The Rhoads Bowl: June 2011

A few weeks ago we had a wonderful opportunity to get some family photos taken by an amazing photographer, Erica Sergio. The first few weeks of a baby’s life are so amazing and I always get sad to see them grow so fast, so I really wanted to have some pictures of this special time. It was a rainy and gloomy day outside, but we had the best time inside our little house. We all felt so comfortable with Erica and you can tell from the pictures that it was a blast.

I had this idea that I would have the perfect picture of Cooper holding baby Hank and looking down at him lovingly, but it was clear quite quickly that Cooper wanted nothing to do with his baby brother. There are a few pictures where Cooper is actually touching Hank, but that is about it! Hank is 5 weeks old now, not nearly as fuzzy. Those little wrinkles on his back are gone and his cheeks are filled out now… I guess I have to accept that he will grow up just like Cooper has.

This is already pretty late in the game, but as they say… better late than never. Hank Robert Rhoads joined our family on May 20th at 8:48pm. Hank weighed in at a cool 6lbs 6oz and measured 19.5 inches. Janelle and I are really excited about our new little guy, he is a blessing and everything about his arrival was an answer to prayer.

First of all I will say that before Hank was born Janelle was more than a little bit concerned about the timing of his arrival. Hank was due on June 2nd and Janelle had her final family meetings on May 20th. As a result it would be difficult for her to finish up all she needed to do with her job if Hank was born prior to that date. We prayed specifically that he would not arrive before she could finish her job and even prayed specifically about making it through the day on the 20th.

Janelle’s contractions began that morning but I’m not sure she was even sure herself by 8am if they were early contractions or something else. After a call to our fantastic doula Sarah, she decided to continue her day as she normally would and see how things went. I was already planning on being home from work with Cooper on that day so that she could meet her families up in Scotts Valley. Off she went and straight-faced the whole thing through contractions that grew in both frequency and intensity throughout the morning.

By the time she got home Janelle was sure that this was the beginning of the birth of our son. We quickly coaxed “Gram” over to pick up and care for Cooper. We frantically threw clothes and things into a bag (actually only me – Janelle was packed, my planner!) and off we went to Sutter Maternity by around 3pm.

Next up for us was a prayer that originated from the days following the birth of our first son Cooper. As you may know from reading some of our old blog posts, Janelle had Cooper by Caesarian and found out she had HELLP syndrome and preeclampsia only upon arrival at the hospital. Needless to say we did not want this to happen again so we had been praying for a successful VBAC and against HELLP and preeclampsia from the day that we found out she was pregnant. Again the Lord provided for us and not only was Hank delivered VBAC, but Janelle stayed totally healthy and delivered 100% naturally!

I am so proud of Janelle and of how she handled herself through this process. I stood by her side and encouraged her as best as I could, but she did all of the work and she not only maintained her composure but she was polite and courteous to all the hospital staff, to Sarah and even to me! I saw her dig deep and take it to another level when she needed to and at 8:48pm we were rewarded and blessed with a beautiful baby boy. Praise the Lord!

The experience was so different from what we went through with Cooper that it was almost shocking. I felt like we were in the hospital for such a short time and Janelle was her bright, happy self throughout the labor, delivery and post-delivery. When we came home we collected Cooper and began our new life as a family of four. We are so pleased that Hank is now part of our family and we are so happy to share these praises with you. Please enjoy a few pictures we took along the way.