And then along came Charlie...

Charlie Emerson Butler
Born January 18th 1:48 pm

Saturday night I started having contractions. We went to the hospital at 8:30...they admitted me and in about five hours, Charlie was born! He weighed 9 lbs 3 oz and was 21 3/4 inches long. It was all way too easy. After it was over, I felt a bit guilty when people said "good job, Amy!" I really didn't do much. I got an epidural when I was at 6 cm and the pain wasn't even that bad. Then before I knew it, they said it was time to push. He came out and I wasn't tired or in pain. I just kept commenting on how it shouldn't be that easy. I'll take credit for enduring the discomfort of pregnancy and the pain of post-labor recovery (ouch), but the labor and delivery itself was a complete cake-walk.

Charlie is such a handsome little guy. Now that he is a couple of days old, he's really starting to look a lot like Jack when he was a newborn. Jack and Evie are very excited about him. Jack particularly. He kisses him all the time and is constantly saying "I love Charlie." Whenever he sees me walk into the room, it seems new to him that I am no longer pregnant. "There's not a baby in mommy's tummy anymore!"

Here is a video and some pictures. We didn't take many at the hospital with my camera. Hopefully I'll be posting some from Tammy's camera soon. But for now, I'm gonna go take a nap.


(Particularly great is the 3:54 mark)

More like a "don't" date...

Today marks the eighth day past the baby's due date. It's so annoying because really, the "due date" is a midpoint of a four week period that you are most likely to have your baby. No matter how many times I tell myself this, I still think of myself as being "late" when I go past my due date.

Earlier this week I called to ask my OB's nurses about some back pain I was experiencing. I was basically wanting them to tell me whether or not I might be in labor. Instead they wanted me to come in so my doctor could check me and make sure everything was OK. He said that the baby was fine and that I hadn't progressed any. (I have been dilated to a 1 1/2 for three weeks.) I told him to go ahead and schedule me to be induced on the 19th (Martin Luther King Jr. day!) I'm not sure why I did this. I guess because the baby is going to be big, and I felt like 10 days was a good amount of time to wait after the due date. I know that a lot of doctors don't want you to go much longer than two weeks past. I also felt that if I scheduled the induction that I would be more likely to go in labor. That's silly, I know, but Andrea and I both went into labor two days prior to being induced. I was only six days past my due date with Evie so I've been surprised by this baby being even later. Everyone says that the more babies you have the faster they come and the shorter the labor. Well, I think it is a good idea to never listen to anyone, no matter how tempting it is. I'm such an optimist that I just hear all the good things people say about third babies and assume that will be the same for me and my third child.

So, here we are. Two days until the baby's very possible due date. Whatever the case, I'm glad that I'll be seeing his face soon. I can't really wrap my mind around it, but I am excited all the same.

Please pray for me if you think of it. I would be very happy to go into labor on my own before Monday. Pitocin is some seriously vile stuff and I want nothing to do with it.

A Quest for Charlie

One thing that is good about the baby taking his sweet time, is that we had more time to procure a vehicle that he too could fit in. We had been sporting these wheels but now we are sporting these.
The first thing you may have noticed is that they are the same color. Jeremy and I are very much boring black/gray color type people. Both times it just seemed that the red vehicles were the best deals.

A lot of people seem to have this odd association with mini-vans. Like owning a mini-van means you are old, or lame, or old and lame. But to me it just means that our family finally got big enough so that a mini-van was actually a necessity. I like the way it looks, and I like the way it drives. It seems so much lower to the ground than the Jeep that it really feels more like driving a car. Jeremy just bought this yesterday, and I am really happy with it. So, I may look like a soccer mom (or a mom with a soccer ball under her shirt,) but I don't feel like one, and that is really what is important... I guess.

Well, I guess that's all. Obviously no baby yet. Now that I'm past the due date, I feel rather like a ticking time bomb.

Birth-day guesses that are still in it for the big prize:

Andrew- January 13th
Anna- January 14th
Andrea- January 15th
Hannah- January 16th

I'm still taking guesses... so don't be shy. You could be the winner of a grand prize... or something really stupid. Curiosity should be enough to entice you.

Breakfast conversation

After a lot of noise-making and laughing

Jack: Evie, what does a cow say?
Evie: Moo!
Jack: Yeah!! Hey, Evie, what does a horse say?
Evie: Moo!
Jack: No! That's a cow, not a horse!

Birth-day predictions, anyone?

Go ahead: leave your prediction in the comment section. If you win, I'll give you a prize. I don't know what, but you can bet it will be pretty lame.

The year of Charlie

I figured a follow-up blog might be nice for some of you who were probably sitting there in suspense. "Did she have the baby? Didn't she have the baby?!"

No baby yet. Last pregnancy I was SO ready for Evie to come out at this point. But now I feel somewhat comfortable and energetic, so I say "take your time, little guy." However, I do feel very excited to meet him. I'm usually too busy to think on it, but when I do, I shake my head in disbelief. Then I stop thinking about it because it seems too crazy that we could have another child in just a matter of days. Another child! Saying that doesn't begin to relate the feelings associated with it. When I think "we're having another child" I think "there is going to be another person in this world with his own personality and his own face-- a whole new person that Jeremy and I will love as much as we love Jack and Evie." It really just makes my head hurt thinking about it.

Whoa, Charlie is salsa dancing in my womb! I just looked down to see my stomach jolting around quite violently.

Okay, then. I'm off to bed.

To bed, I said.