Judah Michalak Goodwin arrived Wednesday, November 16th at 1:06pm weighing 8 pounds 7 ounces and measuring 20 inches ... what a big boy! Judah's arrival was much less dramatic than Gabriel's, for those who remember that, and arrived safely via repeat c-section. Thankfully, since Gabriel's traumatic birth experience, I have become friends with one of the anesthesiologists at the hospital and she performed my section anesthesia, which went beautifully! (thanks Tess!!).
We did not have a definite name chosen for Judah, although Michalak has been the middle name for a few months now. After about a 20 minute discussion in the operating room and recovery room, Andy and I decided that Judah was the perfect name for this precious little baby. Michalak is Andy's grandmother's maiden name and is Polish for Michael (her family immigrated to the US from Poland in the late 1800's). The meaning of Judah means "praised" and was chosen, in part, for it's biblical reference. The other three names in the running were Hugo, Joaquin and Christian. Yea. Judah is the perfect name for him :). We also love that Michael is the other name of an archangel in the Bible, so we have two little angels (Gabriel + Michael) ... buuuuuut we didn't think Judah would appreciate Michalak as a first name :).
Gabriel is SO excited to be a big brother. So. He did excellent at the hospital upon meeting Judah and his first comment was "can I hold him?". Of course! We propped him up in the bed with me and he got to hold an hours old Judah. Sweet, sweet moments for this new family of four. Gabriel also made comments along the lines of "I love him" and "Judah loves me."
Unfortunately, Andy was not permitted to stay with me and Judah the first night, so that was a bummer to spend the night alone. Judah was only permitted to be with me if I was nursing him; while sleeping he had to be in the nursery :(. I did NOT like this, but it was hospital policy.
Nights #2 and #3, we were moved to a private room so Andy could stay and we kept Judah with us. Gabriel and Aunt Steph came to visit each morning and evening. His enthusiasm never waned with each visit, he remained excited about being a big brother to Judah. I love how sweet he is!
Judah did excellent in the hospital, dropping below his birth weight by only 7% and passing all the various tests. We had to stay in the hospital 3 nights because of my surgery, much to my chagrin, but were discharged on Saturday ... did I mention Saturday morning that Andy ran 37 miles in an ultra marathon race? Yea, he did. It did make for a bit of a difficult day without him by my side, but it was a rare opportunity. After completing the race he drove down to the hospital to help us all get home. We got home about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and began to settle into our new life of a family of four!
Judah Michalak, you are already such a blessing to this family. You are perfect and special and so incredibly loved. Welcome to the world!
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