the little man arrives

tuesday morning, 9 am, i'm just getting ready to leave the house to head in to work for a couple hours before going to the hospital at 11, and the phone rings. it's hank.

"hello?"

"answer your phone much?"

"i just finished getting ready... why, what's up?"

"the doctor's been trying to call you - they want to bump us up 30 minutes. he's coming at 12:30 today. we need to be there earlier."

what the...? my already racing, anxious, sleep-deprived mind just started moving even faster. not that 30 minutes is a big deal, and really i was grateful since i hadn't been able to eat anything since midnight and was starving. but it had been a whirlwind of a couple days trying to get things done and ready at work and at home and the culmination of having 30 minutes less time to do those things panicked me a little bit. it also gave me an adrenaline rush at the same time - i was going to get to meet my boy even sooner and i couldn't wait. i grabbed all my things, ran out the door, and let the butterflies take their place in my scrunched stomach. he was coming today!!!!

indeed he did.

at 1:02pm on january 10th, hyde douglas van orden came into the world weighing in at 7lbs, 15 oz. probably the only baby in my whole family to weigh less than 8 pounds! he's as beautiful as ever, healthy, and i think definitely going to be a banner baby. he seems calm and mellow - the docs even commented on his mild temperament during the snipping of his poor little man-parts - and i have loved holding him close to me and just taking him in. i can't think of anything much better than a fresh new babe, just arrived to the earth, all perfect and clean and untainted by the world. man, it's amazing. especially when it's yours. somehow or another that seems to make it exponentially better.

at any rate, here are a few pictures of the hyde-man's first few days of life.




and today we get to go home.

now a family of four.