Jonathan Seth Pollard is Here!!!!!!!!!!

So, yes, the baby is here, and it was another precious, little boy! I'm pretty relieved...I can't imagine having a girl. I don't think I'm cut out for it!=) Jonathan Seth Pollard was born on August 30 at 5:58pm. He was 20.25 inches long and weighed 8lbs. 5 oz. He's got dark hair, chubby cheeks, and has little Asian-looking eyes! He reminds me so much of Stephen when he was born! Jeremy and I are in love all over again!

We came home today and are adjusting to life with a newborn before Stephen and Caleb come back home tomorrow. They've been staying with my parents, and I'm looking forward to having them back with us. They did come see Jonathan late Monday night. Stephen was all about it and "held" him several times. Caleb took one quick look then thought it would be more fun to explore my hospital room! He's pretty much oblivious (right now!) to there being a new baby in our family!

I'll give you a synopsis of Jonathan's arrival for those of you who like "birth stories!"...

After my "sent home" adventure last week, I was determined not to EVER have that happen again. Jeremy knew I was gonna wait til the last minute, and boy did we ever! On Sunday night, after taking the boys swimming, we all headed to bed. Around midnight, though, I began having somewhat intense contractions. They kept waking me up but were never consistent enough to time. I never even woke Jeremy up. Monday morning, though, after getting up, they began to come more often and stronger. Jeremy had already planned on taking the day off, so after showering, I went downstairs to fix everyone breakfast. About halfway down the steps, I doubled over with a super strong contraction. Walking around was definitely making things worse.

During breakfast (I couldn't eat), I told Jeremy we probably needed to get Sarah over to keep the boys, so we could head to the hospital. He asked if I'd timed anything yet, and I said no but that I would try. I laid on the couch, and we calculated 7 minutes between contractions (little did we know I had had 2 during that time frame!). I decided we should probably wait awhile. When the next contraction came, though, I immediately changed my mind. I told Jeremy I didn't care what the time was, we HAD to go soon.

Sarah quickly came over, and Jeremy and I headed to Duke. We were in a much bigger hurry this time than early the other morning! When we got there I managed to drag myself to the ER check-in desk. All I could say to the lady there when she asked me why came in was, "We're having a baby."

They quickly took me back in a wheelchair and into a small triage room. It seemed like an eternity before the nurse finally came in to see us. I kept telling Jeremy to see where they were. Seriously, I thought I would die!=) It's amazing how you naturally breathe through contractions without even being told. That was my defense and distraction, along with burying my face into Jeremy, until we were finally seen. The nurse could tell I was in pain and very quickly called a midwife in to check me.

I was totally not surprised when she said, "You waited too long on this one. You're at an 8, 100% effaced, and the baby is at a positive 1 station." My first words were, "When can I have my epidural?"! She said she doubted there was time, but they would see what they could do. Soon after, 2 amazing nurses came in and started my IV's. They were both from the Summit, so I knew we were being well taken care of. They encouraged me to tough it out if possible and go ahead and have the baby; that he/she would probably enter this world in around 30 minutes if I could make it. My wimpy was response, "No way!" I had 0 intentions of being in pain any longer and being "super woman!"

Thankfully they were able to give me the epidural, and I was able to relax some. Better yet, the epidural slowed down labor, and both my parents and Jeremy's parents were able to make it to the hospital. Even better than that, I was able to get 2 doses of the Strep B antibiotic, so Jonathan didn't have to stay longer in the hospital. It all worked out in the end, and I was more comfortable on top of that!=)

After waiting about 4 hours for the antibiotic to be given, Dr. Quinn (yep, that was her name!), came in and broke my water. About 30 minutes later we were pushing and Jonathan Seth entered this world! It was so exciting not knowing if we were having a boy or girl, and especially that moment when the nurse said, "It's a boy!" Jeremy was able to tell our parents in the waiting room that God has blessed them with another grandson!

We are so thankful for this little miracle who's now in our life! Right now he's snuggling with his Daddy, and we're hoping for a good night's sleep!=) Our family is super blessed!

Sleepy boy!


Wide-eyed Jonathan!


Big boy!


Our precious, new son!


God gave us awesome nurses from the Summit!


Jonathan's first picture!


Our amazing Dr.!


Now, a family of 5!=)