Charles Kenneth
Born 1/18/10 at 10:10 pm
7 pounds, 7 ounces
20 inches long
This is a long post, but for those of you interested in Charlie's birth story...here you go!
We are so excited that little Charlie has joined our family! He was born nine days early, but I was expecting an early delivery because there had been so many pre-labor signs these past couple weeks (baby dropping, 3 cm dilated, 80% effaced, LOTS and LOTS of Braxton Hicks contractions, etc.). What surprised us though, was how quick this labor was! I've heard that labor can be shorter the second time around, and I can definitely say this was true in our case. I didn't have to work on Monday since it was MLK day, so Sam and I decided to take it easy and have a relaxing day involving going out for lunch and watching a couple movies. I even got in an afternoon nap when Sam was sleeping. Little did I know that this was probably good for the evening ahead of me.
That night I was going to a bridal shower for my sister. Peter got home from work just after 6:00, and I told him that I had started having some contractions that were definitely more intense than the many Braxton Hicks contractions that I had been having the past week. So, I told Peter I would head to the bridal shower and keep him updated if I thought this was actually turning into something. I got to the shower just after 7:00 and continued to time the contractions every five minutes. I called the hospital, and they seemed to think I had some time ahead of me since they weren't lasting very long at this point (only 35 seconds). So they told me to just relax and give them a call if anything changed. Just before 8:30, they started coming rapidly, every two minutes and were considerably more painful. I asked my Mom to drive me home from the shower because I wanted to be with Peter and talk about maybe heading to the hospital. We got home around 9:00 (after a brief stint of getting lost in St. Paul - not recommended while in labor). We finished packing up and headed to the hospital while my mom stayed back with Sam.
Things were pretty intense on the car ride there and contractions felt almost constant. We checked into the hospital at 9:40. After getting to the room, Peter went to park the car, and the midwife checked me to see that I was dilated 9 cm. What! I heard what she said, but I had to ask again. I couldn't believe I was to that point already. Then Peter was back, and we talked about whether or not the midwife should break my water. She said that would make delivery come quick, but it could make contractions more painful. I didn't know if I was ready for that so we decided to wait it out a little bit. Mere minutes later at 10:05 pm, my water broke all over Peter's shoes (he has since asked if he can get new shoes). I knew that with the next contraction I would be ready to push. This was the part I was most nervous about, but luckily, I only pushed for three minutes, and by 10:10 pm (30 minutes after checking into the hospital - whew!) I was holding our little sweet boy!
We feel truly blessed to have another healthy little boy in our family, and I also feel blessed that labor and delivery went as smoothly and quickly as it did. As with Sam's birth, this was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and I know Peter feels the same way. He was a great labor coach once again, and I'm grateful to have such a wonderful and supportive husband.
We are all home now and adjusting quickly to life as a family of four. Sam likes to give Charlie little kisses and even wanted to hug him good night last night. Oscar is pretty indifferent to the whole situation, though he chooses to sleep downstairs now instead of in our room. So far, Charlie has proven to be a good eater and a good sleeper, so we hope that continues!
In addition to Charlie's birth, we also want to extend our congratulations to the parents of the other babies we know born just this week!
Brandon Paul, born 1/21/10 to Danielle and Jason
Clara Jane, born 1/21/10 to Monica and Dan
Charles Patrick, born 1/22/10 to Meghan and Mike
Today was my due date, and I'm so happy that little Charlie was born nine days early, and we aren't still waiting for his arrival! We had his first doctor appointment earlier this week, and he is doing great and gaining weight just like he is supposed to. His favorite things to do right now are to eat and to sleep. It's rare to catch him with his eyes open, so I had to post the above pictures that caught this special event. My mom came over to spend the day with us today, and it was definitely his most alert day so far. He was awake and very alert for a couple hours, so it was fun to see him and interact with him a bit more. The past couple nights he's slept a four hour stretch, which has been great! 
Only three weeks to go until Baby L joins our family! Peter and I took some time over winter break to get things ready for the big arrival. The baby now officially has a place to sleep, some clean clothes, and some diapers. We still have yet to install the infant car seat, but the cold weather has left us both unwilling to clean out the cars and finish this last task!