Here she is...

Charlotte Esther Michael 12.16.06

Well, I finally have some pictures available [click on pic above]. I'll have video tonight or tomorrow if you check back or subscribe.

Here's the story. Kaye started feeling labor pains at approximately 1 or 1:30 AM Saturday morning. At about 3 AM we called the hospital and were told that they needed to be consistently closer together. So, since I was so helpful, Kaye sent me back to bed at about 4 AM. At about 6 AM she woke me up [don't ask me how I managed to sleep...probably in denial] and told me that they were 3-5 minutes apart. So, we sat around for a few minutes and tried to decide what to do. At about 6:30 her labor pains got pretty intense so we decided to go in to the hospital.

After arriving at about 7 AM, they discovered that she was 6-7 cm dilated and informed us that we were staying. After a little over an hour, the contractions started getting pretty intense, so Kaye asked for a little something to "take the edge off", which she got. Shortly after that, she decided that she needed a little more than the edge taken off. She asked for the epidural. Of course, they don't pressure you into not getting the epidural [at least that's what they tell you up front], but the nurse informed Kaye she wasn't giving herself enough credit. Kaye said she'd think about it a few more minutes [probably until the next contraction]. In the nurses defense, Kaye was pretty quiet throughout this entire experience, so it probably did appear as though Kaye wasn't in that much pain. Nonetheless, having been warned about the "whoops, now it's to late for the epidural" scenario, I asked what kind of a window we had to make this decision. The nurse informed me we had plenty of time. Apparently, "plenty of time" is about 10 minutes because in that amount of time, Kaye again, asked for the epidural. The nurse agreed and informed her that she'd have to check to see how far along she was. During her examination the nurse said, "Hmmmm, I can't find your cervix." So, everyone agreed that it was too late and it was almost time to start pushing.

I'll spare you the details of the pushing, but let's just say that Kaye and I were essentially mute during the entire thing; Kaye, because she was trying to stay focused [and possibly the drugs]. Me, because I think I was a little shell shocked. I'll also spare you all the typical stories about how amazing it was [and it was]. However, I was able to watch Charlotte enter this world at 10:43 AM, Saturday, December 16th 2006. I'll only say that Kaye was unbelievable and Charlotte is beautiful...loud, like her daddy, but beautiful, like her mommy.

Lastly, Charlotte is Kaye's late grandmother's name [maternal]. Esther is my grandmother's name [maternal].

Again, I will try to get some video up tonight or tomorrow morning.