Welcome Solace

Here is the looong birth story for our newest little baby, Solace.  It started on Friday, the 16th, his DUE DATE. I could hardly believe he was still in there and was incredibly ready to meet our baby, so I went ahead and tried the castor oil thing... Thank heavens I did, because it WORKED. 2 tablespoons oil and a half glass of orange juice. It tasted awful! AWFUL! Sort of like drinking lip gloss as far as texture goes.

I drank the castor oil around 8pm and at 2 am I woke up with contractions. Hooray! I didn't throw up or have any diarrhea like many people warned I might either. Another hooray! I timed them for an hour-ish until they were fairly close together and I couldn't sleep through them.

Once we arrived at the hospital and got all hooked up, it started to sink in that our baby was on his/her way! Grandma Kim stayed home with the big kids while Paul and I waited impatiently to meet baby at the hospital.

I had a great doctor and set of nurses. By the time I felt like I was ready to push, the baby's head was already showing. I pushed once for the nurse, and twice more for the doctor. After my first push with the doctor, he told me to "push slow" whatever that means... The baby came right out and Paul announced, "It's a BOY!"  We were all excited.

Baby boy was really messy, but they laid him on my chest to clean him, which I liked. After a little skin to skin time with me, they took him to the scale to weigh him. He was 8 pounds 1 ounce and not happy to be away from me, although he calmed down really easily.  Signs of a good easy baby already.

His feet are huge and could barely fit on the page. The nurses were even surprised at that.  Paul and I got some alone time with the baby and we sure did love on him. He is the sweetest little thing you ever did see. He looked a lot like Hawken in the hospital with all that hair, and the pursed lips, and the tiny ears.  But now I think he looks a lot like Matix... Time will tell.  Paul snuggled with his newest boy.

A couple hours later, after we moved to our recovery room, Grandma Kim and the kids came to see the baby for the first time. These are their faces as they first see the baby. So precious.

Everyone got lots of time to meet and snuggle with the baby. The kids were all excited, but as soon as the Rescue Bots came out (a gift from the baby to his brothers and sister) Hawken was pretty much done with anything baby, and fixated on toys... :) Matix spent lots of time reassuring me that it was okay for me to come home now and that he missed me. It was so sweet. Lullaby was fascinated. She called him, "My baby!" several times and did really well with watching me hold the baby too.

Grandma Kim with her 6th grand baby! Can you tell that she is excited? 

We chose a name just before leaving the hospital. Paul and I had talked and talked about it and really had a hard time deciding. In the end, we went with Solace because he is so calm and sweet and it really fits him. Charles is his middle name, which we chose for my dad. My dad is very important to us and has always been a good example of the type of man we want our boys to be like.  So here we are, a family of 6, with our sweet Solace.

I made a video of the whole thing too. None of the gross stuff though. :) We are so excited about getting to know this sweet little boy better. He is perfect and wonderful and we are all in love.  My recovery has been the best so far of all of my labors and deliveries and there were no complications with me or with Solace.  We are so grateful.  Enjoy the video.