This past month has been monumental for Garth and me. I’ve been a little distracted with my real life and haven’t posted often, but this is what has been happening:

My parents visited from Spokane, WA a few days after my due date and we spent the week running errands, stocking the kitchen, readying the house for baby and guests, gardening (I’ll show you our fabulous container garden later!), decorating the nursery, and trying to convince Jack to come before they had to return. They had planned to spend the last few days of their trip in New Orleans, but abandoned that idea when Jack hadn’t arrived yet. They were at the hospital when he was born and got to hold him and toast with peach cider with us before they had to leave. In that sense, I suppose that Jack was right on time! It was wonderful having them here and they really got us prepared for the weeks that were ahead. We got home from the hospital a few days after they left and found that they’d put blue bows on our front porch and a stork sign out front announcing Jack’s arrival. They also left giant bags of skittles and M&M’s for us in the kitchen. My parents rock. =)

We had a baby! We waited and waited, hoping that Jack would arrive early, or at least on time….but he was too comfortable I suppose. We were admitted to the hospital on Thursday, March 19th, after my parents made us a fabulous dinner. I was given something to soften my cervix and then we tried to get some sleep. The next morning they started me on pitocin around 8 am and things went as they were supposed to. I got an epidural a few hours later, when I told the nurse that my pain level was about a 7 (out of 10). It was a managable pain, but I assumed that it would be getting worse, and I’m not one of those people who’s passionate about delivering naturally. After that I was so comfortable that I was sleepy and almost unaware of the work that my body was doing. An hour or two after that the Doctor told me that everything was ready, and to let him know when I felt like pushing. At this point, I felt like having some warm cookies and milk and taking a nap, not like a should be pushing a human out of me. Since I never felt the urge to push we waited a while longer and then just went ahead and started. It was a pleasant enough experience except the pushing and holding my breath made my head feel like it was going to explode. I only pushed for 15 minutes (I say only because I’ve been informed several times since then that that’s an extraordinary small amount of time to be pusing, especially for a first-time Mom) and Jack was born at 3:48 pm. I watched from the bed as they took him over to his little warming tray and checked him out, had Garth cut his cord, cleaned him up, and weighed and measured him. I was being stitched up for a good amount of time while my parents were lingering in the doorway holding Jack. Then they brought him over to me and I got to meet him for the first time! If I hadn’t have been in the room I would not have believed that that little man had been inside of my belly. I noticed his little cleft chin right away, his blue eyes and dimples later. We spent two more days in the hospital and then got to come home on Sunday afternoon.

Garth’s parents and his brother’s family (Jered, Brena, and Camden!) came to visit a few days later. We enjoyed Pensacola by day and battled Jack’s crying at night. There were 8 bodies in this teeny little house! Highlights include: Garth and Jered spending hours and hours making kites from shopping bags, only to have them fail the next day at the beach, walks through the neighborhood, Jack’s first Sunday at church where he was given a name and a blessing by his Dad, and an M&M jar that magically replenished itself while we all kept snacking on them.

Lots of behind-the-scenes xoelle work. I’ve been working with a designer who wants to add bow ties to his line of clothing, finishing a few custom necktie to bow tie transformations, and making ties for a handful of weddings. I’m also looking into the Pensacola Farmers market as a selling venue this summer, along with some other handmade and consignments shops.

Life is good.

And, since I know what you really all came to see is Jack, here’s the latest.

xo
elle

Tags:   business · family · jack4 Comments