I know that everyone has been waiting for the details.

Imanuel Alexander Ramos was born on March 4, 2006 at 10:18 p.m.

He weighed 7lbs 3ozs and was 21.75 inches long.

Labor was a bit complicated, but we appreciate the prayers of those who thought of us during the whole experience.

Judy went into early labor at about 1 p.m. on Friday–she was already 3cms dilated.  The doctor stripped her membranes to quicken the process.  She thought that she’d be able to see Judy on Saturday since the Dr. was on call that day. 

At 6 that evening, she started getting noticeable contractions in more frequent intervals and by 10:30 that night the contractions got pretty hard.  Not too long after that, we decided to head to the hospital.  We arrived at around midnight.

When we arrived, Judy had dilated to 6cms and had been in active labor a while.  We checked into our room and tried to get ready for what was ahead.  The contractions got harder and harder.  At around 5 a.m., I asked Judy to get an epidural.  I could tell that the contractions were getting unbearable.  I was able to convince her (she was wanting to go pain medication-free).  We realized later on that Judy had stayed dilated at 6cms for more than 5 hrs and still had a way to go. 

After the medication, Judy felt a little better.  At around 2 or 3 p.m. the baby’s heart stopped beating for 5 minutes, almost causing Judy to have an emergency C-Section.  The physicians and nurses had asked to assume various positions, causing the epidural to fail to work on Judy’s right side.  All the movement apparently caused the baby to fall into a position that weakened and stopped his heartbeat.  While in the OR, the baby’s heart started to work again.  We stayed in the OR for a while until Judy’s and the baby’s condition became stable. 

Just when we thought our complications were over, we realized that Judy had been dilated at 8cms for a long time and was not making progress as much as she should have been (I think women are supposed to dilated about a cm an hr.).  It wasn’t until 6 pm on Saturday evening that Judy had dilated to 10cms and was able to start pushing.  At that point, we called her parents to let them know that in no later than 3 hrs (we thought it’d take that long), Baby Ramos would be born.

After pushing for about 3 hours and not having a baby, the doctors decided that we would need a C-Section.  For some reason, the baby, being under so much stress, did not have the energy to help while Judy was pushing.  His heart rate at that time was going faster and faster.

We prepared ourselves for the operation.  As I was getting dressed with the scrubs, Judy was getting prepared by the doctors.  After about 15 minutes or so, the nurse came out and mentioned that I wouldn’t be able to go into the OR.  The epidural wasn’t working well on Judy (her right side) even though it was given to her in its fullest strength.  The doctors put her under general anesthesia for the operation.  The good news?  At 10:18, the kid was born.  To add to that, the Lakers beat the Pistons that evening and I was able to watch it while Judy came up out of her sleep.

Things are going well now.  We got in yesterday and are trying to catch up on rest.  We thank everyone for their prayers and ask that you continue to keep us in your thoughts.  We also want to thank everyone for bringing the baby and Judy gifts and flowers. 

As Judy continues to recover, we ask our eager visitors to hold off visitations for a while.  Judy needs time to recover properly and we all need time to get used to our newest addition to the family.  Thank you for understanding.

P.S. If anyone wants an birth announcement, please give us an address to send it to