Jane: God is Gracious

Jane’s arrival in our family is a miracle.  After years of longing to hold another sweet baby and being told we had a  1% chance of conceiving on our own, we had given up.  Then, only 2 months after that devastating news,  we found out that we were expecting.

Here I am with Stephen and Boston at 28 weeks and 6 days – the night before my scheduled c-section. 


Boston has been my baby for so long (almost 4 years) that this moment is a little bitter sweet.


All ready for surgery!  It is so weird waiting around for a c-section. 

One minute until 9:00!

It is hard to describe the feeling of waiting for the doctor to get the baby out during a c-section.  The anticipation is intense and unlike a normal delivery (when you are pushing) I have no control over what the exact moment will be when she comes.  Scott and I just kept looking at each other with excited eyes and Scott kept peeking over the sheet to see the progress.  Jane was breech when they started the c-section and as Dr. Jarem went to pull Jane out, she suddenly turned sideways and tried to move away from the doctor’s hands!  I could feel her wiggling around inside of me – right up in my ribs.  The doctors were kind of laughing and then finally they pulled her out, bottom first!  She cried and Scott reassured me that she was really a girl (I had a secret phobia that she would be a boy and all my hours of sewing would be wasted).

The first thing I said when I saw her was “oh, she’s so GROSS!”  Ha ha!  I don’t remember the boys beings so slimy but I am sure they were.

I noticed that she was licking her lips and that she looked like Boston.






We named her Jane Erva Smith.  Her name means “God is gracious,” and it describes the way I feel about my Heavenly Father and His love for me in sending her to me.  Her middle name is after my Dad’s Mother, who passed away when he was seven.  From the stories my Dad and his siblings tell of her, she is an amazing example of strength and kindness.  We originally planned to name our baby “Jane Camilla” but it never felt quite right.  (And I felt weird naming someone after me.)  About a week before Jane was born we were talking about her name and we started discussing her middle name.  Because it is such an unusual and slightly odd name, I had dismissed it but for some reason it kept coming into my head.  I made it a matter of prayer and felt that it was a good name for my sweet baby.  I imagine that Jane and her Great Grandma Erva were friends and maybe have a special relationship.  In any case, she is named after a great woman.


Licking those lips again…


Jane weighed 9 lbs 8.9 oz and was 21 3/4 inches long.

She has nice long fingers and toes.





Shortly after these pictures I started throwing up, I threw up more times than I would like to count throughout the rest of the day.  Even the movement of the bed going up or down made me throw up.  The medicine they gave me in the spinal block was sooooo powerful and it made me incredibly nauseous, sleepy, and itchy.  I hardly remember the rest of this first day because I kept dozing off. 



I loved watching Stephen and Boston meet Jane for the first time.  They were enamored with her.








Jane with Grandma Smith…Jane is licking her lips again.


We had to bribe Boston to hold Jane.  Ha ha!



I love this one… 



Me and the boys…see how red my nose is from rubbing it??


Our first family photo:


Grandma and Grandpa Quist with Jane:

We just told my parents that we had named Jane after Grandma Erva.  It was a surprise to them and I think my Dad was pleased.


Here is Jane trying on a bow for the first time.  Judging by the look on her face and the finger she is showing, I don’t think Jane is a fan.


She is still not a fan. :)

The hospital treated us to a steak and shrimp dinner.  It was pretty good!
 
We were only in the hospital for two nights. That is plenty for me, especially with this being my third c-section.   Scott stayed the first night with Jane and I and then my Mom stayed with us the next night. I have learned by past experience that I don’t do well when left on my own with a new baby in the hospital at night. Hormones tend to cause some pretty crazy crying and freak-outs. I am so grateful for my sweet family and all of their help. 
Jane would not sleep the first night in the hospital.  She kept crying out and we couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her.  It was a horrible night.  The next day the pediatrician suggested that Jane might be feeling a bit hungry even though she was nursing like a champ.  Apparently big babies are hungrier.  I didn’t want to give her formula but we were ready to try anything so we plugged the bottle in and Jane guzzled the whole thing in less than five minutes!  I cried because I felt so bad that she was that hungry.  After only a day of giving her a bottle, my milk came in and she was fine with exclusively nursing.

Here we are waiting for them to come discharge me!