As you may already know from the JRP Newsletter, we are celebrating Motherhood this week in the office (if you didn't receive the newsletter and want to have future posts and updates delivered to your email inbox then click here to subscribe).
Baby Rowan made is debut back in November (so this post is a little um "overdue"), but alas here it finally is! I was privileged to not only document his birth in pictures, but to see him draw his first breath! Do you know how incredible that is? Like reeeeeealy know? Whoa! Being a mother already, I thought I did and yet I stood in complete and utter amazement; totally mesmerized by how God so divinely created women---how our bodies are able to knit together such a miracle that is a newborn child.
I loved reflecting on this amazing moment (and reminisced with a smile on the birth of my own two babies). I continue to pray for those sisters who are unable to conceive or who aren't able to carry a baby to term, and re-embraced my own feminine "supernatural powers" 💛 My sister made me so incredibly proud this day and we are so blessed to have welcomed Rowan Edward into this crazy but loving little family of ours.
So here goes...in Desiree's own words...the story of Rowan's birth...
On November 17th, a little more than a year after I married the love of my life, I met the second love of my life at 4:54 in the afternoon. I can now affirm that “love at first sight” is a real thing and it's true when they say your life will never be the same. Who would have thought that such a little human being could make a person's heart feel so big?
When I found out I was pregnant, I was all gung ho about doing things as naturally as possible; no pain killers or inductions at delivery, I would have even considered a home birth if my health would have allowed it! But, life has other plans sometimes and due to gestational diabetes I was scheduled to be induced, and ultimately I wouldn't change a thing about that day.
My husband and I arrived at the hospital around 6:30am and I was induced at 7am. Things went by very gradually; I took mini naps and watched cartoons (cause I am a little nerdy at heart) while we waited, and my awesome sis, Jessica, was there to document the day as it unfolded. Contractions...ya they're intense. My mom and my husband held my hand through them and things started to feel more intense. Finally at 3pm I had had enough, I was ready for an epidural! So much for going all natural! At last I had progressed enough and it was time to meet my son! Whoa! The moment that was 9 months in the making was finally here. After a just a few pushes, there he was; seven pounds and eleven ounces of the most beautiful, perfect, little human being I had ever seen. I swear my heart grew a hundred times bigger that day.
Not a day goes by that I don't count my blessings that this tiny human was chosen for me and me for him. I'm so glad to be able to share this special moment with all of you, because my sis was there to capture it all.
