New Bundle of Joy!

            Thomas and Angie have
had their first baby on Monday, Nov 15th!   What an exciting
time!   Pictures are posted; just check the “Pictures” link on the
side menu
bar and select the “Baby” pictures album.

            New pictures added regularily.   New pictures are added at the end of the picture
album.

            Click the “Read more” link below to read the details about the delivery.

            Angie started having contractions
Thursday night.   The contractions were pretty regular and advanced to
about 6-7 minutes apart.   (When the contractions are 5 minutes apart or
less, it’s time to go to the hospital.)   However, into the early morning,
the contractions subsided.   It was exciting to think that the baby was
about to come, but it probably wanted Thomas to get his homework done that was
due at the end of the week.

            On Friday, there were no consistent
contractions.   The same followed Saturday morning.   Even after lots
of walks and a couple at-home movies, the baby still hadn’t come.

              Starting early Sunday
morning, Angie felt contractions and felt them all day long.   The
contractions got to be about 8-10 minutes apart.   Angie didn’t sleep much,
but the contractions didn’t get to be 5 minutes apart and were not very
intense.   All throughout Sunday, it was the same situation.   Late
Sunday night and starting into Monday morning, real big contractions started to
hit.   Around 1:30 AM, the contractions started to get pretty intense, but
still were not consistently at 5 minutes or less.

              Monday morning, the Doctor
checked Angie and she was dilated to a six.   He said go straight to the
hospital.

              The delivery was pretty smooth
and relatively quick.   Angie’s water was broken at about 12:10, she became
dilated to a 10 at 1:45, started pushing at 3:05, and the baby was delivered at
4:34.

              She is 7 pounds (which is what
Thomas weighed when he was born), and is 18 inches long.   All of the
baby’s tests by the nurses have turned out great.

              Thomas was invited into the
hospital nursery to be with the baby for a bath, shots, and tests.   It was
very hard to watch that little lower lip quiver when they pricked her for blood
samples.

              So, what about a name?   A
name for the baby is pretty important, and Autumn Elizabeth Wheatley is her name.

              Every minute, the wonder of what
has happened is reinforced.   It’s such a miraculous thing!