Baby's Out!

Saturday at 5:01 AM Michelle gave birth to Jonah/Jared Rackley (we still haven't decided on a name yet). Mama, baby, and family are doing well. Here's what happened:


Michelle woke me up at 4:15 AM Saturday morning. She said Jonah was coming soon and asked for a blessing. She got into the birthing pool set up in the kitchen. I handed her ice and mostly just tried to stay out of the way. It's always amazing to watch Michelle give birth. She is so peaceful, and so focused. She looked at me right before Jared's head came out and said, "It hurts."


At 5:01 AM Jonah was born and promply fell asleep, just like Joshua did. At 6:30 AM, by the time Joshua got up to go to the bathroom, Mama and baby were resting peacefully. Josh saw the birthing pool and asked, "Did Mama have the baby!" He ran to see Jonah. Josie was the next one up. When Josh told her that the baby was here, she said, "Oh, my gosh!" She saw the baby and said, "He totally looks like a Nathan."


Josie and Josh got about an hour with Jared before the Happies got up. Josh told them the baby was here and Adam instinctively knew that he was good looking. Adam said, "Baby so cute." After seeing the baby Isaac ran into the bedroom and announced to Mama, "We found a baby!"


We all had a great time with Jared that morning. Everybody got a chance to hold him and touch him and kiss him and talk to him. It's great to have him here!


We kept Jonah's basket in the red room for most of the day so the kids could be near him. It's hard to do anything else with a new baby in the home. Jacob would crawl up to the basket and just look in. Adam and Isaac would stop to touch him. And Josh couldn't stop himself from kissing the baby every few minutes. And Josie . . . . Josie was in heaven. I think she held Jared more than anyone that day, and the next.

Like Mama said right after Jonah was born: "It's good to hold a baby again."