The Evolution of Jude Schmidt

We are elated to announce the arrival of Jude Leonard Schmidt, born at 10:56 a.m. on Friday, January 27, 2012. He weighed in at 10 pounds, 7.7 ounces, measuring 21 3/4 inches long — a big boy!

Hey Jude! No, he’s not named after the popular Beatles tune. His namesake is Saint Jude, also known as Jude Thaddaeus, a brother of Saint James the Lesser, a relative of Jesus, and one of the twelve apostles. St. Jude’s feast day is October 28 and he is the patron of desperate cases — perhaps delivering a 10-1/2 pound baby qualifies as a desperate case.

Jude is a Hebrew name meaning sweetness or gentleness of character. If Day 1 is any indication of his actual temperament, our Jude appears to be appropriately named. His middle name, Leonard, is after Lisa’s father. In a family where the X chromosome dominates, Jude would have been Lenny’s first grandson; we are honored to have the opportunity to carry on his name. On the Schmidt side, Joel comes from a family of boys, each whose name begins with “J”. If it isn’t obvious, the name Jude simply felt right on many levels.

Enough chatter — time to get on with the show! Here are seven pictures of our sweet baby boy on his day of birth. Clicking on any picture will open a larger photo box.

— 1 —

Jude was delivered via Caesarian section. In all, the process took around 30 minutes. He is minutes old here. The staff at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines were amazing.

— 2 —

Given Jude’s vitals were indeed close to the doctor’s projections, glad we chose the Caesarian section route!

— 3 —

With another male added into the household mix, proud papa Joel says he and Jude are going to take the house back. Time will tell! (And look at Jude’s length here — still in shock that big baby was tucked inside Lisa’s womb!)

— 4 —

After all the post-op procedures, it took about an hour before Lisa had the opportunity to welcome Jude into her arms. At last, though, here’s a mama in love and this moment was heavenly.

— 5 —

Is he smiling a little already? Why not, he’s as big as a 3-month old!

— 6 —

Older sister Lucy is quite proud of her baby brother — although she was a little timid to give him a smooch!

— 7 —

After his first bath, Jude is bundled up and ready for bed donning a cap knitted by a hospital volunteer. All in all, a productive day!

Once again, thanks for all the well-wishes and prayers. We felt extremely comforted by your collective prayers leading up to the delivery and are now grateful for your kind words and congratulation messages. All things considered, the next couple of weeks here at the blog will most likely be slower than usual. We pledge to be back into the swing of things in short order. God bless!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!