Written Monday Feb 6th at 01:45

Elliot Michael, born Feburary 5th and 01:09, 5 lbs 3 oz’s, 17.5 inches long. He came 5 weeks early, but so far he is doing very well according to staff. We were all worried he wouldn’t be able to come out and start breathing on his own right away, but as soon as Crystal gave that last push and he popped out, he started crying right away which was a HUGE relief. Being so little and so early he is still working on the whole eating/drinking/sucking thing, but made huge strides in that today. He started out this morning taking some formula from a cup but was spitting most of it back up, next feeding he tried w/ a bottle and the same result, finally this afternoon, his 2nd bottle…he drank all that the doctor wanted him to get down, and he kept it down! YEAH!!

The birthing center is packed w/ people…apparently July was a hot month and people stayed inside to stay out of the heat  After a few hours of trying to find a pump so Crystal could try and get some colostrum (spelling) for the little guy, we finally got some to him and he got that in his most recent bottle and will again at his next feeding. Every nurse that’s seen what Crystal has been able to produce so far in that area is just amazed. Which means super good things for the baby, he’s getting moms good stuff! He is still having some trouble latching on, but he’s my boy, he will figure out that boob is a good thing soon enough! hehehe.

All growing up my Dad was my hero, sorry pop, you’re now #2. Crystal is now my #1. I’ve never seen anyone do such an amazing thing in my entire life. She has done so incredibly well I cant possibly put it into words…but I’ll try.

Labor started for her Saturday at about 1500, but she didn’t know it was starting. She actually went to work! I was already there when she came in, so she came over and told me she didn’t feel to good and was having funny “feelings” in her stomach. We both gave opinions of what it might be and she plugged into the phones at work to listen to everyone else’s problems while she sat and suffered. After 2 hours of that, she decided to call it quits and head home, I made her promise to call the birthing center when she got home and see what they suggested. I got a message from her saying they told her to take a nice warm shower then try and lay down for an hour and see if that helped, if not, come in and they would check her out. About and hour later, I got another text message “time to come home, I don’t want to be alone anymore and I think its time to go in”. 3 broken land speed records later, I pulled into the driveway, scarred, nervous and excited, but trying not to show it. I don’t think I did a very good job of it. We slammed together an overnight bag just in case (something we were planning on getting ready this weekend) and an hour later, we were on our way to the hospital. Being so early we were thinking it was going to be Braxton hicks contractions or something, she’d get a shot of some “make it stop” drug and we’d be sent home. After an hour of being in the “triage” area of the birth center, the nurse decided to do a pelvic exam and see what was going on. After the gloves were on the nurse and the blanket pulled back, the words I’ll never forget, “oh, your dialated about 8 centimeters, you’re having a baby!”. Instant panic behind Crystals and my own eyes, “he’s too early!”, “baby says otherwise” came the nurses voice again, “time to get you admitted, and in a hurry”. After the epideral was in and working, Crystal finally said, “I think I need to push now”, 10 contractions later, we were parents. She was absolutely amazing thru the hole process, she was even laughing and joking between contractions! I think I’m getting married to wonder woman! I was all set for the horror story labor session where I would be called every nasty word in the book…to be honest, it was alittle bit of a let down, but then we could see his head coming out, then the back of his head, then the top of his neck and the doctor turned his head and there was his face, my god he was gorgeous, next to Crystal the most beautiful thing I’d ever laid my eyes on! What a fantastic gift God gives us, so much instantaneous overwhelming love for a person we don’t even know. Right there on the spot with out warning, I was ready to kill anyone or anything that might try and do him harm. That’s an easy sentence for me to sit and write, but I don’t think I’ve ever said a more truthful statement about myself, its just a feeling in your bones that comes out of no where, this is my child, I’ll do whatever, whenever and however I have to too protect him. Evidence of this came just 20 minutes later as I watched a nurse try and draw blood from one of his tiny little veins, it wasn’t her fault and I wish I could find her again and tell her sorry, but the vein kept rolling away from the needle, so she just left the needle in and worked it around to try and get it, I could only stand about 15 seconds of watching this as he is balling his head off the more she moves the needle around “how bout you try a different spot instead of digging for china” comes flying out of my mouth and dead silence (except for the baby screaming) fills the room…even the heart monitor shut up for my split second of wrath. I didn’t even feel sorry for saying it until just now as I write this, oh well, I’m sure I’m not the first dad to freak out that his child was being hurt at the hands of a complete stranger.

The flood of emotions, along with about 4 hours of sleep over the last 48 hours has me seeing double of my double visions, so I’m going to shut this thing off for now and try to get some sleep. Crystal “might” get released later today, if not tomorrow, but little Elliot has to stay for a week or until he puts on some weight and can show every one that he will eat and keep it down. Updates will start coming pretty regularly to the site, so if you enjoy watching a grown man weep like a school girl with a scraped knee, or just want to share him growing up with us and cant do it in person a lot, stick around, I have a feeling its going to be a fantastic ride.