Family of Four

After what ended up being a long night of hardly any sleep, and going through multiple bags of IV's and just about an entire bag of Pitocin... we were beginning to wonder if this kid was ever going to come out! Jei was definitely a trooper, and although she wasn't feeling any pain at all, she was very patient and calm, but at the same time super anxious to get that baby out! 

Our doctor finally made an appearance early that morning and asked how everything was going... but more importantly, asked if Jei wanted an epidural. During her pregnancy with Allen, Jei found out just how painful giving birth really is, and experiencing that pain for a second time was clearly not an option. Needless to say, she vehemently agreed to the epidural and hoped, prayed, knocked on wood and crossed her fingers that it would work this time.     

Not long after our doctor left the room, the epidural doctor showed up to make sure none of that pain nonsense was going to interfere with all the fun. As it was during the delivery of Allen, we were once again extraordinarily blessed with really friendly and funny doctors and nurses! I'm sure Jei could've done without all the humor as she was getting poked & prodded and ready to give birth... but I'd like to think it helped just a little in getting her mind off the impending pain & uncomfortableness.   

Once the epidural was in and flowing, our doctor came in again at around 8 in the morning to manually break Jei's water. He then left, thinking he would have plenty of time before it was go-time with Jei, to go take care of a scheduled C-section down the hall. But much to everyone's surprise, the C-section was the one that had to wait and the doctor was called right back in. At 8:22, after two good pushes... and then one really hard push, an 8 pound - 7.3 ounce little baby boy named Jack Jefferson made his grand entrance!  

As compared to the delivery of Allen... Jack's was just about the polar opposite. It started so quickly and happened so fast with so much excitement that I didn't take any video and hardly had a chance to take any pictures (thank God for Momma Soch being there)! Whereas Allen needed to be vacuumed-out... Jack came out nice and easy. And while Jei writhed in agony and pain with Allen... after one tough uncomfortable push, it was all over with Jack!   

Sure, it was a long night and a long wait... but it was definitely worth it! The delivery could not have gone any better, and Jack could not have been any calmer than he was when he finally was able to get a good stretch in. 

A very happy & proud Daddy! Definitely not as emotional as I was with Allen... but I'm guessing that was because Jei wasn't screaming in pain and about to punch me, and the fact that Jack came out so darn fast!

Reunited at last! Still boggles my mind though that just 10 minutes prior, that little guy was crammed inside Jei's belly.

A truly magical moment...

welcoming our new family member!

It didn't take long for Jei to recover, relax,

and want some serious momma-time with her new son.

Of course Wela waited very patiently while Jei & I got to meet and say hello to Jack, but eventually, it was time to say goodbye and hand the little guy over!

"Well hello there Mr. Jack! My name is 'Spoiled-Rotten'... because I have 10 other grandchildren who are just as cute and precious as you are!"

Jack's little feet certainly look bigger here on paper...

cause when they're in your hands, they are super tiny.

After his monumental entrance, the big meet & greet, and then a nice sponge bath, poor little Jack was all tuckered out and needed some shut-eye. 

Not to worry...

there's a fifth little finger in there somewhere!

Momma... enjoying her sweet sleeping little angel.

Gotta love technology... cause between Skype, FaceTime, Instagram, Text Messages, and Facebook, the big news definitely wasn't kept a secret! Moe-Joe & Dad-Oh, at home taking care of Allen, were certainly included in the loop... and when it was finally time for the three of them to come visit that morning, I went downstairs, took Allen's hand, and brought him upstairs to meet his little brother for the first time.

It took a while for Allen to understand what was going on and of course to warm up to Jack... but there was definitely no need for any warming-up time for Moe-Joe & Dad-Oh when they got their chance to meet their fourth grandson.

Unfortunately, Jack was sound asleep by the time Moe-Joe got her hands on him... but something tells me she could not have cared any less!

I'm sure it was torture for Moe-Joe to sit at home, 10 minutes from the hospital, knowing that her new grandson had just been born... 

But she took full advantage of her allotted time with her new sleeping baby boy and held him until we literally had to pry him from her arms!

Okay, so we really didn't want a December baby... but now that he's here and we just have to live with it now, I have to say... it worked out pretty darn well if you ask me. We got to spend Christmas with Moe-Joe & Dad-Oh, and they got to meet their new grandson on his birthday! We were so happy they could be there with us to enjoy such a magnificent day. 

Jei & Allen getting a big kick watching

Moe-Joe & Dad-Oh hold and love on baby Jack.

We somehow got Moe-Joe to lay Jack down to nap some more... while Jei got in a good hot meal, and Allen told us how much fun he had playing with Moe-Joe & Dad-Oh at home the previous night.

She just couldn't resist!

Of course there was no way any of us could blame her.

I could've sworn I heard him say something about promising to clean out his garage back home... which makes sense, because the next thing I knew Dad-Oh was holding Jack for the first time.

But that of course didn't last very long...

for I think Moe-Joe traded him a big Bubba for a small one! 

With all the grandparents and his big brother out of his face and all at home for the evening, Jack finally had some time with just the two of us... and was able to get some good sleep, much to our delight.

With just the three of us spending the night in the hospital that night, waking up to feed, change, and walk Jack around the empty halls at night, it sure did give us a bit of deja vu and bring back some fond memories of when we did the exact same thing with Allen a little over two years ago. 

It was a long and tiring 24-plus hours... but with all the excitement, happiness and amazing joy that comes with bringing in a new life into our world, we only realized it when everyone was gone and it was just the three of us in our little room. And if a long, sleep deprived, exhausting day was the only way we were going to make our family of three turn into a family of four... then we'll happily accept! 

Introducing...

Jack Jefferson Etheridge

I must admit... naming this little booger wasn't easy! We both honestly expected a girl, and not that we had a girl's name picked out already (boy was that going to be a fight!), but a viable boy's name just never popped into our heads at all. So when we found out a boy's name was what we were going to have to come up with... we were blank! I partly blame my sister, since she had her two kids first, she obviously had first pick of names... and two of the better (significant) names in the family, Hampton & Sam, were snatched up (rightfully so) well before our little family had even begun! 

And then I suppose I put the other half of the blame on Jei. You see when Jei & I were trying to name Allen, 'Allen' was the front runner from the beginning. But it never did sit well with me that we were going to use 'Jess' for his middle name... even though I loved the two names together and how it sounded. My dream or vision if you will... was to have two sons named after their late Uncles, one named Allen and the other named Jess. Obviously, if we used Jess in Allen's name, we couldn't very well have used it again as a first name for another boy (we would've been "those" parents!). 

I of course made my argument, and although it certainly was a valid one, Jei's "50/50" argument, one that stated that we only have a 50 percent chance that our second child is going to be a boy... so what happens if we end up having a girl and we never have the chance to use the name 'Jess', ...ultimately beat out my argument and won! In the end, Murphy's Law prevailed and a second son is exactly what we got. Naturally, I suggested 'Jess Allen' as a potential name candidate... but it got shot down rather quickly (for obvious reasons). 

So with Jess, Hampton, and Sam all out of the question... we weren't real sure what we were left with. We had already decided that his name was going to come from the 'Gringo' side of the family (we just didn't see "Jesus Epifanio Etheridge" working very well!). Actually, there were a few good names on Jei's side, but just like with my sibling, hers got first choice of all the good ones! With all that being said, we were obviously left with a very limited pool of names to work with. Well actually, after breaking out both paternal & maternal family tree books for ideas, there were plenty of good names to choose from... just none that really tugged on our hearts.

Back when we were trying to name Allen, and arguing back and forth about whether to use the name Jess or not... one name in particular kept popping up as a potential substitute in case I ended up winning the 'Jess' argument. Moe-Joe's father's name was Jackie, and although it would probably be considered more of a girl's name in this day & age... Jei & I still really liked it, so much so that Allen was almost named "Jackie Allen". So once again, a little over two years later, and we were still tossing around the idea of naming our son 'Jackie'.

My Grandfather, Jackie Coogan Ferrell, proudly served in the United States Navy. Unfortunately, I don't know too much more about him... for he passed away from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease when I was little - and long before I had the chance to know him.

I can't say I can recall any good stories about Jackie or his life... but just from being in the family and hearing my mother talk about him, I know that he was a good man who loved his wife and his two children very much, and who died way too early in life. (Jackie and his daughter, "Moe-Joe", at her wedding.)

As you can see from the picture below, Jackie lived long enough to see his Grandson (me) be born. I of course don't remember him, but it makes me happy to know that he was able to meet, hold, and play with me as a baby. Judging by how much I loved and enjoyed being around his wife as I grew up, I'm sure I would've had the same feelings for Jackie, and am sad that I never had the chance.

Early on in his life, everyone called him Jackie... but as he got older, he shortened it up to just 'Jack'. I only found that out recently when I told Moe-Joe that 'Jackie' was in the list of potential names. I honestly liked the name Jackie a lot and really wanted to name my son after his Great Grandfather, but always thought it was a bit too girly. Neither of us wanted to have him bullied and made fun of in school over his name... but at the same time, he sure would've grown up to be one tough S.O.B.! ("A Boy Named Sue") But after finding out that he eventually went by 'Jack' in his elder years, Jei & I had a new very doable name to consider.

Jei absolutely loved it, but I actually wasn't too fond of it in the beginning. But as time went by and no other brilliant name that we both loved came up, Jack was definitely beginning to sound better and better. In the end, Jack just seemed like the perfect fit, especially when he made his grand entrance at the hospital. The way Allen looked like an 'Allen', Jack most definitely looked like a 'Jack'! It was certainly more frustrating and it took longer than we had hoped, but Jei & I finally found the perfect name for our new son... and we could not feel more blessed to have named him after his Great Grandfather and to have honored such a great man.    

Now, I'm sure you are all wondering where on Earth we got 'Jefferson' from... and if it's another long story like the one above, then you probably don't want to know! Fortunately, that story is short & sweet... however uninspiring it might be. We were going back & forth for what seemed like forever with a few names for Jack's middle name, but nothing really flowed the way we wanted it to. And then one day while I was at work and surfing the web (your tax dollars hard at work!), I stumbled upon a headline that sounded quite intriguing.

Of course I didn't save the article and have since tried to find it again without any luck, so I don't remember exactly how it read, but it had to do with five of the most *BLANK* names in American history. Again, I can't seem to remember exactly what the "blank" was about... but I think it had something to do with leadership. Anyway, I was intrigued about what five names would be on that list, after all, we needed all the help and ideas we could get at that point! Of course if I can't remember what the article was about... then surely I'm not going to remember any of the other names mentioned in the article, so I apologize if this story really sucks!

Obviously, 'Jefferson' was on the list and right away I liked it and immediately paired it up with Jack just to see how it sounded. I of course loved it and couldn't wait to tell Jei about it and see what she thought. That evening I told Jei about the name and much to my surprise she didn't hate it, but actually liked it enough to send it straight to the top of the list! By then it was pretty late in the pregnancy and we didn't have a lot of time to sit and think about it, so Jei pretty much left the big decision up to me. Like I said, I really liked the name but there was something about it that was bothering me. 

John Hampton, Sam Aulden, and Allen Jess... all of Moe-Joe & Dad-Oh's grandkids have family names... except for one. Jefferson wasn't anywhere in my family tree, and it certainly wasn't in Jei's... so even though Jei was okay with it, it just wasn't sitting well with me that we were going to break tradition and use a non-family name. I think if we had a really good second choice that we liked, which happened to be in the family, we probably would've used that one instead. But we didn't, so when it finally came time to decide on his name... as in we're in the hospital with birth certificate papers in front of us, we both agreed that Jefferson was not only going to be his middle name... but a new family name as well. 

The Waiting Game

Christmas came and went... without any signs that baby was ready to come out. So in meantime, we relaxed, played games, and enjoyed each other's company.

Jei was so ready to have that baby out of her belly already, but with it being pretty much out of her control, she kept her spirits high and made sure baby was well feed!

Three days after Christmas and Dad-Oh & Allen just couldn't wait any longer... so they snuck out of the house and headed up to Vegas! Luckily, I caught them backing out of the driveway and convinced them to go with us to the park instead.

Just like his Moe-Joe...

Allen was happy to be outside and playing!

With some amazing weather, hanging out at the park

together was a great way to pass the time!

39 weeks pregnant, a little brother on the way, and an entire family anxiously awaiting. But the good news was that there definitely wasn't going to be a 40th week and we wouldn't all have to wait much longer!

Jei's doctor had scheduled her for an induction later on that same evening. It was definitely exciting... knowing that our little guy could potentially make his appearance that very night! So exciting in fact, that it deserved a yummy drink - and of course a toast! 

After many days of waiting and wondering if this was going to be the day... we finally got the call from the hospital telling us to come on in. Jei & I grabbed our bags, gave hugs & kisses to Moe-Joe, Dad-Oh & Allen, and then left with Momma Soch to the hospital to go have a baby!

It was an extremely surreal experience! Going to the same hospital, waiting in the same waiting room and sitting next to Jei on the same bench and having Sochi there with us like we did with Allen a little over two years ago. Definitely a lot of 2-year-old memories coming back... some good (me holding Allen for the first time) and some bad (Jei going through labor)!  

After what seemed like the longest wait ever, we finally made it up to our room where Jei was instructed to put on her ever-so-elegant evening gown.

"Babe, I'm telling you... 

this gown does not make you look fat! Trust me!"

A little over an hour after checking in, Jei got dressed, hooked up, and settled in... all with a smile on her face, and eager to get the show on the road - so to speak.

"Why aren't you writing this down!!! Remember... a Double-Double, whole grilled onion, two orders of fries, a large Sprite, and a chocolate milk shake! Got it?!?"

According to Jei, "Baby" was starving!!!

We had the room to ourselves, which was just big enough so that Momma Soch and I could sit comfortably, eat our food, make fun of Jei, and play the waiting game!

Sweet Jei finally got her Pitocin flowing a few hours before midnight... which meant it was all a matter of time. Silly us though, as we all thought it was going to happen rather rapidly, but much to our dismay, we were wrong... and a very long night lay ahead of us! But for all the long waiting we ended up having to endure... whether we knew it or not, it would totally be worth it!