Spencer Bruce is here!

Here are pictures of the newest addition to our family. I am also going to tell you the story of his labor and birth because I am still in shock myself and this is kind of my journal too. So, if you want you can skip all this part and just look at pictures. On Sunday, June 29 I was having a lot of contractions and thought I was starting into labor. Well, it was false and I felt pretty foolish because every other time I "thought" I was in labor I was. So, I was pretty down this week and beginning to wonder if all my hopeful positive thinking that I would have this baby on July 3 (this would allow maximum time for Scott to be able to take care of us) plus it was a few days before my actual due date. Zooming through my week now.....................................Thursday, July 3 I went to my appointment at 9:30 am. I was 4 cm dilated and my nurse-midwife knew that I wanted to have a baby that day. She stripped my membranes and said I would probably start contracting within an hour. By 11 am I was having regular contractions! I then spent the day at my good friend Janine's house since the kids were already there. She was so great and made me lunch and helped me relax and not be bored while timing the contractions. Scott arrived at around 2 pm and I was feeling bad like maybe I had called him home from work too early. My contractions were definately still there but I was not feeling any pain really. At 3 or so the nurse midwife's office called and told me to come in and they would check to see how I was progressing. When I got to the office I was a 5 and while she was checking me she accidentally broke my water!!! That's how close I was. That was at 4 pm. So, I continued to walk around. My contractions were finally getting closer but I still wasn't really in much pain. For those of you who know me well know that my labors are usually 10-14 hours and I can't move hardly at all. So it was about 5 minutes to 5 when I started having more pain and actually had to bend over and Scott rubbing my back--Thanks for the time reference LEIGH!! You called and left a message to check on me right before they started to hurt! I walked and sat on the ball for a little bit longer. Then about 5:30 I got in the water. Yes, I had a water birth. At this point I was starting to have a little pressure (but nothing like what I remember pushing pressure should feel like from my other labors) and about 5:40 she told me to just push a little bit and see what happens. I didn't know this until later but with that first push the nurse midwife could see the baby's hair sticking out!!!! So I pushed a few more times and was starting to think that we were going to be there a while since I didn't feel like my pushing was accomplishing much. Then at the same time I felt a bit of relief and saw the nurse midwife pull her hand back. I wanted to scream and tell her to stop cheking me--no wonder I felt better- her hand wasn't up inside me. But then about 15 seconds later I saw a little body come out! It wasn't her hand coming out that had given me that great relief, it was the baby's head! So, now you know all the details and probably some you could have done without, but as I said in the beginning, this is my journal too. So, if you really got through all that introducing: Spencer Bruce 8 lbs 14 1/2 oz 21 1/4" long.

About 4 pm on July 3
About 8 :30 pm on July 3. The kids are so proud of their new baby brother. I don't know what we were thinking, Scott should be in this picture with us not taking it!
What's better than TV?

How about watching a 1 day old baby in a swing!
Look at that strong boy!

The look on his face reminds me of Carly.
Father and son #3!
"I want to be just like him when I grow up."
I think in these last two he looks quite a bit like his cousins
Logan and Nathaniel.

I will post more pictures soon and try to figure out how to post

movies soon too.