Asa Reger was born on Dec 31, 2011 at 11:59PM. He's 21" long and weighs 8 pounds, 11 ounces. He's healthy and happy.
Heather went to the hospital on the evening of Dec 30. Over the course of that night and the next day we watched the clock, wondering when Asa would arrive. Being so close to the new year he was the subject of much speculation. With an hour to go it looked like he'd be a 2012 baby. But with 15 minutes to go things really heated up. His official birth time is 11:59PM on Dec 31, 2011.
If I were to get all "sciencey" I'd say that he was born 20 seconds after midnight. A couple hours prior I had synchronized my watch with the official NIST atomic clock. The clock in the room was a little slow... a minute or two. But all of the digital clocks on the delivery carts were synchronized with the correct time. I figured they'd roll one in for the birth. They didn't so the official recorder used the 1960's style wall clock. Asa was most likely the first baby in Atlanta. But Heather didn't want the attention and in the heat of the moment I wasn't about the belabor the point. We were more focused on a healthy and happy Asa.
He's a sweet little baby. Not much crying. Lots of snuggling. Somewhere between Ava and Emme on the sweetness scale.
He has a dimple on his right cheek. Heather says he has my nose and mouth.
His umbilical cord had a knot in it! It was loose when he came out but you'll see in the pictures that it tightened down after being cut. The nurses were amazed by it.
It was a rough labor for Heather. The epidural wore off halfway through the 28 hour process and when they tried to give her more it didn't take effect. This led to an excruciating hour of natural labor contractions. Many docs later they just decided to replace the epidural. When that happened it seems that all of the medicine did take effect. Heather was 100% numb, which isn't actually the plan... they want to see some sensation of pressure and ability to move the legs. Then she started to vomit.
Then about 30 minutes before midnight the epidural again wore off. Another excruciating 20 minutes followed, hoping for more meds. Ultimately it was time for Asa to arrive and after a few minutes of pushing he did.
Ava and Emme visited Asa the next morning. They have some big plans for the little dude!
Thanks to friends and family for all of the support!
Battery Change for Terp's SUV