Our Precious Isaac Bradley

Our sweet Isaac, right after he was born, under the warming light.

Me getting to hold Isaac for the first time!

Brad holding a sleepy Isaac on the night he was born

Isaac in his hospital bed

A close-up of our precious boy

Brad loves his little boy!

Getting ready to leave the hospital, in his going-home outfit

December welcoming Isaac home (he's not very happy, though)

Me with my two children...

Grandma with Isaac

On Saturday, November 29 at 2:53pm, Isaac Bradley arrived! Here's how it all went...

I woke up Saturday morning around 5:00am feeling strange. I felt sick and contraction-y and started having diarrhea. I started timing contractions, and they were about 15 minutes apart. Just before 7:00am and between trips to the bathroom, I told Brad that I suspected I was in labor. We timed contractions then, and they were just under 10 minutes apart. Around 8:00am, the contractions were 5 minutes apart. I was waiting to go into the hospital because I didn't want to labor while I was completely attached to monitoring machines and stuck in a hospital bed. When the contractions became 2-3 minutes apart, not too long after 8:00am, I still didn't go in because they weren't super intense yet. But Brad and I got cleaned up, Brad found a replacement for his Saturday shift at the library, and Brad packed everything in the van.

When the contractions became stronger, we headed to the hospital shortly after 11:00am. They checked me, and I was already 6cm dialated. That made me very happy! I got strapped to those monitoring machines and an IV stuck in my arm, and by 1:00pm I had dialated to 8cm. At that point, we let them break my water, and my labor became really intense. The baby was turned face-up, so I did end up having back labor. Around 2:15pm, they checked me again and I was still at 8cm. That completely took the wind out of my sails and I started begging for an epidural, thinking I could not handle any more of the intense pain. Brad and I went back and forth about it, him reminding me that I had wanted to do this without medication and me thinking I wanted to die. At 2:35 I had dialated to 9cm. As they headed the epidural cart toward my room, my doctor walked past and said, "She's getting an epidural?! This late?! Let's see what we can do..." So he came in and pushed the rest of the cervix around the baby's head and told me to start pushing. I pushed twice, and Isaac came out! With no tearing, too! At the end, the baby turned and came out just the way he was supposed to -- a BIG answer to prayer! The entire labor went very well, and we are so thankful that God answered our prayers.

Isaac Bradley weighs 7lbs 12 oz and is 19 inches long. He's healthy and has super dark hair like Brad. And we love him to bits!

Isaac's First Video

8 More Days...

December hanging out in her pajamas, taken just a few minutes ago...

Here she's showing us her newly painted pink toenails (she got to pick out a nail polish color for herself at the store a little while ago. She chose pink, naturally, and then promptly dropped the nail polish bottle on the floor of the store, where it exploded. I had to go find some poor maintenance kid to clean up the hot pink mess, and I was both embarrassed for myself and sorry for him at the same time!) But anyways, we got another bottle -- I got smart and didn't let her hold it this time -- and she's quite proud of her nails now!

Here I am, very pregnant...

December has been sick this week with diarrhea. No fun! Especially as the potty training with December is just finishing up...we had a few accidents, and cleaning that up was not cool AT ALL, as you might imagine. Both she and her friend Samuel had it, and then later this week I got it, too. But I think we're all better now, thankfully! Brad's stayed the healthiest so far, which is amazing considering all of the stress he's under! The semester is coming to a close, and it's always crazy, but this is definitely the hardest semester so far! He's still writing his papers (if you think of him, please pray for him!) and trying to get as much done as he can before the baby is born.

And that could be any day now! I am due one week from tomorrow. At my doctor's appointment, the baby's back was along my right side, which was great news! The doctor said that the baby's head hasn't engaged yet (the baby hasn't dropped into the birth canal), and that means he/she will probably be moving and twisting all around yet until it decides to engage itself. I have dialated to 1cm, though! Yay! Brad's Mom flies in tomorrow afternoon, and we're excited to have her come. I'm hoping we can do some fun things before Baby comes...after which I'm guessing we'll be quite house-bound!

Almost There

This picture was taken last Sunday at church -- it's of us pregnant girls. I'm lamenting that we didn't take a picture like this of us sooner, because there would have been a couple more of us in the picture who have since had their babies! But from left to right: Della (due November 30), me (due December 1), Rachel (due Christmas Day), and Sara (due at the beginning of February).

December napping (actually, me snapping this picture of her is what woke her up from the nap...oops)

Brad and December reading a bedtime story

Aren't they cute?!?

Brad's been really busy lately, writing all of his papers. Last night, he finished writing his second of four, most of which are due December 5. After all of those papers are due, he has a few days to catch up on writing Greek notes and the thousands of pages of theological reading before exams begin. He'll finish his last exam on December 17, and until then he's going to be (and already is!) a very busy man. We're really excited because Brad's Mom is going to be coming to visit us next Monday! She's coming to help out when the baby is born, and we can't wait to have her!

Only two weeks left...At my last doctor's appointment I wasn't dialated at all, and I was told that the baby is face-up instead of face-down. I was pretty upset after hearing that! I did some research, and the baby facing this way (the wrong way) makes the chances of EVERYTHING awful increase. Like your chances of extremely tough labor, tearing to your rectum, getting a large episiotomy, needing a vacuum to get the baby out, ending up getting a C-section, etc etc. Yikes! So we would appreciate prayer for the baby to face the right direction. I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow, so we'll see what the baby has decided to do this past week. I'll keep you posted...