This right here is one of the most amazing people I know:
In the early hours of September 30 (12:45 AM, to be precise; the above picture was taken around 12:50 AM), she woke me up by running into the bathroom, hollering that her water had just broken. And that was the end of our sleep for the next forty-eight hours. We'd been told over and over and over again that labor is exactly that--laborious, and that we should get all the rest we could when we knew so much work was coming our way. However, knowing we should rest and actually being able to rest after a water breakage are two entirely different things. We hung out doing everything we knew needed to get done and couldn't get done once the contractions took over (emailing work, packing bags, setting affairs in order, etc) until about 1:30 AM, when the contractions started.

Renee was able to labor at home all night and most of the morning until the midwives' office opened at 9:00. I called their office around 9:01, and they told us to come in and get checked out. After a few contractions, we were able to get from the house to the car, and a few contractions later we were able to get from the car into the office. Joyce Poirier, our new hero of midwifery, checked Renee out as soon as we got there. She told us Renee was eight centimeters dilated, and though I shouldn't speed to get to the hospital, I had better get her there as soon as I could.

We got to the hospital around 10:00, and Renee immediately hopped into the jacuzzi. She hung out there for the next two hours, switched over to the bed and pushed for the following two hours. And then we were graced with the presence of Oliver Coen Kramer at 1:58 PM on Sept 30, 2008. And though Ollie has consumed our lives from 1:58 on, I wanted to take a couple of minutes to remember Renee, and how impressed and proud I am of her for what she was able to accomplish. She was glowing before last Tuesday, but since then she has been positively radiating.