Well, I asked Tim to take this photo the Sunday before Jacob's birth. I called it 'my little pumpkins picture' and said I'd make it my facebook profile pic until we had the baby. None of that materialized because I was admitted to the hospital the next day after my weekly doctor's appointment, and two days later Jacob was born!
During the appointment, the baby's heartbeat was all over the place and running a baseline lower than the doctor liked to see. She sent me for an ultrasound down the hall. The ultrasound technician looked at me and said, "Are you ready to have a baby?" "Sure, but not today!!" I replied. But the way everyone was acting, I could tell that they were thinking it just might be today.
You gotta be kidding me! My house is a total mess right now! My parents were watching the boys for my appointment, and I had dropped them off early to make a quick grocery run alone. My shopping took longer than expected, making me late for my appointment. I rushed home, shoved the items that need to be cooled in the fridge (which was quite the task given the fridge was jammed packed with Tim's venison), and left everything else piled on the kitchen counter. From there, I sped off to the doctor's office.
Once at the hospital I was immediately on a liquid diet. Oh, did I mention that this was one of the extremely rare days that I just skipped lunch (so that I could get my grocery shopping done)??!! After midnight, they took away my liquids even and started an IV. The doctor's orders made it seem like we had a national emergency on our hands. When every nurse that entered the room to read the printouts from the heart monitors, however, each one made a multitude of comments about how well the baby was doing. "Everything looks perfect." "Cant ask for better than this." "Wish they all were like this." and "This is a happy baby! Beautiful, looks great."
So there Tim and I are in the hospital in a rather confused state... We knew they'd be pressuring us to deliver the baby by c-section early (most likely the next day) after they did a test to check for lung maturity. But we weren't sure if this was right thing to do. Were we there because my doctor tends to be very "thorough" and is extremely cautious? Were we there because our baby had a "hiccup" at the wrong moment in the doctor's office earlier that day? Why all the drama, rushing to the hospital, liquid diets, etc. while the nurses were all saying that baby looks "perfect?"
OR we there because God new all these things would happen and He had a perfect plan in motion?
Quite honestly, I was frustrated (this happens pretty quickly when you take away my food!), and it took me a bit of soul searching to get to the point where I was saying yes to that last question. Yes, God knows how my doctor will react to even the smallest "hiccup." Yes God knows what He is doing by bringing us here almost 2 weeks before we expected to be here, and His ways are perfect.
So the next morning doctors studied baby (exactly 38 weeks gestational age) on ultrasound and took a sample of amniotic fluid to test for lung maturity. All results confirmed that baby was ready for the outside world, and because my doctor was still not fond of the continued low-end-of-normal baseline heart rate, she was encouraging me to have a c-section that day. We agreed, but the O.R. was booked until 6:30pm! So that was the time slot we were given, and I was extra diappointed about another day without food or liquids - not to mention being strapped to monitors the whole time. Don't ask me why I would expect having a baby to be comfortable, but I was dispointed nonetheless.
Jacob Daniel Lehr was born at 6:39pm on Tuesday! (7 lb. 15 oz. and 19.5 inches) He did have the cord wrapped around his neck and the doctor also found a thin spot on my stretched-to-the-max uterus. Between concern over rupture or him doing himself harm with the cord and extra fluid levels, we felt a great sense of confirmation that we had made the right decision. We are grateful for the doctors' pre-cautionary approach, and we praise God for His perfect plan in all of this. All heart rate concerns about Jake were quickly put to rest as he checked out great and even got a 10/10 on his Apgar. (All the doctors and nurses were exclaiming how rare that is. Many said they've never seen a 10/10 before. OK, little Jacob, you're off to a good start. We are expecting great things from you, buddy!)
We are beyond thrilled to welcome our third miracle into the world! Three boys!!! We just keep saying it over to ourselves with hearts full of joy over God's perfect plan for our family.
Here are a few pics of our hospital stay and the first day at home.
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