Baby Jack (long!)

I'm typing this one handed so y'all bear with me:) I just wanted to (finally) fill everyone in on our very busy week!
Jack's birth really didn't go like I planned, but, Praise God!, he's here safe and sound. Last Thursday night (the 12th) I laid in bed all night having a lot of what I assumed were more Braxton Hicks contractions - painful as always, but irregular. Hubby was at work so he missed out on my grumpiness, for awhile. The next morning, the kids and I slept late - til 8, that's late at our house. By the time I got them breakfast the contractions were getting a lot closer together and more regular so I laid down to try to get them to stop - still thinking it was just false labor. This is what's commonly known as denial. I finally started calling hubby at 10 when the pains were ten minutes apart and veeerrrry painful. When I called my doctor he wanted me to come into the office to be put on a monitor. Not what I wanted to hear. The monitor? Did this guy not understand I was in labor?!? All of a sudden I was getting very sure that we were headed directly for a baby here and I needed to get myself to the hospital.
Hubby brought his mom home with him to keep the kids and we jumped in the car - no shower, no bag, no nuthin' - and headed to the doctor's office an hour away. Let's just say it was a long drive. We had to keep pulling over so I could be sick (such fun for the people passing us I'm sure). And I was extremely cranky at this point - crying, ranting, raving. I was trying to behave myself, but...let's just say it was not a pretty picture, but hubby stuck with me:)
By the time we got close to the doctor's office, he had called the cell phone to send us on over to the hospital where he was waiting on us. After he checked me, we were all glad I'd gone there first. I was only dilated to a four, but the contractions were only 3 minutes apart. With my first pregnancy I went from 4 cm to needing to push in what seemed like seconds - although I wound up with a c-section anyway. So I may have delivered at the doctor's office had we gone there first. But since we were at the hospital everything went smoothly. I was scheduled for a repeat section for medical reasons so we went ahead with that, but I was much more relaxed and "in control" feeling this time. I got the spinal instead of the epidural - for some reason they always try to push that epidural, and I liked it fine after I got it, but I couldn't go through getting the thing again. Last time it took three very painful tries. The spinal was much easier. Hubby was a little nervous because there was no one there with us yet - we usually have quite a crowd lining the halls. I made him promise to stay with the baby - even if he had to be transferred to another hospital, so he was very worried about having to leave me all alone. My grandparents made it just in time, though.
The surgery itself went really smoothly. The doctor's and nurses were wonderful and worked hard to try to give me the kind of birth I wanted. The only hitch was lowering the curtain in time for me to see the baby sliding out. They lowered it in time, but had to yank it back up to keep the little guy from peeing in my face:) My nausea was still going strong and let me just tell you - throwing up when you're numb from the breastbone down and your insides are on the outside is quite an experience. And not a good one. On a positive (I guess) note, we did discover one anti-nausea medication that works for me (instead of making it worse!) - after trying everything else.
Jack's Apgars were wonderful, but he did have to stay in NICU for about five hours due to some breathing problems. He seems just fine now, but I'm still being a little extra cautious with him - washing hands before visitors hold him, staying home for these first few weeks, the stuff other moms do with every baby:) He's sleeping a lot and doesn't seem to nurse as much as my first two, but he's gaining pretty quickly. He was back up to his birth weight within a week, in spite of serious jaundice.
I just can't find the words to get across how blessed I feel. God is so good! I'm just in awe of Him and His creation. The way He's cared for me and for this precious new life is just more than I can really comprehend. I'm so amazed that this little person fit inside me - how is it that a week and a half ago I felt so huge and now I can imagine how I was carrying this little guy around in me! Nothing compares to knowing that God knit this little one together in me and then protected us both through the whole process of growing him and bringing him into the world! Have I said it before? God is SOOO good!