It's been over three weeks since Douglas was born. He's a few fussy days and nights, but he's definitely been the easiest of our babies so far. Maybe it's because I know a little more about babies the fourth time around, but I think it's really that he's just a sweet little guy and he likes to sleep a lot. He's also used to a lot of noise from being around his brother and sisters for nine months!
Before I forget all about it, here's what his birth was like...stop reading now if you're not into personal details!!
I went in to the hospital around 8 am on Sept 30, Douglas' due date, because I thought I was in labor. After a less than pleasant nurse telling me I was only dilated to a one (when my doctor a week earlier said I was at a 3) and an ultrasound to check on the fluid level and the baby, they sent me home. I felt pretty dumb! We went home, ate lunch, I took a nap, then the girls got home from school wondering why I was home and still pregnant... James suggested we go to Outback for dinner and I didn't want to cook, so we went. I was having some contractions during dinner, but after being denied at the hospital earlier, didn't really think much of it. So we went home and got the kids in bed. Right after I finished reading to Ashley, the contractions started getting really painful. I decided to take a shower, and then they started coming faster. At home, they were about 4 minutes apart, and driving to the hospital (in a torrential downpour), they were about 2 minutes apart. (My parents were both at our house, so my dad stayed with the kids and my mom came with us to the hospital.) We got to the hospital a little after 9 pm and had to register through the ER. They made me sign a bunch of forms that I didn't read and finally took me upstairs to labor and delivery. When we got into the room, the nurse asked me to give a urine sample and I just said, "I don't think I can do that...can you check and see if I'm ready to have this baby??" So she did and I was at a 9+, which I think was nurse's code for "ready to push, but there's no doctor in the room." I met the on-call hospital doctor while my doctor made a mad dash to the hospital just in time to deliver little Douglas at 9:58 pm. (My sis-in-law, Heather showed up about 9:59!) There was no time for any medicine, so it was by far the most painful of my deliveries, but the recovery was WAY WAY easier.
Our mellow little guy made a dramatic entrance into the world, but he's been making up for it in sweetness ever since!
Douglas had a festive hat thanks to his cousins! Here are the moms and the babies, though Natalie won't be a baby much longer!
Michael was in heaven! He couldn't believe everyone kept giving him more and more CANDY!!
He smiled and coo-ed at me for the first time last night. He has smiled unintentionally before, but this one was a full-on, look me in the eye, coo and smile at me! What a big boy! 
Four kids!!
