The Banta Family: He's Finally Here!

Charlie Michael Banta arrived on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 4:48 pm. He was 6lbs 14oz and 19 1/2 inches long. I went into the hospital at 7:30am to be induced. The labor was pretty rough, considering the epidural did not work on the left side of my body. They gave me two epidurals and five different medications through the epidural and nothing worked. I was only able to lay on my right side because Charlie's heart rate kept dropping when I was on my left or my back, but once I was moved to my back to start pushing I felt nothing...THANK GOD!!! I pushed for 20 minutes and there he was! It was the most amazing experience I have ever been through, even though before I started pushing I told Tim that this kid is probably going to be an only child...haha!

Charlie is an excellent sleeper (knock on wood). He is eating every three to four hours and sleeping in between feedings. He does have a bit of a fussy time between 12am and 4am, but he seems to be getting better. He is starting to stay awake more during the day, which is good, but I don't think he knows what to do with himself when he is awake. His little hands are constantly by his face and it is just too cute! He will be two weeks old tomorrow and I can't believe how fast the time is going. We had our first outing on Friday to the doctor. The doctor said he is doing great, just needs to keep eating because he is a tiny little thing, so we upped his formula to three ounces instead of two and he doesn't seem to mind. He grew 1/2 an inch and now weighs 7 lbs. Daddy goes back to work tomorrow which makes me a tad bit nervous because he is such an amazing help, I don't know what I am going to do without him here.

Most people say Charlie looks like Daddy's "mini me" and I guess they are right. I can live with that though because Daddy is pretty handsome..haha.

Here are some pics of our little bundle of joy...