Baby Jonathan is here!

On February 5 at 5:19pm we welcomed Jonathan Merrill Patterson Jr. into the world! He was a healthy (and surprising!) 8 lbs 9 oz and 20 and 1/4 inches long! We came to the hospital on Wednesday night to be induced and things started off well. By early afternoon on Thursday, however, we realized that he was going to be too big to come out naturally. So we prepared ourselves for a c-section. No, this wasn't our ideal plan but God really provided us with His peace in making this decision with my doctor. The section went wonderfully and Jonathan came out without any problems. The recovery wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated, and I was moving around comfortably again in about a week. Even though the delivery looked completely different than we had planned, the whole experience was wonderful and filled with love and support from our family, friends and my sweet friends at work. God blessed the whole experience from beginning to end and I wouldn't change a thing!
After some breastfeeding difficulties I was nervous about him gaining enough weight, but at his 1 week checkup he weighed 8-12! His pediatrician was very proud and said he was exceeding his goals and was a very healthy little boy! We're now all doing well and getting adjusted to our new lives. We've learned the importance of swaddling (it's amazing!) and how to put makeup on while holding a baby, among MANY other lessons! :) Thank you to everyone for all of your thoughts, calls and prayers. Remember us as we continue to settle in and learn more about each other!

Thursday's the day!

We had another uneventful visit to the doctor yesterday, so it looks like Thursday's the big day! I'll be 40 weeks and 1 day then and I think that's long enough for him to have inside his mommy! I've had a WONDERFUL pregnancy and have really enjoyed all of it, but I'm ready to hold him and see what he looks like! :) Induction isn't our first choice but we know that God is in control and we're trusting Him with our decisions and our doctor's wisdom. We didn't want to wait much longer after the due date because it could cause him to have some problems, so Thursday it is! Please keep us in your prayers...just because I'm ready for him to be here doesn't mean that I'm any less nervous about the process of him getting here! JP will send out phone calls and text messages and we'll post pictures as soon as possible!

Baby update

We had another doctor's appointment today with VERY little changes, unfortunately! :( I'm still not dilated any but she said that he had dropped some, so that's a good sign. Because she doesn't want me to go much longer than my due date, for the baby's health, we have set up an induction date. If he doesn't come before, we will go to the hospital late Wednesday night, Feb. 4 (his due date) and plan on having him Thursday, Feb. 5! Induction wasn't really our first choice, but we've been praying about the possibility of it and are trusting that God is in control of it all! We're definitely excited to finally have a finish line in sight, even if he does decide to come on his own during these next 10 days. We'll still go to the doctor next Monday but that seems to be the plan for now. We'll keep everyone posted with any updates we have! Here are some pictures of the completed nursery and the newest belly pictures that we took this past weekend.

Still waiting...

So I'm apparently a big slacker and haven't written any updates in quite some time...here it goes! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Christmas, 3rd wedding anniversary, and even a snowy December day in New Orleans over the past few months! We've gotten the nursery ready, the car seat strapped in and are now just anxiously awaiting Jonathan's big arrival! We last went to the doctor on Monday January 19th and I'm still not dilated at all. :( She did tell me that I'm "softening" and getting ready though so that made me feel better! We'll go back to the doctor this coming Monday to get another update. The plan right now is to just let God bring Jonathan out when he's good and ready, so we'll see how it goes! My doctor doesn't want me to wait any longer than 41 weeks though so if nothing happens by then (oh Lord!) then we'll probably be induced.
That's the story for now...still waiting! I am still working, by the way. It's definitely getting harder but I only have to walk down the hall if I go into labor! I'm only scheduled for 3 more shifts before my due date, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings if I had to miss those!
Even though we were initially discouraged by our update of "no dilation" on Monday, we later understood the sovereignty of our great God in it. We found out after going to the doctor that JP's grandmother had passed away and he needed to go to Birmingham for the funeral. My father brought my mother down to stay with me, "just in case", and he made a very quick trip to Birmingham for a few days. Fortunately, JP was able to spend time with his family and get back to us before anything eventful happened. It just amazes me over and over how God's hand has been so instrumental in every second of Jonathan's existence so far, and he's not even born yet! Psalm 139 could not be more meaningful to us right now!
Sorry for the long post, but I had a lot to say! :) I'll try to post pictures of the nursery very soon and hopefully pictures of a little boy too!

Jonathan Jr's first photos

Today we were able to do a 4D ultrasound and got our first glimpse of Jonathan Jr! We happen to think he's pretty cute, and I'm sure we're not biased! My mom thinks he looks like JP. Our friend Justin said he could see a little bit of his mom too, which made me happy! :) I'm really not good at deciding who babies look like, so here's a few of the best ones so you can decide for yourself!

All 5 toes on that foot!

He was trying to talk to us!

Pregnancy happiness and belly pictures

We were SO happy when we found out in June that God was going to bless us with a child! This is just one of many examples in our lives of God's faithfulness. My pregnancy has been really good for the most part. The first trimester was tough, as it apparently is for most people, but I only got sick once so I can't really complain! All of our ultrasounds, lab results, and doctor's visits have been terrific, which we know is a blessing. We're just so thankful that God is keeping little Jonathan safe and sound until his big debut! Now we're just trying to prepare (mentally and physically!) for him to come.

Here are a few belly pictures for everyone to see. I wasn't thrilled about taking them, but I hear that after the baby is here I will want to look back at these pictures for some reason. I'm trusting others who have gone before me! The top one was taken in Nashville while I was with some friends on Nov. 8 and I was 27 weeks. The other one was taken at Alabama's homecoming game on Nov. 1 and I was 26 weeks at the time.