Ruth Anne

Hello to all!
Our much awaited treasure is finally here!! Now there is finally something good about the day they call "Halloween" too....our little daughter's birthday! :) YAY! Yes, as most of you have probably heard through the grapevine, the Lord  has given us a little girl. <3
The birth was a very pleasant experience and everything went very well! We were able to have her at home like we wanted to. The Lord was gracious in all of it. He directed just as we asked! (Just like with Simeon's birth) :) 
Ruth Anne Stewart was born at 1:34am on October 31st. She weighed 8lbs 6oz and was about 20.5 inches long. The entire labor (hard, active labor) lasted only 1 hour! What a difference it was compared to Simeon's birth!! :)
Here is Ruth's birth story for any of you that might be interested.
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Earlier in the day (Oct. 30th) I had a doctor appointment. We found out that I was 6 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced. My doctor said that she's only ever had one other person that was that far dilated and not in labor. :)  Yay for me! -- She predicted that this would be a fast labor...perhaps not even enough time to get to the hospital. I was kind of glad to hear that. :) Yet, I was prepared for a much longer labor. - I'm one to not want to get my hopes up.
Throughout the rest of the day I had some stronger contractions but nothing that hurt at all. Later that evening Chad and I watched an old movie and I continued to have contractions throughout. I was thinking in the back of my mind that "tonight is going to be the night."
Our movie ended at about midnight and we went to bed. That's when the hard contractions started and I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep so I got up to help things along and wait. - I didn't have to wait long. I told Chad that this was it and that we better get the bed ready. We put the plastic under the sheets, got all our things ready to go, lit our "birthing lamp" (an old oil lamp which Simeon was born to....lamp light is much more soothing than 60 watt bulbs) :) and let the contractions do their work.
I decided that I wanted to try a slightly different technique for dealing with the labor pains, so I decided to sing songs through all of them. This worked very well for me and created a rather calm ambiance. I sang and Chad made some final preperations. We really had no idea how quickly things were progressing.
We had decided that we would like for my mom to be there for the birth but didn't want to wake her too soon in case it was going to be a while, so, we waited. (my Mom was already here at our house staying with us for a while as my Dad was in California)  The contractions got more intense so I asked Chad to get the birthing ball from the basement for me. By this time it was about 1:15 or 1:20am. By the time Chad returned, I was in more pain than I can remember ever having before in my life and knew that the time of birth for my child was at hand. I told him to go get Mom. He quickly went to alert my mom that "things are starting to happen" (apparently he wasn't quite aware of how far along things were :) ). As he was gone waking my Mother, my body built up a massive contraction that decided it was going to push my baby out, Chad or no Chad. I tried my very best to hold the baby in there until Chad returned. He walked through the door just in time as the baby was making her appearance. I informed him that the baby was coming out as he came in the bedroom. He seemed surprised, looked and exclaimed "Oh goodness!" With a gentle, careful push, out came the head. Chad checked for a cord and saw none so I continued to let the body emerge when Chad suddenly informed me to wait because now he saw a cord. It was a little tricky trying to stop the body from continuing long enough for him to slip the cord over the head, but we all managed just fine and out came our beautiful daughter. When Chad told me it was a girl I said "Really?" I was delighted.
Within a few minutes of Ruth's birth, my Mom appeared on the scene.  She was quite surprised to say the least. She had no idea how quickly the baby was coming since Chad didn't either and only said "things are starting to happen" rather than "the baby will be born within 5 minutes" :)  Haha...oh well. The look on Mom's face was priceless.
Ruth was so calm when she came. She hardly cried. After a little while I turned her over and rubbed her back till she started crying cause I didn't know for sure if she was breathing ok or not. Of course she was fine, just content. (One of the meanings of the name Ruth is "satisfied".)
All was very well and we were so happy to have this precious child finally here! I had gone 3 days past my "due date" and was pretty eager to meet this little one. I am so amazed by the miracle of life that God has designed! This little child is growing so precisely in the womb and is so perfect when she comes out. She knows how to cry, breath and eat without having to ever do it before or be taught it! The whole process is a miracle....praise God and thanks be to Him!
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It's been about a week and a half now since her birth and I have been feeling great since day 1! (Very different from after Simeon's birth) I haven't been getting a whole lot of sleep yet, but still all is well. :)
Thanks to you all for the prayers and gifts, etc. We are so thankful for each of you!
Chad, Simeon, Ruth and I are all going to be leaving for Michigan in a week for about a week and a half. Chad will have to be traveling a bit for work again and I've decided that I would rather the children and I go this time while we can, rather than being here without him for that long. I just get too lonely when he is away for that amount of time. :(       ---That's a good sign, right? :) haha
Anyway, here is our new little one.
Blessings to you and your families. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!