Dylan Reynaud Knapp

On Monday the 15th, Darin and I had an appointment with our doctor who had just returned from a two-week vacation.  While we were disappointed to hear that Baby D was still breech, it was great to chat with our doctor about options and get her perspective.  She told us she was comfortable letting us wait as long as 42 weeks to give the baby an opportunity to flip.  She also made it clear that we needed to go directly to the hospital if Darin started to go into labor so that we could avoid an emergency C-section.

We left the office under the impression that we'd bought ourselves a few additional weeks...which was nice considering we had our last few social events coming up on the calendar.  I was looking forward to a tee time at West Seattle on Friday with some friends, and we were scheduled to attend my co-worker Andy's wedding on Saturday.  On Tuesday night, we decided to have a date night and redeem a gift card at Matt's in the Market, one of our favorite Seattle restaurants (thanks J!).  It was a stunning, Seattle summer evening capped off by a delicious meal.



Little did we know that this would be our last date night for awhile...

At about 2:30am the next morning, Darin's water broke.  After about 10 minutes of both of us pacing aimlessly back and forth trying to process the situation, we were grabbing our bags, calling our parents, and loading up the car to head to the hospital.  Darin wasn't having any major contractions yet, but that didn't stop her from encouraging me to 'drive faster!!!' across I-90.  I think she was secretly hoping we would get pulled over so that we could tell the officer she was in labor and get a police escort the rest of the way to the hospital.

We arrived at the UW Medical Center and headed up to Labor & Delivery where the doctor who greeted us asked Darin if she was related to Brie (those of you who are familiar with Brie's social prowess will appreciate this tidbit).  After a quick exam, they informed us that Baby D was still breech and that Darin was dilated enough that we were going to need to head in for a C-section right away, and that they were paging our doctor to see if she could make it in to do the surgery.

Dave and Rosie (Darin's parents) arrived shortly thereafter, with Darin's mom proudly sporting the 'Lola' shirt we'd given her at Christmas.  Around 5am, they took Darin in to prep her for the surgery while I got suited up in my scrubs.  They came and got me about 20 minutes later and told me they were about to start.

When I got into the operating room, I was thrilled to discover that our doctor had made it in.  Darin told me that her presence had an instant calming effect on her.  I held Darin's hand during the surgery until they told me to get my camera ready because the baby was about to arrive.  Just before the doctor brought him out, she informed us that the cord had been wrapped around his neck...twice...which explained his reluctance to flip!

On their command, I peaked my head over the curtain and got my first glimpse of our beautiful new baby.  Through a steady stream of tears, I announced to Darin that our mystery baby was a boy.  I took several pictures of those first few moments of his arrival before heading over to cut his cord.  

After they had a chance to clean him up, they brought him over for Darin to see and let me hold him while they finished the surgery.  Darin was incredible throughout.

I escorted Darin and the baby back to the recovery room where Dave and Rosie were waiting, and I got to surprise them with the news by asking them if they were ready to meet their new grandson.  A short while after I got to share the same news with my mom, who was speeding up I-5 en route to the hospital.

Within the first few hours of his arrival, we decided that Baby D was going to officially become Dylan Reynaud Knapp.  He had arrived at 5:49am on August 17th, 2011.  He weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. and was 21".  He was instantly loved.

The last four days have been indescribably special.  He is everything we hoped for and more, and it has been incredible to share his arrival with our friends and family.  We truly appreciate all of the love and support we've received throughout this journey.

I've done enough writing at this point, so I'll let you see what the last four days have been like in pictures.  This is Dylan!