Wow, he’s here now and 3 weeks ahead of schedule (if he was a project manager, that would be an awesome thing...)!

It took me a while to be able to write this down, but here’s what happened:

1. •On Sunday morning (Jan 25), Susan noticed “cramping”, but we thought this was just pressure due to growth etc.
   

2. •Throughout the day, she had some pains, but we still went shopping for stuff and continued working on the baby’s room. We had all the furniture out of place, we had just attached a border on the walls the night before and I was drilling holes and making a mess in order to install a valance.
   

3. •Around 5 PM, we went to Susan’s parents to celebrate Chinese New Year. Her “cramps” were more regular and intense and we slowly figured that these were actually contractions. I quickly reacted and downloaded an iPhone application to track contractions. That’s when I realized this was going to change everything...
   

4. •We went home around 7 PM and by now Susan was in a reasonable amount of pain. While she was curled up on the floor in agony, I was frantically vacuuming the baby’s room, pushing furniture back into position and getting it ready for what might be about to happen.
   

5. •We called Susan’s doctor after hours and got an answering service. Her doctor’s sister (also an OBGYN) finally called back some time later and told us to go to the hospital to find out if this was “the real deal”. So we finished packing our bag, took a deep breath, and drove down to Hoag (11 PM).
   

6. •After an initial exam, we were admitted. Susan was dilated 2 cm’s and this was “the real deal”.
   

7. •With the contractions getting more painful and being told it may take anywhere up to 12 hrs till birth, we were holding on. But as the pain grew more intense, Susan opted for an epidural (approx. 1 AM).
   

8. •The OBGYN manually broke Susan’s water. Just 30 mins later, Susan’s dilation was progressing very quickly and the nurse advised her to start pushing. Daddy was holding the left leg in support.
   

9. •1 push and we started seeing a little hair. Yikes! 1.5 pushes later, all of a sudden a head and gush of blood popped out and the nurse starting freaking out. She was yelling for the doctor, who wasn’t even in the room yet, and she struggled to quickly don gloves. This all happened much faster than expected!
   

10. •Just 2 mins later, with the doc in the room, Luke was born. The room was a flurry of activities with several nurses caring for the child and the doctor for Susan. Dad was running around to take it all in, take pictures where possible and check out his new son.
    

11. •After 2 days in the hospital (Hoag is awesome, by the way!), it was decided to put Luke in a light box due to jaundice on Wednesday afternoon while mom and dad were released. We did a final feeding and went home for some much needed rest.
    

12. •Back in the hospital early Thursday morning, we were told that we could take the little guy home. Yay!
    

13. •And here we are now, at home, getting used to new surroundings and a new schedule. A new chapter has begun.