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Sunday, July 03, 2005


A Star is Born!



Our first child, a baby boy, was born yesterday. Let me be the first to introduce you to Henry Michael Rayo, who was born on July 2, 2005 at 1:42 PM.

Click here for pictures of Henry Rayo.

He took his sweet time coming into the world. We were watching the downtown fireworks on TV on Friday night when the serious contractions started. As an aside, we had thought about going to see them, but at the last minute decided against it! We's a not too bright sometimes. We busted to the hospital at around midnight, were admitted at around 1:30 AM, started the pitocin flowing at 7:30 AM, and started the serious pushing at 1:00 PM. Do the quick math ... that's almost 14 hours of labor in the hospital, and 2 - 3 (when do you start counting?) at home beforehand.

He came out Stretch Armstrong style (if you haven't witnessed this firsthand, nothing will prepare you -- promise). It was seriously one of the coolest things I've ever seen. After that I was running around crazy, hanging out with Baby Rayo (we hadn't decided on a name yet) then making sure that Sarah was OK. Sarah: Baby: Sarah: Baby. Everything else went pretty normally: bath went great, family came, and baby did a great job through the whole thing.

We named him Henry on Sunday afternoon, which cements the mind trip that is the transition to parenthood. Every time I say "my son" I get chills. I honestly feel like a charlatan. A sleight-of-hand expert that has fooled the world into believing that I am a father. From minute one, I knew he was mine (oh yeah, and Sarah's) and I would lay down in traffic for him, but I didn't feel all that different. Give me two months of insomnia to complete the transformation to "new parent."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome Henry! I'm glad you could make it, even though you're a little late. Your parents are two really great people. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I know that they are going to enjoy you. One of the amazing things about having children, Henry, is that what was important to you before is no longer as important as your little one. Once you become a parent your life is never the same and a lot of the time you think that your life only just began when your child's life did. Good luck keeping your parents in line Henry. You're going to need it! One more thing, when you're in third grade and your teacher asks you what color your blood is, be sure to tell her Scarlet and Grey. She may insist that your blood is red, but she's wrong!

Anonymous said...

Welcome Henry!!! You are a handsome young man!! We hope to see you very soon...you have two playmates who are interested in meeting you too.
We are glad to hear all is going well. Please let us know if there is anything you need.
We know of the exhaustion soon to come so just know that we are here if you need us. Sarah, I can't wait to hear your "baby story" :o)
Love,
Kim

Anonymous said...

great job guys...you have made your anutie P cry. Can't wait to see him! love you all.