Brodee Ean Jones

9 months is a long time to be pregnant. It could be worse, elephants are pregnant for 24 months, and deliver 500 pound babies. This pregnancy felt like I was experiencing both, an unending gestation, and an expectant 500 pound baby.

Baby #4 for us was a BOY! I love my 3 beautiful girls, but the thought of changing things up and having a boy was very exciting to me. However, for me, those changes became evident even through pregnancy. For starters, this boy gave me reflux. Not heartburn, like my girls had given me, full on reflux, unaltered by diet or Tums. my waist line also grew faster than with any of my 3 girls, as did my weight gain.
I have a great Obstetrician, Kathleen Langer (best Dr EVER!!!). At our 2nd appointment, she asked if we would like to think of an induction date, because of our drama with Aubree (for the full story on Aubree, click here http://jonesnwiththefam.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html ). We settled on September 9th. As the months progressed and our obstetric visits increased, it was obvious this baby boy was doing his best to be bigger than his sisters. At 34 weeks, I measured 36. At 35 weeks, I measured 38. At 36 weeks, I was measuring 39. Dr. Langer was guesstimating an 8+ pound baby. A far cry from 500, but to me, 8 pounds sounded pretty intimidating!

We made it to the 9th, and arrived at Labor & Delivery at our appointed time, 7:00 AM. After completing paperwork (I'm not sure what the purpose of "pre-registering" is, when you have to complete so much paperwork once you are checking in), we were shown to our Labor & Delivery room. As we were passing the nursing station, we overheard a nurse calling Dr. Langer, concerned about her scheduled induction for Marcie Jones. The nurse was concerned there wasn't a valid medical reason for induction. I had to tell myself, "Think happy thoughts! Dr. Langer won't let us be sent home!" I was right. Dr. Langer appeared in our room about 15 minutes later, to make sure we had the anesthesiologist on the way, and she'd be back to break my water, and then the nurses would have no choice, but to keep us! Again, Hooray for Dr. Langer!

5 hours of "labor" later (most of which I napped through, thanks to a good anesthesiologists!), and a frantic 10 minutes of pushing, our beautiful baby boy was born. Weighing in at a healthy 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and 19.5" long.

He's a beautiful, healthy baby boy, who has 3 adoring older sisters. Each who love him in their own distinct ways. Daddy is proud as can be. As for Mom, its true there's a special place in a mother's heart for her son.