Before and after the delivery

Pete was born at Missouri Baptist in St. Louis on March 25 at 9:15 AM. 8 lbs, 2 oz, and 20.5 inches long. He came exactly a week after his due date of March 18.

Before the delivery. We got to the hospital on March 24, at around eight in the evening. Before we left, I made sure to eat half of a turkey sub from Snarf's (I finished the other half after we were back from the hospital). I'd been in light labor all day; if I hadn't gone into labor on my own I would have gone in to the hospital for a scheduled induction at midnight. I spent the day sleeping, and timing contractions, and we watched an episode of Bloodline (I'll forever associate that show with Pete--we watched the first half in my last week of pregnancy; the second half after Pete was born).

He's here! He came sooner than everyone expected. The nurse said a morning delivery was "optimistic." I was given a little Pitocin, to speed my labor up, and by 8:00ish AM I was ready to push! I pushed for about forty five minutes.

A mean nurse gave Pete a bath and ripped his fingernails off (in lieu of cutting them, which apparently they aren't allowed to do anymore).

Pete's first visitors: Lulu and Poppy, who came to St. Louis the night before he was born.