12:13 pm

Tuesday, April 12th, 2005 at 12:13 pm... my second son was born.

The whole C-section experience was wild... suiting up, being led into the operating room by the nurse, trying not to pay attention to the blood on the instruments that were being used to cut my wife open, stroking Shari's arm. Then, to hear Collin, only his head out of the incision, begin to cry & yelp. Seeing him covered in goop & blood & only God really knows what as he was taken from Shari's body... my son.

Kissing Shari quickly goodbye as I followed Collin to the warming table where they cleaned him up, then carrying my little boy over to Shari Jo, holding him close to her face so she could kiss him.

Next stop: the nursery, for his first bath & vital signs check & a whole lot of other stuff that's become a blur. (I took video... never remember it otherwise. Just too overwhelmed by being a dad again.)

Carrying him into the recovery room so Shari could hold him and love on him.

Listening to the joy in Braeden's voice when I called to tell him Collin was born. (His next question was "Does he look cool, Dad?" The answer, of course, is yes.)

For those of you looking for cold hard facts, he weighed 9 lbs 1 oz and was 21.5 inches long.