He's here!!

I'm so thrilled to share that our little man, Levi David Malinowski is here!! Oh, how my heart is absolutely in love with this incredible gift and treasure already! He sure surprised us though, arriving almost a week before his official due date (which was July 7th) and was born this past Saturday, July 2nd at 2:30pm in Waimea, Hawaii. 

Kisses from Mommy

I truly had no idea that he would come so soon! Friday, the night before he was born, we went to the movies with a bunch of friends, and talked about our plans for the 4th of July and the rest of the weekend, including packing our hospital bag, figuring out the car seat and getting the house ready for whenever we would be bringing our baby home. Truthfully, I really thought that I would be at least a week late and had already decided that I would ask to be induced once I was overdue. So, I was incredibly skeptical when I woke up Saturday morning at 2am with what I assumed were contractions that only increased as I soon couldn't sleep. I really wasn't sure if I was in labor or not though so around 8am we finally called the Birthing Center where I was going to deliver, that is attached to North Hawaii Community Hospital and hour away in Waimea. At this point contractions were 6 min apart and we were to time them for the next hour to see if they continued. It was then that I told Graham that I thought we should pack our hospital bag :)

About 45 min into timing, looking for contractions that were 5 min apart, they dropped off and I thought it was just a false alarm. I was thankful that I didn't have to drive to the hospital to be turned around and sent home. However, 30 min later, everything picked up dramatically and I was timing contractions around 3.5 min, so we got in the car at 10am, and started to make the drive up to the hospital.

When we arrived in Waimea at 11am, I got checked into a room to see how far along I was. "You're not going to believe this," the nurse said to me (all the while I'm thinking, that knowing my luck, I'm probably not even in labor yet), but she says, "you're already 8 cms, we need to get a room ready for you now!" We were shocked!! So they rushed off to get a delivery room ready for us as I asked if it was too late to get an epidural :) They told me that it most definitely was, so I prepared myself to finish all natural!! I wasn't opposed to this idea to begin with, I had just wanted to keep my options open. About an hour later I got into a room, used the shower to ease some of the more difficult contractions, and then around 1:00pm we had the midwife break my water. Then everything sped up even more. So with incredible coaching and encouragement from Graham, and also my nurse and midwife, some concentrated breathing, determination and comments like "I don't really like how this feels" and "wow, this hurts" (haha, in retrospect, I cannot believe I was clearly stating the obvious!), I pushed for one hour to have Levi come into the world right at 2:30pm!!

I honestly had such an incredible experience and such a supernatural covering from the Lord and other's prayers. One of the most amazing things happened too, was that when he was born and they placed him on my tummy for us to meet I started giggling and laughing with sheer joy! This was so special because before Levi was born we had so many words of the Lord that he would be incredibly joyful and would unlock wells of laughter and life in our family - not even one minute old and he was already doing this! 

Later we started calling our family and friends with the news and so many were just a surprised as we were that he was already here, and so quickly at that too! I was in labor for just over 12 hours and only at the hospital for 3. 

My mom had a flight out for Monday the 4th, but as soon as they found out Levi had already arrived, she bumped her flight up so she could get to us the next day. It was incredibly special that my Mom was able to see us in the hospital and hold him for the first time when he was still under 24hrs old. What a gift, especially when we already live so far away from family to have her here now to share this with us :) We are looking forward to the rest of my family coming out at the ned of this week and Graham's parents next month! We also had good friends visit us in the hospital and take some beautiful pictures to capture that first day - thank you so much Johnny & Jenni!!

Monday we were ready and excited to come home from the hospital. My mom had decorated, picked flowers, had muffins baked and the house spotless (which was left in sort of a disarray when we took off so quickly!) Even though Levi slept through his housewarming tour it was so peaceful and natural to have him finally home with us!

We have now officially been parents for one week, celebrating Levi's first sponge bath, first Dr's appointment, first outing (to Target of course), and new visitors and friends. 

Levi David Malinowski :)

Proud Dad!

Levi - 1 day old