So, we've been getting a lot of questions about how everything went, and I am going to use this forum to give the details. If you are not comfortable reading some birth related terms, stop reading now.

Saturday I could tell things were feeling a little different, and told Chris we should probably see if his parents could come up a day early. They arrived and we headed to dinner. I started having contractions at regular intervals on the way to dinner, but thought I would see how things went. They kept up, about 7-8 minutes apart. On the way home they jumped to about 4 minutes apart, and started getting pretty dang intense. So when we got home we packed up and headed out. We checked in about 8 pm. They checked me shortly after arriving and I was about 4 cm. I originally has intended on trying to go natural, but admittedly the pain I was feeling at 4 cm was about what I had with Josh at 9cm. Between the intense pain, and my doctors recommendation to have it in, in case the c-section became necessary, I caved.

By the time they finally got the epidural in and checked me I was at 9 cm. The nurse told me she hadn't seen contractions this close and intense in any one other than someone who was induced and on pitocin. Very comforting while I was about to pass out from the pain. I felt relief from the contractions for about 10 minutes before I started feeling a lot of pressure from the need to push. Each contraction they have you push 3 times. I did that about 6 or 7 times and he was out. He came very quickly, and because of that I experienced some major tearing. It was amazing though, such a different experience than the c-section. He came out nice and reddish purple too, unlike Josh who was blue. After a couple dozen stitches they moved us to recovery.

He was born at 12:29am was 8 pounds even and 20 1/2 inches. Since he was born in the middle of the night we didn't disturb anyone, or have anyone come until the morning. It was a nice bonding time. Josh came up in the morning to see his baby brother, and was great. He cannot stop giving him kisses and hugs and wants to be by him all the time.

We are all recovering well. Jack is a great sleeper, and nights haven't been too rough so far. I'm sore, but nothing compared to recovering from the c-section. We are feeling incredibly blessed! Now we are wrapping up loose ends and preparing for the move. The moving truck comes on Wednesday, and we leave Connecticut on Thursday. If you want to see pictures, there is a link in the post below. I may try to upload some more pictures in the next couple of days, so check back. Thank you for all of your congratulations, support and prayer! We have felt it and are very thankful.

Pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45187&l=9eb38&id=503538528

We have a baby! Jacob Matthew Kelly was born June 22 at 12:29 a.m. He was 8 lbs even and 20 1/2 inches. Jack and I are both doing well. I was able to do a VBAC so that was a huge blessing! Josh absolutely adores his baby brother and does not want to leave his side. I'm amazed at how well he seems to be doing with the transition so far. We are all doing well, and go home tomorrow. We'll try to put more updates and pictures up soon!

The update is, there is no update. No baby, and no home sale. No progress.

On a funny note, here is a quote from Josh from the other night, which had us laughing pretty hard:

Chris: Josh, you're amazing.

Josh: Yeah, I am.

I went to the doctor this morning, and as of then, I am 50% effaced and 1 cm dilated. Between hearing that, and the amount of contractions I have been having, I would be surprised if I make it 2 more weeks.

We did a huge Target trip this weekend and got everything so we are completely ready for whenever he decides to show up. The sooner the better as far as I'm concerned, more recovery time before the move!

Well that is the update for all who are interested, I'll try to keep you all posted.

As previously mentioned, I am starting to incorporate some of my food passion into this blog. I was reading the Beth Moore blog and there was a post about fresh fruit tarts. Well it got me wanting a tart, so I had to make one. The only problem is, I have difficulty eating a dessert that does not involve chocolate some how, and I didn't want to buy 5 different kinds of fruit just to make one tart, so I took her recipe and created something to suit my needs.

Here is her recipe, it's the second one on the page, although you might be interested in the first too if fruit tarts sound good to you. I used her crust recipe, and the vanilla bean custard filling (which is amazing).

To make it my own, I took the tart shell and spread a thin layer of dark chocolate on the bottom, I then put the vanilla bean custard down, and then spread another thin layer of chocolate on top (I like chocolate and richness, but I found the two layers of chocolate distracted from the taste of the custard, next time I will cut it down to one layer on top, because it's prettier that way). I then placed some amazing organic raspberries they had on special from Whole Foods on top. I'm a fan of the raspberries, but strawberries, or oranges would be just as good. To help keep the raspberries fresh (because they go bad quickly) I took some raspberry preserves mixed with a little water and brushed a light layer on top. It helps to make it shiny too. I would also recommend refrigerating this, if it lasts long enough to need refrigeration.

Here are the results:

This last one sort of shows the layers. Normally they won't run into one another when cut, but since Josh and Chris were about to jump out of their seats in anticipation (and if I waited another half an hour my three year old would have been up until midnight) I didn't let the top layer of chocolate set before putting the raspberries on and cutting. You should do that. Unless you don't care about your layers and just want to eat it. Whatever works.