Hi everybody, and thanks for checking out Max's own webspace! He's only 2 days old and already he's got a webspace. That's nuts. We'll see as we go how coherent this first entry is (and how many more after?) , as Garnette and I are operating on very little sleep. Any of you with kids know about this part of parenthood intimately. In fact, I think every single one of you warned us about this while Max was in G's belly. Thanks. You were right.

Max was born on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008, at 6pm, weighing 8lbs 7oz. He was 21" long! We were scheduled to "be induced" the next Tuesday, and had been working on fixing up the house all day Saturday. That night, in an attempt to induce labor, I gave Garn a foot rub. It worked. It gave her contractions right away, which built through the night. About 2:30am we started timing them, and about 3am her water broke. It was at this point I put the eggs and sausage I had been cooking into the fridge (G asked for them, as we had been advised to eat protein as labor started since we'd have a long time before we could eat and sleep again) and got our bags out to the car. At 3:30am we drove to the hospital (Methodist Birth Center. They put the meth in Methodist. Seriously: they were really great.), waiting almost comically for red lights as Garn's contractions got stronger and closer, where I got her into a wheelchair and we promptly got lost. It's a big building and pretty empty that time of day. A couple tense minutes and three floors later, we got directions from a night desk attendant and made our way to the birthing center.
Garnette was in labor for about 16 hours starting at 2:30am Sunday morning. We had been awake since about 9:30am Saturday morning. The labor was tough but medically uneventful, except that Max kept flipping over and was born face up. Garn was so strong and so focused. She is super tough, and I am amazed by her now even more than I already was.
Max was born 39 weeks to the day after his conception, and although he somewhat resembles Winston Churchill, he is pretty darn cute. More stuff to come, but I need some sleep.
Thanks to all of you for your amazing love and support. You are the best friends and family ever!

Andy