Meeting M & His First Day

M's first picture in the nursery.  After the whirlwind in the delivery room, he was whisked away to make certain that all was well.  In this photo, he was just having the routine monitoring done.

In the second picture, he is having his first EKG. The results came out a bit funky and so he had another one the following day...and another one a few weeks later at the cardiologist office.  Thankfully, he has PACs and so they are 'clinically insignificant'. But, he looks tiny with all those wires attached to him.












After I was back in my room and they returned M to me, Mom and Dad brought the kids over. They were suppose to be out celebrating their 44th anniversary, but I don't think that they minded the change of plans.  M was a fun 'present' to celebrate instead. By the time, Mom got back to the house to get the kids and Dad, I had M.  So, they went home, had dinner and then came to the hospital to welcome the newest member of the family.

Everyone came back on Saturday...plus G'ma Daron and Aunt Stacey joined the party.  It was a bit of a zoo in the afternoon. However, somehow Aunt Stacey got missed in pictorial evidence of her visit.

Welcome to the world M!

M's birth story...

Friday, March 20th started out normally. Jut left early. The kids and I cuddled and watched a bit of tv, had breakfast, cleaned the upstairs and had our school lessons for the day.  I even squeezed in one of my science activities for my college class.  I had my second NST scheduled for 3:30.  Jut came home at 3 and I left for the drs office.

I get to the office and he had just been called away to deliver a baby. So, I wait for a half hour and Abby (the nurse) comes out to at least get me started. She can't get much of a reading. So, she gets Deb the midwife. She can't find much with the NST either. So, she gets the ultrasound.  The beat was slow and then would speed up and the computer was having a difficult time giving a reading. The dr came in about then. He listened via the Doppler for about 5 seconds and told me to head over to the hospital to the labor and delivery floor. They'd hook me up to the NST and we'd go from there with a probable VBAC.

I go, call my mom and Jut (at 4:45), go through admitting, head up to the floor, gown up and then everything went crazy. The baby's heart rate was 70 beats/minute. All of a sudden, I have an oxygen mask on and an IV running with fluids. The nurse says something about this not being a VBAC but an emergency section and she pops her head out the door and I hear, 'Get the dr here now!" Dr comes and says something about baby's heart rate being a little too low and making everyone nervous ("baby is giving everyone a little heart burn", were his exact words, I think) and asks if I'm okay with a C-section. I agree. The dr goes into the hall and tells someone, 'Get whomever can get here the fastest!' There was a bit of chaos regarding my wristband because they didn't give me one at admitting and they couldn't give me any medication without one. A nurse says 'You have someone coming? If not, they are going to miss the delivery! You had better call.' she hands me my phone. I call Jut again. It is 5:23.  He and Mom are in the parking lot. They keep giving me pills and things to swallow and pushing fluids through my IV. I have the anesthesiologist asking me questions. The nurses are talking to me. Jut arrives and surgical apparel is thrown at him.  It all seems very surreal. Then, we are off.  As we leave, the dr asks me if I have all my undergarments off.  But, I still had on my bra (the nurse told me it was okay to leave on initially)...so they creatively had to take it off over the IV pole. I heard that it got caught in the wheel of the bed and was flapping after us for a bit as we went down the hall. The dr wheeled me down the hallway and bumped into everything. He obviously didn't have tons of expertise driving a bed. As we were entering the doors to the surgical room, a nurse came running after us with the consent papers that I needed to sign. Chaos...that is what I remember.

In the delivery room, the dr held me while the anesthesiologist administered the spinal.  There was a very nice surgical tech named Shannon that gave me warm blankets and was very reassuring about all that was happening.  The OR was filled with people.  Jut said that the dr came out in the hall while he was waiting to enter and said tersely to a nurse, "Get every available person inside that delivery room right now!" He (the dr) wasn't as calm about everything as he was presenting to me...but I'm glad he presented a calm face to me.

As soon as the numbness, took over, the surgical staff got to work delivering the baby. They had the surgical screen so high that Jut almost missed them pulling M out, but the anesthesiologist told him to stand up really quick...so he did.  It was 6:05.  Less than three hours after kissing my other kids goodbye and telling them I'd be home before supper, I had a baby.  It all happened so fast.

M was screaming as soon as he was free.  Dr told us that we had another boy.  I was a bit surprised.  I was so certain early on that it was a girl and I told Jut while we were waiting that it had to be a girl because the boys were much less stressful deliveries.  It was a wonderful to hear his screaming upon delivery because things were so tense.  The pediatrician looked at him and said, "His color is good. He's screaming. He'll be fine." They whisked him away to the nursery very quickly.  I got a 5 second peak at him (without my glasses on) before they took him away...no pictures...no welcome to the worlds...no beginning cuddles.  Not as peaceful and calm as I would have liked...I got much more time with E when she was born via C-section, but he was okay and that was the important part.  They stitched me up and wheeled me back to my room.  It was a crazy couple of hours.

Crazy Day

Baby has decided to make life interesting.  It all started last Thursday.  For some reason, the baby developed an irregular heart beat.  Dr didn't seem too concerned.  It was missing about every third beat, but he just scheduled a non-stress test for Tuesday (yesterday) and seemed fairly nonchalant about it.

Yesterday I went in for my NST.  They had me hooked up for a LONG time.  I could even hear the missing beat.  So, then dr decided to take a peek at baby via ultrasound.  No surprise that the baby measured big...about 10 lbs.  The irregular heart beat continued as he checked out the heart.

He told me that he'd consult with a specialist in Saginaw and call me in the morning to know the specialists' recommendation.  I am just shy of 38 weeks and so induction carries some risks (especially with my VBAC status).  But, he led me to believe that I would probably be induced today.

So, we came home and made some frantic attempts to prepare for baby...like choosing a name, doing the laundry, cleaning the house, packing overnight bags for everyone etc...all the while trying to 'enjoy' our last night as a family of 5.  Crazy times.

This morning, I took E up to a homeschooling academy that we may utilize next year.  Our plan was to visit for the entire morning.  By 9:30, I had talked to the dr's office and they were sending me to see the specialist this afternoon in Saginaw.  So, I waited for the specialist office to call.  They called around 10.  They could see me at 11:45 today.  I was in Mt. P, which is a good 25 minutes from home.  It is an hour drive to Saginaw from our house.  Consequently, we had to leave our observation pretty much as soon as I received the call.  E was so disappointed.  There were even tears.

So, we ran home.  Jut arranged for a sitter to come watch the kids.  We zoomed over to Saginaw.  Thankfully, we were able to find the building without too much trouble.  They saw me over their lunch break.  The nurse started the ultrasound...and the dr came right in.  He did a very thorough examination of the baby.  He was great.  He showed us what he was looking for and what looked 'normal'.  He explained what would be abnormal.  He spent probably about an hour with us.  It was very nice to know that we were being 'squeezed' in but he spent time with us like he had all the time in the world for the consult.

In the end, he told me to cut all forms of caffeine out of my diet.  The baby's heart was structurally sound.  There didn't appear to be any problems at all with the structure.  The irregular heart beat might correct itself before birth or within 2 weeks of birth.  It is really doing a half-beat when it 'misses' a bit.  The top is contracting but for whatever reason, the bottom isn't.  It also isn't doing it all the time.  For a bit of the ultrasound, it went into a 'normal' rhythm.  That was nice to hear too.

I have to be monitored every three days.  The fear is that the heart will start going crazy and beating at 300 beats/minute, which would make an induction a necessity, but otherwise, he thinks to let things progress naturally.  He agrees that the baby is about 10 lbs already but he didn't seem concerned about the weight.  He says that you get concerned about weight when the baby is 10% of Mom's weight...so this baby has several pounds to go before that is a concern.  (Although, I personally think that 10 lbs is big enough!)

Jut and I had a nice leisurely lunch on the way home.  It was nice and relaxing.  We've been trying since Valentine's Day to have a date and it hasn't worked...but the 'emergency' appointment created a perfect opportunity, especially since we got such an encouraging report from the dr.

It was nice to go home and return back to the 'normal' of just waiting for baby.

ER visit #3 for C

Well, yesterday hit another mile marker in our family history.  C had his 3rd trip to the ER...more visits than the other two combined. He tried to bite off his tongue when he fell off the couch.  No stitches...just pain and lots of blood.  It took 10 minutes to me to know whether he still had all his teeth.  Thankfully, Jut pulled in the driveway as I finally figured out where all the blood was gushing from and he swept him away for his 3rd ER visit.  I am so thankful that none of them have been for anything serious!

X is 5!

X is 5!  My oh my!  He is my sweet boy, even if he's not my little guy anymore.  He has a tender heart and is always the peace maker.  If birth orders are correct, he is my middle child in every single way. He's my reliable, dependable child that is will always help when asked...even when he really doesn't want to.

He still LOVES Star*Wars.  His new love is Lego*s.  If you combine the two, he's in heaven.  He doesn't understand why Santa won't bring him sets that are for 7+ (or older).

He's started loving the tractor this fall.  He would ride with G'pa in the combine all by himself...or just go out and check on him working.  He talks about when he gets his license how much he's going to help G'pa by driving tractors.

C's First Haircut

At three years old and four days, C finally got his first haircut.  I've been dreading cutting off his adorable curls, but with the air less humid, it wasn't curling as much.  Additionally, the back of his hair was constantly matted and a pain to comb.  It was time for it to go.  One of the guys at church asked which boy was C.  He asked, "Is he the one that always looks like he's running?  Not because he is running but because his hair is sticking out?"  It was definitely time for a haircut.

On Saturday evening, everyone got bathed and then Mom's Hair Salon opened.  E got a few inches trimmed off hers first with a few bangs added.  She wasn't impressed as I was cutting and with each snip, she said in a anguished voice, "She cut it!"  But today, she likes it.  X was next.  I just hacked a bit off here and there.  His hair is thick and has wave to it and it is hard for me to trim, but I trimmed up around his ears and neck and it will suffice for another month.  C was next and his was so fine and so long that it was an easy cut.  He sat fairly still and entertained me while I chopped off those adorable curls.  Jut came last and I used the trimmers and he got the quickest haircut...probably a bit too short, but oh well.  He was a good sport about it.  I was tired of cutting hair by the time it was all finished.

Everyone's new haircut

Other Halloween Antics

I'm by no means a P*trest type of person...but a strike of ambition hit me on Halloween.  Mom gave me a recipe for ghost pancakes from a magazine and I found a pumpkin latte recipe online and...the pumpkin latte was divine.  Made me want to leap over tall buildings in a single bound.  Coffee hasn't had that effect on me in a long time.  E and I even tackled cleaning her whole room...under the bed and all.  Oh, the joys of caffeine.  The pumpkin pancakes on the other hand...the recipe didn't get saved, but the kids all enjoyed the whipped topping and chocolate chips.  Guess they needed to get their sugar rush started early as well.

After school was finished, we finally got around to painting our pumpkins that have been waiting for over a month.  They are pie pumpkins and so they wouldn't make great jack o' lanterns...but painting is more fun (and less work for me) anyway!

C's was multi-colored in the beginning...by the end it was just kind of a blah yellowish tint

X wanted a red pumpkin...so he painted the entire thing red.

E designed a face.  The green are the pumpkin's glasses.