It is finish…..yet only just begun!

We are home and it feels soooooo good! We had to spend an extra day in hospital because of a low blood sugar reading for baby and I had a bit of a hemorrhage so had a low blood reading too. Not wanting to go into any gory details but I was told of the need for a possible blood transfusion after losing too much blood. TTL by a miracle it wasn’t needed and I am recovering surprisingly well.

I’d made a little prayer vigil list before the birth and a couple little miracles happen that encouraged my heart.

*I’d specifically wanted a daytime birth not only for Shane’s sake but to be able to cope a little better myself: And after a good nights sleep I awoke at 5 am with “a show”.

*Shane had work the night before and we all had joked (and prayed) that the baby couldn’t come till Wednesday and he came on Wednesday!

*When I arrived at the birthing unit I was greeted by a student midwife whom I’d had a particular connection with but throughout my pregnancy had hardly been able to see her, just missing her because of her shifts.

She had just started her shift when I arrived and was able to be with me through the whole labor and delivered my baby. Actually her shift was finishing at 3:30. The baby was born at 3:00.

*Another surprise was that Mum who was working in the vicinity (as an aged care nurse) had a big gap in her schedule and came by to see how I was doing and ended up being there with me for the bulk of the labor and the entire birth!

*Another answer to prayer was being able to have a virtually drug free delivery. I did accept the gas but realized after the delivery when I was still on the table having a couple extra puffs during the stitches, that it wasn’t turned up. So I feel extra achievement that I’d made it through with minimal intervention.

*It was relevantly fast (though it didn’t feel it…ha) I read the notes and it was 5 hours of Stage 1 and 30 minutes stage 2 (man…that did not feel like 30 minutes. What was going through my mind was “just one more big push”…right! A thousand more “big” pushes)

*I was also able to be upright the whole time which I can feel a marked difference in my recovery and was able to have a little more control.

*And the most special thing was to be able to hold and cuddle my baby almost immediately after birth. My other boys for one reason or another had to be taken straight to the nursery for care (because of my c section the first time and taking pethidine the second time JJ didn’t breathe right away. A reason I wanted to avoid drugs.)

So now we’re home and he’s feeding well, a bit yellowish but that should pass. He’s darker haired than my other boys but they change so much even just by six weeks so we’ll see.

JJ has really slipped well into the big brother role. I’ve been able to rely on him to refill my water bottle and other such odd jobs. He insisted on having Q.T in the cupboard like Alan today because now he’s the “big brother”.

We’re still not 100% on the name yet. Maybe something with “Christmas” in it?
.....Just kidding! We want to pray more about it and get a meaning from the Lord. Why not? God knows where most meanings came from…..someone made them up sometime or another.

Anyway, we’ll keep you posted! Thank you all so much for your prayers and wishes. It means a lot to me.