4.25.2010

Recommitted #1

Ok....so I'm recommitting myself to blogging. Man time goes by fast and I have to say I've thought about doing this almost everyday and just have not had the motivation to get on here. But today is a new day and I am recommitting myself. Hopefully I'll be able to get all caught up and remember all the important details. This is the 1st of my recommittment. I thought it would only be appropriate to start with the most important thing that has happened this year...the birth of our 3rd child...Jordan Mattie Chang. There have been other great things that have happened, but this is the latest and greatest of them all.
I have to first say that making the choice not to know what we were having this time was the best thing I have done. It was hard at times, but in the end the surprise was really fun and special. I truly thought and felt like I was carrying a boy. Some might say it was wishful thinking or denial, but I guess in the end I had no clue. Let's just say the Lord's will be done and it's the last time I tell him what to do.
Jordan was born on April 7th at 11:09 pm (6 days after Chi's birthday...phew!) I knew she would come fast, but man she came really fast. I was having contractions throughout the entire day. Went to my weekly appointment in the afternoon and wasn't dialated or efaced. Took the kids to see "How to Train Your Dragon" after my appointment and then went home and did things as usual. When Johnson got home around 6 things started to pick up. I knew she was either coming that night or tomorrow so Johnson went back to work to finish a note, so that he wouldn't have to worry about it if she did come. At 7:37 the contractions started to get more intense so I had Rayshaun (my niece visiting for spring break) start taking down times. They were all over the place, 5 minutes apart, 12 minutes apart...never consistent. 9:17 was the last contraction she wrote down, which was shortly after Johnson got back home and my mom arrived. I had already put Chi and Bos to bed and so Johnson and I decided we would just head to the hospital and call my mom when I started pushing so she could head over with the kids.
It of course felt like forever getting to the hospital and I honestly thought I was going to have her in the car. We finally made it to a laboring room around 9:45, where in just a few minutes I was checked...fully dialated, water broke and .ready to go! There was no time to move me to a delivery room so the nurses set everything up right there. I know I actually look pleasant here, but I have to say that this delivery was a little emotional for me. I don't know if it was hormones or because I knew the pain I was about to endure or just excited to meet my little boy (what I thought), but I felt weak for some reason and so at this point I asked Johnson to give me a blessing. An impression I had gotten a few days before, but was too prideful to admit these feelings at the time. So we asked the nurses to give us a few minutes alone and Johnson gave me a wonderful blessing of comfort and strength, which eased my anxiety up until the next contraction hit.

Just minutes after that my mom, Malachi, Boston and Rayshaun arrived. The kids were of course a little nervous about mom being all layed up, but didn't have to wonder what was going on for very long because the next contraction was it. They quickly left, keeping them from any mental scars and the nurses almost didn't make it back in the room in time. One push and two push and we had a little girl, she truly came on her own. The momentum of that contraction was amazing. At one point someone told me to stop pushing, but I truly couldn't.
No one knew we didn't know what the sex was and so it took Johnson and I a minute to recover from how fast she came before we realized that we didn't know if we had had a boy or a girl. Johnson took the first peak and I didn't believe him at first, but we had another girl in our hands. I have to admit it was a little shocking...well really shocking and I checked her out probably a dozen times that night just to make sure.
She weighed in at 6 lbs 12 ounces. Just a little thing...thank goodness! Not as little as my midwife thought she was going to be, but small enough.
She also came out very hungry. After the torture of all the immediate things they do to babies after being born, not really sure what they all do. She pretty much nursed for 3 hours straight, which was ok, because then she slept for a good 6 hours.

We look so happy here because we just agreed this is the last one. But like a said before, the Lord's will is stronger than our own...so I guess we'll see. If there is another we will for sure have to make this one a matter of prayer.

I know everyone who knows Boston and her personality may be wondering how she's holding up with another hen in the coop. She is actually doing amazingly well and loves her baby sister. If anything she is very protective, especially when big brother gets too close to her baby while she's holding her.
Grandma is very proud of grandchild #6. We are so grateful she's around to help us. It's amazing to me how things work out. We worried about what's going to happen if the baby comes in the middle of day or middle of the night, but twice now things have worked out perfectly. She's arrived just in the knick of time. She was able to bring the kids to the hospital, stay the night with them and then hang out with them until we got home the next day. We didn't have to worry about the kids missing out on meeting their new sibling right away, finding a babysitter or bothering a neighbor. Thanks mom!
This little boy is really going to have his hands full. Two sisters, what a responsibility. He's got the perfect personality for being the big brother. Already i've seen both his nurturing and protective sides.
Rayshaun did awesome. I still have all the times of contractions she wrote down on my chalk board. I keep meaning to take a picture of it. She thought seeing a birth would make her pass out, but she didn't. Not even when the nurse gave us a little anatomy lesson on the placenta. I'm really grateful Tamu and Keith sent her out to stay with us. She was a big help and Boston absolutely adored her.
So there it is. The first entry of "Recommitted." Jordan Mattie Chang. We didn't even have a girl name picked out. Johnson must of searched the web for 2 hours that night. We almost went with the lactation nurses suggestion and drew a name from a hat. But right before we packed up we agreed on Jordan...a city in Utah or the middle East, whichever you prefer and Mattie...after my grandmother and our kids only living great grandparent.
I may have been in denial while pregnant and surprised when she arrived, but nothing is more certain than the love that I have for this little angel. Everytime I catch her gaze and look deep in those beautiful brown eyes I see something very special about Jordan. Heavenly Father has blessed me to be her mother and I know this little girl is part of His eternal plan for me.