Welcome, Jakob Henry!

Jakob's welcome is a little overdue... Two weeks ago he decided to make his grand entrance, but, as you can probably imagine, this little blog gets even less of my attention these days than normal.  I've been asked several times what it's like (for me) to have three children.  Truth is, I'm not sure what normal is at this point.  My husband's company gives him six weeks of paid paternity leave (I know... seriously!), and I can hardly believe I get another month with him around.  SO, I have no idea what it's like to man three children by my lonesome for more than a few hours :)  In the few hours I've had them by myself, I can tell you that my mind is constantly going in three directions instead of two.  I am excited in some bizarre way to have the challenge ahead of me next month, though.  For now, however, I will gladly enjoy the time we have with Daddy.  He is so good with the kids, and it sure lessens the load. 

So, back to our sweet new baby boy... !  Jakob's due date was April 7th, and I had been hoping that I would go into labor early, as I did with the girls.  The closer I got to my due date, however, I started to think I would have him on April 10th, the day my mom flew HOME.  She took a risk in planning her trip for April 2nd - April 10th, but we all felt fairly confident that I'd have him at least by my due date.  I had been quite uncomfortable for weeks and had experienced plenty of false labor, which I knew was common by the third pregnancy.  I think all of the false labor started messing with my mind a bit, and I started to think I would never be able to distinguish the real thing when it hit!  

On Monday night, April 2nd, Jordan went to pick up my mom from the airport.  They were home by 10pm, and after we visited for a while, I felt tired enough to go to sleep.  At midnight, I started experiencing random cramps, but they weren't significant enough to keep me from sleeping, so I managed to get a few hours of sleep under my belt before the big day.  I woke at 5am and definitely started to feel consistent cramping, but it was SO unlike my other two labors, I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep.  By 7am when the girls got up, the cramps were lasting about half of a minute and were consistently coming about 3-4 minutes apart.  I was having a harder time sitting down, but the thought of spending an entire day in the hospital waiting for real labor was quite unappealing!  I was able to give my mom a rundown of the girls' schedule, get showered and packed, and by 9am, NOTHING had changed.  Jordan and I took a short walk up and down the street, and NOTHING changed.  I was getting a little worried by this point because I had talked Jordan into skipping work, and I was already feeling badly that he might end up going in with no baby news!

I finally called the nurse at my OB's office, and she asked me in the course of our conversation how many "contractions" I had.  I informed her three or four since we started talking, and she told me that they were probably not real, as there's no way I could talk through three or four real contractions.  Since my contractions with Emily's pregnancy were so different (they were grab-the-nearest-piece-of-furniture-and-hold-on-for-dear-life contractions), I was a little embarrassed when I heard the nurse tell me that.  She told me to keep them posted if they progressed, but when I then told her it was my third pregnancy, she changed her mind and told me to come into the office so they could check me out... just in case.  Jordan and I said our goodbyes to the girlies and to my mom, and we headed over to the office, which is right next to the hospital.  After waiting over an HOUR in the waiting room to see the doctor (I could totally still sit at this point and there was no change in my "contractions"), the doctor informed me that I should indeed head over to the hospital and get the party started.  

But, I was hungry.  Really hungry.  It was after 11am, and Chick-fil-A sounded like heaven.  Jordan and I grabbed some lunch and dawdled over to the hospital.  As I was digging out my chap stick from the trunk of the car, I somehow managed to slice my finger on Jordan's razor.  Side note: not a pretty scene.  Blood everywhere.  It just happened to be the same finger they needed for a print, so, OOPS!  Thankfully, it was a surface cut, and the nurses tended to me very well :)  I was just laughing that the cut hurt worse than my contractions were hurting at that point!  ANYWAY, I was admitted just after 12pm, so we settled into our room and began the waiting.  I was very sad to find out that my doctor had just gone OFF shift at 12pm, but I was very comfortable having the midwife deliver Jakob.  She came in just before 2pm and I was just getting a little uncomfortable.  My contractions (which still just felt like cramps) were still 3-4 minutes apart, but they were lasting about a minute each.  The midwife suggested we go ahead and break my water, and I was just fine with that!  I was able to get an epidural before they broke my water at 2:40, and it worked without a hitch this time :)  Lovely!

I only had one "hiccup" in my labor when my blood pressure dropped significantly, but it was nothing that some extra fluids couldn't fix.  I started to feel ready to push at 4:15, so my nurses found the midwife, and Jordan and I started to really get excited!  I started pushing at 4:30, and I had hoped that one or two pushes would work as it did with my girls... It didn't take me long to realize that this baby was a bit bigger!  After 4 or 5 pushes, we finally got to meet Jakob at 4:42pm.  He weighed in at 8 pounds, 13 ounces, and he measured 21 3/4 inches long.  I was so happy to hold him!!!  I will never forget that moment when he was plopped onto my stomach, and I finally got to see the little person that had been sharing my body for so many months.  Even now, I look down at Jakob as he's sleeping on my chest, and I cannot even imagine that this person was grown inside of me.  Crazy!

I found out afterwards that the umbilical cord was wrapped twice around Jakob's neck.  My midwife handled the delivery so amazingly, and I was glad I didn't know at the time.  God was so gracious to give us an great hospital experience, and though it's probably not nice of me to compare, I think this was the overall best delivery experience I had.  God was even more gracious to give us another healthy, beautiful baby.  We have more than we could ever ask for.  

Elyse and Emily love their brother.  I am somewhat surprised that Jakob doesn't seem to phase them at all.  They love to watch him, hug him, kiss him, etc... but they don't really do anything differently :)  Life goes on...  I am actually getting more sleep than I was at the end of my pregnancy, which is nifty!  Jakob is doing well sleeping at night (when he's not eating!), and I am so thankful for Jordan's help during the day so I can usually nap in the afternoons.  Jakob is pretty easy-going for now.  He definitely hates messy diapers and being hungry.  I'm curious to find out later this week how much he weighs, but I can tell he's putting on some weight.  I loved that he had some chub on him when he was born, and it is still so fun to kiss his squishy cheeks :) 

Jakob, we are so blessed to have you as part of our family.  God gave you to us so graciously, and we want to see you grow up to be a man who loves God with all of your heart.  We love you to pieces, but we'll never be able to love you as much as your Heavenly Father.  We pray that you will realize at a young age how much he did for you.  For now, please stay little and sweet!  ... And never lose that newborn smell.  Welcome to our family, baby Jake!