Ellison Anne

11:15 - Lights go out after a very eventful night of trick or treating throughout Bellingham. Last thing Crystal says before she goes to sleep; "I'm not ready for a baby." Famous last words.

2:22 - Crystal wakes up to go pee and I wake up to "My water just broke." Roll out of bed and look at the clock and think "2:22, that's a good sign." It's Crystal's favorite number.

2:25 - Call the midwives' pager and wait approx 1.5 minutes for them to call back. Another good sign that Catriona calls back that quick. I tell her Crystal's water broke and a medium amount came out. She seems relaxed and helpful, not like she's gonna rush out. All our midwives (4 of them) know how quickly the other births went, but that's just Catriona, cool as they come. Crystal asks to talk to her to get some reassurance and tells a little white lie that she's having contractions too. Just to get her moving. Contractions started 2 minutes later, so she didn't REALLY lie.

2:32 - Call to Nana that takes a while to wake her to a level of consciousness that she can understand what's happening.

2:50 - Nana arrives on the scene and helps get things set up for the ride.

3:09 - Midwives to the rescue. I just happened to see them coming down the road and it looked like the swat team pulling up to a bank robbery. Zooming down the road, swooping through the cul de sac and backing into the driveway. All in slow motion. Crystal had really been fretting that it would just be me and her for the deliver, so this was the highlight of the night so far. Contractions had been steady with a big one followed by a smaller aftershock followed by 3 minutes of catch up breathing. She's acting like she's done this a million times. My wonder never ceases. I don't know how many people have ever witnessed a natural childbirth, but it is amazing the difference between home and hospital. All the familiar smells, sounds, sights make it seem so much more.......natural.

3:12 - Midwives (I guess I should use names) Catriona and Eloisa have shop set up and are ready to take care of mama and baby whenever she decides to show up. They really are amazing in their prep and they just instill so much confidence and peace.

3:31 - Ellie decides to show up. I'll have to check the tape, but I'm pretty sure that Crystal only pushed twice. This may seem like I'm bragging about my wonderful wife (and I am) but she was absolutely amazing. Ellie came out talking. Not crying, just baby talking loudly. Telling the world that she was now in it.

3:40 - Me and Nana run upstairs to wake the boys (seemed like a good idea at the time) and bring them to meet their baby sister. They didn't know what was happening until we walked into the room and they saw her. It was like they had known her forever, she was just a part of our family the minute she arrived.

5:15 - Catriona had been gone for a while, another mother had called about her labor, and Eloisa was packing up to go because everything went so smoothly, and mama and Ellie were happy and healthy. We'll get a call today and a visit tomorrow to follow up, then an office visit next week.

6:00 - Nana calls it a day and heads out to get some sleep. Just the Dahlstrom 5 now.