Our new addition!

     So life has been crazy the past couple weeks! I now have three little boys to take care of and love on :). I've been wanting to write about baby Jacob's arrival and life since and am finally able to take a few minutes and get it done. At my last check up, I was almost 39 weeks, almost 4 cm dilated, and knew that he could come at any time. I was worried about when I would go into labor because our friends were going to watch the boys, and I wanted to make sure they were available and not at work or something. Early Saturday morning, March 29th, I woke up at 3:25 with a painful contraction. I felt like I had to use the bathroom, and Eli was sleeping in our room, so I went downstairs. I was having really bad stomach cramps, but thought that it might just be gas. I started checking the clock every time I had a pain and they started to be about 2-3 minutes apart. Since it was so early I wanted to make sure that it wasn't gas before I called anyone. I went to lay down on the couch, but was in a lot of pain. I coughed slightly when I was laying down and felt as if my water broke. I stood up to go to the bathroom and had a gush come out. At this point, I was positive I was in labor, so I called my doula. I explained everything to her and she confirmed that I was definitely in labor. I woke Josh up and we got all our stuff together, called our friends to watch the boys, and headed to the hospital. We left for the hospital at about 5 and it took about 15 minutes to get there. Since it was so early, there wasn't anyone at the check in desk, so I sat down and waited probably another 10 minutes before someone took me back to get checked out. I was 7 cm dilated and contractions were one on top of the other. I finally got back to a room and could hardly move. I just sat on the bed, trying to breath through the contractions. I told Josh and my doula, Aime, that I didn't know if I could do it naturally. I didn't have any break between contractions, the nurses kept poking me and messing with the monitors they strapped on me (which I didn't want to begin with), so I was in pain and getting crabby. I suddenly felt the urge to push, so they started setting everything up for that. Josh and Aime were by my side comforting me and telling me to breath. I just started pushing and could feel his head coming out. At this point, none of the nurses were paying any attention to me and my doctor hadn't arrived yet. I yelled out that he was coming, Aime lifted my gown, and sure enough baby was crowning. A few moments later, my doctor walked in. He quickly got ready and just barely caught baby Jacob. They laid him directly on me and in that moment, I felt so much joy that I don't think I've experienced with my past 2 births. He was born at 6:25, exactly 3 hours after my first contraction. It was so fast, I was able to have him all natural, while my other two births were induced and had an epidural. I felt so amazing knowing I did it without any drugs. It didn't go exactly as I had imagined, but I believe it went way better! I prayed that it would be the experience that I wanted and it was so much more.
     This is my sweet Jacob Edward Kirkman. Born at 6:25 a.m. on March 29th, weighing 8 lbs 12 oz and 21 1/4 inches long.

Life with boys hasn't been all that crazy yet. Josh has had the past two weeks off and he's been an amazing help! Noah doesn't like his new baby brother, but hopefully he'll warm up soon. Elijah loves him! He gets so excited when he wakes up and opens his eyes. I love having three little boys! All three are going through different stages and it's so fun watching them grow. It all goes by way to fast, but I am enjoying every moment with all of them!