Isaac joined us the night before last, at 8:43 pm on October 22. He was 9 lb 5 oz and 20", just a little less all around than his big brother two years and some months ago.
His birth story is much briefer that Alten's, which lasted a couple of days between when Margo's work began and when he came out. Isaac gave us shorter notice - labor lasted less than 3 1/2 hours! Margo gave me a call while I was finishing up work at 5:15 and I hustled home. She was in touch with the midwife, to whom we reported progress with some regularity.
Labor moved pretty fast in the end, though, and our midwife's capable assistant (who lives much closer than our midwife) got here about 20 minutes before Isaac. Whew! With some encouragement I caught him on his way out, and that was a great experience. A half-hour later our midwife arrived and helped out with the rest of the documentation. We are grateful beyond words for the experience and confidence that they brought to both of our home-birth experiences...
Thanks to the many who have shared their congratulations with us in the past day or so! We strongly feel your love; know that it has been received, and that it may be awhile before we talk again :)
Names are, of course, a fun and funny thing. As many others before us have, we made lists and lists out of books and books and books. We compared our lists and crossed out names, we devised first name lists and middle name lists, then lists of combinations. As a general direction we looked for names that meant "joy". Those who know, know that Isaac means "laughter" or "he laughs" in Hebrew, and that's what we chose from our short list after spending a few waking hours with our new boy. Alten chose Isaac's second name (from a very short list) and most liked Wynn, which means "cheerful" and "fair" in its Old Welsh roots, and "friend" in Old English. We count that as a good sign!
And here Daddy and Alten are holding the new boy.
Finally, this morning Mama and Isaac watched Alten sort out Mama's vitamins for the day.
More to come!
16964
