it's a BOY!

In the wee hours of the morning on January 21st, 2009 we welcomed our second child and first son into the world...Emmett James. Emmett was born at 12:39am and weighed in at 6lbs. 14oz. and 20 inches long.

On Jan 20th I woke up at 2am wondering if perhaps I was leaking water. 4 hours later I was having strong contractions and asked Steve to come back home from work because I thought labor was imminent. When he arrived back home, my contractions, pain and bleeding all stopped. I thought perhaps I was going crazy! (I think Steve did too). I did call in to the doctor to make an appointment just because I had a nagging sensation that something wasn't right. Later that afternoon, after being monitored for a few hours it was determined that I did in fact have a leak in my amniotic sac and that we needed to head to the hospital for delivery!

We arrived at the hospital around 3pm on Tuesday, and they continued to monitor my contractions (which were coming every 2 to 10 mins). 3 hours later they decided to start Pitocin, a drug to help stimulate contractions. This certainly made my contractions stronger...but it didn't do anything as far as make any progress for at least 2 hours. At 9:30pm I received my epidural because the contractions were strong, yet things had not changed from when I had arrived at 3. And then suddenly, two and a half hours later it was time to push! So, once things got moving they went very fast. I was very comfortable throughout the rest of the labor and it was a much more relaxed delivery than Anna's. We were thrilled to be able to hold Emmett right away and he immediately wanted to eat.

Since then Emmett has been a wonderful baby. He spends his days (and nights) eating and sleeping - with a few moments here and there where he peeks his eyes open to see what's going on. So far he appears to be content and cuddly - and definitely recognizes his big sister's voice.

Anna is going to be a great big sister. Definitely an adjustment for her, but she is very interested and concerned about baby Emmett (or baby Moses - she alternates what she calls him), and will certainly become a big help.

We are overwhelmed with gratitude for all of the phone calls, emails, gifts, prayers, offers of assistance, and more. We are reminded once again how blessed we are...thank you!

P.S. Aunt Kathy...you won our baby contest! :) Will be getting your "prize" in the mail soon! Enjoy and great guess!