I am a BIG SISTER!!



I became a Big Sister today! John Henry Ewald - who we will call Jack - was born at 2:20 am on July 19th. He is 6lbs 15oz and 18.5in long. He is much smaller than I was but he was born 2 weeks early so maybe that is why. Yesterday was very hot and Mommy was conducting interviews all day so she did a LOT of walking between campuses and wonders if maybe that is partly why she went into labor.

Last night Mommy went to sleep and at 1:10am she woke up to go pee and then her water broke while she was on the potty. That made her confused and she wasn't sure if her water broke for sure so she woke Daddy up just to warn him. She knew that within a few minutes she would start having painful contractions if it was the real deal and sure enough those contractions began! Mommy rushed around packing the hospital bag and she called the midwives to let them know she would be on her way to the hospital soon while Daddy tried to call Aunt Lindsay lots of times but she never answered. Luckily Uncle Dylan answered and soon they both came over so that I could keep sleeping and Mommy and Daddy could leave for the hospital. By the time they arrived Mommy was having very painful contractions and was desparate to leave for the hospital and she had visions of the epidural needle dancing around her head. But Daddy, in his rush to pack the car, had misplaced the keys and Mommy nearly had a panic attack while everybody rushed around looking for them. Silly Daddy had left them on the roof of the car, and finally in less than an hour they were on their way to the hospital.

Mommy's contractions were hurting her so she tried her best to remember to breathe so she wouldn't hyperventalate the way she did when she was in labor with me. About half way to the hospital a very surprising thing happend: Mommy began to PUSH with each contraction. She and Daddy were very freaked out by this. All at once Mommy realized that she was not going to be able to have an epidural and she felt a lot of panic. Daddy asked Mommy if she wanted him to stop and pull over because there was a police car nearby, but Mommy urged him to keep driving and Daddy sped along as fast as he could. As she pushed she was shocked to feel that Jack may actually be making his entrance, and on the 5th contraction of pushing she reached down and pulled Jack out and onto her chest! Daddy whipped to the side of the road and looked at his new son. Holy Moly! The hospital was in view so as soon as Jack started crying and they could see he was okay they were on their way again. Daddy was driving super fast and they missed the first entrance to the ER, so they looped around and zoomed through the hospital parking lot and pulled up to the doorway. Because Daddy had pulled up so crazily a bicicle cop was on his tail and greeted him as he bounded out of the car. But as soon as Daddy explained that they had a baby in the car, the policeman understood his hurry. Pretty soon several doctors descended on the car and they clamped the cord and Daddy was able to cut it before the rushed Jack away to check him out. Lucky for everybody, Jack was in perfect shape and everybody's worries began to fade.

After having some time to process Mommy was really happy about how Jack arrived. She never ever would have given herself a chance to go through natural childbirth and she felt privilaged to have experienced it, especially so quickly! Also recovery was much easier than with me. Within a few hours she was answering work emails and on the phone like nothing had ever happened!

Because Jack was born outside of the hospital she had to stay for 3 full days and nights at the hospital. Aunt Lindsay took good care of me and Daddy came home too. I visited Mommy and Jack at the hospital and was really happy to see her. She was getting really bored at the hospital but she was happy to have me visit. Jamie, Caitlin, and Vicki all visited her too.