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