welcome theodore welcome!

after several intense weeks of waiting, theodore is here.

friday afternoon, i was dilated to a 6 and contracting, but not progressing. at which point my midwife, anne, offered 2 options: pitocin or resting. i will admit, it was difficult to turn down the pitocin, but i didn't want to do something i would regret and i'm certain i would have regretted that choice. i slept from about 2 to 5, and when i woke up, brady and i went on a date. we went to craig's emporium and got incense, then to mcdonalds. (an interesting & unlikely craving, but i wanted it bad!) after mcdonalds, we walked over to dollar tree, where we picked up random items and had fun together. during this time, my contractions had changed and it was getting more difficult to pretend like they weren't there.

we came home and the girls were back from playing with my family. mom had them bathed and ready for bed. i laid on the couch at some point, and worked through my contractions. i got up around 11:30 or so, and headed upstairs to be with brady. he was sleeping, so i didn't wake him, and just laid on the bed, laboring. at 1, i had to use the bathroom and came down and realized that, for certain, the baby was coming. i told mom, who had stayed to help with the girls, to call anne and tell her the baby is coming and she needed to get here.

i went upstairs and woke up brady, which took several tries, since i'd called wolf before :) he got up and started getting things ready, and anne arrived at about 1:15. (so i'm told, the exact times escape me, since i was in a pretty heavy place.) anne got upstairs and started setting up her supplies. i started feeling the urge to bear down, and she checked me. i had a lip of cervix left, which she held out of the way and then it was time to push! at some point, i'd had brady turn on hosanna by the psalters, which was perfect.

during the second to last push, i was getting very worn out, but i reached down and touched his head, which gave me quite a renewed vigor :) i was grinning like a maniac during the last push, and i caught him at 1:40 a.m.

i flipped him over and we saw he was a boy, it was a joyous moment! Psalm 37: 4 - Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

he immediately started rooting around and latched on perfectly. we moved over to the bed and got comfy, and he continued nursing. after a bit, anne checked him and weighed him. he was 7 lbs 1 oz, and 20 1/2 inches long. tiny, compared to emma and violette, but perfect! in tradition, grammy dressed him for the first time, and then he was passed around and fawned over. many phone calls occured, and a lot of joy was shared.

emma woke up and met him, and decided she'd like him better in the morning. anne went home and we went to bed, though we didn't sleep too much :)

brady put it quite succinctly: "he is theodore, and he is perfect."

blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord!