Joseph Benedict Hinckley

Born at home on Friday, February 4, 2011 at 11:37am
10 lbs.
a good bit of brown hair
quite healthy
loves nursing, sleeping, and being held

On Friday I woke at about 4:40am because Daniel was going to cover my Eucharistic Adoration hour for me from 5-6am so I noticed him getting ready. But I also noticed what I thought could be contractions, real contractions! I laid there for a while trying to figure out if they really were and then trying to see if Daniel had left yet. I thought he had, but then I heard him come back in. I got up to go tell him that labor had started. He was back outside trying to remove the ice and snow from his windshield. I told him not to go since it was going to be a lot of trouble and since I was in labor. (Which was a good thing since we found out later that they had canceled Adoration due to the really frigid weather.)
So Daniel had his quiet time on the couch and I just walked around thinking about the contractions, what to do next, when I should call the midwife, when I should call my parents to see if they could watch the kids, and tidying up and thanking God that the day had finally come! :)
At 6:30am I called the midwife who lives in Dripping Springs to let her know I was having pretty regular contractions. She said she would leave in about 10 minutes. I thought that was fine since the weather could make her journey take a bit longer and I'd rather have her here even if it meant early in labor while I'm just walking about waiting for labor to progress. As it ended up, she had car trouble and trouble on the road and got to our house at 9am. She checked me right away and I was 7cm dilated. So she got her stuff set up and I just kept walking and changing positions since that seemed to help the contractions get stronger. If I sat down or laid down, the contractions would stop. Daniel helped by rubbing my lower back through contractions and just being a quiet, encouraging presence.
I'm not sure of the timing of the rest of it, but eventually I was ready to push. With the help of the midwife to get the baby in the right position by rocking my pelvis a bit, baby was pushed out with a few strong contractions and pushes. I remember that all I could say was "praise God" over and over because it was such a relief that it was over, that he was finally here in my arms, and everything went safely. Daniel and I got to just sit there in the quiet and rest and hold him for a long while while the midwife left us to do paperwork and such. It was really peaceful...
which was good since later that day the other 4 of our children came to see the baby. :) That was not so quiet, but I suppose peaceful in a different way. We were almost sure that baby Joseph's hearing mightn't have been working since he was able to sleep through their noisy exclamations, not to mention their climbing all over and rubbing his head and hands with their cold fingers, and being passed about to be held.
Thankfully the older kiddos had a sleepover at Oma and Opa's with their cousins and Daniel and I and Joseph had a restful night after a celebratory dinner and partial game of Scrabble (I just couldn't finish it since my brain seemed a bit foggy and not many words were coming to mind...).
We are adjusting well and have enjoyed having Daniel home. We are thankful to friends and family for prayers, support, meals, offers for grocery runs and play-dates for the other kids. Deo gratias.