Jack David Stuchberry, the missing piece.

 Our little Jack; Jack Jack, Jackie Boy, Goldie Boy, Danny Devito. Jack turned one on January 27th, so now is as good a time as ever to introduce him! He's the little boy we swore we weren't going to have for nearly 3 years, and the little blonde monkey who perfectly completed our family - human wise at least. 

I should've known Jack was going to be a spicy little monk, my pregnancy was about as difficult as it could get. Outside factors had a lot to do with it - and likely caused  a lot  of the later trimester health concerns, but from day 1 this kid made my body his bitch; working himself into any crevice he could, getting good & comfy. I stopped working out entirely because my hips hurt so bad (don't worry, hindsight also tells me that was not the correct path to take), and could neither be on my feet comfortably, nor could I sit comfortably. Essentially the only comfortable position was beached whale, which doesn't really exist with a lively 2 year old to chase. 

So on January 27th, when I went to the bathroom for the 43rd time that morning at 6 am, I was fucking delighted  to see a bit of blood when I wiped. 

"Fucking fuck yes, FINALLY. Get out of me." - did I mention I had had Covid the few days prior, and was throwing up almost the entire day for the past... 5 weeks? Get. Him. Ouuuut. Safely, please & thank you. 

So I'm getting all of our overnight/Myles to Nana & Papa's/ take Baby home items and bags ready, and meanwhile my husband is putting his hospital outfit in the dryer to eliminate wrinkles. the one he is literally about to fold & pack. And he's parked infront of me, so Myles & I can't leave until he does. After pleasantly asking him to light a fire under his ass, about as peacefully as you can imagine a woman in labor doing so, Myles & I were on our way to my parents, and Jake was off to work - local, so he could leave at a moment's notice. 

I should mention I really had no contractions, just a lot of pressure. With Myles there were obvious contractions. So mom & I just figured we'd go the hospital and get checked (I had missed my last OB appointment due to the aforementioned Cov), see how dilated I was if anything past the 2cm I had been for 3 weeks. I had a body shower, got ready and we headed up, giving Myles a million kisses and hugs before leaving him with my dad. 

It's like the universe just knows me, but as we were waiting to check in - my OB walked in to start her rounds up at the maternity ward. In Vernon it's pretty unlikely you'll get your OB to actually deliver your baby, so this was like, fortuitous. This baby had to come out today; not only was she my OB, she delivered Myles too. I knew we would only ever be having two babies and I loved the symmetry of the same amazing doctor deliver both my boys into this world.  

So I started doing squats, and plie squats, and bouncing in place. You're coming out today Mister Man, let's go. 

After getting hooked up to the monitors and doing my covid test (which I warned them would likely make me throw up, everything was during those miserable days), Dr. Manji came and checked and I was 5cm dilated and having a baby. My blood pressure again had been climbing and it was too high to sendly safe me home to further progress, so I was getting checked in. I called Jake and told him to leave his site and join. I had him on speaker and he asked if he had time to finish the bit he was working on, to which our lovely nurse (also a Myles team OG!) replied quite shortly, "No."

Once Jake joined us, we moved to our birthing room and got started. Because my pressure was too high, they started me on oxytocin & broke my water. I still never got a contraction, just unreal pressure - it literally felt like my spine was trying to escape through my bumhole. Lovely, right? Around 3pm I told them it was feeling harder to breathe through the pressure contractions because my body was screaming at me to push, so pushing I began. 6 minutes. SIX MINUTES later, after apologizing in between pushes that I "didn't remember how much this hurt!! I'm sorry for being so dramatic", Jack David Stuchberry joined me on my chest and I just remember thinking "well of course it's you, you're Jack. Of course you needed to be here with us, I've known you forever." Meeting someone you created is the most surreal, trippy experience one can ever experience. Rihanna described it as "tripping on acid" and honestly, I get it. 

Jack Stuchberry was born in record time, 6 hours from start to finish essentially, and perfect in every way. A funny little Gus with sparkling eyes and a temper to fit a whole room if he felt like it; thankfully he rarely does. Looks almost nothing like his brother, and the most delightful little bookend to our family. Our little Goldie boy, the boy the universe knew we needed to borrow.