My week, and some thoughts

Ruby Anjuli, 5 days old

I have a brand new baby! Here's the story of the last week or so:

On Wednesday of last week, Henry was playing on his scooter on the driveway, and fell. He cried an "I AM REALLY HURT" cry, instead of his usual "I'm sad that I fell" cry... I took note of his tone and inspected him for bumps and bruises. He didn't have any scrapes from his cement landing pad, but he did keep telling me that his wrist hurt on the inside : uh-oh... He napped normally (aside from falling asleep holding his wrist...), and seemed fine when he woke up. However, he fell again after dinner that evening, and again cried that different cry. This time a bluish tint appeared on his wrist, and I scheduled an appointment with his doctor for the next morning.

Thursday: Our Doctor sent us to get Xrays (which Jonathan was QUITE curious about!). Dad came with us since I couldn't join him in the xray room due to Ruby being in my belly. It was a bonding experience for Daddy and Henny, and Jonathan and I made faces at ourselves in the round, around-the-corner mirror in the hallway outside.

Later that evening our little monkeys were playing in the trees, and the biggest monkey fell and landed on his back on some rocks... he cried, gasping for air, and immediately a nasty, deep bruise appeared on his back. So... Daddy and Grandma took Jonathan to the ER. (( I was out on a girls night getting pedicures, hoping to induce labor- God was obviously in control of the timing, since it didn't work!)). After my girls night I traded Grandma places and joined Daddy and one tired monkey at the hospital. The doctor looked him over, and decided to have his ribs xrayed to check for cracks, since the pain traveled down his arm. Jonathan was thrilled to ride on Daddy's lap on the hospital bed down the hallway, and not-so-thrilled by the "cape" he was asked to wear :) He did EXCELLENT during the xrays, holding perfectly still in odd positions for each picture. Daddy bonded with J this time, since I was still not able to join :)

Jonathan's ribs bruised but not broken!

Henry's "Iron Man" getup, including the red cast :)

J getting Xrays

Henry's fracture

We got the results the next day (Friday): Henry's arm was fractured just slightly, but enough to see an Orthopedic, and Jonathan was just badly bruised. That afternoon we got in at the Ortho, and Henry's arm was set in a tiny, red ("Iron Man") cast. Friday night Daddy snuck off to a childhood friend's bachelor party, and the boys and I crashed at home in our beds!

Saturday morning I sat on one of those bouncy, exercise balls (thanks, Hooper/Reilly/Becker ladies!) most of the morning. The boys were enormously jealous of the giant, red ball I was hogging all to myself, but I explained that we did NOT need any more ER or Doctor visits, unless it was Ruby's turn :) Saturday afternoon Josh and I walked, and walked, and walked... and by late afternoon I was having spells of contractions! I called my doctor after dinner to give her an update (she was on-call! yay!). She agreed that if it continued I should come in and have her check on me. After we put the boys to bed, we packed up and drove to the hospital. By the time we got there the contractions were getting closer to being painful- yay!

We checked in around 10:30, and continued walking the halls, pacing the room, and bouncingbouncingbouncing! I had spells of contractions ~8minutes apart for most of the night. By noon on Sunday we were starting to get tired, and felt that we weren't making enough progress. We decided to hook up pitocin (labor-inducing IV) around 3, hoping to pick up the pace. I tried laboring in the tub for awhile, but decided that I was just plain wearing out, and called for an epidural. At this point the nurse speculated that I had another 5 hours left. My epidural was put in at 4, and I napped from 4-4:30 (BUT IT FELT LIKE A WEEK!). When I woke up I told Josh that I felt a little pressure, and he stepped in the hall to summon a nurse (the past two deliveries I "felt pressure", and the baby was about to jump out). The nursing staff had set up for delivery while I was napping, and my doctor and nurse had stepped out for a coffee break. As Josh was walking into the hall, my Dr. and nurse were walking back in through the double doors- again God's timing! He informed them of my status, and they set their coffee down to check on me. "STOP LAUGHING, AND LET ME PUT MY GLOVES ON!", my doctor exclaimed- she could see Ruby's hair!! "Okay, you can laugh again!" Ruby's head appeared! Her chord was around her neck twice, which the Doctor quickly took care of, and one more laugh and she was out! Emotion had begin to fill my heart moments before when I saw her hair- this is life at the fullest! The doctor placed her on my chest, and I marveled at her tiny perfection.

She weighed 6 lb, 14oz, and was 20 1/2" long. She has dark, thick hair, Daddy's fingers, and a sweet little nose. She is eating well, sleeping well, and very, very loved.

While we were at the hospital, and handful of Josh's buddies from childhood came to visit. I really enjoyed the visit for several reasons: the contrast of goofy, bearded, tattooed men against a petite, pink bundle is wonderful :) I love how they treasured the moments they held Ruby- I could see that they were in awe of the treasure that she is, almost to the point of being afraid.

The other thing I treasured about the guys' visit is that they went with Josh into the room where Evelyn was born. That room is only used for "unique situations", and it was empty that night. The guys prayed life into the room, prayed for hope for it's next occupants, prayed for continued redemption over our story. What a beautiful picture of those men serving the God of Redemption. The guys also prayed over Ruby before they left, praying that her life would echo her delivery: proceeded by laughter!

One more thought about babies... as Ruby and I learn to nurse together, I've been thinking about the correlation between a baby and it's mother, and us and God. When a baby is hungry she will open her mouth, and shake her head back and forth, desperately searching for milk. When she senses it is near (since her eyes are usually closed), she will lunge her head forward rather aggressively! ...and as she finds what she needs, her whole body will relax with deep, deep satisfaction. Do we crave God like that? When she is hungry she will refuse a binkie, try stuffing her hands in her mouth, only to reject them, still searching for the milk... when we hunger, have we settled for other things, or do we continue searching until we find God? And as we find Him, are we satisfied?...


 This week has been busting at the seams with LIFE! Praise God for life and health, joy and peace!