Delicioiusly Happy Parents (and moar pix plz for Ben (and everybody!))

We have one happy, healthy, sleepy baby, two glad and tired parents, and four proud grandparents...and lots of happy Aunts and Uncles and cousins and friends! He's amazing.

Honestly (and I'm the one who has said that I thought most babies were kind of ugly at the beginning) this little Judah of ours is the cutest, most precious, most beautiful newborn I've ever seen. He's incredible. And we are finding ourselves falling more and more in love with him--he seems like he's ours now instead of just a baby like he seemed when he was first born.

We haven't gotten much sleep, but we're going to try to get some more here especially in the next few days while Mandy's parents are here to help. We are really really happy.

Ok, enough gushing already--here's what you really came for:

Waiting for Mom to give him his first bath

Holding Dad's hand before the big bath

Mom, it's so cold!

Had his first rock out jam session

Everybody was pretty tired

Beautiful baby and Beautiful Momma

Sheesh. How did I get to be me?

 

Happy little family!

Proud Grandpa

Judah and his Nana

Mandy's parents brought a beautiful orchid

 

Uncle John stopped by to visit

Awwwwww. I finally understand why new parents gush on and on about their little kids.

He's amazing!

Thank you God!

Judah Paul Thomas, welcome to the world!

We have a baby!

Judah Paul Thomas was born at 3:34 pm Eastern time. He is beautiful, and cried as soon as he came out. It was amazing. We both looked at him and couldn't really believe or understand that he was our baby, the same one that has been wiggling around inside Mandy's belly, kicking her, the one we've been listening to with our stethoscopes almost every day lately, the one we've been praying for and thinking about, trying to figure out a name for. And it's him.

(If you've read the earlier posts, some of the following is some of the same.) Our doctor, Dr. Hawkins, came in at one point before the pushing started and gravely told us that his heart rate was dropping down too low too much, and that we needed to go and have a c-section. Mandy was in tears, and I was fighting to hold them back--I mean, it's not that c-sections are the end of the world (after all, as we both told each other minutes afterward, "I was born by a c-section!" "Yeah, I was born by a c-section too! And look at us!") but it's just not what we were planning or thinking about.

Then we prayed, and I called my Dad, and he and my Mom prayed, and Mandy's parents prayed, and I don't know who else was praying but I know a lot of you were. And then, a few seconds after the Doctor walked out of the room, suddenly his heart rate strip looked perfect. Absolutely perfect. And kept on looking that way. We still thought a c-section was coming, so we didn't make much of it, but after about 10 or 15 minutes, Dr. Hawkins came back in and said, "Now, look at what this little rascal is doing!" pointing out his great heart rate strip. "If you want to we can just hold off on the c-section for a while and see how he does."

So hold off we did, and with lots more praying and worrying about his heart rate which kept on being borderline--just barely good enough to keep him out of a c-section--but still good enough, and eventually Mandy was pushing, and we had to stop for a while and let the baby rest because his heart rate kept dropping down a lot whenever she pushed, and then, finally she could push again, and about 45 minutes of that and Out Came Judah! Crying and flailing and beatuiful, into the world.

Mandy's doing fantastic, and our little Judah is doing fantastic. He's 54 cm long, and weighs 7 pounds 9 oz. He's good at nursing already, and we're exhausted. I'm going to spend some time with my little family, and thank you all so so so so much for everything, all your thoughts and cares and prayers and love and support. You guys are amazing!

 

Still going, still having contractions, waiting patiently

We are still wating, still going strong. Mandy was pushing for a little while, but the baby's heart rate was dropping too much so the doctor wants her to just rest on her side for a while with a good heart rate without pushing for now, even though she's feeling the urge to push.

So we're waiting, and she's having lots of good contractions, and his heart rate has looked generally pretty good while she's been resting. Mandy is amazing, just in case any of you don't know yet. She's doing this like a total champion.

When she was pushing earlier, I could see the top of his head...there's a little bit of hair, can't really tell what color it is through all the goup down there though :-) But I've actually seen him a little tiny bit!

And, can you believe we're gonna have a baby!!!!???? WOW!

Thanks SO MUCH for all your prayers and your comments and everything. Keep on praying. We would really rater not have a c-section, but mostly we just want to have a healthy baby and healthy Mandy. Thanks God for everything so far!

Vaginal delivery coming soon (we're praying!)

Still not out of the woods as far as c-sections go, but:

We're preparing (well, the nurses are preparing) for a vaginal delivery, which is great. Mandy is dilated to 9-10 and 100% effaced, and is feeling the urge to push on some of her recent contractions. All really great things.

If all keeps going well, she'll be pushing as soon as they empty her bladder, just a few minutes from now. That means we could have a baby by a vaginal delivery in about 45 minutes best case, or in an hour or two more likely. And we're all praying that his heart beat keeps on looking just fine, like it does right now so we don't have to go over to c-section instead.

We're praying and singing to him and laughing and Mandy's feeling some pain now through her epidural, which is good.

Ok, gotta run...

Still watching and waiting

So, a few minutes after we started preparing for a c-section, our little baby decided to show everybody that he could make his heartbeat move around a little bit (a good thing) instead of just staying flat. So, no c-section, at least for the moment. I don't think we are out of the woods yet; his heart looks better but not great. But we are still waiting. Meanwhile, Mandy's cervix is dilating really well, up to 6 cm now (with 10 as the goal).

As I'm writing this his heart rate looks even more iffy. The doctor just came in and said she's watching closely and we'll keep watching for now, but we need to see some improvement.

Keep on praying. Thanks!

C-section

Quick update: they are worred about our baby's heart rate which isn't very reactive, and they are wanting us to get a c-section. Nothing emergency, but they don't want it to get to that. We are a little worried about him too, and are going to go with it.

So, c-section, in probably the next 1/2 hour

.and, BABY! (even though this isn't at all how we envisioned it) probably in the next 1/2 hour too.

Pray for us.

We're finally in the labor and delivery unit...progress!

We're all settled now in our new room in labor and delivery. Mandy has an epidural and is sure happy about it...she was in some pretty intense pain before that and now she's falling asleep. It's 8 am here but fortunately we are in a room without a window with the lights off so it's nice and dark for us to sleep some while we can. Our new nurse wants us to start pitocin which gets the contractions going, but as she put it, one of two things happens: either you tolerate it well and have a baby, or you don't tolerate it well and have a c-section. Obviously we aren't excited about the possibility of a c-section, so we are wary of the pitocin. We'll talk with the doctor about it in a little while, after a bit of sleep. Please pray that Mandy's contractions will be going strong enough on their own that we don't need to worry about pitocin at all. Thanks everybody! I'm off to sleep again...Mandy is already sleeping soundly.