Juniper’s Birth Story

It’s always fun to record details leading up to a baby’s birth for others, but also for myself because as I look back at my other pregnancies, I read what happened and realized so many details are fuzzy!!

December 18th—28 week appointment

I have had to take my blood pressure medication every couple of days, but nothing consistent just yet. That’s an improvement from Jericho’s pregnancy. Lots of fun things happened at this appointment! I got my TDap shot (4th one in the last 8 years) 😅 should be great if I step on any rusty nails! 157 heartbeat; feeling lots of movement, enough that can be seen from across the room. Officially supposed to begin kick counts. I submitted paperwork for delivery at St. Francis, which I am nervous about because I’ve never delivered here before. When I got here for the glucose test, they were out, so I had to wait an extra 25 minutes for that to get started. I did pass it with a 118! I measured at 30 weeks, but I’m not surprised by that at all. Dr. Wilson said he felt comfortable inducing at any point after I hit 38 weeks based on my history with previous pregnancies and my already high blood pressure. This baby may end up with a February birthday after all! One of the many reasons I’ve downplayed “March” as the due date month! 

December 31st—30 week appointment

I did start the blood pressure medication once a day beginning at 29 weeks. We anticipate needing to add the second pill soon. Heartbeat was 153. She is currently measuring at 32 weeks and 3 lbs 15 oz. The app says 2.9 lbs is average for now, so she’s a little bigger than average. John Charles, Jillian, & Jericho all got to see the ultrasound and even got their own copy of a picture of their baby! We discovered that she is currently transverse. Dr. Wilson said there are three options if she doesn’t flip in the next five weeks. 1) I can try some exercises to try to move her on my own, 2) at 39 weeks, Dr. Pennebaker can try to turn her at the hospital and if that’s successful, we would induce right away, or 3) we can wait until my due date to see if she turns on her own by then. We’ve already discussed that I won’t make it to my due date, which Dr. Wilson said “I didn’t say they were great options, but those are the options we have.” So we are hopeful that this baby turns herself head down or I’m looking at a C-Section at a brand new (to me) OB setting! We already have an ultrasound scheduled for my 35 week appointment, since I’m apparently elderly, and best case she has already turned head down!

January 15th—32 week appointment 

She had a 163 heartbeat. My belly is measuring 33/34 weeks, so still a little big. I told the nurse some of my most recent BP readings from yesterday afternoon, which included 168/90 and 159/98. Even after 2-2.5 hours of resting and taking a BP pill, it was hovering at 150/85 yesterday evening. I did officially start taking two BP pills a day as of this morning, though I probably should have started the second pill a few days ago. We added an ultrasound to my appointment in 2 weeks and added extra lab work today to check my liver enzymes and platelet levels. If those don’t look good, I’ll get to go back to Dr before my next appointment. While checking out, my arm started dripping blood onto the floor from my needle stick, so lots of fun today. My liver enzymes were normal and my platelet levels were a little low at 163. 

January 29th—34 week appointment

She has a heartbeat of 144, and thankfully is now head down! I have a small amount of protein in urine again. My belly is measuring 35 weeks & she is measuring at 36 weeks, so about 1.5 weeks ahead. She’s estimated to be 6 lbs 2 oz. My fluid level is at 8.2, which is a bit lower than they would like. They consider anywhere 10-25 to be normal at this point, with 5 being critical. I’m supposed to be taking it very easy now and drinking a gallon of water each day. My lower back has begun to bother me, and I can’t raise my left leg without significant effort. Stairs have become a challenge and it takes a few minutes for my body to adjust after standing up to be able to walk without significant pain. 

February 4th—L&D visit!

Monday, 2/3, I didn’t feel lots of movement. I did kick counts, which she did move the proper number of times in the 30 minutes, but she just did not move much through the afternoon. Tuesday morning I woke up at about 2:30AM to use the restroom and while waiting to fall back asleep, I realized I didn’t feel her moving at all. I drank some grape juice and ate a piece of candy and still only felt one very slight hiccup-type movement. We decided to get checked out at L&D, just to be sure. I was terrified to go to the hospital by myself. We tried to call Jeff & Laura, but their phones were on silent, so I drove there, woke them up, and Laura headed to the hospital with me. Meanwhile, Jeff went to relieve Brandon and stay with the kids so Brandon could come to the hospital. It was a pretty traumatic 30-40 minutes between deciding to go to the hospital and getting hooked up on the monitors. However, right at 4AM, the nurse hooked me up and we heard a strong heartbeat of 145. Still very little movement, but just knowing she was okay was such a relief. They kept me for about 2.5 hours and did a BPP ultrasound to check for fluid levels. They were at 7.9, so still okay. I was able to go home and am to follow up with Dr. Wilson tomorrow at my next appointment. 

February 5th—35 week appointment 

Her heartbeat was 158, and she is showing good movement and breathing. She’s measuring 6 lbs 7 oz and a little over a week ahead. The BP medicine I’m on does slow fetal growth, so it’s not surprising that she’s starting to catch up to her gestational age. The fluid measurement today was 10, but Brandon questions how accurate it was. One of the thigh measurements taken today was 31/32 weeks, so he just isn’t sure the fluid changed from 7.9 to 10 in 27 hours. Dr. Wilson agreed that it was a subjective measurement based on the sonographer’s choice of placement for the endpoints, but he is not too concerned as long as it’s above 6. I still have some protein in my urine. I’m dilated to a tight 1 and  50% effaced, and he said I’m a good candidate for an induction. Due to my hypertension and history, he wants to induce me at 38 weeks! We set an induction date of February 24th. 

February 12th—36 week appointment 

Heartbeat was 168; she’s breathing well. My blood pressure was elevated, so they had me lie down and recheck it to make sure it would come back down under 140/90. I have more protein in my urine than last week. Fluid has dropped to 7. Dr. Wilson commented on how he feels like I am more swollen than just a week ago. They ran labs again to make sure everything is okay, and they all came back in normal range. Every single medical person today “try to keep drinking fluids as much as you can. Rest as much as you can. Let’s see if we can keep this baby in another week.” I am dilated to a loose 1 and 70% effaced. 

February 19th—37 week appointment 

Heartbeat was 180; she is moving and breathing well. She’s measuring about 7 lbs 9 oz now, so Dr. Wilson thinks she might be up to 8 lbs by Monday. Fluid was about 8.7, so that’s good! I am dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced. We are officially having sweet baby girl Monday, unless things change before then!

February 24th: induction date!!

We arrived just before midnight and waited in line to be checked in. There were two couples before us and one after, so I knew the L&D floor wouldn’t be silent tonight! The nurse told us after we got to the delivery room that there were 9 inductions today. Later, we found out 15 babies were delivered on Monday!!

1AM I was 3 cm & 80% and they started Pitocin. The nurse told me to let her know when I wanted my epidural, and I said I was fine for a bit. She said she would recommend getting it around 5:30, which sounded fine with me. 

4AM The nurse said I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes but I didn’t feel any of them. I felt fine to continue without an epidural still. 

6AM Dusty Daigle came to give me my epidural. He did a great job, and it worked wonderfully!!

6:30AM Nurse said I was still at 3 cm but much softer. 

6:45AM Dr. Wilson broke my water, said I was still at 3 cm and -2 station. 

9:00AM Nurse said I was at 4 cm. 

10:15AM Nurse said I was at 8 cm. 

10:45AM They called Dr Wilson, and said we were ready for him to come deliver the baby!!!

10:53PM Dr Wilson came in the room and after one push, she was born at 10:57AM!! He said I had a couple of scratches, but no tears or stitches. 

Juniper got 9 and 9 APGAR scores. She did great nursing shortly after birth, too. Tuesday early in the morning, she weighed 7 lbs 11 oz, and by Tuesday evening she was 7 lbs 5 oz. Thursday morning at her checkup with Dr. Frost, she was 7 lbs 2 oz. 

Fertility Path to Baby #4

Infertility affects everyone differently, and it affects you differently each time you experience it. For me, it caused my brain to stop being able to process information. I was unable to plan very far in advance. Anything more than 2 weeks in advance made me anxious. The 8 months we spent under Dr. Issac’s care were hard, not just because we didn’t immediately get the outcome we desired, but also because it was just mentally draining. I’m a huge planner and I use my calendar all the time. However, trying to plan things with potential doctor appointments in my mind was hard. I don’t like committing to something and having to cancel at the last minute. Add in that the medicines I had to take gave me headaches and made me more irritable, just know Brandon was a trouper this winter/spring. Add in, we traveled 4 hours for every appointment, and we had 12 appointments that we scheduled, while also trying not to alert anyone to what we were doing. Mentally exhausting! We’re on the other side of it now and oh so excited to welcome another baby to the Justus League! 

Summer of 2023, we decided we would meet with Dr. Isaac’s in November if I hadn’t gotten pregnant. November, we met with Dr. Isaac’s and I started medicine exactly like we did before getting pregnant with John Charles & Jericho. After one cycle, we decided to proceed with IUIs again. 

January 31st was the first IUI. Due date would be 10/23, which seemed pretty great! 14 days later was 2/14. As I posted on Facebook that day, “2/14/2024 will be a memorable Valentine’s Day!” It was a hard day, but the first IUI didn’t work when we got pregnant with Jericho!

March 6th was the second IUI. Due date would be 11/27, still seems pretty great! I’ve always wanted a November due date!! 14 days later, Brandon was out of town on a business trip. It was again a hard day. I have always dreamed of a November due date. 

April 5th was the third IUI. Due date would be 12/27. I told Dr. Isaac’s this is not a due date I would pick, but we can’t always be picky about that!! 14 days later, we had lots of family in town for my Dad’s birthday. We also found out a close family member was pregnant and due 11/29. It was a really hard weekend staying positive and upbeat.

We decided to add clomid to my medication list to see if it helped with producing more follicles. Dr. Isaac said I have only had one follicle per cycle so far, and maybe this would give us more. However, it does increase the chances of having twins. That’s ok, we have two children currently praying for or asking us for “two babies.”

I returned for the ultrasound for our 4th IUI cycle on 5/6. There were no follicles ready. None. Not a one. Dr. Isaac was a bit mystified because “Claire, you’ve always been consistent. Consistently late, but always consistent!” We decided to take the medicine again mid-cycle and check again on 5/16. Meanwhile, we found out a second close family member was pregnant and due 12/17. Jillian asked me if I was too old to have another baby. I told her to keep praying to God about it. He hears our prayers. He knows the plan. Talk to Him. I definitely cried that night as I fell asleep. I *know* He is in control. It is often hard to align my wants and desires under His ultimate plans. 

At the ultrasound appointment on 5/16. The check-in lady remembers my name because “when you come frequently, we learn your name.” At the ultrasound, I had a follicle of 26 by 34, which is great! IUI was scheduled amongst all the Awards Day & Graduations for 5/18. Due date would be 2/8. We found out a third close family member was pregnant and due 1/24. 14 days later, another difficult weekend. 

Meanwhile, we found out our second close family member that announced her pregnancy was actually pregnant with TWINS!

For the 5th round, again, the check-in lady remembered me. We had an ultrasound on 6/14 and the IUI was scheduled for 6/15 (along with three other couples!!). Due date would be 3/9. Officially at the “advanced maternal age” now. We also found out yet another family member was pregnant and due 12/26. I took a pregnancy test on June 28th after finishing swimming lessons and there was a very faint line!! I immediately went to my calendar to see which day of the week is March 9th. It’s a Sunday and “Daylight Savings Time starts” on that day. Brandon and I agree that will add chaos to the mix. We are here for it though!! I told Jericho he was going to have a new baby sibling. 

Bloodwork on 7/1 showed my HCG at 179, which the nurse said was a great number. Bloodwork on 7/3 showed my HCG at 389, which is more than double in slightly less than 48 hrs. We are on the right track. John Charles asked me, quite randomly, if there was a baby in my belly yet. “Maybe a teeny tiny baby??”

We went for our first appointment before we left for our Muckleroy family cruise, 7/19. We were thrilled to hear a heartbeat that day. We told John Charles, Jillian, & Jericho they were getting a new baby 9/4 and they were all three thrilled. John Charles was hopeful for a boy, Jillian had said “it was only fair for this baby to be a girl!”, and Jericho said he wanted a baby brother.

I’m 14 weeks behind Ashley, 12 weeks behind Anne, 11 weeks behind Julianne, and 6 weeks behind Katherine.

Announcing a pregnancy at 19.5 weeks

 I never imagined waiting so long to announce that we were finally pregnant with another child. A child that we had been praying to have for the last two years. We announced to our parents when I was 7.5 weeks pregnant with John Charles, and then we told friends and family at 13 weeks. We began telling people I was pregnant with Jillian when I was 9 weeks pregnant. 

A miscarriage in the family changes things. We’ve known that for 6 years now ourselves. But an infant loss in the family changes things in a whole other way, especially when you’re already 12 weeks pregnant when it happens. I couldn’t imagine a way to tell our exciting news while my family was still grieving a huge loss. It didn’t seem fair to tell them before 24 weeks and make them anxiously hold their breath until I reached gestational viability. I hope that doesn’t seem selfish on our part that we held on to good news. We were thrilled, but we couldn’t see how to ask others to be excited during their grief. 

So we waited. And continued to pray. Prayed for my family as they grieved and learned to live with that grief. Prayed for the new life growing inside me. Prayed for forgiveness from those that aren’t understanding about us choosing to wait to share our news. Prayed for our children to be excited about the gender of this baby. Our daughter has been asking for a baby “gurl” and her mind is made up. 

We began praying for another child when Jillian was about a year old. I have always wanted my children close in age, a blessing we received with our first two being 19 months apart. Six months later, we were thrown into this COVID pandemic. Another six months of constantly analyzing COVID exposures and trying to keep our family safe, and I began the most difficult year of teaching I had ever experienced. Halfway through, the school year, I’m planning my sons 4th birthday party and it hit me. John Charles and our next child were going to be at least 4 years and 9 months apart! We spent two months working with my OB, but we had no success. During this time, we learned our family experienced a miscarriage. Such a hard situation and one we’ve walked before. At this point, vaccines would be available to me within a short time, so we decided to make an appointment with our fertility specialist as soon as I received the first vaccine. 

We met over a webEx, actually Brandon did, while I listened on the phone. (Wonderful perks of having most sites blocked while at work! We didn’t realize there would be an issue on my work computer until appointment time.) We made a game plan and figured out a sneaky way to get the kids taken care of while we drove to Jackson a few weeks later. The medicine hadn’t worked as well as it needed to, so we had to come back two days later, again, not disclosing our travel plans to others. And then figured out another reason for the kids to need to spend the night just a few days after that while we went for the first IUI. We found out April 26th that the IUI had failed. Later that week, we found out our family would be adding a new baby. It was difficult to be happy in the moment, but I was joyful for them. I was grateful for being told over the Internet instead of in-person. It was easier to hide my emotions, although I know I didn’t hide it as well as I’d have liked.

We started the process over again. Higher dose of medicine. When we went to the specialist, it had worked so much better this time. We had to come back the very next day (two days in a row that we had to figure out childcare without telling why!) He felt much more confident about the IUI and thankfully, it worked. 

Now, we’re on the other side of the situation, except it’s so much worse. It’s not a failed IUI but a 24 week stillbirth. It was hard. I have cried so many tears. I had been so excited about cousins being only 12 weeks apart! I had already envisioned play dates and holidays of fun ahead. Dreams that were shattered in an instant with a phone call while we were driving through Ruston. I’ll never forget the grief that washed over me at that moment. I’m honestly not sure which was worse, receiving the news of my miscarriage or this loss. 

We decided to tell family when I was 19.5 week along because I could no longer hide my pregnancy bump. The following weekend, we attended the funeral for our precious nephew we won’t meet on this Earth. I felt so guilty and didn’t understand why that baby didn’t survive and mine (so far) had. I already had two healthy babies. Was it fair for me to want more? We were so excited for our precious baby on the way, but the grief some days was so heavy. We survived through prayer and our friends interceding on our behalf. There’s no other way. 

Jericho’s Birth Story

 Labor story 

In early November, I began having issues with my blood pressure. I began taking medicine to help, which resulted in needing weekly ultrasounds the last few weeks of my pregnancy. They wanted me to closely monitor Jericho’s movements, and the ultrasounds were to check his breathing and my fluid levels. 

At my 36 week appointment, I was a fingertip dilated and 50% effaced. Dr. Wilson mentioned I was a good candidate for an induction, but I reminded him I was hoping to wait until I went into labor on my own. I especially hoped Jericho would come on his due date 2-2-22! 

At my 37 week appointment, I was 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced. Dr. Wilson suggested a induction on January 24th, and I asked if it was medically necessary or just a suggestion. Based on my ultrasound, he felt that we could continuing waiting until closer to my due date. The ultrasound technician measured my fluid twice and she mentioned that my fluid was a little low, so I really needed to increase the water I was drinking each day.

The doctors office called and canceled my 38 week appointment. I later learned it was almost definitely due to COVID and low staffing that week.

I had a sinking feeling that I was going to be delivering Jericho a bit sooner than I had hoped, so I made sure to pack all of the bags and load my car with everything before my 39 week appointment. I was worn out! Thursday at school, I asked some of my students to switch seats with me, so that I could sit by the window. They were happy to sit at my desk, and my other students were happy I was sitting further back in the classroom while they worked on their assignment for the day. 

At my 39 week appointment, we were supposed to see Dr. Wilson at 3:30 before the ultrasound at 4:00, but as we continued waiting, I figured out he wanted to know what the ultrasound said before I saw him. We got to see Jericho’s sweet face the best we had seen it! The ultrasound technician said based on the measurements, he was about 8 lbs 3 oz. She measured my fluid three different times and when I asked how it looked since it was a little low last week, she said I was full term, so it should be lower! She escorted us around to Dr. Wilson’s nurse. It didn’t seem odd, at first, that she walked us all the way the office, but then she came into the exam room with us! 

Dr. Wilson explained that because my blood pressure was elevated again at 140/92 (even on the medicine) and my fluid was at 5.1 and 5 is considered low, he strongly encouraged me to go to the hospital “right away” to be induced that evening. The ultrasound technician also agreed that it was time; she was worried about me waiting any longer before delivering Jericho. Dr. Wilson was fine waiting until Friday morning; however, he was heading out of town, so if I wanted to have him deliver Jericho, I didn’t need to wait until the morning. I looked at Brandon, who responded with “I’m not the doctor. I think we trust the doctor on these things!” Dr. Wilson told me he would meet me at Glenwood in about 30 minutes, long enough to go home and get my bags. Thankfully, since my car was already packed, all I had to do was communicate to my administrator and coworkers that I would not be at work and then drove my car next door to the parking lot! Brandon, on the other hand, had to drive home to get his bag. Apparently, even though I had told him to pack his bag, he didn’t believe it was really •that• time!

I went to the hospital and checked in. Brandon arrived and my mom helped him bring everything to the room. Dr. Wilson broke my water, and it definitely wasn’t quite as much fluid as what I remember from my other pregnancies. He said it was a very small trickle. Looking back, I may have had a few contractions through the day, but they were not painful. I did start having contractions after he broke my water. Meanwhile, Brandon was working on his laptop trying to finish things up with work. When I got my epidural at 6:30PM, they had him move in front of me, so I had to stare at him working while getting my epidural. Lovely! Thankfully, about the time they finished, Brandon finished work for the evening. 

I asked about supper and the nurses said I couldn’t eat! I said “but I didn’t eat breakfast and only had a package of peanut butter crackers for lunch! I’m hungry!!” For both other deliveries, we have arrived at the hospital in the middle of the night and by breakfast time, I’ve already delivered, it never occurred to me that I couldn’t eat after I arrived at the hospital. They provided me with plenty of ice chips and I happily crunched on them as loudly as I could while Brandon ate his subway sandwich. 

The nurses came in periodically to check on me. They asked if I was willing to try different things to speed things along. I told them I was up for whatever they thought would work! By 11:40, I was at 6 cm. I will admit, I did not have any pains associated with my contractions this time around, since they let me get the epidural right away. 

Dr. Wilson came in around 12:30AM or so, once the nurses alerted him that I was getting close. It’s always a bit of a blur when they start prepping the room! After just 2-3 counts to 10, Jericho was born! 1:10AM on Friday! Thankfully, I didn’t tear or require stitches. Dr. Wilson did comment that I didn’t lose much blood. Everything looked great with Jericho. 7 lbs 12 oz and 20 3/4 inches long. 

Dr. Wilson came to check on us Friday morning before heading out of town for the weekend. I admitted to him that the induction really wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be! I had no horror story experience for sure. Dr. Wilson said he was really glad we decided to induce when we did. He said if we had waited until Monday, “I’m not sure that we would have found a heartbeat.” I don’t think I realized just how bad my blood pressure and low fluid had gotten until that moment. Wow! How grateful I am for my medical team to make sure we had a safe delivery and healthy baby. 

We learned that the blood pressure medicine I was on necessitated Jericho’s blood to be checked every 3 hours so that his blood sugar levels could be checked for the first 24 hours. At one point, they suggested supplementing with formula, but when I said I really wanted to avoid that, they said as long as it didn’t drop any further, we wouldn’t. When we checked it the next time, it was still holding!! I was so grateful for that, even if Jericho was a lazy nursing baby. 

By Friday evening at 11PM, Jericho had lost about 6 oz and Saturday at 2AM, his bilirubin level was 7.7. He was a little jaundiced and so the nursery doctor really didn’t want him to leave just yet. However, his levels weren’t dangerously high and we had an appointment scheduled for Monday morning, so we were able to be discharged Saturday evening around 7:30!

The whole time we were in the hospital, we didn’t have any visitors due to the COVID policy. I was grateful for the policy because it meant we could rest a bit more; however, 48 hours at the hospital with no visitors was really hard! The biggest disappointment was that John Charles and Jillian weren’t allowed to come meet their baby brother. I told Brandon that I really wanted them to get to meet Jericho first. Jillian had prayed for a baby for so long, and they were both so excited to get to meet Jericho. It was harder to convince some of the other family of the plan, but thankfully, they agreed to wait. The hardest part ended up being food! Brandon couldn’t leave and come back with food, and the hospital food is always hit or miss, and often not enough. I did not anticipate having as much trouble with planning food out while in the hospital, but it worked out fine!

Once we got home, Jericho and I got situated in our room. Brandon brought John Charles and Jillian back to meet Jericho. The sweetness about broke my heart!! Any time I needed a sweet memory, I could watch the video where John Charles met Jillian for the first time. I wanted this same moment captured on video and they did not disappoint! John Charles and Jillian were both so happy to meet Jericho!

Afterwards, we walked up front to let Lolli and Pop meet Jericho. Jillian began rolling out her blanket, so that she could put Jericho in it and carry him around the house! We had to explain that while Jericho may look like her baby doll, she was not allowed to carry him like she could her dolls. John Charles pulled out a monster truck and asked when Jericho was going to be able to play with him and the monster truck. They both quickly learned that the main thing you will do for a bit is eat, sleep, and make dirty diapers. Oh, and cry!

Monday, at 9AM, we had your first check up. You were down to 7lbs 2 oz, 13.5 inch head circumference, and 20 inches long. I wasn’t terribly concerned with you being down 10 oz, and by the next appointment 8 days later, you had gained plenty of weight!

This is the third delivery, and all three have been different! I definitely felt the most prepared for this last minute induction, and I recovered much more quickly than I did from Jillian’s birth. I think it might have been an easier birth than John Charles, if not very similar. We were at the hospital for less than 8.5 hours before delivery, so Jericho has been the quickest on that front. However, we spent the most time at the hospital before birth this time. While I don’t feel that it went how I had hoped, I felt like the delivery was great. It worked out perfectly fine, and now we have TWO January baby boys!

Jillian’s Birth Story

Now that I have a six-month-old baby girl, I need to get her birth story written out! Jillian’s pregnancy was much harder on my body than John Charles’s pregnancy, but it turns out that I progressed almost exactly the same. Had you told me earlier in July that I was going to make it to my due date again, I would not have believed you because of how uncomfortable I felt all summer long. At the 35 week appointment (July 24th), Dr. Wilson said I was dilated a fingertip and “high.” At the 36 week appointment (July 31st), Dr. Wilson said I was still dilated a fingertip, but was 70% effaced. I wasn’t able to schedule a 37 week appointment with school starting back, but we had to have another ultrasound on August 9th because my belly wasn’t measuring where it needed to. Everything looked wonderful, but Jillian wouldn’t show us her face. The ultrasound technician said she was measuring around 8 ½ pounds, slightly bigger than her brother. At the 38 week appointment (August 13th), Dr. Wilson said I was 2 cm and 80% effaced, which made Brandon very excited, until I reminded him that I was at the same position almost with John Charles at the same time in my pregnancy. Brandon was (again) so ready to meet this sweet new baby, but I wanted to make it to her due date a few weeks away.

At the last appointment at 39 weeks (August 20th), I was dilated to 2-3 cm and 80% effaced. I begrudgingly scheduled an induction for Monday, August 27th because Dr. Wilson wasn’t going to be in town later that next week. Dr. Wilson knew I was praying for not being induced, but I also didn’t want to wait too long and be induced by a different doctor while he was out of town. We also made plans with Brandon’s parents to keep John Charles on Sunday evening, but I don’t even remember the “excuse” Brandon gave them. Everything was going as planned for an induction on August 27th, two days after my due date, just like with John Charles. At this point in my pregnancy, I would have bet money on her being delivered on the 27th because of how similar everything seemed at each check-up!!

Saturday, August 25th (Due Date)

We woke up and enjoyed breakfast at home just like any other Saturday. Around 10:00, I began having contractions every 20-30 minutes and they continued throughout the day. They weren’t terrible and mainly just made me pause when they happened. I had decided earlier in the week that we should go swimming at my parents’ house if I hadn’t already had Jillian, since I wouldn’t get to swim with John Charles again for the summer. Even though I was still having contractions, we headed over to their house. My Aunt Judy and MamMaw were both there, and I got to open a gift from Aunt Judy. She had two outfits monogrammed for Jillian! Aunt Judy asked if I was showing any signs of labor, since it was my due date. I lied and said NO! I didn’t want people at the hospital while I was in labor, so I wasn’t divulging that I was having contractions to anyone.

We enjoyed swimming for a bit with family where I felt like I was able to hide my contractions fairly well. We sat down to eat supper with my parents. By this time, my contractions were beginning to get more painful. I had one pretty painful contraction towards the end of supper. At 8PM I told Brandon we needed to head home, but somehow he missed that I was having lots of pain and it was another 30 minutes before we headed home! As soon as he loaded John Charles in the truck and we started to drive away, I began timing my contractions. They were coming every 3-5 minutes. Before we even made it home, the app told me it was time to head to the hospital! Brandon put John Charles down for bed because at this point, it was well past his bedtime. As soon as he walked out of John Charles’s room, I told him the app said I needed to head to the hospital, which of course confused Brandon as to why we even put John Charles to bed if we were needing to leave soon anyway. I reminded him that we still all needed to pack our bags and I wanted to shave and wash my hair before heading to the hospital.

Brandon packed John Charles’s bag and I began to get myself ready. Lolli and Pop came to get John Charles around 9:30 and then we began to pack our own bags. Before we left, I made Brandon take my 40 week picture (and last bump picture!) between contractions, which was harder than I expected. We checked in to the hospital around 11:30 and the nurse took me to an area to hook me up to monitors. She said we would be in this area until I had progressed enough to go to one of the delivery rooms. Before she hooked me up to the monitors, she decided to check to see how dilated I was, just to know. We were all surprised that I had already made it to 6 cm! I hadn’t expected to be that far along because I wasn’t in nearly as much pain as I’d been with your John Charles’s contractions.

I got the epidural around midnight, and it helped let your daddy take a nap! They checked me at 1AM and I was at 7 cm. At 3:15AM my water broke, so they checked me and I was at 9 cm. At 3:30AM they called the doctor on call. The epidural wasn’t fully working, so they said I could get another dosage, but I had to show I could still push. I halfway tried one push and she said I needed to do a better job or they couldn’t give any more medicine, so on the next one I gave it all I could! The nurse immediately said Ok that’s good, I don’t get anything extra for delivering a baby!

When Dr. Petty arrived at 4AM, she asked how everything was going and I said great! Looking back, I realize now that the nurse never did leave her position until Dr. Petty was ready to take over. Apparently, Jillian was ready to be delivered, and they wanted to make sure she didn’t come too quickly with no one there. Jillian was born after 3 pushes at 4:10AM. Dr. Petty was literally in the room for less than 10 minutes, so it all happened quickly! We got to enjoy our hour of skin to skin with our sweet girl. She scored a perfect 10/10 on both APGARs and everything looked wonderful.

After Brandon walked her down to the nursery, he came back and asked me to guess her weight. I felt like she was slightly bigger than John Charles, so maybe 8.7 lbs or 8.8 lbs but she ended up being 8.15 lbs and 21.5 inches long (same length as both John Charles and myself!). While she was in the nursery, we called our parents and siblings to let them know she had arrived. We made plans for John Charles to be brought around 8AM to meet his new sister. I asked the nurses for breakfast, but of course the kitchen doesn’t make food until 9AM on Sundays, so thankfully Mom sent Dad with some food for us to eat and it was delicious! Since he brought me food, he took a little sneak peek at Jillian in the nursery.

We decided that John Charles would get to visit with us for a few minutes, so he got to sit next to me in the bed and we talked about his morning at his Lolli and Pop’s. The nurses brought Jillian in the room in her little basket and Brandon handed her to me. I talked to John Charles about how this was his new baby sister, Jillian and he stared at her with sweet wonder and kept looking at her face. All of a sudden, he leaned over and kissed her belly! It made me tear up to see him immediately willing to love on his sweet sister. He was so excited to get to hold Jillian, too! Nana and PapPaw came to visit and they took some pictures of our family of four. John Charles could NOT stop grinning while holding HIS baby!

That night, when they came in with Jillian around midnight, they said she was down to 8.7lbs. Her jaundice level was 3.8, which was good! The next night, she was down to 8 lbs exactly, which was very concerning. I texted my parents, who brought a 6 oz bag of breastmilk that we had planned to give to John Charles later that morning and we gave it to Jillian 1 oz at a time over the next few days. Thankfully by the time we had her 5 day checkup, she was gaining weight like she needed to.

People told me that even though John Charles’s delivery went as I had hoped, that Jillian’s probably wouldn’t. I wanted to go into labor naturally (no induction), and I wanted it to be just Brandon and myself at the hospital (no crowd waiting in the waiting room), just like with John Charles. Thankfully, besides it not happening on the day I had expected, it happened pretty much exactly as I had hoped! I enjoyed getting to spend time with Brandon and we didn’t have to worry about updating anyone while I was in labor. After about 18 hours of labor (14 of which were without an epidural) almost the exact same as with John Charles, we had our perfect baby girl in our arms.

Baby Justus #2 is a....

Wednesday, March 28th, Brandon and I had our 18 week anatomy scan for Baby #2. Everything checked out wonderfully! The brain, kidneys, heart, arms, legs, all ten fingers (okay eight fingers and two thumbs) and ten toes, absolutely everything looked perfect!! It is so wonderful to be able to see everything so clearly on the ultrasounds; how anyone can say this child growing inside me is not a human I'll never understand! God is the ultimate creator and He has created a perfect baby for us.

Friday, April 6th, I let my students make their predictions for Baby #2. They all begged me to just go ahead and tell them. "We won't tell anyone, we promise!" Most of them are pretty excited to know, but a few high school students don't seem to get excited about anything at school. Most of them shared their reasons for why they picked GIRL or BOY. "You've acted so different this pregnancy (side note: I started school at 18 weeks pregnant with John Charles, so they didn't see this early part of that pregnancy the first time), so it has to be a girl!" "You already have a boy and families always have two boys." "I want it to be a girl, so that's what I'm putting." "I want it to be a boy, so I'm putting girl to maybe change the odds." I had a few students that wanted to write their names in both boxes, because "I think you're going to actually have a set of boy/girl twins." 

the student predictions

Saturday, April 7th, we had a small celebration with our families to share our exciting news!

We are so excited to announce Baby Justus #2 is a GIRL!!!

While it took us several months to finally choose our son's name, Brandon and I knew going into the ultrasound appointment, if it was a girl, we would name her Jillian Claire Justus. We are already so in love and can't wait to meet sweet Jillian in just 20 weeks!

At my 15 week appointment, the nurse couldn't find the heart beat on the Doppler. It didn't worry me because that had happened twice with John Charles. However, when Dr. Wilson couldn't find the heart beat, my own heart began beating a little more quickly. He calmly got out the ultrasound machine to get a look at the baby, where we were able to see the squirmy little one! He asked if I wanted him to take a peak and try to make a prediction "but you can't tell anyone if I'm wrong!" I agreed, so we got to check. Dr. Wilson said he thought girl; I agreed with what he saw, based on what we saw from John Charles's ultrasound.

When the ultrasound technician said that this baby was for sure a girl, I was a bit surprised, but excited, too. After having my sweet boy, I had prepared myself that I may always be only a boy mom and never have a daughter, just to try to keep myself from becoming disappointed if I never had a baby girl. To have dreams of a daughter thrust back into my future all at once was a bit overwhelming. Brandon had that sweet, excited smile of his all over his face immediately. Of course, when we saw Dr. Wilson a few minutes later he wanted to know "what do I do with a girl??" Dr. Wilson, having only two boys, told him he had no clue himself!! We are thrilled to have a baby girl on the way. We would ask that you pray she continues to develop properly and that everything with this pregnancy continues to go well.

Third Time is Just as Nerve-racking!

Monday night (12/18), I finally got the nerve to take a test to confirm what I had suspected for the last two weeks. Before I took the test, I had considered waiting until Christmas Day to tell Brandon the wonderful news, but as I sat there watching two pink lines form in front of my eyes, I realized there was absolutely no way I would be able to contain my excitement from him.

I walked into our bedroom, where he was diligently studying for his CFP Exam and slowly slid the test over the page he was reading. His head snapped up with a look of shock and excitement immediately filling his face. “Is this real?” he wanted to know. “Yes” is all I could manage to squeak out.

For the next 30 minutes, that sweet grin never left Brandon’s face. He (of course) couldn’t study anymore and wanted to know why I decided to take the test “randomly.” Of course, it wasn’t just a random test, I explained. See, as a nursing mommy, I knew something was different at the beginning of December, but with my history, I decided to wait two weeks before putting myself through the agony of taking a pregnancy test. I also decided not to tell Brandon my suspicion, just in case I was wrong. I didn’t want to get his hopes up, only to realize I was wrong.

After having a miscarriage and then seeing a specialist, we had decided to hold off on making a decision about when to try for our next precious baby. We hadn’t really talked about when we would begin taking steps or if we would just go straight back to the specialist. We were, however, in complete agreement that we wanted another baby. Brandon literally asked me while I was still in the hospital recovering from having John Charles “when can we have another one??”  I referenced that question several times over the coming months, with the same answer from both of us “as soon as God is ready for us to have another child, we’re ready.”

Just like we know John Charles (or any child, for that matter) is a blessing from God and was given to us at the exact moment we needed him, we also know that this baby will be a blessing from God. He completely ordained everything for us, so that we did not have to worry or stress about anything with this sweet baby. He even ordained it such that I was able to confirm with blood work the very next morning that everything was on track.

Ultrasound from 2/14/2018

We are so excited to announce that Baby Justus #2 is due to arrive August 25^th, 2018!