Caruvana Family Chronicle: Julia Grace Has Arrived!

Julia Grace Caruvana
Born 7/14/07 at 7:14 AM
7 pounds, 8 1/2 ounces
20 3/4 inches long

Jon awoke at 6:41 AM to a cry for help from Sylvia. She had been having contractions all night at 15 to 20 minutes apart. Apparently, now they were pretty intense. Ten minutes later, after standing and walking, the contractions were about 3 minutes apart. A contraction later Sylvia was telling Jon to call the midwife. So we called the midwife at 6:54 AM. Then at 7 AM we called a friend who's helped with deliveries before. While Jon was on the phone with her, Sylvia's water broke.

Syndi and Junior get their first peek at their new sister.

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After Sylvia's water broke, Jon worked to get the bed ready. Sylvia was moved to the bed between contractions, and at 7:04 AM Jon put an earbud in his ear (so he'd have both hands free) and called the midwife again. From there, Jon delivered the baby with guidance from the midwife. Julia was born at 7:14 AM.

Syndi calls Grandma to tell her Julia is here.
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Our friend arrived to help at 7:30. A little while earlier, Jon had decided to wait until the midwife arrived to let her cut the cord. The midwife was only 30 minutes away at the time our friend had arrived. Or so we thought...

Syndi gets a turn holding Julia.
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At 8 AM, when the midwife was to arrive, we received a phone call from said midwife. Apparently she had driven in the wrong direction, and was now two hours away. At least it was a funny story, and she never would have been there in time either way, so it was alright.

Junior gets a turn holding his little sister.
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Turns out the midwife has another pregnant mother named Celia, who also lives one hour away from her, but in the other direction. And it so happens that Celia had called with signs of the baby coming just last night. So our midwife heard the name Caruvana, thought of Sylvia, but - in the grogginess of the early hour - drove to Celia's house. Upon finding Celia pregnant and not in labor, our midwife thought it was a cruel joke. Then it dawned on her that she was supposed to have driven to Sylvia's house. Woo boy!

Our midwife finally arrived on the scene at 10 AM.
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When our midwife told us that she was now 2 hours away, Jon realized he needed to cut the cord himself. Some preparations were made, and Julia's cord was cut around 8:15 AM.

Julia Grace after being weighed and just before being dressed.
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After the cord was cut, it was a matter of cleanup, letting the kids in to see their new baby sister, taking pictures, making phone calls, and waiting patiently. Julia began nursing excellently moments after birth. The hospital process had always kept the baby away from Sylvia, be it minutes (to do weighing, checks, and whatever other stuff they do) or hours (wash, clean, footprint, "observe" and what have you), so the nursing process was hindered. Not today. Also we'd already made sure Sylvia was doing well and there were no complications. So the big stuff was over.

Proud Papa with Baby Jules.
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Sylvia was resting when Jon took a shower at 9:40 AM. The midwife finally arrived at 10 AM. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Syndi, an obviously elated Jon and a yawning Julia.

Aunt Lorrie was walking by the bedroom at 11:15 AM and noticed us all gathered in our bedroom. Then she caught a glimpse of the baby. What a surprise! She hadn't heard a thing and didn't know Julia had arrived. So she came in to meet our new little girl.

Syndi enjoyed laying next to the sleeping Julia. Junior, on the other hand, was off and playing with toys. Stephen had spent the night at Grandma & Grandpa's Georgia condo, so he wasn't present.

Grandpa and Grandma arrived with Stephen around noon. Stephen, who in the last few weeks surprisingly seems to have grasped that a baby was coming, was enthralled. Just last week, the morning after we had put a bassinet in our room (which he had not seen since he was last in it when he was a few weeks old), Stephen came into our room with Junior. Junior looked puzzled when he saw the bassinet, but Stephen pointed to it and said "that's for baby." (And he repeated it a few times to get his point across to Junior!)

Grandpa and Grandma enjoyed holding baby Julia.

All six of us.
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Jon went to get the boys so we could take this group shot. Stephen came right in, but Junior was nowhere to be found. Jon looked in all the rooms, and called him throughout the house. Finally, someone remembered seeing him put on his raincoat and go out the back door. Yes it had started raining after Julia was born. And the rain had filled Junior's new pool out back, and he had decided to go get in it - raincoat, clothes and all! So we had a little cleanup to do before the family picture was taken.