On Monday, January 11th, just around 5:00 a.m., Courtney snapped me out of my slumbering state with the words, “Wake up.  I think my water just broke.”  I promise you, no matter how deep a sleep you may be enjoying, those eight words will get you to a 100% alertness level in exactly zero seconds.  Courtney called her midwife, who said we needed to get to the hospital.  Now, we were not planning on going to the hospital at all, as we wanted to do a water birth at home.  But when you’re five weeks early, that option disappears in a hurry.

So the panic set in pretty fast.  The baby was coming… over a month ahead of schedule.  Our entire birth plan was gone.  We’d have to go to the hospital, and we had nothing ready to go.  I literally busted out one of my baby books to see what it recommended to pack in your hospital bag.  Despite the book’s advice, I went crazy, and grabbed way too much stuff.  Bring some clothes you don’t care about getting messy?  OK, that’s easy.  But wait, after Baby comes I’m going to be in a lot of pictures – I need nice clothes too!  What if it’s warm?  What if it’s freezing?  Bring some music?  What CD’s should I grab?  I NEVER EVEN MADE A BIRTHING PLAYLIST!!!

This is me trying to stay calm, by the way.  Well, several jam-packed bags later, Courtney and I hit the road to the hospital.  (Only after I hit the curb on our way out of the driveway, naturally.)

We went to Nassau University Medical Center, because the midwives have a good relationship with the doctors there.  Most everyone we encountered at NUMC was very nice, except for the one nurse who didn’t understand why I felt compelled to be with my wife while she was in labor.  Oh well.  Shortly after arriving, we found out that Courtney was in fact having contractions, and we were told that, in all likelihood, we would be having our baby later that day.  (Courtney’s birthday is January 13th, and when she asked if there was any chance of her sharing her birthday with her child, they told her that would definitely not be happening.)

The labor progressed steadily over the next several hours, and while I will omit all of the details here, I will simply say I can not imagine feeling any more useless than I did while watching Courtney go through labor.  Here I am, sitting idly by, watching the woman I love suffer.  Seriously, men: Imagine your wife being tortured by some maniacal James Bond villain, and instead of helping her out, you just sit there next to her, holding her hand and telling her everything will be fine.  Not fun.  Whenever Courtney asked me for something, like for a cold rag to put on her head, I got it with lightening speed, only to then go back to my sitting around, comforting mode.  I can tell you with great certainty that no one will ever open up and hand off a bottle of water faster than I did when Courtney said she was thirsty.

Anyway, at 6:52 p.m., Eli made his grand entrance into this world.  We did not know the gender of our child until the moment he was born, and I had the great honor of announcing “It’s a Boy!”  Eli was blue at first, but he turned nice and pink in a few minutes.  I got to cut the cord, marvel at how much hair he had, and as I stood by him as he was weighed and measured and foot-printed, he grabbed on to my finger and held on tight.  I pretty much lost it right then.

And it should be pointed out that Courtney is one incredibly tough gal – she gave birth 100% naturally, without any drugs or painkillers or epidurals, and I think that’s pretty damn impressive.

Eli was a healthy 6 pounds 3 ounces at birth, which is pretty big for a baby born 5 weeks early.  Why did he decide to come so soon?  Well, maybe he didn’t want to get any bigger, knowing that his mommy is a pretty small lady.  Or maybe he knew that his room was all finished, and he just couldn’t wait to see it.  Or, as his Aunt Sami theorized, maybe he heard his baby shower was coming up, and he didn’t want to miss the big party in his honor.  Whatever the reason, Eli’s here, he’s healthy, and everything else is just details.

As for Eli’s big brother, well, Sherlock may not be as giddy about our newest family member.  He’s not really acting out per se, he just seems a bit bummed that he now has to share some of the attention he had gotten used to having all to himself.  One night shortly after we brought Eli home, he decided to sleep not on our bed as he always does, but across the hall in the guest bedroom.  He eventually came in to our room in the middle of the night, but his message was received.

I’ve rambled long enough, but I will leave you for the day with some fun facts about Eli:

• Eli was named in the Jewish tradition of taking the first letters from deceased loved ones and using them for new names.  The E in Eli comes from my Grandma Emily, and the N in Nate comes from our friend Nick.
• Speaking of my Grandma, when I was little, she always said I was so cute, she wanted to eat me up with a spoon.  I never knew what she meant until I met Eli.
• Eli’s godparents are his Aunt Samantha and his Uncle Justin.
• Eli, judging by his wardrobe, is already a HUGE Mets fan.
• The American shorthand for his birthday is a palindrome: 01/11/10
• Our family now has an awesome anagram: ACES
• Eli is so freaking cute, he makes all other babies look like dumb stupid jerks.  (No offense to any babies who may be reading this.)