Hello--and congratulations!
Our second was born 5 weeks ago. For the first one, things were rather tense, so a camera wasn't really on my mind (actually, due to family pressure, it was, but I vetoed the idea). My wife understood, but would have liked to see a picture of the little guy (9 1/2lbs!) being cleaned up.
So, for the second one, we brought in a small Kodak digital. The anasthesiologist (sp?) was a bit of a nut, and he took a picture of me and my wife--well, our heads at least. He says that people can tell that I was smiling under the mask, but I don't see it. I did get a picture of the baby as he was being cleaned up. Now, here came the tricky part. They then asked me to carry the baby to the nursery. Here I am in a bunny-suit (high tech gown), being told not to touch anything in the operating room and they want to hand me a baby--while I have a camera in my hand. Where do you put the camera? Pockets are covered up! I shoved the camera in my sock, took the baby and walked. The nurses stated that no one had ever done that before!
Now, for the rest of the visit, I had my Canonet with Delta3200 in it. Very grainy and contrasty, but I got shots that I couldn't have any other way. I really could have gotten away with ASA 1600, but I shot at 3200. It was a very high-tech hospital (wireless internet access--I checked APUG in our room!) Lots of silicon valley families with tons of digital cameras. I feel fairly sure that I was the only one with a canonet (and a Mockba).
Now, I will say that with my first, the canonet and the Tmax3200 I used worked great. My all-time favorite image was taken then. The quiet shutter and lack of flash (plus the fact that no one takes that thing seriously) means that I got shots of my wife and baby in the NICU where she didn't even know what I was doing. Not bad considering I was about 5 feet away (prefocus, compensate for exposure--the canonet only goes to ISO800, raise the camera and shoot--no one knew!).
I will say that I sent the film off to A&I both times. I have screwed up enough TMax3200 and high speed Fuji film to give up when it comes to important shots.
Now, what shots you take are up to you. I was told (needlessly) not to look over the curtain at the actual operation. So, no shots of the actual birth. Other people make different decisions.
One last comment--both times I took a still life of the items on our table. Nothing of value artistically, but the mundane items bring back memories.
Take Care!
Matt
p.s. when my father in law saw the recent set of proofs, he only had one comment: "They still make B&W film?"