Peter Castor... 6/12/07

THE DELIVERY
Peter was born. 7lbs. 20.5 Inches and quickly proved himself hiccup king of the world.
Poor Annalise began feeling contractions Sunday afternoon in the middle of Church. We came home, after I was told by a very understanding Jacob Johnson (who he worked with in Hatch's office) that the meeting I was supposed to attend wasn't that important.

After a quick call Dr. Tchabo, we raced over to the Arlington VA, Virginia Center Hospital. Annalise received an epidural, and then had her "circlosge" removed (however the heck you spell it). Despite the hundreds of residents who kept poking their heads in to my gorgeous wife and mom to be, the only complaint was how often people told us how happy we looked. :) Finally, they placed Annaise on Potosin, or Oxytosyn to induce her. After something like 20 hours she was only to 2 cm. 10 more hours and she had reached 4 cm. We think the scar tissue from the "circlosje" (another fatal spelling attempt; Susan and Trish please resist the urge to edit :)) might have limited her ability to dilate.

Even so, Annalise's mom, Zan, had said that when she finally dilated to 4 cm she jumped to a 10 cm in 30 minutes. Because of this we hung on for a few more hours hoping to help the baby come natural. He was positioned, ready and trying to say hello, but it wasn't meant to be. Another 10 hours later and we finally decided Annalise needed a C-Section. About an hour later, a little after Midnight I got all dressed up and we both got prepped to help our little guy come.

The C-Section was a blessing in more ways that one. Poor little Peter was being strangled by the umbilical chord (again spelling evades me). Not only that, it helped us be in the hospital long enough to make sure the he was able to get over a few health issues, like his body temp and his belli-Ruben count, (sounds like a sandwich doesn't it) which rated how well he was battling his jaundice.

Annalise was so tough, and even though the anesthesia wasn't working as well as it should have. I can't believe how brave and dedicated women are. Annalise was incredible.


As soon as he came out, he gave the sweetest little cry. I reached down, stroked his hand and he calmed right down. He knew me! It was the most amazing thing in the world. He was there. He was alive, looking around and breathing in the world. It was the perfect ending to a long, long, long delivery.


I've included a bunch of pictures below:

Here Peter is showing off his yawning skills. He's very advanced. :)

Here Dad is teaching him essential nappin skills.

And here we are one big happy family. Big is not just metaphorical but we're actually quite tall. Tee hee.

Dallin was on Church History Tour with the Stake and couldn't wait to come out and see Peter.


Dr. Tchabo, was amazing. He used to be a pediatrician, and decided the best way to prevent harm was to teach mothers how to help bring their children to term.

We had the best view from our Hotel er um Hospital room. :) Gorgeous Arlington, VA.

One of the reasons we think the labor took so long was because Peter wanted to make sure Grandpa Dodd could make there in time to explain all the crazy anesthesia stuff to Annalise. It was such a blast to have Dodd there. He kept telling us, "I keep signing all my emails, 'Grandpa Dodd'!"

Oh. Yeah.

Zan was the best. We couldn't have done it without her.

Mom, yeah. Mom.

Here's Peter posin' for the belli-ruben lamp. Yeah. He knows hes a stud.