Jack Earl Roberts

Okay, so I lied. It was only 1 day away. Jack Earl Roberts decided to come Tuesday, August 23, 2011 instead of Friday, Aug. 26th. It was always up to him anyways. I woke up Tuesday morning feeling like I normally have - tired, drained and big. Ellie has been sick, so we were watching some japanese cartoons. After about 30 minutes, I decided to get up. It was really hard to sit up. I could barely do it. I felt crampy and really achy. I went downstairs to sit on the couch and kept changing positions, walking around, but it didn't help. I didn't think they were contractions because it was constant pain and pressure. After about an hour and a half, Nick called the nurse and told them what was going on. She called back and said to go to the hospital and to go to admitting. Once I got there they monitored me and checked my cervix. Sure enough, it was contractions, I was 1-2 dilated and she felt the head. YIKES! I was a little freaked out then, because feeling the baby's head is kind of a big sign that he is ready to come out. From then on they prepped me, set me up in a room and we waited for Dr. Raman.

It was all going pretty well until the anesthesiologist poked me with the spinal shot. He poked several times, twice where I thought my right leg would be paralyzed. It hurt more than anything, but at least it only lasted a few seconds (nothing compared to labor, I'm sure).

It was only 15-20 minutes until Jack was born. They were taking awhile to clean him up before they brought him over to me, right before this one of the nurses came and told me that Jack had a small birth mark on his right temple. I wasn't concerned or really didn't think it was a big deal.  After talking to the pediatrician we learned that it is a small birth mark called congenital nevus.  Jack's is about 1.5 cm and pretty dark. It looks almost like someone took a black marker and marked it.  We've done a lot of research and will be meeting with a cosmetic surgeon at Children's to get a consultation. Most likely it will be surgically removed, not only because of cosmetic reasons, but because of the risk of developing melanoma cancer. It isn't something that will go away on it's own or fade like some small birth marks, it will only grow with him. Right now it's kind of fuzzy and cute, but I don't think Jack will want it! I will post some pictures of it as soon as I download the pictures off my camera. Below is a picture of Jack right after his sponge bath in the hospital. I think I wrote enough for now, but I have a lot more to catch up on... it's almost been a week!