David... we mean, um... Sterling is born!

Baby Sterling decided to give us a run for our money with his birth.  While all four of our other children have arrived early (Ellie - 3 days, Meg - 2 days, Grant - 2 days, Spencer - 2 weeks), Sterling Paul Wood arrived a full 8 days late.  This meant Grandma was in town for a few days before he even arrived!  The day after his due date I did go into labor for about six hours, but then everything stopped and we ended up going back to sleep and sending our friend Evangelina back home to her own bed.  We've decided Sterling wanted to act out his labor in two parts so he could take a nap in between.  That boy really likes to get his sleep.

On Saturday, January 18th at 2:30 am I woke up and started getting ready for the hospital. (Justin was a little confused when I woke him up and asked if he could eat something, but then he figured out what was going on and got our stuff in the car.) We headed over to the hospital pretty quickly because Meg and Spencer's births progressed so quickly.  It was nice to already be at the hospital during transition, instead of just walking down the hallway attempting to get admitted.  Sterling was born at 6:20 am at 7 lbs 15 oz.  I just love the midwives and nurses here in Iowa.  They really make sure that the hospital experience centers around the Momma.  Our nurse was so kind and kept our room darkened and quiet.  Every time I asked to be checked she paged the midwife right away.  They broke my water when I asked them to, and let me push when I decided to.  Because of this, Sterling's birth went just how we had hoped.  

For the first day of his life, Sterling had this little scowl on his face.  Obviously he was not to excited about getting down to the world quickly.  We've won him over now, and he's getting to like it :)

We were so happy to welcome little Sterling to our family!!!  It did take us a few days to name him, and we even named him David Paul Wood first.  We couldn't manage to call him David though, and luckily Monday was a holiday so we were able to call the hospital and change our paperwork before it was sent into the government.  Yay for Martin Luther King Jr. Day!!!