Happy Belated St. Pats

I couldn't let all you non-Facebookers miss out on this:

Jackson's Birth Story

Eventually, I may be able to post something outside the smoochable baby arena. Since that won't happen soon, here's a classic "Mommy-blog" post and tell you how Jackson came to join us in the outside world.

Sunday, 1/25, 3 a.m. - I had a contraction that woke me up.

Sunday, 1/25, 3:10 a.m. - I had another contraction that woke me up.

Sunday, 1/25, 3:20 a.m. - You get the picture.

At this point, Bryan and I were pretty excited. I'd only had contractions once or twice per day, so it seemed like we would be heading to the hospital soon.

HOWEVER, I continued to have contractions at about 10 minutes apart all day Sunday. Then all night Sunday. And all day Monday, and all night Monday. Mmmm-hmmm. This means I slept in 10-minute bursts for two days. Let's just say I began this Mommying thing a little behind the eight ball, sleep-wise.

Tuesday, 1/27, 8:00 a.m. - Bryan and I arrived at my last scheduled O.B. appointment with bags packed. Dr. Trainor's voice was like music when she said, "Go to the hospital - you're going to have this baby today." If I'd felt less like death, I would have kissed her. On the mouth.

Tuesday, 1/27, 9:00 a.m. - We checked into the hospital. Right away I began to execute my 1-step birth plan (1. Ask for epidural ASAP.) The people who administer these are called CRNAs - which stands for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. I called her the NNw/NN, or the "Nice Nurse with the Nice Needle." She came in and set up to give me blessed relief.

Nice Nurse w/Nice Needle - "You're back is really tight."

Me - "That's what my chiropractor says."

Nice Nurse Nw/Nice Needle - "What?! You go to a chiropractor? I have to warn you - you may have so much scar tissue we won't be able to do this. How often do you see him?"

Me - "On the same schedule as my O.B. appointments. So this month, I've been seeing her once a week."

Mean Nw/NN - "That's terrible! No one should EVER go to a chiropractor that often. This may not even work."

Me - "Mmmkay. Well, as I SAID, I went on the same schedule as my O.B. appointments, so for seven months, it was only once a month. Only this month has it been weekly."

MNw/NN - "Oh."

At this point we were getting a good deal of attitude from Mean Nurse w/Nice Needle. Then, the epidural wasn't taking effect on the left 1/3 of my body. Which was A PROBLEM. MNw/NN kept insisting we look at it as 2/3 effective. It became a bigger problem when another nurse inserted the catheter and I REALLY felt it. The other nurse noticed that I was still feeling every contraction. (Umm, yeah. I heard them coming around the corner like they were wearing tap shoes.) After lots of back and forth, they placed the epidural again. This time, I finally wasn't feeling the contractions and felt better than I had in a month.

Since I never dilated past 5 centimeters the doctor decided to do a c-section.

Gradually, Mean Nw/NN turned back into Nice Nw/NN. She said cheerfully, "I'm glad we repositioned the needle. It can be really tricky cutting through those hot spots." Silly nurse. She was under the impression that I was going to allow someone to cut on a part of my body that still had feeling. I had almost kicked the catheter lady in the teeth - this wouldn't be a good idea on either side of the scalpel.

So, they cranked up the epidural and rolled me into the operating room. They gave Bryan a giant pair of napkin footy pajamas and let him join us a few minutes later. Surgery went well - the drape kept me from seeing anything gruesome, and before you know it...

Tuesday, 1/27 6:28 p.m. - I heard the most beautiful cry. A few minutes later, I was handed the most beautiful baby.

THE END. AND THE BEGINNING.

Picture Post!

Here are a few more Jackson pictures to get you caught up... His grandma is quite handy with a camera:

Some snuggling in the hospital

what a profile

Daddy straps him into the carseat

All ready to head home

I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille.

Eventually I'll take some newer ones and post them, when I find the time. Right now, this cute little bundle has morphed into his evil alter-ego "Sir Fussypants," so I must go for now...

Little Dude

Boy, I'm slacking on this post writing thing!

For anyone I've failed to update, Jackson was born on Tuesday, January 27. Thank you for all the prayers and well wishes. He was 8 lbs., 3 oz. and did indeed have to be delivered by c-section. He was one month old yesterday, and boy is he a cutie. Please prepare yourself for cuteness overload - here he is at 3 days old:

My mother made this blanket for a neighbor's baby 25 years ago;

she kindly saved it and gave it to us for Jackson when I was home at Thanksgiving.

For anyone I've neglected to update, please forgive me. I've been almost 24-7 occupied with being this huggable little guy's Mommy. If you're still checking my blog, thank you!! I'll post more pictures soon - pinky swear.

Happy Inauguration Day

You know, I thought I'd write so faithfully throughout my pregnancy, but I didn't do that at all! So, here are some general baby updates:

1. Several ultrasounds have confirmed that our little one's a boy
2. His name will be Jackson Pepper (my maiden name) Ramsey
3. We'll call him Jackson - but, since it's the midwest, I'm sure he'll be called Jack a lot
4. He's due 1/31
5. We've been advised not to let it wait that long... we're scheduled to induce on 1/30 if nothing exciting happens before then
6. He may be a big one! They estimated him at 6 lbs. last month, and he could be 8 or 9 lbs. if he stays in until induction day
7. We'll try for a vaginal delivery, but a C-section may be necessary
8. I've secretly wished Jackson would decide to appear on Inauguration Day, so he could tell everyone he was born the day President Barack Obama took office
9. He's probably *not* going to be born today, since I'm only about 1.5 cm dilated
10. Doubtless when he is born, our son will enter a blessedly new and different time than any of us adults have ever seen.

This day means a great deal to many people, and I certainly don't have any unique words to add. But, I don't think I could feel much better about bringing a new person into this country. A new president doesn't magically solve all our problems, but I've never felt more proud to be an American or more hopeful about our future as a Democracy.

It's also convenient that I can still blame pregnancy for my emotions. I'm powerless over what will likely be an undignified display during the inaugural address - it's just a natural physiological reaction: when hope fills hearts to overflowing, sometimes it leaks from the eyes. God bless America.

A Boy Named Boot

Now that we know we're having a boy, I've been paying more attention to guys' names. And JUST IN time for football season. For some ungodly reason, Bryan was watching Purdue play the Oregon Ducks today. Normally, he's more interested in SEC games, but I think he was texting a friend who was at the game or something.

I heard one of the announcers mention Justin Roper. I'm all, "Justin Ropers? I have a pair of those!"

Then hubby told me it's Oregon's quarterback's NAME. For real.

Justin Roper, meet Justin Roper.

Awkward.

At first I thought, "Maybe he's from a big metropolitan area and his parents don't know cowboy boots from driving moccasins. In that case, he probably wasn't teased about it." Fine. Harmless. Then, I found out he's from Buford, Georgia. I used to live near that area. I estimate the kid got pantsed before his third birthday.

He seems to be doing fine - getting an education, great athlete, etc. But does anyone else think this name was a little negligent?

Shamefully, at the first test of character I proved no better than the schoolyard hazers. While I pondered the possible effects an unusual name could have on a person's psyche, Justin went down on the field. I yelled, "Oh my God! Somebody call a cobbler!"

IT'S A BOY

We are most definitely having a boy - no "maybe" according to the ultrasound tech! He's about 14 oz. right now, and about a week ahead in development, so he may be a big one. Also, she didn't fail to find anything she looked for; we got to count fingers and toes, look at the bones, see heart, kidneys, bladder, stomach, all kinds of things.

I'll have more details tonight (they don't really like you updating your blog at work) but I wanted to let you all know! I know the Ramseys are going to be excited about the potential for the family name to live on. :)

We have some ultrasound video, so I'll post that tonight as well. Hugs to everyone!!

10:28 p.m. update - Umm, I kinda realized there's a lot of personal information on the ultrasound video, and unfortunately I don't have the software to remedy that little video situation. So, if you're interested, send me an email and I'll send it to you. G'night!