Unto Us A Son is Given

On December 31st at 9:46am,

we welcomed Calvin Sebastian Beilman into the world.

On Monday I went in for my normal check-up. Though the due date was two weeks away, the doctor said I was ready! So we set the date for December 31 and arrived at the hospital at 6:30am.

It was an eventful delivery (as all of them are...). They broke my water at 8am. The contractions came quickly after that. I received an epidural around 9:15am, which was unsuccessful. We're not sure why it didn't take, but it may be because it didn't have time to set. (It was so unsuccessful that the anesthesiologist isn't even going to charge us...) At 9:35am, I "asked" the nurse to "get the doctor, the baby is coming". Sure enough. In a moment, the doctor arrived - thankfully. After a few painful minutes of waiting for the doctor, room and bed to get hurriedly prepped, we (particularly I) rejoiced at the arrival of Calvin.

He weighed 6lbs. 11oz and was 20inches long.
Not too bad for 9 days early.

This was taken just after he was weighed. We hadn't officially named him yet, but had a pretty good idea. I really wanted to check him out and see him open his eyes. Finally, he complied and we got to see his big blue eyes. He also has a cute little cleft chin (just like his Uncle Chris). Incidentally, we've had some questions about him not having a "W" name. As much as we love the Reformer John Calvin, it is a bit more of an homage to Dan's lifelong man-crush on Cal Ripken Jr. And Sebastian is a great Austrian name of which belonged to my first ancestor to come to America - Sebastian Woofter.

Here's a couple more photos - not yet 1 day old
with Super Dad

He's such a great sleeper and eater. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree...

Grandma & Grandpa visiting (Worthy & Will are much more interested in the hospital room buttons, so no picture of the brothers yet)

Checking out mommy

I love the snuggles - another little cuddler!