Baby Jackson!!!!!

We would like to introduce

Jackson Layne Cook

born at 9:42 pm

on July 02, 2012

He weighed 9 pound 14.8 ounces

and was 22 inches long

My baby boy is finally here!!!

First things first, the delivery story:

I was currently 8 days over due, and I had an appointment on Monday the second to see if everything looked good. My midwife said she might brake my water to try and induce me naturally but we would have to see. James and I went in at 9:45 am for my appointment (I got the earliest one, just in case they broke my water). When we got there they were a little busy so we had to wait a little bit. First we went in for a stress test. Not for me but for the baby. They brought us to this little room with a big comfy chair and a tv. They hooked me up to some monitors to check the babies hear trate. After fifteen minutes they said he or she looked good, but we still need to do an ultrasound to look at the fluid. When they did the ultrasound they found out that my fluid level was at a 5.9, the normal (good) level is between 10 and 22. Because of this they decided to brake my water. So the sent us right to the labor and delivery part of the hospital. This really made James and I s little scared. Neither of us thought it would happen like this. In our minds it would be the middle of the night and my water would break and we would rush to the hospital and so forth. We never expected to be induced but we were okay. I dont know about James but I was freaking out. When you are pregnant for nine plus months you feel like you will be pregnant forever, then when you are hours away from giving birth it becomes surreal. I was going to have a baby, I'm going to be a mom, and James is going to be a dad, it was all hitting me and I had so many emotions running through my head. The midwife came in at one and broke my water. One thing I thought was funny was she could feel his hair, she said it felt like boy hair. Then my water ran for about ten minutes. That was one the weirdest feelings I have ever had. I kept laughing and asking the nurse if I was peeing. It felt like I was peeing but yeah it was weird. I started feeling the contractions right away. My doctor said I had till five to make progress (I was at a stretchy two centimeters dilated) or I would have to have some pitocin to speed up labor. James and I just watched tv and did a whole lot of nothing. Then at five she checked me and I was five centimeters dilated, woohoo no medicine. the next couple of hours was just monitoring the baby, contractions, sitting in the tub, being uncomfortable, and waiting. The hard labor also started around five so I counted the tiles and wallpaper many times. It helped a lot actually. I would count during the contractions so I didnt pay attention to the pain. At around eight I started getting the transitional contractions, which nobody ever told me about. Mine were mainly one right after the other. Let me tell you I almost broke at this point, and thought about getting an epidural. They hurt so bad, but James kept me strong, my midwife Susan helped a lot also. Then a little after nine (I dont know the exact time at this point I didnt care what time or day it was) I felt the urge to push. At first I didnt want to, I actually refused to push, a little because I was scared and a little because I thought it would hurt more. At first it did hurt more, but after a couple of minutes it felt better to push, so thats what I did. I barely breathed, everybody kept telling me to breath. (just a side note, I thought you pushed for a little bit then rested then pushed again. It didnt happen like that for me) The onyl time I really rested was for 30 seconds when they took off the bed and put my legs in the stirrups, and when I took my legs out of the stirrups because it didnt feel good. I pushed for about 25 minutes and they put him on my stomach. It was very dirty, I was surprised by this. He was also heavy on my stomach, this surprised me to. He looked so big. I thin ki was a little in shock at this moment. SO many emotions were going through my head. The one thing that really astounded me was after he came out the pain from the contractions stop, I didnt feel any pain after that, even when they were stitching me up, there wasnt a lot of pain. Anyhow, after I held him for about ten minutes they took him and weighed, measured, and gave him some shots. I was shaking so bad because of the adrenaline from child birth I didnt want to hold him, but James took full advantage of that. Then it was lots of cuddling and loving on this new little baby.

Now for some pictures

me in the brand spanking new gowns

Jackson and I during labor and right after

He didnt like being naked

It was definitely love at first sight

Such a good daddy (this picture melts my heart)

I was so proud of James. He was by far the greatest support for me through all of it. Whenever I felt like giving up he was the one who made me strong, and told me I could do it. Even though he thought he couldn't cut the cord, he did and I was so proud of him. This experience made me fall in love with him all over again, and it definitely brought us closer together as husband and wife, and as parents to this new little baby. Everyday after his birth James becomes a better father, and let me tell you he is one of the best fathers I have ever seen, I could not have chosen a better man to be the father of my children.  

One thing that was amazing, after the shock of everything, how my mothering instincts came so naturally. For the rest of the day, I knew exactly what to do and how to hold him and how to comfort him. 

It was amazing feeling.

Here is some pictures of the family

We feel so blessed that so many people already love him. He is such a blessing for James and I. We love him so much and words cannot describe how he makes us feel. God has given us this little spirit and we hope to be able to raise him in the right way.

Thanks for all the support so many people have given to us.

xoxo Nicole