Welcome Isaaq (pronounced E-sock) Yuusuf! Sunday, October 24 arrived little Isaaq at 9AM, local time, weighing in at about 8 lbs and about 19.5 inches, equipped with all the essential body parts, a full head of brown hair, and a voracious appetite. After much deliberation we decided on the name Isaaq for a variety of reasons- one it is a reminder of one of God's promises (to bless Abraham's descendants), it is the name of the clan in the area, and Isaaq is a name that can be easily translated in many different languages. His middle name "Yuusuf" is the name Seth goes by here. It fits well with the culture here as well as people use three names: their given name followed by their father's given name followed by their grandfather's given name. I also wanted our son to be named after Seth in some way (Eden and I have the same middle name), making "Yuusuf" a fitting middle name. We returned home from the hospital at around 4:30PM on the day Isaaq was born where we've spent the past few days recovering and rejoicing in our Father for this cherished gift. Eden is simply delighted with her little brother and is taking on her new role of "big sister" with ease. For those that are interested the details of Isaaq's arrival are included below.

The whole week before Isaaq's birth I'd been having a lot of contractions, but they never really got stronger or more consistent and usually stoppped after an hour or two. Last Thursday we went in for a prenatal checkup and the midwife verified that he was indeed sitting very low in my pelvis and should be arriving soon; news which was no surprise to me as I'd been having terrible pelvic floor pain for a number of weeks. Eden arrived a week earlier than her due date, so we'd expected that Baby Clarkson #2 might tend to arrive early as well (especially since first babies are often a little on the late side), needless to say, with his due date approaching (October 27) I was more than eager to have this little guy join our world. At about 2AM Sunday morning I woke up to some stronger contractions and after fruitlessly attempting to sleep through them, woke up my handsome hubby to tell him what was going on. We started timing them on an online contraction timer (internet is a wonderful thing) and timed them at about 10 minutes apart. We were laboring well at home and wanted to stay there as long as possible before heading off to the hospital. I actually had space between my contractions which made the labor much more bearable than Eden's. They steadily got closer together first around 8 minutes, then 5 minutes apart. We then heated up some water so I could labor in the tub for a while (which seriously saved me during Eden's labor). I got out of the tub around 6:00(ish) and continued to labor around our house (walking down our hallway, sitting on the exercise ball, squatting, moving around during labor helped tremendously). Seth gave our friend Jenni a call to tell her that labor had started and to get ready to come over to watch Eden. Seth was an awesome coach and did a fantastic job of finding just the right things to say (note: there is a very very very fine line of what one should say to a woman in active labor and saying the wrong thing will almost most certainly yield consequences of the most severe kind). At about 6:45 my contractions ranged from 2-5 minutes apart, but I still felt that it was perhaps too early to head to the hospital. My contractions contined at these intervals and at about 7:15AM we finished (actually Seth finished) loading up the rest of the birthing gear and we headed to the hospital. We had previously choosen the route with the least bumps in the road, making the hospital a short 10 minute drive from our home. Labor was beginning to intensify even more and the bumps in the road made it feel even more awful. Seth did a great job of pointing out how much closer we were getting to the hospital and before I knew it, we were there (about 7:30AM). When we went to get checked in there were a lot of women in labor at that time and we had to labor in the same room as about three other women while they got a private room ready for us (the hospital staff was so accommodating). They took us into the delivery room so they could check to see how far dialated I was. I was about 4 centimeters dialated at about 7:45AM. I thought I'd be at least 6cm but I didn't really think about it too much. Seth and I headed back to our room to continue laboring. I found that changing laboring positions really helped me a lot during this labor (squatting, sitting on the birthing ball, standing, etc.). Every so often Seth showed me a beautiful picture of little Eden to remind me of the fruit of my labors:) or he would read scripture over me of verses I'd looked up to encourage me during labor. We really worked well together. At this point my contractions were more than awful, ya know the kind where you just want to slam your head in a door repeatedly or having someone run over your head with their SUV seems to be a more palatable option. I thought I could feel the baby's head descending further and had the urge to push. I not very calmly communicated this to Seth who then rushed off to go find our midwife. He returned with a midwifery student (we delivered at a teaching hospital) who lead us into the delivery room. Actually, she told Seth to wait outside as there were two other women occupying two of the three curtained off sections (the larger delivery room was curtained off into three sections so three women could deliver at the same time if need be). Papa Clarkson, however, being the hands-on papa that he is, would have none of this and told her he was going in anyway. They got me up onto the birthing table, where our midwife Nuura checked to my dialation and said that I was 9 cm, meaning that I'd gone from 4cm to 9cm in an hour. Meow. I wanted to kiss her (note: this was the only time during the entire course of labor that I ever even remotely wanted to kiss anybody). She had me walk around the delivery room while she finished preparing the bed for delivery. Seth was right by my side reminding me of what a great job I was doing, that the end was in sight as she (the midwife) had told us to stay in the delivery room because the baby was coming soon. Then soon I was up on the delivery table/bed/whatever its called. She told me to lay on my back which I did NOT want to do since I knew this was THE WORST position to deliver in and my back had been hurting something awful for the past few weeks of pregnancy since the baby was sitting so low. I told her I wanted to lay on my side, she agreed. I told Seth I wanted to know when he could see the head (something I wanted to know when I was pushing Eden out). After one push, he said "I see the head!" and two pushes later, the baby had arrived. Holla'! In all the excitement of our little one entering the world, no one announced what the gender was. So I surveyed the situation of the little one squirming on my chest and announced "It's a boy!" A very beautiful little boy indeed. The nurses got Isaaq and I all cleaned up, and wow, was I so thankful that was all done! I only had a minor tear, that would heal up naturally on its own without stitches. Soon they were scooping me into a wheelchair to take us back to our room for some recovery, bonding, and breastfeeding time. Seth and I relaxed and enjoyed some snacks and Isaaq was introduced to what is now his favorite (and only) food- milk. Isaaq figured out breastfeeding very quickly and eats like a pro. We had a number of kind visitors in the hospital and before I knew it I was feeling good enough to head home. His labor was technically one hour longer than Eden's, but much more manageable (though still terrible) as I actually had a break between contractions and I only spent about 5 minutes pushing compared to an hour of pushing with Eden. When we arrived home on the 24th, we were greeted by a very excited big sister Eden and a delicious meal compliments of our dear friend Jenni, who makes a super delicious potato salad and delightful date muffins. Isaaq bought Eden a gift (such a thoughtful little guy)- a sweet goatskin stool and a new pair of flip flops. She loved it! She LOVES to give him kisses and "help" mommy and daddy with him. We are so blessed by him already. Isaaq is a sweet little guy, a pretty easy baby thus far- not fussy, doesn't really spit up, burps well, and has a very efficient plumbing system (super soaker for sure). Hes a good sleeper, but still (as most newborns) wakes 2-4 times throughout the night for a little snacky snack (just like his mommy- hello breastfeeding appetite- I eat a ton!). Seth was able to take the week off of work so our family was able to have some good time to adjust to our new lives together. I've been recovering well, its been such a blessing to have Seth around so much. I'm still a little sore, I was pretty lightheaded for a while because of the blood lost during delivery, but am getting better. Isaaq is very healthy and is starting to plump up a bit.

This post is probably a bit delayed, but I decided (over this past week) to spend intentional time helping our family transition, meaning spending special time with Eden, quality time with Seth, loving on Isaaq, and making time for my body to recover. We've also enjoyed some special cultural celebrations surrounding Isaaq's birth (more on that at another time) that were a lot of fun, but exhausting as well. All in all, we feel extremely blessed with our new little son, continually blessed by our joyful daughter, and evermore blessed by our sweet marriage (I remember being told or reading somewhere that for kids, it's more important for them to know that their parents love each other than for him/her to know their parents love him/her- strange but true, a strong marriage is so important and too often neglected). All in all, thanks for your prayers! We cherish you!