Reunan James may have been 15 days late, but I'm determined to not wait an additional 15 days to post this. So, here goes. (Note 1: this post has only minimal pictures and answers some of the questions about the speed of delivery. The next few posts will have lots of pictures and less words! Note 2: I don't know why the paragraphs aren't showing up and will fix it later.) Yes, Aaron and I are now parents to two fabulous little boys. So far, they have a number of things in common: 1. Smiles and general facial features. 2. Determination to arrive well past their "due date". 3. Ability to immediately capture the heart of their mom and dad....and many others. And, they have a number of things not in common, too: 1. One chose to be born in the morning and the other in the evening. 2. Though only 2 ounces apart in weight at birth, one is thick and stalky and the other is lanky with monkey arms and long fingers, feet and toes! Reunan James was born March 8, 2011....15 days beyond the official, calculated due date. Up to day 13 I was not in the least surprised, as Saul was 13 days late. The last two days, though, I was concerned about the induction and just wanted him out. And he did come out. Quickly. Once he was ready. We were scheduled to go to the hospital the morning of Wednesday, March 9, for an induction. The decision for this was made on Monday, so we had 36 hours to encourage Baby Wieting #2 to arrive on his own. Tuesday afternoon I determined that I was not going to use one of the encouragement options - castor oil. One of the midwives gave me a recipe for castor oil with cherry juice with a cherry juice chaser. The idea of this was far worse than the alternatie of induction the next morning! Around 3 p.m. on Tuesday, I called Doula Jill to get permission to skip the castor oil. I'm sure I already knew I wasn't going to swallow it, but I needed someone else to agree that this was an okay choice - the skipping of the castor oil. Doula Jill supported me in this, pointing out that it sounded like I'd already made a decision I was comfortable with. Yep! By 4 p.m. Tuesday, contractions began and I was very glad of the no castor oil choice. Aaron had been home in bed all day, sick with flu-ish-like symptoms. I went to pick up Saul, knowing that I was no longer experiencing Braxton Hicks. And, as I timed the contractions, I was certain that they were more serious....and delivery without induction was a real option! By 4:45, I made the second call to Doula Jill in an hour. I think she knew why I was calling. Contractions 5ish minutes apart, not too intense, but not stopping. Ckeck back in 45 minutes or less. Immediately I hung up and called Grammy Barbara. Saul needed to not be in the house as I could not focus on him at all. For that matter, Aaron couldn't either. This kid was coming! By 5:45, Saul was with Grammy Barbara and Doula Jill was at the house. How soon to go to the hospital was the next decision. And, like with Saul, we had traffic to consider. This time, though, it was evening traffic rather than morning traffic. We called the oncall midwife and confirmed that we would leave before too long. By 6:30 p.m., we were on our way to OHSU. To me, this was the worst part of delivering Saul - driving to OHSU. I just wanted to get it over with! The curves, the stopping, the hill, the needing to get inside. There's nothing pleasant about the drive EXCEPT knowing that you're that much closer to delivery. It wasn't quite as bad this time, partly because I knew how to manage it. At 7, when we arrived, Aaron dropped me off and went to park the car while between contractions I hurried inside, to the elevator and up to the labor and delivery floor. I was NOT going to allow myself to have a contraction in the elevator! In retrospect, it was a little weird to be there on my own. I even found myself letting the nurse know that there were people joining me soon! The next hour and a half are a blur. All I know is that in order to get in the water, where I was hoping to be able to deliver, they first had to do a 20 minute monitor on my belly to make sure the baby was okay. It was done and the water still wasn't and I got grumpy. Doula Jill knew I would feel better in the water and I could hear her helping to advocate to get it started because we knew it would take a while to fill. Ultimately, Aaron, Doula Jill, the midwife, the midwife student and the nurse were all carrying buckets of water to help the hose fill up the tub more quickly. Aaron helping to fill the water birth tub. Midwife Michelle LaChance at the sink.
Once I was in the water, the contractions were so much more manageable. They were still super intense, but removing gravity sure helps! After only about 30 minutes my water broke and I had to leave the water because of the quantity of meconium that came along with the bag breaking. The last bit of labor and delivery happened out of the water.
At 8:36 p.m., Baby Boy Wieting #2 was born. Yeah! Weight: 8 pounds, 11 ounces and Height: 21 inches 
Reunan bright eyed at 24 hours and a very happy dad. 
Reunan loves his hands close to his face. I'm quite sure this is close to how he was in the womb! Even now, he prefers them up like this. AND, look at those long fingers! 
Love this baby boy #2. He has more hair than Saul did at this age, but it's a similar color. Despite being washed, his hair still had meconium in it in this picture, so it looks a little darker than is the case. 
Look at those long arms! 
Brothers. Saul loves to hold his little brother.
Officially named Reunan James! We only confirmed his name when Aaron came back to the hospital Thursday morning. We spent a bit of time confirming spelling! 
Little peanut dressed and ready to go home! 
Reunan loves his hands close to his face. I'm quite sure this is close to how he was in the womb! Even now, he prefers them up like this. AND, look at those long fingers! 
Love this baby boy #2. He has more hair than Saul did at this age, but it's a similar color. Despite being washed, his hair still had meconium in it in this picture, so it looks a little darker than is the case. 
Look at those long arms! 
Brothers. Saul loves to hold his little brother.
Little peanut dressed and ready to go home! 
