Back in January, Elliot and I got the surprise of our lives when we found out we were expecting a third child. With six year old and nine year old girls we thought our family was complete. We thought we were finished having children. Seriously, I’ll be 40 in December and Elliot 47 in January. We’re too old for this, right? Well we kinda are, but apparently we’re not. 
I’ll admit to feeling shocked and not too happy the first couple of months, this was a change we weren’t planning on and I knew it would completely turn our world upside down. It didn’t help that I was sick through the first trimester. But by the second trimester I was feeling better and coming to terms with having another baby. Then we found out that we were having a boy. Now neither of us has ever been the type who cared all that much whether we had boy children or girl children … but we were ecstatic to find out this child would be a boy. Another big change for us! To quote Sarah, “I’ll have a mud buddy to play with!” And Elliot is hoping this means he’ll finally have someone in the family who might be interested in fishing and model rockets. By the third trimester, we were all getting impatient to meet our little guy, it seemed like time was alternately speeding up and slowing down. There were moments to savor of our final days being a family of four … mixed in with the anticipation of being a “party of five.”
To get ready we converted the dining room into my office/client meeting room, and converted my office/guest room into the baby’s room. And we moved the sofa bed to the playroom so we’d still have a place for guests. The nursery was decorated (thanks, Mom!), little outfits were hung in the closet, blankets were folded and put away. My wonderful, loving friends threw me a baby shower to get ready. It’s a good thing too, since back in December I donated the rest of the baby stuff we had left to charity so we had only a crib and a baby bathtub! We made another big change and bought … GASP! … a mini van. I always swore I would NEVER be a mini van mom. Ok, I’ll admit it, with its comfy seating, tons of room and other multitude of conveniences it has won me over. But shhh, don’t tell anyone.
After Sarah was born via c-section (after a not-so-fun 16 hours of labor that ended in a “failure to progress,”) I was told that was my only option for future births. Anna was delivered via scheduled c-section and this baby would be as well.
Finally, Friday, September 30th arrived and we headed to the hospital. At 11:41 AM we met our sweet son (8 lbs., 21″) and I instantly fell completely in love. I’d always said if I had a boy we’d name him after my grandfather, Joseph, a man who absolutely loved children. My other grandfather was just as loving, but um, we just couldn’t quite carry on Ambrose Fernandez. 
So at last Joseph Ethan Laramie was a part of the world.
I’ll spare you all the details of our hospital stay, and the fun of recovering from a c-section. We were able to come home Sunday afternoon and believe me when I say there’s no place like home.
Joseph is such a sweet baby, and we’re all doing really well. He’s thoughtful enough (so far, knock-on-wood) to only wake me once during the night for feedings, then again around 6 AM. Let’s pray that continues, please. It means I get rest.
Who knew I’d fall so in love with a pint-sized little baby?!
Pictures, you ask? Of course! The first four are courtesy of Elliot, as I was otherwise occupied.
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