Details: Jen started having contractions at 11:30PM on the evening of the 24th. Dave happened to wake up at 1:30AM, at which point Jen informed him of the contractions. Dave's immediate response was to put his hands on Jen's belly, at which point Jen said "I'm not having one right now!".

Jen took a shower, while Dave gathered up a few extra things for the labor bag. Nick woke up around 2AM, but fortunately Dave was able to get him back to sleep without too much trouble. Jen's mom (Gramma Lou), who had arrived on the 23rd for the occasion, was awakened and left in charge of Nick. Jen and Dave left for the hospital at about 2:30 AM and arrived about 2:45.

The labor was, thankfully, fairly uneventful. Jen's natural contractions petered out around 6:25, so she was put on a Pitocin drip the rest of the way. The Pitocin sped up the process considerably, and at 7:34 AM our baby was born.

Gwen took to breastfeeding immediately, and at first ate like it was her last meal, rather than her first. Mom and baby are both recovering nicely.

Nicholas first met Gwen around 4:30 in the afternoon, after spending almost a full day at day care. Nicholas has handled things exceptionally well thus far (his biggest trial no doubt was waking up this morning to find mommy and daddy were gone), though it's safe to say he still doesn't really have a clue what this is all about. When he met his sister, he showed a mild interest in her, but he was more interested in climbing on mommy and playing with all of the cool buttons on her bed (to turn the TV on/off, etc.), and he really loved playing with the privacy curtain.

Be sure to check back annually for updates!

(Sorry, with a new baby, we just can't post updates very often!)