He's here!

So, for those of you who guessed Sunday, the 22nd, as the due date - You get the satisfaction of saying "Na-na-na-na boo-b00" to the rest who guessed incorrectly! ;)

Collen Brooks Jones was born on Sunday, August 22, 2010 at 12:02pm.

Weight: 8lbs 5ozs

Length: 20 inches

Beautiful Baby Boy!

We got to the hospital at 2:30am on Sunday. I had been having contractions off and on during the day and finally, at 11 pm, they became consistent enough to go in! When we got checked in and settled, I was measuring 4cm and my midwife went ahead and broke my water since it was close to breaking anyway. I experienced so much with this labor and delivery that I didn't experience with Ayden's. With Ayden, I got my epidural at 4cm, so I missed the water breaking and all that fun stuff. This time, I waited as long as I could before getting pain meds and the epidural....almost to 7cm. I was surprised at how tolerable the contractions were....up until I got 3cm away from delivery. At that point, I needed some kind of relief, and I had to get it fast before it was too late. Luckily, my contractions stalled a little bit, so we were able to buy some time. Apparently, though, my epidural never fully kicked in because I felt pretty much everything. It was a little more dull, I'm sure, than with nothing at all, but I felt a lot of it! All in all, though, I'm glad I waited to get the epidural and pain meds. It was a great experience. Tough...but great...and in the end, we welcomed our precious Collen into the world!

I was so glad for the labor to be over, for Collen to be here, for some joy to be restored....I just became overcome with emotion. As soon as I saw him, Ayden flashed through my mind, and I missed him so deeply. Looking at his little brother, I was comforted to see that they both look so very similar. In some pictures, you really can't tell the two of them apart....they look that much alike.

So happy to have Collen here with us!

Not quite as big as we thought he would be, but definitely still a big baby!

My wonderful midwife, DeEtte. It was such a blessing to experience the births of both our boys with her!

Jeremy checking Collen out

Snuggling with Mom

I love this little man so much already...

And of course, I can't go into a delivery without adding drama to the situation. I won't go into detail on what happened, but boy do I know how to keep everyone on their toes! Everything turned out fine......and Collen is here, healthy, and beautiful....that's all that matters. He will go home on a monitor just because of our history with Ayden, so that will keep us from being too terribly paranoid - although we always will be.

We are so excited to have another child added to our family. Ayden taught us so much about being parents and loving our children so unconditionally and completely. Collen is a huge answer to prayer and the beginning of the restoration of hope in our lives.

Please continue to be in prayer for us as we embark on a new journey with Collen. We are excited, joyful, scared, paranoid, and hopeful. We look forward to every second with him!