Claire Emeline was born at 10:27pm last night. She weighed 8 lbs 3 oz and measured 20 inches. Both mother and baby are doing well. Claire is a little angel. Lara is running on just a couple hours of sleep since Tuesday, but she looks radiant.

Lara's water unexpectedly broke Tuesday at 9:30pm before any signs of active labor. Our provider initially had us wait a few hours at home but then called back at 2am to have us come in to the hospital. Besides a few strong contractions, no signs of labor emerged until around 9am Wednesday, though the contractions were of only moderate strength. With a lot of coaxing and work, these continued in strength, but a delayed (by necessity, given the rupture of membranes and risk of infection) pelvic exam many hours later showed only marginal progress. Finally, Lara was put on an oxytocin drip around 4pm, though thankfully she was able to stand, crouch, and sit on a rocking chair despite the need for IV and fetal heart monitoring. She labored through brutal contractions without any anesthesia for an additional six and a half long long hours (total labor = 13h). Claire literally (and yes I do mean literally) did a somersault in her entry into the world, as the midwife untangled her from her cord. It was a very special moment getting to watch Lara and Claire make eyes at each other for the first time, as she was laid on Lara's chest.

The biggest surprise? Claire has a thick head of dark, almost black, hair. Perhaps Lara's distant Cherokee roots decided to make an appearance, though we suspect this may be a temporary look for her.

More pictures to follow...

First, the big news: we're expecting a girl! In fact, today marks 6.5 weeks from her due date (as in...less than two months away from showtime), which is both surreal and exciting. We've been pretty gun-shy telling people, so our apologies if we haven't shared the good news with you personally. By all indications, she has a promising future as a kick-boxer, and my ribs and internal organs wish her all the best, but would rather she postpone her training until she's ex-utero.

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One of the things I love about mine and Elliott's relationship is this: every once in a while, one of us will throw out a totally unrealistic idea, and then the other says, yeah, okay, let's do it!

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