We are so happy and pleased to introduce the newest addition to our family, Ford Fletcher Coffman. He was born a little more than a week early and has been our joy ever since. We are so grateful and feel so very blessed to be the parents of this little angel. His birth story is so different than William and Henry’s and a wild ride for sure!

I’ll start this story from Monday, June 24th. I went in for my last doctor appointment on Monday afternoon. We had a sonogram scheduled to check on the size of baby and fluid levels since I was diagnosed at 28 weeks with gestational diabetes. Baby was measuring the right size for gestational age and fluid levels were good! When my doctor checked to see if I had progressed at all she said I was 2 cm and 75% effaced. We then chatted about my induction scheduled for the next Monday (July 1st) and if I were to go into labor before then, give her a call.

I had just assumed that I would make it to my induction on July 1st because 1) Both my boys were born on their due dates, not early and 2) July 1st was a few days before my July 5th due date.

It had been an emotional few days – we had lost our 17 year old family cat on Tuesday morning after a few hard days. That and the end of pregnancy was taking a toll on me and I was hardly sleeping. On Wednesday evening, we had the boys’ swim lessons, picked up tacos and had a really fun evening swimming and playing with the boys at my parents. After we got home and got the boys to bed, I decided to take a Unisom to help sleep after my lack of sleep the past few nights. I was surprised that at 3:00 a.m. I woke up to Braxton-Hicks contractions. I thought since I had taken Unisom, I would be able to fall back asleep, but I just couldn’t.

At 4:00 a.m. I decided to download a contraction tracking app because the Braxton-Hicks kept coming. At this point, they were coming every 5 minutes and lasting about 45 seconds. I decided to wake Caleb and he told me to take a bath to see if they would stop. I hopped in the bath, still under the impression it was false labor. After I got out of the tub, Caleb suggested we go to hospital to get checked. He could tell I was having a harder time. I texted my mom at 5:30 and told her I thought I might be in labor, but wasn’t sure. We decided to pack up our bags – even though I kept telling Caleb we would be turned away because it was just Braxton-Hicks. We called my parents to see if they could come over to be at the house with the boys while we headed to the hospital, but they weren’t answering their phones, so we got in the car, drove to their house to wake them up and then left for the hospital, which is right down the street. ​​​​​​A​​​​​​​t this point my contractions were two minutes apart and lasting about 45 seconds.

As we pulled into the hospital, Caleb asked to drop me off in front and I said I would just wait for the contraction to be over and then we could park and walk in together. At this point, I still didn’t believe I was truly in labor. For William, my water broke at home and the contractions were one right after another and pitocin at the end. For Henry, I was induced so I just felt contractions with Pitocin again. This was so different because it was extremely painful, but I knew exactly when the contraction started, when it peaked and when I would start to feel some relief. We walked into the hospital at 6:10 a.m. and checked into labor & delivery about 6:20. The next part is somewhat of a blur. I was getting an IV put in, having to answer questions, etc. all while shaking uncontrollaby – I just thought I was nervous! Come to find out, when the nurse finally checked how far along I was, she told me I was fully dilated. I was in absolute shock.​​​​​​​

In sheer panic I told Caleb, “Call our doctor and tell her we are here! Text our families!” I was freaking out. The nurse said they had called my doctor when we checked in (I guess she could tell that I wasn’t going to be going home!), and while my doctor was on the way to the hospital, she called Caleb and told him that I wouldn’t have time for an epidural. When he told me that, I freaked. It was not part of my plan at all. I told him to text my family and close friends to pray as I was a mess!

The anesthesiologist had just finished placing an epidural in the room next door and the nurse said I could try to see if it would take before I felt the urge to push. As soon as it was being placed, my doctor walked in and gave me a huge pep talk, saying pushing is the only way for the pain to end. The epidural didn’t work before I felt the urge to push. After pushing three times through one contraction, our precious Ford Fletcher Coffman was born at 6:37 am, weighing 8 lbs 4 oz and 19.5 inches long! I was not shocked at all when Caleb said “it’s a boy”! That was my gut feeling for my whole pregnancy. I was in complete shock that it was just after 6:30 a.m. and we already had our baby! I couldn’t believe that just three hours earlier I had woken up to my first contractions and here he was!

There is nothing as magical as meeting your baby for the first time. Caleb and I enjoyed some bonding time with Ford and then my parents brought in the boys around 7:30, because they were dying to meet their baby brother! Ever since the three boys met, they have been obsessed with their brother- it sure makes my heart happy!

We decided on Ford’s name a few hours after he was born. Ford is a name that we just really liked and Fletcher is my great-great-grandfather’s last name. We’ve used all family last names for the boys’ middle names and I wanted to continue the tradition for our last baby! Ford has been a dream baby so far and we are crazy over him!

We can not fully express our love for this little guy and how thankful we are that his big brothers are crazy over him too! We can foresee some fun and wild adventures down the road with these three boys and we can’t wait. God is good.

on stia: ​​​​​​​white lace dress – old (similar) // earrings

on ford: bow swaddle // diaper cover // monogrammed debut set

on william and henry: big brother short set // big brother jon jon

on caleb: blue polo // ag pants //

Cheers,

Stia, Jean and Katherine