Otto's Arrival!

Last Sunday, July 17th, at 2:55pm, our family had it's newest edition arrive: Otto Allen Hill-Stach! Otto weighs in a 9lbs, 1oz, and is 21 inches long and is, well, amazing.

I'm sure that Sarah will want to tell the birth story in more detail at a later date, but here are some rough details for those of you who are interested: Her labor started around 12:30am, and we headed in to the hospital around 3:30. From there things progressed steadily, until they stalled out a little before noon, with Sarah dilated at 8 centimeters. Around 1:30, the mid-wife suggested breaking her water to help move things along, and -once broken- things progressed very rapidly, with Otto making his appearance at 2:55pm after only 10 minutes of pushing.

Like Stella's birth, Sarah managed the whole thing with out any sort of pain medication and amazed not just me, but also the nurses and mid-wife, who were heard commenting things like: "Can you believe she's at 8cm, and still walking around and talking like this?" I am, again, amazed and inspired by her.

Anyhow, on to the baby photos!

The man himself! (Or should I say "Otto-man"?) What a handsome fella! It's amazing how much different he looks than Stella, he's very much his own little person.

Stella meets Otto. It's crazy to think that these two little people will likely spend their entire lives hanging out together and being best friends. And, here they are, just meeting.

Stella seems to really like Otto overall. There have been a couple moments since his arrival, that you could tell she's a little jealous of the attention he receives and the amount of time he spends on mom's lap, but overall, she seems to really like her "baby brother Oddo."

Sarah looking stunning the day after giving birth. Anyone who believes the stereotypes that men are strong while women are prone to tears should watch Sarah and I in the delivery room.

The Birthing Room, with my parents and Otto on the left. I thought I'd include this so I could mention a little piece of trivia: This was also the same room that Stella was born in, and both Stella and Otto ended up being delivered by the same mid-wife. Continuity!

Anyhow, I'll end this by saying that we are all happy and excited to be settling into our new life as a family of four. Someone asked me the other day, if I felt a sense of pride because I have a boy now, and I while I sort of go back and forth on that (since, honestly, I would have been just as excited about having another girl); I will say that I feel sort of a sense of completion now. Both Sarah and I have always imagined ourselves with two children, and now we have them. We've arrived at our imagined goal... and now, we are all looking forward to our shared future opening up to us, together as a family.

But, first, I probably need to check to see if Otto needs his diaper changed.