Jordan Turned ONE!!!

It's hard to think back to bringing her home one year ago.

Shannon was at the men's retreat through our church (Compass Bible Church - see link on our page) and I was supposed to meet the wives for a park date with the kids. I started having some serious contractions at around 8:00 in the morning. Somehow I was in enough denial that I was able to get Noah bathed, dressed, fed and loaded into the car and I even packed my hospital bag. As I was getting the car loaded and Noah was eating breakfast in his high chair I had to lay down on the ground in the kitchen because I couldn't stand up anymore - Noah was laughing SO hard thinking I was playing a game. I managed to drive myself and Noah to the park all while putting on lipstick and talking to Staci along the way (yes I'd put the phone down during a contraction - I'm not that much of a road hazard - hahaha). When I got to the park I had no idea how I was going to get Noah over to where the other moms were without having a contraction and having to lay down in the wet grass while they're all watching me walk up (they had now gone from 6 minutes apart to like 2 1/2 minutes apart).

Praise God I have some AMAZING and dear friends. They took charge. I only had one moment of a decent cry from the pain and just the thought that she was finally arriving and that there were so many unknowns. Sarah Cox took me to the hospital while the resident nurturer, Rebecca Millsap took sweet Noah to her house. Sarah insisted I'd be in labor for 12 hours or so and therefore I needed a shake and protein bars from Mother's Market. I sat in the parking lot having some MAJOR contractions, trying to remember what Sarah had just taught me about breathing through them, and here's Sarah hemming and hawing over which Power Bar to get me. Oh we laugh today!!!!
Even funnier is our hospital check in. Sarah is wearing a baseball hat and a grungy boy-type tank top while my hair and make up are fresh with a pretty sweat suit on. We were certain the check-in nurses assumed she was the "father" and it sent us into torrents of uncontrolled laughter. In between my 2 min apart contractions we were falling over laughing and the nurses were getting annoyed. :) I'm cracking up writing this! Our nurse insisted all I needed was a little water and that I'd be going home in an hour...I tried telling her that was NOT in fact the case. She didn't listen until she finally checked and I was dilated to an 8 or something close (is that right Sarah?). I had a near nervous breakdown over the thought of no pain meds so they rushed us in and made sure I got the epidural. I asked Sarah if she wanted to stay for the delivery and she was (oddly) overjoyed at the thought. I could not for the life of me think why she would want to see that, especially since I've seen it before in the mirror with Noah's delivery. It's really not a pretty site. She wanted to though and it was truly such a comfort having her there. While all of this was happening we found out that our friends, the Youngmans, had their triplets and were downstairs. Their daughter was 1 pound, not expected to make it and their two boys were 2 pounds. We cried for them and prayed for them and had an amazing perspective throughout our own delivery thanks to them.
Shan finally arrived by now and in about 20 more minutes I pushed a few times and out she came...beautiful, healthy, perfect, made in God's image! It was so great to finally see what she looked like. We felt a mixture of emotions - overjoyed to have our baby girl yet sad for the struggles she would be facing, and comforted by God's grace to sustain her throughout and to use her trials for His glory and her good.
One year ago...wow. Thanks to everyone for being here for us this year and for loving Jordan. Please continue to check the blog for updates this month.
Love, Jen