Welcome Baby Jack

The morning of the 4th Bobbins had a feeling it was time, that the baby was coming. I was excited because that's the feast day of St. Francis. She went to the midwife who wasn't as convinced but gave her some stuff to move the labor along. Given what happened with TF, we thought we'd have a new baby by dinner. Of course, it didn't turn out that way. As if we needed another reminder that each pregnancy is unique and every kid is different.

We had a quick dinner and I packed the girls' lunches. Our friends, whom we carpool with, were very gracious to take the girls overnight and get them to school the next day. [The girls loved the sleepover, their first not with family, btw.] Bobbins' dad came to get the boys to go to Nana T's and Pop's. With the house clear, we settled in, then went for a walk around the neighborhood, the first time we'd done that, even though the videos all recommend it. It seemed to help a little, although it was slow-going. I went to bed about 9.

A couple hours later Bobbins woke me up: it's time. But it wasn't. I called the midwife, who came over and checked Bobbins. She was still only at 3cm! We used Bobbins' friend, Double E, as our doula, since she's trying to become one and needs the experience. She arrived and helped me fill the bath. Bobbins spent a while in there, which eased the pain. The midwife went into the boys' room and laid down.

Approaching 1am the real labor started. Bobbins got out of the bath to keep it moving. Like with TF, things started moving fast and my memory is spotty. All of a sudden the midwife's asst. was there. I was holding Bobbins' arms so she could push and whispering "Jesus I trust in You" and "Blessed Mother, help us."

All of a sudden the water broke, literally a gush of water, and another two big pushes and the baby was out, still in the sac. No time for me to catch the little one, who immediately went on mom's chest. It was there that Bobbins felt the genitalia and discovered we had another boy! It was a burst of relief and joy at the same time. I was stoked to have another boy, of course, and relieved because we could leave the boys in the biggest bedroom in the house (other than ours).

About 3am we were all wrapped up. Everything was cleaned up, the pool was drained, the midwife, asst., and Double E were gone, and we were alone with our new guy. And quite tired. He wanted to break me in as a dad and did his first giant meconium poop all over me. A couple of diapers & hours of rest later and the new day dawned. The weight was 7.5lbs. We had to guess on the length - somewhere around 21". The midwife lost the paper on which she wrote down the official numbers and we could only remember the weight for sure.

Like with TF, one of the best parts was the "reveal" to the other kids. The girls got to stop by on their way to school. They came in real quick and I got to tell them they had a new brother before they went in to meet him. The boys got to meet him later in the afternoon after I collected them from Nana T's. Josephine got to announce her new brother to the whole school during morning announcements. As shy as she is, she was nervous but did it.

Bobbins really wanted the name Edward if it was a boy, and since she gave me Thomas last time, I decided to give her hers. But since it was a boy, I really wanted to name him after his dearly departed Uncle. We didn't want to give him too much a mouthful of a name, so his middle his JK, after Bobbins' brother. The plan was to call him "Jack" too, but it's been too soon for Bobbins, so she is sticking with Edward. Booch likes "Baby Eddie" while I'm sticking with Baby Jack.

We are so blessed! Welcome to the fold Baby Jack. The boys are excited to have a "new brother," as Booch called him the first month. Moosy, ever the bruiser, is learning slowly to be gentle with the baby. The girls are getting more of the work of a baby rather than the fun of a new doll-like person.