We are quite happy to announce that Justin Dwayne Woolery was FINALLY born on January 22, 2008 at 8:51 pm. He weighed 9 pounds, 10 ounces, and is 21 1/2 inches long... quite a big 'little' guy, as everyone keeps saying. :) Needless to say, we are immensely relieved and overjoyed that our guy is here, since he was almost 3 weeks late!
We had originally planned on giving birth at a birthing home with a midwife that is within walking distance of our campus. Our midwife, Deborah, has been so amazing throughout our entire pregnancy, and even though things didn't go as planned, we're so thankful for our new friend. Once little Justin was 1 1/2 weeks late, we decided to try many various ways to induce naturally... I won't go into all the details, but let's just say we had a very interesting week. When the contractions still were not getting serious, we decided to talk to a doctor about inducing. Philippine hospitals are very different from what we are used to (which is one reason we chose a midwife), but God blessed us with a great doctor who advocated for all our wishes and let Brian be with me during the delivery. So, we went to the hospital, and they induced on Tuesday at 12:30 pm. Contractions started coming regularly and the doctor was very pleased with the progress.... but after 8 hours of labor, of which the last 4 were particularly intense, and still not enough progress to make the doctor comfortable with continuing, we decided a cesarean section was necessary. So our little guy finally came!
We couldn't be more amazed at how much God watched out for us and blessed us during this process... we were very apprehensive about delivering at a hospital, but God gave us a doctor who allowed Brian to be at the delivery and allowed Justin to stay with us in-room during our entire hospital stay. We have also been thrilled to have Justin's grandparents here! Julie's parents were here a couple weeks before the delivery, and Brian's parents arrived just one day after the delivery.
Justin has been born into one of the most supportive communities we've ever seen. We're so privileged to be here right now with our missionary friends in Manila and all our fellow students at APNTS. Numerous people came to visit at the hospital, and now that we're home, it's so exciting to introduce Justin to his countless aunts and uncles from all over Asia.
So, now life begins with a newborn! And we're super excited about our new adventure. Please pray for us as Julie recovers from the delivery and as we learn how to be Godly parents for Justin.
Some people have asked about the name, since we kept it a secret for the last few months... Justin is the name of Brian's brother, and Dwayne is the name of Julie's Dad... so our Justin was named after two very special people in our lives, and we hope and pray he will grow up to be like the selfless, compassionate, Godly men he was named after.
We'll post some more pictures and stories of our new adventure of parenthood soon! Thanks sooo much for your prayers and support! :)
