Joseph Judea {aka Joseph J, Jude, Baby Brother}
Born at 11:08pm on 11/4/11 {his due date, just like big sister Julia}
Weighing 8 pounds 13 ounces and measuring 20 inches

On Friday morning I woke up and ironically tweeted/facebooked this ::

Three hours later, my water broke. Just like my labors with the girls, it took a good hour before contractions set in. So I walked. And walked. And walked. During this time, we got the girls to a friend’s house and talked with our delivering midwife, Monika.

Around 1:30pm, we went to the birthing  center. Contractions were about 2 minutes apart, but were not all that painful and were relieved when I rested. But being a third time “quick laborer” Monika felt better if I was nearby in case I transitioned quickly.

Once at the center, I was dilated to 4cm {no change from my check up earlier in the week}. Jonathan and I decided to go walking outside. After an hour, the contractions were picking up in pace, but I was getting tired. We went back into the center and Monika gave me some herbs for cervix stimulation and had me lay down. After a good hour of light sleeping, I realized I had completely stopped contracting. Monika gave me more herbs and Jonathan and I tried walking to bring back the contractions. By 5pm, no progress had been made. We opted to try pumping to create stimulation. I went 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off. Around 6pm contractions were back, but still easy to get through. By 7pm they were causing me a good amount of pain, but were still only coming 2-3 minutes and lasting only 45-60 seconds.

Finally by 8pm, things began to pick up speed. The contractions weren’t getting closer together, but the intensity was overwhelming. I was having to focus on my breathing and bear down from the mounting pressure. Somewhere around 9pm, we decided I should get into a hot shower to help alleviate the pain. This would later prove to have been a mistake.

After 30 minutes in the shower, I was getting overheated and started having the urge to push. I came back out into the room to cool off. Things kept progressing when I said I needed to pee. While sitting, I had more contractions and the need to push was paramount. Monika said to groan through it and lightly push to help open my cervix. At this point things got dicey. While sitting, I couldn’t cool down and began feeling light headed. Everyone started placing cool rags on my back and chest, while Monika kneeled in front of me to maintain communication. Suddenly I felt like I needed to throw up. I stood up, but got very dizzy and sat back down. By this time, I was loosing focus and my ears began ringing {a big uh-oh for me}. I muttered something about feeling faint and then…

I fainted.

I woke up in a complete blur laying on the bathroom floor. Monika was lifting my legs, Jonathan was by my side running my arms and my mom was kneeling by my head. Everyone was telling me to take long slow breathes. It took a good bit for me to realize what was happening. A few contractions hit and then I remembered. I was finally able to get to my feet, and Jonathan held me up while I made it to the bed. By this point I was shivering. I couldn’t stop shaking and felt ice cold. Several sheets and blankets were put on top of me to help warm me up and calm me down.

During this time, my contractions were coming much stronger and beginning to piggy backing. I screamed out my need to push, when Monika gave me the go ahead. I began pushing while Monika massaged {aka, pushed back} the top of my cervix that was still remaining {swear words may or may not have been said – having your cervix “massaged” is a lot more painful than it sounds, especially during contractions}. I knew we were making good progress when I felt the dreaded ring of fire as Joseph began crowning. After what seemed an eternity, Joseph made his way into the world. He was/is a happy healthy baby and already a champ at latching on and eating.

After he was born, I had some major blood loss. I can recall hearing Monika say “her uterus is squirting blood everywhere” {nice mental picture, huh?}. A good 45+ minutes passed with Monika, my mom, the birth assistant, and a second midwife all administering pitocin shots, an IV for fluids, and trying to clamp my uterus to stop the blood loss. Thankfully, while I suspected things weren’t going well, everyone kept reassuring me all was fine. It wasn’t until 6am, and Monika knew I was completely in the clear, before she said they were flirting with the idea of transferring me to the hospital because of the amount of blood I had lost. Praise God for His hand over my life and for keeping me safe!

We were discharged by 8 this morning. They kept us a little later {typical discharge is 6-8 hours after delivery} because they wanted to make sure my bleeding didn’t pick up again. Praise to God again that everything has been smooth sailing since they first got the blood loss under control.

Now about Joseph Judea ::

I have already related how we decided on Joseph, but not Judea. Judea was only recently decided upon. For weeks, we had been considering another name, but it never sat right. Then a week before Joseph was born, Jonathan brought up Judea. We love it for several reasons ::

1. Judea was the birth place of Christ {Bethlehem is located in Judea}.

2. In Acts 1:8, Christ tells the disciples “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
While re-reading through Acts recently, this verse stood out to Jonathan. He was struck with the thought that he is starting and building a legacy founded on Christ for our family and that Judea is the next step in carrying on that legacy {the Gospel going first to Jerusalem and then Judea}. We both love that our legacy is being passed on to our children {and their children, etc}.

3. Judea is the land of the Tribe of Judah. Our own Judah is, and always will be, dear to us.

4. We just love the name Judea {which is derived from Judah and means The Praised One} and love the nickname Jude. And to make it even better, Joseph Judea has his own Beatles song {Hey Jude}, just like his sisters {who have the songs Julia and Michelle}. Yes – that was all planned and thought out, we are crazy folk like that.

Thanks you everyone for all your prayers and support over the last few weeks as we waited for Joseph Judea. We are beyond thrilled to have him in our arms. And I should say, Julia and Hannah are equally as smitten with him as Jon and I are.

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