gilbert writes, “8:28pm. For those of you just joining us, we’re having a baby (something we’ve been working on for about 9 months). Quinn’s doing most of the work, though. Please note that if you were expecting Quinn or Danny or Gilbert to do anything tonight or in the next few days, you’re probably going to be out of luck.”

“Also, for those of you who are on the East Coast, *no* we’re not going to the hospital, we’re having a home birth. The human race has been giving babies in the wild for tens of thousands of years; none of us see any reason to stop now. Plus, hospitals scare us.”

Wed Feb 26 2003:

4pm, i’ve just had my next dose of castor oil. woot!

7pm, we’re into contractions. much pain. [ gilbert ]

8pm. Yup. This is indeed a baby we’re talking about. Looks like we’re in for the home stretch. [ gilbert ]

8:28pm. For those of you just joining us, we’re having a baby (something we’ve been working on for about 9 months). Quinn’s doing most of the work, though. Please note that if you were expecting Quinn or Danny or Gilbert to do anything tonight or in the next few days, you’re probably going to be out of luck.

Also, for those of you who are on the East Coast, *no* we’re not going to the hospital, we’re having a home birth. The human race has been giving babies in the wild for tens of thousands of years; none of us see any reason to stop now. Plus, hospitals scare us.

9:19pm. this is a lot of work. can i have some water?

9:24pm. monkeys make less noise! monkeys play now! play! monkey, fetch me a ball! [ dyson, the h@x0r kitten ]

9:37pm. We’re looking after Quinn’s backache (it’s a posterior-facing baby for now, so backache is par for the course). “Birth would be fine if it wasn’t for the contractions”. [danny]

9:51pm. Note to Heather: back births suck.

10:22pm. The hormones have her shivering, and freezing cold. Thank god for lots and lots of blankets. [ gilbert ]

10:35pm. can i have a shower?

10:41pm. six centimeters-plus dilation. this is a good thing.

11:05pm. monkeys, i’m sleeping! less moving about wildly, please! [ dyson ]

11:13pm. seven centimeters. the urge to push is there, but NO PUSHING YET. also, the bag of waters is still intact. this is also very good.

11:41pm. pushing: we’ve moved to the loo to help the baby out. quinn is basically a genius at this, it turns out. [danny]

11:50pm. Um. We’re pushing, and stuff? And appears to be quite painful. But she’s doing really really well, natch. [ gilbert ]

11:59pm baby is crowning… brb

Thu Feb 27 2003:

12:01am. Ladies and gentlemen: please welcome - Ada T. Norton to the world. World, Ada. Ada, this is the world. [ gilbert ]

12:07am. WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? [ dyson ]

12:27am. Where in the world did I put that hat? Oh, yeah, and FUCKING HELL. [ gilbert ]

12:35am. big head. lotsa stitches. still no hat. anyone got a hat?

00:58am. and now, in glorious blurry-shakey-dad-o-vision, Ms Ada Norton and Friends

01:31am. reports of my size have been greatly exaggerated: 8.8lbs. [ ada ]

01:31am. see? I *told* you she’d be an excellent typist.
On a completly unrelated note, I’d like to point out to my workplace that this birth was significantly shorter than most internal OSS code releases. Perhaps you guys should take a hint or two. [ gilbert ]

02:17am. Now, time to rest please. Thanks all for your email and thanks and stuff. Thanks especially to the midwifes and mom who were here for it all. Ada and me are gonna nap for a while.