Dimples

We thought that it might be time for a new video post! Check out Jimmy's cute dimples and crazy hair! What a cute little guy :)

3 weeks!

Believe it or not, Jimmy is already over three weeks old. In fact he will be one month on Wednesday. Its is amazing how fast time goes and how much he grows and changes each day. I love it! Recently Jeremy went back to work and we have begun to get into more of a regular "schedule." I've become so much more comfortable with taking care of Jimmy and am loving my new life at home with him. I feel so blessed.
Jimmy has been doing really well too. Each day is definitely a new adventure. He's sleeping in his "big boy" crib now, rather than in our room and is doing a wonderful job with that. In fact, he's been sleeping 5 hour stretches in the middle of the night. (sometimes) Good boy Jimmy!
Below are some new pictures of the little guy. Enjoy!

Ready for the Academy

Thanks to his Aunt Becky, baby James is already strutting his Air Force Academy apparel. He and his Dad looked great in their matching Air Force T- Shirts! Two of a kind. Thanks Aunt Becky! And thanks to the Westminster Alumni Association he is also ready for Westimster Christian Academy! Thanks Westminster.

Bath Time!

like father like son

1 week

Well, its hard to believe but its already been a week since Jimmy was born. The past week has been so full of joy, smiles, amazement, sleepiness and overwhelmedness (if that is a word). I often do not feel up to the task that God has put before us, but we know that with His help we can do all things. It has also been such a blessing to have both of our families in town helping us. I don't know what we would do without them! Below are some more recent photos of Jimmy. What a handsome little man! I just can't get enough of him.

Coming Home

Well, the Marsh family finally left UVA hospital after three nights there on Jan 2 at about 1:00 pm. Waiting for us at home were two sets of balloons, a dozen yellow roses, and Jimmy's "yaya" (Bekah's mom, Liz) and her husband Ned Futoran ("Mr. Ned."). We are so thankful they have been here to help us out these last few days.

After Jimmy's rather mellow behavior in the hospital, I just assumed our first night at home would be nice and relaxing and that I'd finally be able to get a good night sleep in my own bed. All of you parents out there are snickering right now. No, instead, the three of us really got a lot of quality time together that first night as Jimmy decided to entertain us with lots of noises, spitting up, loud crying, you name it. So, it was a bit of a sleepless night... I'm sure there won't be any more of those in the days ahead....

Now, we're just trying to make it from feeding to feeding. So this is what parenthood is all about?

Just want to say how fun it's been to get so many emails and facebook comments and text messages from friends from all over the globe sharing in our good news. What a joy it has been to share this special time with all of our friends and family thanks to the wonders of modern technology. We love you all and can't wait to introduce you to little Jimmy when our paths cross again.

Jimmy's Birthday: 31 December 2008

The day began for the three of us in room 8106 of the University of Virginia Medical Center. First, a couple of notes about how we came to be there. After being admitted around 4 pm the previous day, we moved to birthing room 8106 where we met our night shift nurse, Beth, and the resident that would be taking care of us at night, Heidi. Perhaps more important for Bekah, we met anesthesiologist Kevin, who gave Bekah a great epidural at about 8:00 p.m. or so. She was feeling pretty good from that and her uterus was continuing to contract, albeit at a pretty leisurely pace. So, the docs gave her some "potosin" to speed things up and we began waiting for everything to open up so Jimmy could make his way down the birth canal and into our lives. And that gets us to December 31st.

The first four hours of the day were fairly unremarkable. Bekah continued to progress and I continued to nap in the recliner chair in our birthing room. At 4 am, she was "complete" and we started to get a sense that everything was going to start happening. The hour from 4 to 5 am was the proverbial calm before the storm. The next 3 hours and twenty minutes were intense with Bekah pushing every 2-4 minutes the entire time. Her attitude, fortitude, and sheer strength of will during those 200 minutes was incredible not only to me but also to the many nurses and doctors who were in the room at various points during that time. The attending doctor commented at about the 3 hour point that it had been a long time since she encountered a woman who could push for 12 seconds.

So what were these 200 minutes like for me? Totally surreal. I'm still sort of numb from it all and wondering if I can even come close to adequately describing it in words. I was more involved than I expected I would be, which seemed to heighten the intensity of the whole experience. One of the things that made the time even more surreal than it would otherwise be was that it involved so many people. Bekah started pushing at 5. There was a shift change at 7, meaning new nurse, new resident, new attending. Basically a whole new team arrived just as the 4th quarter was beginning. This was a bit unnerving at first, but ended up being a blessing in disguise for the day shift team that we inherited at 7 was extremely solid. Pam, our new nurse, was especially good, and had several good ideas on how to speed things along and make progress. Also, it was great to finally see an attending doc at about the 170 minute point. The last thirty minutes were especially intense and I found myself on the verge of tears (of joy, worry, wonder) on several occasions. Bekah's primary OB doctor came on as the new attending at 8 am and walked into the room at the most intense period, however, he did not take over for obvious reasons. However, he did stay and observe and offer his thoughts to the doctors. This meant that at the time Jimmy was finally born (8:19 am) there were two attendings, two residents, and three or four nurses in the room. When he did finally come, it was simply the most amazing and wonderful thing I'd ever witnessed and probably ever will. How else can one describe it? I was overcome. My son was here.

While everything that had been moving so fast for me suddenly slowed down as I beheld this new and eternal object of my love, everything around me seemed to continue at warp speed with all of those doctors and nurses still working at a dizzying pace. At the prompting of one of the nurses, I did what I do best: grabbed my camera and through tears began snapping any picture I could of this beautiful new addition to my family.

The rest of the day progressed as one would expect. Jimmy got weighed: 8 lbs, 13 oz, measured: 20 3/4 in, and cleaned up. Bekah got treated. We got moved to a new room. I continued to take pictures. We held Jimmy a lot; looked at him a lot; called, emailed, and texted all our friends and families; uploaded pictures to facebook and picasa. We slept a little. I went and got us burritoes from Chipotle from dinner as we celebrated New Year's Eve with our son. I wish I could say we made it to the ball dropping in NYC. Instead, after Jimmy's 10:00 pm feeding, all three of us drifted into a peaceful sleep knowing that 2009 would be one special year just as the last day of 2008 was one special day. God is good.