Oh Baby!

We had a wonderful thing happen last week. Our little bundle of joy arrived! For those who don't want to know the gory details, you can stop reading right now and scroll down to the pictures Ü.
I was scheduled for a voluntary induction on Friday but on Tues. night I started having contractions. They felt like the normal braxton hicks contractions but they were coming every six minutes and didn't stop when I got up or laid down. I wondered if this was it but I wasn't sure. I had never gone into labor without being induced in the hospital before so I didn't really know quite what to expect. My dr. thought I should come in and get checked out but I told her I'd wait a couple of hours and see what happened. A few minutes after speaking with her I had to go to the bathroom and when I was done the contractions were coming every three minutes. Mark was going nuts so I agreed to get checked out.
We didn't have anyone to watch the kids for us so we had to take them. My sister and parents came up so they helped out with the kids, which was a great help to me but not so much to Mark. He is not that patient when he's under stress and things don't go his way.
Anyway, they monitored me for a couple of hours and decided I was really in labor so they broke my water and gave me the epidural. I'm not crazy about long needles and catheters going down into my spinal column but it is better than the alternative. I have had one child born naturally and I promised myself I would never go that route again. My labor stopped when they broke my water so after an hour and a half of not being in labor they decided to give me pitocin to start it back up again. I wasn't that aware that my epidural was wearing off until the pit. kicked in. It was painful but I was still just a little bit numb. I gave myself more medicine but it wasn't helping.
At 1 am it was time to push. This was half an hour after getting the pit. Once I dilate past four centimeters we don't have much time because I go very quickly. I started pushing and it was taking a while. All my girls just slid right out but John wasn't going to be that easy. He was coming out face up which makes coming out a little more difficult. He was born at 1:03 am. He weighed 8 lbs. and 5 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. We named him Jonathan William Gardner and we call him John for short.

Notice the look on my face. I was mad at him for hurting me. Isn't that ridiculous? I promise I smiled and was happy after a couple of minutes.

I thought his hair was going to be curly but it was not to be. It is straight just like Mark's and all the other kids....sigh



Here are Adrianne, Rachel and Megan meeting their brother for the first time. Megan didn't seem to really want anything to do with him. Bethany and Samuel were fast asleep and Bethany didn't even remember that he had been born. When she called me in the morning she asked when the baby was coming out and I told her that he had already come. She had no recollection whatsoever. What a funny girl! Sam was thrilled of course to have a little brother. He was just too tired to stand there and take his picture.
This was fun but I think we're done having kids, that is, unless Heavenly Father has other plans but we are pretty comfortable with the number of children we have and are pretty sure John is the last one to join our family. I'm feeling very much at peace and am having a wonderful time getting to know my new son.