Erik is 1 week!

Today Erik is 1 week old!

Another one from today of Erik and Daddy.

The day we came home from the hospital - Sunday, Feb 12.

When we came home from the hospital we found blue balloons tied to the lamppost and this sign next to the door that Nick had worked hard to make. I love it!

Uncle Donnie, Aunt Jennilee, and Asher came to see new baby Erik in the hospital.

Grandpa Tim & Grandma Lina came too. We feel so blessed that they were able to help out so much with the kids so Jake could spend time with me and Erik.

Isaac has not been very interested in baby Erik (although he does know the baby's name). For this picture we got him this close to the baby by bribing him with a pretzel if he smelled the baby's head.

Friday night around 7 my water broke, which has never happened to me outside of the hospital before. My parents came over to be with the kids so Jake and I could leave for the hospital. When we got there, the contractions were barely starting to come and after being checked out I was only dilated to a 4 (very disappointing since I was a 7 when I arrived before Isaac was born). They admitted me and contractions picked up pretty quick. I got an epidural, but the first one didn't work, the tube was kinked inside. The 2nd one worked really well, I couldn't feel a thing. I stayed at a 4 for a really long time, then at about 1:30am Saturday they checked me again and I had jumped to a 9 and after the next contraction a 10 and they started me pushing pretty quick after that. I pushed for about 20 minutes and we had a sweet little baby. It didn't occur to me that we didn't know a gender yet since the Dr. didn't announce it when he was born. So Jake asked and then they turned the baby and Jake told me it was a boy. Before we began pushing they had us each take some final guesses. Mine was a boy at 9lbs3 oz, and Jake said girl 8lbs 14oz. Earlier in the evening the midwife checked my belly and figured it would be about 9lbs. Everyone in the room was so surprised at the size of the baby and they started guessing around 10lbs. I couldn't believe it when they weighed him in at 10lbs 5 oz and measured him at 22.5 inches long. I didn't think I could birth a baby that big. We named him Erik William Voelckers. William is after Jake's grandpa and my grandpa. We love him! He is a really easy going baby. He really doesn't fuss much unless he needs something. Most of the time he is just content to look around. He has some very helpful siblings - excluding Isaac who still doesn't pay much attention to him. I think the girls would hold Erik all day if I'd let them.