The Days of Our lives: The Miracle of Life

Oh man what a year! It has been hard waiting to find out if Mercedes was having a boy or girl. I now know what I put all my family through. If your wondering, I still would have not changed how we did it. Not finding out the sex makes for the most exciting moment in the delivery room. Well my darling Mercedes was having some contractions off and on for a few days. Her body was preparing for birth..Oh the excitement!!! The question was would she have a long labor like myself or take after the other women in our family and pop a baby out in a blink of the eye. Hmmm....time will tell you say..well no more waiting because today she popped and out popped the most beautiful baby one has ever seen..next to my own kids of course..Hey a mom always claims their offspring is the best, it's just the way it is. :) Welcome to the world baby boy Jones, Landon Mikael.

I get a call this morning and Mercedes said "Well I am having contractions and they are getting really strong but not consistent yet"

Me: "Well come on over we have a tub you will like"

Mercedes " okay what do I pack"

Me " really your not packed..crazy woman"...She totally lives on the fly...

When she arrived it took about 45 minutes for the contractions to get very strong she then moved to the shower and then off to the tub. She handled the contractions very well I was so proud of her. Some tears but with those came a realization that no one can prepare for this kind of pain. Clearly it is difficult to measure pain to the words "worse pain you will ever feel"...

Then as we are all chilling she says I have to push..in Hindsight her transition period was just a couple contractions before that when she tried to give up...

off to the hospital upon arrival she was 9 centimeters..perfect timing..let's push..:)

Well as the nurse checked to make sure she was ready to push she said "huh! do you know what you are having?"

we all said" nope"

nurse " Well sorry to spoil the surprise but it's a boy because I am pushing on a scrotum"

In came an emergency ultra sound and then a confirmation that baby Landon was breech.

( funny thing is a week ago she thought maybe he was breech but they confirmed that her child was head down)

There were no more options...within about 5 minutes she was wheeled out into an emergency c-section. I stayed and waited with nick who fell into tears out of excitement and fear for Mercedes health and well being of both. I realized at that moment that he was going to be a perfect husband and father. I felt even more excitement and joy for the love I have for both and the little Landon that was on his way. The nurses kept me informed with every detail..."baby is out, closing mom, mom is holding baby etc..)

Then the moment I will cherish forever: The heavens were open for that brief moment and I could without a doubt feel the joy my mom felt for our family. Boy, has she looked down on this family and helped protect us and steer us down roads we had to embrace blindly. It was a tough journey at times but I am so grateful that I was able to witness a new beginning for an extension of my own family. Soon we will be big enough to have a family reunion..it's all like a big dream come true.

Landon Mikael showed his face today December 20th at 2:56 pm and weighed in at 6 pounds 8 ounces. He was a shorty with a length of 19 3/4 inches. We love him so much!

As I sat there waiting for them to come to the recovery room I pondered who on earth would she want me to call after the family was all contacted and email was sent to Xandi. Hmmm. Then no one was answering their phone and then I realized, crap it's Sunday and everyone is at church, of course! so what did I do, you ask? Well I started texting...you know you all texted in church at some point. Well like 5 minutes later, I kid you not she drives that fast, shows up Kristin Davies... ( her BFF)