In case you've been wondering. . . . .

Henry Johnson Mott was born one week ago on Wednesday, July 30, 2008. He weighed 8 lbs 4 oz, and was 20 inches long.

For those who are interested, here are all the details of the labor/delivery. For those who aren't interested, just skip straight to the pictures:

Wednesday also happened to be Rachel's 4th birthday. I wasn't really thinking I was going to go into labor (even though I was already 3 days late) because we had an induction scheduled for Friday, August 1st, and it just didn't seem like it was going to happen before then. We had a great day with Rachel, doing all of her birthday stuff. She had requested a picnic lunch so we went swimming with our friends the Bates and had a little picnic at the pool. We got home around 1:45, and around 2:00 as I was getting all the kids ready for naps, I had a few painful contractions that felt different than what I'd previously been feeling. I panicked a little bit, and started running around the house trying to clean up and figure out what needed to get done, just in case. Rachel had requested a dinosaur/volcano cake for her birthday, so I kept going back and forth about whether I should start making it or not - I didn't want to get it all done and then have it go to waste if I had to go to the hospital before we did the whole cake and ice-cream thing, but in case nothing happened, I would feel really bad if there was no cake. I decided to go ahead and make it, assuming that the contractions were a false alarm. The whole time I was making the cake, the contractions started getting closer together. I made the kids an early dinner (macaroni and cheese - Rachel's birthday dinner of choice) and when Daniel called on his way home from work, I let him know that there was a chance I was starting to go into labor. I also called my friend Karen and let her know that I might need her to come over to watch the kids. I ended up changing my mind and calling her back to tell her not to come over - for some reason I was totally in denial and I decided maybe I wasn't in labor. As much as I wanted to have the baby, I was pretty scared for the labor and delivery. All four of my previous deliveries were very long and awful and I was not looking forward to that again. Anyway, by the time we finished Rachel's cake and ice-cream, it was pretty obvious that it was for real, so I called Karen again and she came on over. We finished cleaning up from the birthday stuff, got the kids ready for bed, switched a load of laundry, etc. (stopping every few minutes to have a contraction), and then left for the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 7:40 pm, and when they checked me at 7:45 I was dilated to a 6. I was pretty happy to hear that, but when the nurse said "it looks like we're going to be having this baby soon", Daniel and I looked at each other and laughed and told her that it was probably still going to be awhile, just the way things usually go for me. I was picturing staying at a 6 for an hour, and then staying at a 7 for an hour, etc., and having the baby about 5 hours later. They moved me to another room, and by then I was definitely not enjoying the contractions, but I had decided not to do an epidural. They checked me again at 8:20, and I was expecting to hear that I was at a 6 still, so I was so surprised and happy to hear that I was already at a 9. Daniel and I couldn't believe it. Eighteen minutes later he was born, a little less than an hour after we checked in - definitely my best childbirth experience ever.

We came home from the hospital on Friday, and everyone has just loved having little Henry around. He's very pleasant (still in the sleepy stage) and doesn't cause any trouble at all. My mom flew out from Utah to help out, which has been wonderful. She brought along my little brother (he's 12) and all of the kids have been having a blast playing with him. We'll be sad when they go home on Friday.

Tristan took a picture of me with the birthday girl right before I left for the hospital.

I was so happy that things went so well.

Happy dad

All the kids crowding around. Daniel brought them in Thursday morning and they were all so excited to see their new brother.

I can't believe I have five kids!

He was very awake and alert in the hospital.

Ready to go home.

Rachel holding him the next morning.

Henry napping.

His favorite position to sleep in.

Resting on the couch.

Hanging out with Grandma.

The kids love holding him.

Catching some rays at the pool. (Don't worry - we were actually in the shade)

Another shot from the pool.

I always find little treasures that the other kids have put in his bassinet for him to keep him company.

Another little treasure.

Oliver loves Henry.