Happy Birthday Jack!

It's so hard to believe that Jack is turning three! It really does seem like yesterday that he was born; he's gone from a helpless little blob to a precocious and darling child of three. I didn't start to blog until Jack was almost 2 1/2 so I never shared his birth story. In honor of Jack's third birthday I will reminisce about the day he was born.

Jack's due date was August 30, 2006. We had just moved into our first house which was in Ogden, Utah. We had been in our new house for four days and I was trying like mad to get unpacked and organized. I kept telling myself and everyone else that the baby boy was going to be late; most first babies are late and I really needed the time to set up the house. On August 20 Bruce and I had done some work around the house and we cleaned our old apartment. I admit that I hadn't had nearly enough water that day and I probably did too much physical work at nine months pregnant. At 10:45 PM we were about to get ready for bed and I stood up. I paused for a second and turned to Bruce and said "hm, I think that my water just broke." I took a step and I was 99% sure that this was the case. I called my doula Joy and told her what was going on. We agreed that we would go to the hospital and call her if my water did break and she would meet us there. I took a shower and started freaking out because the house was a disaster. Boxes filled the living room from floor to ceiling; we didn't know where the car seat was and I hadn't even packed a bag. We managed to find things for me to pack and we left for the hospital. My mom was going to be coming in in a few days to help us with the new baby and I was in an absolute panic that my mom wasn't here yet. She made arrangement to leave first thing in the morning. When we got to the hospital it was around midnight and it was determined that my water had broken (and I was dehydrated) and we weren't going anywhere. I hadn't started having contractions that I could feel and I wasn't dilated very far but my doctor was willing to work with us as I wanted to avoid pitocin at all costs. Bruce and I got our stuff settled into my room and then we started walking laps in the hallway. After about an hour or so the contractions started kicking in so we went back to our room so I could concentrate on each contraction better. I labored all night and thanks to Bruce and our doula I made it through without any drugs. After over seventeen hours of labor and 2 1/2 hours of pushing Jackson Bremen Cohen was born on August 21 at 4:44 PM. He weighed 8.5 lbs and was 20.5 inches long, I thought that he was a big baby... until we had Belle! Of course Jack did give me a fourth degree tear which slowed me down considerably. Recovering from that tear was worse than the entire labor and delivery. Jack was not a natural nurser, I had to work very hard to get us synced up but it payed off and he nursed for 13 months.

While Jack and I were in the hospital we had some amazing friends come over to the house and help Bruce get it into livable shape. We still had a lot of work to do but at least when we came home as a family we could find all of the baby stuff for Jack. The last three years have flown by with our son, watching him grow and blossom has been has been a magical journey. I'm looking forward to the next three years and beyond.