7lbs 10 ozs, a new PB

I have been keeping this one close to my chest but it gives me enormous pleasure to announce the arrival of our new baby boy Benjamin Carden Pearson.

Ben was born at 0858 at the National Naval Medical Center Bethesda and weighed in at a very reasonable 7lbs 10ozs.

I cannot claim that this time around the pregnancy has been particularly easy. We knew fairly early on that his heart was OK and that he didn't have the same problems as his sister but then soon after we received a positive Quad Screen Test Result for Trisomy 18 which knocked us both a bit sideways.

Thankfully repeated ultrasounds at the Prenatal Assessment Clinic at Bethesda all indicated that the Quad Screen result was in fact a false positive and that Ben was fine. I must say a big thank you to Dr Peterson and all the Prenatal Assessment Staff who have all been wonderful. Obviously we were not going to rest easy until we had Ben in our arms and he kept us waiting to the bitter end coming out 13 days overdue. His actual due date was the day of the Lake Anna Half Ironman and the fact that I raced on the day Wendy was due caused a bit of excitement. Obviously with hindsight there was nothing to get excited about and I am glad that we didn't put our lives on hold awaiting his arrival.

It was a huge relief to find that he was perfectly healthy, in fact he aced his APGARS and hearing test (proud father moment). Both he and Wendy did so well that the Doctors let us out of hospital after only 2 days despite the fact that Wendy had required surgery.

Since Friday he has decided to sleep all day and wake up around midnight for a 6-8 hours of crying, eating and being fidgety before falling asleep again for the rest of the day, storing his energy ready for nightfall. Thankfully he seems to be settling into a slightly more regular (but still tiring) routine. Obviously my training over the weekend went out of the window and I had to miss the road race on Saturday but I did manage to get out this evening for a bike ride despite the fact that I was so sleepy.

I am as pleased as punch and have to say a big thank you to Wendy whose monumental efforts, both mental and physical, put even an Ironman into context.