Seven pounds ten ounces

This experience was a little different from previous, similar events.  Maybe we'd been eating oily food lately and so Amanda was a bit more slippery inside.  Maybe chasing around after three kids put her system into overdrive.  Whatever it was, Amanda mentioned Sunday that her Braxton Hicks were getting a little more serious.  Monday evening, she didn't feel like eating the (oily) stew I had prepared.  In fact, she was becoming somewhat agitated.  Then things really got rolling.  We were putting the kids to bed at 7:30 while I called some friends who agreed to come over and stay in the house while we set out for what we expected to be a drawn-out event.  However, the sudden escalation of that event meant that I ended up running outside around 7:45 to ask a neighbor to sit in the house until our friends arrived.  We hurried to the car.  I tried to hurry while in the car.  I still thought things were just getting warmed up.

We arrived at the birthing center and took a brief break in front of the entrance because my better half was momentarily unable to walk.  It was 8 pm and the door was locked, but they were having a how-to class and some people opened the door when I rang.  We hurried into one of the three birthing rooms.  The midwife was still on the way.  So was the baby.  The baby won.

I started filling the birthing pool in hopes that water would help ease the discomfort.  I came around to help support Amanda who was leaning against the tub.  She frantically told me to "catch him! catch him!"  The way I understand it, "catching" is the technical term for receiving the descending infant.  In this case however, a head had just popped out and was in very real need of "catching".  That's not a sight I ever expected to see.  I put my hand under the head and brought my other hand up just as the shoulders slid out, followed by the rest of the baby boy, into my arms.  I checked the clock on my phone, 8:09. "Wow.  What now?"

I held him for a moment as we tried to get over the shock.  Amanda was remarkably put-together, considering.  She leaned against the bed and I passed her the baby.  There might have been a significant mess beside the tub.  I'm glad it wasn't in our house.  I hurried out the door in hopes that someone might know what to do next.  That's when the midwife showed up.  She handled things from there, and things started to calm down a bit.

Besides that unexpected adventure, everything went quite smoothly. We rested there for a bit, but we were heading back home around 1:00am with the baby snuggled in his carseat in the back.

After a full day with everyone home, Mom and baby seem well. We're all a bit tired.

The kids love their new baby brother.

I guess Ellie was asleep while the camera was out, but she loves little brother too.