She's here!

Our first child has been born! She didn't end up being a birthday baby for Amber--the day after, with some serious labor in between.

Both mom and child are healthy and happy. Her name is Coraline Hope Clark, and she arrived at 9:10pm on March 30th, 2008. Weighing in at 7 lbs, 1 oz, she was 19 and a quarter inches long. Mom had to have a C-section because of Coraline's large head and her smaller-than-average pelvic bones, but everyone is doing well.

She has my cleft chin, Amber's lips and nose, and might be on track for having curly hair--who knows at this point. What's undeniable is her overwhelming cuteness!

We've set up a Picassa album for posting the photos to at http://picasaweb.google.com/amber.d.clark/Coraline. A bunch came out too dark last night since we didn't want the flash to hurt her little eyes. More will follow, though--have no doubt.

It's time!

Jason posting here for Amber, who is currently at the hospital...

I'm home for a quick couple minutes to get a few things together, and then it's back to the hospital.

We went in for Amber's routine appointment this morning without much expectation. Although she's been more nauseous through the past week, a low-grade headache, and some "fake" contractions for a while longer than that, it didn't seem like things were imminent.

Then they took her blood-pressure, which was a bit elevated. They decided to get a blood test, and while that was out her blood-pressure continued to rise. The doctors recommended moving towards inducing, and since we were already fine with that possibility, we agreed.

Things are moving slow--inducing a baby isn't like a 15-minutes movie birth or anything--but the chances are good that tomorrow's the day. It also happens to be Amber's birthday... double the birthdays, double the fun!

Anyway, I've got to get a few more things together and run!