Gabriel Jacob Friedman

Gabe was born on Wed 6 May at 8:25 pm, clocking in at 6 lb 6 oz and 18.75" long

We've had quite the week. On Wed morning at 1am, I went into labor. We had two frustrating trips to the hospital: one at 4:30 am and another at 11am. Both times, I hadn't progressed along enough for them to keep us. After the second trip, we drove back home, napped for an hour, at which point my water broke and we made our third and final trip up to UNC. We got settled into a room by 4, I got my epidural, and things progressed normally until about 7pm. At that point, the docs were getting concerned because Gabe's heart rate was decelerating with contractions - they tried repositioning me a bunch but then he dropped to 50bpm and that's when the insanity started. Things are a blur at this point, but I remember my nurse Katie (who was a saint) explaining everything as it happened (and then again to Mike in detail after the fact) - there were like 8 people in the room trying different things to fix the problem - fluids, meds, position, monitors... it was insane. At some point my doc decided that I needed an emergency C-section and off we went. Poor Mike was left stranded in an empty room to pack up our stuff, suit up in scrubs, and wait an eternity until summoned as they wheeled me down the hall in a flurry of activity. Surgery prep took forever - they had to add meds to my epidural about 5 times before it was suitable enough to start the operation. In fact, they had to un- and re-prep the field while doing this because they weren't able to monitor Gabe while I was prepped for surgery. Turns out his heart rate had stabilized enough, which saved the me the trouble of general anesthesia. Eventually they brought Mike in and started cutting, and then it was just a few minutes (though lots of pulling and tugging - he was wedged in there really well!) until Gabe was born. They got him cleaned up, determined that nothing was wrong with him (it's still a bit of a mystery as to the problem), then the 3 of us spent a couple of hours in the delivery room with Katie. Katie even let Mom join us (even though the rule is 1 visitor per patient). I was pretty drugged up on morphine by this point, so the rest of the night's memories are mostly from Mike.

We spent 3 nights in the hospital and returned home on Saturday afternoon. Honestly, Gabe has been an absolute angel. He's been through a lot but never really complains about it. He eats well, sleeps well, rarely cries, and is (in my obviously unbiased opinion) the cutest baby ever. Mike and I are absolutely thrilled with everything. I'm recovering from surgery - my recovery expectations are probably a little high and it's making being home frustrating, but I do notice improvements daily. It's hard not to run around doing too much. Mom is being a great help with Gabe and around the house, and I'm just loving bonding with my new family. Mike has been amazing through all of this (not that it's anything new) - he's taking care of everything and me and Gabe despite the fact that he has to go back to work tomorrow. This morning I woke up and Mike and I just spent some time with Gabe between us sleeping and the 3 cats all cautiously watching. What a perfect first Mother's Day!

All of our photos so far are on Mike's web albums. Some highlights: First family photo in the recovery room, Gabe's first night in the hospital, Family photo day 2, and Gabe ready to go home from the hospital.









Thanks to everyone who has supported us through this. We had some friends visiting in the hospital and have tons of emails to respond to. It feels awesome to know that so many people are excited about the arrival of our son. Also, happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, but especially to new Grandma Nette and new Bubby Diane.