October 2010

October passed rather quickly for us. Here are some random pictures of our family. There are some pictures of Sydney right after I gave her her first haircut, Sydney playing dress-up, and Charlie feeding Troy his first bottle.

Troy - 6 Weeks Old

I think we've finally turned a corner! Troy is sleeping better, and since I've taken milk products out of my diet, he's not dealing with any colic anymore! (Thanks Stephanie for that advice!!!) Anyway, at Troy's 6-week appointment, he weighed in at a whopping 15lbs. 5oz.!! He measured 23 inches long, and his head is now 16 inches around! He's just about ready to go into 6-9 month clothes, because the snaps at the crotch of his outfits keep popping open every time we pick him up (lol). What can we say? He's a big boy :-)

Troy Video 1

Mish-Mosh of Pics

Baby Bumblebee

Bathroom Excitement - B

Bathroom Excitement - A

Troy's Birth Story

Wednesday, the morning of September 8^th, I woke up with a new plan. I’d decided in the middle of the night that if I hadn’t gone into labor by Friday, I would go to the hospital to be induced. That day I would be having another biophysical profile (ultrasound) done on the baby, and then I would be immediately heading over to the clinic for my prenatal appointment. I would bounce my new plan off of my midwife at our appointment. I was happy to have my plan.

My mom came and picked Mary (my mother-in-law) and I up at 2:15pm. I didn’t want to be late for my 3 o’clock ultrasound appointment (they’d asked me to be there at 2:45pm). The ultrasound went well, and we even had the ultrasound technician (Ben) put a picture of the gender parts in a sealed envelope for us… just for fun. When he was finished with the ultrasound, he asked us to wait out in the lobby until after he’d talked with my midwife (Sarah). When he came out to tell us to go on over to the clinic, his expression was different, as though worried. He said that Sarah would talk to us about the ultrasound when we got over there.

As soon as we walked into the clinic, Sarah asked if we knew the results of the ultrasound. I told her we didn’t. She said that in the previous three ultrasounds, the baby had come back with a score of 8 out of 8. This time was the first time it wasn’t perfect; 6 out of 8. This concerned her, and she recommended that we go immediately to the hospital to be induced.

Wait! No! This wasn’t my plan! This wasn’t supposed to happen until Friday! I really wanted a home birth, and I was battling a ton of conflicting emotions. I wanted what was best for the baby’s health more than my preference of a location for his/her birth. But going to the hospital meant that I’d be hooked up to all the stupid monitors! And an I.V.! I knew how annoying those were! I was not looking forward to going to the hospital… at all.

“Okay… okay,” I finally managed to say. Sarah called Legacy Emmanuel hospital, and let them know we would be on our way shortly. She also contacted the midwife on duty, and requested that she attend my labor and birth. (Due to hospital regulations, Sarah would not be able to deliver our baby.) I was fighting back tears; a few of them won. I was so disappointed that I wouldn’t be having the baby at home in my own environment. Ugh. I told myself that I needed to snap out of it, and suck it up. And I tried my best to do so.

I called David, and let him know what was going on while fighting back more tears, and that after he was done teaching piano lessons (he only had an hour of teaching left), he should head over to the hospital. After our file had been put together by Laura (my midwife’s apprentice), my mom, Mary, and I all got into the car, and headed to the hospital.

As we entered Legacy Emmanuel Hospital, I fought back terrible memories from our last experience there, when I would be giving birth to Theo. It was all so familiar; the walk down the hallway toward the elevators, pushing the number two button, the smell after getting off on the second floor. After getting out of the elevator, I tried to ignore the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) to our left, and direct focus instead on the “Labor and Delivery” doors to the right. We were placed in room number 6. Room number 5 was the room where I’d delivered Theo. It helped that they weren’t identical, but our room was mirror image of the other.

I immediately had to change into a gown, and then we waited. Our first nurse was, Jo. She was nice. She told us that she’d only be there for another hour and a half before her shift ended and the next nurse would arrive. Before her shift ended, however, she went over all the protocol; how the heater/air conditioner worked, how to work the phone, how to order dinner from the kitchen, etc. etc…. We also met the midwife assigned to us. Her name was Beth, and she would be on call until 8am the next morning. She was nice enough, and told us that with our situation, we had a choice to make. We could #1 choose to have a c-section, #2 choose induction by breaking the bag of waters, or #3 start pitocin through an IV. We could think about it while we ate our dinner and then she’d be back to check in on us.

David arrived at the hospital with Thai food for dinner. Sarah arrived at the hospital next, and I ran the choices past her. A c-section was not an option in my mind, so I only told her about the other two choices. I was between 3 and 4 centimeters dilated at this point, and she suggested starting with pitocin to try and dilate more before breaking my waters. This would give the baby a better chance at “coming down” in the right position. This is what we decided to do. I have to interject the fact that a new nurse had come on duty that I absolutely loved! Her name was Kate. She was just so perfectly upbeat, and sensitive too. She reminded me of someone I knew, but no matter how many hours of wracking my brain for it, I couldn’t come up with who it was she reminded me of.

After several hours of being on pitocin, hooked up to a fetal monitor, a contraction monitor, etc. etc., at 11:30pm I had progressed 1 centimeter and was now between 4 and 5 centimeters dilated. Beth said that she could break my waters, but I decided to try and dilate more through the night, and see what happened. Sarah went home, and I slept. I don’t think David, Mary, or my mom slept for more than a total of an hour all night, though. I got a good hour here and there (totaling maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep).

At around 8am, I decided I’d try walking up and down the halls of the Labor and Delivery ward. The hall was an “L” shaped hall, and we (Mary, my mom, and I) walked back and forth from one end to the other. My contractions were very mild, and I had a good amount of pitocin pumping through me, so we were just trying to help it along. At one end of the “L” shaped hall we could see the entrance to the NICU, and at the other end, we could see the babies that were actually in the NICU though the window in the door. Midway, there was a door with a window looking into the oh-so-familiar long hallway that is taken by every parent of a NICU baby. In that hallway, the parent would scrub their hands and forearms before entering the area to see their baby. Back and forth we walked the “L” shaped hallway, and from one memory to the other to the other, back and forth, back and forth. After about an hour or so of this, I started to feel really sick to my stomach, so we went back to my room. I didn’t leave my room for the rest of my labor… too many memories. When David woke up, he said that he’d felt sick all night long. I asked him if he thought it might be all the memories, and he said that it very well could be, because he’d taken a walk in the middle of the night down all of the familiar parts of the hospital. Ugh.

I met the new nurse on duty (Shanon) at around 8am, and was introduced to my new midwife at around 9am. Her name was Kathi Hill, and I immediately liked her! She was forthright about things, and very sweet in her bedside manner. She told me that after all night of being on pitocin, I was still between 4 and 5 centimeters dilated. It was her recommendation that she break my waters at this point in order to get things moving along. I told her my concern about the baby coming down in the wrong position if we didn’t wait until I was further dilated, and she assured me that she would not break my waters if the baby wasn’t in the correct position. I trusted her, and we decided that after I was done eating breakfast, we would go ahead with it.

Kathi came back after breakfast, and began the process of breaking my waters. Right before she did it, she asked, “Now you’re sure you want to do this, right?” I had a moment of nervous panic, and said, “Wait… wait… I don’t know. Ummm… just give me a second.” And after about 30 seconds, I said, “Okay. Let’s do it.” She broke my waters at about 10am.

Things got really intense very quickly, which is what I’d expected and was nervous about. I had to “oooooo” through all of the remaining contractions in a very low voice. I would sit on the edge of the bed, and David would push on my lower back to relieve my back labor. Then I would stand up and lean on David in a kind of “hugging” position. As the contractions got more and more intense, David would have to hold me up through the contractions as I just tried to surrender to them. He was amazing!

Sarah arrived back at the hospital around noon (I think), and I felt soooooo relieved to see her! I wanted her there so much, but I knew she wouldn’t be getting paid for this baby, because she was now not my official midwife. But she came anyway, and it meant so much to me that she still wanted to be there!

At around 1pm-ish, Kathi checked me again, and I was now 8 centimeters dilated! This was good, but things were very intense at this point, and I was really getting nervous about things getting any more intense than they already were. Yikes! I was able to get into the shower, and David ran the water (it was the type of shower head that could come off and move around) over my back through each contraction. After about 7 or so really intense contractions, I thought the baby was coming, and shouted, “The baby’s coming… the baby’s COMING!” I was moved out of the shower. Then they got me set up where I wanted to be at that moment; on my knees next to the bed, leaning over the side of the bed. I contracted a few times in that position, and then I got up on the bed, and leaned over the back of the bed. I tried to push in this position, but I just couldn’t figure out how to do it.

Finally, I moved onto my side, lying down. This position worked! I was told that I was almost fully dilated, but that there was a lip over the baby’s head that needed to be out of the way before any real progress could be made. I tried just breathing through the next couple of contractions, but on the third contraction, I couldn’t help but push. I pushed, and Kathi tried to stretch the “lip” out of the way so that the baby’s head could push past it. After a few of these types of contractions, the baby’s head was past it, and I was able to make some real progress. (At some point during my pushing, Talia arrived. I heard her say in a quiet voice, “Hi, Tiffy.” That’s all I needed. Everyone was there! I pushed and pushed, and pushed HARD. “I can do this, right?” I said at one point. And a resounding, “Yes! Yes you can… you can totally do this!” came back. Okay, I can do this.

During some of my pushes, I would start to lose it a little, and Kathi would say, “Don’t you lose your breath. You make it work for you. You can do this!” I would refocus my breath, and push productively at this. Her words were a HUGE help. When the baby’s head was crowning, there was the all-so-familiar burning sensation, and I did what I did in my previous births; I waited, and took a few short breaths. Then I continued pushing. The baby’s head came out, and Kathi then stretched my legs as far apart as they could go, and said, “Now I want you to give me the biggest push you’ve ever done. Big big push now.” So I did. And in 1 or 2 pushes, the baby was out! What a glorious feeling!

Kathi placed the baby on my chest, and they all asked David what we’d had. David told me in a low proud voice, “It’s a boy.” A boy! I looked down at our son, and then realized he was peeing all over me! I started laughing at this point, as did everyone in the room!

I asked what time he was born, and they told me that he was born at 2:49pm. Wow… only 4 hours and 49 minutes after my waters had been broken. Not bad. I looked at David and said, “Wow, Honey. You were only about an hour off on your prediction.” He assured me that if we’d been going by mountain-time, the baby would have been born at 1:45, just like he’d predicted.

I pushed the placenta out next, which was a breeze compared to the baby! I asked how much the baby weighed, and they took him and placed him on the scale. He weighed in at 10lbs. half an ounce! Everyone was amazed at how big he was, and told me that I was amazing! Of course I soaked it up, because I felt like I’d just done a really amazing thing! He measured 22 ¼ inches long, too! His head: 14.5 inches… ummm… wow! David and I were so proud.

I asked if I needed any stitches, and after Kathi examined me, she said that I didn’t need any at all! I was shocked! I guess that breathing through the “crowning” stage had worked once again!

Then the familiar cramping came. I was pooling blood in my uterus, and it was clotting. My body was acting as if there was another baby inside that needed to be pushed out, and I was having to breathe and “ooooo” through contractions again. I was in extreme pain at this point, and Shanon was encouraging me to be put back on pitocin in order to help my uterus contract down to a more reasonable size. I didn’t want to be put back on pitocin, so I tried nursing our baby. That helped, but not enough… so I went back on pitocin. Kathi gave me this drug through my IV, and told me that it would make me feel like I’d had a few martinis. That sounded great to me! (Haha) And it did what she said! I felt great! Then, Shanon shot my thigh with a medication that would help my uterus shrink at a faster rate, and that worked. I had tons of clots coming out at this point, and I was starting to feel much better, and at the same time more and more weak. Later I was told that I had the equivalent of an IV bag full of clots come out. Yikes! I was also told later that I’d lost about 1/3 of my blood supply.

I wasn’t in as much pain at this point, though, and after the IV medication started to wear off, I was given Vicodin. I’d never had it before, and I liked that it took the pain away so that I could actually enjoy getting to know our new son! However, it also made me a little “loopy”.

We had a visit from Steve, and after awhile he and Mary left and went home. My mom and Talia (who had gone down to the cafeteria while my pain was being managed) came back and visited with us too. Talia later told me about the funny way I was now communicating, and it made her feel uncomfortable at times. For instance, I told her that I was sorry I hadn’t noticed before, but she looked like she’d lost weight. She told me that it looked like I’d lost weight too, and I responded, “Nooooo… I didn’t tell you that just so you would compliment me too… pshhh.” Apparently, I was saying things like this.

When I was being wheeled from Labor and Delivery to the Family Birth area, we were being wheeled toward the entrance to the NICU (but would turn left just directly before it). Upon my seeing it, I said to Shanon, “We’re not going there this time! Yaaayyy…” I remember Shanon smiling, and saying, “No… we’re not going there this time.” David and my mom had gone with a nurse (who had insisted on giving the baby a bath) to the nursery. I was wheeled into the nursery for about 5 minutes, and I watched part of the bath taking place. Shanon then wheeled me to our new room.

I got settled in there, and I was so happy when David and my mom came in with our baby. I just didn’t like being away from him… not in the hospital. My dad came to see his new grandson, and we all visited for awhile. He gave me a mint, and when my new nurse (Rachel) came to introduce herself, I said, “Hi. Nice to meet you. I have a mint!” She looked at me funny, so I knew I must have said something weird. I explained that I was on Vicodin for the first time, and I was just excited about the mint. She smiled, and said, “Oh. Okay… that’s just fine.” She was a nice nurse, and would be there through the night shift.

My mom and dad left after a bit, and David and I were by ourselves with our new baby. We were both very tired, but I let David sleep. I was too excited to sleep anyway. I asked my nurse if Kate was back on duty over in Labor and Delivery, and if so, would she let her know that she could come by at any time to see our baby. She said she would let her know.

Kate was the nurse that I felt most connected to, so I hoped that she would come by. At around 10pm, I got a knock on the door, and in walked Kate with a big smile on her face. She was so happy for me. David snored away, while Kate and I visited for about 5 or 10 minutes. I told her how much the baby weighed, and her eyes popped open in amazement. She held him, and swayed back and forth with him while we talked. Then she said she had to get back, and I thanked her for coming to see me and my new little guy. It was a sweet moment. (I never could figure out who it was that she reminded me of, though.)

At around midnight, David took the baby, and he kept him for 5 hours with him in the little “bed” in the corner of the room where David was trying to sleep. The next morning, my dad visited, and we got a new nurse (Diann). David and I had been trying to figure out a name for him, and had decided on one right before my dad arrived. Troy Benjamin Martin. Troy meant Footsoldier, Benjamin meant Son of My Right Hand, and Martin meant Warrior. We told my dad, and he said he liked it. After he’d left to go to work, I called him to ask him not to say anything to anyone about Troy’s name, because we wanted to be able to tell Charlie and Sydney before anyone else knew. He said he wouldn’t say anything.

There was a lot of things that Diann had to make us “check off the list” before we’d be able to leave, but we really wanted to go home. It took us until 4:30pm before we were actually driving out of there. While I was being wheeled to the exit, I couldn’t help but get choked up. I’d never taken a baby home from the hospital before. This is what I’d seen other parents do, over and over again, while we waited for our turn when Theo was in the NICU. But our turn never came. It was actually happening now with Troy! What a mix of emotions, and as we drove off, we breathed a sigh of relief. We were going home with our baby. What a wonderful feeling this was!

Here are some pictures of after we got home:

Introducing TROY BENJAMIN MARTIN

David and I would like to announce the arrival of Troy Benjamin Martin! He was born last week on Thursday (September 9th) at 2:49pm. He's a big boy and weighed in at 10 pounds and half an ounce! and measured 22 1/4 inches long!! We're very proud of our newest "little" addition to our family, and can hardly wait to introduce him to all of you! Until then, here's a picture.

Labor Day Weekend

Still no baby. This is me, 9 months + 11 days along.

On another note...

David's brother (Stephen) arrived in town yesterday for Labor Day weekend. David and I went on a 2-hour walk today, and Stephen was nice enough to come pick us up (from Starbucks). After we got home, I relaxed and visited with Mary, and she showed me her floor plans for the house that they are in the process of building on their land out in Idaho.

Stephen and David are always coming up with additional rules for Monopoly, so they decided to start making the extra items that would be required when implementing the new rules. I think they (along with Steve, Asha, and Rachel) had fun playing it tonight in the great room, and Charlie, Chloe, and I had a little dance party in the living room. The rules to our dance were simple: whatever Charlie did, we had to copy. Charlie had a blast being the leader, and we had a blast looking silly trying to copy his wildly hilarious "dance moves". I'm now very exhausted, and am hoping that with all that walking and dancing, my body will decide that it's time for labor... after all, tomorrow is Labor Day!

Life, As It Is Right Now

Nope... STILL no baby yet. David's parents and three of our nieces (Asha, Rachel, and Chloe) have come into town. They all arrived on Tuesday of this past week, and have been helping with our kiddos, meals, etc... It's been so long since we've seen them, and has been wonderful to visit and catch up! Charlie and Sydney have been having a blast with their cousins and Mimi and Papa, and Charlie's enjoyed several "sleep-overs" with his cousins downstairs. Mary and I have been doing a lot of baking, and cooking projects (I'm afraid to say it, but she's been doing most of the work). "We" have made carrot cake muffins, bread, cinnamon rolls, chili, and more bread. It's just been so wonderful to be working together in the same kitchen again! We work well together, I think :-) And I'm always learning new things! If I don't go into labor tonight or tomorrow morning, I think we'll make some scones tomorrow.

Baby Update - NOW 41 Weeks

My midwifery team and I have been brainstorming over this past week or so about this baby's due date. We've been going over charts, getting ultrasounds done (one last Thursday, and another one today), and just connecting the dots. I've been told that the ultrasound due dates can be off by 3 weeks in either direction. A lot of people have told me of their experiences of being told that they were going to give birth to an over-ten-pound-baby, and then their baby came out and weighed as little as 8lbs 9oz. This has given me some comfort, although we did do EVERY natural-ish thing we could to get this baby to come last weekend (including castor oil on Saturday morning and then again on Sunday night). You name it, we've tried it!

Today's ultrasound date came back as August 25th. This could be up to three weeks off, but my midwifery team and I had been discussing all my charts and all the information on hand yesterday at my prenatal appointment, and we'd come to the conclusion that we thought my true due date was about August 24th. This is good, because for the first time, the ultrasound has matched our calculations! So I'm about a week late, I'm carrying a somewhat big baby (no surprise... Charlie and Sydney were both big babies too), and I should be having this baby within the next week! I just hope he/she comes sooner rather than later at this point!

Nope... No Baby Yet

The castor oil did it's job, but didn't help my body to go into labor. I'm very disappointed about it, but we're trying some other stuff today. We went for a LONG walk this morning, I'm pumping now 10 minutes out of every hour for a few hours, and later we'll be meeting up with my midwife so that she can mess around with my cervix. That's the plan, and I'll probably hold off for now with posting anything else until the baby actually arrives. Tah-tah for now!

Castor Oil... Yuck!

Earlier in the day yesterday, Sarah (my midwife) had given me a call, and explained that if Sydney had had shoulder dystocia, we might need to consider giving birth to this baby (since he/she is measuring rather large) in the hospital. However, we would meet and discuss all of our options and all of the risks involved later that afternoon. So we met yesterday at 4pm at the clinic. Sarah was at that point able to go over Sydney's birth chart. I've also watched Sydney's birth video time and time again over these past couple of years and more so these past few months, and this was helpful in remembering exactly what happened at her birth. She asked me what I remembered happening, and I told her that according to Sydney's birth video... I was pushing on my side (but kind of on my back too), and Sydney's head came out, but for a few minutes she was stuck there. Sarah asked me how many minutes, and I said "maybe 3 or 4"? I couldn't remember exactly how much time. I told her that after that in the birth video, she tells her team to help get me on my hands and knees, and as soon as I got in that position, Sydney slid right out. Sarah's whole countenance changed with this news. She said, "Oh well THAT'S not shoulder dystocia. If she came out right away after changing your position, then that just means that you weren't in a good position to begin with for pushing a baby out." She then looked over Sydney's chart, and was able to confirm what I'd told her. So this was great news, because it meant that I could still safely deliver this baby at home! She also decided to (after much discussion) go with a due date for this baby of August 15th. (This means that I'm now 13 days overdue, and we need to get this baby born!)

So this morning we did the plan (the one that she'd come up with yesterday after realizing I could have a home birth). David massaged castor oil onto my belly, and then I drank 2oz of castor oil at 10:30am. I'd planned on taking it at around 8am, but it just took that long to get myself to down it. I sure hope it does it's thing, and kick-starts my uterus into action! It worked with Sydney, and my labor started about 17.5 hours after taking the nasty stuff. So... maybe we'll get to meet our baby by tomorrow! But I've got my work cut out for me first...

41 Weeks?!?!

I had an ultrasound back at the beginning of July (only a little over a month ago), and according to that ultrasound my due date would have been August 15th. However, they said that an ultrasound at the beginning of my pregnancy would have been more accurate, and that this one could be as much as 2 weeks off in either direction. Apparently, the only way to truly determine the due date would be to get an ultrasound done again toward the end of my pregnancy. So we decided to leave my due date at August 31st for the time being.

Well, at yesterday's prenatal appointment, things weren't adding up for my midwifery team. They looked at my first due date (September 7th according to my last period), then looked at my due date according to how I was first measuring externally (August 31st), and then the due date given at the July ultrasound (August 15th). Now, let me explain the situation with my midwives. I have my main midwife (Sarah), who delivered Charlie and Sydney plus literally thousands of more babies. She has an apprentice working under her (Laura) who I first met and who helped assist Sarah at Sydney's birth. Also, there's Heather, who was also there assisting Sarah at Sydney's birth (Sarah actually trained Heather years and years ago, and Heather is now a licensed midwife herself). I love my team! Well, all along, Laura has been measuring me... until yesterday. Sarah decided to measure me, herself, yesterday, and I apparently was measuring bigger than Laura was thinking. This is where they all began to collaborate after I'd left my appointment.

Last night I got a call saying that my midwife would like me to go in and get another ultrasound (a "biophysical profile"), just to be on the safe side. Because IF we were wrong about my due date being on August 31st, and the earlier due date (August 15th) was correct, that would put me at 10 days over due.

This morning I made an appointment with EPIC Imaging, and went into my appointment at 2:30pm. Well, we found out a few things at the ultrasound. ONE: Our baby is doing great, and is perfectly healthy! TWO: My due date is August 19th and I'm only one week overdue! And THREE: (Here's the shocking one...) The baby is measuring at 10lbs. 9oz.!!! Now, they said that this measurement could be up to a pound on the heavy side, but that would put the baby's weight at 9lbs. 9oz. at the lightest today!! Needless to say, my midwifery team will be meeting tonight to discuss how to best help me go into labor and soon! I'm excited, though! We'll get to hold this baby in our arms soon!! Yay!!

39-Week (and 1 Day) Prenatal Appointment

Well, I went to my prenatal appointment today. I'm 39 weeks and 1 day along in my pregnancy. Nothing has changed since last week's appointment. I'm still 80% effaced, 3cm dilated, and the baby is super low (at "0"). So... it's just a waiting game now. Ugh. I thought I'd have dilated at least one more centimeter since last week, due to all of the crampy contractions I was having on Sunday and into Monday morning. My midwife told me, however, that it's more common to have crampy contractions when you have had multiple children already, and have taken care of them all day. So that could have caused it. Yes, I'm disappointed, but I also realize that I'm only 39 weeks along (not even at my due date yet). And I despite how I emotionally "feel", I know and believe that God can see the bigger picture and that I can't. He sees how the baby is growing, He sees people's schedules, and He will orchestrate everything to work out exactly how He knows is best. I truly believe this, and it's a comfort to my impatient heart.

39-Week Baby Update

Let's start with LAST week. My 38-week day was on Tuesday, and Wednesday was my prenatal appointment. At my appointment, they checked to see what my status was. I was 3cm dilated, 80% effaced, and the baby was at "0" (very low... and I wasn't surprised). I was, however, surprised to find out that I was already 80% effaced, since I've never been that "thinned out" that early. I went home very happy to know that my body was getting prepared.

Well, on Sunday afternoon, at 3pm-ish, I started having slightly crampy contractions. They continued at an irregular pace all afternoon. After dinner, I decided to try taking a shower (at around 7:30-ish) to see if that would either speed things up or make the contractions stop altogether. After getting out of the shower, I sat down to try and relax, and then all of sudden the crampy contractions started coming every 3 to 5 minutes apart. After about an hour of timing the contractions, I called to let my midwives to let them know what was happening. They encouraged me to try and go to sleep, so that if it ended up turning into active labor, I'd have rested a bit. So I did. All night long, nothing got more intense or lightened up... until 5am-ish. Everything started to subside at that point. In the morning (Monday morning), I woke up so disappointed to not have our baby in my arms. I tried really hard to think of the "up" side of the situation, but I couldn't think of much. I had gotten very little sleep the night before. My mom and dad came over that morning, and my mom told me that she'd be back later that day to take the kids and I somewhere (later we'd figure out where). My midwife called after my parents left, and was really encouraging. She said that sometimes our bodies are like and engine... sometimes they try to rev up, rev up, rev up, and then it ends up starting up good at one point. We just didn't know when that one "rev up" would be the one that took off!

My mom, the kids and I ended up going to Dairy Queen for some ice cream, and then to the park. It was a great distractions, and Talia and her boys ended up meeting us at the park. Talia kindly took Charlie with her back to the house after all the kids were done playing at the park. My mom and I met them there a little while after that. Here are some pictures of the park.

Today is Tuesday, and I took a walk to New Season's market with my kids, which is about 1.25 miles away. My mom drove her car there, and then walked part way to meet us, and then walked the rest of the way back to New Season's with us. This way, I'd only have to walk one directions. I'm pretty sore, and I'm hoping that at my appointment tomorrow I'll find out some good news about how my body is progressing. We'll see...

Little "Dora the Explorer" Fans

Fun Little Ride

About a week or so ago, I took the kids with me to purchase some necessities for the baby. We went to Baby's 'R' Us, and they spied this funky little car. I told them that I'd let them ride it, if they had good attitudes and obeyed mommy the whole time we were in the store. They quickly agreed, and amazingly enough they kept their end of the bargain... so they got to ride the car on our way out to the car. Who knew that 50 cents could purchase so much fun?

Charlie's Performance at Church

Two weeks ago, we made it to church after not having been there for about a month and a half. Well, that Sunday was Charlie's Sunday school class' performance of a song they all (not Charlie, though) had been practicing each week for about a month or so. Charlie had no idea what the words were, had no idea what the tune was, but went along with the show anyway. I felt so badly for him, but it didn't seem to phase him one bit. Because he acted very proud of himself afterward, as though he was the lead in a play or something! So... here's the performance! (Oh yeah... he's the one on the far right.)

Baby Update - 36 Weeks

A few nights ago, David and I were laying there in bed. My mind was drifting from thought to thought, and apparently his was too. He broke the silence, "I wonder what this baby is going to look like." That started a whole string of "wondering" type thoughts about the baby. "I wonder what it's going to be like with three little ones in our family." "I wonder when the baby is going to arrive." "I wonder whether the baby will be a boy or a girl." "I wonder how Charlie and Sydney will react to and behave around the baby." "I wonder..." "I wonder..." "I wonder..." This night of "wonders" all of a sudden made the reality of this baby's upcoming entrance into our lives soooooo real! And I've been getting more and more excited about meeting our little one!!

Now that I'm 36 weeks along, I'm in the legal zone for a home birth! Yay! Ever since tackling my "blacking-out" problem from about four to six weeks ago, I've been feeling great. Now that I'm taking an extra iron supplement and eating every 2 hours (which is quite the challenge, I must say), I'm not dizzy or blacking out anymore! So that's nice. I was pretty stressed out over the scare of being at random places, and having to hold on for dear life to something near me... or just get on all fours in the middle of the grocery store. It was stressful AND embarrassing, I must say, and I'm glad that's no longer happening!

This baby is sooooo active, though! Oh my gosh... sooooooo much kicking! Before Charlie's bed time tonight, he was giggling at how much the baby was kicking him. After feeling the baby move and kick for about 15 minutes straight, he said, " Mommy... I LOVE feeling the baby move... It's my favorite!" Then after he moved away from my tummy, we both saw the baby push out toward the side of my stomach that Charlie was sitting next to, and Charlie said, "The baby's saying, 'Wait! Where's did my hug go?'" And then he giggled again. It's so much fun being pregnant when I see these kinds of reactions from Charlie. Sydney, on the other hand, doesn't really understand what's going on. Although, at least she now knows the difference between "boo boos" and "baby" bumps! But now I believe she thinks that everyone's tummies are also called "babies". It cracks me up! The other day she said pointing at her own parts, "Mommy, boo boos up high. Baby down low." Yep. She's got the picture (lol)

Well, we'll see WHEN this baby decides to comes. I'm predicting sometime in September, but I really would LOVE to be wrong and get to meet him/her in August. I'm sure this baby will come when the time is right, though. And we'll all welcome him/her with lots of loving arms!

These pics were actually taken today... please ignore the stretch marks (lol)

Independence Day 2010

This Independence Day was very mellow for me, which is what I think our family needed. We had a nice easy morning, a trip to Target, followed by a trip to IKEA. We came home after that, and we all took a short nap. After that I went to the grocery store to buy some items for a barbecue, and had a really nice visit over the phone with Noelle while food shopping. When I arrived home, my parents, Barbara, and our good friends (Nate and Robin) were already there for the meal we had yet to prepare. We were kind of behind schedule, but everyone seemed to be in the laid-back mood we were, so it was no problem. We had a wonderful time visiting! Nate and Robin had to leave for another engagement for fireworks, but my parents and Barbara stayed.

The fireworks were great! Charlie and Sydney had about fifty sparklers to share between them, and enjoyed every moment of each sparklers life (which spanned about a minute). Charlie ran all over the driveway with great enthusiasm, while Sydney stood in one spot making round circles with her's. It was lot's of fun! We even were able to see some bigger fireworks, which was a treat, too.

December '09

Random Pictures Again

Some of these pictures are quite a few months old. The first one is from Easter at our house... along with the "food" one later. The pregnant picture of me was sometime around the 3-month mark (Charlie and Sydney's birthday party). Just thought it'd been too long since posting any pictures, so here ya go... in a very disorganized fashion! Haha!