Jacksen's Story

Jacksen's arrival into our family was A LOT different than his brother and sister for two reasons...the first is that I did not have to take any fertility drugs and the second is that we were completely surprised. For awhile we thought we might want a third child someday, but around the time Kellan turned two we decided that two was plenty. In April 2006 I found that I was a little "late". I didn't think alot about it at first because that was kind of typical for me. However, after a couple weeks and a few emerging symptoms, I decided maybe I should just take a test...just in case. Even though they say these tests are most accurate first thing in the morning, I took mine after work one evening. I don't think there are enough words to describe my surprise when the second line appeared. Marc was in the kitchen making dinner and I think I just kind of matter-of-factly told him the test was positive. He response was "Are you sure?" As if I hadn't had any experience with these things! He then wanted to read the directions...just to be sure. I very hotly informed him there is no such thing as a false positive pregnancy test. It took awhile for our news to sink, but eventually we were very excited. I had experienced a miscarriage before Megan and another before Kellan so I was a little leary of getting too excited, but the morning sickness that kicked in almost immediately after seeing that positive result was reassuring...for awhile. Let's just say that after throwing up daily for 8+ weeks, I was feeling more reassured than necessary!

Just two days after taking that test, I was visiting my younger sister, Katy. She had been trying to conceive her third child for a few months and thought maybe she could be pregnant also. Interestingly, the test I purchased was a buy 1 get 1 free so I gave her the second test. We were so excited when we saw it was positive - our babies were due within just a few days of each other!

My pregnancy with our littlest was uneventful...except that I was single-parenting our two older kiddos while Marc worked fulltime and worked on building our house every evening and weekend. Mr. Jacksen was due on Christmas Day, but I was scheduled for a C-section on December 19th. Because I have a blood disorder, my doctor ordered ultrasounds and fetal monitoring every Friday afternoon for the last ten weeks of my pregnancy. On Friday, December 15th, I went to the hospital for my final ultrasound and monitoring. The ultrasound technician mentioned that my amniotic fluid was quite low, but she didn't seem alarmed. When I waddled to the maternity ward for my fetal monitoring, I happened to mention this to the nurse. She left my room and came back less then a minute later...she said "Honey, your fluid isn't just a little low - it's dangerously low!" A few minutes later, my doctor wandered into the room and announced I would be having a baby that afternoon. Even though I was more than ready to be done with the pregnancy, for some reason I burst into tears. After several phone calls, I located my husband who raced to the hospital. Little Mr. Jacksen was born at 4:44 pm that day. Afterward, the nurse explained that was the lowest level of amniotic fluid she had ever seen for a baby who survived and my doctor said our baby would not have lived through the weekend. I have no doubt the Lord saved our child and I am so grateful! After all that excitement, Jacksen was our easiest baby and has been our most relaxed child ever since!