juden david

welcome juden david!  we are so glad to have you here, little man.  here is your birth story.  

i was 39 weeks pregnant, and woke up at 2:30am on friday, june 8th to my water breaking in bed.  of course, daddy put it together before i did as to what had happened!  i just wasn't expecting your delivery to start that way.  that's how elise's birth had started as well.  my water broke and i was not contracting.  so we decided to go back to bed, but of course, i couldn't.  so i hung out in the kitchen for almost two hours, reading my Bible, and trying to hear the voice of God reminding me that "His ways are higher than my ways."  If this was His plan in bringing you into the world, then it must be good and i had to rest in that.

around 4:30am, i started contracting a little bit and because we just didn't know how fast things would go (based on both your brothers' quick deliveries), morning rush hour traffic, and wanting to get elise, isaac and maurice where they needed to be, we called in the calvary.  i called aunt vanessa and daddy called oma and so it began!

we met everyone at the hospital around 6:00am, switched cars, sent kids with oma and papa, and i walked into the hospital with soggy wet pants (as my water continued to leak) and aunt vanessa and daddy at my side.  our doctor was amazing from the moment she met us at the front desk and walked us to our room.  she was in full support of however i wanted to deliver and instructed the nurses to leave us alone.  she told them that if i needed something i would let them know...otherwise, leave us be.  and they did.  what a blessing to not be continually bombarded with questions and comments about epidurals, petocin, reminders of the 24 hour clock i was on, or possible c-sections!  

our only contact with our nurse was her hourly visit to check your heart rate.  other than that, the major chunk of the day was spent in a repeating pattern...after checking your heart rate, i would eat something (sneaking it after the nurse left because they didn't want me to eat, but our awesome dr. said it was fine!)...a couple of times i threw what i was eating into the table drawer or under the sheets when someone would pop in unexpectedly!  after eating, i would sit on the breast pump for a while to try to get contractions going and then we'd walk the halls for a while.  

after repeating that cycle a few times, i was getting physically and emotionally tired.  i started getting anxious and fearful.  not that a c-section would be the end of the world, but it just wasn't what i wanted, what i had expected.  what if it came to that because things just weren't picking up?  aunt vanessa was such a comfort to me and kept reminding me, "just get to the 12-15 hour window."  she said that the average woman, after her water breaks, takes 12-15 hours to get into steady labor.  she was confident my contractions would turn the corner and pick up.  i leaned on her confidence.  after getting those tears and worries out, we all took a nap :)

i woke up refreshed, praise God, and we started the rotations again.  somewhere in the 4-5 o'clock window, contractions started to pick up (right in that 12-15 hour window!!)  we did the breast pump one more time and that was all we needed!  at 5:00pm i told daddy i would split a sandwich with him.  as he went down to the cafeteria to get it, aunt vanessa and i started walking the halls again.  by the time he came back up at 5:30, i didn't want to eat anymore.  contractions were picking up.  at 6:00 i was contracting well, but we hadn't hit the transition phase yet...but by 6:25, we were there!  i was nauseous, shaking and cold...telltale signs that i was in transition and you were making your descent!  i couldn't even walk the halls anymore, because as i contracted, i was bent in half holding on to the bar on the wall, barely able to stand as aunt vanessa pushed on my back.

we returned to the room and i went to the trusty rocking chair to continue.  the nurse knew we were getting close and told us that the dr. was in a c-section and that she just needed a bit of heads up as to when we were going to need her.  we said now!  the dr. came in at 6:30 and i was still in the rocking chair contracting.  you were coming soon and i knew it!  the next 20 minutes are a bit of a blur, but as far as i can remember and have been told, i labored in the rocking chair until 6:45 (while our amazing dr. sat off to the side, letting us do our thing until she knew it was her time to jump in).  when i announced that i was pushing, they got me on the bed, dr, came over and you were crowning!  less than five minutes of pushing and you were out.  there was a lip on my cervix which made it take 5 or so pushes instead of 2 or 3, but the dr. helped with that too.  you were born and you were perfect!  she held you up and waved your little hand at me and said, "hi mom!"

i had a slight complication afterwards with blood clotting, but God gave us an amazing nurse who caught it quickly, and our wonderful dr. was able to take care of it.  i will spare you the details on that!  all i can say, looking back, is that God's hand was all over your entrance to the world.  as if i should be surprised.  i would not have planned it this way, but i can see His purposes in having us there early, the perfect dr. being on call, a wonderful nursing staff who were fine with letting me labor on my own, and the timing...if we had labored at home and come in, we would have been driving in rush hour traffic on a friday afternoon in the summer!!  what a mess that would have been!  and after you were born, God finished it off with a beautiful sunset.  i cannot thank the Lord enough for His orchestration of the entire process and for the little baby i hold in my arms each day.

my cup overflows.

our juden david.  8 lbs 14 oz and 20 inches long (though we now think you were closer to 21 inches)

your daddy is a wonderful man.

from watching brian regan with me while i wasn't contracting much, to walking the halls with me, to getting random food requests in the hospital cafeteria, to enduring me squeezing the life out of his hand in the final moments of your delivery, and spending the full 2 1/2 days and nights with me in the hospital...i couldn't do it without him.  i tear up just thinking about how blessed i am.

your brother came to see you in the hospital along with oma.  (isaac and elise had to stay home because they had a touch of a stomach bug!)

i'm sure you'll thank me for taking this picture in years to come :)

coming home!

your welcoming committee!  isaac couldn't be more proud!

oma and papa did so much in watching you guys and helping us out!

(and they even wore matching shirts to welcome you home!)

first bath

i gave elise and isaac all the extra baby stuff they gave me at the hospital.  they used it on their baby dolls...

and elise really liked the socks they gave me at the hospital too

at home with most, but not all, of my kiddos...days after you were born were spent divided...some kids here, some there...in an effort to help me take it easy and heal

father's day was just a week after you were born.  here's your proud daddy of four

you are already such a handsome boy, my little juden.

i've already had a couple moments where i look at you and feel like i caught a glimpse of what you'll look like as a man

we may be half a dozen baloches, but with you here now, oma and papa have a full dozen grandchildren!

we love you little juden and i can't wait to see all that God has in store for you.