It's a BOY!

Emmett Douglas was born Monday January 18th at 12:32 pm. He is perfect....we are all in love. He weighed 8 lbs. 11 oz and 22 inches long! Longest baby so far...
Here is the proud "big brother." When Emmett came out and Jeff announced it was a boy I was so happy. We would have loved either, yet I felt ready for another boy and I had felt like he was a boy...until the end when I started to doubt my instincts. Out loud I exclaimed, "horry, Braxton will have his brother." We called Braxton and Adelle at my parents and told them to come home and see the new baby BOY. Braxton said, "it's just what a wanted..." He was really thrilled.
The kids came quickly with BOY balloons and ice-cream for everyone.
Adelle checking out Emmett for the first time.
Our growing family....Emmett is nursing under the blankets.
Our little guy. Emmett is a name that Jeff and I liked from the beginning of the pregnancy. We didn't really have any others that we liked except ones that were "left over" from Braxton. Douglas is my dad's name and both of my brothers' middle names so we thought it was a good name sake as they are all really great men that we love and admire.
This is Emmett wearing the pj's that Jeff wore when he was born. I love stuff like this :)
Daddy admiring his perfect little boy. Sorry about the pink blankets. They were within reach thanks to Adelle's room next door. We have since found all the blue ones that were still stored away.
Emmett has his own hats though, not everything is hammy-down. Grammy came over with 7 homemade hats for Emmett. One for every day of the week.
Thanks Sarah for the shirts...my dear friend made these cute shirts for my kids and sent them from Virginia. I hid them until the special today to make sure they were still white! Braxton has worn his every day since, I'm ok with that right now.
Adelle practicing her anatomy lesson,...nose, eyes, mouth..
Emmett definitely has his own little look. His face is much narrower than his siblings and his eyes are a really light blue/gray. It will be interesting to see how his looks develop. There is definitely some Braxton in there and I can see some Adelle too.
This cracks me up. These two hams are completely hiding the baby. I'm holding him up and they sat right in front of him.
He was really alert from the beginning. In this picture he is less than an hour old. Bright eyed.
Here we are...nice and worn out from all the action.

So...you want the scoop? I will give the run-down, with details...probably never to come. Unless you ask.
Emmett was born at home. It was amazing. It was excruciating. It was really fantastic and yet there were some really challenging moments in there as well.
Sunday we went to church and I came home feeling a little sorry for myself, being 5 days over due and not knowing when it was all going to be done.
I decided to think positive thoughts, so, while the kids were playing play dough I made a cherry pie. I find cooking and baking really therapeutic and I think it really helped me feel better. That night Jeff and I went to bed about 10:00. At 1:00 I was woke up by contractions. I started timing them myself and they were about 7 minutes apart. I laid there praying for them to intensify and listening to the record wind we were having outside. I'm a little hippie so bear with me, but I was mentally letting the wind carry my contractions away with my breathing. It was really quite relaxing.
Anyway, I woke up Jeff about 1:30am and told him that I thought I should call my midwife (Winnie.) He was really surprised but when I told him how close my contractions were he agreed that she should be called.
Winnie arrived at about 3:00am. My contractions were still about the same distance apart so she suggested I just try and lay down and rest. I was dilated to a 5 at this point, if I remember right?
I laid in my own bed and prayed that my kids would be able to continue sleeping and get the rest that they needed. Jeff dosed in and out and me and the wind carried out the contractions.:)
At 7:00am I was dilated to a 7 and still feeling pretty on my game. I was able to walk them out and the kids were still asleep in their own beds. We called my mom and gave her the heads up and she came over to be ready for the kids when they woke up. They totally slept until almost 8 which was great. Then they woke up, I was able to nurse Adelle (yes, she still nurses too) during the labor, and then they went home to my mom's. My mom got them settled with my sister watching them and then came back to be there for the delivery.
I kept contracting intensely and dilating but the baby wasn't dropping. Some of you know, my babies never drop during pregnancy. However, before they had dropped before delivery. Emmett was not having anything of it. I was fully dilated by 11:00 but he was so high still had I did no pushing sensation. I pushed anyways and it was like nothing was happening. I pushed my heart out and no progress. Completely Frustrated I was tired and anxious and ready to be done. Winnie was boggled by the whole thing and was convinced that my water sack was in between my baby and my cervix which is why I didn't feel like pushing. After pushing and pushing with my results I agreed to letter her rupture my water. After that the baby moved down into position and was born a few heave-ho's later. He came out right on our bed. It was so perfect. So intimate and so exactly the way I had envisioned it being.
This is the glorified version. The last hour or so was really ferocious. There were many prayers said and many encouraging words from my #1 husband and my #1 midwife. Jeff was so great. He was so strong and so encouraging and I am so glad that I got to be the one experiencing it and not him. I really don't think I could have handled seeing him in that state towards the end. The only thing I can think of now is that song, "It hurts so good." I don't know who sings it but it's an oldie.
Anyway, I loved every minute of it and Emmett is so perfect and so worth it. I have really strong opinions about the womans body and it's ability so if you are at all considering a natural birth I would love to talk to you about it. It's not for everyone but it's the perfect fit for me and I would strongly recommend looking into it. People have asked us if we did it for insurance reasons? The answer is NO. They asked if we were scared, nervous...the answer was NO. We were mentally prepared, we were spiritually prepared and we just trusted that it would work out. I am very anti-intervention and I just really think that with a will there is a way. It was our will and it was great.
That is the story. We are all healthy, all happy. We get at home visits from Winnie for the first two days. Yesterdays was perfect, baby is thriving, nursing, sleeping...cooing.
The kids LOVE him.
Thanks to Jeff who is the best husband, dad, friend, labor-coach, baby maker....the whole thing...he is the greatest and brings me so much strength. Thanks to Braxton and Adelle for being so flexible and so understanding at this time. They are the greatest BIGs. All the prayers and thoughts of friends and family. We really have felt all of your love. My mom, who I think has excused herself from my next delivery. She paced our hall the whole time and I think she literally almost died, but she was there and able to go get the kids and bring them back with a fabulous meal.
We are such a happy family and I am so glad to have my baby OUT!....let's be real.