Gift from heaven: Meet JAE

Well, it's been a very busy week. If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that we welcomed our newest addition last Friday.
Jenna Oyesade E. (to be known as JAE in the blog) arrived last Friday (04/10/15) morning at 2:28am weighing in at 7lbs 4oz and 19.25 inches long.
We really feel so blessed and words cannot describe how much love we have for JOE and JAE. It is true what they say...your ability to love multiples with each child and your heart expands to accommodate the new addition.

For me, the old wives tale about subsequent labor experiences being much faster than the first also held true. This one occurred at what seemed like lightening speed!

I went to work as usual on 4/9/15 and had no labor pains.
When I got home, I did notice that baby girl was a lot more active and I was having maybe one good contraction per hour. I told J I suspected that baby girl would be here by Sunday or Monday at the latest. Little good I know how right I was.
I went to bed as usual and was woken up at 10:25pm by what I thought was a stomach cramp. But then about 6 minutes later, I had another one. J was in the basement working out so I decided to go to the android store and look for a contraction tracking app.
When J came up, I told him to take a shower and that I was likely in active labor.
I tracked my contractions and to my utter surprise, they were consistently 5 minutes or less apart! We immediately called our neighbor who had agreed to watch JOE should I go into labor at night. Then we contacted J's mom who would relieve our neighbor.
I called my parents and told them my mom wouldn't be here in time since she was scheduled to arrive the next day. They prayed with me and my older brother who happened to be in town also gave me a pep talk. He told me to focus on the outcome and not the process and those words certainly helped during a very PAINFUL labor.

Off we went to the hospital afterwards. I should add that in the middle of all this, JOE was sleeping and didn't even get up once. I was concerned that she would panic when she woke up and we weren't there but she did great from what I have been told.

We arrived at the hospital a little after midnight on 4/10/15. By the time I was admitted and checked, I was told I was at 7cm! That certainly explained what I called "rolling contractions."
By the time we got in the birthing room a little after 1am, I was at 8cm. My water broke shortly after and JAE arrived after ONE push at 2:28am. And if you were wondering, my fear of needles kicked in again. No epidural for me. But ouchie! With JOE, I labored all day so the pain was more tolerable. With JAE, the labor was so short that I felt like I was having contractions on top of each other. It was certainly more intense.
From the start of my first active contractions to the delivery, it was 4 hours!

On to the meaning of her names.
Jenna means "gift from heaven" and
Oyesade means "Crown of royalty".

We feel so lucky and blessed to be parents again for the second time.
JOE loves her sister so much! She kisses on her, talks to her and always wants to carry her. Watching her with her little sister makes me smile.

We are slowly but surely adjusting to life as parents of 2 and even though it's been a little challenging sometimes, it's been more rewarding most times.

I'll try to keep up with the blog but I'll likely post pictures more with brief explanations than full on blogs.

Have an awesome weekend!

JAE's  first picture.

JAE at 8-days...today!

Talk about multitasking. I was pumping, rocking JAE to sleep and catching up on work emails.

Gosh...starting over. I forgot how disappointing it feels to spend 30 minutes on the pump (15 minutes per boob) and barely getting anything. This was at day 6. We are also experiencing latching issues with JAE so for now, I am primarily pumping and we supplement with formula. I do know supply increases over time so that's my consolation. I am hoping we resolve it relatively quickly because I don't want to primarily pump for 10.5 months like I did with JOE. That was a lot and would be near impossible with 2 kids.

If this picture looks familiar, it is because I have a similar one with JOE.

JOE and JAE. They are going to be best of friends. I already can see the love between them.

"Milk coma."

Her first carseat ride!

Our first picture as a family of 4.

JAE's going home outfit. The hat is the same one JOE wore home.