Liam Ellis Ash

Liam Ellis Ash arrived at 2:16pm, Friday the 18th.  If the delay of this post is any indication, time has already been twisted and taken on a new form in our lives.  A few reflections on the birth:

• Rachel said she felt a little “off” on Thursday night.  Her last words before falling asleep at 8pm on the sofa were “I think this could be it tomorrow”
• Rachel’s mom woke up at 3:30am in New Jersey, looked at her clock and said, “Rachel’s going into labor”
• Rachel’s water broke at 4:15am.
• Eli came into our room at 5:15am and for once, we didn’t send him back to bed.  One last cuddle for just the 3 of us.
• 5:30-9:45 – Rachel showered, made Eli’s lunch for daycare, watered all plants in the house, emptied the dishwasher, directed me around all while pausing every 10-20 minutes for those inconvenient contractions.  :)
• 10am – We leave for the hospital
• 10:30am-  We’re set up in the room and ready to roll
• 1pm-  6cm dilated, I decide it’s halftime and a good point to visit the cafeteria.  I fill my try with food and checkout with a bill of $4.  (Subsidized food!).  I sit down and enjoy a leisurely lunch, reading the Ithaca Times.
• 1:30-  I head back to the room and run into a couple in the elevator, asking me what I’m there for.   I tell them it’s for the birth, and they say “wow, and you’re not in the room?”  To which I reply that it’s the 2nd child.  And they laughed and said, “of course.”
• 1:40pm-  I walk to our room, now filled with 3 nurses staring at me and the baby warmer now positioned near the bed.  I take it in, and realize we’re further along than expected.  They tell me they were about to page me, and that Rachel is now 10cm dilated and ready to go.
• 2:16-  Arrival…of a boy

Since Liam arrived before Thanksgiving, we’ve had a week of family in town and plenty of food.  The past two days have been the new reality of our family of four.  I started this blog 3 years ago when Rachel and I made the move to Ithaca.  As I type this now, we have everything we could have been hoping for…