THE MIRACLE OF (INDUCED) BIRTHOn Tuesday, March 14th, Baby Jake was ushered into the world - although he probably would have been content to stay in the womb for a few more days. But I was so ready to NOT be pregnant anymore and Grandma and Grandpa Wood and Aunt Katie were in town to take care of Haley. So when the option of inducing was offered we jumped at the chance.
It was very strange to have an appointment for birth and to know that the bump we'd been calling "Baby Brother" would be born that day. Within an hour of checking in the doctors broke my water and began giving me Pitocen - labor was on the way! Everything went very smoothly and quickly - almost too quickly. As with Haley's birth, the epidural did not get placed in time for the delivery, so once again I experienced "natural" childbirth. Fortunately for me he was not a large baby and I only pushed for about 5 minutes (grateful for every crunch and sit-up I'd ever done) before Jacob Robert entered the world. He weighed 7.0 pounds, was 20.5 inches long, and had a full head of hair - our perfect little son!
Haley was so excited to meet her baby brother, but quickly realized he wasn't much of a playmate. She would stop in the middle of playing to touch him and exclaim "He's so cute!" before promptly returning to whatever it was that was more entertaining than Jake. A few days after he was born I said wasn't it so great that Jacob was out of my tummy so we could see what he looked like - she replied, "Yeah, because I really didn't think that he was really in there!" How bewildering this miracle of birth must be to toddlers. At least we have a few more years before the real questions start...
