Introducing...

...Oliver Patrick!

(click on the pics to see the full image)








Even though it's a little late, since I never got to post my 38-week belly shots...here I am the night before Oliver was born (so 38 weeks + 3 days):

It's a BOY

Baby4 was born this morning at home, weighing 6 lb 10oz. He is 19 inches long and was born at 38 weeks + 4 days (our earliest by a week). He has already nursed like a champ and is now burritoed up and sleeping.

Details (like a name) and more pics to come...here's one from the moments after his birth:

Random Birthday Thoughts and Kid Pics

While IMing with a friend, I realized that C was born on a Tuesday night; E on a Wednesday afternoon; and L on a Wednesday evening...so maybe Baby4 will be a Tuesday/Wednesday baby too? D was also born on Wednesday; I was born on a Thursday. I'm definitely guessing a mid-week baby LOL

So...38 weeks tomorrow...will try to get some belly shots. I'm thinking of doing another belly cast for this baby. We made one for C at about this gestation...I'd love to make one and get some newborn pics of baby in it...I'm always amazed that they fit in there :) Maybe this weekend.

Some pics from this last week...

Last one before my own...

Got the call last night around 6 p.m. that our client's water had broken...and another call about an hour after that to head on out to their house. This second-time mama lives about 45 minutes away, so we wasted no time getting on the road. When we arrived around 7:45, she was laboring in her room with her doula, mainly standing and leaning...she got in the birth tub not long after our arrival where she continued laboring with close contractions. By about 9:00 she was feeling pushy, and at 9:22 out came a beautiful 8lb 10oz baby girl, into her daddy's hands. Mom was a rockstar - simply beautiful and so powerful - many congratulations to the newly enlarged family!

36 + 2 and Henna'd belly

Pics from Saturday (36 weeks + 2 days from LMP)...


I spent Saturday alone. D took all three kids out to the Renaissance Faire, where they spent the entire long day! I worked on some sewing projects, washed and sorted newborn diapers and clothes, organized the spice cupboard, and simply enjoyed my day of solitude. In the evening I attended a "chick flick" night, watching "An American President" and "Steel Magnolias" while eating delicious lasagna, 7-layer dip, berries and brownies :)

My wonderful sweet friends had a blessingway for me Sunday, held under the pretense of an appointment at the office (my mentor midwife threw it). I was completely surprised, and had a wonderful time, surrounded and supported by such a great group of women...

One of the activities was a henna painting...here's the result:


And finally, here's Baby L helping clean over the weekend:

One tired kid

Poor E was so tired by the end of school today, this is how we just found her moments ago:





We were at a birthday party last night for one of her friends, at one of those Bouncy House places...well, it started at 6 p.m. and we didn't get home until almost 9. Our normal bedtime is 7:00...and she was up bright and early this morning. Besides, a full week of school is a lot for the poor girl!

In other news, C is going to be in an opera of Hiawatha that the school is putting on next month - she will sing as a bird, and be one of the villagers.

Baby L has been using the potty regularly for quite some time now; at home during the day (and often while out and about) he is completely dry, and tells us when he needs to go...or just goes on the little potties alone! Now if only he'd get over the insistence of a diaper for those #2s....but I guess at 20 months, that's asking a lot!

Baby-in-Utero is still active - though definitely running out of room, as most of the movements are not nearly as quick (and painful!) as they had been.

For midwifery, we have one more mama due soon (EDD is 2/21), then I'll be temporarily off-duty for a while...which is very hard for me to even comprehend, much less plan! I'll miss so many pre-natals and births of these mamas I've been following for a while now :( I'm hoping to be back in the office pretty quickly post-birth, with the new wee babe. We'll see...

Finally, many thanks to all who posted guesses on the baby's birth stats...and Molly and Aunt Nancy (on her second guess at least) get bonus points as the only participants who didn't make me go past 40 weeks! And demerits for those who put me over 41 weeks...don't you know how impatient a pregnant lady gets at the end? :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.