john's mom works

the station 8 b shift guys who helped me deliver charlie for 12 days now - do the math, that's as long as charlie has existed on this planet! - i've been meaning to bake cookies and bring them over to the fire station for the guys who came and got me and helped me delivery charlie. there's this weird fog, though, around the first two weeks or so after having a baby, and since that's just finally clearing, grammie and john and charlie and i headed over there to mckinney fire department station eight this afternoon. i knew it would be cool to see these guys again, but it was even cooler than i expected. they were SO amazingly indulgent of john, giving him the tour of the station and letting him see, touch, ring bells, check out flashing lights, and generally explore the whole engine and ambulance. they each took turns holding charlie, and they were so genuinely excited to have been a part of that crazy day for our family.  it is really very cool to know that ou...

so first of all, i am typing this on my iphone at the hospital at 549 am, so please forgive the inevitable errors! next, the most relevant facts: as john would say, the real charlie is here! born at 324 pm on thursday, october 10, weighing 7 lbs 7 oz and 19.5 inches long, charles robert made quite an entrance. he waa born on the same day of the pregnancy that his big brother was - 38 weeks 2 days. i delivered him fully naturally without any pain meeications. and yes, he was born in the back of a racing ambulance!  here's the whole story - and this birth story is relatively free of medical detail so even the squeamish among you should be ok! i woke up at my normal midnight, one am, and two am pee times wednesday night, but when i woke at three something was different. i just couldn't get comfortable and back to sleep. by 5 am i could identify actual contractions. i called melissa, my doula, and we decided that since contractions were irregular and not too intense,...