Surprise! Zachary is here!

This is Skip posting this blog, so I apologize for the engineering format. Also, we have not had any luck posting pictures while at the hospital, so we will try later. Surely Steph will recount the story differently when she is able. But here are the bullet points.

• 4:25 am (Saturday, 12/27) - Our severe weather alarm goes off in our bedroom telling us what we already know: driving thunderstorm with stong wind, heavy rain, and small hail pelting our home, amidst a tornado watch (in December!).
• 4:30 am - Steph's water breaks (she is fairly sure). A call to the doctor's office tells us that we should make our way to the hospital.
• 6:30 am - After packing some bags (yeah, we hadn't done this yet, seeing as how we were only 31 weeks), we start the car. We are not able to drive as fast as we wanted, as the rain wouldn't allow us to see much.
• 7:00 am - Arrive at hospital, soon to be admitted, definitely in labor.
• 9:00 am - Steph hooked up for IV, magnesium (to slow down labor), steriod shot (to develop baby's lungs). Planned to do another shot in 24 hours (yeah, right!).
• 12:00 pm - Doctors decide baby is ignoring magnesium, and wants out. Heart rate dips after every contraction (about 3 minutes all morning). Contractions getting more intense. Baby won't survive another 7-8 hours until full dialation.
• 12:15 pm - Walked into C-section room, received spinal.
• 12:32 pm - Baby pulled out (looked fairly violent from other side of curtain). It's a boy! Let's out some squeals, which sound great (but hopefully not a foreshadowing). Everything seems to be OK. 3lb, 14oz. Good APGAR's. Breathing on his own. Good color. Whisked away to NICU.
• 3:00 pm - Wheeled up to NICU to see baby for a brief time.
• 4:30 pm - Decide to name him Zachary Stanley Pankewich.
• 4:30 pm - Inserted breathing tube for meds to help develop lungs. Still doing well, but tired. Allowed to rest the rest of the night.
• Steph is doing well. Still in bed from anesthetics.
• Skip is tired. Cannot blog anymore.