Chase Bradley is here!

Chase Bradley R. joined us on Wednesday afternoon at 3:59pm, after a less-than-5 hour induction labor. There was a little craziness that included trouble with the epidural (mainly due to an anesthesiologist who was talking on his iPhone and answering pages while holding my needle), a drop in my blood pressure, a drop in the baby's heartrate, the need for like 5 bags of fluid to be pumped into my swollen body for hydration...etc, but overall it was a simple process that resulted in 8 minutes of pushing and the most awesome baby boy ever!

Once again one of my favorite parts of childbirth is seeing Greg's expression when the baby first enters the world; he literally suspends his breathing and gets the most fabulous look of awe on his face and is immediately smitten. Of course I get all teary eyed at that point, and neither of us can believe we ever didn't have that particular little one in our family. This experience was no different; I was so nervous that a new baby would take away from the dynamic of our family of four. As soon as Chase was born though, it was like we'd always been a family of five.

Enough ruminating. A few details for you: Sweet Chase was born at 3:59pm on Wednesday, July 15th. He weighed 6lbs, 7oz, and was 19 inches long. He looks almost exactly like Noah did, but with strawberry blonde hair (which I had as a baby) and several of Lauren's expressions. He's absolutely perfect and has such a sweet temperament, a very light squeak of a cry that only arises when he's starving, and he has great cycles of sleep time and wake time already. I'll shut up now, and let you see for yourself!