Jack Everett North

Baby Jack is here! It has been a long time coming, but he is here! At times the nine months seemed to be more like nine years, and it seems that no matter how much you prepare for it, you still have to make some real life adjustments. For instance we went from not changing diapers back to changing diapers. We went from getting 6 hours of sleep a night to being at the mercy of a baby's hunger (luckily at the hospital we have the nursery that we can utilize).

But let me tell you a bit about how we got here. Last week Kristen had an appointment with her midwife, and at that time she was only dilated to a one, with no end in sight. Then at our appointment just this past Wednesday, we were only at a two, and still there was no end in sight. We were told that we could induce at anytime to start the process, but Kristen was unsure about how she felt about getting an induction. After a night of thinking things over, on Thursday she had decided to schedule an induction for April 20, 2009 a day after his due date.


Well, we believe that scheduling that induction was all that needed to happen to get her system going. Thursday night she had her first real contraction around 9:00 pm and another at 9: 13. The contractions were hard and would take her breath away. They went from 13 minutes apart to 10, and then 8. At this time we had decided that perhaps it would be best to get to the hospital. We called Papa and Grandma, and asked if Luke could go sleep over. Papa came and got Luke around 11:45. Luke was looking forward to a sleep over, but was really tired. When he got to Papa & Grandma's house he was so excited, and was telling them that tomorrow would be Jack’s birthday. He was so wired that he couldn’t sleep; instead he stayed up with Papa singing his ABC’s.

Kristen and I got to the hospital around 12:30 am Friday morning. We checked in, and found she was dilated to a 4. They found her a room, and started going through all of the paper work and such. The anesthesiologist came in and gave her the world’s most uncomfortable epidural. But once that epidural took, it was far better. Kristen and I tried to get some rest, but between the nurses and other staff coming in to check one thing or another, we probably only got an hour of rest between the two of us. At 5:30 am our midwife got there and asked us if we were ready to begin. Kristen was so excited. The staff brought everything into the room, and at 6:15 we began the process of delivery.


Eight strong contractions, and 55 minutes later we had a 21 inch, 9 lbs 7.5 oz beautiful baby boy with inch long brown hair and big hands and feet. Jack is a rather calm baby, curious about the world around him. He loves to open his eyes and look around. He is relatively quiet and eats a lot (which could explain why he is so big).


Luke was the first, other than his Mom and Dad to hold him. Luke was so excited to meet him, and you could tell that there was a Big Brother built into Luke. He held him close, stroking Jack’s face with his fingers. Luke just sat there and smiled while holding his little brother. It was fun to see them interact and build a connection with each other.




Kristen and Jack are both doing well. Kristen has a sore back and tailbone, but has a perm-a-grin. She is so happy to have Jack that it far outweighs any of the soreness’s associated with delivering a 9.5 lb baby.

Dave's Anxiety

Okay so I totally misunderestimated (new word, you heard it here first) just how long Kristen would be pregnant. Now I know that the typical human pregnancy is nine months, and I know that we have only been pregnant for approximately 8 ½ months; however for me it has seemed like the first 7 months flew by really fast, but the last month and a half have taken twice that. I keep anticipating “The Call”, and I think that may be the reason for the long last 6 weeks.

The anticipation for “The Call” all stems from 7 little words: “The baby could come any day now”. In my mind there is nothing worse than being in Salt Lake City, 30-40 minutes away from a wife that is pregnant, and asks every day before I leave for work, “Do you have your Cell Phone?” Each and every time that Kristen’s Ring Tone starts to play, my heart beats really fast (kind of ironic that her ring tone sings the words “You have stolen, my heart”) anyway…whenever it rings I think to myself...here it is, “The Call”. However to this point whenever I answer the call it’s only a question about shopping trips, bills, gas mileage or another usual everyday question. I then take a big deep breath and calm myself down.

I think all of my anxiety comes from having a wife with an incredible pain threshold. As a nurse, Kristen ignores her own pain, and only goes into the doctor when things are really bad. When Kristen was pregnant with Luke, we were about a week late, and finally going into labor. We had an appointment the next morning to go in for an induction, and Kristen was willing to wait until then. I didn’t think we would make it that long, and was barely able to talk her into going in that night. When we arrived at the hospital, Kristen was already dilated to an 8. All the nursing staff told us to come much earlier next time or we would be having our next baby in the car. So my job with Jack is to get Kristen to the hospital much earlier so that doesn’t happen.

Sure this may seem like a simple task, yet I have more to deal with this time. Luke needs to go to a babysitter’s house or the grandparents (depending on the time of day), we are going to a hospital that is further away, and once again I work 40 minutes away from home. From the time the call comes in, to the time we get to the hospital, it is possible that it could be near 2 hours later. Is that going to be enough time? I just don’t know, and it is driving me crazy.

Despite my anxiety, I am very excited for what the near future holds, and can’t wait to welcome our little Jack into the world. Once Jack does come I will be sure to add some pictures and get some of Kristen’s thoughts out there for everyone to enjoy. I know that Kristen is also excited for the arrival of Jack, and I can’t wait to watch her hold him for the first time.