Asher Jacob Has Arrived!!!....

We'll start with a picture of our sweet new baby boy....

Asher Jacob Cupps was born on August 6th, weighing in at a very small 7lbs 13 oz and 20.75" long.

Now for the story...

Here I am Tuesday morning on our way to the gym...my last gym day before the baby.. Had a fairly good long workout and felt good afterwards.

On Wednesday, my thighs were a bit sore from the leg machines, but nothing too out of the ordinary.

Thursday, I made the spur of the moment decision that we needed to take the kids to the beach as one little "last Hurrah" before our scheduled csection on Friday.

We headed to Crescent Beach and Mason was thrilled to finally be able to go to the beach again(we hadn't been yet this summer).

The water was freezing but it didn't stop him.

James watched the boys play as Becca and I went for a long walk looking for sea glass..

I thought some last belly pics would be fun and wrote the future in the sand "Beach Today, Baby Tomorrow"

Little did I know as I wrote that, that Asher had his own plans!

On our way home from the beach, I started having mild regular spaced contractions. I started quietly timing them... 7 minutes apart.   Hubby noticed them by the time I started timing the 3rd one.  They happened all the way home and continued at home.  I took a shower, got dressed, and did my hair, lol.  Still more contractions, but they weren't terribly painful, just strong.  Hubby was getting concerned and wanted me to call the Dr.  I stalled because I didn't really think it was labor.  I did eventually call but got the answering service... at this time the contractions were 3 minutes apart.  Hubby made me get in the car and we didn't wait for the Dr to call back.  We were headed to the hospital.  The kids texted us that they spoke with the Dr and he was headed to the hospital too.

We got to the hospital, yes, I was having contractions, but things were still undecided what we were doing.  Eventually at around 6:30 it was decided that I would have the csection at 8. The last thing I ate was 3 mini cupcakes at noon(ya, I was being bad) so we had to wait 8 hours before they could operate(since my labor wasn't really that strong, it wasn't an emergency).  

Walked to the OR at 8, got prepped for the spinal, then the spinal(which took a good long while because a resident was doing it), finally flat on the table and everything is ready. They brought James in the room and things started.  All was good on my part until they were trying to get him out. They started pushing so hard on my upper stomach that it made my reflux extremely bad, I got nauseous and threw up a bit. And now have a very dark large bruise around my belly button from it.  But after he was out, I could instantly feel a sense of relief.  

Our Dr let his cord blood drain into him for a bit(just as I had requested) and then popped him over the sheet to show him to me :)

I could tell he was little as I looked over at him on the warming bed, big baby predictions were wrong!

He was remarkably alert for hours...

And incredibly cute!!

  After three hours in recovery, we got moved upstairs to the mother/baby ward...

We had a pretty view looking over Back Cove...

The kids had to wait until the next morning to meet him.... and they all wore their shirts.

Mason was and still is absolutely enamored with him and keeps saying that he is so happy I had a baby.

Daddy is the official diaper changer at the hospital :)  He was really awesome and would take care of Asher in the middle of each night so I could get some sleep.

A little smile caught by the camera :)

 Our Doctor, he has delivered 3 of our babies...

Sweet baby feet...

Last morning at the hospital... getting dressed to go home.

Waiting for daddy to get the car... he is to tiny!

All dressed and ready to go, he was not happy to be put down for the picture.

Snug in his car seat.  He slept all the way home.

And daddy is now very happy to sit with him like this :)

We came home yesterday(Sunday). The kids are all in love with him and want to hold him constantly.  Asher is a champ at nursing and is adjusting well to life at home.  Even our first night at home wasn't that bad, he slept pretty well. I had a horrible headache but it has finally faded, I think it was lack of sleep at the hospital along with a mixture of post baby hormones.

We are headed to the pediatrician this afternoon for a weight check, he dropped down to 7lb 5oz at discharge and was a tad jaundice. I think he is looking better today, so we will see.

So, my little kick boxer decided he didn't want us to pick his birthday, he picked it himself... which just happened to be my Grandma Dodo's birthday, she passed away 9 years ago but he now shares a special day with her.

Love to all,

Tiff