It's a boy!

I would look at the pictures at the bottom first- there were too many to re-arrange, but the older ones are at the bottom...

Isaiah's first walk!

Holding Dad's hand.

Ben used to do this same thing...

Luna is thinking, "Grandma...what do you have there?"

Luna meeting her little brother and giving lots of kisses!

Oh so cute in Grandma McCoy's arms.

Sleeping like a baby- nice :)

Getting weighed and measured- not his favorite.

Me in labor...after the epidural...I'm actually smiling at this point!

Our new family :)

The infamous Pujols jersey.

Proud Grandma's! Both made it here for the birth- God's timing is perfect!

Getting ready to leave for the hospital...apologize for Luna's alien eyes.

After much ado, he’s finally here! Isaiah Benjamin Smidt arrived on October 23^rd at 10:22pm (22:22 Europe-style time) in Brussels, Belgium. He weighed 3.5 kilos (7lbs, 12 ounces) and was 50cm (20inches) long. We were very surprised that he had hair! Both Ben and I were baldies when we were born, so I’m not sure how Isaiah got so lucky.

But, let’s back up a bit. Grandma Smidt (Kathy) moved her plane ticket in the hopes that (after slaving away for me for 3 weeks!) she would get to see Isaiah before she left. Grandma McCoy (Betty) arrived on Thursday, October 22^nd and still no baby. Friday dawned bright and cheery and we were all a bit worried that Grandma Smidt would still have to travel home without seeing this baby. I was covertly thinking that if I was somewhere inconvenient or embarrassing for my water to break, then it probably would, so we all walked to Stockel market to buy our fruits, veggies, waffles, and groceries. We arrived home in one piece…no broken water, no contractions and rather disappointed. In our exhaustion waiting and hoping for baby Smidt to arrive, everyone laid down for a nap. At 1:30, I woke up with a strong contraction, but didn’t call in the troupes because I had been having these random contractions for about a week now. I figured that if they were real ones, the next one would wake me up. I tried to go back to sleep and the next one woke me up in about 15 minutes. After that, the contractions jumped to 2 minutes apart fairly quickly. We all decided that this was the real thing and called Ben about 3:00 to come on home. Unfortunately, on Friday in Brussels, everyone leaves work early. So, Ben left when I called him, but took an hour to get home. At 3:45 we were going to leave on public transport, but Ben called and said that he was close, so we waited for him. Ben arrived and quickly changed into his “it’s go time” clothes. (His official Pujols jersey) We finally left for the hospital around 4pm, but traffic was nasty again, so it took us about an hour to get there; the whole while Ben was cracking jokes, trying to make me laugh during my contractions, while Grandma Smidt was wisely saying in the background, “Ben, she doesn’t want to hear that right now!” Panting and waddling into the lobby paid off because I got to cut to the front of the elevator line, which was significant. When I got to the maternity floor, I had to announce myself through the intercom. I said, “This is Rebekah Smidt.” The lady on the other side responded, “and you are here for??”. I said, “ummmm…labor!” (Why else would I be buzzing into the maternity floor??) Our birthing room was super nice; very big and with lots of things to help with labor, including an Ipod dock for our music- nice! The midwife and Ben were excellent help and did a great job getting me going. I ended up having an epidural a little before 10pm when I was at about 8cm. It was a great epidural- not very strong, so I could still feel the contractions, move my legs, and feel to push. It was amazing- I thought that I was going to be out for the count once he did my epidural, but I wasn’t numb at all, it just helped with the pain. Isaiah came very quickly once I started pushing- it was pretty amazing. I was surprised it was a boy! I thought for sure it was going to be a girl just because everyone expected it to be a boy- the way the end of the pregnancy had gone (with all the waiting, etc) I thought this baby was just going to do everything very unexpectedly. But, we are very excited that he is a boy- it’s fun to have a big brother and Isaiah is going to make a great one….SOMEDAY….NOT in the near future. Childbirth is excellent birth control. hA! Our hospital stay was fine, but we got out two days early for Belgian standards (I’d already been there for 3 days and I was ready to be home!). So, we are home now and enjoying little Isaiah. It is definitely a lot of work being a mom…more than I thought, but it is great J! Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts throughout the pregnancy. Love you all! I’ll try not to take so much time getting the next blog up. I know this one was long overdue!