>Dear Larkin,
The evening of July 5th ushered in the most incredible day of my life. It was that next morning when the Lord was bringing you out into the world! For weeks I had been having discouraging false contractions that would start up, be very uncomfortable and then go away. Mommy and daddy would walk Piper around the neighborhood each night in the hopes of starting labor, but you were determined to come in your time.
The night of the 5th as I was watching Father of the Bride 2 (a movie I had been wanting to watch the whole pregnancy) the contractions began again. Over the past few weeks of false labor I had learned not to share this with daddy as it would get him excited and asking me every few minutes if I had another contraction. So off to bed he went while I hid my grimaces and finished watching the movie.
Around 3 am I had exhausted both my thumb and my calm resolve pushing the "start contraction" button on my
labor tracking phone app every few minutes and still seeing no consistent progression. Unfortunately, although they were growing in length, the contractions were never consistently 5 minutes apart. I had been told this needed to happen before going to the hospital. Still, as the pain grew stronger and stronger I decided to wake up daddy. He quickly got up, showered and packed up the car. I convinced him to wait a few more hours and finally at 6am I decided we really needed to go to the hospital. In the weeks prior, I had been praying to handle the pain of labor gracefully and not be one of those "mad mommies" you see on T.V. as they deliver their babies. I did pretty well. My one regret is a little outburst I had at daddy as he had to back up again through the bumpy alley during a contraction to double check the garage door was shut. Mommy was in pain, "Jordan, get me to the hospital!" :)
We called grandparents on the way and then arrived at the hospital and were admitted into triage where we had to
wait for a while. Daddy helped mommy into her gown and we waited while they attended to a few of the 14 other women who had been scheduled for c-sections or deliveries that day. At one point mommy tearfully asked daddy, "Why aren't they helping me?... Those other ladies don't sound like they are in much pain!" Finally a nurse came to check me and saw we were already 6cm dilated! Yikes! Acting very stressed, (which didn't help my nerves) the nurse rushed us into the labor room and quickly brought in the anesthesiologist who gave me one of the best gifts of the entire pregnancy - an epidural.
It had been several weeks since I had felt that relaxed! Dr. came in right after and saw I was already 8cm! The waiting game began as grandparents arrived and daddy and mommy's excitement began building as we anticipated seeing you and finding out if you were a boy or girl, what you were like, etc.
Finally, after a little pitocin, it was time to push! Daddy stretched to get ready and insisted on wearing scrubs. He was SUCH a good pushing coach. After about 30 minutes of pushing we watched in a mirror as the Lord brought you into the world and you took your first breath. I saw the most beautiful baby boy's head and daddy said, "It's a boy" as you finished your entrance into the world. You had a loud cry and little sqwuak as they wiped you off and put you on mommy's chest. That was the most incredible moment of my life and there are no words to describe it. You were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. All the fears of having enough love for you melted away as we spent that first hour as our new little family and my heart literally ached with love for you.
The rest of the hospital stay and the days from then to now (two weeks later) are all a blur. There have been hilarious moments- like the first night at home. We were up in the wee hours of the morning, daddy on the nursery floor googling "How to swaddle" while mommy, still in pain, was crying thinking she hurt you swaddling. Overwhelmed, we looked down at you as I nursed, pitying you for your luck in parents and you answered by flipping us off which brought on a fit of laughter from us both. We have been baptized in bath time pee and woken up at all hours of the night. With each little hiccup in learning how to parent, we have fallen more in love with you, little Larkin and realize how deep our need for God's wisdom in parenting is!
Mommy and daddy have loved watching and learning about you. It's been so fun to see how much daddy loves you and what a "natural" he is as he changes your diaper and takes care of us both. I already get emotional as I think you are getting bigger and bigger too quickly. I remind myself you truly aren't ours. You were born in the heart of God, loaned to us, and the rest of my life will be a process of letting you go. Each minute you are in our charge I will love you as best I can, Larkin. Your name means "fierce warrior" and "strength of God". Our prayer for you is that you will have a heartfelt and passionate intensity about the things of God and that your life will be marked by a humility reflected by your middle name Michael which means "who is like our God?". We love you little man and I am so confident the Lord has plans for you which will bring Himself great glory.
love~mommy
Larkin and Mimi- we still need a pic with Pop!
Larkin with Grandpa Latham- Grandpa wore blue in honor of Larkin :)
Larkin and Nana- he LOVES his Nana!
Alexis came and brought us dinner
Uncle Jerod and Aunt Katie
Mindy, Marina and Lucy!
Adam and Kimber
Delores and Gail brought Larkin so many cute outfits
Debra brought us dinner too!
Lindsay came to the hospital and has been such a huge help.
Larkin with cousins Landry and Logan and Aunt "Shelle" and Uncle Jason. Larkin has 3 other cousins: Landry, Logan and Luke, can't wait to meet Luke very soon!
Logan is already ready to teach Larkin all kinds of important things!
Christine and Dana came by and brought gifts and dinner!
Stephanie came to visit in the hospital
College Besties
Lauren and Steve
Renay and Claire- (and Baby Jaxon!)
Mrs. Ewing brought Larkin his first monogrammed gift!
Mel came by to help sort out the "pumping" equipment!
