Congrats to Techjunkie/Ryan!

awwww! LOL 6.66.....!

Congratulations! Sorry about the sleep.

Ryan's child has the weight of the beast. Dick Clark is also dead.

Well played Mayans, well played.

Congrats bud.....hopefully we will be not far behind...

Huge congratulations to you and your lovely wife. All the best and try to enjoy every minute.

Congratulations! Welcome to the club....and on a side note my daughter left a bottled water half empty.....again.....so I topped it up with filtered water from the tap.

BUSTED! She touched the water to her lips and said ugggghhhhh Daddy is this tap water? I don't drink tap water.....!

What da.....?

I agree on the Bugaboo, it is also not a very practical travel stroller and you need a good sunshade. We had it and ended up with a MacLaren.

At any rate, hypnobirthing sounds like a drug free birth, congratulations and hats off to the mother, wow.

Yes, totally natural and un-medicated. My wife says that she felt no pain at all, at any point. There was no drama and it was very difficult to tell when she was having contractions. Hypnobirthing really does work. She says that the placement of the IV was the most painful part. (She has a very low pain tolerance.) Everything progressed smoothly since there was no epidural to slow things down. And since the baby was un-medicated, she was totally aware, immediately. I was able to receive her, and the moment that baby Sierra's eyes came out, they were open and looking around the room. That part was really surreal. I cut the cord. Also surreal. Baby has been breast feeding really well and won't need formula at all. She's an extremely chill baby and she hasn't cried for more than about five seconds yet. She's only cried about three times in her first 24 hours.

I've had a total of four hours of sleep in the last 87 hours and somehow I have to drive all three of us 45 minutes home safely tomorrow. I'm going to start hallucinating soon. Gonna crash now.

Glad to hear all went well. All babies are born without medication, even if the mother has epidural, the moment they come out especially, such a special moment. I know that feeling very well. Carrying a baby for 9 months is the greatest feeling as a woman. Period.

Enjoy this no-crying period. As babies sleep less and become more aware of their new surroundings day vs night, everything changes. You will see. It is an amazing thing.

All babies are born without medication

One way to look at the potential effect of epidurals on babies is to study their behavior as compared to babies from non-medicated labors. Researchers in Sweden have discovered that epidurals and other medications do affect babies in the first hours after birth with regard to pre-breastfeeding, latching-on and other behaviors. In a 2001 study published in Birth, infants were videotaped and their behaviors were recorded. The study showed that compared to babies whose mothers did use use pain medication, infants whose mothers used epidurals or a combination of epidurals with other medications:

• Made significantly less hand to mouth movements
• Touched the nipple and areola much less
• Did not remained attached to the breast
• Cried more
• Had significantly higher skin temperatures

Researchers concluded that, "Spontaneous breast-seeking behavior in newborns is part of the interaction between the mother and her newborn and is based on coordination of body movements, sensory stimuli, and communication behaviors. This study indicates that maternal analgesia during labor might disturb and delay the important aspects of the newborn's interactive behavior and increase the newborn's skin temperature and crying."

According to authors Jensen, Benson and Bobak, (Maternity Care, the Nurse and the Family) analgesics and anesthetics do cross the placenta. "Many drugs cross the placenta readily (e.g., antibiotics, narcotics, analgesics, anesthetics)."

The medication used in epidurals (local anesthetics such as bupivicaine) crosses the placenta by diffusion. This means that when epidurals are administered, the medication rapidly diffuses across cell membranes, crosses the placenta and enters the bloodstream of the baby. According to one study, bupivicaine (administered via an epidural) was found in blood samples taken from newborns after the mothers had an elective cesarean.

http://brendalane.suite101.com/do-epidu ... ies--a8281

There are other down sides to epidurals as well.

Epidural analgesia (EA) is clearly the most effective form of pain relief during labour. But various unwanted side effects are associated with its use, including longer labour; increased incidence of maternal fever (with associated increase in use of antibiotics for mothers and newborns); and increased rates of operative vaginal delivery and perineal trauma, such as more third- and fourth-degree tears.

...

Epidural analgesia given before the active phase of labour more than doubles the probability of receiving a Cesarean section.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1481670/