Retelling Jacks' arrival

Found in an email sent to a friend on Tuesday, October 04, 2005 02:27 PM:

Ah, his arrival. Since working with these photos, I'm realizing how much he has grown. Oh boy oh boy oh boy.

I was scheduled for a cesarian on 7/6/05 (looked for 4:32:10 but the doc said "No, 9AM"). Saw her colleague on 6/17 and asked if I could head to Yakima the next day to visit Trev's gramma who had been fretting about my pregnancy. We wanted to show her I was in good health. Plan was to go to the solstice parade (sit in a chair after being deposited by friends--no more than 10 yards of walking). Jenny Hannibal was to pick me up at [our house at ] 8:30. My alarm was set for 7:10. I woke at 7 realizing things weren't quite normal "down there". At first I thought my bladder had burst. But nooooo, it was my body saying we were going to have a baby. Not one contraction that I could feel (good thing as they didn't want me to labor for fear of a ruptured uterus due to surgery one year prior). So we went to the hospital. There were no bags packed. New baby clothes still unwashed. But the baby was coming.

The divine force was evident in several ways:

1) had Jacks come as scheduled, Trev would have gotten Jacks' birthday off of work, and two days after his birthday off, but not much other time than that as all the faculty at the clinic were in China and there was no one available to cover Trevor's shifts. But the clinic was closed from June 20-25th for spring break, so no shifts to cover. Trev got to be home with us for more than a week--woo hoo.

2) my mom had plans to attend my uncle's retirement from the airforce party (3* General), but it was scheduled for the end of June (29th). She kept asking me when the kid was coming and I kept saying the obvious "no later than July 6th, but really whenever it wants." She didn't want to miss "Cricket's" arrival, but didn't want to miss the party. With Jacks' early arrival, she got to be in our room as trev carried him from the operating room (drove rather fast from bellingham), and she got to help out and bond with the babe before her trip. Enjoyed her trip much more for not being worried about missing anything, and got to show off pictures of her newest grandchild.

3) A friend in TX, Tory, had spent a week on the road moving her dear friend and autistic godson--whom she saw most every day--from TX to CA. Then she flew to seattle where she was going to hang out while her husband attended a conference. We hadn't seen these folks in years (in fact, I met them in person for the first time on this trip). She was terribly sad at the move of her godson because she had been a major caregiver for him and she now had this hole (had been a trained nanny in a previous life). Pretty much made her want to mope in the hotel all day. Instead, she came and hung out with us while her guy was at the wine maker's convention and fell in love with Jacks nicely giving her a little one to shower love on and to help her over the new distance from her godson. Her husband arrived on the 19th, she arrived on the 20th. And she rocked as a nanny. Pilled the cat for us, cooked food. Watched Jacks while trev gave me acupuncture and massage.

4) Had we actually been on the road to Yakima when I went into labor, things would have gotten complicated, especially as I needed to have a cesarian to mitigate risks to both me and the kid.

5) At 36.5 weeks gestation, he was perfectly ready to come into the world (and we KNOW when he was conceived. . . .). APGAR was 9 at one minute. Latched on perfectly as soon as we got back to the room. Ok, his sleep has been erratic, but my recovery from the cesarian was so much easier than I expected. One year prior I had a fibroid removed and my doctor told me the recovery from the cesarian would be similar to my recovery from the myomectomy--heck, it was half as long, if that. I felt great quite soon after--good energy and the like. Took him camping at 6 weeks and went hiking (4 miles) with our niece and nephew in from TX (and aunts and uncles and trev's parents). And Jacks and I did really well. So the 8 weeks off for disability wasn't so much for recovery as it was for getting to know Jacks. And he is the coolest little thing.

So, Jacks was deposited in our lives with some divine inspiration. I am so thankful for him.