Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Welcome, Baby Jack!

Barrett and I are thrilled to announce that John Christopher Burley was born on Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 6:08pm.  Baby Jack weighed 8 lbs and 10oz and was 21 inches long.

I was so ready to have our sweet baby boy by the time we headed to the hospital on Thursday morning I could barely stand it.  It was such a different experience and range of emotions than before I had Champs.  With him I was nervous, scared of what labor entailed, anxious about whether or not I was ready and prepared to become a Mama and unsure if Barrett and I knew exactly how much was about to change with life as we knew it.  With Jack, I was excited to get on with our new life with 2 children, become a family of four and love on another sweet newborn baby!!!

My mom came over on Wednesday night as Barrett and I were to check in to the hospital on Thursday morning at 6:00am.  Champs was on an EARLY rising kick last week so we actually got to see Champs before we went to the hospital which was nice.  He was so sweet when I told him I was going to the hospital to have Baby Brother.  Who knows what he thought that meant, but regardless, we were on our way and I guess he understood to some degree that we'd be coming back with a baby!

Once we got there, we actually had to wait in the waiting room of the Birthplace until about 7:30 to get checked in to our room.  I met my nurse and my doctor, Dr Salley, came by pretty soon after I got to my room and hooked up to the monitors and IV of fluid in.  He told me I was welcome to get my epidural as soon as I wanted, so I said, okay, let's go ahead and get it ordered.  I had no desire to wait on that so why not go ahead and get it!  My anesthesiologist was Dr. Boykin and I honestly feel that this totally affects how labor goes.  With Champs I had what I would describe as a bad epidural - it only went to one side of my body and made me feel numb all the way to my arms and hands, as opposed to just below my waist.  This time it was perfect!  I seriously did NOT feel a contraction ALL DAY LONG until I was 9cm dilated.  Crazy!

So epidural was in and then was just a waiting game until it was time to have our baby.  Since I seriously felt good all day, besides a little queasiness here and there, I just relaxed, rested and waited until go time.  Dr. Salley told me around 2:00pm that he thought I'd have the baby at 5:52.  He was pretty dead on as around 4:00 I finally started feeling some contractions until I knew I was getting really close.  At around 4:45 or 5:00 they brought in all the nurses to get the room ready for delivery.  All the nurses were so great and my doctor was there the whole time.  I know some doctors don't come in until the end, but mine is very hands on which I love.  The delivery wasn't easy, but it wasn't as hard (or long) as with Champs.  At 6:08 out came Baby Jack and my heart felt such RELIEF and AMAZING GRATITUDE when Dr Salley laid him on my chest.

I wasn't sure what it would feel like this time around, but it really was just as amazing of feeling as the first time.  Knowing that you made this perfect, tiny little person and have been housing them inside you for over 9 months and they are finally HERE is just the best feeling in the world.

We had 4 parents out in the waiting room who were very eager to hear the baby's name, as were all of our friends.  After Barrett cut the umbilical cord and looked at our precious miracle laying on my chest, we decided we were ready for him to go out and announce the name and tell everyone he was here safely! 

So here's the origin of the name:
John - named after my granddaddy (Mom's Dad), John Bell.  My Granddaddy has been so sweet to all of his grandchildren and great grandchildren and it makes me so happy to name one of mine after him.  He is such a great example of a kind, hardworking, loving, smart Christian man!
Christopher - named after his daddy!  Barrett is Christopher Barrett and who would we rather have our baby be named after than his own amazing Daddy!

We decided we wanted to call him Jack because we love the classic simplicity of Jack and love the way it sounds with Champs.  It is also a small reference to Blanche March, who was one of my favorite people in the whole world.  She was the amazing lady who helped my parents with Will and me and also helped my grandparents with my dad and his siblings.  Her nickname was Jack.  She meant the absolute world to me and I think about her all the time to this day. 

So after all these months of keeping the name to ourselves, we were so excited to finally announce his name - John Christopher "Jack" Burley!

Here are some precious moments I never want to forget of the minutes after Baby Jack was born.  This truly is a feeling like no other.  Baby Jack, you have made your Daddy and me so happy and we are so excited about you joining our family.  Let the fun begin!!











More pics from the first week and how it's going with big brother coming soon!

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