Bilda Aremis Arthur!!!

. . .was one of many possible names for our little girl. However, after much debate and consulting of the magic 8-ball, we decided on Elise Amani Arthur, who was born on July 25th, Carousel Day, at 11:20 pm.

Yesterday morning (the 25th) around 2 am, Rebecca woke up with intermittent back pains. She walked around for about 90 minutes and then went back to sleep. That morning, I suggested that she may be in labor – however she didn’t believe me until Stacy told her the same thing hours later. Typical.

That afternoon at 4:30 pm, as our friends slammed their car door in the driveway, Rebecca suddenly realized that her water had broken. However, ever the hostess, she was too embarrassed to say anything. An hour and a half later into the dinner party when I finally got home late from work, she disclosed to me that her water had broken. This set into motion an additional hour of packing and cleaning as we gathered our things for a stay in the hospital.

After around 5:30 pm, Rebecca’s contractions became steadily stronger. By the time we arrived at the hospital, her cervix was dilated to 8 cm (for you boys, that means that she had been in labor for a while and was about to deliver). A couple hours later, she was ready to push; it was about that time that she began to question her “natural birth” plan and asked for some medication to help with the pain. However, it was too late, because an hour later, Elise Amani entered the world – chemical free (except for antibiotics, fluid and a few other things).

Since then Elise has been breast-feeding well and (we think) enjoying her special time with her parents (except for the time when the mean nurses poked her with needles). Today we are having lots of visitors, so if you’re in the hemisphere – stop on by!

Oh, and for you math geeks - here are the critical numbers: 7 lbs 11 oz (I won the guessing game with 7 lbs 8 oz) and 19 inches (my guess of 46 inches was way off). And for the grammar geeks – Elise is a derivative of Elizabeth, “consecrated to God” and Amani is Swahili for “peace.” Arthur means "bear," but we didn't have much of a choice with that one.

Thanks so much for your gifts and prayers!

Love,

Josh, Rebecca and Elise