Real Quick

The birth date will always read June 18, but it was Tuesday, June 17 that will always be remembered as one mother of a day. Kathy woke up at 4:30am with "cramps", and three hours later we were at the hospital triage - basically waiting for someone to tell us it was false labor and to go home. But, Kathy was admitted around 1:30pm when she was dilated just over a 3. Water broke around 6:45, same time as the epidural. Then the midnight cowboy slowly made his descent. My mother, my dad & Kay, and Kathy's friends Sharon and Debbie were the true troopers - waiting it out until the bitter end from a family waiting room. Kathy's mother Joan was with us in the delivery room. For the crew in the waiting room, I called the in-house telephone from our room then left the receiver sitting out so they could at least hear what was going on - while I delivered what would best be described as very crude play-by-play of the delivery over the phone line.
Kole Kenneth Fletcher was yanked out with tongs by Dr. Mary Finke at 2:46am on the early fringes of Wednesday, June 18. He gave some healthy screams upon coming out, but by the time the nurse was wiping him down in his little heater, he was as calm as a koala, fidgeting with his hands and quietly discovering his face and tongue.
Kathy was snipped a little to get him out, so she was stitched up and is recovering. After all the excitement died down around 3:30am, they took Kole to the nursery while Kathy cleaned up and continued her recovery portion. With adrenaline and nerves still pumping, the best we could do was just lay down and re-live the past few hours. Sleep wasn't an option. We passed 4:30, making this an official 24-hour venture, then got moved to the recovery room about 6:00. I somehow knocked out for about 10 minutes in a recliner chair, then thought I'd try to make it home. Now I'm here, with essentially no sleep since 4:30 yesterday morning, and I'm wondering why in the hell I'm not back at the hospital. My brain is toast. Here's some pics.