Jacob- June 12, 1996

Jacob 2 months

I still remember it clearly...even though it's been 14 years now.
I wasn't really due until the first week of July, but as with all of my pregnancies, I didn't make it to full term. The night before, we ate tacos for our evening meal. All during that night I thought I had heartburn and kept eating Tums like they were candy. At around 4am I finally went in to shower and get dressed. There had been a couple of false alarms in the past, but I really felt lousy. I had been up most of the night anyway between the "heartburn" and Mikaela coming in and waking me several times.
I guess I finally woke Steve around 4:30am. He asked how far apart the contractions were, and I wasn't sure, I hadn't really timed them. After realizing they were 4 minutes apart, we called Mom to come stay with Mikaela so we could drive the 20-30 minutes to the hospital. In our haste to back out of our driveway, we hit Mom's car. One look at my face told Steve to keep going.
During the whole drive, Steve kept talking to me. I guess he was nervous. Mostly, I was trying to concentrate on making it to the hospital before the baby was born. I kept conjuring up images of giving birth in the front seat of the Honda. Meanwhile the contractions had increased to every 2 minutes by then. I didn't say much, just one word answers. I really just wanted him to be quiet and let me concentrate.
When we arrived at the hospital (a small hospital with no doorman in sight) a little after 5am, Steve pulled up to the door and let me out to go park. I walked in and up to the OB department by myself holding on to the walls as contractions tore through me. At first sight of the nurses' station, I asked for an epidural. I reminded them that I hadn't gotten one in time the last time and I was definitely not wanting to repeat that. They smiled and said they needed to check things out first. Once they checked, they found that the baby was ready to be born and there wasn't time for an epidural. The doctor made it just a few minutes later, and then came Jacob.

Jacob's hospital photo - 1 day old

Jacob was exquisite! A beautiful baby with a full head of blond hair. He actually had soft white blond hair all over his face, back, arms, etc. His eyes were a deep blue and his skin was so velvety. He was born just a little before 6am. He weighed a whopping 6 pounds, 5 ounces. When we called Mom and Dad, we had to ask them to bring up some pants for Steve. He had grabbed a pair that morning that had a big hole in the worst possible place.


One of the first things that occurred to us that morning was that that night the Bulls were playing in what could be the final championship game. In the hospital room that evening, Steve ate his celebratory Monical's pizza during the game, but the Bulls choked. It wasn't until later that week that they finally won the championship.
And that was how it all started with Jacob. He was an adorable, smiley, low-maintenance sort of little guy. Jacob always ate large quantities very quickly (still does!). We used to have to sit him up for nearly an hour each time after he ate so that he wouldn't spew.
Jacob has always been a joyful, fun-loving, bright, thoughtful child who helps to keep the peace. He is truly a treasure in our family!


Happy 14th birthday, Jacob!



(Head on over to Stefanie's blog for more Sunday Snapshots.)