Chrissie and I entered into the wonderful world of parenthood yesterday!  Alexander Steven Ramsey was born by c-section at 4:43pm April 6th and weighed in at 7 lbs., 13 oz. and 20 and 1/2 inches tall (yes, I said tall).  My wife is just barely 5-feet-tall (she says not quite 5 feet), so we're looking for any signs of height that we can find!  :)  Chrissie was amazing through it all, and she and Alex are doing great!

I'm not going to go on and on about the joy of parenthood... I'll simply say I now know what all those parents out there mean when they say it's the most wonderful thing you'll ever experience!  I thought I had some idea of what it would be like, but my idea didn't even come close.  I'm now qualified to say to all you "parents to be" out there... you'll never experience anything like it!

I'm not going to go into much detail in this forum, but it was a long and trying labor and delivery.  I have to take time to thank Dr. Kristen Dehaven and our labor and delivery nurse Amanda Mills (I just walked down the hall to labor and delivery to find out her last name).  They were amazing!  Dr. Dehaven was professional and skilled, but also compassionate and patient.  As the going got tougher, Amanda was more determined to stick by our side.  At least three different nurses tried to sub for Amanda and get her to take a break, but she was so concerned with Chrissie's safety should refused to leave the room.

It's difficult in a way to compliment medical professionals, without sounding like you are stating the obvious.  They are all incredible people simply by way of the career path they have chosen.  But this was different.  Dr. Dehaven and Amanda were like part of our family yesterday and helped us (mostly me) hold it together.  I doubt they will ever fully know how blessed we felt to have them by our side.

Everyone at Winchester Medical Center has been great.  This community is very fortunate to have a hospital of this caliber.  I'm also grateful for the free wireless internet!  Nothin' like bloggin' by your wife's bedside as she successfully breast feeds for the first time!  :)

So, without further ado, here's Alex...