John Cole Parker is BORN!

John Cole Parker was born on Tuesday November 22, 2011 at 4:47 pm weighing in at 7 pounds 1 ounce and measuring 19 inches!

My labor story is quite long and involved--it would be one for me to tell you in person--but the synopsis is that I started the early processes of labor on Monday night, went to the hospital in the wee hours Tuesday morning, almost had them send me home, started progressing, had some amniotic fluid leak (water breaking) then Dr. LeBleu said "Let's have a baby today!" The only real pain I experienced was after my water was broken before I had the epidural. After the drugs, it was a very moving and wonderful experience that I will never forget!

John Cole is absolutely perfect! Now, I am not naive enough to believe he is not going to find his lungs, but right now he is an absolute DREAM of a newborn. He nursed vigorously right out of the womb, and aside from a long stretch of sleep right after he was circumcised, he continues to be a CHAMP at feeding. It's funny--he won't EVEN let me help him latch on--he has to do it HIMSELF. Too cute! We are not sure who he looks like just yet...a little like his big brother...but then yet not. All I know for sure is that I am completely in LOVE with him :)

Many thanks to Aunt K-K for coming over in the middle of the night so we wouldn't have to wake Preston when we went to the hospital AND for keeping him all day while I was in labor. And also thanks to Nana and Pop who still have Preston--kept him during our entire hospital stay and are bringing him back sometime this weekend--so Jeff and I can establish some sense of normalcy before brining an ACTIVE toddler back into the mix :)

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! I am sure I will be blogging a lot about John Cole's first days so stay tuned.....