Well, at 39 weeks and 3 days, and after some stern father’s talking to’s, doctor’s cajolings, Grandma postponing her flight, and Lindsay sweetly rubbing my tummy and announcing “He’s weddy,” baby Joshua decided to finally enter the world and party crash his dad’s birthday on December 15, 2011.
When regular contractions started up late the night of the 14th, I thought for sure Josh and Brent would be sharing a birthday. But when I was still home at noon the next day, waiting for the contractions to get bad enough to go to the hospital, I wondered if it was actually going to happen. Things got off to a slow start and the hospital didn’t admit me until about 7:30 pm that night. At the rate things were going, we doubted Josh would arrive before midnight. But our super cool anesthesiologist promised the baby would make it in time. She was right! Got my epidural at 9ish and I was only dilated to a 5. I tried to settle in for a much needed nap and told my mom (who was 5 minutes away at my sisters’ house) that it would probably still be a while and we’d call her to come over when I was closer to delivery. At 10 pm I was a 6 and they broke my water. At 10:30 I told Brent to go find the nurse cuz I was pretty sure baby was on his way out. Like now. Sure enough, 10 centimeters and ready to go. We called Grandma and told her to hurry. Two contractions, a few pushes, and 5 minutes later Joshua Edward Nef was born – at 11 pm – with a whole hour to spare! 8 pounds even (my biggest), 20.75 inches long, bit of a conehead, and an awesome head of hair.
Brent couldn’t have been more thrilled with his birthday present.
And my mom missed the birth by two minutes. Literally. She was happy to hold him though for a few hours before she had to catch a 5 am flight back to Utah.
And to all those wondering – Edward is my dad’s name. And my brother’s. My baby is not named after a vampire. Thankyouverymuch.
Though he IS extremely handsome.
And we sure do love him.
Josh reminds me of Jake as a baby, though I can see all my kids in him. I also think he looks like his Great Grandpa Finlayson who passed away earlier this year, just a few weeks after we found out we were pregnant and before we were able to share the news we were expecting. Grandpa was dearly loved and has been greatly missed, and so we feel like this was a special nod from above. We’ve now had five separate people comment on the similarities…
Josh has been perfect. He sleeps all the time. And as long as he is warm and fed, he is happy. My dad calls him a “slam dunk” baby because he has been no trouble at all. He’s already sleeping 5 to 6 hour stretches at night and loves his pacifier. Thank you Heavenly Father, because I don’t know if we could’ve handled much more than that with this house full of crazy kids. We are exhausted but happy, I’m sick with a horrible cold and cough that I’ve had since before the baby was born, but we feel fulfilled and immensely blessed. So thankful for a healthy baby boy this Christmas season. And so thankful for my cute, wonderful husband who I celebrate TEN YEARS of marriage with today. There won’t be any romantic getaways or elaborate presents – but I couldn’t be happier, and it’s because of him. It’s a wonderful life!
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