And then we were four

He's here! Bennett Thomas Smirle was born August 16 at 10:51pm weighing 6lbs 10oz.
Ben's original due date was August 9th - like his sister, he kept us waiting a bit and then surprised us with a very fast labour and delivery. Here's a re-cap of the birth story for those who are interested (it's a bit long, but i wanted to capture it somewhere!):

• I went to the dr the morning of the 16th for a regular appointment. Had an ultrasound and the technician said everything looked good - I still had lots of amniotic fluid, which was probably why the baby was happy to stay in my belly (not necessarily news I wanted to hear at a week past my due date!)
• Dr checked me and I was 3cm dilated and 80% effaced. He asked me to call him Wednesday if I still hadn't gone into labour and they would schedule to have me induced.
  
• I went home and went about my day. This was Michael's first day of vacation, so we puttered around the house together for most of the afternoon. In the late afternoon we took Mads to get a popsicle and then walked to the grocery store (I was a bit nuts about keeping the house stocked with fruits, milk etc, in case I went into labour at any point). On the way back from the store, I started to have some contractions that were stronger than Braxton Hicks contractions.
  
• We got home from the store and made Maddy some dinner. It was now around 6pm and my contractions were getting stronger. We started to time them and realized they were getting very close together and they were much stronger. The next hour or so was a bit of a blur because I was focused on my contractions....but I know that we bathed Maddy, called my Mum and Michael's Mom (who hopped in her car from Markham and flew down the 404 to get here!) and got Mads into bed.
  
• Michael's Mom arrived just after 8pm. We were going to wait it out a bit longer at home, but my contractions were so strong and I remembered how fast my labour was last time so I figured we better head to the hospital just to be sure we made it in time.
  
• I was about 4cm dilated and fully effaced when we arrived. We made it very clear that my last labour was pretty fast so they moved me to a room pretty quickly. Our room this time was about double the size of our last room - much better!
  
• By this time it was about 9pm and my contractions were about 2 minutes apart, sometimes closer. I got the epidural which kicked in around 9:30pm and then they broke my water. At this point I thought we were settling in for the night. I figured I'd have a little sleep and Michael would go get some dinner.
  
• My Mum arrived at the hospital with my brother Matt. Both Grandpa's and Michael's brother also arrived to await the arrival.
  
• Shortly after they broke my water I started to feel pressure - so they checked me and I was fully dilated and ready to push. This was just before 10:30, I think. I was shocked. I completely thought that I was going to be hanging out for another couple of hours at least.
  
• The resident and nurse scrambled to get the room ready for a birth. The dr on duty was tied up in a c-section so he wasn't going to be there.
  
• After a few minutes of pushing, Bennett was born!

• The first thing I thought when I saw him? Boy, does he ever look like his sister!!
  

Here are some pics from our first couple of days as a family of four.

Going home day!

The full body shot:

Bennett just after birth.....

Maddy just after birth....

Am I the only one that thinks they look alike?

So far we're settling in well. We're off to the dr today for Ben's first check up. Michael is still on vacation until next week. I'm getting a bit nervous about being home with both kids on my own!! I'll keep you all posted on how that goes :)