Welcome Joaquin Sun!!

On Sunday, October 14th at about 4 AM Penny woke me up to tell me she thought her water broke. We had a quick discussion about her contractions, how far apart they were and how intense. She told me that they were manageable and between 10-15 minutes apart. I had read that the contractions dictate the urgency of the situation and because they were not intense, long lasting and less than 5 minutes apart, I told her to try to get some rest.

We both got up around 8 and decided to get some breakfast. We headed to Dunkin Donuts, had breakfast, and arrived at the hospital around 10. Penny's contractions still were not very intense and she was about 1.5 cm dialated. They started her IV and pumped her full of pitocin. After a painful 4 hours she was only 3 cm dialated and they told us to take a break from the pitocin and walk around for a bit. We walked around the prenatal floor for about an hour and they started the pitocin again. At this point, we were at the hospital for about 6 hours and we were not making too much progress. I was thinking we were in for a long, long night.

I knew that Penny was hoping for a drug-free childbirth experience, but at the rate we were heading she was in for a long, painful night. At this point, I turned to her and said that if she was ever going to opt for an epidural that she might want to just go for it now. That way, instead of experiencing all the pain for hours on end, she could try to get some rest. From the expectant father's perspective, the epidural was a blessing. I realize that I am not the one going through the physical pain of labor, but it is not easy watching your significant other struggling with pain and not being able to do much about it. Also, that pain was going to get more and more intense and we had been up for a long time. I did not know how much longer Penny could tolerate it. After the epidural, we were both able to get some rest.

I remember that I felt a huge sense of relief when the pain subsided and we were able to relax for a bit. Now, we could just sit back and try to relax as the drugs thinned her cervix. My mind was racing, but I felt drunk from being so tired and the whole situation felt surreal. The nurse pulled out a cot for me and I tried to get some sleep. I was able to sleep and would be awakened by the nurses and they came in and turned Penny. It seemed like I was sleeping for 30 minutes when they told me to wake up because we were going to have a baby. It was tough because I was so groggy and the moment had finally arrived.

The nurse checked Penny and said the baby was right there, ready to be delivered. I took a peek and saw the top of his head...My first glimpse of my son! He was RIGHT THERE - I mean, RIGHT THERE! The doctor came in and 5 pushes later, Joaquin's head came out. His umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice, but it caused no complications. I cut the cord and snapped Joaquin's first picture.

Penny and I welcomed Joaquin Sun Zambrano Hintz to our family on October 15, 2007!


Joaquin was 7 pounds 5.7 ounces and was 20 inches long. 26 hours after Penny's water broke, our little man was born!