Hannah turning 5

Last night, before she went to sleep, Hannah (my eldest) said to me, "Daddy, in two more sleeps, I'm going to be 5 years old." Man, do they ever grow up fast. Takes me back to the beginning...

August 27th,2001:

Kate starts recording her contractions. She has contractions at 9:24am, 9:28am, and 9:33am.

Kate calls Dave at about 9:30am and tells him that she "sort of has contractions," but that they are irregular. She's thinking that they are actually Braxton Hicks contractions.

Dave asks if he should come home and skip his 10:30am meeting - Kate says no, it's alright.

Kate has contractions at 9:43am, 9:50am, 9:56am, and 10:01am.

Dave calls Kate - asks if she's o.k. Kate (huffing) says that she's o.k. and that Dave should go to his meeting.

Kate has contractions at 10:04am, 10:07am, 10:11am, 10:15am, 10:19am, and 10:24am.

Dave calls Kate again and asks if she's o.k.

Kate tells Dave to go to his meeting.

(10:30am) Dave goes to his meeting which is a meeting of faculty involved in the "Imagine 1st year program." Dave introduces himself as a member of the Biotechnology Lab, and that if his cell-phone rings, he has to leave because "his wife is pregnant."

Kate has contractions at 10:35am, 10:41am (this one lasted 69 seconds!), 10:47am, 10:52am, and 10:57am.

Kate has a contraction at 11:00am, calls Dave on the cell-phone, and tells him to come home.

The people at Dave's meeting cheer.

(11:01am): Dave is running back to his office and then to the car.

Kate has contractions at 11:08am, 11:12am, 11:15am, 11:20am, 11:25am, 11:30am, and 11:34am.

Dave makes it home - Kate and Dave hightail it to the hospital.

(12:00noon) Kate checks in and the nurse comes to check her out. She is already 9.5cm dialated, which means it's time to push. It also means that it's too late for an epidural.

Kate is sad.

Kate is scared.

Kate starts pushing.

Dave's Mom and Dad and Uncle Steve arrive at about 3pm.

Kate is still pushing and it looks as if Hannah may take a while to come out (she's still pretty high up).

Doctor green lights the epidural.

Kate is happy.

Kate doesn't get her epidural until 4pm. A nurse tells Uncle Steve he can come into the room, because she thinks he is Dave. More pushing...

Hannah is born at 4:54pm, she weighs 6lbs 9ozs.

Kate's Mom, Uncle Chris and Auntie Jodi arrive at 5:10pm. Auntie Emily arrives at 6:00pm