Big News...

Well, the last week has been much more eventful than anticipated. During a routine check-up last week, it was noticed that "Baby Shibata" was having some unusual heart rate decelerations. It was decided that Mom and Marie go to triage for more monitoring and that Jon should come to the hospital right away.

It was quickly decided that since we were at 37 1/2 weeks and the baby seemed to be a reasonable size, we were not going home from the hospital without first having a baby. Uncle Mark came to the rescue and took Marie home while Grandma and Grandpa Shibata jumped in the van for the 3 hour drive to Michigan.

We were induced Wednesday afternoon and were monitoring the baby continuously, watching the heart rate very closely. Things moved fairly quickly, thankfully. If they hadn't, then it is possible that we would've had to have had a C-section.

By 8:49 PM, we had a beautiful, healthy baby boy. Joseph Abraham was 7 lbs and 21 inches long. (Actually, they measured him at 20 inches when he was born. But at his 3-day-old check-up, he was measured at 21.25 inches. We figure it is somewhere in between.)

As it turns out, the cord had a good knot in it, in addition to being wrapped around his neck and legs. What a blessing it was to have been at the hospital that day. We can't begin to express how thankful we are that Little Joey is safe and with us right now.

We are home and getting used to our new family. Marie is doing quite well. She definitely is adjusting to Mom and Dad being distracted by the new baby, but overall she is quite intrigued by having a little brother.

A huge thanks to Uncle Mark, Sarah, Grandma and Grandpa Shibata, and Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart for dropping everything to help. We couldn't have done it without you! We love you!