Our Wee Little Ninja in Training

I bet you're all wondering if I'm still pregnant and if I'm now eligible to make it into The Guinness Book of World Records for the world's longest lasting pregnacy! Well fortunately for me, it wasn't even a possibility as I gave birth to Jack Michael James on July 19, 2009. He tipped the scales at a whopping 8 lbs 13 ozs! I'm a tad concerned as this is my first baby and I'm assuming the weight goes up with every child??? Maybe my dream won't be shattered after all and I can still make it into the book by having the World's largest baby???

Everything went relatively smooth and I feel extremely blessed. My contractions started around 5:30 in the morning and by 10:30 or so they were about 3 to 5 minutes apart so we decided to head on over to the hospital. I was going into this with an open mind. I wasn't totally ruling out natural childbirth but I also wasn't going to call the hospital ahead of time and tell them to get my epidural ready and waiting. I was going to play it by ear and see what I could handle. Well by about 1:00 and after having a contraction that almost made me throw up, I threw in the towel and asked for some "sweet relief". Let me tell ya, other than saying yes to Mike's marriage proposal, it was the best decision I've ever made. I was so much happier and relaxed and I'm sure I was much more pleasant to be around for Mike as well. My hours of rest and relaxation came to an abrupt end though as my epidural started to wear off. The nurse topped me off and that seemed to last for another hour or so but then I could start to feel the contractions coming on yet again. Sure enough this is the moment that baby Jack decides its his time to shine and he starts to make his great descent. When Mike and I were taking our prenatal classes we always had to snicker at the plethora of sounds that women in labour made and I vowed that I would never sound like that! Well sure enough, when the time was just right, I definitely could have auditioned for those videos. It was rather painful and it seemed like my OB was making me count to 100 through my contractions instead of 10. It was funny because Mike told me afterward that he couldn't make direct eye contact with me. He said my face was so red, bulging and contorted in such a way that he never thought was possible. He felt so bad for me everytime he looked at me so he found it easier to avert his eyes. It was so surreal to finally be able to hold that little baby that I had been carrying all those months. To finally be able to see what he looks like, and to take in his sweet baby smell. Mike and I couldn't have been happier to have such a happy and healthy baby.

So here I am now with my sweet little Jack-a-loo (nickname courtesy of Auntie Katie) two months later. I swear he is growing by the hour or at least it seems. He is constantly changing and its so exciting to see him reach his little milestones already. He's been such a good baby so far (knock on wood) and I am truly counting my blessings. I still have a lot to update (moving across the country, living with in laws, Mike's new job, etc) but I'll save those for another day. Here are some pics that Jack's wonderfully amazingly taleted Auntie Liz took a couple of weeks ago. It's our first little family photo shoot. There were way too many cute ones to choose from so brace yourselves, I've posted quite a few! What can I say..I'm one proud mama!