Charles Joseph Hackman is here!

It is Pete again, to announce that Charles Joseph Hackman entered the world at 9:34 am on Tuesday, December 23rd! He weighed 7 lbs 14 oz, and is 21 inches long!

What a day this has been... I posted my last post at around 1:30 am and was downright grumpy and tired. Needless to say, I didn't sleep a whole lot that night... Anyway, I will do my best to accurately describe the events of the day...

I slept until around 4 am and then I woke up for some reason... I can't remember if someone had come in to check on Marie or not but it is honestly all a blur at this point. I want to say that the night nurse had come in to check on Marie to see how things were. From what I recall, the night nurse was checking her dilation as it looked like she was progressing to the point that they might want her to start pushing.

At 7 am, the shift change took place and the new nurse just took charge and had Marie start pushing heavily. The baby was in the +1 position, which meant that his head had gotten to a point that it was starting to pass the pelvic bone. So from 7 to about 8:30, they had Marie really start pushing and there were a few points when you could see the tip of his head. They got him to the point that they wanted to call the doctor, and found out that the doctor was in with another patient delivering via c-section and would be a while!

So the nurse immediately had Marie stop pushing and even though the baby was starting to show, he was okay and his heartbeat was strong. They took her off the Pitocin to slow down the contractions. Since they knew that the doctor would be a while, they told Marie to rest for the next half hour or so, conserving her energy... We all took a quick nap and then around 9 am, the doctor came in and siad that she was ready to have Marie push again.

So, she started pushing pretty hard at that point and after a few hard pushes, Charles Joseph Hackman was born! It was so surreal... I was watching with my camera at the ready, hoping to snap a picture of Charlie's first minutes... Then all of a sudden, out popped this little head, all wrinkled and ugly and blue! Then the doctor starting yanking on the poor baby's neck and I could have sworn that she was going to break the poor little fellow's neck, trying to pull the rest of his little body out of that tiny hole! Anyway, after a few tugs, he came out and started turning even more blue than before... Then came the most beautiful, and yet pathetic little cry as he started to cry... I was so in awe that I completely forgot to take a picture of him coming out!

They then proceeded to wipe him off, rubbing his back and coaxing him to get all of the crud out of his lungs... He cried for about a minute and then they put him on Marie's chest. She had done so great... It was really just amazing... Simply amazing... There is no other word for it!

So they tended to fixing up Marie, and as they did that, they took Charlie over to the warmer (or the Chicken Fryer, as Marie called it). I went over to check him out and he was just the most chill baby! He just sat there looking at me and I looking at him and it was just so surreal... I could not beleive that this little thing was the by-product of Marie and I!

Anyway, at that point, it is once again a blur as everyone was rushing in and out of the room... There were dozens of calls and text messages that were sent out over that next hour. I am sure that there are tons of people that I forgot to tell.

So around noon or so, Mom and Dad Bonaccorse headed down to the cafeteria to get some lunch and give the newly expanded Hackman family some time to bond. We ordered some food from the cafeteria and then just sat in awe. After lunch, Mom and Dad went back to the house to get some rest. I stayed with Marie and we both finally just zonked out. We slept at least a good three hours or so.

Anyway, it is almost a full 24 hours since the last post and I am rather tired... Marie and Charlie are doing great. They expect us to be able to come back home either late on Christmas Eve or early Christmas day! That is all I can type for now... Maybe if we aren't completely wiped, we will give more details... Or maybe Marie will give her point of view...

Regardless, my life will NEVER be the same and I am looking forward to getting CJ home. I don't think, that you could ask for a better Christmas present!