Enter Silas Parker.

And so he is finally here, to Hannah's great relief. His birth story is interesting and I'll do my best not to embellish too much. It's Tuesday 7/10 and I'm at work, working really hard, oh there I go embellishing already. Anyway, Hannah calls me and asks for me to come home, for she has begun. You see, for her breakfast of champions that morning, she drank a mixture of Baking Soda, OJ, and Castor Oil (I think 10W/30). Yum.

I took the kids to my mom in Louisville on my way to work so the house would be clear and nobody would have to worry about projectile castor soda juice. So, I leave work once I've received the call and head home only to find traffic everywhere. A quick call to Manley (LMPD officer) and I've got the go ahead to drive in the shoulder bypassing all traffic. This goes well until Shelby County Tags 613FEC thinks I'm cheating and blocks me, delaying my ETA (estimated time of arrival for those of you in Rio Linda).

Meanwhile, at home, Hannah is being helped by 8 month pregnant Elizabeth Shearer (many thanks to her). We (Elizabeth's husband, Michael [many thanks to him also for pushing me to go on the shoulder], and I) finally get through traffic (did you like that compound parenthetical statement) and are cruising on our way (or was it more just PATHETICal?). I get home and Hannah is laboring in the warm water pool going according to plan. Exit Shearers (wish I had that one back) and a set of good hands to help. My bad. But why worry, Hannah always takes long, right?

Wrong - 20 minutes later, with the midwife on speakerphone, and a butter knife in my hand, I find myself breaking the water just below the baby's head which is, well, Out. I'm not sure if the head was the 10 ounces or the 9 pounds... Donna, our midwife, then walks us through the process step by step, and by the Lord's hand, it all goes by the book and baby is well and nursing in minutes. Another 20 minutes and Donna shows up to help with the placenta and all other sorts of procedures which I didn't see because I was passed out. Not really, but the whole adventure was a joy to go through with Hannah, Silas, and our great God. Praise be to His name. As of today, Saturday 7/14, baby is doing great and mother is steadily recovering.