Charlotte is here!

We had the distinct pleasure of holding our sweet Charlotte at 6:08 this morning. Niki labored hard and efficiently, and is recovering nicely. Charlotte is strong, beautiful, and healthy - everything we could hope for.  She is 21.5 inches long, and 7 lbs, 8 oz.  She has a full head of black hair.

Ronnie and Jean, and Alicia, Faith Carol, and David have already come to welcome Charlotte to our world.

Today is a wonderful day!

C, N, and C

Warming the baby trolley

We're getting closer.  They've turned on the warmer over the baby trolley.  Dr. Kim Scott wil deliver the baby and is already here.  They are bringing in yak trays and towels.  Soon, soon, soon.

Just about 9

Niki is at just about 9 cm, they have called the doctor, and brought in the baby trolley.  Niki is doing well, and looks great!

C 'n' N

Lots of progress!

Niki is at 8 centimeters and plus one station!  She's ahead of schedule, which is just how she likes it. We're too excited to sleep...

Epidural works!

Niki loves the epidural!  Dr. Feelgood is quite nice, as well. Niki is at 6 cm and 100% effaced.  They tell us to expect one cm dilation per hour, so baby at six o'clock?

We'll keep you posted!

Hospital

Niki's water broke at 10:57 tonight.  We are at the hospital. Everything is going well. Think good thoughts for us. Niki's contractions are increasing, but she is a trooper!

Charlotte will be here soon!

More guessing fun!

From the Stringer side:

And who is this?

That last one was Don (Corey's brother-in-law)! He looks a little annoyed at the photographer, doesn't he? Here's a few more for you to guess.

From the Evans side:



From the Stringer side:

Who is this cutie?

Yup - the baby in that last post was my cousin, Jake. Here's another one from Corey's side for you to guess...

39 Weeks Along!

Yesterday we hit the 39 week mark. Only one more week until the due date! I'm still feeling good, but do feel more pressure now that Charlotte has dropped. I get tired more quickly, but I'm still able to do things like making it in to Nashville for a birthday lunch for one of my former co-workers (happy 30th, Angie!). My patience is running a little short (I just about lost it last night when the idiots at Lowe's couldn't seem to figure out how to charge us for the new storm door), but I thought I showed amazing restraint when I woke up to find that Duke had eaten ALL of the banana bread I made last night. Anyone who knows how much I love banana bread will find it phenomenal that I didn't murder Duke right there on the spot.

BabyCenter.com doesn't have anything very interesting to say about Charlotte's development at 39 weeks:

Your baby's waiting to greet the world! She continues to build a layer of fat to help control her body temperature after birth, but it's likely she already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. The outer layers of her skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

More photos for you to guess about...

Erin guessed right - yesterday's photo was our own little Stephanie Sanderson.

Got the car seat mounted in the Mazda . . . unfortunately, side curtain airbags mean that we have to mount the car seat in the middle of the back seat.

Okay - can you identify this little Evans-family baby?

Making progress!

This morning's appointment with Dr. Bell revealed that I am dilated to 3 centimeters and am 80% effaced. Not bad! Dr. Bell thinks the baby should come within the next week and is very pleased with the way things are going. Charlotte is still moving around (a good sign that she's not in distress or has the cord wrapped around her in a bad way) and Dr. Bell thinks Charlotte has dropped (though I couldn't really tell much of a difference).

All right - the answer to yesterday's "name that baby" quiz is that the top baby was my mom, JoAnn, and the bottom baby was Corey's mom, Barb! No one guessed Barb - not even Corey!

Here's the next baby for you to guess (try as I might, I could only get one photo to load today. I don't think this blogging program likes the Mac):

From the Stringer side: