At 10:59 on October 30th, 2009, Charles Edward Prevost "Charlie" was born. He was 9 lbs 3.5 ozs and 21.5 inches. He looks a lot like Noah (yes, Noah, not so much Ezra :) and has their same dark hair.
The midwife had stripped my membranes twice and still nothing happened so yesterday morning we went into the hospital to have my water broken, which finally started some contractions going. They did Pitocin augmentation, which was adding a small amount to help the contractions be more consistent. By 7 PM they were really intense and getting harder to endure. Around 10 PM I was so tired and hungry and getting really frustrated that I wanted to give up. I was about 8 cms though and feeling the need to push so I did and out he came!
Thanks for all your prayers, we certainly appreciate them :)

No, I haven't had the baby.
Yes, I will tell you when I do.

:)

The hospital was willing to let me go two weeks before they would "force" a C-section. Induction was not an option for me because it's a VBAC, and I don't think I would have opted for Pitocin anyhow. If the baby was breech when I went into labor I would be destined to a C-section as well, since they generally don't do external versions to turn the baby on VBACs. Yikes! but okay, we'll just be praying that it's head down when it comes to that.

On Monday we had an ultrasound (No, we still don't know what we're having) and the baby was very uncooperative: sitting upright, looking up at me in a transverse position. I felt like scheduling a section right there and getting it over with but I'm trying to be reasonable and patient.

Today at the check-up my patience was rewarded with a head down baby! The midwife stripped my membranes and is going to try again tomorrow if nothing has happened by then. If by Friday there's still nothing, then she'll break my waters and try a small amount of pitocin to move things along before they send me straight to the OR. That is if the baby is still head down! Apparently there's lots of room to swim around in there.

Today we went into Troy for the farmer's market, hoping to find a source for buying a whole or half grass-fed cow for the freezer, as well as some good produce (of course). After watching this I'm even more leery of buying anything from grocery stores, even the stuff I use to cook "from scratch". I'm hoping to support more local organic farmers, maybe join a CSA, and definitely expand my garden next year.
Anyways. After the farmer's market, we walked over to The Daily Grind for coffee and sandwiches. I happened to see a brochure there for a local midwife in Troy who does homebirths. And it turned out to be Michelle Doyle! This might not mean anything to many of you, but if you've ever tried to have a homebirth in the Capital Region, you may have been frustrated by the lack of options and the laws in New York. So it's exciting to find a practice so close. And it's doubly exciting to find out that it's Michelle Doyle! If you've ever been one of her patients, you know she's a great midwife - very friendly, sincere and supportive. I hadn't really felt that a homebirth was right for me, atleast at this time. Maybe someday in the future when I had more birthing experience, but it seemed like so many things could go wrong and I wouldn't know what to do. I actually liked going to the hospital; it was kind of like a mini-vacation (a very painful one) where I didn't have to worry about keeping house or cooking and could let people take care of me. However, I'm very modest and private about birthing. I don't want anyone around, not even family. It seems at the hospital, anyone who works there feels they have the right to just come and go as they please. And let me tell you, having a C-section where you can't even move, let alone cover yourself up while a bunch of people stand around and stare at you is torture! So I don't know what it was (maybe a part of nesting?) but I feel much more open to it now, and knowing that there's a midwife available makes it even more appealing.

Ethan had a tooth extraction last Thursday. His front one had become infected after a fall almost a year ago and at a recent checkup, an x-ray showed that the infection had eaten a huge hole in the root and could spread to the adult tooth if it didn't come out. Not the most fashionable thing, but all kids lose their teeth at some point and Ethan would just have a hole there for longer. So the x-ray showed that the infection was in the middle of the tooth but we couldn't see that there was a tiny piece left holding the root to the rest of the tooth. The dentist prepared us for possible future oral surgery to remove that little tip if it was infected as well. However, God's hand was on the dentist's and the whole thing came out with one tug! Ethan barely noticed and had very little pain afterwards. We're so thankful that the whole thing went so well; even ten year old kids have a harder time with extractions than Ethan had! I remember when I got my teeth pulled as a kid (I had seven "extra" teeth out) that the needle with the novicaine to numb my mouth hurt SO much that I cried. Ethan got some numbing gel before the needle to numb his mouth so they could....numb his mouth some more. Where was that gel back in the 90's?! I guess he's just tougher than me. No surprise there, eh :)
The rest of that week I had been trying to get some deeper cleaning done on the house to get ready for the boys' birthday party last Friday night, as well as for when the baby comes. All my efforts have been undone by now though, but ah well, tis life with kids! Cleaning gives me something to do while I wait wait wait. I'm just dying to meet this baby and find out if it's my girl! (or my equally beloved boy) The official date is the 18th but Ethan and Ed both separately guessed the 15th, if that means anything. Kinda of creepy, if that does end up being the day. Any guesses? If you get it right, maybe we'll send out a prize. Naming rights? God-parenthood? Or maybe just a story told every year about how awesome you are at guessing birthdays!