Jesse Ray Pevehouse

My heart is overwhelmed!!! My cousin Eric and his wife Whitney, welcomed Jesse Ray Pevehouse (pronounced P V House) Wednesday evening. He weighed 8 lbs 4.5 oz. Jesse is so adorable. Whitney and Jesse are doing fine.

Bryan and I have a house full and it was a very long day for Bryan between work and last night but I kept Bryan up until nearly midnight last night talking about my day and all that transpired. And then I woke up at 4:00 this morning (it's 4:45 now) thinking about the new baby and just how I could communicate my heart in a blog post. I even had a hard time trying to tell Bryan without crying or getting flustered or just babbling!! So don't say I didn't warn you.

I know so many of you prayed for me yesterday and leading up to yesterday and GOD was there! I had a great peace. I was so blessed to have Katie stay with us. Her presence soothed my heart and took my focus off myself. She is such a wonderful child. I took her to school yesterday morning and then picked her up around 12 noon to head to the hospital. Her mom wanted her there to be with so much of the family that had come in for the delivery. It is the neatest feeling to drop a little child off at school. I loved it!! My heart was just bubbling over at 9:00 yesterday morning. My day was to get even better!!!

My cousin Eric and I have shared quite some times together; some great and some not so great and I consider Bryan, Eric, and I pretty close. Eric stayed with us for nearly a year while he was in Officer Candidate School. When we were younger, Eric and I were fairly close for cousins. We would write back and forth and share many thoughts and feelings. I know Bryan and I both think of him more as a brother than a cousin. I am so proud of the wonderful job Eric has done. God has blessed him with great things over the past 2 years. This morning I remembered this picture of Eric and I as children and I had to post it with these others. I love how it displays the process of life and our family.

Mid 80s

September 3, 2008

Yesterday, prior to Whitney's delivery, Eric called me over to the side. I can still see the look in his eyes and he asked me if I would want to be in the room with he and Whitney once the baby started to arrive!!!!!! This caught me entirely off guard!!! And of course, as I tried to respond to him I cried like a nimcupook!!! Earlier in the week I had mentioned how I was so thankful to be a part of my sister's delivery process because I will not experience that process myself. I was trying to encourage him for his time to come telling him He will have joy unspeakable and there was nothing too queasy about it!! Eric remembered me saying that and he wanted to offer me another opportunity if I wanted to. This was the most remarkable, generous, unselfish, most loving act Eric did for me. I will never be able to put into words or communicate to he and Whitney how I felt and still feel. Eric can become a very private person. I had no idea he was going to ask me that yesterday. I just didn't expect it and I was not about to ask. That is such a sweet, precious time for a couple and for them to allow me to be a part of that is just amazing. The only people in that room was Eric, Whitney of course :), myself, the Dr., and the nurses. I was so afraid family would be upset I was in there but Eric said he was calling the shots and it was his call.

I stood by Eric's side as they prepped Whitney. The feelings, electricity, adrenaline in the room was amazing. Eric stayed very cool and calm the entire time. He didn't make light of anything. Externally he seemed very balanced. I had every intention of standing right by his side and he was at the far top of the bed. I told him to scoot down a little though so Whitney could see his face. As the moment drew nearer, the nurse said one of us had to help hold her leg and Eric looked at me and said he would rather stay where he was at. I totally was not prepared for that. I had never been that close with my sister. But I did my job and looked at Whitney's face and tried to focus on her, the monitors, and Eric. I want to respect some of their privacy so I do not want to go into too much detail. This was amazing for me. I did not expect at all to be that much a part of the process and I could feel in her muscles and expression how hard Whitney was working. This is not something anyone just does for fun (unless you are a nurse) and I know this was a chance of a lifetime for me. Being with them I think will help me each time I struggle with not having the physical experience myself. I can relive these moments with them. I feel so much more connected with Whitney. Almost as if a bond was formed in that room between she and I and I mean that quite seriously.


My cousin has grown into an amazing man! I am so proud of him! He has been great to his wife and he is wonderful father. I loved hearing him talk to Jesse. He held him like a pro and was so loving. I could write on and on about how he looked, how is eyes looked when Jesse was born, what he said immediately after the doctor "assisted" Jesse out, how Eric lovingly treated his step-daughter Katie, the sweetness in his voice, the loving encouragement to Whitney during the hard labor, how he was on a coffee diet the entire day and didn't eat anything because Whitney couldn't and on and on. But I know this post has to end sometime. It is early in the morning but I will try to attach some pictures. I didn't get a good picture of Bryan because it was crazy and crowded before we left but you should have seen the HUGE smile on his face when he saw that baby boy!!!!


God is so very good to me. I am so undeserving of the wonderful blessings and opportunities He gives to me. I praise Him this day for yesterday! When my heart was heavy on Tuesday He knew, He knew what He had in store for me on Wednesday!!! Hallelujah!!!

I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed being there!

I helped Katie buy some flowers for her mom to give to her before Jesse was born. Katie was pretty excited to finally be a Big Sister. She said she had been a little sister for a long long time and now she will finally be the Big Sister!!The Pevehouse Family -- September 3, 2008

Eric and his brother Jared

Eric and His Parents

My wonderful, patient husband, Bryan!!!!