I Will Rejoice: Hip, Hip Hooray! Micah's Three Today!

My sweetheart of a little boy was born three years ago today. On one hand it's hard to believe that he is already three. On the other hand it is hard to believe he is only three.

For some reason that boy has always seemed older than he is. I'm not entirely sure why; but it has been that way since he was born. Perhaps it is because he was a bigger baby and now a tall little boy. Perhaps it is because he talked fairly early and was fairly easy to understand - at least in my opinion. Perhaps it is because people often ask how old he is and are surprised that he is younger than they expected.Whatever the reason is, we are certainly looking forward to celebrating his special day.

He is an incredible joy.

Now just because I don't think I have this written out anywhere else...

Micah's Birth Story

When Hailey was 18 months old, Matt and I thought it would be a good time to start thinking about having another baby. Since it had taken almost a year to get pregnant with Hailey, we were shocked to learn that we were pregnant immediately. I must admit I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. Hailey had just started sleeping very poorly and the exhaustion of early pregnancy left me wondering what in the world I had been thinking. Then we learned that our insurance was not going to cover this pregnancy due to a maternity clause. Talk about stress. God, who is ever faithful, provided for us with a gift from the congregation Matt was then serving.

Matt really wanted to find out if we were having a boy or a girl, so at our 20 week ultrasound we were thrilled to learn that we were having a boy. As the pregnancy went on, I continually measured big. I looked and felt huge. It looked as if I had stuffed a basketball up my shirt. Because we were concerned about the size of the baby we decided to go ahead and induce.

It was Monday morning and we all went to my doctor's appointment. At that appointment we decided that rather than risk the baby growing too large for me to deliver naturally, we chose to go ahead and induce that day. We made a few calls and secured a place for Hailey to go until grandmas and grandpas could get there. Matt took her through the McDonald's drive through for lunch - I declined. Then we were off to the hospital.

My doctor came in and broke my water about 1:30 and then they started pictocin. The plan was just to use that pictocin to get things started, but you know how it goes with plans. I listened to my birthing CD again - Nichole Nordeman's Woven and Spun. The labor was long and hard, though not nearly as long as my labor with Hailey. At one point my doctor came in to check me and as I laid back my contractions, which had been coming steadily, stopped. As we were waiting for the next one, I joked to my doctor that I had just been faking it all. Once again I sort of got "stuck" at a 9 almost 10. A shift in position and we were ready to push. Micah James was born at 9:04 pm on October 27. He was 8 lbs. 3 oz. and 21 inches long and the doctor said he had shoulders like a linebacker.