He has arrived

Our little (actually, not-so-little!) baby joined our family June 13th at 11 o'clock at night.

After pleading with him on my blog of all places, he took the message to heart and decided to join us on the Feast of St. Anthony.

After days and days of prodromal labor, I guess my body was well on the path to have him with relative ease. (Please note the word 'relative'.) It was a great labor because we left in good time for the hospital (big sigh of relief!) and the contractions were quite efficient so I made progress quickly... but not quickly enough to be scary, y'know? And just when my water broke, when things really picked up, my beautiful kind doula friend walked in the door. She was a God-send when it came time to push the little fellow out.

Again, though, not a little fellow.

A 10 lb. 2 oz., 23 inch long fellow.
Whoa.

Our biggest baby to date was Anna, at only 8 lb. 3oz. The difference of nearly two whole pounds explains a lot of why I was so terribly uncomfortable (and yes, huge) when he was still in my womb.

So he definitely has a much more mature look than a typical newborn! In this picture above, he's only 12 hours old, but as far as I'm concerned, looks like a two month old! Such full and chubby cheeks! So very alert and expressive!

His siblings have fallen in love with already. Anna is a Little Mama to him, always wanting to hold him and then kiss him over and over when she has him in her arms. Isaiah and Noah marvel over how cute and tiny he is, and they're both quite proud with how naturally baby-holding comes to them.

And without further ado,

his name:

Elijah Benedict Joseph.

I've actually loved the name Elijah for many years; it was a close contender for Isaiah when I was expecting him as well (but for many reasons, seemed clearly to not be the right fit for our second son). The name grew on me more and more during this pregnancy and during the final days before he was born I got the privilege of getting to Daily Mass by myself. I was exhausted from nights of non-productive labor, uncomfortable from all the 'twinges' and all I could pray about was begging God to let him come soon.

The readings that whole week were about the prophet Elijah. I am always so impressed by his 'spiritual badassery' (for lack of a better phrase) in the story of Elijah vs. the prophets of Baal. But he also was so deeply in tune with God (see 1 Kings 19:11-13). Plus the connection to Elijah and Mount Carmel means he was named in part after my beloved grandmother. Apparently, he had always wanted there to be an Elijah in the family.

So here's lookin' at you, Nana.

As for Benedict, he is a saint I love and Patrick in particular. He has said, "his name is a package deal. Elijah AND Benedict." Not that we would call him by such a mouthful of a name, but both names are equally important. He's the Elijah Benedict option. As for Joseph, each Craine boy bears the name of this patron of men. Why stop now?

We love him dearly. He is the perfect addition to our family.