Welcome to the world baby Landon!

Our family grew by one little person in June, and our hearts grew by one thousand!

On Thursday, June 14th at 3:51 am we welcomed Landon Craig David (named after both grandfathers) into our family. He was my second biggest baby, weighing 8 lbs 13 oz and measuring 21 inches. All four of my children have given me different deliveries, though slightly similar at times. With Landon, it was one of those moments where I knew it was time to go to the hospital to give birth but I was still second guessing it’s really time to give birth! My mom arrived Wednesday afternoon which allowed me to go to an OB appointment, and just a few hours later Zack and I were driving to the hospital. It’s like my body knew to wait until my mom arrived into town to help!

Once labor started it was very intense! This was my third natural birth, with Max I had a c-section, and just like the girls active labors I remember thinking during contractions, when the pain had mostly subsided, “I don’t really need to go through with this, I’m OK to stay pregnant just a little bit longer.” I mean, giving birth is crazy hard!

Like with all four of our children, we had high anticipation whether this baby would be a BOY or GIRL. Once it was time to push I felt this surge of empowerment to deliver our baby quickly. I appreciated being able to feel the contractions and what my body was doing during pushing. I remember a friend encouraging me to let my body “do it’s thing” during labor, and when the contractions came I tried my best to relax all of my muscles, even though relaxing is when the pain washed over me the most intensely. In the moment I kept reminding myself to relax. Also: eyes shut tight, and Zack please don’t let go of my hand! :)

Suddenly my stomach would contract in an effort to push out our baby. It was almost “meet baby time”, andZack coached me so well. In just fifteen minutes I felt the warm weight of our precious Landon on my chest — it’s a BOY, Zack said! It is now 3:51 am. Wow. Our fourth baby!!!

There really is no pain like the pain of natural childbirth, but the contrast of joy after delivering a baby is incredible. There’s nothing else like it, and God is so good to give us that joy to look forward to!

We’ve been at home for three weeks now. The first week felt like sleepy town. Baby Landon and I were basically twins in that we ate a lot and slept a lot, repeat x7 days. The big kids were thrilled Zack was home from work, so the four of them played hard together. Weeks two and three were a fast progression into reality: everyone has a lot of needs, and everyone is struggling to communicate what they need. I mean, really! Zack had a second week at home with us which we all benefited from. That man, he really treats us like gold.

All of the children are adjusting very well to little Landon. Yay! What feels the hardest right now is doing our best to meet everyone’s needs. It’s been good to forget about the should/could/woulds and instead focus on what is most important: loving each other well through our actions and physical/emotional care.

We are all very much in love and happy to be a family of six :)

Here are a few more photos…

PS. here are the birth announcements for Maxwell, Natalie, and Marigold