Weighing 6lbs 13oz and measuring 20.5 inches long.

Ella, we love you!

If it weren’t for the medical industry being controlled by insurance companies, I would opt for a home birth. Alas, in order save money we’re going to be having the baby at the hospital. Luckily, the practice we chose has several midwives on staff. We’ve elected to get care from the midwives, which means that one of them will attend the birth, not an OB. At least we had that choice, as many do not.

But I digress! Not surprisingly, the AMA has come out and released an official statement about how the safest place for a woman to give birth is in the hospital and how when a woman chooses home birth, it increases her risk of hemorrhage, etc. I say HOGWASH! Of all developed countries, the US has the highest infant and maternal mortality rates, and as Ms. Lake so clearly points out, this is precisely because of hospital intervention. The countries with the lowest rates are the countries in which home births are standard. What’s more dangerous to women are unnecessary C-sections, episiotomies, etc. I was so pleased to see that the majority of the comments under the article on Babycenter.com supported this viewpoint! Score one for the little folk!

The pictures so do not do this experience justice. It was so incredible to see our baby (an actual human!) squirm around throughout the course of the ultrasound. She moved her hands up by her head, flexed her legs and curled into a ball. It even looked like she put her thumb in her mouth and swallowed at one point. It was quite the surreal experience. The ultrasound tech took a bunch of measurements and then the OB looked the results over. Our sweet baby is growing right on schedule.

Now we’re charged with the task of choosing a name for our sweet little girl. Does she look like an Emily? An Emma? No? Good, we don’t think so either. We won’t be choosing a name from the top 10 of 2007 list. We do have a top-runner at this point, but Dan wants each of us to make a list of our favorite first and middle names, with any preferred combinations. Then, I’m told we’re going to cross reference the lists and we each have veto power over anything on each other’s lists. (That’s my methodical Dan for you.) We’ll see what we can do with the rest! Oh how exciting this is!

We’ve been really busy, but we have some news to share, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, go look at cute pictures of puppies, why don’t ya?

http://www.dailypuppy.com/

Still, with some careful thought before, during and on the flight, you and your baby can survive the ride with minimal headaches. Story here

via Re-Nest

Postpartum depressiondefine is generally seen in women after they give birth to a baby, however, a growing number of researches on this subject are showing many men also suffer from postnatal depression. Story here

Check out this small set of pictures for the cutest damn thing you’ve seen all day!

That was probably what 22-year-old Justin Joseph Pintor was thinking when he allegedly first used a piece of wood in an attempt to break the rear glass door at Bank of America, located at 5222 S.E. Abshier Blvd. in Belleview early Saturday morning.

“The suspect stated he was going through hard times and he has a baby on the way. The suspect stated his girlfriend always complains about money problems and he did what he had to do,” according to a report written by the arresting officer Denise Meredith. Story here