June 21, 2008...Alex is here!

The First Day of Summer was very exciting for us! Ben, being very interested meteorology lately, was already looking forward to this day for weeks and weeks. Who knew it would also be the day that Alex would finally join our family!

I woke up at 3:30am feeling some contractions. I walked/sat/laid around the house trying to decide if they were the real thing or not until about 7am when I decided they were definitely not going away. I called my mom at 7:15 to ask them to make the 40 minute trip from Tremonton to pick up the kids. "Don't need to hurry too much," I said. Within ten minutes of talking to her, I changed my mind and we went to Plan B...taking the kids over to Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Russ who live just one block away to wait for Grandma and Grandpa. The contractions were intensifying very quickly and (with flashbacks of Erik nearly being born in the car) I decided we had better not wait any longer!

We arrived at the hospital just before 8am. I had enough time to get a very nice epidural and Alex William Petersen was born just half an hour after that at 9:37. Perfect timing in my opinion! He was 7 lbs and 19 1/2 inches long.

After months and months of anticipation, Ben and Erik are so excited to finally meet Alex. Erik, who can sometimes be shy in new situations, has surprised us with how eager he is to hold him while also being very gentle and protective at the same time. Ben can't wait until Alex is a tiny bit older and can appreciate how good Ben is at playing peek-a-boo. In the mean time, he is a great mommy's helper and loves to help keep track of Alex's feeding and diaper changes on a chart. What a scientist!

Here's some pictures...