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July 13, 2006: Greetings from the slightly larger Dittmer family, (8lbs. and 6ozs. bigger to be exact).

First of all, thank you all for your gifts, cards, well wishes, and phone calls. Rose is now 38 hours old, Marie and Rose are in the hospital doing well, and Grace and I are watching Hoodwinked on DVD. We are trying to catch up with all of you, and until then, here is the generic e-mail, the stunning pictures. . . and the story.

For the last two weeks, we believed and Marie hoped and prayed that the baby would come any day. On Wednesday, after a particularly quiet meal, I took my short nap and left for work. Marie and Grace went to bed. At 11:30 PM Marie woke up with strong contractions. This was not unusual, as Marie had been having contractions for the last two weeks. At 3:30 she called me at LL Bean, and said, "I don't want you to come home right now, but don't stay late at work. At 4:15 AM, she called me and said, that because we had to get Grace ready, I should probably come home now. At 4:30, I was in the Beans parking lot, heading home. I called her, and she said she was a little further along than she had previously thought. The contractions were 2 minutes apart. I got home, got Grace up and out, slowly got Marie to the car, and got her to he hospital by 5:30. For those of you unfamiliar with the details of greater Portland geography, this was a feat that a team of planners would take months to execute, unless they had the shear desperation of a husband who had a wife clearly at the end stages of her labor.

You may notice that not much has been mentioned of Marie so far. This is because I am telling the story. This is also because you can't put into words how strong and tough this woman is. During Grace's birth, she endured 13 hours of labor, including over three hours of pushing, without so much as an aspirin. This time she did 7 hours of labor, alone for the first 5 hours, again with no drugs. As long as I live, I will never challenge this woman to a pain contest. Back to the story.

We got to the hospital at 5:30, where she made her grand entrance, involving several vulgarities not usually uttered in a Catholic Hospital. I followed behind, gathering a bleary Grace and ushering her to the hospital. We had arranged to have our Sister-in-law, Doreen, meet us at the Hospital, to pick up Grace. (She was detained in Biddeford by a particularly young and obnoxious officer of the law, whom I shall deal with later. Needless to say, we are deeply inDEBTed to Doreen and her family.) Anyway......

Once Marie convinced the Hospital staff that she could ride the gurney anyway she damn well pleased, and she was going to ride it kind of half on, half off to her room. Our midwife was about 15 minutes away, and so everything was ready to go. Grace was close behind, and with Marie screaming in pain, she announced that she was going to potty, promptly shut herself in the bathroom, and washed her hands until the nurses could extricate her and escort her to a family area. Doreen arrived shortly after, and about 10 minutes after that, our Midwife, Stacy arrived. It was 6 O'clock AM, and all that was left to do was for Marie to have Rose. 25 Minutes later, Rose was out and the cord was cut, and Marie was feeling rather better now. Thanks to all and we'll talk to you all soon.

Much Love,

Rose, Grace, Marie and Dave

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Fast Facts: Sled hockey is one of the fastest growing disabled sports in the world with new sled hockey programs and sled hockey teams showing up everywhere. There are about 50 adult sled hockey teams and junior sled hockey teams in the USA. Sled hockey is played in several countries. Sweden claims to have originated sled hockey. The US Sled Hockey Team won the gold medal in the 2002 Paralympics. The Prudential Northeast Sled Hockey League is the first organized adult sled hockey league in the USA. Sled hockey players are extremely committed to the sport of sled hockey and regularly teach sled hockey clinics and participate in sled hockey outreach events and sled hockey exhibitions. Anyone wishing to try sled hockey should have ample opportunities to play.