Introducing...

After months of anticipation, 3 weeks of contractions and a 2.5 hour delivery Nolan Zachary Clingman arrived on Monday, January 12 at 3:21 am. He weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces, 20.5 inches long and perfect in everyway.

His arrival came as a huge surprise to us (and the medical staff) as we had planned to start the induction process around 7:00 am on Monday morning. Sunday night we were admitted and I was given some medicine to prepare for the induction and an ambien to help me sleep. At 1:00am i woke up to my water breaking and we got started. I got in the jacuzzi tub and relaxed through the contractions, did my breathing exercises just as i was taught and thought "hey i can do this!" After a little while in the tub they decided to pull me out so they could get the monitor on. As i stepped out of the tub i began to shake uncontrollably. I remembered from Emily's labor that this meant i was in transition. I thought, "WOW I'm making great time!" and the nurse assured me that we would have a dinner time baby. I walked from the bathroom to the bed and this is when things got serious. Suddenly i was in pain, and i mean real pain. I turned to the nurse, demanding that she do something about this, my coping mechanisms were out the door. I collapsed on the bed begging for them to give me something. They decided to check me and to everyone's surprise, i was completely dilated.

Since i was the only person on the floor delivering that day, and we weren't expected to get started until later, the doctor had gone home. The entire nursing staff rushed in to deliver. Luckily, the doctor only lived 2 minutes from the hospital and sure enough made it in time to catch me pushing. 6 pushed later, Nolan was here.

Pat was amazingly calm through all of this, and was amazed at how quickly he arrived. For a man that said he was going to stay up by my head the whole time, he really got into it, holding my legs and cutting the umbilical cord.

I am still in shock that it happened this way, but in the end we got exactly what we asked for. I was able to go all natural, use my relaxation techniques and he even has curly hair. I wouldn't change a thing.

So here is our new family. We couldn't be happier.