Charlie's Birth

Charlie's due date was Thursday, July 31st. I knew that there was no way he'd be born that day or even close to that day. I was 11 days late with Sam and my mother was about two weeks late with all of her children. I was prepared for this even though it didn't make me feel any better.

However, my doctor promised me that she wouldn't let me go more than a week past my due date. She said she'd schedule me for an induction the Thursday after I was due. I was grateful for this because I was so miserable and having an end date in sight made it more manageable. My due date came and went with no sign of labor at all. That next Tuesday I went to my doctor's appointment only to be told that she couldn't get me scheduled for an induction on Thursday or Friday. I almost started crying right then but I somehow managed to hold back the tears until I got in the car. Doc told me though, that one of the other doctors in the office might be able to induce me on Sunday. But it was a big if. The one positive that I took away from my appointment was that I was 3cm dilated and over 60% effaced. My doctor told me that she's put me at the "top of her list." She said she'd do everything in her power to get me scheduled.

Fast forward to next Thursday. My doctor calls me in the morning to tell me she managed to get me scheduled for induction on Saturday. I was beside myself happy. I only had to be pregnant for 2 more days. Hallelujah! Later in the afternoon I got a call from the hospital. The nurse said she could get me in at 3pm if I still wanted to be induced that day. Of course I did! So, I ended up being induced on Thursday anyway. I found out later that they were short on nursing staff so that's why they originally couldn't get me in. The only reason they were able to get me in on Thursday was because the head nurse ended up calling another nurse into work just to get me induced.

Chris and I arrived at the hospital at 3pm. I had to go through all the routine stuff first: filling out paper work, getting an IV, strapping on the fetal heart monitor, peeing in a cup, the usual. Finally, at 4:30pm, the doctor put in prostaglandin to get contractions started. I started having contractions before she was even done. At about 6pm, the doctor checked me and I was dilated between a 4-5. She decided to start me on the Pitocin. At this point, the contractions were still very manageable and not too painful. Chris and I walked around for a while, but it was getting to the point where I couldn't walk through the contractions anymore. They were still manageable though. At 8:30pm, the contractions started getting pretty painful, so I opted to get an epidural. The doctor again checked me at this point and I was dilated to 7cm and 80% effaced. This was great news to hear. I was only dilated to 3cm after 24 hours of labor with Sam. I finally got the epidural at 9:30pm and decided to rest for a while. Just before 11pm, the doctor decided she wanted to put an internal fetal heart monitor on the baby because they weren't getting a good reading with the one on my stomach. However, when the doctor went to put it on, she said we didn't need it because I was fully dilated. It was time to push! She wanted to do a "practice" push with me to see how "well" I pushed. She told me to push while she counted to 10. At 5 she frantically told me to "stop, stop stop! The baby's head is starting to crown!" After getting everything ready to go, the real pushing began. I pushed twice while my doctor counted to 10. The third time she was only going to count to 5 but stopped at 3 because the baby was out! I think I pushed for less than 5 minutes. I only pushed 20 minutes with Sam and I thought that was a fast delivery, but Charlie had him beat.

When he came out, the nurses and doctor kept commenting on how "big" Charlie was. Chris and I were shocked when they told us he weighed 10 pounds. I knew he'd big, but I didn't know he'd be that big. He was so chubby looking though that I started calling him my chunky monkey. At first Chris and I both thought that he looked nothing like Sam. But that soon changed. Here are some pictures of Sam and Charlie at just a day old. Can you tell who is who?

It's been two weeks now since he was born, and I don't think I could have asked for a better baby. He's a good nurser and great sleeper. I usually only have to get up once a night to feed him. He's started having some fussy times at night, but it usually starts between 8 or 9pm and only lasts for an hour. The latest he's gone to bed is around midnight so I'm not staying up all hours of the night. He likes sleeping in his Pack N Play which was not the case with Sam. Sam wanted to be right next to me or Chris when he was asleep.

Sam adores Charlie too. He is constantly giving him hugs and kisses, patting his head or stomach and making sure he has his pacifier. He hasn't learned how to be gentle yet though so sometimes he hurts Charlie if he "loves" him too hard. It's very cute to watch though.

The New Dude to the Brood

I don't have much time to write, as I have been sent by my wife on an errand to gather various things from home and return to the hospital. One of my assignments was to post to the blog that Amanda had the baby last night at 11:05pm - just 55 minutes shy of being born on 8-8-08. His name is Charles Dean Skidmore. He weighed in at 10 pounds even and 21 inches long. Both child and mom are happy and healthy and enjoying some R&R, while dad runs errands. We went in at 3pm expecting a full day event, only to see things progress quite rapidly. Below is a picture or two for your enjoyment. I will not say too much so that Amanda can post all the gorey details later.

The Father's Perspective

Apparently we are going to have a second child at some point in the very near future. Amanda has been telling me this for over 9 months now. There is plenty of evidence indicating that this is the case; however, I am beginning to doubt the accuracy of my good wife's claims. Some of the evidential matter is as follows:

• There is a brand new top-of-the-line Graco child swing blocking my access to the living room closet.
• There have been several purchases on the debit card at stores called "Motherhood Maternity" and "Babies-R-Us".
• A number of people have delivered non-commercial frozen dinners to us, which now occupy the space once dedicated to my microwavable corn dogs.
• My parents are asleep in our guest bedroom.
• Amanda has been cleaning the house constantly and reorganizing things that appeared to me to already be organized.
• Lately, Amanda has been wearing my clothes as pajamas.

But here I sit, at 2am on August 5th with only the aforementioned evidence and no baby. Five days have passed since the promised date. This all seems vaguely familiar. If it is true, with my luck it will happen tonight - the night I stay up past 2.

The real truth is that I am beside-myself excited to add another little boy to our family. I feel like it's the Friday before the opening weekend of College Football. Along with the excitement, I'm also feeling intimidated, anxious, and a little scared. This kid better be a tough little guy, because his older brother has yet to grasp the concept of gentleness. Also, since we are planning on naming him Charles, I'm going to call him Chuck - and you must be both physically and mentally tough to grow up with the name Chuck.

The evidence continues to mount, so we hope to have good news for you soon. Wish us luck.