Introducing Colin Henry Flynn

I took this not long before I left to be with the boys this evening. Colin was not yet quite 24 hours old.

The name was going to be Samuel Flynn. We sort of decided on Thursday or so that Samuel Colin Flynn might be the way to go. I liked Samuel Patrick Flynn, but Bridget didn't--sorry, my brother. Anyway that was the way were were leaning even on Saturday.

I went to work on Saturday and got there around noon. I rode there and while it was pretty busy at first, it soon died down to a more manageable pace. Around 2:30 I called Bridget to see how she was doing. Nothing happening. I knew she really wanted to have the baby this weekend before her parents took off for a 6 week vacation that has been planned for about a year or more. They leave Monday, or in about 8 hours from the time I am writing this post.

She and her mom went to Babies R Us and then to get their toes painted. For some reason she started having painful contractions while she was getting the later done. She went home and called the hospital and they told her to wait an hour to see if the contractions still held up. That was around 4pm. I guess a lot can change in an hour and a half, the amount of time since I had last talked to her. At 4:30, even though she still had another 30 minutes to go until she was supposed to call the hospital again, she called me and told me it was on. It takes me about an hour to change and ride home if I hustle--which I did. I told everyone at the shop that all systems were go and they bid me farwell.

On the ride home I was thinking about the little guy and for some reason Colin seemed like the right name. Maybe it was because it was the right name or maybe it was becuase it was hot, I had not had a sip of water in quite a bit and I was riding home at a pretty good pace. The ride home is 13 miles by the way, and fairly hilly at the very end. It was on one of the final climbs were I thought that Colin instead of Samuel was the way to go. So delusion or truth, I will let you guys decide for yourselves.

I showered fast, drove to the hospital (only 2 miles away thankfully) and made it to my wife's side. Her mom then took off to relieve Bridget's father who was watching Ryan and Jack.

Around 7:15 she was swapped from some sort of private secondary room to an actual birthing room which was wide and spacious. She then got her drugs and an epidural. Things started to feel better for her then, up until then the contractions had been pretty painful, the most painful out of her three pregnancies. Drugs are good, drugs can be very good.

Also of note, Saturday, September 6th is my Dad's Birthday. When I told him that I was on my way to the hospital he said he would be expecting my call with the good news prior to midnight. He joked about it, but I know he was very hopeful that this would turn out to be the case. I thought there was a 50/50 shot that the newest Flynn would make it in time.

While waiting for the little dude to come, Bridget and I discussed the name thing again. She also like Colin as a first name. But we could not do Samuel as a middle name--there is already another baby in the family with samuel as a middle name. We were ok with using it as a first name, but it just wasn't going to go in the middle. I called my mom to ask for family names. She gave some and Bridget and I quickly decided that Henry--my Grandpa Flynn's middle name as well--would be the name. Thus, finally after months and months of indecision we had finally arrived at a complete name for him: Colin Henry Flynn. Although it took us until tonight, a day after he was born to decided that we would spell Colin with just one "l" instead of too. Both Bridget and I and enough friends and hospital staff agreed that "Collin" was more a last name and "Colin" is more a first name.

Anyway, around 10:45pm our nurse was expressing some concern about the little dude's heart rate. It was going a bit too low during the contractions. They tried to move Bridget around to make it easier on him, but this did not totally relieve the problem.

The Doctor came in just after 11pm--and he was very very good--and said that it was time for baby to come out. I thought he meant that it was time for a C section. So did Joan (who was back after making sure that Ryan and Jack were asleep so that Grandpa didn't have to worry about it), but we were relieved to find out that this was not the case. Ryan had to be delived C-section due to a similar problem. Jack went out the regular exit. Bridget prefers the regular exit. Much less recovery time.

To cut a long story down just a bit--it went really well. At 11:26pm Colin was out and Bridget was getting fixed up just a bit. Both were doing really well. Colin came out with his eyes opening almost immediately. And he had a good healthy wail.

The time since the birth has going really well. Bridget is sore, but in great spirits. Colin has been sleeping lots and feeding relatively well. Lots of poop. Not a big fan of the tar-poops that kids have when they are first born, by the way.

And my dad was pretty happy that he now had a grandson that shared his same birthday.

Now for lots of pictures and a couple of videos.

The private waiting room when I first arrived:

Mid-contraction determination. She was not wanting me to take this picture.























Me trying to get a picture of us in the birthing room.

He's here!
























Mom holding him while they clean him up.


Close up just a minute or so after birth.

Nurses checking him out..Colin's not happy about it.

Birth weight: 2.930 Kilos = 6 pounds 7.4 ounces.

"Hey, you want summa dis!?!?"

Bridget and Colin the next morning.

Colin snuggled in with mom.

Hanging out tonight, wide awake, just chillin'

This evening watching the MTV Video Awards. Why? I dunno, Bridget had the remote.