Jack - 1 month

March 24th, 2016

My sweet Jack, you are one month old!  Where has time gone?

You...
- weigh 10 lbs 1 oz, 21.65" long (46% each)
- wear newborn and size 1 diapers
- wear newborn and 0-3 month clothes
- exclusively breastfeed and are very good at it!
- sleep about 2-3 hours a night
- love baths, cuddling, babywearing, eating, your siblings, your Daddy
- hate your carseat, taking medicine, being put down, loud noises

Dear Jack,
My sweet little surprise, how did we not know that we needed you in our lives?  You have been a blessing and an absolute delight.  We have spent the last month cuddling and hanging out.  Our month started off with home health because you were jaundice.  Mommy hated that you had to have your blood checked every day for a week.  However, it was pretty cute to see you with the "bili-blanket".  We nicknamed you gloworm!  You are the most poopy baby I have ever seen, but that is part of the reason your bilirubin levels leveled out and eventually decreased!  You gained back your weight within a week!  Such a good little eater!  This weekend will be your first Easter and our first attempt at church!  The week after is your baptism!  We love you to pieces little man!

Love you,
Mommy, Daddy, Sissy and Bubby

Jack Robert

Jack Robert Perkins

Born February 24th, 2016
Weighs 7 lbs 2.5 oz
Height 19"
Olathe Medical Center

On Tuesday, February 23rd, I started having cramping and discomfort while at work that really intensified after lunch.  I thought I had some heartburn and perhaps was a little dehydrated.  I left work at 5:00 and came home to a home cooked meal and a very patient husband.  I was having "cramps" every 5-10 minutes that lasted a 30 seconds to maybe a minute or two.  After dinner, my sweet husband allowed me to go take a bath to ease the discomfort, which it did, thank goodness!  After putting the big kids down to sleep, we tried to watch tv in our room to relax and hopefully let my "cramps" ease up so I could go to sleep.  I wasn't due until March 10th and I had just had a pelvic exam the day before and was only dilated to a 2 and 70% effaced.  The pain did not go away.  In fact, they got worse and were coming like clockwork every 5-7 minutes for 1-2 minutes each.  At 9:30, I finally called my mother-in-law and asked that she came over so we could go to the hospital.  She arrived in a matter of minutes and we were off.  Of course, thinking I'd be sent home, we stopped at QT to get our free fountain drink on the way there.

After checking in to the ER at 10 pm, they took us the floor to be checked.  AMAZINGLY enough, we were in room 519 - the same room we delivered Kinley AND Reed!  It was meant to be!

They hooked me up to the fetal monitor and BP machine and checked me.  I was dilated to a 4 and 100% effaced.  They decided to give it an hour and see if I would progress.  An hour later, I was dilated to 6 so they admitted me and got the IV started.  After getting a bag of saline, the anesthesiologist came in to do my epidural.  I was having quite a bit of pain at this point and had difficulty sitting still.  It was kind of scary.

After the epidural, they checked me and I was dilated to an 8!  This was probably the main reason why I wasn't able to hold still through my contractions during the epidural. :)  The epidural kicked in and things were feeling much better!  At about 1:30 am, Dr. McFarlane came in and broke my water, which they mentioned was minimal because you were so low and it did show a bit of meconium.  At 2:10 am, they rechecked me and I am dilated to 10!  As Josh says, they called in the cavalry!  We decided to try a "test" push and our nurse Christi said you were crowning so we immediately stopped!

Hooked up and waiting...

2:37 am - here you are!  

7 lbs 2.5 oz

19" long

dark brown hair

Your first picture

Kinley and Reed were VERY excited to meet you and have loved on you nearly every moment since then!  They have been very gentle with you!