Ransom James

A week ago today at 4:10pm, Ransom James Springs was born. We love him!

Why Ransom? Well Tobin and I have liked the name since I was pregnant with Evangeline. We like that it is Biblical in the sense that Jesus paid the ransom for our sins (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, 1 Timothy 2:6, Hebrews 9:15). We like the meaning of the name Ransom – Deliverance, Rescue. Tobin and I love reading C.S. Lewis’ books, and we both love his Space Trilogy. The main character in that book is Dr. Ransom, and we really liked the character he portrayed. (If you haven’t read that series, I highly recommend it.) Oh and it was a relatively popular name in the 1880′s (OK, maybe not popular, but it did make the graph from the 1880′s until the 1920′s). :)

The rest of this post is about the actual birth – so if you don’t want to read that, consider yourself warned.

I started  having contractions on June 2 at about 3am. These contractions woke me up and there was no sleeping through them. I briefly attempted to get Tobin to wake up and help push on my back (that helps make the contractions more bearable for me), but it must have been too early for him and he pretty much slept through them until his alarm went off. :P I tried timing the contractions, but they were relatively irregular so I figured I was just in for another bout of prodromal labor (last time it was 30 hours with Evangeline).

Tobin headed off to school and I continued having contractions. Evangeline was sweet – I didn’t tell her it was the baby’s fault that I hurt, just that I hurt – but she figured it out and for a few contractions, she’d reach out and put her hand on my tummy and say “baby, baby”. She’s so sweet.

I called up my sister and asked her to get over STAT as I figured even if I was in prodromal labor that the baby would be coming soon (our doctor had planned on inducing me the same day). She showed up while I was trying to nap after working a half day, and when I did get out of bed around 1:30 pm she was at Stephen’s. I called her and asked her to get down here as at least she could push on my back. At about the same time, Tobin came home for a few minutes on his plan and helped me make it through a few more contractions. They still weren’t terribly regular, but they were happening more often, so I told him that he should probably see if he could get coverage for the last period of the day so we could go to the Dr sooner (we had an appointment scheduled for an ultrasound followed by a NST at 3:45pm). I texted my doctor and asked if we should go to the appointment or maybe hit the hospital. She said go to the hospital. My water still hadn’t broken (I was 5cm last time when it broke), so I figured that even though I was in pain, I still had hours of labor left.

So around 2:45pm or so we headed off to Moses with our hospital bags – leaving Evangeline with ML. We drove straight to the hospital, and checked in around 3:25pm. They took me right in and checked things and I was at 8cm!!!! I just about cried, I figured I was still at 1-3cm with hours left. (I was at 1cm no effacement just 2 days prior.) The nurse said she figured we’d have the baby within the hour so I went ahead and called my family and let them know (they headed right over). Well the nurse was right. The doctor went ahead and broke my water and the contractions got worse (but were still at 5-6min apart). There wasn’t even any medical staff in our room when I started pushing – by the second push, everyone was rushing in to switch up the bed so we could have the baby. 2 more pushes and he was OUT! 4:10pm. Good thing I didn’t wait for my water to break – which is what I was planning on doing as I didn’t want to get sent home like last time.

Here are the stats:

Weight: 9lbs 8oz
Length: 22in
Head Circumference: 14.25cm
Apgar: 9
Born at: 4:10pm

And if you’re wondering, yes he was an all around bigger baby than Evangeline who was 9lbs 4oz, 21.5″ (though she measured at 23″ on her 2-day checkup).

Ransom is perfect. He’s got a FULL head of hair and pretty much looks identical to Evangeline’s baby pictures. :) Tobin and I have decided that it’s much more fun having a newborn that is not our first child. Now we kind of know the ropes (though I realize there’s a lot that we forgot in just two years), and so most of the stress is gone, and we can just enjoy being parents! :) Actually the hardest part so far has probably been keeping up with my two-year-old as I’m trying to heal from having a 9 1/2 pound baby.

Evangeline loves her baby brother. She has some baby dolls – a pink one and a blue one. She now refers to Ransom as the Real Baby. It’s cute. :) Here’s a pic of the two of them that I snapped with my phone the other day – right before I took this picture Ransom LAUGHED! The next day he laughed too. It was the sweetest thing ever. :)

Well that’s the story. Welcome to our family Ransom! We love you!

Lots of pictures in the photo gallery – Day 1, Day 2, Day 3+. A special thank you to Margie Lou Colyar Photography for many of the pictures.