Elizabeth Dawn is born

I am overjoyed to announce that earlier today at 9:48 a.m. Paris time, my newest daughter Elizabeth Dawn was born. She weighed 3.440 kilograms (7.57 pounds) and measured 48 centimeters (19.2 inches). She has dark hair already and rose skin, so she's likely to have her mom's fair skin coloring.

PHOTOS TOMORROW AT THIS BLOG!

Here's a summary of today's events.

My wife and I arrived at the maternity ward of the Diaconesses Hospital at 6:15 a.m. Our time began with monitoring the baby's heartbeat. We then switched to a birthing room with a big bathtub. (For our 3 children's births, we've used 3 of the 4 birthing rooms here). While in the bathtub, my wife's contractions increased (as did their pain level) and the cervix widened from 2 to 9 centimeters. We listened to the WOW 2005 CD.

At 8:45 a.m., she moved from the tub to sitting on top of a big blue rubber ball. After 20-25 minutes on this, she moved to lying on her right side. She said that even though she felt pain, she knew that she needed to push through this. She gave my hand some major squeezes at this time. I was glad to have been next to her again through this whole process. All 3 delivery days have been unforgettable experiences that have bound us together even more.

Somewhere in here, Dr. Wehbe peaked his head in, as he was going home after his shift. He has been her doctor for all 3 pregnancies and seems like a friend as well. He congradulated her on going through this without the epidural. As with our other daughter 2 years ago, avoiding the epidural helps both mom and child to be more alert sooner than if they had had one.

Elizabeth arrived at 9:48 a.m. and with the Twila Paris CD "Sanctuary" in the background. She squirmed and cried, then began nursing right away. I got to cut the umbilical cord again, which was cool. After the removal of the afterbirth and several stitches, the midwife left and it was just father, mother, and newborn daughter in the room for nearly an hour. In the background was a CD that my wife's childhood friend Holly sent explicitly for delivery day.

My wife then got put in a wheelchair and we moved into another room where Elizabeth was weighed and measured. She showed a good set of lungs and lots of movement, which everyone who saw her described as "tonique." I think that she'll need this strong character to handle being placed in a situation with a very active older brother and older sister.

With her height and facial wrinkles, she reminded me of the character Yoda from Star Wars. She, of course, will get more beautiful over the course of time and I already love her because she is mine. But it is true that, from an objective perspective, babies are pretty funny looking when they come out.

Nicole checked into her room (a private one, another desire of her heart for this delivery) and lunch was served immediately. The food at this hospital is really good, which might be a necessity in France. She was famished at this time, so lunch couldn't have been better timed.

We again were extremely pleased by the service at this delivery. We started with Dominique, a midwife of Vietnamese background. Her shift ended at 8:00 a.m., then Blandine (also the name of a teenage Christian martyr in early French church history) took the baton from her. Both women were very calm and reassuring to my wife. A 1st year intern named Maryam (from Mali originally) helped install the original I.V. Sylvia, originally from Barbados in the West Indies, helped with the final delivery, then measured and dressed Elizabeth.

Because this is my wife's 3rd stay there in 4 years, we know and recognize the names and faces of a good number of the workers here. In some ways, it's like returning home whenever we got there. A couple of them had trouble believing that our son was already 4.

Anne (a new intern from Wheaton that I helped recruit) and Grandpa David watched the kids this morning. What an invaluable service this was! Unfortunately, due to our son's chicken pox, he can't visit and see his new sister. This afternoon David, our 2 year old daughter, and I went there. I also went by the city hall of that district of Paris in order to get an official birth declaration. It's nice to already have that paperwork completed.

We all miss having my wife around tonight. Our son fell asleep right away, but our oldest daughter took awhile to fall asleep.

I'm feeling physically tired, but relieved and thrilled that Elizabeth has finally arrived. I'll need to make more phone calls tomorrow.

By the way, I arranged for a phone number that rings directly into my wife's room. Before calling her, remember that France is 6 hours ahead of the U.S.'s Eastern Time Zone. Please don't call her from 9:00 p.m. to 9 a.m. France time! If you want to briefly congradulate her, then her number in France is 01.44.74.13.93 or from the U.S., it's 011.33.1.44.74.13.93.