JACK IS 5!!!

This morning Jack woke me up saying "Mommy, I'm already 5 because the sun is coming up!" So...the oldest of my little guys is now 5. I still remember the day he was born so vividly. Actually, the night before his birth I had said to Andy, "You need to figure out how that new camera works tonight b/c I think this baby is going to be born tomorrow." He laughed b/c Jack wasn't due until the 29th, but DID sit down and learn the new camera. So ,the morning of Feb 4, 2004... the parking lot in front of our townhome in No. VA was iced over and Andy had to escort me to the car so I wouldn't fall...again. (The first fall landed me in the hospital on bedrest for many, many days.) I drove to Bethesda Naval with Madi, who was two and had a head full of curls. My young doctor met with me and as I was walking out the door at the end of the hall...I called back to him (while laughing) that sometimes the baby kicked so hard I had to catch my breath. Oh...ha,ha. He came running after me and asked to do a physical check to see if I was dilating. Guess what...I was...already 5 cm! His next words were, "You're not going home. You're going to have a baby today." I went up to L&D and waited far too long for my first dose of IV of antibiotics. Our good friend, Andrea came and got Madi. Andy arrived with my bag and the camera. And we waited, painlessly. The young doctor kept trying to speed up my labor, but my sweet nurse wouldn't do it, since I was progressing at a speedy clip without any pain...on my own. (Thank you sweet nurse!) About 7:30pm, I had my first painful contraction. At 8:04pm, Jack was born. I remember we were watching Seinfeld and he was born right after we shut off the TV...after the episode ended. We cuddled him for a good 5 minutes before we thought to ask if he was a boy or girl. He's the only one we chose not to know the gender of prior to the birth. We couldn't get over his full head of blonde hair. I know I'm biased, but he was a super cute baby even squished and wrinkled. A short time later Andy headed to the NICU for Jack's first bath. The nurses were short-staffed, so they decided to do it there. (A blessing!) Well, they never brought him back. While down there he started showing early signs of distress (which the NICU staff easily noticed...something that would've gotten by me) and by the morning he was intubated with a central line. He had IVs in his head and foot, tubes, sensors, wires...all over. His sensitive little baby skin was so torn up and bruised when he first came home. The best we've ever figured out is that he developed pneumonia (as a side effect of being exposed to my GBS...which wasn't handled properly by the staff at Bethesda) and that wiped out all the natural surfactant in his lungs. He had to have synthetic surfactant administered and spent 8 days in the NICU. He was very, very sick. Fast forward to today...he's a mellow, fun, healthy kid! He's completely fine. And today (and again on Saturday) we get to celebrate with him!