I’ll get right to the point: our family got 7lbs, 13oz heavier today.

Robbi woke me up at 2:40am with the news that her water had broken. This was exciting. We took a picture to prove how excited we were.

Dutifully, we called the hospital to report the incident. I asked if we should come in or wait until the contractions got more frequent. The nurse on the other end of the line, remembering that last time Robbi delivered 37 minutes after arriving at the hospital, suggested that we come in right away.

And so we did. Right after we hastily packed a bag of stuff to take to the hospital.

We scrambled to remember what we were supposed to bring. I added my slippers. Robbi threw in her contact lens case. (As it turns out, we completely forgot to bring any clothes for the baby.)

We drove to the hospital. It was dark. It was, after all, the middle of the night.

But did that stop us from being quite excited?

It did not. We were excited in the elevator, and we were excited once we got to the room .

Robbi was examined in various ways and determined to be not quite ready to have her baby. We were given the option of sticking around or going home to sleep. We chose the latter. I think we got about two more hours of rest before things started getting more serious. So we went back to this hospital. The sky was lighter now.

But we were still just as excited.

Robbi got into her gown and got hooked up to the various sensors.

She was proceeding without much pain, having periodic contractions of a frequency and intensity that suggested that the birth was still far off.

And then, with no warning, Robbi started making horrible sounds. In the course of four minutes, she had four profound contractions and a baby.

Just like that. My girl is so efficient.

Once again, I forgot to look between my new child’s legs to see what flavor of child it was. Once again, I had to rely on the nurse to provide this information.

The child was a boy. His name is August Behr Swanson. He is 20.5 inches long. He weighs 7lbs, 13 oz. And he is not a looker.

Not yet, at least.

But I sure do like him.

As does Robbi.

As does Bob.

Kato and Alden came for a visit mid-afternoon. In recent weeks, we have prepared Kato as much as we could. He knew to point to Robbi’s midsection and say “baby.” But as he stood there beholding the new acquisition, it was pretty clear that he doesn’t quite grasp the underlying concept.

Alden, on the other hand, parlayed months of anticipation of big sister status into an extremely effective trial run. She held her little brother with great care and obvious delight.

It has been a long day. Things are winding down.

Alden and Kato are spending the night with our wonderful and indispensable friends Ann and Donald. Robbi and August are sleeping. It’s nice sitting here in the almost dark room, listening to the sound of them breathing. I should be sleeping, too, but I’m simply too excited.

After all, I am a father of three.

It is a wonderful thing. A fortunate thing for which I am so grateful.

Thank you, Robbi, for nine months of hard work and four minutes of really, really hard work. Welcome, August, I promise that not every day will be as taxing as this one. Welcome to our family. You have no idea what you’re in for.