The name is Emmett!

Little Emmett is two days old now - my they grow up so fast! He's applied early admission to a few schools (we're keeping our fingers crossed for Wesleyan, just like dad) and is spending the rest of the summer working as an intern on the Obama campaign.

Well, maybe not, but its easy to look at his chubby little face and imagine the possibilities that await him in the future.

We've been home from the hospital for a whole day now, and he's doing really great.  He's feeding well, sleeping well, pooping well, and crying very well.  All in all it's everything you'd want from a happy bouncing new baby. He even let us sleep pretty good last night for a solid chunk of hours, so let's hope he stays on the straight and narrow.

The birth was absolutely amazing.  Sarah was so strong and patient and powerful.  Many of the nurses and midwives went out of their way to tell us how impressed they were with her natural birthing and mothering abilities.  Watching her at work, surrounded by the amazing team of women, I felt as though I had been afforded a rare glance into the true depth of female potential.  Fairer sex, my eye!  As she sweated, groaned, and pushed, it quickly became apparent that if any man had to face such a task, they'd go running to the nearest hole and get in it.  It was amazing.

Having our friend Katie there as our doula, made the whole experience flow much more easily. Even though it wasn't an easy birth, her calm and steady reassurances kept Sarah focused with her eyes on the end goal.  She kept Sarah just on this side of panic, which if you've been to a birth you know is quite an accomplishment.

The midwives and nurses were also terrific.  Maggie, the midwife who was there for the final stages of pushing Emmett out, totally blew my mind with her ability to gently guide Sarah, taking her natural impulses and honing them to be perfectly effective and forceful.

I tried my best to be quietly supportive, a stable force for Sarah to lean on, and a loving source of encouragement.  Frankly, I just hoped not to get in the way and let the women do what they've done for eons.  It really was so primal, I felt truly mammalian.  At times the hospital room disappeared and it felt as though we were in a mud hut or some other primitive enclosure, just following the forces of nature.

So after a long night of riding out the painful contractions, the sun rose, our spirits rose, our energy rose, and we all got together for the final hard push.  I was beside myself, gently wiping Sarah's face with a cold cloth or getting behind her and trying to help her push.  Somewhere in there Sarah disappeared and a strange birthing machine took her place.  She really went to another place.

Time slowed as we all focused on our goal.  I was laughing, I was crying, I was scared, and I was elated. Here he comes, there's his head, and whoosh, like toothpaste out of a tube, his little blue body came flying out into the world.  Immediately they put him up on her chest, where he wrestled his way right to the breast.  He gasped and coughed, and as he slowly figured out how to breath his little blue face turned purple, then pink.  We were all so happy and relieved, baby Emmett was here, healthy and beautiful.

Does he look like anybody you know?