For unto us...

Just barely missing the magical 7/7/07 mark...our firstborn came into this world at 11:59 P.M. on July 8th, 2007. His mother and I went to the hospital at noon on that date to be induced after being "bumped" from our scheduled appointment on the 9th. The induction went very smoothly as it "only " took Lacey 11 hours to reach full dilation and start her pushing. Lacey began her journey at just 1.5 cm of dilation but 80% effaced. She was immediately placed on a Pitocin drip to get her contractions going and didn't complain once...until she got to 4 cm and the contractions started to really smart. She politely asked the nurse for her epidural and had it about 15 minutes later. At this point, Lacey felt better than she had in about 2 months and was able to take a nap and relax while I watched the monitors intently to see how she was doing.

The birthing rooms at St. Lukes in Boise were really swanky and although we went through 3 shift nurses at Labor and Delivery, they were all great and were at our beck and call. Sister Jenn and her family were kind enough to let our dog out so I didn't have to leave Lacey's side (he was too scared to anyway). Later on, Shay and Heather Plummer helped us out with the dog also. Lacey was beginning to get quite hungry, but was restricted to only ice chips, jell-o and popsicles. This was all compounded by the fact that I ate Carl's Jr. and some cafeteria sushi right in front of her.

Our doc, Dr. Klomp went about his Sunday routine and swung by periodically to check on Lacey. He headed off to a BBQ and instructed the nurse to let him know when Lacey's dilation was "complete". Lacey and I watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on the LCD flat screen in our suite and felt like we were at a swanky hotel, that is, until about 10:45 P.M.

Lacey was now ready to push and she wasted no time. After coaching her a bit, the delivery nurse grabbed one of Lacey's feet and I grabbed the other and Lacey got started. Nothing you see on TV shows about childbirth is really accurate—Mainly because you don't really breathe...you kind of hold your breath and try real hard to black out. The nurse asked me if I was squeamish at all and I said "no" and so I stuck held my position, watching the proceedings with awe and a little bit of wonder.

The nurse checked the monitor and told Lacey that another woman down the hall had already been pushing for 2 hours and wasn't done yet...Lacey resolved to beat her. We looked at the clock and decided that Lacey could have this baby out by midnight if everything went well. We called the doctor at about 10:45 because Lacey was starting to crown...he said he could be there in 10 minutes and to "hold on". Lacey slowed her pushing and we waited for the doc to arrive, knowing that if it wasn't for this little break, we definitely could've had the baby by midnight, but things weren't looking good on the clock to meet that goal.

Right as the doctor strolled in to start getting set, Lacey all the sudden didn't feel so good—possibly from the Pitocin or possibly because she was more than halfway through pushing a fairly large child out of her body. I grabbed the basin and Lacey commenced throwing up...however, each time Lacey threw up, the baby's head was inching out. The doctor told Lacey that she had better stop or she would "barf out the baby"...then added, "I'm serious". He scrambled to get his gown and gloves on as the baby seemed to be beating him in this head-to-head race. Dr. Klomp looked over his shoulder and saw that it was now 11:59; he said "I told you we'd have this baby by midnight, one more push and they're out". Sure enough, Lacey beat the clock and we had our baby boy the same day we had started this journey. By the way, we had chosen not to find out the sex of the baby, so my disbelief was suspended even longer as the head came out, followed by the tell-tale...um...signs.

Trace Reagan Roberts weighed in at 7.5 oz (not bad for being 9 days early) and was 20 inches in length. For all those that thought the Roberts surname wouldn't live on on this side of things due to the major drought since Drew's birth can all breathe a sigh of relief...and to Grandpa Evert up there: "we did it". Oh, and Lacey did get beat by the Mom down the hall...by two minutes...she had to have a C-section—we're claiming a moral victory there.

All told, the birth of Trace was the most amazing, miraculous thing I've ever witnessed and we already love him a whole lot. We're sure he'll make us all proud and live up to his middle-namesake Ronald W. Reagan. His GOP card is already in the mail and he is a very early commit to play football for the Boise State Broncos starting in 2025. Huzzah!