Our Precious Gift has Arrived! Introducing Jax Franz....

In the wee hours of the morning, just after Christmas Eve and before the sunrise of Christmas morning, our second son was born, and his name shall be called........ JAX! (no not Jesus LOL even though there were quite a few religious jokes about the timing of our second little guy's arrival into this world and the significance of it!) Another ironic thing is Jax's middle name Franz is after my grandfather Frantisek who passed away around this precise time in the morning of Christmas day exactly 7 years ago. It just so happens that the number 7 also represents Brad's and mine lucky number..... we have lots of #7s that resonate in our life together....i.e, married at seven-degrees, both our birth months are July the 7th month of the year, and our 7year age difference) My grandfather and I were close and had a very special connection and so I truly believe that even with the number 7 his spirit has transcended in the birth of Jax. I hope Jax will be as good of a man as my grandfather was.

Getting back to the story of how Jax was born, here was our timeline from that evening. All i know is that time passed so quick, and the birth was way faster second time around!

9pm checked in and admitted at the hospital, I was 7cm dilated with strong contractions 7 minutes apart and lasting 1-3 minutes.

Here I am waiting to get my epidural in this photo. We were the only ones in Labor & Delivery that night, so we got lots of attention and VIP treatment from the staff and nurses. Jax was actually the first baby to be born on Christmas Day at the hospital..... and soon after Jax was born we got to push the button that played "Brahm's Lullaby" throughout the entire hospital, announcing his birth!

10:30pm got my epidural:
11:30pm water broken, 9cm dilated

for the next 3 hours i was told to just lay on my side and wait to dilate to 10cm and for Jax to labor down (move further down in the birth canal.) The labor was moving along quick so there was no need for Pitocin.

2:30am 10cm dilated and ready to push

2:43am Using a mirror again (like with Taj's birth) I pushed one time and told not to push anymore because Jax's head was poking out.

2:49am Jax is born!

Here is the video of the birth (if you listen in the background you will hear as Jax comes out, his first cry, and water gushing out (I had retained a lot of water and it all flooded out after Jax). You can't tell in the video but I was sobbing and shaking from the emotion of it all..... this birth was just as amazing and emotional as Taj's birth. Moments like these never get old and remind us just what a miracle giving birth is. I feel extremely fortunate to have had both my deliveries be as easy and beautiful as they were.... I realize this experience is very rare so I feel blessed to have such great labor 2 times in a row.

weighing at 7 lbs, 4.6 ounces, and 20.5 inches long (almost exact to Taj's birth weight and length)

Precious mother son moments:

Another daddy mini-me, father and son bonding:


Jax with his eyes open wearing a handwoven Christmas hat given to him by the hospital:
Like we did when Taj was born, we took a photo of Jax's first sunset (from the window of our hospital room):

Celebration dinner: Cheers to our happy healthy baby boys!
Going home outfit:
My sister and family brought Taj to the hospital as we were being discharged. It was actually only 23 hours after we first checked in to the hospital on Christmas Eve. Jax was only 16 hours old and we got the green light to go home because everything went so well and Jax passed all his tests, made his first poop, and we were eager to get home and have our turn at a christmas morning. Taj was prepped all day that he was going to meet his baby brother so when he arrived he kept saying "baby jax?". This video is of him meeting his baby bro for the first time:


our first family of 4 photo! We were tired from the day's exciting event but boy did it feel SO GOOD to be united and to be together as a family unit!
Jax with his teta!:
Uncle B:
We cannot thank my sis Petra, Bryan, and Chloe enough for being as incredible as they are with Taj. Over the last year we have grown even closer and now with our family expanding we cannot wait to make many more memories with them.
Jax is all ready to go home now..... cozy in his car seat. The boys look so adorable in their individual car seats in the back of the car. I can just see them a year from now giggling and teasing each other in the backseat.... the little rascals they will be :)