Hello World!

Announcing the birth of Liam Phillip Hanners!

8 lbs. 9 oz.

21 inches long

Born at 5:52 a.m. on July 28th, 2006

On Thursday, at 39 weeks of pregnancy, I went into labor. We were having a normal day of doing chores, having lunch with our friends at school, and Braden and Lydia went swimming with some friends so I could get some rest. After they returned we decided to sit down and read some library books together until Morgan got home from work. He had just come home, and I had gotten up to start heating up our leftovers for dinner, when I noticed that my water had broken! I had never gone into labor with my water breaking before, so this was a new experience! I have been prepared for weeks now, so I gathered up my things and told Morgan that we needed to go to the hospital. I must admit that I was pretty nervous, and excited all at once. Morgan called our friend who had offered to stay the night with the kids, and she came over immediately.

When we got to the hospital, I still hadn't started having any real contractions, but they checked me, and I was dilated to a 2-3, and 50% effaced. They confirmed that my water had broken, and admitted me to the hospital. I called my friend Grace, who had offered to act as my doula (childbirth assistant) and she came about an hour later. I was finally having some regular contractions a few hours later, but they were inconsistent. So we spent the night walking around the hospital, and trying to get the baby to drop into position. I bounced on the big birthing ball for quite a while, and that helped.

Labor got really intense around 2 a.m., and I started pushing at about 5 a.m. I had a wonderful nurse, and terrific midwife, and I couldn't have made it through the labor without Grace's encouragement and massages. As I was pushing, my midwife told Morgan that she wanted him to deliver the baby. So they put gloves on him, and he got into position. When Liam finally came into the world, my midwife helped deliver his head and shoulder, and then Morgan pulled him out the rest of the way and placed him on my tummy. He then cut the cord. It was such a special experience to have Morgan deliver our son.

The first thing I noticed about Liam was that he had a perfectly round little head, and a cute, up-turned nose. We thought his hair might be red, but after a good bath we realized that it is white-blonde. His eyelashes are so blonde that you almost can't see them. He is a good nurser, and he sleeps a lot.

Braden and Lydia are in love with their new brother. They love to hold him and help me with taking care of him. Braden's job is to throw the diapers away when I change him, and Lydia gets things for me while I am nursing, or takes dirty clothes to the laundry room. We have only been home one day, and we are all still adjusting.

We are all so happy to have this new little miracle in our family, and will keep you updated.

July Update

I know many of you have been checking this blog for information about the baby, so I thought I would give you an update. I had an ultrasound last Monday to check on Liam's size. If he had measured too big they would have induced me, but he is measuring normal. So we are waiting it out! But we did get this cute picture of his hand. Hopefully I will be able to post a picture of his little hands very soon (only taken from the outside of my body!). He is healthy, and they are monitoring him closely because my placenta is starting to deteriorate. But if his daily movements are any measure, he is a very healthy little boy. We are all so excited to share pictures of him with you as soon as we can!

The kids have been keeping busy this summer with all of their activities. This is a picture of Lydia dissecting an owl pellet at the library a few weeks ago. Apparently, owls swallow their prey whole, and then cough up the bones and fur in a tidy little pellet. Then, companies sterilize them and distribute them for people to dissect. This was a Woodsy Owl activity put on by the National Forests. Lydia was the youngest girl to take part in the activity. The other girls her age stuck to the coloring page table. But not our Lydia! She and Braden were also the last ones to finish, and I had a hard time tearing them away. They are now the proud owners of two complete mouse skeletons (kept tightly sealed in plastic bags).

We had a fun and eventful 4th of July. This is a picture of Braden and Morgan riding the Cub Scout Float in our town's 4th of July Parade. Braden is really enjoying Scouts. He attended Cub Scout camp in June, and loved it.

The typical American family -- Minivan, dog, and 2.5 children!