:)

Its been 9 whole days since I last wrote but as many of you know, I have much good reasoning for that. My baby boy is HERE! and my husband is HERE! I do not even have words to explain how happy I am (notice the title). It feels like everything is right again. My life is together and nothing can touch me right now, nothing can break me.

Jackie James Davis II was born on September 17th, 2009 at 3:37pm. He weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. And if I do say so myself, he was the cutest baby in the nursery. Getting him here was not the easiest task in the world, but it was definitely worth the prize. I woke my mom up at 1:30am on Wednesday the 18th because my contractions were 5 minutes apart and getting stronger rapidly. She called the doctor and we headed for the hospital. Upon getting there, I was 7cm dilated already, so they took me straight to the birthing room. They were thinking I would be delivering fairly soon. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I cried through contractions for the first 2 hours, and then my savior came! Mr. Epidural came to stay with me starting at around 4am and I was able to get some sleep for a couple hours. Around 8am, they checked me and I was at 9cm! With the baby coming soon obviously, Dr. Parks had me start to push for practice. Everything was going well, and then the monitor said otherwise. Jack's heartrate dropped. And it didn't come back up. Dr. Parks gave the word for an emergency C-section and the room turned to a chaotic, scary mess. People running everywhere unhooking me from monitors, syringes shooting meds into my IV and epidural tubes, doctors and anesthesiologists frantically explaining risks to me. I just started crying, I was so scared. I didn't know what was happening, and most of all I just wanted to know that Jack was okay and no one would tell me that he was. They wheeled me towards the door and Dr. Parks stopped and said "wait, lets hook him back up and see, I think he's okay" And sure enough, Jack's heartrate was a strong 130's on average. I was still really scared, but nothing was more comforting than that constant, stron beat on the monitor. So, I got to continue with my labor. A couple hours after the mess of frantic people cleared out, I started to feel my contractions. Dr. Parks came in  and checked me around 2pm and I was 9cm still and miserable. Because I had been stuck at this dilation for SO long, he offered a C-section and regardless of my want to deliver him naturally, I knew that at this point a C-section was what was best for us. I would deal with the recovery if it meant this pain would go away and I would have him safely in my arms sooner. Dr. Parks said that the anesthesiologist would be coming in to make me more comfortable and after he delivered some other women that couldn't wait, I would be having my C-section. Well, he left and the contractions got worse, and worse, and worse. I couldn't speak really, I just cried to my mom to make it stop. I can remember her leaving the room a couple times to ask where the anesthesiologist was. The anesthesiologist never came. I labored, stuck at 9cm, with contractions every 1-2 minutes for 1 1/2 hours with NO relief of meds. My nurse came in and mom told her I was still hurting and she said that sometimes the meds don't work. Mom told her the anesthesiologist never came, and the nurse looked up and said "I am going to kill someone." Obviously she had no idea of this. I was wheeled straight into the operating room after that because I was in so much pain. My little boy was delivered with my mama by my side. I got to see him for about a minute and kiss his forehead before they took him. I told my mom to go with him. He needed to get an IV for meds, and be put under oxygen because of a fluid in his lungs. I didn't get to see him again until the next morning (Friday) after I was allowed to get up from my bed and go to the nursery. After two successful feedings that were anything but easy to achieve, he was able to get the IV removed and be sent to my room to be with me! We spent the rest of Friday and Saturday bonding and seeing visitors, and were able to go home Saturday morning!

I must say that even with finally being happily at home, Saturday felt like it was NEVER going to end. Why? Because we were impatiently waiting for daddy to arrive that evening. Nanny and Granddad picked him up from the Columbus airport at 5pm after hours and hours of flying to get home to his wife and son. He got to my mom's house a little before 7pm. I've never been so nervous in my life. I'm not sure why, but I was so anxious to see my own husband this time. We've said goodbye and said hello again many many times, but this time was different, someone else was saying hello too! I walked outside with my mom's help with Jack in my arms and Jeff's eyes lit up immediately I could feel him getting closer as he was walking but I couldn't take my eyes off his eyes. I could see every emotion through them. I could feel how close he was, and as he got closer it felt like every step took an hour. Finally I felt his arms around me! Finally, my family was together. Finally, Jeff was looking at our son smiling and tearing up just like I had imagined. It was almost a surreal experience, I can't explain it any other way. Jeff had said before that he didnt want to touch Jack until he had showered for fear of spreading some kind of weird Afghanistan germ onto him. And he held himself to that, showering so fast I thought his skin might fall off. He took his son into his arms and couldn't even move. He looked like he thought if he did, everything would disappear. I think until he held Jack, it was all just a thought to him until he actually felt him. My husband and I welcomed our son together on his first night in his crib. My family in the mirror is the greatest sight I've ever seen. I'm sitting here with my husband holding me, and my son sleeping peacefully by the bay window and I want to stay here forever. Someone please hand me the remote so I can push pause. Whoever you are that hands it to me, will have given me the greatest gift in the world.