Isaac Hal Johns.

We have our new baby boy at home! He is already 2 weeks old, which is crazy. We've named him Isaac Hal Johns. "Hal" was Allen's grandpa's name. He is doing so great, the kids absolutely adore him, and we are so happy he is finally here.

The slideshow above are pictures from the hospital. We went in early on a Thursday morning for me to be induced. All 3 of our kids have been over 9 lbs at birth, so we, Allen, me, and my doctor, agreed that when my body starting "doing something" to get things moving he'd go ahead and induce me. The early labor took most of the morning and early afternoon, but once he broke my water around 4-5 o'clock things started movin'. I had to wait an extra hour and a half for my epidural, which was really nice (sarcasm). My nurse checked me right before the epidural and I was at a 4. It took awhile for the girl to get the epidural in because she kept hitting blood vessels. By the third poke she got in where she needed to be. In the meantime I had to hunch over, and try to get through the contractions that were pretty intense by this time, and clutching Allen's arms as he stood in front of me. I had to have the oxygen mask put over my mouth doing the epidural, which made things worse. But once I was able to lay back down things got a little better. My nurse checked me again right then and she didn't tell me what I was dilated to-- she just reached in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone and called my doctor to see where he was. She told him that I was at a 7 and asked him to come on over. As I heard her say how far I was I realized that I had gone from a 4 to a 7 in about 20 minutes. I could tell it was getting close because she started prepping the room with all the needed carts and supplies. My doctor got there about 15 minutes later, he checked me and immediately he said, "Oh, yep, we're havin' a baby." I hadn't even had time to enjoy my epidural! It was about 6pm by this time and my nurse, who had been with me since I came in that morning, made the comment that hopefully the baby would come in the next half hour because she was off at 6:30. And it turned out that he did! :) After pushing through 3 contractions, little man Isaac came at 6:23pm. I couldn't see him at when my doctor was holding him, but as soon as Isaac made a little squack of a cry I just started crying. I was so happy for him to be here. He was pretty blue when they put him on my chest and the nurses were rubbing him pretty good, and I realized that I was too. They took him over to the baby warmer and then he really started to make some noise. He did have the cord around his neck as he came out, but everything was fine with him.

The next couple of days in the hospital were a blur, but the little man did sleep a lot during the night, which was so nice and he has been nursing so well right from the beginning. I am so grateful for that because it was not that way with Dylan, our first little man. We came home on a Saturday afternoon and the video below is of us coming into the house and the kids seeing Isaac again. I love it!



The kids just love Isaac and love to help me with him. They love to hold him and talk to him. It's crazy to see that we have 4 kids now! That sure went by fast. The slideshow below has more pictures of Isaac as well as pictures from Thanksgiving, playing in the snow, etc. My mom came the day Isaac was born so she was able to stay home with the kids while Allen stayed with me. Before my mom got here, I had a couple of good friends help with the kids, which was so nice and helpful!

I love my little family. And I am so grateful that Isaac is here--happy, healthy, and loved.