It's a....

...BOY!!! Woo-hoo! We're excited to be welcoming another "man-child" as Mark says into the family. If you have any great Welsh/Irish names, please do share :-)

Stats: the baby was only weighing (according to their estimate, which can be +/- 1lb) 5lb 10oz...so someone tell me what else is in there LOL! Baby looks good and placenta is in an ok place for a VBAC, so that's good news.

[P.S. Sorry to say that our printer doesn't work with our home-computer...I'll have to wait until Mark is home long enough this weekend to scan some of the sonogram pics in - they got some cute ones!]

Update: We've actually decided to pursue a natural birth at the hospital. There are several reasons for our decision, but the main ones are: 1) they will support a VBAC; 2) if we were to birth at home and have an emergency, the closest hospital is 15 min. away *without traffic*...but in the D.C. area, traffic can be completely unpredictable, and the trip could take as much as 45 min. potentially...and that could mean our baby's death - yes, the risk for uterine rupture during a VBAC is 1% (and studies show for a home-VBAC, 0.1%) - BUT, if it *were* to happen, both Mark and I agreed we'd never be able to justify it to ourselves; 3) the greatest risk during a rupture is to the baby, not as much to the mother (or at least, not as time-crucial)...which I did not realize until a few weeks ago.

So...we are praying that the Lord will provide a wonderful doula to help support me during the birth. I've been calling/e-mailing for the last week and a half and am somewhat frustrated because everyone that's been recommended to me is unavailable at such short notice - they can only take a certain # of clients within a time-frame - so I have to keep reminding myself that God can and will provide the right person. I will be writing a birth plan and making decisions about what I want to do/not to do at the hospital...and packing a hospital bag...and packing a bag for Graeme...all in the next week or so!

Update on Mark: he starts TBS (The Basic School - Marine advanced infantry training for officers) this Wednesday! ACK! For the first week and a half, he'll have a full, time-consuming schedule - mostly sitting around doing paper work and having meetings and such, but they will not be allowed to leave during the day - so he'll probably be there from 6am - 7/8pm. So it would probably be good for baby to hold off until after that period, when his schedule will normalize for the most part (minus the occasional all-night amphibious landing and stuff like that).

Whew! Hopefully that catches everyone up :-) Lots going on here, it's never dull!