were already taken. But hopefully they may free up before we check out on Tuesday. Charlie is in the room with us now and is peacefully snoozing away in his exhausted mother's arms.

Stay tuned for more updates! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers - we are truly blessed.