On Monday, December 23, 2013, Samuel Odom Howard was born! What an exciting (and adventurous) day it was!
After several days of off and on contractions and rising and falling hopes, I woke up that morning a little after 5 a.m. knowing it was the real thing. Geoff and I got ready, dropped Liam off at Mims and Baba's, and headed to the hospital. Admittance took a while, but I was finally admitted at 8:45 a.m., despite not having heard back from my doctor's office.
To say things progressed quickly is a bit of an understatement. While in triage, Geoff and I tried our best to make the nurse understand that this labor would progress rapidly (Liam only took 6 hours, remember?), and that we would like an immediate call to the anesthesiologist. After the nurse asked me one million questions about my mental state, my level of support at home, the amount of baby safety gear I had, etc., I started to get the idea that I may have to deliver naturally. Geoff firmly asked the nurse to call the anesthesiologist again, once I could no longer breathe through the contractions.
The next time the nurse checked me, I got wheeled to the operating room since all the delivery rooms were taken. While chaos reigned supreme, Geoff held my hand and tried to reassure me while yelling for someone to find a doctor. Dr. Dubois from my office arrived in the nick of time, and sweet Sam was born at 10:54 a.m., just over 2 hours after my admittance. He was 7 pounds, 9 ounces and 21 1/4 inches long. About 30 minutes later, a delivery/recovery room was finally available for us, and we were able to move to a normal setting, where Geoff and I were able to relax a bit and joke (a tiny bit) about our experience.
On Christmas Eve, Mims and Baba brought big brother Liam to meet his new baby brother. Liam was immediately enamored with Sam, and Mims and Baba fell in love at first sight. It was a precious time at the hospital, and Geoff and I will treasure (almost) every moment. Welcome to the world, Sam!
Sweet Sam
Meeting baby brother
Mims and Baba with grandson #2
Pure love
Me and my boys
The Howard family, party of 4
