Hospital Randomness

Precious, wrinkly baby feet

Love these two! The time in the hospital was so sweet, just spending time with my wonderful hubby and getting to know our darling new baby.

My three sons!

I think these two look an awful lot alike!

Remembering

There are a few things about our stay in the hospital this time that were especially special and I don't ever want to forget:

The Big Brother T-shirts

I had searched high and low for big brother shirts/little brother shirt for the boys to wear in the hospital. I had very specific requirements for these shirts and I was having trouble finding ones that met my specifications and were the right price. In the end, time ran out and Jonah was born before I found the perfect shirts. I was pretty disappointed.

Imagine my surprise and delight when O and Nosy showed up at the hospital bright and early the morning after Jonah was born in cute matching "Big Brothers Rock" t-shirts. Erica had scoured her attic full of boy clothes hunting for the shirts her boys wore for their little brother's arrival. I loved the shirts and was so touched that she spent the time and energy to dig them out of the attic for me. She knew how important it was to me. Thank you, Erica!

Taco Salad Day

When I was inpatient while pregnant with O, taco salad day in the Baylor cafeteria was the highlight of our week. It is delicious, especially when topped with all the fixings. The Thursday after Jonah was born just happened to be taco salad day. Hooray! My first meal of solid food was taco salad with Jeremy. Yum!

Late Night with Gramps and Yaya

The night J was born, Gramps and Yaya stayed up way past their bed time to spend time with us at the hospital. What sweet hours those were, while all was quiet in the hospital, bonding with brand new Jonah.

"Say Yes to the Dress" and Words with Friends

Jonah's second night, Gigi and Papa came and stayed late, snuggling with tiny Jonah while Gigi and I watched a "Say Yes to the Dress" marathon and Lowell taught Jeremy the joys of Words with Friends. Again, it was such a precious time of Jonah getting to know his grandparents.

Brothers Bond

O and Nosy could not wait to hold their new baby. Oh how these pictures melt my heart as Jonah's two big brothers snuggle with him for the very first time.

Owie is a natural! He has such pride written all over his face.

Sniffing that sweet baby head. After holding him, O said, "I liked holding him by-cuz he is so soft and sleeping and I got to look at him."

Check out Nosy eyeing baby Jonah. He is ready for his turn! And O's eyes are very clearly saying, "Back off! He's mine."

Brother love

Finally Noah's turn! He was thrilled! Noah's comments: "I like holding Go-nah because I made a smile face. My favorite of Go-nah is holding him." This boy would seriously hold the baby all day long if I would let him.

Checking out every bit of their new baby brother.

I can already tell these guys are going to be wonderful brothers and such big helpers. They love interacting with Jonah and learning all about him. I am so thankful that the boys are old enough to understand what a gift God has given us in Jonah. It delights me to watch them love him so.

Passing Time

How Daddy passed his time at the hospital:

Loving on his precious new son, chatting on his cell and surfing the internet.

Who said men can't multi-task?

More Adoring Fans

The loved ones that could not make it to the hospital for Jonah's delivery stopped by first thing the next morning. I was so proud showing off our newest addition.

Auntie LouLou

Will, Ally, Mia, Julianne and Maddie
These kids can't wait to get their hands on Jonah, but the doctor had warned us against having children other than his brothers handle him quite yet since he was slightly premature. What great cousins Jonah is blessed with!

Owie snuggled up for a closer peek.

Connor, Preston and Grant inspect Jonah in his bed. They like what they see!

Ms DeAnn loves this boy!

Cozy Yaya puts Jonah right to sleep.

These Boys are smitten!

Gramps is already telling Jonah his great stories.

Jonah makes the seventh boy on the Halpin side. He is well-loved by these two!

Gigi and Papa get some Jonah time after taking care of Big Brothers all day.

Jonah, you could not have been blessed with more wonderful family and friends!

Introducing Jonah

A new baby in the Halpin/Cody family is a much anticipated, celebrated event, as is evidenced by the happy mob of people hanging around the waiting room. By the time the little one actually makes his/her appearance, everyone is in such a state of excitement and wonder. It is love at first sight all the way around as each family member greets the newest addition. What joy it brought me to introduce a brand new Jonah to his loved ones.

I could not wait to introduce Jonah to his big brothers! These Boys had been talking about this baby, planning for him, praying for him, wondering about him for months. The looks on their delighted faces was enough to absolutely melt my heart. Pure joy!

Both Boys were thrilled with their new brother and kept telling him, "We are the best Big Brothers ever!"

Next up: Gramps and Yaya. They were beaming with love and happiness over their newest grandson.

Jonah makes grandbaby number ten for Gigi and Papa, but each and every one is loved in such a special way. Joel was happy to meet his newest nephew.

I love this picture, even though only half of DeAnn's face is showing. Elliot seems pretty pleased with his closest cousin and new bff.

So, welcome baby Jonah. You are loved by so many already. Many thanks to all the people who dropped everything and rushed to Baylor to be a part of Jonah's arrival. It meant the world to us to have each of you there to celebrate with us.

Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby

Baby delivery day: there is nothing like it.

The anticipation of meeting the miracle that has been growing inside for the last 36 weeks, the nervousness that he would be okay, the wonder that there is an actual living child about to take his first breath, the love and support of all the family and friends in the waiting room who were just as excited as we were. What an amazing day!

Erica took such wonderful step by step photos of Jonah's delivery, documenting every second. I will treasure these pictures forever!

Sweet music to my ears: the hollering of a newborn with a healthy set of lungs.

Dr. Hays cutting the cord.

Precious baby! Is that blondish hair I see? And the Halpin chin, for sure!

Jonah Cody Halpin

6 pounds, 8 ounces

20 inches

of miraculous perfection.

Every inch of him is fearfully and wonderfully made.

He has already mastered the pouty lips!

Darling Boy. I can't believe he is all mine! This baby that I longed for and prayed for with all my heart. We are so richly blessed.

I can't wait to get my hands on that baby!

Lots of loving from Aunt Erica.

Getting to know Daddy. He's a really cool guy.

That teensy tiny face is written on my heart already.

He is perfect in every way and oh, how I adore him.

Proud Daddy.

Getting to know every inch of Jonah.

I am so blessed to have Dr. Hays. We have been through so much together through the years.

So in love! I am one blessed Mommy!

Next up:

Introducing Jonah to his adoring fans.

Anybody Ready for a Birthday?

Yet another OB appointment today. I was kind of looking forward to this one though. The Boys had swimming lessons and Jeremy's sweet mom offered to take them since I had my appointment, giving me enough time to also have a sit down lunch downtown with Jeremy (a date...yay!) and possibly even wander the aisles of Buy Buy Baby for a bit to pick up a few last minute things for Jonah.

My day did not turn out in the least like I expected!

I told my doc that I was still having contractions every 5-10 minutes, although the intensity was picking up a bit. I have never dilated at all with any of my pregnancies, so I was sure I was not in labor. Sure enough: not at all dilated, 50% effaced. In the name of caution though, she wanted me to head over to labor and delivery triage to get a baseline strip of what the contractions looked like, mainly for comparison in the days ahead. No problem. Still plenty of time for my lunch date!

Jeremy met me at the hospital and we settled in to stay an hour or so. Of course, I was relaxed and quiet, laying in a bed without any stress or activity, so the contractions showed up only about every 10 minutes. However, as the hour passed by, Jonah started dropping his heart rate a little with each one. The nurse informed me we'd need more time on the monitor.

The hours crept by. My hopes of Mexican food dashed as the contractions grew closer together and stronger and Jonah's decels continued. They hung IV fluid with hopes of stopping the contractions...unsuccessfully.

Finally, around 4:00 my doctor presented me with a couple of options: We could deliver the baby at 36 weeks, or I could be admitted to L&D until I turned 37 weeks and then deliver, giving Jonah just a couple of more days to mature. We went back and forth, all of us unsure about what was best for Jonah. Finally, as the contractions became 5 and then 4 minutes apart, it became apparent that we were going to have a baby TODAY!!!

Jeremy and I started frantically making phone calls to loved ones. We were headed to the operating room within the hour!! We were so thankful that everyone was able to drop what they were doing, jump in the car and make it to Jonah's birthday party!

Last picture of a family of four. We can't wait to meet our baby!

Hugs and kisses for the soon-to-be big brother. He was not at all too sure about the hospital bed and all the wires and tubes. I wonder if he was having flashbacks to his stay at Children's?

Lots of love for the very excited biggest brother. He could hardly wait!

My strip by the time we decided today was the day.

The belly shot I always meant to take. This is at 36 weeks.

My great team of loved ones:

Jenni, Erica, and Jeremy all attended my delivery.

It was like a party in the OR!

I was so, so excited...and just a bit nervous that Jonah would be okay. We didn't want any immature lungs!

No turning back now!

We were ready to meet our precious baby!