Caleb's Birth Day

Because I was 10 days overdue (I went 11 days over with Ella), the doctor decided we should induce labor. I really wanted to avoid inducing, but by the time the day arrived I was ready. That last day of pregnancy was really physically difficult. My mother came in the afternoon and took me for a mani/pedi (divine).  At 8 PM that evening, Matt & I headed to the hospital. Here I am... the last pregnancy photo.

The labor & delivery unit of the hospital is on the tenth floor and we had this amazing view of midtown & downtown Manhattan.  It was a little smoggy and overcast, but still fabulous.  

It was a busy night in labor & delivery, so it took a few hours for me to get checked in and for the doctor to come & start the pitocin.  Things didn't get under way until about midnight.  I was able to sleep for several hours which was good.

The next day-- it took a long time to progress and seemed like labor was going to last forever.

Then, really quite suddenly, it was time for Caleb to be born!  The doctor was in the OR with a scheduled C-section because he had checked on me and thought there was still a couple of hours to go-- and then all of a sudden, there was no time left!  He wanted to deliver (and I wanted him there, quite frankly) so I held off for as long as I could and he made it just in the nick of time.  Two pushes later, Caleb was here- at 12:48 PM.  He cried initially, and then settled down & so far has proven to be a very mellow baby.

He weighed in at 3880 grams which is 8 pounds 9 ounces.

This was my labor & delivery nurse Maura (overnight I had the help of Ann Marie- both nurses were awesome!)  And my doctor, Dr. Shin.

The girls have been anticipating Caleb's birth for several months and were excited to finally get to meet him.  This is the first time Lexi held him.  I love the look of pure joy on her face.

Grandma & Aunt Allie were some of our visitors in the hospital as well.

And now, we're home.  And the girls cannot get enough of him.  Which is wonderful, of course.  Grandma Susan is here to help this week and Grandma Cope is coming soon to help as well.

We are enjoying getting acquainted with the newest member of our family and we are all pretty smitten with him.  We chose to name him Caleb because we like the name, but also for the Old Testament figure Caleb who was one of the twelve spies that Moses sent into the land of Canaan.  Only he & Joshua returned saying that God would deliver Canaan into the hands of the Isrealites.  Because of this faith, the only adult Isrealites allowed to enter Canaan after forty years of wandering in the wilderness were Caleb & Jacob.  We love that story of faith and righteousness.  His middle name is Austin, which is also Matt's middle name because I wanted him to share a name with his father, who is also a faithful and righteous man.