Welcome to Earth Little One.

The day has finally come that we are able to welcome our third baby boy into our family.

We are so pleased to announce that Zayden Jace Howard showed his cute face to the world on March 29th at 12:37PM.

He weighed in at a healthy 8lbs even and measured 19" long.

  I was supposed to go in at 8AM for my c-section, but Wednesday afternoon the hospital called to inform me they were in shortage of beds. Not exactly the kind of news an ever-waiting, 9 months pregnant, counting down the hours, mama wants to get. However, what was I to do? So they pushed my surgery back to noon and assured me it shouldn't be any later. I was praying that it wouldn't...

Luckily my prayers were heard.

We checked into the hospital at 10:00, I was prepped to go into surgery by 11:30 and there we waited for the minutes to pass. I was a nervous wreck. I kept looking at the clock and trying to choke back tears. Part of me was dreading the actual surgery; scared, and the other part was anxiously awaiting to hear that first beautiful cry from my babe.

 In fact, while waiting in our room I heard somebody elses baby cry and started to lose it. I could barely blink back the tears thinking that within the hour I would be hearing that same sweet angelic sound. Tyler came over to hold my hand, smile at me, and kiss me. Slowly I was able to gain my composure again. Sure enough 12:00 rolled around and just when I thought they would be late my anesthesiologist came in to say they were ready. One last potty trip and a short walk across the hall to the O.R. and I was ready to go.

The next part was rough--- I stepped into the freezing operating room and had to wait for them to get the spinal block to take before Tyler could come in. Although it was much more painful than I remember, by 12:15 Tyler was in and my doctor was well on her way to getting sweet Z out. By 12:20 they said they were getting close to having him out. Tyler's ice cold hand was in mine and his voice was calmly reassuring me through the whole thing. By 12:37 baby Z was out. I heard a little gurgling cry, suction and then a loud wail.

Immediately two feelings overwhelmed me simultaneously: immediate relief and joy that my baby boy had arrived into our world; and instant nausea and the urge to puke. I felt a little disappointed that I couldn't enjoy that first moment longer because I was an extreme amount of pain. I had to lean my head to the side and dry heave into a tube. I wanted to hold Z so bad (and had expressed this desire pre-surgery), but I wasn't able to hold him long enough before feeling a tremendous amount of pain as they 'massaged' my uterus. I cannot express the excruciating amount of pain this caused me. I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful anesthesiologist who tried to rub my back and shoulder blades to ease the pain. There aren't really words to describe what kind of pain I experienced.

 Tyler made sure I would be okay before leaving with Zayden and the nurse to take his stats. The last part of my surgery was a little smoother as my anesthesiologist rubbed my head, gave me more anti nausea medicine, and reassured me it was almost over. Overall she was a great help.

 By 1:15 I was going back to my room. I felt extremely tired (due to the anti nausea medication they gave me). Tyler and Z were in there. It took a great amount of effort to keep my eyes open for the next few hours while our boys, my parents, and Karter came to visit.

(I will post later on the boys' reaction to their new brother.)

For now... I will end by saying I feel so fortunate and blessed to have had a safe delivery and HEALTHY baby.

Any fear or doubt I might have had 4 months ago about little Zayden's physical condition was erased when I witnessed his perfect body with my own eyes.

A handful of people have commented on his name and I wanted to take one last second explain how I chose it. Upon receiving news that I might not ever see my baby's face or hear his heartbeat, I decided to give him a name with meaning. The name Zayden means, grandfather... And Jace means healer. I wanted to give him a name that reflected his purpose on Earth... that he would live a long and healthy life for many years, and that he might be "healed" from the ailments that the doctors anticpated him having.

I'm thrilled to say that he is already living up to his name.

We love our little Zayden so much and are overcome with joy of having him be part of our Earthly family.