Welcome Collin

Today at 7:24am we welcomed Collin Everett Hollman into the world . He tipped the scales at 6 lbs 13ozs and 19.5 inches long.

The trip to the hospital was spurred on by our Tuesday trip to the doctor. On that visit Alisha's membranes were stripped. In some pregnancies this can trigger the start of labor and getting things moving. If it works, birth usually happens within 48 hours. On Wednesday morning Alisha informed me that things were different and she might be approaching the start of labor. I went to work and ran around getting things done in case she should go into labor. Every phone call I received caused my heart to race until I saw the caller ID and confirmed that it wasn't Alisha.

I had almost convinced myself that nothing was going to happen when my phone rang and the caller ID said it was Alisha. My heart jumped into my throat as I was expecting to hear that she was having severe contractions and I needed to rush home. I answered the phone and she was calm. She informed me that she was having contractions but they were weak and far apart. She was going to come home at lunch because she wasn't effective at work when the contractions came. The clock was ticking. I scrambled at work to make sure the t's were crossed and the i's were dotted. Then I grabbed 20 tomato plants from the greenhouse which I had promised to my neighbor and went home.

I was greeted by a wiggling puppy but no wife. I finally found her upstairs making sure that everything was organized. As usually, she had her list of things to do or pack and was making sure we had everything together in case we needed to go to the hospital. She had found a nifty little program on the internet that allowed her to keep track of all the timings for the contractions. They were starting to get closer together and more intense. I called a friend and had her pick up Samson. We continued to monitor the contractions and finally determined that they were close enough and with enough intensity that we should make our way to the hospital. We got to the hospital and made our way through the maze of hallways that are used to get people around the ongoing construction, pausing with every contraction. We made it up to the 4th floor and were put into an observation room to see if Alisha was far enough along to admit.

We had left all the bags in the car, fearing that bringing them up would jinx us. We were examined and then waited, and waited and waited. The contractions were painful enough now that Alisha couldn't talk when they were occurring. And exam reveled that Alisha was about 3cm. We were given the option to go home for a couple of hours but Alisha knew she would get little rest at home. So we were admitted and settled into our new huge room. We tried walking around to help alleviate the pain but this didn't help much. Knowing that there were still hours before she would be ready to deliver, she was given some pain medication to help her get some rest. We finally got bed around 11pm.

Sleep was intermittent as some alarm always seemed to go off because a sensor became detached or the blood pressure cuff moved. Just after 2am the doctors came into the room and examined Alisha. She was at 5cm and they were hoping to help her progress so her water was broken. Around 5am a nurse examination reveled that only a lip of her cervix was left, so it was getting close. I hopped out of bed, brushed my teeth, and put on some clothes. Things started happening quickly as our doctor came in and pushing began. I was roped into holding Alisha's foot on one side while she pushed. Alisha kept pushing and soon the doctor informed me that she could see the top of his head. With every contraction Alisha mustered up the strength to push and continued to make good progress. The extent of her exertion was evident as her face turned red while she pushed. I was amazed by the sheer stamina of pushing every few minutes for almost two hours. Finally, with the help of a little suction our son emerged with blue eyes and some bushy black hair. So maybe the wives tales were true, and Collin's hair was the cause of Alisha's heartburn.

After everything got cleaned up, and both Alisha and Collin were checked and cleaned, we moved to our new room. We napped for a little bit and have just ejoyed spending time together. The room and the view outside isn't as grand as the brand new delivery rooms, but I hardly notice as I stare in amazement at my beautiful wife and son.