As most of you know, we welcomed our 4th child into the world on May 8. Her name is Charis Ellyn Horne. She weighed 7 lbs, 10 oz., and she was 19.25 inches long. She is beautiful in my most objective opinion. We are thankful to God for her safe arrival.

To my chagrin, Charis was delivered by emergency c-section. The stormy Oklahoma weather may have had something to do with the doctor’s decision to do a c-section. First, I had an epidural that went awry. After it was removed and the anasthesiologist was deciding what to do for my pain, Charis’s heartbeat dropped dramatically. Unfortunately, my doctor had left the building, and, when the hospital attempted to contact her, she could not be found. It seems, because of the tornado, the cell phone and pager towers were not working. So the on-call doctor decided to do the c-section. It seemed like the decision was made as soon as she realized I was having a VBAC delivery. I told her this would be my third VBAC, but it made little difference. She had made up her mind. I was wheeled to the emergency room and Mark was not allowed in. They gave me general anasthesia, a first for me. It was all pretty scarey. Fortunately, the end result is really quite wonderful. Though I have surgery from which to recover, I have a lovely and sweet little baby who has really been quite easy to care for in her first week of life at home.

Mark’s mom, Grandmommy as we call her at our house, was here for 10 days, and that made things go much more smoothly. We haven’t even missed a ball game for the boys thanks to her help! A few friends have brought in meals, and yesterday another friend came over and vaccuumed the house and mopped my kitchen floor–now that is friendship!

One other note about my hospital stay–on the night after Charis’s delivery, we had tornados once again in Central Oklahoma. This time, the sirens went off in the neighborhood where my hospital was. So all of the women with their newborns and the hospital staff were led to an inner hallway to wait out our fate. Fortunately, the tornado passed by us, though there was damage as close as 5 minutes away from the hospital. Earlier that same evening Mark, his mom, and our 3 other children went to the basement of the baptist church across the street from us for shelter from the same storm. Our town, thankfully, also was passed by. However, the children did find getting out of bed to go to the tornado shelter exciting and they also were treated to a puppet show by the baptists while they waited for the danger to pass. This little story will add a bit of interest to Charis’s baby book!

We are thankful to be home and to have everyone home safely after Charis’s birth and after all the nasty weather we have had in Oklahoma this May. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for me during this pregnancy. I (we) still need your prayers, but up to this point, things have gone well and God has blessed us. Praise Him with us for these blessings!