First Bath at Hospital

We waited until the morning we left to have Jackson have his first bath.  When they brought him back his hair was just like this.  We laughed and took these cute pictures and the name Jackson bird was born.
Oh sweet baby you are the cutest baby I have ever seen!

Hanging out in the hospital

As Jace continued to keep his distance, the rest of us couldn't get enough of holding this sweet baby.  My dad flew in the day after I had Jackson and quickly came to see him.  I was so glad he was able to be there and meet Jackson as well.  It really meant a lot to me that my parents got to meet him so young.
We took turns holding Jackson and trying to figure out what we were going to name him.  The last morning we were there we decided on Jackson.  We knew we wanted a J  name and we knew we wanted Gill as his middle name.  I had always wanted to name a girl after my mom and when we found out we were having a boy I wanted to figure out a way to name him after my mom.  Gill is my mom's maiden name and also my grandma's last name and my great grandma Lexie as well so he was named after all of them with Gill.  We just were struggling with what his first name should be so we started calling our baby Jackson and he definitely was our Jackson.

Meeting Big Brothers

Since Jackson was born so early in the evening the boys were able to come up shortly after to meet their new baby brother.  My  mom brought them up.  Jacoby was so excited as he walked into the room and walked right over and wanted to see him and hold him.  Jace on the other hand didn't want anything to do with the baby.  As you can see from all the pictures.  I was really surprised by his reaction but I think the hospital was a little much for him.  Right after they got there I got up for the first time to go to the bathroom and there was a lot of blood on the bed from the birth.  Jace saw it and it scared him.  The next day when my mom was bringing him to the hospital he was crying and crying saying that he didn't want to go to the hospital and when my mom asked why he said he didn't want Jackson to bite him.  I think he thought I was bleeding because Jackson bit me.  Poor boy.
I was so glad that my mom was still in town not only to take care of the boys but to meet Jackson.  It was so great to have her with us for as long as she was here.

Jackson's Birth

I wasn't sure if this baby ever was going to come.  He was due on November 15, 2015 but at 37 weeks I found myself in labor and delivery with contractions every two minutes for five hours.  After we got checked into the hospital and called the midwife and doula in the middle of the night and our neighbor to stay with the other boys the contractions just stopped.  After being in the hospital all night long we left and went home with no baby.  I went to the Dr office the next day and talked to the midwife and she told me that she thought this baby would come early so we called my mom and got her on a plane that day.  

My  mom arrived and we sat and waited and waited for the baby to come.  Two weeks later when I was 39 weeks, once again I started having contractions and they got really intense.  Jarod was not home and my mom kept calling him asking him when he was going to be home because she could tell I was in a lot of pain and grouchy.  When Jarod got home, we headed back to the hospital.  The contractions were every two minutes for about seven hours.  When we got to the hospital since it was a Wednesday night again, we had the same midwife, same room and same nurse.  It was kinda funny!  After a few hours of being in the hospital they stopped again.  This time I was a little annoyed.

My due date came and went.  My friend Amber had booked a plane ticket from Salt Lake to be here to take newborn pictures.  I thought for sure that I would have a baby before my due date since the other two were born before theirs but sure enough this little one decided to wait and Amber flew back to Salt Lake.

I was getting a little nervous because my mom was leaving in a few days to go home for Thanksgiving and since she had already been here for three weeks.  I kept going to the Dr and you looked great and were happy as a clam in there.  I was only dilated to a one and 50% effaced but I had been that for a few weeks.

The day before the birth I went to the Dr and they stripped my membranes.  They had done the same thing the week before but nothing had happened.  I felt some contractions later that night but nothing regular.  

The next day, November 18 I went to my neighbor Danielle's house and she did some reflexology on me.  We had been doing that for a few months but this day she focused on the points to induce labor.  At this point I had tried everything from the chiropractor to eating pineapple and nothing had worked but we thought we would try anyway.  When I got home we decided to go out for lunch and I was craving a hamburger, which is really unusual for me since I rarely eat meat but it was the only thing that sounded good to me.   Jace, Jarod, my mom and I went to lunch and came back home.  I laid down on the couch for a quick nap and then woke up and was talking to my mom on the couch.  I got up to go to the bathroom and felt really weird at 2:04 pm.  I almost got to the toilet when I felt water leaking,  I thought I had peed my pants so I sat down and used the bathroom but after I was done more liquid came.  I still wasn't sure because it wasn't the big rush it had been with Jace.  As I started to walk up the stairs there was more liquid and at this point I knew that my water had broke.  Jarod was working in the office and I went in and told him and he jumped up and started running around like a crazy.  I finally told him to calm down and that I was ok.  We got our stuff together, said goodbye to Jace and my mom.  Jacoby was at school.

I wasn't having any contractions yet but I knew once they started they would really get hard fast.  When we got to the hospital I got checked in and hooked up to my antibiotic because I had tested positive for the third time with Group Strep B but I still didn't have any contractions.  It was once again a Wednesday so the same midwife Beth was on call and we were in the same room in the hospital.  My doula Debbie came and shortly after she got there about an hour and a half after my water broke the contractions started.  The midwife checked me when she got there but I was still only a one and 50% effaced.  She let me get in the tub and I started listening to my hypnobabies soundtracks to help me relax and concentrate.  The water felt amazing and took a lot of the pain away.  I did have to keep getting out of the tub to use the bathroom and then I would come and get back in.  I started getting really hot in the water though.  They had to keep the temperature of the water at 100 degrees so Jarod and my doula kept putting cold towels on me.  The contractions started to get more and more intense but I did a good job of breathing through them and telling myself over and over that I could do this.  

My midwife checked me at 5:15 after I had been in the tub for about two hours and told me that I was a six at this point I knew I didn't have much left.  The contractions were really intense and on top of each other so I told them I wanted an epideral.  I had to get out of the tub to have one so I got out and was standing on the stool and had a horrible contraction.  My midwife about pulled me off the stool because you cannot labor on it.  It was kinda funny. 

 I made my way to the bed and I was so hot!  They went and got a few fans for me and my doula fanned me the entire time with her hand fan.  My midwife went to find the Dr to give me an epideral and I moaned for some one to help me as the contractions were getting really intense.  I remember watching the clock thinking he was never coming.  The midwife went and pulled him out of a surgery to give me the epideral.  I knew that I was progressing pretty quick at this time because I was in so much pain.  When my midwife Beth came back in, I was moaning through the contractions.  She told me that she needed to check me and I told her no.  I rolled over on my side so she couldn't check me.  She checked me while I was on my side anyway.  She then told the Dr. "sorry but we don't need you now this baby is coming right now" then she told the nurse to run and get Jarod and my doula who they sent out in order for me to get the epideral.  As soon as she checked me and told me that, I knew I could do it.  I just knew I didn't have much left and thought it was going to take me longer to get to a ten but it only took me 18 minutes to go from a six to a ten.  My body stated pushing on it's own before Jarod even came back.  I pushed for a while on my side and then when Jarod got in there they told me to get on  my back.  

Pushing was a big relief for me.  It felt amazing to push actually and I couldn't believe what my body was doing on it's own.  My midwife told me to push slowly while she applied oils and stretched me so I wouldn't tear and then she laid my flat back and told me that I needed to push with everything that I had.  I was a little scared in that moment that I was going to push to hard but she kept telling me to and so I did.  She told me to reach down and feel my babies head and I did.  I could feel that he had hair and then it was back to pushing.  After a few more pushes out came our beautiful baby boy.  She put him on my chest immediately and he was perfect!  Jarod cut the cord and then took the baby while I delivered the placenta.  That was the first time I felt myself delivering the placenta.  After that I nursed our sweet baby and took in the amazing moment!  I could not believe that I had given birth without medication.  I felt like I was super woman!  I have never been more proud of myself then in that moment.

Jackson Gill Jostes weighed in at 8 lb and 1 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.  His head was 13 cm and he had lots and lots of dark hair.  He was born at 6:04, exactly four hours after my water broke.

It's a BOY!!

When we were in Siesta Key for vacation this year we decided to let the boys in on the secret of what our baby was.  Jarod and I took them down to the beach and blindfolded them with toilet paper.  We then gave them each a spray bottle and told them to squirt each other.  We told them in the paint was blue it would be a boy and pink for a girl.  After we got some paint on them, we took the blindfolds off and let them see that we are having a BOY!  Jacoby was a little disappointed at first because he was certain that we were having a girl and he also said that he had been waiting his whole life for a sister but after a few minutes he was really excited.  He came over to me and said "Mom, I think that we should have a brother room with the baby because I don't want him to be lonely if he is in his own room and not with Jace and me,"
Jace said all along that it was a boy and when we told him he just told us that he knew and he had already told us it was a boy.
We then got into a big paint fight and were all covered in blue paint to celebrate our special baby boy!
We are so excited to welcome a new baby boy to our family!  I never imagined me with three boys and no girls but I have to tell you this mama loves her boys and I think they are the best.

First Parent Teacher Conference

We had our first official parent teacher conference this week with Jacoby's kindergarten teacher Mrs. Barclay.  We went through his testing scores at the beginning of the year and now.  He had make some improvements but to be honest there wasn't much to improve upon since he tested so high.  The academic stuff was great and she was very surprised I had home schooled him and complimented me numerous times on the job I had done.  But the part that made me the most proud was that she talked about what a good boy he is.  She told me that he is the most responsible in the class and has great problem solving skills.  She told us that he is so kind and thoughtful to the other children.  If someone's parent is late picking them up, he sits with them and waits until they get there.  I loved that she noticed this because I had too.  She had nothing but wonderful things to say about my wonderful boy.
After school the same day, I took Jacoby to the book fair at the school.  He picked out three books and as we were checking out we noticed a tree with kids gender and age on them so I asked about them.  The lady told us that they were kids that couldn't afford books and so you could buy one for them.  One of Jacoby's books wasn't available to take home that day so he wanted to look for a new one.  While we were looking, he told me that instead of getting three books he wanted to get two books and use his last book to give to one of the kids on the tree.  So he went and picked out the youngest child left who was a girl age 7.  He picked her out a Barbie book after carefully looking at all the girl options.  We went and paid and he was so excited to give this book to the lady and told her he was certain that the little girl would love it.  We left and walked home in the snow and tears streamed down my face.  My child is absolutely amazing.  He has the biggest heart and such a strong desire to help others.  He amazes me every day.  He makes me want to be a better person just so I can live to his level.  I am not sure how I got to be so lucky to be his mother but some day when I am face to face with my Father in Heaven I will thank him for the most incredible boy that he sent to me.

Teaching

Today I meditated on how I should teach and I was lead to these two scriptures in John 3.
2.  "we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him."
11.  Verily, verily, I say unto thee.  We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12.  If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things.