Welcome to the Family, David

I've been too busy enjoying newborn snuggles {and fighting sleep deprivation!} to have updated my space here. It's far past time to introduce the newest love of our lives:

David Robert Perry
Born March 31, 2016
9:38 am
8 lbs 8 oz
20.5 inches

David, born at 39 weeks and 4 days

David came out in an awful hurry, and thankfully I delivered him in the natural birthing center in our hospital, but only just! That will be my next post, to share David's birth story.

Besides David's grand entrance to the world, the week of his arrival contained its fair share of drama. After keeping our family healthy all winter long, Makenna became sick with a fever on Tuesday {David was born on Thursday}. I also came down with a scratchy throat and cough on Tuesday evening. Makenna was diagnosed with croup and on Wednesday morning, Matt took Makenna to the ER for a breathing treatment since her breathing had become too labored. Matt explained to the doctors they saw about Makenna's illness coinciding with the impending arrival of our second born, and they all stressed the importance of Makenna staying away from her newborn brother until her symptoms subsided. I was extremely stressed by what was occuring! When I was at my weekly OB appointment on Tuesday, my membranes had been stripped in an effort to bring on labor, so I was very worried about the timing of all of this.

We basically needed Makenna out of our house. for the safety of our baby about to arrive. So, my mom was our hero and drove over four hours to our house Wednesday afternoon, picked up Makenna, and turned around and drove our sweet girl another four hours back to her home in Indianapolis.

The timing was perfect for Makenna to be taken away, as David was born about 18 hours after Makenna left with my mom. And by God's grace, my own symptoms were not getting worse--I mostly felt as if I had a mild cold.

In retrospect, we can see God's hand in how the week played out, with Makenna's sickness requiring her to be taken away. We had originally planned that Matt's dad would drive over to stay with Makenna once I went into labor. Matt's parents live just under 2 hours away, so we of course had local friends who were on stand-by as backup. However, with the way my labor played out, especially how quickly it went, we realized Matt's dad would not have made it in time to watch Makenna for us, and our local friends were also occupied those morning hours. Thus, we've concluded that because Matt would have needed to stay with Makenna, and David came out so quickly, that its highly likely Matt would have missed David's birth before someone arrived to watch Makenna for us. God works in mysterious ways! He was certainly watching out for us and we are so thankful.

David is such a special little guy! At 8 lbs 8 oz, David weighed almost 2.5 more than Makenna did at birth {6 lbs 2 oz}. He is stocky and super strong! Even his forearms have rolls, which makes him look a bit like Popeye. He has the best chubby cheeks that are oh-so-kissable. He LOVES to eat and in his first month of life gained nearly three pounds!

David is named after Matt's dad, Dave, and after my dad, Bob. It was a joy for me to give him the middle name Robert, especially since both my brother and sister have had sons whom they have also given the middle names Robert after my dad. So I was privileged to be given a son to complete this circle!

Makenna was well enough to meet David when he was three days old. And now, we are all adjusting really well to becoming a family of four! David has been a relatively easy-going baby and that is a huge part of it. Makenna also adores being a big sister. She just loves David and thinks he is the cutest thing ever. {We'll see how long that lasts, once he becomes mobile and starts touching all of her things!} But for now, she loves helping take care of him, kissing him, reading to him, and snuggling him. Be still my heart!

It truly feels as though David has helped to complete our little family. He has already filled our lives and hearts with more joy than we ever could have imagined! He's seven weeks old as of today and we can't believe how much he's grown and changed in these few weeks. He's mostly wearing 3 month clothing and we are about ready to move him up to size 2 diapers. He's started smiling now and is very responsive to interaction, giving us lots of coos and gurgles. We just can't get enough of this little man!

I'm so excited to watch his little personality develop. He's already such a sweetie pie and my mother's heart is just beaming with pride. Thank you, Jesus, for our incredible blessing!