Monday, August 13, 2012

Birthday August 9, 2012

Jude is HERE!!!!!! Jude Zephaniah was born August 9, 2012 at 4:54PM 6lbs 15oz 20.5 inches long!! He is healthy, perfect, and beautiful. 




                                                      


On Thursday (8/9) morning at about 6:30 AM I woke up to a weird sensation. Long behold my water had broke! Taylor and I were excited about this because we had been praying for my water to break so  we would know exactly when to go to the hospital since we had been there so many times for preterm and the bills are piling up! Also, because I had been contracting hard about 3 minutes apart for 2.5 weeks so we had no idea when to go in. Another glimpse of God's grace through this pregnancy! Thank you Jesus!

I actually didn't realize it had broke until I came out of the room to tell Taylor about my weird sensation and Taylor looked at me with big eyes, I happened to touch my pants, and my two year old says, "uh oh mommy pee peed!" So once we realized my water had broke some of our church family had arrived to care for Josiah as we headed to the hospital. 

My water had actually ruptured up high so I was not in much pain, and I was still dilated to a 3 50% effaced. I had chosen to have my epidural put in at this time because the hospital had a lot of c sections scheduled so they were not sure when I would be able to receive one. So after I had my epidural put in my doctor came in and told me my water had ruptured up high so she broke it completely since Jude's head was still protected by the amniotic sac. 

It took from 6:30AM to 3 PM to dilate from 3 to 5cm. About 20-25 min after the nurse had told me I was 5cm dilated I began to feel more pain, and so she decided to see if I had progressed and I told her no way its only been 20 minutes! Well, long behold I was now 8cm! lol It took about 20 more minutes for me to fully dilate and Jude to move to station +2. I was ready to push!!! 

WAIT!! I can't push yet my sweet friend and photographer had not arrived yet! I told her she had time to get there when I was 5cm, but guess my body decided otherwise!! ha! So when my doctor arrived I asked her if we could wait 15 minutes for my friend to arrive! She laughed and asked if I was serious, and then agreed! She found it rather humorous that I put off pushing for 15 minutes to wait for my photographer!! haha Well, needless to say it was WORTH it!!!!! April did an amazing job capturing one of life's greatest moments on camera as well as encouraging me through pushing.

I pushed for about 45 minutes, partly because little Jude decided to be in a side posterior position, which made it a little harder to get him out!! Once he was born, I was so overwhelmed with emotion when they placed him on my chest. I cried like a baby. I couldn't even crack a smile because I could not stop crying. I never experienced Josiah being placed on my chest so having Jude placed there was beautiful. I was so overwhelmed with joy being able to see and hold my HEALTHY FULL TERM baby boy for the first time. Knowing that this challenging pregnancy that was filled with so many unknowns and what-ifs was over. Knowing that God created this little boy in my womb, and showed us grace upon grace through the entire pregnancy, and here Jude was laying in front of me. He is perfect and beautiful!!! Delivery went smooth and I did NOT hemorrhage, which was another answer to prayer!!!! Thank you Lord!!  


 Photo copyrighted by April Harnish Photography 



Thank you all who have invested so much time in praying for our little miracle. It has been amazing seeing the Lord's hand at work through this ENTIRE pregnancy. This pregnancy was challenging, but I would never change it for the world. The Lord has taught me so much, and the end we were also blessed with one of the greatest gifts.. A beautiful little boy!!