Alexander Jack Newman has arrived!

Hi Friends and Family,

We (Jeff & Lisa) are thrilled to share with you the miraculous news that our son has arrived and is home with us!

It has been a challenging but beautiful time for us as a family.

Wednesday the 19th Lisa went into labor with some more of the same contractions she's been having since she was put on bedrest. Rather than rushing to the hospital, she waited to see if the labor would stall as it had in the past. What happened instead was the labor progressed. In the late afternoon the contractions started coming more frequently and when Jeff came home from work he got busy being the coach (making dinner and counting contractions). Lisa called triage and they told her to wait until she had "toe-curling" pain for two hours before coming in (Lisa has decided in the future to trust her instincts instead!). After ten minutes of these new sensations, she decided it was time to go. Lisa was checked into the labor and delivery room at 8:30pm. When the broke the water it was evident that little Alex had a bowel movement and was under distress. Lisa dilated to 10cm in less than an hour (Praise God for the epidural!!!) and was told it was time to start practicing for the real deal. After two practice pushes, the doctors came in, vaccum in hand ready for action. Because the contractions were so strong and insistent on pushing him out, they felt it helpful to guide him out of his comfortable home. She had two contractions and then pushed a couple more times and out he came!

He was born at 11:48pm, weighed 8lbs. 10 oz. and was 20 3/4 in. long. Big boy.

Unfortunately, the meconium he swallowed had gotten into his lungs and was acting as a major irritant, which caused labored breathing. After we held him for a couple minutes, they whisked him off to the nursery to care for and monitor him. We saw him again almost 12 hours later and what a special moment it was!

Lisa also had some challenges and was put on antibiotics for a fever and stayed in the hospital until Sunday afternoon. Little Alex was placed in the NICU (special care nursery) to be placed on antibiotics until test results could confirm a possible infection. As it turned out, he was fine and just needed time to rest and let his little lungs absorb the misplaced fluids and meconium. The new family of three was able to spend their first night together Sunday evening in the NICU and it was a very treasured time as they'd waited many days to be together.

We brought him home on Monday and have been getting adjusted to life with a newborn. He is a little miracle and gift from God to us.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and encouragement during this first week of Alexander's life! We look forward to having you meet him when the time comes.

We love you.

Please check out pictures of little Alexander's journey into this world:

http://jesusislord.albumpost.com/2007-09-19-Alexander-Jack-Newman-Arrives

God bless you,
Jeff, Lisa and Alexander Newman

Waiting for my boy

Last night Jeff and I took an Infant CPR class. It was very informative and I would recommend it to any new parents, grandparents or anyone who will be caring for a child.

I've decided to stop procrastinating and attack the mountain of paperwork sitting on my desk. Since I don't have a baby to care for today, I might as well care for the needs of our family until he arrives. It's a blessing to even have paperwork to manage because of what it represents.

I also have a letter of recommendation to work on for one of my students from last semester who wishes to study abroad in Italy. The last student I wrote a recommendation for to go to Italy ended up having a wonderful experience there and both students remind me of myself when I was in college and wanting to study abroad. If you get the chance, do it!

There's an opportunity for me to help a current HSE student grow in her giftings, which I would be blessed to do. I learned so much about God last semester by helping my two Polish friends.

I'm glad Alexander is happy in the womb.

Sonogram of our little baby Newman

Here is a video of baby Alexander before we even knew his name.

We are really close to the birth of AJ (Alexander Jack Newman). Lisa has been having contractions off and on, but they are not strong enough to make the trip to the hospital.

It's Lisa's birthday today. We went to The Original Pancake House and had some tasty food. I am sure AJ will love pancakes. Lisa's parents are coming over shortly and we are going to go have some pizza.

We are not sure, but maybe AJ will come today. Lisa was hoping that he would have his own day. But, if he came today we would be okay with that.