John Shepherd is ONE

Somehow our tiny, itty bitty baby is a whole year old. And somehow its taken me a whole year to talk about him on here and post photos of the day he was born! I sat down with the intentions of posting multiple times and was just overcome by emotion from my baby growing. But here I am on his first birthday feeling good and just so incredibly proud and happy. Feeling thankful for a whole year with him.

The day he was born was incredible. I would live it over and over again if I could. His due date was October 24th, my mother-in-law’s birthday (we have LOTS of October birthdays in our family- a great month for having babies!), but October 13th I was feeling a little funny so we decided to go to the hospital since my doctor was on call that Sunday. Sure enough, I was in labor, so we checked in to the hospital around 7 that night. John Luke, both our moms, and his grandmother, all spent the night in my hospital room that night. I got an epidural around 10 p.m., so we all actually got some sleep. My doctor came in that morning around 8, broke my water, and things started moving more quickly. A little after she broke my water, John Shepherd’s levels (heart rate/ oxygen??? one of those? my sister is the nurse in the family) kept dropping every time I had a contraction. My doctor was back by 10:50 that morning and he was born at 11:05. Thankfully he came very quickly! The cord was wrapped around his chest, so every time I had a contraction, the cord was squeezing him. The NICU team came in to check him, but he got louder and louder with his cry and thankfully never had to go to the NICU and he got to stay with us.

It was absolutely incredible seeing him for the first time! Meeting this little human you already love and feel so close to, but are actually just meeting for the first time- its an incomparable experience! John Luke and I got some time holding him and just staring at him, and then we invited our parents and siblings in to meet him. There had been the biggest crowd of family and friends in the waiting room which was so special!

Those first 6 weeks home with him were so hard and so magical at the same time. Such a newborn daze. We had lots of help which was a blessing. He wasn’t much of a sleeper. I was always googling “Why doesn’t my newborn sleep?” and all that would come up was “Is my newborn sleeping too much?” One time he took two twenty-minute cat naps in a span of 7 hours ha! Now he’s the BEST sleeper, so for any mamas experiencing that, there is hope!

Shep really is the sweetest, happiest little guy (Shep, Sheppie, John Shepherd, John Sheppie, Shepherd- we call him all of these names ha). All of our family remarks, “He’s the sweetest, smiliest baby I’ve ever seen!” He’s very curious and very busy. Honestly when we found out he was a boy I was shocked and it took me a little while to wrap my head around it. I grew up with a sister so I had no idea what I would do with a little boy! So glad God knew what I needed. Well it has been the BEST thing ever having a son. He is so loving and snuggly. He’s somehow easy going yet go go go all the time. I have loved every second of being his mom. He is such a special gift the Lord has given me.

It’s been kind of a crazy year to become a mom in. Any other new moms out there I’m sure would agree! Covid surprising us all, an election year, 2 hurricanes in Louisiana- both of them hitting us even being 5 hours off the coast, and someone purposefully shooting into our house with us being home. I’ve needed to step away from a lot, including my blog, to keep sane and healthy as possible, for my sake and the sake of my family. I see the Lord protecting our family so many times throughout this year and am immensely grateful. I know He loves John Shepherd even more than I do, and He’s providing for me and sustaining me every step of the way. All of a sudden I’ve felt a push to pop back on here and IG more…maybe for a short season, who knows. But thank you to all of you who have supported me and my family. I appreciate the support and encouragement, and hope to encourage you as well. If you’re living and breathing today, God’s still using you and has a purpose for your life.

So to close, happy birthday to you, my son! Thank you for the immense amount of joy you have brought to my life. You can’t read yet, but I hope you feel super happy, loved, and cherished today.