And so it begins...

At approximately 3:00 AM on Monday morning, June 16, I officially retired from the world of commuting to work and began my stint as a full time stay at home dad.  It was at this time, since I was still awake playing PS4 like a goon, that I heard someone upstairs flush the toilet. Curious to see if it was my 8 month pregnant wife or my 4 year old son, I ventured upstairs to see who it was.  It was my wife, and she greeted me with a "Happy Father's Day!"  Confused, I  said, "Yeah, I know, it was yesterday."  It was then that I started to notice that some things were amiss.  Especially when my wife said, "No, you dope, my water broke."

PANIC ENSUES

We were completely caught with our pants down (especially true about my wife, see water breaking) since this baby wasn't supposed to be here for another month.  Instead of doing the things I should I have been doing, like packing our bags for the hospital, I decided instead to call all of my immediate family to let them know.  Hey, I was excited.  Eventually I got my act together and arranged for a friend to watch my 4 year old while my mother-in-law drove the hour to my place from hers.

Fast forward, since there really is not much to talk about with the delivery, we actually slept through most of the labor thanks to drugs.  Baby is here.  Born at 1:48 PM weighing in at 6 lbs 3 oz and 20 inches long, Carolyn Florence Clawson has arrived.  And I'm overjoyed.

During the next 48 hours that we stayed in the hospital, I came home a couple of times to do some of the things that have yet to be done, like putting the bassinet together and, well, finding the rest of our baby gear.  After passing the "car seat test" (it turns out babies born prior to 37 weeks need to pass this test) and getting over some minor blood sugar issues.  Carolyn is ready to go home.

Side note:  For those who say that staying in the hospital is a good thing because it is your time to rest while the nurses take care of everything, you couldn't be more wrong.  The nurses do a fabulous job and it is a pretty thankless profession, but they are the queens of interruptions.  As soon as we would get that baby to sleep, here they come with something to poke her with and wake her back up.  Every.  Damn.  Time.  The car seat test that I mentioned earlier?  Yep.  Done at 4 AM.  Because mommy and daddy are wide awake playing Chinese checkers at 4 AM instead of getting the so-called rest that staying in the hospital provides.

The drive home, while being the most terrifying ordeal for anyone behind the wheel with their newborn in the backseat, was uneventful and now the baby is at home.  And I get to take over.