Our Littlest Blessing

Life has been busy and very sadly I have neglected our blog. I'm realizing that life is passing too quickly and while I'm not sure I'll be able to catch up and fill in the gaps from the past year, I'm hoping to start recording the little moments I hope to never forget. The biggest one, which I'm sure we won't forget, is the newest addition to our family. Aaron Jonathan Drake made his grand entrance into our lives, quite unexpectedly!

With the permission of my doctor, we had decided to spend Thanksgiving in the Bay Area with my family, knowing I'd be 34 to 35 weeks along in my pregnancy. We drove up the week before and had a great time spending time with my family and celebrating Thanksgiving. I had been having quite a few Braxton Hicks contractions, but didn't really think anything of it since I had just as many when I was pregnant with Emily. I remember waking up a few times on Friday night, uncomfortable from tightening in my pregnant tummy, but didn't really think anything of it. We woke up to a rainy Saturday and decided we would try to go bowling with the kids. Little did we know that the bowling alley would be busy and we would have to come back later in the afternoon to bowl since the kids were excited about it. I was having intermittent uncomfortable episodes, which we later found out were indeed contractions. Since we were supposed to drive home the next day, I thought it might be a good idea to get checked out before the long drive. About 2:30 in the afternoon I woke David up from his nap and told him about what was going on. So, off to the hospital we drove! I really was expecting to be sent home with a thumbs up, but that is not what happened. As we sat in the ER waiting room my contractions started getting stronger and were coming more frequently. Since the ER was busy and we had already been waiting for an hour to be checked in, we decided to head up to the Labor and Delivery department to see if we would be seen faster there. I was admitted and quickly got hooked up to monitors. The nurse checked to see if I was dilated and I was about 1 cm dilated, 20% effaced. The doctor decided to try to stop the contractions by giving me medicine that lowers blood pressure. I was maxed out on the medicine in a little over an hour and although my contractions spread out a bit, they were just as strong, if not stronger and I was almost 2 cm dilated. The whole experience was surreal and I didn't really think it was happening. Our baby was not due for another 5 weeks and we were supposed to have our baby in San Diego! The hours passed, and contraction after contraction made it evident that we were indeed having our baby today.

While we were in the hospital, trying to stop my contractions, the kids were having their first bowling experience! My family was brave enough to still take the kids as planned...

 Uncle James helping Emily bowl!

Excitement!

Coincidentally, my sister, Johanna, was also pregnant and was due to have her baby any day now. I kept hoping that she would have the baby while we were visiting in the Bay Area, but there were not any signs that my sweet nephew would be coming while we were there. In the early evening we got a phone call from my brother-in-law that my sister's water had maybe broken and that they were on their way to the hospital! Imagine the shock and excitement!!! This definitely meant all hands on deck to watch our kiddos and my niece as both my sister and I were in the hospital!

Waiting, waiting!

I kept waiting for "my turn", which did seem like an eternity with my contractions. The hospital needed to have the whole team assembled, which included two OBGYNs, a pediatrician, a NICU nurse, and the anesthesiologist. It happened to be a very busy night, with the arrival of many little ones, and since Aaron was doing great, I kept getting bumped! The poor nurses were afraid to come into my room to tell me that they didn't have any concrete news.

Thankfully our kids were in great hands!

Ready to meet our son!

Around 10pm it looked like it was going to be my turn, but then it looked like my sister's labor was happening very quickly and she stole my anesthesiologist. I was happy to hear that my nephew was coming and that Johanna was having a quick labor! But this meant more waiting for me. It finally looked like it was going to be my turn after my precious nephew was born, but another mom needed the pediatrician more urgently, which meant more waiting. I was hoping that Aaron and my nephew would have the same birthday, but it wasn't in the cards. Aaron was born at 12:44 AM on November 30th, weighing 5 lbs. 5 ozs, and 17.5 inches long!