Abel's Story

I am so thankful that our son is here. As much as I liked to experience pregnancy, I can safely say that I am very glad to not be pregnant anymore and to have Abel here with us!

So here's the story of our third child's birth:

About a week ago, I went to my 39 week doctor's appointment, and I was still only one centimeter dilated (the same as I was at 36 weeks). Since nothing seemed to have changed, my doctor set up an induction date at 41 weeks (which would have been this coming weekend) just in case I didn't go into labor before that on my own. I'm glad I didn't make it to that induction date! :)

Also about a week ago, our little Abel still didn't have a middle name. This was our dilemma--both Ivy and Israel have middle names that honor their birthmoms. Ivy's middle name is Elena, which is her birthmom's name, and Israel's middle name is Ri (pronounced "Rye"), which is part of his birthmom Sharielle's name. So with Abel...I am the "birthmom." So we set out to find a middle name that incorporated part of one of my names. We considered many many names that were variations of Jill and Andrea, and we also considered using part of one of Aaron's names...but we just couldn't agree on anything. But, the day I had my 39 week appointment, I thought of the perfect middle name: James. My initials are J.A.M., so it followed the pattern of our kids' names honoring their birthmoms. And I loved how it sounded with Abel. So I told Aaron the idea, and I was shocked when he agreed :) He had turned down every other suggestion I had made, and I was so happy he liked this one! This relieved me, because I really didn't want to go to the hospital to have him and have to make a quick decision there on a name. I wanted it to be decided beforehand.

So the rest of the week last week was just spent saying goodbye to lots of friends here at NTBI, moving all of our belongings into the three bedroom apartment we will be getting to live in next year, and getting stuff ready for both the baby to get here and our move back to Bluffton after the baby's birth.

I went to bed Thursday night exhausted. It had been a full day of moving our stuff and an evening with friends who are still here at NTBI. And honestly for the first time in months, I slept SO good that night.

I woke up Friday morning around 7:15 and went to the bathroom, and just as I was getting ready to stand up, my water broke. I sat there, stunned. My doctor had told me that a woman's water breaks with no warning (no contractions or anything first) only 10% of the time, so I definitely expected to be at least feeling some contractions first.

I went and told Aaron that my water had broken, and he got our kids up and began feeding them breakfast. I called the hospital to tell them I would be coming, and they said I would need to be there within the next two hours, because since I was having no contractions, there would be an increased risk of infection to the baby since my water already broke. I called my mom so that she and my dad could start the trip up here to Michigan to watch our other two kids, but I knew that they wouldn't make it here before I needed to be at the hospital.

So I began a slightly frantic search of someone to watch our other kids. I called a few people who were busy and a few people who didn't answer, and I knocked on some doors here at the school, but no one was around! Finally I thought of Tabetha (one of Ivy's childcare workers last semester), and I am so glad I did because she was available and came right to our apartment. By this time, the two hour mark was almost up, so we left Ivy and Israel with Tabetha in a hurry, and Aaron and I went to the hospital. In the car on the way there, I had my first contraction, and I was so happy, because that meant I probably wouldn't have to have pitocin to start my contractions.

We got to the hospital around 9:15 am on Friday, and they got me into a room, gave me an IV, and Aaron and I just sat and looked at each other. It was so surreal! I was actually going to have a baby that day.We met our nurse, Jenny, who was SO so awesome.

She was with us the entire day, and we absolutely loved her.

My contractions began coming about every three or four minutes, and I decided to walk around the halls for awhile to see if it would move things along more quickly.

 Aaron and I walked around for about a half hour, and when we got back, my contractions were a lot more intense than before. So it seemed that walking really helped. About an hour later, the nurse checked me, and I was at 3 1/2 cm. So Aaron and I decided to walk around again. As we were walking, my contractions increased in frequency and strength a lot. So when we came back this time, the nurse checked me again, and I was still at 3 1/2 cm. I was really surprised because of how intense the contractions had gotten. By this time it was about 3:00 pm.

I decided then to get an epidural (I knew I probably would at some point), because I was shocked at how much the contractions hurt at only 3 1/2 cm. dilated! I was having most of the pain of the contractions in my back, and it was just really painful. It took about one hour from the time I asked for the epidural until I actually got it...and in that one hour, I went from 3 1/2 cm to 9 cm!! (We didn't know that until they checked me right after they gave me the epidrual.) So I got the epidural, which was followed by a few scary minutes of my blood pressure dropping pretty low, Abel's heartrate dropping, the doctors giving me oxygen and something through my IV to get my blood pressure up, and Abel's heartrate going back up. I couldn't believe I was at 9 cm. already. I knew that my contractions had been intense the hour leading up to me getting the epidural, but I didn't even know it was possible to go from 3 to 9 in one hour. So we were getting close to the end!

For the next couple of hours, I couldn't feel my contractions, and it was heavenly :)

Around 6:00 or 6:30 pm, the nurse told me it was probably getting to be time to begin pushing. At this point, they turned my epidural off (which I didn't know at the time), because of the doctor's theory that I would know when to push better if I could feel the contractions again. And while that is probably true, I was very unpleasantly surprised to be able to feel the contractions again, since I thought that usually the epidural would work through the end!

I pushed for the next hour and a half, and honestly just when I thought I might pass out (or die...) from the pain, Abel was born! :) I can't even describe the sense of relief that came when they handed him to me and the labor was over.

He was so perfect. The first things I noticed were how much hair he had and how long his fingernails were. They let me hold him for the next hour or so while they stitched me up and took his vitals and everything.

We really loved our doctor, and were surprised that she spent the last two hours or so of my labor with us and the nurses in our room. We had heard that many doctors come in just when the baby is born, but she was with us for quite awhile.

They took Abel and weighed and measured him (7 lb. 9 oz, 20 1/2 in.), gave him a bath,
and gave him back to me.

I nursed him for the first time, and we stayed in that room for the next two hours.

By this time it was around 11:00 pm, and it was time to move to a different room for the rest of our stay. They wheeled Abel and me down in a wheelchair, and we got to our new room and met our new nurse (who was also really great!). I fed Abel several times throughout the night and probably only got a couple hours of sleep, but the only thing I could think about was how relieved I was that it was over and Abel was safely here!

The next morning my parents came with our other two kids to visit! I loved seeing Ivy meet Abel for the first time (she calls him "Babel")!

Israel was pretty oblivious to the fact that there was even a baby in the room. He's pretty young though, so I didn't expect anything different :)

We took our first picture as a family of five,

and pictures of Abel with his grandparents.

Shortly after, Aaron's parents arrived and met Abel.

The rest of the day was fairly relaxing. We didn't get visitors again until later in the afternoon when Dalton and Sue came to visit,

and then Nathan and Rachel's whole family arrived!

The kids (except Daisy) took turns holding Abel.

In the evening, Joel and Bethany walked over to visit us.

Again that night, I probably only slept a couple hours. My parents came again Sunday morning with our kids to say goodbye to us. (They took Ivy and Israel home with them until we move home in a few days.) We got another family picture, and we kissed our two older kids goodbye for a few days.

I miss them a LOT, but I know with how tired and sore I am, I would not do a great job of taking care of them these few days. So we are thankful to have a few days with just Abel to recooperate.

We came home (to NTBI) Sunday evening, and since we have been here we have had some visitors from around the school. (This is Ryan and Abigail.)

Abel is doing really well...eating pretty well, sleeping a lot, and being very sweet. :)

What a weekend it was! Very physically and emotionally draining. We couldn't be more thankful for this little guy, though, and we are thanking God for the opportunity to be his parents!