Tuesday, May 28, 2013

So let me introduce to you...

Micah Philip Dawson, ladies and gentlemen!

The play-by-play:
5am : woke up to some light contractions, which was typical of each day from week 38 to 40. I couldn't fall back asleep, so I woke up, had some prayer time, and went for a walk. Contractions were 7 minutes apart

8am: conceded to the fact that I was actually in labor, so we fed and dressed the kids and called my parents. Showered, vacuumed the house, did some dishes, packed the kids, breathed, timed, prayed.

10am: kids were packed up and went to Granny and Grandpa's for the day. This part is NEVER easy for me. I've cried each time, and wonder if we're making the right decision to have a baby(yes, I realize this last part is irrational. I mean, we're pretty much committed at this point). Contractions were 5 minutes apart or less.
       
11:30: headed out to the hospital by way of stopping at David's office to grab the laptop and drop off a Blockbuster movie. We also had the beautiful and moving privilege of stopping in front of the church while the hurst of a friend pulled into Queen of Heaven. Daniel Crochet was being commended to God's mercy at the same hour the God's mercy would bring new life to us.

Noon: Admitted to the hospital, needed antibiotics for group b strep otherwise they would have sent me home... because after 6 hours of labor I was 1 cm (this is child #4 people after weeks of false labor- so humbling)

Somewhere between then about 2pm- dilated to almost 4, but after trying to labor naturally while totally stopped up and lighted headed from breathing so hard I received an epidural. We had been doing prayer intentions for each contraction, when I received the epidural the prayer intention for the entire process just happened to be for Daniel's soul (and the soul of his brother). God is good to let us participate in prayer and suffering for others.

4ish- 7cm lying on one side. The nurse flipped me, and less than 5 minutes later I was complete!

5:09pm... and 3 pushes, he was on my chest, crying with his little lip out like someone had hurt his feelings. That was an incredible moment. Praise God!

 The traditional gel-in-the-eyes freshly born pic... and he's still so cute! P.S. That's my mother-in-law's hand on my leg, which I remember looking over and seeing that her hand was there... and that I couldn't feel a thing in that leg.
 Lots of time in a quiet hospital room, so we took pictures!
 Our first family-of-6 photo! I love that Jacob is on John Paul's lap- what a great big brother!
 These two are so great with Micah. They love him and ask to see his toes and kiss his head all the time... except they all have super nasty coughs/colds, so we don't let them do too much with him yet.
 Think 4 is overwhelming? Could be, but I have captured one of many moments when they were all three playing well together with the same toy. They were play "buy the pig/buy the turtle" and John Paul would say, "Have a nice day! Thanks for buying the turtle!"
 Granny helping John Paul hold Micah for the first time (I hadn't informed her that they weren't allowed to touch him with their snotty little hands)! Look how proud he is. My sweet sweet man! My loving mama!

Therese is a fantastic sister already, and she loves babies. She's been waiting for Micah since we told her we were going to have a baby and she said, "I want a pink baby." A pink baby's what she got. She tells me that he's so cute every time she looks at him, and she loves trying to take care of him; she'll say, "I got Micah, Mom." (In other words: you go do your thing, and I'll just be here insistently trying to stick a pass in his mouth)
 
 Jacob Joseph is doing as expected. He is very loving and compassionate baby, so he is NOTHING but sweet to Micah (so far), but is also a mama's boy, so he wants to be held a lot, thus forcing me to break the rules and hold him a lot! And occasionally, he hides in the corner behind our recliner with his pass (which is a no-no... except for this week. He can have it all he wants.) He is showing lots of behaviors that say, "Um, guys, my whole life just got turned upside down."
As my mom titled this picture: "How do you entertain three young children? Have a baby to entertain them!" This morning John Paul asked me, "Mom, may I please have some chocolate milk, so that I can drink it and sit in my red chair and watch Micah?" And that's exactly what he did... and the others followed suit.  A good note to end this post. See you soon (whatever "soon" is redefined to mean).
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Another note: Micah looks almost identical to John Paul at birth until he opens his mouth to cry/scream, then he looks/sounds like Jacob. Craziest thing...

John Paul's birth
 Week 4 or 5 I think.

2 comments:

Kari said...

He's beautiful! I may have missed it, but how much did he weigh? So awesome our boys were born so close together. I think we were leaving the hospital the day you were coming in!

Haley said...

CONGRATS! He is so so beautiful! I am glad to see you all are doing so well :)