1st Halloween

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The Sweetest Little Boy

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Joel with Family

Here is a slideshow with Joel and the family. Hope you enjoy!

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Joel's Debut

Joel’s birthday was one of the best days of our lives. It all started the day before (Aug 12th) at Randi’s doctor appointment. Randi had many contractions during the night on August 9th and then they stopped. We guess they were Braxton-Hicks (fancy wording for pre-labor) contractions. We were operating under the status of “if she makes it to the 12th, we will set a date to be induced.” So when the 12th came, and Randi went to the doctor we were both very nervous and excited. When the doctor scheduled Randi to be induced the next morning at 5:30 am we were both floored. We thought the date would be days or even weeks away. You can imagine how frantic and chaotic the night before labor was.

My (Cory) parents quickly packed their suitcases and left around 2:00 am from Zachary, La. (near Baton Rouge) to make it for the delivery. Randi’s parents met us at our house the morning of the big day and followed us to the hospital. Randi already had an I.V. and was receiving labor juice (aka ptossin) by 6:30 am. The contractions started minuets after! Her initial contractions didn’t hurt that bad; however, we knew she was getting an epidural and we were anxiously awaiting it. In the meantime, my mom and dad are getting text message updates every 2 minuets. At 7:00 am, we got a new nurse named Angie and we quickly found out that she was awesome. She was funny, friendly, and made the time pass quickly. She gave us straight answers and didn’t try to boggle our minds with medical mumbo-jumbo.

After a few hours, the contractions began to intensify and it was time for the epidural. The epidural was very scary mostly because of the unknown. We made the decision to get the epidural early so Randi was able to relax and hold a good position. It only took about 20-30 seconds and it was over. Whew! After the epidural, the pain completely vanished. Randi was having contractions 2-3 minuets apart and she didn’t even know it! The only way she knew anything was if I looked at the monitor and told her she was having one! It was so great. After she got the epidural, the doctor broke her water. The next few hours of the day consisted of moving sitting positions from right to left to get Joel to drop down.

Finally, around 6:00 pm the doctor gave Angie (our wonderful nurse) the approval to start pushing via the phone. I was very concerned about where the doctor was physically since we were about to start pushing. What if Joel comes out fast? How long will it take for doc to get here? Anyway, we were off to the races and I was in a state of panic internally, but pretty calm and supportive externally. I knew I had to be strong for Randi. After pushing during contractions for about 15 mins, Randi looked at me with eyes of confusion. I quickly knew that she was not totally with us. She had blacked out and was still loopy. Randi hadn’t eaten or drank anything since the night before (doctor’s orders) except for ice chips. She was nutritionally drained and the pushing pressure was too much for her. We had to give her an oxygen mask and fan her. I was extremely worried and scared. I wanted to be in that bed taking her place. She didn’t push for another couple of contractions to try to come back to full awareness. She never really came back fully but we started pushing again. She was sort of out of it until she heard the word “PUSH!” and she would kick it into drive.

Joel was ready to come out after a few more pushes, but I looked around and there was still no doctor. Angie was talking to her over the phone and trying to give me the run around so I wouldn’t freak out. We had to stop pushing and wait for the doctor to get there! Randi was about to blow a gasket or a child; one of the two. After about 5-10 minuets of waiting (which felt like 2 hours) the doctor burst through the doors with a whole pit crew of physicians, nurses, and specialist. She immediately started giving orders, moving things around, and getting things done! That woman doctor might have been small, but she was definitely in charge! Randi pushed like two more times and out popped beautiful Joel Rylan. The doctor was more of an overpaid baby catcher.

I was completely clueless to how I would feel or what I would do when I saw him for the first time. The very moment I place my eyes on my son, something happened inside of me that I could never explain in words. It immediately brought me to tears and filled my heart with something I never knew was missing. I knew my life would never be the same and all I could do was stare at him and weep. It happened so fast and it overwhelmed me. I went from knowing nothing about how he looked, felt, moved, or sounded to seeing him in the flesh. To look at him and know that he is a part of Randi and me and physically see the miracle of life happen before my eyes were moments that I will never forget as long as I live. Joel has redefined my understanding about children being a gift from God. August 13th was one of the best days of our marriage and our lives. On this day, the Knight Family Love was multiplied.

Just click the slideshow below to view our studly new addition!

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Waiting on Baby Joel

Talk about the longest 39 weeks of our lives! It felt like it took forever. We found out about being pregnant last December and what a great Christmas present it was. We were blessed to find out before Christmas so we could tell everyone to get us baby stuff for Christmas gifts (and we scored...thanks grandparents!) Anyway, Randi was the most elegant prego (slang for pregnant woman...I learned that recently) I have ever seen. She took care of our baby so well while he was in the womb. She gave up soft drinks for like the first two trimesters and I don't think she missed one prenatal vitamin (which is Mammaw Pat's crazy theory of his size, ha ha :) ). Randi managed to suffer through the Texas heat in the hottest part of the year. As you can tell in the pictures, mostly all of her weight gain was baby weight so we had no idea our baby boy would be so big! Randi finished her last year for a while as a first grade teacher. All of her kids this year were great about her having a baby. They provided us with many hilarious pictures and stories throughout the year.

We decided to cut the budget and do everything we can to save money so that Randi can stay home when our baby was born. We knew that the love that had already developed in the both of us for our baby would disable us from being able to drop him off at a daycare. This next year will be a different year financially for us but we trust our Lord, Jehovah-Jireh to provide for us. He has so far and we know he will continue. One of the best things I (Cory) learned this year was that I am not the provider for my family. I am the laborer that gets to partake in his provisions. Wow, what a relief and great lesson before Joel arrived.

Randi and I both have grown so much closer to God through the pregnancy and past months. We have learned things about each other, about parenting, and about who we belong to. We have both been worried and scared about his arrival because we have never been parents before and there is no crash-course. We know that child is a such a gift and we know that raising that gift is one of our most important tasks. We have a crazy collage of rules, morals, advice, lessons, events, trips, and memories that we want to plan, develop, implement, and enjoy. But all of these things are so far from right now so we just sit, look at each other, and talk without saying anything! We have officially been inducted into the Hall of Loony. That being said, we have both "cast our cares" and God has spoke to us both about how to do this thing called parenthood. We know that we have so much to learn and so many mistakes to make but we have the security of knowing that HE will show us what being a Father and Mother is all about.

The last 39 weeks has been a roller coaster of emotions and a period of our lives we will never forget. We have seen in how much we are loved through the care and support from our family and friends. Thank all of you who have gathered around us and been there for us through this preparation phase of our lives. From the baby showers, to the mani/pedi dates (Randi, of course), to the borrowed tools (thanks pops!), to the priceless advice, we cherish it all! We can't wait to see how much the Knight Family Love will grow.

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