Introducing Ruby Patricia Autumn Date

I am overwhelmingly proud to introduce you all to the newest member of our family.

Ruby Patricia Autumn Date was born today at 12:16pm. She weighed 6lbs 15oz, and was 20 inches long. She had a 13cm head (every woman cringe...go ahead...) and is absolutely the cutest thing I have ever seen. Oh, and did I fail to mention that Steph did it drug-free AGAIN!!!


That's right, and she is beautiful

Just like I did with Jack's birth a brief run down of the day is as follows:

5:00am
Woke up and decided that this is entirely too early to have a baby. Consider sleeping in, but decide against it when I see Steph up and ready to roll. I can't be the one letting the team down. Jack stayed the night at Aunty Jo's so he was not a factor.

6:15am
Arrive at the hospital all excited. Remember that today is Elvis' birthday, which makes Steph happier than anything! We get checked in to Room 3K07, and settle down to our luxurious surroundings.


Slightly smaller than the one we had with Jack, but nevertheless it was very comfortable

7:00am
Our nurse, Jennine, is very nice indeed, and she hooks Steph up to the various IV drips. This was an induced labor, so you need pitocin to get that going. Steph had decided, like with Jack, that she was going to do it naturally. I had some reservations when Jack was born that she could do it, but having seen her cope with Jack's giant melon, I had no doubts she would do it this time.

8:00am
The mood is good, she is doing well, and the first contractions don't bother her really. She is hooked up to the heart rate monitor, and we laugh and joke about what she will eventually look like, and what if Ruby isn't actually a girl after all.


Up and about, all is well after about a hour into it

9:00am
Doctor Polo comes in and breaks Steph's water, and examines her quickly. Water is all normal, and baby is coming down the pipeline. Note: 'pipeline' is probably not the medical term.

9:25am
The mood changes. For those of you yet to experience this, there are really three key areas to labor. The first is the excitement stage. You are ready to roll, and are looking forward to seeing your little bundle of joy. The second is the serious stage. This is where the contractions start to kick in, and the pain starts to increase to levels that 'can' make you irritable. The third, and last, stage is the exhausted/mad stage. This is where you have often been through hours of pain, and just want this damn piece of crap bundle of joy out of you, and you don't care what it takes, it is coming out!
Now, with Jack this more serious stage came later on in the day, but Steph was ready to roll after only about 25 minutes. This was when my wise cracks and constant texting to people to let them know we were here ceased to be amusing.

11:00am
The nurse comes in and checks her again. Decides that we are moving along a lot quicker than before, and so she she will call the doctor again (he leaves and comes back constantly as he has a medicacl office in another wing of the hospital, too).
Doc arrives, checks, verifies, and the room transformation begins.

11:30am
Steph is getting mad, but in a good way. She is pushing slightly against the contractions. This is good, and is encouraged by the nurses, just to ease the pain. The nurse described is as your way of fighting back against the pain. Kind of like when you cut yourself, and you rub it really hard, or you push hard on the cut...it takes some of the pain away. We concentrated on our breathing a lo during this part.

12:00pm
Doc arrives, and decides it is go time. Attachs a fetal heart rate monitor to the baby's head, as the heart rate seemed to slow slightly.

12:10pm
Steph starts to push and we are all rocking and rolling. (Just in case you are wondering, I am doing fine at this point).

12:16pm
Yes, that is right, SIX minutes later, Ruby Patricia Autumn Date is born. She starts to scream right away, as would I if I had just been through that! She has a great set of lungs on her, and as you can see from the pictures below she has a full head of hair, and finger nails, and some serious dimples (thanks mum!).

A quick note on the name:
Ruby was going to be Jack's name if he was a girl, and over the last two years we decided that we still loved the name, so stuck with it.
Patricia was a no-brainer. Both our mothers are named Patricia!
Autumn is Steph's best friend in the whole world, and it was our way of saying thank you and how much she means to us. It is also a little shout out to my English heritage by having TWO middle names. It is not common here in the US, but is very common in England.

Jack got to meet his little sister a few hours after the birth when Aunty Jo arrived, and Naomi will meet her tomorrow morning. Jack could not have been more underwhelmed. It was cute, but he obviously doesn't grasp it yet. I can't wait until Naomi sees her.

As for how things went after the delivery, I will let the pictures speak for themselves.


One of my favorite shots


Cut me, Mick...


Is this coming home with us?


Oh, I get it. My little sister.


She had good parents to help!!


Finally, clean and sleeping, nice and safe!

There is also video !!

Click here to see Ruby's first bath.

Click here to see Ruby right after she was born.

Click here to see a very relaxed mommy after the birth!