Birth Story and Name

Well, here is my attempt to summarize the birth of our new favorite wee one.

I went to the midwife Tuesday morning (3 days overdue). We scheduled a date to be induced on day 12 and I left praying that my dad would still be here for the birth of Caleb. That evening, we went to dinner at our dear friends from church, Joan and Angus. Joan prepared a wonderful Scottish dinner for my parents and half-way through dinner I turned to Joe to let him know that I was having contractions. Now, I had been having alot of contractions, so this was not a true alert to us. However, they continued and by the time dinner was over I found myself wondering if I could make it through the lemon pie. I decided that I could make it long enough for my parents to enjoy their beautiful pieces of pie, but then we needed to GO! We packed up and headed home to drop Dan off. By then, the contractions were fairly strong so I was not looking forward to the 30 minute drive to the hospital. Joe was a true support through our drive as the contractions were 2.5 minutes apart and very uncomfortable on bumpy roads!

We made it to the hospital and everyone was so kind. I was surprised by how relaxed everyone was. They truly gave us our space and did not at all bombard me with questions (good thing, I couldn’t talk!). The rest of the story is actually pretty quick. We arrived at the hospital at 7pm and by 8:30pm I was really doubting myself. I told the midwife that I thought I was close, but I could tell that she didn’t really believe me. Sure enough, about 10 or 15 minutes later it was time to push and we had our beautiful little boy in our hands at 9:01pm. I was so thankful for the time they immediately gave us as a family. We had about an hour to ourselves before Caleb was even weighed. This was such a precious time. Caleb was very calm and we loved examining his expressions, his dark hair (a surprise!), and all his little fingers and toes.

The rest of our hospital stay was great. I was able to have my own room that night (after birth, women usually share a room with multiple other new moms). Joe went home for the night due to hospital rules, but returned in the morning with Dan. I was so excited to see Dan’s reaction and it was great! He was truly excited to meet “baby Caleb” and did such a great job of being gentle with him. I love my boys!
We went home the next day at about 3pm and I was so thankful to have such a smooth, uneventful delivery and hospital stay.

A quick explanation of our little boy’s name: We have always loved the name Caleb. As we find ourselves in the Highlands, we couldn’t resist the name of the man who asked God for the hill country (Joshua 14). Caleb’s middle name is Barthel. This is my mom’s maiden name. We love all of the Barthel’s so much and want this name to be passed on and remembered!

Here are some pictures of our time in the hospital and one peak at what Caleb “looked” like before he was born :)