Monday, May 23, 2011

Surprise! Baby Jack is HERE!

On Friday night, my brother Eli stopped by to drop off his dog because he was going to spend the weekend in Atlanta, bouncing around with his buddies.  He got there in time for dinner, but was going to meet his own friends for dinner, so Chad and I ran out to dinner, super quick, alone, and took advantage of a quick date while Eli was able to stay with Max.  Little did we know that it'd be our "last supper".....

After a easy breezy day at home on Friday- I didn't ever leave the house and I barely left the couch, except for dinner with Chad- I headed to bed early too.  I was asleep by 9:30 and Max was in his big boy bed for the first time :)  We all slept great through the night- but woke with a splash... literally!  Just a few minutes before 6:30am on Saturday morning my water broke- it was so surreal and so unexpected that I didn't even believe it.  Once I gathered my thoughts enough to call the doctor, he told us we need to come to the hospital-- I knew that was the case, but I was hoping there was a magic trick to make this all go away for a few more weeks-- as I mentioned in my last post, I felt good, and we had things to do, ha!!

So instead of my lazy Saturday and Chad taking care of a quick job, we dropped Max at Anna's and headed to the hospital.  I was admitted to the high risk unit immediately and they determined that everything was fine and moved me to regular labor and delivery.  I was hooked up to an IV of fluids and an antibiotic immediately, because of the risk of infection, and then they started me on pitocin to really get my labor going.  As you know, I had been having contractions for weeks, and despite my water breaking, they weren't getting any stronger, so the pitocin was necessary.  Within a couple hours I got my epidural, and spent the day laboring.

As soon as everything began happening on Saturday morning, I called my mom- the original plan was for her to come down for a week with Jack arrived, but I wasn't sure what 5 weeks early would do to her schedule- but she was driving south within the hour, and was to Max by 4:15.  Once we got a hold of my brother Eli, he went and got Max from Anna's and they played at my house until my mom got there....then they went to the grocery store and Dairy Queen :)  Max enjoyed his day sans Mom & Dad!  Obviously Chad was with me, and Kellee, who I had asked to be at Jack's birth, was there too.  The day was SO easy, so laid back, never a scare or a tense moment-- my midwife that I love was on call and wonderful, the nurse was amazing, and even the OB popped in a time or two.  I was so well taken care of, that I never got stressed or even annoyed once.  We had tons of people praying for us and checking on us, and the peace of God was all around us.

By 8pm, I knew it was TIME!  As they walked me through what could happen and why the NICU team would be in the room, and the potential nasal canuala and time Jack would potentially need in the NICU, I did panic and freak out one time- but we prayed, and then it was time to push.  I only pushed for 8 minutes-- yep, only 4 contractions-- and he was here!  Most of my epidural had worn off, even more than with Max, so I was able to move my body and use my legs, etc.... I even walked myself to the bathroom within 30 minutes of delivery and felt GREAT!

Jack was born at 8:35pm, at 5 pounds, 9 ounces, and 19 inches long.  "Big" for being that early, but a teeny tiny handsome man!!  The NICU team checked him out and then packed their stuff and left within 10 minutes-- and never took Jack with them!!  There are a couple extra precautions we have to do, since he's early and small- like blood sugar tests, he has to eat every 2-3 hours even at night, he has a special car seat test he has to pass, etc... but otherwise, he is FANTASTIC and sweet and cuddly and I LOVE HIM!! He gets to go home with us TODAY- like before he is even 48 hours old.  I'm not sure I even have the right words for such a thing, but God is SO amazing-- I've talked about baby Evie born at 31 weeks, and baby Heath born at 29 weeks, and now Jack born at 35 weeks-- and all of them have done (are doing) amazing and blowing doctors away.  These babies were prayed over and God has done amazing things in their stories already.  I get chills just typing it.  It makes me wonder what He has in store for these little guys!

There are so many things I planned to do before Jack arrived- I had just perfected my list on Friday afternoon.  I wasn't ready to be done with work, and Chad's jobs are backing up!  I didn't get my house or my car deep cleaned, and I wasn't ready to be done with work for several weeks.  BUT this has been so cool to watch it all fall into place- Eli was already in town, my mom gets to stay until Memorial Day (Praise the Lord!), my Dad is coming down this weekend, friends were able to help, I had my favorite doctors on call that day, Kellee was able to be there as planned, and even though I don't have all the baby stuff "ready" at the house, it's all there, and I'll have tons of help, and basically Jack is here at just the right time, and again, more perfection to all the things God is working out and working on for us and in us.

Pictures to follow soon-- we don't have our cords here at the hospital :)

(Also, Gabe and Max have both met him and loved on him, and everyone is excited he is here!)

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