With great joy, on Saturday 6/7/08 at 6:58am, Melanie and I welcomed Brody into the family. It was quite a long ordeal, about 28 hours from water breaking to delivery… so it would take a while to explain everything. I’ve summed it up in some key points listed below.

Brody has his very own page on the site, which has links to all the photos that I upload. Photos will automatically show up on his page as I upload them. So, be sure to check in regularly. But, be sure to keep reading if you want to know any specifics about his birth.

Here are the quick details to bring you all up to speed:

• Water broke at 2:10am on Friday 6/6.
• Brief panic attack. I assured Melanie that she did, in fact, have time to brush her teeth.
• Arrived at triage at about 3:00am. No traffic!
• Nurses surprised that Mel could not really feel what appeared to be strong contractions. In Mel’s words: “feels a bit tighter”
• Admitted and in labor & delivery by 5am. Still only dilated at 1.5 cm.
• Nurse and Midwife say that delivery may not happen until the next day.
• 11:30am, labor gets into gear with a little help from Pitocin.
• Contractions got stronger.
• Sometime early afternoon… Epidural, Melanie’s new favorite word.
• Sleep.
• 7:30pm, dilated at 5cm… moving along! Dial that Pitocin down a bit.
• Sleep.
• 10:40, still dilated at 5cm… ugh! Crank that Pitocin up.
• Midnight-ish, dilated at 8cm. Whew… they were talking c-section if she had not progressed.
• Slept more.
• 5:00am, almost fully dilated.
• 5:50am, lock and load. It’s time to push.
• Called the welcoming committee to get ready
• 6:58am, Brody Neil Bernhart joins us.
• The rest is history

Official specs:
Weight: 7 lbs. 10 oz.
Length: 20 1.4 inches
Head circumference: 13 1/2 inches

Thanks to everyone for all the phone calls, text messages, and visits. We appreciate all the well wishes.

Now, Brody is sleeping, so I’ll be doing the same!