Welcome Charlotte Amelia Alsobrook!

Whew - the last few weeks went by in a flash! Baby Charlotte arrived on March 31st at 4:18pm, weighing in at an impressive 8lbs, 7oz, and measuring 20.5 inches long. I spent the previous week or two seriously doubting that the baby would ever arrive. Each day seemed so long and so darn uncomfortable! The due date came and went and I kept waking up each morning still pregnant, and going to bed each night CERTAIN that I'd wake up in labor in a few hours...

On the 31st I had an appointment with my midwife, who urged me to have a non-stress test and ultrasound to make sure the baby was okay and that I could stay pregnant until labor started on its own. Both tests came out fine and I left the hospital that day thinking I'd still be pregnant for another week! By the time we got back to our home, though, around 2:15 pm I was feeling kind of crummy and had a backache. Nathan left the house for a meeting at the office - shortly after he left my back pain started to be more and more uncomfortable. I was sure that it was just because the baby's head was pressed against my sacrum (as Finley's had been for a couple of days during my long drawn-out labor prior to his birth). I jumped in the shower, which eased my discomfort a bit, but every time I got out of the shower, I found my back pain got worse. So I was in and out of the shower for a while, and finally called Nathan and told him that I wanted him to come home and call my midwife for me to see what we could do about the back pain (not thinking that I was actually in labor, silly me!) Nathan called, she said to go to the hospital to figure out what was going on. Things got more "intense" as Nathan packed me into the car and drove me to the hospital (I swear we hit EVERY red light on the way there). We parked WAY across the parking lot from the hospital and once we finally got into the hospital it was 3:55. The nurses checked me out, determined that the baby was about to fall out on the floor (they really said that!) and rushed me to a room - Nathan and I were totally confused about what was going on because I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that I was truly in labor and that things had progressed so very quickly. My midwife basically showed up just in time to catch our beautiful little girl, who was born only 23 minutes after we got to the hospital. I couldn't believe it was a girl! She was crying and full of life right away and we were just about figuring out that I wasn't going to get back to work that afternoon to finish the filing I'd left behind earlier in the day!

Charlotte will be two weeks old tomorrow. So far things have gone quite well. It has certainly been an adjustment to get used to having a new little one and to juggle Finley and the baby. Finley has had a few times where he seemed to be overwhelmed by it all, but I think he already loves her and can't wait until she's big enough to play with him. She's a quiet (compared to Finley at 2 weeks - see early posts in this blog's archives) baby so far and spends a lot of time sleeping and nursing. When she's awake she tends to like being held and gazing around the room. Today she was a bit crankier than she has been previously, and we are remembering that the main lesson we learned about babies with Finley was that as soon as we got used to one stage, it was time for things to change!!!

We have lots and lots of new pictures to share, but for now I'll start with photos of her when she was just born. More to come, when/if I can find the time!!!