Aunt Staci wrote this birth announcement for the family:

I know word has trickled out but I wanted to send a more formal email to let you guys know that Jessi and Fode had their baby! He was born on Tuesday, July 23rd at 10:34pm. He is 5 pounds 4 ounces and 18 ¾" long. He is doing extraordinarily well and is eating like a champ. 

We expect that Jessi and family will leave the hospital on Friday and they will be coming here to the Yellow House for some TLC. She developed preeclampsia at the end, which is why she was induced at 37 weeks. Recovery from that requires minimal stimulation and exertion for a couple weeks. 

Jessi and Fode will be announcing the baby's name later. Fode's tradition calls for a baby naming ceremony on the 7th day after which his name will be announced. I was tremendously honored to be there for the baby's birth and to be able to see Fode hold his son for the first time and say prayers in his ears and whisper his name to him right after birth. It was beautiful and amazing and the entire experience was one of the most spiritual things I've ever experienced in my life. Being on the other side of childbirth is magical in an entirely different way than that miracle of holding your own child for the first time.  

I thought I would send a picture for you all. This is one of the best shots of his face and was taken as Fode was telling him his name for the first time. Please pass this along to other family members if you wish, but we are not posting photos online at this time. 

Love to everyone and thank you to those of you who were in communication with me during labor for your patience! After a long labor and 3 hours of pushing, I just collapsed - and I wasn't the one doing all the work!! Jessi was absolutely amazing and Fode was a rockstar husband and coach through all of this. 

Staci

Malan is born!

This morning things were progressing pretty well.  I was being medicated to induce labor while simultaneously being medicated with magnesium to prevent seizures and other medicines to get my blood pressure under control.  The doctor decided to break my water when I was 6 cm dilated.  He thought things were going to happen fast  Fode had just left to get some things from the house, so Staci called him and he quickly returned.  This was about 10 in the morning.  Well the magnesium had another plan.  Things stalled and not much happened till about 7 pm.  Then I entered the toughest part of labor the transition time.  It took Fode and Staci to both distract me to survive the strong contractions.  Finally I was 10 cm dilated and I got ready to push.  Fode was on one leg and Staci was on the other.  I weirdly got in to the process of pushing.  Things went very slow.  The doctor said it was going millimeter by millimeter.  Fode, Staci, the nurse and doctor were all cheering me on.  Fode got so excited once he was able to see the baby's head.  I knew we were close to the end when a team of nurses came in from the NICU.  They were there to check the baby after he was born to make sure he was ok.  There was concern because of the magnesium iv that I was on.  Malan came out and he immediately peed on the doctor.  The doctor laughed and said that we knew the kidney's worked.  They laid Malan on me and I started to cry.  He was so little but so strong and he seemed to know that I was his mom. It was amazing, wonderful and beautiful.

but the changing table is still in the mail!

Today I am 37 and 3 days pregnant.  All weekend I was feeling sick.  I threw up a few times, my neck hurt and I felt flushed with a headache, but had no fever.  I wasn't sure if these symptoms were because I was 9 months pregnant or what.  I called and made an appointment with my OBGYN.  I didn't want to drive and Fode was at work, so I asked Staci to pick me up.  She got a flat tire on the way, but managed to drive on it to my house.  We left her car and took mine and skipped the food run because we didn't want to be late to the appointment.  When I got to the room they checked blood pressure and it was 190 over 110.  Wow!  That was crazy high!  Last week Thursday it was normal.  The doctor opened the door and didn't bother entering the room. She said I needed to go straight to the hospital, which was across the street, and that I was going to probably be induced.  I was numb.  The first thought I had was that the changing table that I ordered from Target was not going to be delivered till Friday (4 more days).

We got in the car and I called Fode to explain what was happening, but I was too in shock to explain well so Staci got on the phone and explained that he needed to get to the hospital right away.  We went straight to Labor and Deliver at St. Vincent's Hospital.  They checked my blood pressure and it was still at the extreme level.  They put me in a room and on a Magnesium IV to prevent seizures.  They explained that I had Preeclampisa and that the only cure was to induce labor.  It was going to be tricky because the magnesium slows labor and will fight against the medicine used to induce labor.  Here is a picture of me.  The screen in the background shows my heart rate and babies heart rate.  The good thing is the baby's heartbeat is strong and healthy.