Jonah Francis

This one is for the handful of blog-readers who are not also Facebook friends (Hi, Michelle!), and haven't gotten to see photos of baby Jonah yet. :)

Labor started Thursday evening around 7 pm. Seth and I headed to the hospital around midnight, were admitted at 1 am, and Jonah arrived--hard and fast--at 2:44 am. A healthy 8 lb 13 oz, 20 in. My biggest baby by quite a bit.

He's perfect and beautiful and sweet and cuddly. He cried for over an hour when he first arrived and had trouble latching on, but since then he's been so content and chill. Nick and Kate were home with the boys, graciously spending the last days before their own baby arrived by watching two rambunctious preschoolers. Ash and Zim came the next morning to meet their new brother.

Kisses from Panda. 

Jonah had even thought to bring some gifts (okay, bribes) for his older brothers: M&Ms, stick-on rhinestones  (or as the boys call them "precious jewels"), and the movie, Toy Story. It might be safe to say that they were at least as excited about the gifts as they were about the baby. :)

Later that day, we found out that my sister-in-law was also in labor! So, there were two Leach brothers and their wives at the same hospital, with the same doctor, delivering cousins on the same day. Amanda was a trooper and came to visit us while she was in labor.

Jonah Francis and Ezekiel Marvin were both born on June 26, about twenty hours apart.

They're just too cute.

(In related news, my other sister-in-law delivered a baby boy just today! Congratulations to Jacob and Tessa! I can't wait to meet little Hudson. So many cousins!)

It is great to have Jonah home. We got to leave the hospital a day ahead of schedule and it was so nice to be back in my own bed without someone waking me up to check my vital signs every couple hours. 

Baby stretches are my favorite.

The boys are smitten. Neither of them can make the "J" sound, so they call him "Baby Donah" which sounds a whole lot like "Baby Donut." :) They love to hold him and kiss him and help in any way they can. 

I plan to write more about the emotional side of labor and delivery and having a newborn again at a later time. Suffice it to say, I feel overwhelmed with gratitude to be on the other side of that pregnancy with a healthy baby boy and my easiest recovery yet. But there is nothing quite like being face-to-face with your own humanity in the process of pain and fear and relief and joy.