Sometimes, you don’t ask if something is comfortable. One of those times was when Josie snuggled into my lap in the Boppy pillow today and fell sound asleep. 
So, I finally made it to the kitchen computer. Yipee!! It must have been the homemade chocolate cake that Jerry made for today, which is of course, National Chocolate Cake Day. I think that inspired me to make it to sitting in the kitchen chair and uploading pictures and resizing them so that I can share them with you. There will be lots more tomorrow hopefully–including some particularly cute ones from today–but for now, just a gallery of pictures from Josephine Helene’s labor and delivery. Enjoy!!
Josephine had her first well baby check up today! She is down a bit in weight, which is totally normal. Her weight was 7 lbs 5 oz and length was 19.5″ so she stretched out some! Her head circumference was 13.5″. No idea what it was at birth…no one told me, I never asked, and it isn’t written down anywhere. Lol.
The doctor said she is “perfect and get calm”. Well, it is wonderful when the doctor confirms what you already knew! He commented on how short they had cut her umbilical cord, which I too had noticed. It doesn’t even stick out of her belly button. Tonight her umvilical cord was bleeding, but it stopped quickly and wasn’t a bunch of blood, so we will watch it through the night and if it starts again we will take her in. Praying it doesn’t and that it was just part of the healing process for her.
Well, as you recall, this past fall, our town suffered horrible damage from fire. Catastrophic loss of homes and property. Well, that was after months of terrible drought. Then overnight last night we received over 5″ of rain! I think my friend said it right when she mentioned that first we had Sodom and Gomorrah and then Noah’s Flood, throw in a drought first and we are working our way through the Old Testament.
On the upside, I am already home from the hospital, which is good since the road from Bastrop to Austin was closed this morning due to flooding. I would have been very unhappy to have been stuck at the hospital!
Pictures….um, yeah. Recovery is not going as smoothly as in the past. I am sore in ways I didn’t know were possible and other ways that I knew were possible but had never experienced before. All I can say is OUCH! But, I will recover and having a beautiful baby girl to admire and hold makes the process totally worth it! I will post pictures once I make it to my desktop computer and can sit and upload them!! I included one photo from my phone of Josephine at just after 11:40 this morning, officially 2 days old!
When Jerry came to the hospital this morning, he had all five of our wonderful older children with him. Boy, were those some priceless smiles and squeals of joy when they came into our room! Baby Josie! Little baby! Mommy!!!
They all washed their hands so they could see her and hold her. Having our whole family together enjoying this new precious miracle of a blessed new life is wonderful! My heart is so very happy.
That was how long from when my nurse called my OB to tell her I was completely dilated to when baby was born!!
It’s a GIRL!!!
Josephine Helene was born at 11:40 AM. She is 19″ long and weighed 7 lbs 11 oz. She has a head full of very dark brown hair.
We spent the night at the hospital and the pitocin was started at 6 AM. I was 2.5-3 cm dilated at that point. At about 7:30 when my OB came in to check on me, I was 3 cm dilated and baby was not engaged, baby was just floating high up so they could not break my bag of water. So, we waited.
I got an epidural around 9. My OB came to the room and broke my water at 10:20 and at that point I was still only 3-4 cm dilated. In my head I thought quietly that this day might be long if things didn’t pick up pace. I continued praying for things to go smoothly and safely.
I tried to rest around 10:40 for a few minutes. Around 11:10 I told Jerry that I was feeling much more intense pressure with each contraction. They had gone from every 3 minutes to every 2 minutes also. Tony was very interested in watching the monitors. My nurse came in around 11:25 and wanted to put the oxygen on me because baby was having some deep heart decellerations with each contraction. When I mentioned the extreme pressure she decided to check me first. I had been praying for God to help my body progress to bring this baby out! I was hoping I was maybe a 5-6 at least. To my complete surprise, she said, “well, that is why you have pressure, you are complete! Now, don’t push!”.
You see, when my OB (who has delivered all 5 of our other children) came in to break my water, she shared that she has a c-section scheduled to start around 11:30/12:00 so if I needed to push while she was in surgery that would be no good! I assured her that I would work around that. 
So, the nurse made the call at 11:30 to tell her I was complete. Then she called in help to get the bed and me all prepped for delivery. Everything went well and 2 contractions, about 1 minute between them, and maybe 6 total pushes and Josephine, our sweet baby Josie, was born at 11:40!! She is perfect and has all 10 long little fingers with long little fingernails and 10 precious and also long little toes.
My OB let Tony announce “It’s a Girl!”. Then she offered to let him cut the cord. Well, that brought about a very quick and clear “NO!” response. . When things calmed down we asked him about it and he said he was just really surprised right then about how very little she was! He watched the whole delivery and was in awe of how easily she came out!
So, we have lots of pictures, but the camera cord is at home…sorry! So, I have shared the only ones on my phone.
I have been admitted to L&D. Early labor, now to try and rest and see how things progress. Updates in the AM.
So, I have had many days in the last few weeks where the urge to “nest” or clean the house/do odd jobs/get everything just right/etc has been in HIGH gear. Today, is not one of those days. I *know* that I need to make sure all the laundry is done and everything is put away. I *know* that I should vacuum the house and mop and get bathrooms cleaned up. I *know* that I should keep on top of the dishes (actually I have been doing that one really well) so they don’t fall behind. I *know* that I should rest whenever I can to build energy for Monday (or sooner) for labor and delivery. But…all I seem to be able to motivate myself to do is sit and do that resting part. This is bad. Why? Because I know that no one else keeps house around here quite like I do–not that Jerry and the children won’t try to keep it clean, and not that laundry won’t get done (now it actually likely won’t get folded or sorted or put away… but it will get washed), but because I know that once I am home from the hospital I have a very small tolerance for mess and I will probably be up too soon doing too much after baby arrives…but alas…it’s either now or then…guess by the end of next week I’ll be able to tell you which it ended up being.
All I do know for now is that I have no nesting urge today.
Today I am officially 39 weeks along with precious Baby Sparkles. Someone asked me if I feel “that pregnant” since I am 50+ pounds lighter than I was at this point in every other pregnancy….the answer is yes. Last night was especially bad…I couldn’t lay down because the full stomach from my date with Jerry left me feeling overfull and ready to throw up and horribly nauseous. Then the contractions kicked into high gear and were strong and every 3 minutes. I was miserable and realized a few minutes after getting into bed that I could not lay down at all. So, back to the living room and I sat in the reclining chair. Jerry came out with me and we watched a show together but when it was over it was after 11, I still felt terrible and I knee he needed sleep, so he headed to bed. I tossed and turned in the chair until around 2 when my stomach finally felt less against me and then went to bed. Had to lay on only my left side or I felt bad again…long night, but morning is here now!!
I am happy that through all of the little quirks and worries of this pregnancy that we have come this far with an active, healthy baby. I am so excited to see if it is a baby boy or a baby girl!!
I wanted to share the pregnancy photos so far…all from my camera phone, so none are great images, but they show the progression.
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- 17 Weeks
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- 18 Weeks
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- 19 Weeks
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- 20 Weeks
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- 21 Weeks
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- 26 Weeks
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- 27 Weeks
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- 28 Weeks
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- 29 Weeks
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- 33 Weeks
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- 36 Weeks
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- 37 Weeks
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- 38 Weeks
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- 39 Weeks
Jerry and I had a chance to go out for dinner tonight, one last date night before our little blessing arrives. We went to a local restaurant, and had a fantastic dinner and both left very full!
A dear friend from Church had offered to keep the children for the night, making our evening possible. . When we got home they were all full of smiles and had been very well behaved, which is always wonderful to hear!!
I shared with the children today, that tomorrow would be their last full day of regular school work for a few weeks. They were excited to know that a vacation is coming, but are all super excited for the reason! They can’t wait to meet their new sibling and are all excited that it is just a few days away!
I think the plan will be to continue reading with them all individually each day and hopefully some math flash cards too while we take a school break and adjust to being a family of 8. It is hard to imagine, just 10.5 years ago Jerry and I got married. We were a family of 2, then 1 year and 3 days later we became a family of 3. Over the course of the next 18 months, we suffered through the loss of 3 babies from miscarriages and then through adoption became a family of 4 and just a few months later, a family of 5. Then 12 months and 2 weeks later, a family of 6. Right before we became a family of 7, we tragically dropped to a family of 5 again, then with the birth of Lilly, we were back to 6! Sarah made us a beautiful family of 7, and now we are nearing on to 8 and so excited!!
It has been an amazing 10.5 years, but I can’t imagine having done this with anyone other than my fantastic husband, Jerry. I love you more than words can say and I can’t wait for the arrival of our newest miracle!
Today has been a good day! All of the children finished school, with Tony and Meghan both getting started as soon as they got up, before the pancakes were even ready! I think they are learning to really enjoy second grade, or they can’t stand it and would rather have it done and over….no, they enjoy it! At breakfast, Jerry and I talked with the older three about the option they have to attend the birth of the baby. Meghan passed right away, she said blood isn’t really anything she wants to see. Katie said maybe, but a few hours later decided that she would be okay not going. I assured her that I have still never *attended* a birth and that it is okay. Tony, well, he asked if there would be crying and blood, we told him yes to both, and then he asked if he could bring a book to read too, and decided he does want to come. So, we will see how that pans out, maybe he just sees a chance to not spend the day in the house with all the girls.
After school was done they played outside for quite a long time, then in for lunch and then back out until it was time to leave for their classes at Church. They sure do love to play together outside, they help make sure Sarah and Lilly are both dressed according to the weather and get them jackets and socks and outside shoes and even bring Sarah’s potty chair out for her!
I finally started the baby announcements. I don’t know how many will actually get finished, but at least one so I can take pictures and share it on the blog. I will mail as many as possible to relatives, but that is probably it as far as actual hard copies going out. Our families are really big!
That was part of the discussion at my OB appt today. You see, their office is going totally digital. Why? I’m sure it is because of patients like myself who have two HUGE files that barely can even close. . No, it is so that they can streamline and be more efficient and they have opened a second office and this will allow them to have patient data available at both offices, which is helpful to them I’m sure! Anyway, because of that, when I see the doctor she just has a basic little post-it type note with the essentials on it, my weight, urine analysis info, my blood pressure, baby heart rate, any concerns I have, and then a number, indicating how VERY pregnant I am. . This morning, my favorite nurse, Karen, has written ’38′ on the top. So, when I was going over last night’s 13 hours of contractions every three minutes lasting 60 to 90 seconds and discussing how I was feeling very mentally “done” she said we could look at inducing any day after next Tuesday. I said, no, any day starting this Friday. So, she went to get the computer and check, and sure enough, I’m 38+4 weeks and thus, 39 weeks on Friday and Seton says no induction without great medical necessity before 39 weeks. So, then she called labor and delivery and verified that I am on the schedule for Monday. I am. . So, 6 more days and we will know if our precious baby is a boy or a girl. I broke down in tears tonight while praying when I realized what an amazing moment that will be, and thanking God for such a beautiful miracle of new life!
The rest of the appt went well. I haven’t gained any weight for the last 4 weeks and today, I had lost a pound. I’m about 3 cm dilated, so another 1cm more than last week. Baby is -2 station, so engaged and ready-head down. . I gained more confidence as the day went on that I can do this. Which is good, since there isn’t much choice.
School went well for all the children-although the best was Tony, who had almost all of his Math and all of his spelling done before I got back from my appointment, totally self-initiated and self-directed and pretty much all done exactly right! His reading has really been taking off too! He is beginning to catch up with Meghan in pace and on sight words and remembering a word from one sentence to the next!!
Jerry and I watched the movie “Courageous” tonight. Highly recommend. Wow. What a wonderful movie, and to enioy it together with Jerry was precious and wonderful!
Well, hopefully in 7 days or less we will meet “Baby Sparkles.” If you have a free moment, please join me in prayer as often as possible until that point, praying that labor and delivery go smoothly and that Baby is healthy.
I rearranged a little more today. Nothing big…the heaviest thing was the car seat. I went ahead and installed it in the truck. The bigger three were in the backseat already when I fastened it in, they asked “how do we get out now?” They figured it out! I also moved Sarah’s pajamas from the changing table to the family closet (have I mentioned at least once that I LOVE our family closet?) and put baby pajamas into the basket on the changing table where hers had been. When I told Jerry about this change tonight, his response was, “Okay, but if I have to put pajamas on Sarah I’m going to put those on her.” I laughed…he can try, I can guarantee they won’t fit and he will figure it out.
I found a cute little basket and folded all of the lovely burp clothes that I made and bibs and put them in it and put it out by the couch…ready for baby feeding! I think that was it for rearranging and preparing today.
We did get a full day of school done today for all four children! I am very excited about that. Every day done before baby arrives is one less day to have to do after baby arrives. YAY!
I am continuing to work on stocking up the freezer for after baby arrives, as right now I’m baking 4 loaves of breakfast breads–2 banana, 1 cranberry raisin, and 1 blueberry apple. They smell delicious! One of them will be for breakfast in the morning and the other 3 (barring us deciding to eat one as dessert tonight) will go in the freezer for after baby to help make breakfasts easier.
Well, there was much anticipation around our house all day. With the Packers playing the Giants, we knew it would be one of their toughest games of the season. The Giants really showed up with a great game and in the end we are all very sad about the Packers loss. But, at least it frees up next Sunday, right? So, I figure it allows us more time to prepare for the arrival of Baby Sparkles, which is hopefully only 8 or less days away! I’ve had several hours of contractions every 3 minutes today. This is pretty normal for me, I have had at least 2 weeks of 5 minute apart contractions prior to the birth of each baby. This three minute thing is new, but I’m confident that it isn’t active labor so home we stay. .
Unless the hospital is overbooked, we have 9 days left before we will welcome our precious “Baby Sparkles” into the world outside of the womb! It seems like SO long ago that I posted about baby items. The good news is that for the most part, I think we are ready. We have the carseat and a stroller to hold it that we found for a great deal at a garage sale. We have a boppy pillow and a tummy time/butterfly mat that we found on a great sale. I have had a few friends offer Bumbo seats, so hopefully one of them materializes into a Bumbo seat! We will need a highchair, but that won’t be for a few months. We still would love to get something like a jumperoo or walker or activity seat type thing–where our little one can be upright once they are a few months old to begin working those leg muscles. We have decided against a swing, as space really is a premium around here and there isn’t anywhere to put one! We did get a bouncy seat for those early few months–they have all loved that (and we found it at the same wonderful garage sale!). I still have my sling which I’m quite certain will get a LOT of use and then my homemade baby carrier/wrap style carrier that will also be well used again! I just ordered new Snappi’s for the cloth diapers since all of ours are from when Katie/Tony were babies and are pretty worn out/broken! I think we may be actually pretty close to ready!
Today, Jerry will be brewing his first beer. A triple chocolate stout. He is pretty excited! His frined Joe is coming to the house and bringing along some of the equipment needed for brewing beer that we don’t have yet. We have everything for wine, and some of what is needed for beer, but friends who can share are fabulous! He got all of the grains and hops and ingredients at the Austin Brew Store yesterday and is very much looking forward to getting this started!
So, the morning has been a whirlwind of getting the kitchen all cleaned up and scrubbed down so it’s ready to brew…the funny part is that you have to scrub it all down after you are done too because the process tends to make messes….but it is almost done now, Tony is finishing up cleaning the floor. The girls have been enjoying playing in the playroom after they did a quick morning pick-up.
I plan to take an hour or two today sorting diapering supplies and figuring out what/if we need anything else. I think we have plenty of prefolds and hopefully we are good on wraps in at least the newborn size. But, I will take inventory and get the bigger diapering supplies put away from the changing table so all of the little items fit. Sarah has been in underwear all day every day for a full week with only 1 accident (and that was just making it to the potty a little too late, but has not had any poopy underwear all week!!) so I think I can safely put away all of the larger cloth diaper supplies. YAY!
Aside from being a little chilly outside, it is gorgeous. A local pro-life group is hosting a garage sale in our driveway today so there are plenty of people around for the little girls to watch out the front window. Hopefully Tony continues to make uphill progress on his new medicines!
Tony has another ear infection. 
Poor little boy just can’t seem to catch a break! He saw our new pediatrician today, and I was very pleased with how the appointment went. I’m feeling very happy with our switch, miss our old doctor, but the new one is wonderful and only 15 minutes away instead of a solid hour drive!!
He prescribed an antibiotic for his ear, an oral steroid for his wheezing/asthma issues and then Flonase to use in combination with the Zyrtec for allergies and hopefully keep his eustation tubes open and prevent further infections!! We are praying that it is the change we needed to help him down the right path!!
In other news . Everyone finished up week 18 of school today!! We are half way through our school year!! Woohoo!! As I had previously promised, this afternoon we went to Dairy Queen and got two medium blizzards to bring home for all 5 of them to share and I also stopped at Redbox and rented Mr. Popper’s Penguins for them to watch. It was pretty cute.
Also, we hit the 38 week mark today!! 2 weeks until official due date, but as of now we are looking at induction on January 23, so a mere 10 days left! Eek! The house is showing signs of being ready for a baby. I cleared the big items out of the crib. The carseat is sitting by our bed (Jerry will install it before he comes to bring baby and me home from the hospital, because installing it now would mean children climbing over it to get to their seats all the time between now and then). The bassinet is in the front room with the handmade blankets and Boppy pillow sitting in it, ready for a baby! The cats seemed to have finally gotten over the driving desire to take their naps in the crib. The couple of little outfits are washed and ready. The spit cloths are ready along with sterilized bottles and some formula cans ready to go. I bought water tonight for mixing the formula with. Slowly, we are working towards the final details. The hospital bag is more or less packed. .
I am so excited to meet this very wiggly little one…who we may have names for, but they may change again….but for now, we would have either a John Vernon or Josephine Helene. . We will know soon boy or girl! The excitement is overwhelming!!
I would take my 2 years of credits that can transfer towards my Biology undergrad degree (a little over 3 years worth of credits can apply to my Elementary Education degree) and go back to school online, Pre-Med. I would get my medical degree….Pediatrics. Why? So I am “authorized” to use an Otoscope and can have a prescription pad, so that when Tony gets these seemingly inevitable ear infections, I wouldn’t have to haul everyone into the germy doctor’s office and could just write the ‘script and get him down the road to recovery…
I found out tonight that a very dear friend lost her precious baby. She was 16 weeks along. She also lost 4 pints of blood. My heart mourns for her loss.
A few months ago, I bought a big box of my dear friend Melissa’s surplus craft supplies. They were moving and she had a bunch of miscellaneous crafting stuff that she didn’t need or want. It has taken me some time to figure out what we will or won’t use and how to put things to work. Well, yesterday I realized a way to use the couple of plain white porcelain tiles she gave me. I found people making coasters (and remembered that Melissa had made some for us a few years back!) so I had the tile, the Mod Podge and clear spray paint/sealer, so I tried it out! Super cute!! The little girls love it too!
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