Introducing Charles Thomas Daniels

We are so exited to announce Charlie's long awaited arrival on the 11th of September. He weighed in at an impressive 9 lbs and 2 oz and is 22 inches long.
My water broke on September 10th at 2 in the afternoon. We had my 39 week appointment scheduled with the OB at 3, but we immediately headed to the hospital. I started having mild contractions around 4 and got an epidural around 10 pm, unfortunately, it did not work as well as it should have. I am just one of those unlucky people that don't respond well to the medication. I labored for around 20 hours and pushed for 1 extremely long hour. There was always a worry that I wouldn't be able to deliver without a c section, and that was indeed the case. Charlie was just not descending and pushing wasn't working. All of the labor and pain was worth it as we welcomed a healthy baby boy at 1:08 pm on September 11th.
As for his birthday, we welcome the day as a blessing. Of course Charlie's birthday will always be a day of remembrance for those who lost their lives on September 11th, but we choose to celebrate it as a new beginning. The day is especially sentimental to Ben's family as September 11th is the birthday of Ben's uncle Thomas. He died young of a neurological disorder, and Charlie's middle name is in his honor. We feel like it was meant to be....and maybe Uncle Tom had a little something to do with the day of his arrival.
We were lucky enough to have Ben's Mom, Norine, here for Charlie's arrival. She flew down from Seattle the instant she heard my water had broken. It was so nice to have her here, and words can not describe how excited she is to have a grandson!! My Mom arrived from Germany last Wednesday to help out for three weeks, we are incredibly lucky to have such great new grandmas around. Charlie loves both of them so much, we just wish that we all lived closer together. It will be so sad when Grandma Joan has to leave to go back to Germany again.
We are now home and adjusting to life with a newborn, and it is something you can never truly prepare for!! It is amazing how you can just stare at a tiny face for hours on end and not get bored. Every little move or noise he makes seems like a miracle, we are just so happy to have him here. Ben has adjusted to life as a Dad so quickly, he loves his little boy more than I can say. He is an amazing help with everything, his specialty right now is diapering. I am loving being a Mom, it is just indescribable and truly does not feel real yet. I am starting to recover from the c section and feeling a little more like myself again.
Thanks for all of your well wishes throughout our journey so far. We are so excited to start our life as a family.
Love,
Ben, Tova and Charlie

Nursery

We finally got the nursery all together. Ben worked so hard to get it done while I supervised ;) We obviously went with the nautical theme in honor of Ben's passion! We are all ready for you now Charlie......

38 weeks!!

We had our 38 week appointment today and had an additional ultrasound to check on Charlie's growth. Luckily, everything looked great.....he is still just BIG. His current estimated weight is 8 lbs 5 oz and he was measuring in the upper 90th percentile for everything else. The good news is, the doctors want me to go into natural labor and see if I can birth this big boy ;) If I don't progress, or there is any fetal distress, we'll move straight to a c section. Both Ben and I feel really confident and happy with that plan of action, all we care about is a healthy baby and safe delivery. They are predicting he'll be close to 10lbs if we go full term, wow!! Now it is just a waiting game to see when he decides to show up......

I am doing ok, definitely feeling the effects of late pregnancy. Everything is hard to do now, it's so bizarre to not be in control of your own body anymore. All the moms reading this know exactly how that feels.... Ben is doing really well and is SO excited to meet his boy. He attended "Daddy Boot Camp" on Monday and got to change a REAL, LIVE baby!! He felt more confident about his Daddy abilities after leaving class. I am proud of him :-)

Here is something fun to take a look at. Grandma Norine sent us this picture of Ben at about one hour old, and I am posting the 3D ultrasound picture of Charlie. Do they look alike to you???

We'll keep you updated and be on the lookout for an email or phone call when Charlie makes his way into our lives. We cannot WAIT to meet him......

Love to everyone,

Ben and Tova