Jovie's birth story

Jovie Praise Woodward

Born 1-1-18 @ 3:54 a.m.

She's here!  It's incredible to carry a human in your body for almost a year and wait so long to get to meet her and know what she's like.  And then FINALLY you get to lay eyes on her, to hold her and touch her...  Jovie Praise entered the world in the wee hours of the morning of New Year's Day, weighing 7 pounds 9 ounces, 19.5 inches long.

Some of you may want to stop reading here, but if you'd like to hear the gory details of my labor and Jovie's birth, I thought I'd share, if nothing else so that I can come back and read it later down the road, remembering the difficult and beautiful journey to bring her into the world.

Last Saturday (12-30, my due date), I went into labor late in the evening, although I didn't really know it was labor yet.  I became nauseated and began feeling tightness in my abdomen, but I didn't feel anything that seemed like separated contractions.  That night I tossed and turned, got up and walked around a lot, and took a couple baths to try to ease pain.  I ended up getting what I estimated was about two hours of sleep.  Sunday morning I progressively felt worse as time wore on - more nausea and more tightness and pain.  Luke took Allie to his parents' house and we went to the hospital to get things checked out.  The monitor showed contractions, but they weren't close together enough for them to keep me there.  I still could not distinguish between contractions at that point because I was feeling constant tightness and nausea.  We went home disappointed.  I tried lying down with a heating pad to rest, but continued feeling worse.  I couldn't get relief whether I lied down or walked around, and felt I could throw up at any moment.  After just a couple hours home I told Luke with absolute certainty that we needed to go back to the hospital.  This time I knew deep down in my bones we would be staying.  Sure enough, we arrived and found that my contractions were two to three minutes apart.

The nausea was rough.  I experienced it constantly throughout my entire labor from start to finish and did end up throwing up once.  I had hoped for a natural labor and birth, but the nausea and pain combined with very little sleep made me unable to cope for long.  We tried phenergan in my IV for the nausea.  It did not help and only made me sleepier.  By the time my midwife arrived that evening I was begging for an epidural.  I was STILL unable to distinguish between contractions as I felt constant pain.  At this point I was about five centimeters dilated.  I got the epidural and was induced, as I had been at five cm for a long time.  For the next couple hours I was able to experience relief and a little rest.  It didn't take long for me to reach ten cm.  Fifteen minutes after I began pushing, they turned my epidural off.  Within an hour I could feel everything.  I was sweating from head to toe.  For three and a half hours I pushed.  The longest three hours of my life.  I was so spent, I really might have given up if not for the nurses and my midwife constantly affirming and challenging me.  I was crying, "I can't do it anymore.  I can't."  At one point my midwife said, "What are you going to do, quit?!"  Thinking back now it's kind of funny.  At the time though it really put me in my place.  No, I wasn't going to quit.  My baby was crowning (we could see her blonde hair and the top of her head for quite some time), and I knew she needed out of there.  I heard my midwife say to the nurses, "This needs to happen soon," which motivated me even more.  I didn't want Jovie to be in danger or for me to have to have a C-section.  Near the end my midwife did decide to cut me a little, knowing it might be vital to my progress.  Meanwhile Luke was very worried about me and very anxious for Jovie and had to step to the side of the room for the last bit.  The nurses noticed his state and told him to sit down.  With every contraction I pushed, and every push was more difficult and exhausting than the last.

And finally by the power and strength of God, the confidence and grit of the medical staff, and the adrenaline of the human body, I pushed Jovie through and her full little body emerged.  Luke was already at my side when they laid her on my chest.  I don't really know how to capture that moment in words...  Relief.  Victory.  Triumph.  Beauty...  It was the best moment of my life following the worst moments.

  It was nearly 4 a.m. when she arrived, so the rest of the world was still sleeping for the next few hours while we had some intimate time with Jovie.  One of the many things I love about our birthing center is they do not whisk the baby away for vitals and a bath when she's born.  She stayed on my chest for probably a couple hours initially.  She latched on and nursed almost immediately.  We sat marveling at all the little details of our baby girl... her soft blonde hair, her pinky fair skin, her overall resemblance to Luke, and her cheeks and nose that Luke thinks are like mine.  She was perfect.  What a gift!

Jovie was the first baby born of the new year in our entire region.  By mid morning we had received a call from our local news channel wanting an interview.  She was one of the top stories that night and was in our local paper the next day as well.  Already famous!

I really can't say enough about the rock of a husband and father Luke has been over these past months and days.  He was so patient and helpful throughout my whole pregnancy, our hospital stay, and the past few days.  I couldn't ask for a better partner to do all this with.  Honey, if you're reading, thank you for your strength.

Allie meeting her little sister was a moment of pure sweetness.  She was fairly quiet.  Perhaps a little overwhelmed.  She looked her over from head to toe and gently caressed her face.  She poked her nose a little to make sure it was working.  I hope these two will be the best of friends.

Thank you Jackson Photography for these beautiful photos.

first day home

So, about the name.

Coming up with a name was a little more challenging this time.  I'm not sure if it's because she's our second girl or because we had a lot more time (too much time) to mull it over this go around.  For months we sifted through names.  From pretty early on, though, we knew we liked Praise as a middle name.  We have also always liked the name Jovie (as a first name) from Zooey Deschanel's character in Elf.  We are big on name meanings, so of course we looked it up.  To our delight, Jovie comes from jovial and means "joyful."  So, her full name would mean joyful praise.  How absolutely perfect... First off, it is joyful praise we give to our God for this beautiful gift.  Secondly, Luke has always said he wants Jovie to be a joy to everyone around her.  And finally, I loved the idea of her having a very worshipful name.  After we decided the name would be in the running, we all starting referring to her as Jovie, even Allie.  It wasn't long and the deal was sealed.  And now that she's here and we have her precious face with her name, we love it even more.

The past week has been so full, so beautiful, so overflowing with blessing.  I call Jovie my little dreamboat.  So far she has been a pretty easy baby.  She nurses and sleeps well.  She doesn't cry much.  She seems to have her daddy's chilled out personality.  I am so thankful to be here soaking in these newborn moments with her.  I didn't know how nursing would go and wasn't even sure if I'd enjoy it, but I am so thankful it is going well, and I love every moment of it.  I love that intimate time with her and the connection that only we share.

As we slowly find a new normal around here I hope to blog more, but for now, I'm over here just soaking in all the baby and toddler snuggles, living in pajamas all day every day, and enjoying all the scrumptious meals our friends and family are bringing.  And trying to etch these first days of Jovie's life in my mind so that I will not forget the sweetness in these moments or her precious newborn face.