Initial Post 8:17 AM
Candice took her Ambien and went to sleep. Nurse Dawn said the Carle doctors don’t usually prescribe Historol in addition to Ambien, so if Candice got to sleep with the Ambien (which she did), then she’d ignore the Historol.

Myself, I pulled out the couch and tried to sleep as well. It felt like a futon, when you take the futon mattress off. It was more comfortable than the floor though. I just don’t think either of us will be comfortable until we get back home with our brand new baby.

There were many loud beeps in the middle of the night, and Nurse Dawn was in and out taking blood pressure and temperature. The loudest alarm in the hospital goes off when the printer runs out of paper. I know I was in and out of sleep all night, and I think Candice was awoken several times as well. Perhaps that’s why they give you the pills; they trust you to go to sleep alright, but they want to make sure you don’t wake up in the middle of the night and stay awake.

Nurse Dawn’s shift ended at 7, so she’s gone. Nurse Kim has the day off, so won’t be back. So now we have our fourth nurse, Nurse Maggie (we think; it was early wen she said he name). For the time being, we’ll just call her Blond Nurse.

Candice was up around 6:30, but Nicholas didn’t awake until about 7. So, they restarted the Pitocin drip at 7, at level 1. They’ll be gradually cranking it up all day, and might end up going to 30 again. I sure hope Nicholas comes out before we get there.

When I woke up this morning, Candice was watching Saved by the Bell. I had no idea that show was still being rerun. It was the one where they write a new school song. Zack wants to make sure his legacy is more than just being a goof off, so he sabotages everyone else’s songs to make sure the one he writes is the winner. SPOILER ALERT! He learns his lesson in the end, and everyone comes together to write a song that’s far superior to anything any of them could have come up with on their own.

The drip has just been increased to 3. Nurse Maggie (her name has been confirmed) is actually telling us what the temperature and blood pressure are when she takes them. This is good; one thing I can’t stand about medical professionals is that they don’t announce the results of their tests. Sometimes they do, but they don’t give any context. “How’s my cholesterol look?” “Oh, it came out as a 38 and 425.” “That’s great! Isn’t it?” “Actually, no sir, it’s the most unusual reading we’ve ever seen. You should be dead right now.”

It looks like we’re starting over with the contractions; they’re few, far between, and not very strong. Hopefully we’re not starting over with the dilation as well. The leaking appears to have stopped, so we’re guessing all the amniotic fluid is drained.

I wonder, when we count labor hours, should we include the 8 hours we were sleeping with no inducement drug on, or should we just add the hours from yesterday to the hours from today? Either number is going to be pretty impressive.

UPDATE: 8:38 AM
That Ambien sure does work. Candice is once again napping.

Mom was right. Niro’s Gyros does have ridiculously good Italian beef sandwiches. We got ours dipped in au jus; you can also get them with red sauce. The “dipped in” part is important. They actually dip the whole sandwich, so you pretty much need a fork to eat it.

Omar got a Philly cheese steak, and a Philly chicken, on the same bun. The drive thru guy didn’t want to do it at first, but then said OK when we agreed to pay him an extra dollar.

Candice hasn’t had a contraction in the last 8 minutes. It’s looking more and more likely that they’ll have to use the knife on this one. I should note that Dr. Haug is a Provena doctor, the one that Dr. Smith asked to fill in. We haven’t picked a pediatrician yet, so we’ll be assigned the on-call pediatrician when Nicholas is born; they’re well aware that Nicholas will be a Carle baby, infant, toddler, child, and preteen. And it’s quite possible that Candice won’t be going back to Provena either. Although, she did like her first OB. That one went to Chicago to start her own practice.

The Pitocin level is being increased once more. Contractions are about 10 minutes apart. Candice is still asleep. BP 121 over 65.

UPDATE: 10:02 AM
The contractions are now acting really strange. Candice decided to stand up and walk around, and ever since she sat up, she’s been having a contraction. It’s going on 15 minutes now. Ah, it just ended. I suggested that it might just be that standing up shifted the chart so you can’t see the trend line appropriately, but she says her stomach feels like it’s contracting. At a pain level of 0, of course.

Mom says that her friend Eva went through a long inducing procedure, which lasted three days. There was a natural birth afterward, but still, three days? I guess we’ve got a while to go to get the record, ignominious as that would be.

When Omar and I came back from food-getting last night, all the doors were locked. I dropped Omar off at the front and went to park the car. Omar was able to get in because someone opened the door for him from the inside. After I parked, I was not so lucky. I had to go around to the main entrance, where a security guard was posted (on the inside). I told him who I was here to see, the room number and all, and who I was. He had a hard time spelling Solomon. He asked if I had a wristband, which I didn’t. Then he recorded my name in a log book, without looking at any ID, and gave me a visitor tag with my name illegibly scribbled in pencil.

Now, increased security at a hospital in the middle of the night is a Good Thing. But, I just can’t stand when there’s increased security that doesn’t actually increase security. I could have given a false name. I could have knocked on a different door and had someone let me in, like Omar did. I could have gotten my own visitor name take and scribbled an alias on it in pencil. I could have even gone to the water slide and gotten a wristband. There was no point to this procedure, other than to make me walk around outside the hospital in sub-zero temperatures, holding the drink that Candice so desperately needed.

Nurse Maggie came in to change the paper again, and increase the Petocin. Still at a relatively low dose, still not much going on.

UPDATE: 10:58 AM
Prescient commenter Justin writes:

Strutz, this is definitely your son. He’s someplace warm, being fed, and gets to sleep as much as he wants, so why would he want to come out? I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if he comes out carrying a two-liter. 🙂

The Petocin was just upped once more. The previous dosage increase was canceled, on account of Nicholas appeared to be asleep. Come on, baby! There will be plenty of time for sleep after you’re born!

Mama Solomon is on her way back to the hospital after dropping Omar back at Eastern. She’s currently circling the parking garage looking for a spot that isn’t exposed to the snow. It could be a while. This is important, because she has all the movies, and now that The Price Is Right is over, there’s nothing to watch.

I keep seeing these commercials for California cheese, which proclaim that good cheese comes from happy cows, and happy cows come from California. Then I remember last week, when I read an article on BBC Online about a massive beef recall from California, which happened because some of the cows weren’t able to stand up on their own before they were slaughtered. Happy cows indeed. The BBC said that we shouldn’t worry, because the infractions occurred in 2006 (TWO YEARS AGO!), so most of the meat had already been eaten. Also, most of that particular shipment went to school lunches. I don’t know why that should make anyone feel better.

The contractions are now about 4 or 5 minutes apart, and Candice is beginning to feel them a little more strongly.

UPDATE: 11:09 AM
Mama Solomon has arrived with the movies! Hooray!

Dr. Haug is currently performing a C-section. Not on Candice, on someone else. When he’s done with that, at around 12:30, he’ll come see us.

UPDATE: 12:23 PM
Nurse Maggie just upped the dosage once more, to something like 13. The contractions are coming more frequently, once every one or two minutes. The doctor will stop by in about 10 minutes.

All the nurses keep saying “The baby looks great!” And every time they do, I say “Thank you. You obviously have an excellent sense of genetics.” Then they have to explain that they meant that the baby looked healthy and seemed to be doing well, although by looking at Candice and myself they did indeed notice how attractive our offspring would have to be.

We’re hoping that when the doctor pokes around looking for dilation that Nicholas freaks out and starts a-birthin’, so if you don’t hear from us in the next thirty minutes or so, that could be why.

Or, it could be because the doctor hasn’t come yet. Or because we got distracted. Or because we forgot. Or because a ship’s anchor cut the undersea Internet cables between us and you. But that’s not very likely, especially if there isn’t a sea between us and you.

UPDATE: 12:58 PM
Dr. Haug came in just now, and he’s got yet another C-section to do. So he’s gonna knock that baby out, and come back in a bit to check on our status.

UPDATE: 2:07 PM
Now we’re getting somewhere. I went down to the cafeteria to get some lunch (meatball sammich, curly fires, carrot cake, and some jalepeno Cheetos for later). When I returned, Candice was wincing. The contractions are now about two minutes apart, and are having an effect. Dr. Haug isn’t back from his C-section yet, so maybe Nicholas will be ready when he gets here.

The Italian beef we had last night was consumed at midnight or so. Not at 8 AM, though that would be a good breakfast.

Candice had a Popsicle for lunch. It was esaier to come by today than yesterday.

UPDATE: 2:47 PM
The contractions are now a 4 on the pain scale, and Candice is 3-4 cm dilated. Nicholas decided he wants to move around a lot, so the contraction monitor keeps cutting in and out. The heart monitor is still OK; his head is staying put down in the pelvic region (very low, Dr. Haug says), but his body is all over the place.

Maybe the time estimates from yesterday will carry over to today?

UPDATE: 3:36 PM
Updates will be more brief and more sporadic from here on, as Candice me to rub her, and hold her up, and stuff. The pain is now up to a 5, with contractions lasting 40 to 60 seconds and coming 1:30 to 2 minutes apart. She’s currently in a rocking chair.

They have made an offer of epidural. Candice has so far deferred judgment; they will ask again in 20 minutes or so.

UPDATE: 4:36 PM
Candice just told me I could sit down. Patting heads with damp cloths and feeding in ice chips is harder than it sounds. Wait, what’s that? I’m hearing those tiny violins again. Strange.

Pain level still at 5. Contractions 30 seconds long, 70 seconds apart.

We had some bloody show earlier. There was mucous and blood and stuff. It didn’t do any ragtime song and dance number, as expected. After seeing that, my nose snot problems from yesterday don’t bother me anymore.

UPDATE: 5:03 PM
We’re ready to go! Lots of fluids and stuff, and soon a baby! They’re bringing in the doctor and the cart!

UPDATE: 7:03 PM
Well, the baby got really near to where he was coming out, and then he just stopped. There’s still just a bit of cervical tissue in his way, and he just didn’t get through it. Meanwhile, Candice has been experiencing strong (level 6) contractions every 1-2 minutes, lasting 40 to 70 seconds, since 1:30. So, at 6:50, they gave her some Nubane, which has slowed and dulled the contractions a great deal. This should give Candice and Nicholas enough rest time to be ready to just push push push. So for the moment, Candice is nicely relaxed. She’s still getting contractions, and the baby is still very close to being born, but there’s a break in the action. Like the brief rest period between the end of regulation and the start of overtime.

UPDATE: 8:42 PM
At 7:59 PM on Thursday, February 21, 2008, Nicholas Solomon Strutz was born. Just in time for Lost. He tips the scales at eight pounds 11 ounces, in a 19 inch frame. No word yet on whether he’s right or left handed, or how big his signing bonus will be when he signs with the Cubs.

More text, video, and pictures will come soon! For the time being, this closes our live blog. We will follow up with separate posts as necessary.