Welcome Jacob Paul!

I experienced the most drama filled 6 hours of my life a week ago Sunday night - Monday morning. Wow - what a crazy story you are about to hear :)

Most of you all should know I was scheduled for a C-Section on Monday morning at 8am to welcome our second son, Jacob,into the world & our family. This was supposed to be a planned, calm, uneventful birth that would be easier on both the baby & Mom. Well, if you know me at all - you would guess that this was none of the above, and a completely "Jenny Drama" filled arrival.

Sunday was a wonderful family day. We had a great worship service at church, had my pre-ops done at the hospital and went home & enjoyed a great day - just the 3 of us. Jason even treated me to an M&M Blizzard that night...my favorite :) Well, around 9:30 I started feeling a little crabby - but, knew my nerves were likely picking up and I was probably worried about surgery. By 10:30 I had a slight indication that something wasn't quite right and called the hospital to just ask them if this was normal - to which they said yes - and would see me at 5:30 am unless something happened in between. By 11:30am I was suspecting more regular contractions -- but wasn't concerned since I have been having Braxton Hicks for quite some time. Well....at 12am we figured we might as well just drive onto Greenville & have them monitor the baby - we could sleep there the same as home, still planning on a 8am C-Sec. At 12:20am we were in the car & on our way. Jason decided he would try to maybe time the contractions and see if they were regular at all -- again , we thought these were fake contractions. A few minutes later we realized they were only 3 minutes apart! We called the hospital - told them what was going on & they said get right there. We pulled into the hospital around 12:55am, went right back to OB and was put on a monitor - by then contractions were 2 minutes apart. They quickly varied between 1.5-2 minutes apart & were growing with intensity. They attempted 2 shots of a medication to slow them down allowing us all a bit of sleep before the scheduled section. Neither worked :( Within an hour or so I was really feeling the intensity & hoping for an epidural - even if we would be waiting until 8a for the surgery. Yeah, well....needles to say I went from a 4 to a 10 in about another hour (ladies will understand this) - that's when things started getting a little crazy :) They rushed to prep me for surgery & called the team in. As I was being wheeled into the OR my water broke & I was pushing pretty hard (not by choice!). Poor Jason was running to get into scrubs! When we got in the room - they found that I was complete (again, a woman will understand) and the baby was ready to go. They put an epidural in while I was trying to stop pushing and minutes later my awesome Dr had Jacob out & rushing to the nursery -- 4:18am! My surgery was finished & I headed to recovery by about 5:30 I think.(yes, all this coming from the girl who wanted an epidural at 8 months "just in case"...needless to say - there is truth to that whole 2nd births happen faster than 1st!)

The saddest thing was that our dear friend Jennifer Kershaw & our Midwife Liz didn't get to be here for the birth because it all happened so fast :( I felt bad for both of them since they had been with us since day 1!!

We ended up having to stay in the hospital for a full week as he was born with Meconium (sp?) so he has struggled with a rapid respiration rate since birth. They have determined there is no infection, & nothing remaining in his lungs - but it was quite a bit higher than it should have been so they monitored pretty closely. Since we have been home we have already seen the pediatrician and the respirations are steadily coming down. We are confident that it's going to be just fine....after all - he really is perfect :)

I am healing wonderfully & blown away by how awesome the surgical team was. They took a really stressful situation & handled it so well, and, made me feel completely comfortable! I really can't believe how much easier this recovery has been than with Cole - I honestly thought the surgery itself would equal a much harder recovery ... not so! Of course, it helped that the worst of my recovery happened in the hospital since we stayed so long.

Cole is absolutely in love with his new baby brother. He came to visit him each day, and, told him how he loves him & will take care of him each time. It's the most adorable thing! Since he's been home, he has taken great responsibility of being "in-charge" of Jacob...he even tells me when he needs to potty & asks me if I can watch Baby Jacob. Once he even asked if he "could count on me" ;)

So...to wrap this all up, who else in the world could have two scenarios like this. Pregnancy #1, delivered on due date - nothing scheduled, just awesome timing! Pregnancy #2 we have a scheduled C-Sec, and, still end up delivering on that exact day -- but definitely with no assistance! I suppose my boys are going to be just like me with that control issue :)

Jason & I are so thankful that God has given us these 2 wonderful, handsome boys now to complete our family :) We had a wonderful experience in the hospital & will miss our new friends here....but are so excited to get home & begin this new phase in our life.

I will try to get more pics posted soon! Needles to say, we missed videotaping or getting any pics during birth - Jason literally walked in, in time, to see Jacob jump out :) However, we have captured some beautiful faces in the last two days - we will be excited to share with you!

Thank you again to everyone for your prayers - they mean so much to us :)

Jason, Jenny, Cole & Jacob :)