Seth Armstrong Choate
Well, Seth is here! He was born September 3rd, 9:38 PM EST. He weighed 8 pounds, 5 ounces and was 20 inches in length. He's perfect.
His due date was September 1st. That came and went. We were kind of expecting a late baby-- Savannah was 11 days late. At Georgia's last checkup which was this past Thursday, she was dilated 1 cm-- not much but off to a good start. Georgia had a few contractions on Monday, but nothing regular. So on Tuesday I was ready to go back to work since it could have been even a few more days before the baby arrived. Georgia called me at the office that morning to report that her contractions were getting pretty regular-- roughly 10 minutes apart. Still, she wasn't concerned at this point, so she didn't ask me to come home.
A little after 6 PM she called to say that she needed to be checked at the clinic again, but in her condition she couldn't drive herself. So I went to pick her up-- by the time we left the house it was just after 7 PM. At the clinic we found that Georgia was up to 4 cm. They advised that we go to the hospital to have them determine whether Georgia was ready to be admitted or not.
We got to the hospital at 8:15 and they said Georgia should stay-- they estimated her at 4-5 cm. So we called the Traisci's who had agreed to keep Savannah while Georgia was in the hospital. They arrived and left with Savannah. I got back to the Georgia's room after seeing them off. She was already well into labor-- this was probably about 9 PM.
Things are a little blurry after that. At this point she was asking for some pain meds because the contractions were getting strong and frequent. She was also starting to feel the urge to push, which was a serious sign she was close to delivery. A half-hour later (9:38 PM), Seth was born. Georgia delivered too fast to be allowed any medication. She didn't even get out of the triage room! But she did just fine. We called the Traisci's afterward-- like us, they couldn't believe it was already over. They came back down to the hospital to see the baby and to let Savannah meet her new brother.
After that, Georgia was put in a regular room. She was able to nurse Seth there. She also asked for a chocolate milkshake. I obliged her. What a day!
Georgia and Seth will be released from the hospital on Thursday. Besides putting the pictures and this online, I'm running some errands today getting things ready for his homecoming. I'd like to say a word of thanks to my employer, Euro RSCG Circle-- they provide for a week of paid leave for Dad. That's going to be a big help to us this week. My parents are planning to drive up and stay a while. If you'd like to drop a note to Georgia, her e-mail address is mamac@glchoate.com.
To learn more about Seth and to see more pictures, visit Seth's Weblog.
