Jeremiah August Bluejacket is HERE!!!

Our boy is here! He surprised us yesterday by coming on his own. We were scheduled to be induced Saturday a.m. but started having contractions at 4:30 a.m. Friday. They stayed every 45 minutes to 1 hour all day. We even had a chance to go garage sale-ing and have breakfast out. By 1pm they ramped up and were a bit more intense. By 2pm we called Jeremiah's sister Rebekah, Auntie Doula, to come down because baby was on his way. By the time she made it to our house, the contractions were 30 minutes apart. We visited for a bit and within 1 hour, the contractions were coming every 10 minutes. We called the hospital at 7pm to say we were coming in and that the contractions were coming every 5 1/2 to 6 minutes. By the time we got the hospital ~20 minutes later, the contractions were about 3 minutes apart. By the time we got up to our room about 5 minutes later, they were coming every 2 minutes (and stayed that way until delivery). By the time the doctor made it over about an hour later, Cat said she felt like she wanted to push...so we did and a little bit later, out he came!

And so at 10:10pm last night (August 21st), we delivered Jeremiah August Bluejacket Osborne-Gowey. Papa (Goo, Jeremiah), under the watchful eye of our doctor and the nursing staff, helped deliver him, give him to his mummy, cut the cord (and inspect it), deliver the placenta and inspect it, and bathe/weight/measure the little one. He had a full head of thick, black hair, a single cowlick at the top of his crown, and long fingernails. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 14 ounces (nearly 9 pounds!). His head was 14 1/2 inches around and he was 22 inches long. He seems so delicate and small and yet he was nearly twice as big as Finn when she was born. And let me tell you - when you cook in a water-warm oven for 2+ weeks longer than normal, you come out looking like a wrinkled prune. He was so wrinkly it was comical...especially his feet and hands. Looked like he'd been left in a bathtub for too many days. Too cute!

Papa was again amazed at how tough Cat is (women, in general, really). At one point while in the middle of a particularly large contraction, Cat smiled and winked at the doc and said, I'm not done pushing (with Finn, she was making jokes with the nursing staff during contractions)! Mummy (Cat, Cathleen) was amazed that a nearly 9 pound baby felt no different to deliver than a 5+ pound baby. Auntie Doula was again amazed at how strong and in control Mummy was. The doc was amazed at how well Cat dealt with huge contractions. The nursing staff was amazed at how big a head and heavy he was based on Mummy's laboring (she has such a high pain tolerance that you wouldn't have guessed his size based on her visible pain level). And Finn was amazed that this little creature was finally here and no longer in Mummy's tummy (she was immediately enamored with him). Suffice it to say, the whole thing was a simply amazing event! We fell blessed. And thank you to all those that have been keeping us in your thoughts/prayers over these last several weeks. We so appreciate it (and have felt the good vibes coming our way).

Until we chat again,
Goo, Cat, Finn, and Jeremiah (The Osborne-Gowey Clan)