the napa grandparents.

charmaine's mother and father were with us the whole time (and reagan too!). it's wonderful to have them so close to kepler! (take the hint momma!)

i like it when you call me big poppa

the feeling of holding her is a wonderful mixture of happiness, awe and fear.

the ladies!

kepler meets her momma!

the worst part of the c-section (well, one of the worst) is that charmaine could not be with kepler immediately after birth. they did put kepler on her chest for two seconds right after she came out but they had to rush kepler to the nursery to make sure everything was golden (and it was!).

this is in the recovery room about an hour after kepler was born.

just after her bath

she's so beautiful.

still in the nursery being checked out...

i think this is the first time she cried. she has a really calm demeanor about her. let's say it's more me than jane...

she may be the cutest thing ever.

7 pounds, 7 ounces.

here she is during her official weigh in.

on a ride to the nursery

right after the surgery they whisked kepler away to the nursery. i was about two feet away from her the whole time!

kepler!

charmaine is the most amazing woman that i've ever known. the way she handled the labor and birth with such wonderful calmness and focus reminded me of all the reasons why i love her.

fifteen hours of contractions ended with an hour and a half of pushing. alas, kepler was apparently face up, too far up the birth canal and, most importantly, her heart rate would drop during every other pushing session. the doctor decided that it's best to perform a c-section and so we were on our way back to the operating room.

the surgery was surreal (i'll refrain from posting those photos) and charmaine handled it so well. it is major surgery...they obviously go through all of the skin, muscle and whatnot that's in the way. kepler apparently handled it well too because she was born healthy and happy at 10.58p on 01.10.07!!!

the long, drawn out process of labor

charmaine was in labor for about 15 hours. this somewhat numbing experience was broken up with a frantic rush to the emergency operating room when kepler's heart rate was down for too long and then disappeared all together (this happened around 130p). fortunately, her heart rate sprang back in the or and we averted the emergency c-section.

i would spend the rest of the twelve hours or so obsessed with kepler's heart rate monitor. labor (and, indeed, all of the pregnancy) was an amazingly helpless journey for me. luckily, the people at cpmc are wonderful at walking you through what's going on and why they're doing what they're doing.

i can still hear the heart rate monitor when i close my eyes.

on our way to the hospital

the journey (read: contractions) began at 5a the morning of 01.10.07. we left for the hospital around 8a.

Happy Birthday Kepler!!

She's here!! Yay yay yay! Born at 10:55pm PST on 10 January 2007, weighing 7 lbs 7.6 oz! The labor was apparently quite arduous and nervewracking, but she's finally here and both she and Charmaine are doing great ;D

Madison took these cute photos with his phone, and I'm sure he will be posting many more very soon....

Whew I am so happy!!