Waiting for and meeting Mason Joseph Radtke

Wow! What a wild couple of days. Sunday we were going to have a cookout at Kristen and Toby's. I had planned on taking what would probably be my last picture of Janelle pregnant since she was due on Monday. Mark called about 3 o'clock that afternoon to say that he wasn't sure if they were coming because Janelle was somewhat uncomfortable. She had been having contractions since about 11 o'clock in the morning. They decided they would give it a try though since they were both hungry. Poor Janelle, even though she was having contractions, she still posed for a picture for me.

After dinner we sat in the living room timing contractions all afternoon and evening.

By about 9 o'clock she was really becoming uncomfortable. The contractions had been about 5 minutes apart since they started but now they were much stronger. She called her nurse midwife who told her to come to the hospital and they would check her out. Kristen and I were so excited and knew we could never just go to bed that night, so we asked if we could come with them to the hospital. I think they were happy to oblige us. It was a long night, but at 9:08 the next morning it was all worth it. We actually heard him crying (quite loudly I might add) outside their room before we knew he was there. Labor, delivery, and recovery are all in one room now. After a little while we (Kristen, me, Stacia and Amy (Janelle's mother and sister arrived at the hospital about 5:00 a.m.) were allowed in the room. What an unbelievable experience, words don't do it justice. I loved him before I even saw him.