Josiah Gabriel Winslow is Here!!!

After approx. 10-11 hours of labor, Mandy gave birth to Josiah Gabriel Winslow at 1:34am this morning. Mandy did wonderful and we had a waterbirth oversaw by our midwives Mary and Emily (if anyone wants to give it a try, let us know and we'll share our experience and get you Mary's number). As with Emily, I delivered Josiah and am amazed at the miracle of life. Even at 9lbs Josiah is so small and yet so complete and whole. As I look at him I know God has a calling for His life and we are praying that God glorifies His name through Josiah's life. His name means "Fire of God" and I am excited to see how that is worked out in his life.

Mandy had contractions all day long on Saturday and so we thought she was going to be having Josiah on Sunday, but come Sunday morning the contractions had dissapeared. We figure God gave us a two day break to get us through the hot spell. Mandy felt crampy yesterday but I still went to work and figured I could go back if she started having contractions. She had some contractins on-and-off yesterday but not enough to worry about. We went and had dinner at my fams house to celebrate Sara's birthday and the contractions got much more serious at that point (around 6pm). We went back home then and started timing contractions and realized that Mandy was definitaley progressing. Mandy had an hour or two of earlier first stage labor and an hour and a half of hard labor and then three pushes and Josiah was out.

Mommy is recovering well, Josiah is seeming to be a very peaceful baby and is eating well and sleeping well, and Emily is literally wired with excitement about her new brother. Daddy is quite happy and thankful to God for his goodness and for how well everyone is doing.

We are grateful for all of your prayers and are excited for you to get to see Josiah in person.

Gabe for Mandy, Emily, and Josiah