...and Our Family Feels Complete.

Anyone not connected to me via Facebook or in real life has no idea, but today, our family came to what feels like completion with the birth of Brady Michael. That's right: All of that walking I did yesterday with Isaac seems to have done the trick!

I woke up at roughly 1:15 AM feeling a very mild but persistent squeezing sensation. Just at that moment, Logan cried out for Adam to help him use the restroom, so I knew that meant he'd be moving into the extra bed in Logan's room and out of ours for the duration of the night. I stayed up for a little while feeling the pressure and wondering if anything was going to happen, but it died out after 45 minutes, and I went back to sleep. A similiar thing happened the day that I ultimately went into labor with Isaac, so I figured that it would happen today, but much later in the day. Eh, wrong.

At 4, I woke up again, this time feeling more squeezing. It felt a little stronger, and I meandered into Logan's room, woke Adam and told him that I thought maybe something might be happening. He said to let him know when I knew for sure, and I wandered back to bed. It died out yet again after 20 minutes, so I lulled back to sleep. At 6, I woke up feeling definitive contractions: I knew I was in labor. Adam called his parents to come get Abby, Logan and Isaac while I took a shower and got dressed. Logan sat on my bed, cheerfully commenting on everything as it happened. (And let me tell you, that kid says some funny things. Adam told him that I'd lost my plug, and he told me that it was okay because I could just go downstairs and find another one, ha ha ha.) Shortly after I'd gotten dressed and thrown some things into a bag, I decided that there might not be enough time for his parents to arrive (it was raining combined with rush hour traffic on a freeway) so we called our neighbor Jen (thanks Shack!) to come over and stay with the kids in the interim. There was a small amount of drama when she didn't answer, and the two other folks we also tried also didn't answer, but it was all good in the end.

We got to the hospital at around 7 and I was admitted, definitely feeling a lot of pressure, but not necessarily what I would call pain. I almost immediately recognized Suzanne, my L&D nurse, from Isaac's birth, so that was kind of neat. I was proclaimed to be at about 7 cm, so I labored on from there. The on-call doctor, who delivered Isaac, came in at 8 and said that she was going to call my OB to see if he wanted to come in and deliver me, or if he wanted her to go ahead and do it herself. She came back shortly thereafter to say that he wanted to do it, and that he should be there in about a half hour. He broke my water at about 8:30, and then I lulled around in a vaguely painless/vaguely annoying state until I needed to push at around 9 or 9:10. I pushed for a little while, thinking to myself that it felt more difficult this go-round for some reason, and then there he was at 9:23 am.

Brady weighed in at 8 lbs 5 oz, so well-over former leaderboard topper Isaac's top weight of 7 lbs 10 oz. He's also 21 inches long. So far, he's been an excellent and enthusaistic nurser, which is an incredible blessing and I'm so grateful!

Adam's parents and Emily came by at 3:30 with all three kids -- including a masked Logan -- to visit. Logan was, as I'd expect, extremely sweet with Brady. He wanted to kiss his head and he spoke softly to him. He even asked who'd picked out the name (me, in case you're wondering) and said it was a good one. That's why he's my sunshine. Isaac was also very pleased with his baby brother, and was absolutely itching to get ahold of him, ha. Of course, that didn't happen in a direct sense, but he did get to gently touch him and he spent lots of time wriggling up next to whomever was doing the holding at any given moment. Abby was also happy, but in her usual understated way: I think the whole scene was a little crowded for her taste, so she hung back a bit.

But yes, to refer to my post title, our family does feel complete now. I remember the hours after Isaac's birth and how I felt as if I wasn't sure that we were done. My heart still wanted just one more. This time? I feel like my dream family is done. And of course, facing what we're facing with Logan, I fear losing my dream. So today, Brady's birthday, I ask once again for a continued, persistent stream of prayers to God asking for complete healing for my sweet one. He's such an incredibly integral part of our family... I don't even have the words to describe how very essential he is -- and Adam, Abby, Isaac and now Brady are -- to our little family. He's a key piece of the puzzle, and I just love him -- and all of my babies -- so much.

Good evening to you, and blessings to your family.