At 4:30 AM on Sunday the 29th of April, Jodi's water suddenly breaks. We grab a taxi and rush through the empty early-morning streets of Shanghai to Peace Maternity. The baby is almost four weeks early, just early enough to necesitate our signing release forms related to premature babies but still late enough that the doctors are confident enough not to delay delivery.

After 24 hours of waiting, it is recommended that labor be induced. At 8 AM on Monday the 30th of April our doctor arrives at the hospital and a drip of Pitocin is attached to Jodi's hand. Contractions begin in earnest.

At noon, a pained Jodi's cervix dilates enough to finally get the OK on an epidural. The tube administering the first epidural gets lodged between two bones and dams up after a few minutes. A second epidural is applied and things progress much more smoothly.

At 3:55 PM, after much sweat and pushing by the mother-to-be, an excited but calm father watches as baby Charlotte takes her first breath of real air. Seconds later the father dons gloves and slices the umbilical cord. The baby weighs in at 3.240 kilograms (almost 6.5 斤, or 7 pounds and 3 ounces), and all the nurses comment that the due date must have been calculated wrong because the baby looks like it was carried to full term. The following cellphone picture goes out by mass MMS an hour later:

The baby and mother are fine now, resting in the hospital for a few days. If you want to come visit, contact me and I'll give you the details. There really are no visiting hours; you can pretty much drop in anytime you want. Just be polite and let us know a bit in advance.

More pictures:

(Notice the eyebrows. Same color as Laurel's hair.)