Our 8 Pound Baby

Josiah has been growing before our eyes! He has already grown out of one of the premie outfits we bought him because the rest of his clothes were way too big when he came home from the hospital. I also noticed that we don’t have to roll his diapers to make them fit anymore. It makes me a bit sad, but proud, too.

Yesterday Jacob and I were talking about how much he must weigh now. Jacob bet that he was 8 pounds and I didn’t think that was possible because he weighed just 7 pounds a week and a half ago at the doctor. Well, today we had another appointment and … he weighs 8 pounds, 1 ounce! I can’t believe it! He also grew an inch in length. The doc says she likes for them to have gained 1 pound over their birth weight by 3 weeks of age. Josiah is 2 days shy of 3 weeks and is 1 pound 4 ounces over birth weight already. The craziest part is that I can’t even get him to eat for the recommended amount of time at each feeding. He must be very efficient. I’m not sure where this kid got his growth genes!

In other Josiah news, the doc also pulled his umbilical stump off today. I’ve been itching to do this, but have practiced great restraint. Now he is bath-ready!

And Then There Were Three

These are some pictures that my Uncle took for us when Josiah was five and six days old. The last one is a snapshot taken on day 2 when he came home from the hospital. Please visit

http://picasaweb.google.com/blessed309/NewbornPhotosAt6Days?authkey=Gv1sRgCJO4hL7LtbectAE&feat=email#

and

http://picasaweb.google.com/blessed309/JosiahSArrival?authkey=Gv1sRgCOzmqq6XtI7qTg&feat=email#

for more pictures.

Josiah Jacob arrived on Saturday at 8:26 pm. He weighed in at a whopping 6 lb 13 oz and was 20 inches. He surprised us Friday afternoon when I went into labor. I went to the hospital a little after midnight, got settled in, and then the labor stopped. I was so far dilated that they did not want to send me home, so the next morning they induced labor. We waited…and waited…all day with no results. I had as much pitocin as they could give me and still no effective labor. At 7pm they broke my water. Before the doctor could even finish the procedure I was in transitional labor and Josiah came 1.5 hours later. So much for easing into the pain.

I think I fell in love with Jacob all over again throughout the weekend. He was so incredibly helpful and supportive. I was blown away by how well he handled my craziness in labor (even when I grabbed his neck…yes, I really did, but I couldn’t help it and I apologized). His advice is to make your wife cut her nails on the way to the hospital – even if she doesn’t plan to use them. I could not have asked for more from him. I’m sure some of you will disagree, but I think I have the best husband in the world. And now I have a new little man to love!

Since last Saturday we have just been busy learning about our new little man and taking care of him and each other. It has taken me about 3 interrupted days to do this blog post. We are all doing really well. Josiah is healthy, eating like a pig, and is not too fussy (hopefully it stays that way).

The End In Sight

Here is a picture of part of Josiah's nursery. I'll have to post more later. The others didn't turn out because of the time of day and the lighting. The picture frames and shadow box are empty until I can get some pictures of his sweet face.

I thought I'd do a comparison between the real me at full term and the enhanced picture my uncle did of me early on. What do you think?

This morning Jacob and I visited the doctor to see if any progress was being made. She says she will be surprised if I make it through another week and is suspicious Josiah will make his debut this weekend! We are voting on Saturday because my doctor is on call then. I was nearly 4 cm dilated and 70% effaced...for those of you that want to know. I knew something different was happening in there.

As the end draws near I realize how much I'm going to miss the little guy being in there. I'm sure there are such better things still to come, though.

We'll keep you posted!

38 Weeks and Feeling great!

I can’t believe it. I spent this whole pregnancy with intermittent back pain and last month it became debilitating by the end of the day every day. It became difficult to sleep, but rest was the only thing that helped. I was really becoming anxious for it all to be over which made me sad because I wanted to enjoy and have a good attitude about every part of Josiah’s coming, arrival, and growth. But last week the pain just disappeared! I couldn’t be happier! I hesitated to even acknowledge it being better for fear that it was temporary, but it has been over a week. Incidentally, several of you have commented that Josiah has “dropped”, so maybe this change in position has helped things. Not to mention that at my wonderful baby shower last week Suzanne asked what they could pray about over the next several weeks and that was one thing I asked for. Again, God is good! All I know is that now I’m encouraged, sleeping better, and I feel much better! Thank you to those of you who have asked.