Welcome welcome

After what seemed the longest pregnancy in the world Jackson Jeffrey Sucher finally made his appearance in the world.  He can on the 23rd at 4:05 p.m.; he was 7 pounds 2 ounces, 20 inches long and perfect.

I was due the 22nd and though for sure I would come early because I had been having painful contractions all month.  My sweet friends threw me a surprise baby shower on Friday, two days before his due date, and at that point I told them I couldn't have him on time because Morgan's primary program was two days away and I was going to be there, I would not miss it.  She had her first speaking part and she had been so good about memorizing it.  SO, my due date, Saturday, came and went with nothing to exciting happening.  We went to my brother and sister-in-laws house that evening to hang out and thirty minutes later Jeff and my brother Ben decided they were going to go shopping and they were going to be gone for only an hour...about four hours later they showed up.  Don't get me wrong I LOVE my sister in law and we had fun but I was wanting to go party before this baby came!  It is a good thing Jeff told me what they were really going to do so I wasn't TOO upset!  :)  It was almost my brothers anniversary and he needed help getting a nice gift for my sister in law, Christina.  SO that is how we spent the day on my due date.

The following morning was Sunday, the day of the primary program.  I woke up and was getting ready for church like usual.  I was having some cramping but nothing to crazy, but enough to tell Jeff to put our hospital bag in the car just in case ( I tend to come really fast so I didn't want to not be ready).  It was funny, that morning Jeff asked me how we should spell his name.  He decided quite a few months prior that Jackson would be his name and he was going to spell it Jaxon.  I LOVE the name Jackson but I was hesitant because it is a popular name right now.  ANYWAY, to make this random tangent even longer, he asked the world of Facebook how we should spell his name before I was even experiencing cramping...I just thought it was ironic.  SO, we left for church with a little cramping but it seemed to stop once we were there.  I was able to see Morgan do her part, and she did great, it was a proud mommy moment.  I tried going to class but everyone stopped to ask me when I was due-one of my favorite parts of being uber pregnant, not really.  After sacrament I got a text from my sister telling me it was ok to go into labor because the program was over.  I thought it was funny.

After church we got loaded in the car and took off.  About one or two minutes later I had a contraction.  I thought hmmm, was that for real.  Five minutes later another one.  I thought, hmmm maybe I should time these.  Another five minutes later another.  Then they went to about three minutes and then to two...I thought there was no way I was really in labor, I was supposed to have contractions five minutes apart for an hour THEN go to the doctor.  SO then I thought, oh crap.  We have to to NOW, I have to call my sister in law to come get the kids!  So they ran over from church to grab the kids and give me a blessing.  My brother was trying to be sweet and grabbed my shoulders and asked if I was excited and I told him not to touch me (I was in the middle of a contraction and it does NOT feel good to be touched)  :)  So we took off to the hospital.

On the way to the hospital my contractions stopped coming for a few minutes and I thought REALLY?  This is number four shouldn't I know by now what labor is?  I was getting really embarrassed, but I KNEW what I was feeling were real contractions.  They hurt.  Bad.  After that random break my contractions came on again almost without a break.  We made it to the hospital and finally were checked in and we headed to a room to get changed.  The sweet nurse wanted me to get changed and go give a urine sample.  I wanted to scream.  I just kept telling her to call the anesthesiologist.  A minute later an older (more experienced) nurse came in and told me to forget about it and she was getting me in my room now.  Once we got there she checked me and I was at an 8.5.  She called the anesthesiologist.

He seemed to take his sweet time.  :)  After the epidural was in I was exhausted.  Then I started to feel something.  I could feel pain on my left side!  I was shocked!!!  I felt like I had to push but I kept pushing the button for more medicine because it hurt.  The nurse told me to lay on the left side but that did nothing.  Finally I couldn't not push.  About ten or fifteen minutes later I was holding our precious boy.

So from start to finish I was in labor about three and a half hours.  I shouldn't complain (Whitney was three hours too) but those hours are SO intense...sometimes I wish it lasted a little longer.  Don't get me wrong, I am SUPER grateful to be able to have kids and that they have been healthy and that I am not in labor for 20 hours, but I feel like it is SO intense that it takes days to register what happened.

Jeff had to leave two days after Jackson was born for work, then my Mom came later that week.  SO it was a crazy start but it was nice to have my Mom here.  I wasn't expecting her to come and once she was here I wasn't sure I could do it after she left! :)  I am so grateful she was able to come and help me adjust and get life figured out with four!!! 

Now it is almost two months later and I am still exhausted. :)  The transition to four was not hard, the transition to three was much more difficult.  The hard thing is that he is a little fussy and is not on any sort of schedule.  The older three have been really good until the last two weeks or so.  I think that Whitney and Nikki realized he isn't going anywhere.  But we are working through it and things with Jackson are getting a little easier.  SO, baby steps right?