Henry the 5th

Welcome to the family, Henry!  Baby No.5 who shall be known as Henry Jensen Ball, arrived on July 21, 2017.  It is quite possible he is the most loved and adored baby on the planet.  As soon as I held him in my arms I knew this boy was meant to be a part of our family.  He is calm and strong, both necessary qualities so he can hold his own in a life surrounded by rowdy big brothers.
Here's a quick summary of how the events unfolded that day.  I had been up all night having painful contractions and finally decided to pack the suitcase and get ready for the hospital around 4am.  A couple hours later everything stopped.  I was so frustrated!  I went to the doctor and she stripped my membranes and still nothing happened.  I told Randy to keep working {he got off at 2:00 but was working in Seattle and a good 45 minutes away} and I laid down on the couch.  I started to have painful contractions again and but they were about 20 minutes apart.  In the time it took me to contact my friend Jen to take me to the hospital my contractions were only a few minutes apart and going strong.  I called Randy who was running to his car and told him to meet me at the hospital.  Jen drove like a crazy woman to get me there while I huffed and puffed through contractions that were coming fast and furious.  I wasn't worried about getting to the hospital in time but I was worried it would be too late for the epidural.  I called the hospital en route to let them know I was coming and practically yelled, "I'm 2 minutes away, having my 5th child, and my contractions are 2 minutes apart.  I need the epidural as soon as possible!"  The nurse on the other end said, "What?!  Hold on.  Let me put down my cucumber."  I will never forget that response as long as I live.  I would've laughed if I hadn't been hit by another contraction but Jen laughed for me.  We got up to my room with nurses frantically setting everything up, they checked me and I was 6 cm so they called in the epidural guy and he worked fast.  Another epidural man I am in love with.  After the epidural took effect everything grew peaceful.  That's about the time Randy arrived, still dressed in his scrubs.  In my mind, he missed almost everything and poor Jen was there to see me at my worst and she was so glad she didn't have to stick around for the delivery.  Henry was born a couple hours later weighing in at 7 lb. 11 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.  He has old man hair - bald on the top with lots of dark hair on the sides, and has really big hands with long fingers.  He has the roundest little face and little skinny chicken legs.  Marcus and Parker were home so we called them and they got to see Henry over Facetime which was really cool. 
It was divine intervention that Henry was born when he was, allowing Randy to work all week {I didn't want Randy to cancel his patients when we didn't know when the baby was coming} and giving us a whole weekend to recover in the hospital.  Randy brought the boys first thing on Saturday morning to meet their little brother and it was so fun.  I wish we'd had someone recording the whole thing because they were all so excited but also very quiet and calm-ish.  Just as each boy took turns holding and cuddling Henry a hospital photographer came in offering her services and thus our impromptu photo shoot began.

 40 years and 2 days apart

My whole world

There's so much love in this photo

 Marcus forgiving Henry for not being a girl

Just kissed by my mom and sent down to me.  Heaven is close when you're holding a newborn.  I can practically see my Mom looking over my shoulder in this photo.

 My everything.

Bookends.  And a reminder that Henry will grow up in the blink of an eye.  I don't know what the name Henry actually means but to me he is a gift.  A miraculous gift.