My Birth Story

I've been working on this post since 12/27!  :-)  If you're interested, here's my birth story....

I had a midwife appointment on the 9th of December.  That was the day before my due date. At the end of that appointment I made another appointment for the next week, but we all laughed about it because we just knew for sure that I would have the baby before then.  haha heehee.  ;-)  I needed that appointment! 

I was starting to feel like stinky fish.  Everywhere I went everyone would say stuff like, "When are you going to have that baby/"  or "Are you STILL here?"  Darin and the kids kept asking, "How do you feeeeeeel?"  Wondering if I was having contractions or not.  But nothing was really happening and I almost resigned myself to being pregnant for the rest of my life.  Oh my.  Can you imagine????  ;-)

So I went in for the appointment on the 17th.  Early that morning I had this weird "internal contraction-like" thing.  It felt like a contraction inside, and it felt as if Grace moved down.  I had never felt anything like that before!  So when I got to the midwife's, I told her what had happened and she decided to check me to see if I was dilated.  I was at a 5 and fully effaced.  That seemed to freak her out a little.  We are 30 minutes from the birthing center, and I am Group B Strep positive.  I needed to get two doses of antibiotics in before Grace came through the birth canal, so she told me in very strong language that if it were her, she would stay to be induced.  Well.  Absolutely.  My biggest fear during the pregnancy was that I would not be able to get the antibiotics needed before Grace was born.  I had a niece die from exposure to Group B when she was born so I definitely want to be overly cautious in this area.  It was a hard blow for our family when that happened!  That sweet niece would have been my parent's first grandchild.

Darin and I had taken Henry, Sophia and Lydia with us to this appointment, so we took them home, called our friend (more about her in another post!) who had volunteered to help out with the kids during the delivery, went through the drive-thru of Chick-Fil-A for some lunch, filled up the car with gas, then headed back to the midwife.  :-)

When Darin and I got there, Lynne, the assistant, told me to use my breast pump for 30 minutes to see if we could get labor started that way.  I am an all-or-nothing gal, so I hooked-up both sides and cranked the pump to "Max."  Darin looked at his watch when I started.  It was 12:12 p.m.  OH MY GOODNESS.  It worked!  10 minutes later I asked Darin to go ask if I could stop!  The contractions came on so fast and hard.  Lynne said I could stop, but that I needed to go take a brisk walk.  Oooookaaaay.  :-/  I tried to be a good girl and go for a walk, but I knew there was no need.  I laid down on the bed and sweated through some contractions before deciding to get up and change into the clothes I was going to wear for the birth. 

While I was up, I noticed the contractions were a lot more manageable while standing.  So I paced around the room, working through the contractions.  Our midwife came in for something....not sure what she was doing.  I think she was filling out paperwork or something.  She asked Darin how far apart my contractions were.  He said.  "Oh, about 10 minutes or so."  WHAT?  ;-)  It was obvious he wasn't the one FEELING the pain, so I set him straight on their frequency.  The midwife, Jean, said she also noticed they were lasting a good long time, so she decided to check me.  I was dilated to an 8.  This was only after about an hour.  It was just a little past 1 by this time.  Jean decided that if she broke my water, the baby would come right down and right out. 

It sort of worked like that.....the baby did come right down, but the right out thing was a little more tricky.  While I was pushing, my contractions slowed way down.  And can I say, WOW.  I could have lived with the contractions ALL DAY as long as I didn't have to push.  Having never given birth without drugs before did not prepare me for the pain of pushing.  Really, the thing that bothered me the most was feeling claustrophobic.  There were one person holding each of my legs, Jean, the midwife standing at the ready to catch the baby, and another person standing behind her telling me to PUSH!!!!!!  I felt as if everyone were on top of me and I just wanted them to back off.  And with everyone screaming at me (it seemed as if they were!) to push, I felt like a pushing failure.  I ended up pushing so hard that I had broken little blood vessels on my face - it looked as if I had a rash.  And I'm a screamer!  LoL  I kept saying, "Take the baby out!  Take her out!"  And then they would say, "You have to PUSH!!!!!"  I hope that if we go through this again that my reactions will be a little more subdued.  I think I was caught off guard with the intensity of the pushing.  There is nothing I could have read that could have prepared me for that.

So...my contractions finally caught back up to where they needed to be and I had two or three good pushes in a row and Grace Anne was finally born at 1:44 p.m.  9 lbs. 1 oz.  She was/IS beautiful.  :-)  I was so thankful it was over, but then it wasn't really over for me yet.  :-/  I was bleeding very heavily.  I ended up losing twice as much blood as I should have.  Jean said it was probably because my contractions slowed down during the pushing.  That left me weak and so tired and I'm still trying to work through that now.  I am always anemic (except during pregnancy) so I'm sure the blood loss didn't help that.  But I have to say that if God blesses us with another little one, I will definitely use the midwife again.  Besides the low energy I have from the blood loss, the healing really has been much faster than with all our other babies.  And no episiotomy for the first time!  That's probably the biggest blessing ever.  My old OB always gave episiotomies as a matter of course.  It was part of her procedure.

The best part was that Darin was able to take off the entire rest of the month.  He and the kids spoiled me.  I took naps, fed the baby, watched HGTV, ate the good food they brought me.  It was so nice to be at home immediately after the birth rather than separated from everyone at the hospital.  Another positive about giving birth at the birthing center.  During the last days of the pregnancy I thought that if there were a next time, I might try giving birth at home, but I can't imagine putting my kids through my freaking out during the pushing, so the birthing center it is!  ;-)

She's Here and The Count Up

Grace is here!!!  You can't imagine how blessed we feel to have her here with us.  I can't bring myself to stop kissing her little warm cheeks!  I have to say that I feel a little older and wiser after my first all natural childbirth.  Whew!  ;-)  More details about all that fun later. 

Grace's stats:
12/17
1:44 p.m.
9 lbs. 1 oz.
21 inches long

The rest of this entry is one I wrote two days before she was born, but never got a chance to post because I was moving too slowly to add the pictures of Sophia's birthday which was on the 7th.  I'll add them later, as well as a picture of our new blessing soon!
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My 'Blog Baby' there on the sidebar is counting up now.  My due date of December 10th has come and gone and we're all just sitting around and waiting. 

I have always been aware that one of my biggest weaknesses is being able to function outside the structure I create.  I usually have an idea of how I want the day to go and if there is anything that throws off my mental image of what should be, I struggle with staying on track.  There have been times when I let the unexpected interuption totally shut down my day as I give up and do nothing instead.  How High Maintenance can a person get?  ;-)  I've gotten better at overcoming this tendency over the years, but it's a huge exercise in self-control to pick-up where we left off before the unexpected reared its ugly head.

Last week when my due date arrived and left without a baby, I shut down.  I quit doing school with the kids and other miscellaneous stuff that took any extra effort on my part.  :-/  It took Thursday through Sunday of this wasteful inactivity to finally draw me out of the funk and realize that I still have to function like a real person.  This week has been so much better and I feel better because I've been productive - not a vegetable on the couch.  ;-)  A friend pointed out that the waiting is the perfect opportunity for learning.  Yup.  Having kids is the biggest character stretcher EVER.

We did have a birthday last week.  Monday was Sophia's 2nd birthday.  SWEET thing!  ;-)

Still Waiting

Still waiting for Grace to make her way into the world.  I keep thinking that she's just waiting for me to be able to finish paying the bills, or to get my grocery shopping and laundry done, but nope!  Apparently she has her own to-do list to take care of and it has nothing to do with mine.  :-)  So we wait.  In my control-freak-kinda-way, it wears on me because I hate surprises.  I want to know exactly when she's coming, so the waiting is killing me!  But God is good all the time.  He knows what's best for Grace and me.  But the next person who tells me that I look like I'm about to pop..........  ;-)

Baby Grace

Jack, our 9 year old, has taken to fake burping.  His favorite thing is the burp INSIDE something so that the sound will be amplified.  He's becoming a real pro, and I really don' t know whether to laugh with him or scold him for being so ungentlemanly.  Henry, our 3 year old, is his other half.  He is also becoming very adept at the classic fake burp.  These two boys share a room which is next to mine and Darin's room.  You can imagine the fun that drifts over into our room in the mornings. 

They do have their differences.  It takes Jack a little longer to let go of a grievance than it does Henry, which is interesting when they've got each other worked up.  Jack will sit with his arms crossed, not daring to look at anyone around him.  And there will be Henry, who has already recovered from the incident, hovering over Jack, saying, "It's okay, buddy.  It's okay."  Then he'll start patting Jack on the head and before we know it, Jack starts laughing uncontrollably and all is well again.  It's fun to watch them together.  Their latest favorite thing is to play "tackle football" in the living room.  Jack is just the right amount of rough with his 3 year old bro.  Every now and then Henry will say, "Jack, let's go kick and punch!" 

Then there's Ben.  14 years old.  This year was the first time he did not want to participate in handing out candy and tracts to trick or treaters.  He hung out with Darin and me in the living room.  We call him "the old man."  He's always cold and can sound like a grouchy old man every now and then.  Tonight, Lydia was talking about Christmas lights when Ben, in his best deadpan, said, "Do we have to do Christmas lights this year?"  (LOL!  I'm just chalking that one up to his being tired from getting up for his 6:30 a.m. football practice.)  He's so sweet with Henry and Sophia, enjoys reading through different books with Lydia, and this fall, has been teaching Jack how to play football.  He's a good big brother.

Lydia - our sweet girl.  If all our daughters could have the same sweet spirit she does, we would be set for life. I call her my "little mama" because she is a natural with our littles.  She could play endlessly with them - to the point where I sometimes have to remind her that she has other work to do!  ;-)  She loves playing the piano.  She reminds me of my sister.  My sister is a great pianist.  Every time she got the chance throughout the day, she would sit down and go through a few songs.  Lydia does the same thing.  Like a true 11 year old, she NEVER runs out of things to talk about.  I love that because I never have to guess what she's thinking about.

Sophia - I remember wondering on this very blog just WHO this little girl would be.  Well.  At 22 months, she seems to have been born with a writing utensil in her hand.  She will spend over half her day filling up spiral notebooks with her scribbling.  She's also partial to the coloring sheets I print out for her with babies on them.  She's always very passionate about what she wants and amazes me with how she can do a belly flop on the floor when she's unhappy about something - must be her small stature that allows her to get away with that.  At almost two years, she is just now growing out of her 12 month pants.  She's gorgeous with her white blonde hair and bright blue eyes.  We all dote on her and it's a really good thing she's not going to be the baby of the family!  ;-)

And so here I am, again, wondering who our new baby will be.  I am so anxious to meet her, I can barely stand it.  Someone that I ran into at the chiropractic office told me that she will be like a twin to Sophia.  Well, that would be okay, but how does he know?  ;-)  I mean, it's always possible, but I can't imagine it.  They are all so unique.  Such gifts from God, our Creator.  I take comfort that He already knows her, and that He knew who she was at the beginning of time, and knew she would be mine and Darin's daughter.  I remember back in high school, chatting with my pals about who we would marry, how many kids we would have, what their names would be, where we would live...MAN.  A verse comes to mind at this point.

1 Corinthians 2:9: But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Nesting

Usually when I start nesting during pregnancy, I start gathering in things like toilet paper.  Oh my.  With the first three, that was my obsession.  I had every bathroom cabinet packed tight with TP.  With the fourth, I decided that I was being ridiculous over toilet paper, so switched to dryer sheets.  I didn't have to buy dryer sheets for the first year of Henry's life.  With Sophia, I got a clue and collected cleaning products.  You would think, with all my household product collecting with the first five children, that no one was going to be allowed to leave the house to go to the store - EVER.  But really, who can argue with the logic - we never had to worry about TP, dryer sheets or cleaning products, and that's one less thing to stress over,  ya?  I just know that my special stashes saved me...maybe that'll be one of the questions I ask God when I get to Heaven.  "Tell me!  What sort of trouble did I save myself with all the dryer sheets I had on-hand during the first year of Henry's life?"  Can't wait!

With this current pregnancy, I feel I've finally hit my stride.  I am making tons of food for the freezer.  Usually my Mom is here performing her Tennessee Woman Cooking Magic.  Since she won't be this time around :-/ I'm trying to pick up her slack.  What amazes me is my militant attitude about it.  I mean, I mean business.  Any kid tries to snag a banana pancake that I've set aside for the freezer and I'm on top of them in about two seconds.  No one takes away my freezer food, man.

This past week was my first week preparing food for the freezer.  Here's what I have so far:
Breakfast:
Banana Pancakes
Crustless Quiche

Breads:
Whole Wheat Bread
Spice Bread w/ a side of Maple Butter

Main Meals:
Ravioli Casserole
Farmhouse Chicken

The really great thing about this freezer food is that I only prepared half of what is on the list.  Darin and I have gotten super-duper serious about having the older three be able to run the kitchen.  Again, my Mom won't be here to keep life humming for us, so SOMEONE'S gotta do it!  The only ones we could think of were Ben, Lydia and Jack.  They are 14, 11, and 9, and I tell you, they are really catching on.  It has taken awhile, and they still have moments when they refuse to work together while insisting on deep lines in the sand concerning where their own contributions end and begin, but little by little, they are learning to work together and get things done.  I leave the kitchen after every meal, stay within earshot, and let them have at it.  Just in the past two or three weeks, I've given Ben and Lydia entire meals to cook, and they've done so well.  I can't wait to see them in action after the baby is born.  What a blessing they will be to Darin, me, and really, to the whole family.

And Our Jaws Dropped

Part 2 and 3 of our insurance drama...

PART 2
A wonderful friend of mine read my last blog entry and recommended CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) for me, since I'm pregnant, and for the kids.  We checked it out and were excited about it, but we do not qualify for the program.  Darin's income is $500 more than the minimum requirement.  But after the baby is born, we will qualify for it since there will be one more member of the household to include in the final count.  So we're getting our paper work ready for December and will get that going as soon as the baby is born.  Darin and I plan to still check out Samaritin Ministries for ourselves.

PART 3
So Darin was working away in his office and two of his bosses entered.  They were wondering why we chose to opt-out of the insurance plan for the year.  Darin explained that we couldn't afford a potential $15,000 in insurance payouts, so we decided to wing it for a few months before looking into the Samaritin Ministries deal.  You know, all I wrote about in the last post. 

But Darin's "boss" boss was not happy with that.  He was concerned that between now and the Samaritin Ministries/CHIP thing that something major would happen and we would be $100,000 in the hole, rather than $15,000 in the hole.  Well, that was our concern as well, but we felt as though we just needed to trust God for our safety.  His boss said, "I'm not a big fan of insurance.  I think it's a scam, and I've gone without it before, but not when I had as many kids as you or was as old as you."  LoL!  i.e. When he was a young man in his 20's.  ;-) 

So he and the other boss stepped out of Darin's office to confer for a minute.  When they came back in, they offered to pay our premiums from now till December, when we can get the kids on CHIP.  Then in January, Darin and I can either stay with the plan or sign-up for Samaritin Ministries.  AND they are giving Darin a $1000 bonus on his next check to help pay for our Midwife! 

It's a done deal and we are blown away.  This was totally unexpected.  We know that God is good, but we just did not expect anything like this.  The kids and I had prayed the day before for God's protection and so after I got off the phone with Darin and told the kids the latest update, we prayed again and thanked Him for that protection.  Sometimes we don't always see God's Hand at work in our lives so obviously and it's moments like this, when we can see Him moving, that just takes our breath away. 

I Can't Even THINK of What to Title this Post....

On Thursday, Darin brought home some papers he received from one of his bosses on his way out the door.  It was a recap of the new insurance set-up for the coming year.  Darin said he read over it, but didn't get it, so I decided to take a turn and immediately I understood why he didn't understand what was on the paper.  WHO WOULD?  Who could believe what was right there on black and white?  To recap: it seems Darin's company has thrown it's employees under the bus on this one.  I won't go into the details, but it seems that way. 

Here's the deal: Our health insurance premiums went down 25 bucks a month to $400.  Starts out good.  Then comes the Freak Out part. 

Our deductible is $5,000 per person, or $10,000 for the family. 

But after that we're covered at 100%, baby!

Sigh.

Basically, our insurance has gone up from close to $5,000 a year to $9,000-$15,000 per year.  <cough! choke! SPIT!!>

We're amazed. 

We're also not signing up for this joke of a plan.  Our immediate concern is the birth of our new baby girl in December.  We cannot pay for a hospital birth.  We looked up what we and our insurance company paid for Sophia's birth - about $12,000.  We paid 20% of that after our $1000 deductible was met.  But now we can't imagine being able to pay $10,000!  Oh my.  That just gets my heart beating real fast.

So....we are checking out a local midwife that some of my friends have begged me to go to for the last couple of babies.  ;-)  It should be a fraction of the cost without the presence of those abhorrent spine numbing epidurals.  eeek!  Please, REALLY.  Say a prayer for me about this.  The good news is that my labor has dramatically sped up with every baby.  The other good news is that I have never been one to have to push longer than 5 or 10 minutes.  The OTHER good news is that our chiropractor has been getting my pelvis good and lined up so the baby can just come right out with no hang-ups.  He told me today that I'm perfectly lined up and ready to go and that he can't wait for the delivery.  (me too! ;-) The other good news is that I have already been working at trying to psyche myself up for an epidural-free delivery, but I was keeping it to myself because ya know, if one talks about things out loud, it tends to make it harder to follow through.  At least for me it does.  My resolve weakens and then I give in to whatever it was I was trying to psyche myself up for.  But I don't have to worry about giving in to the epidural this time since there won't be an option for it. 

I know I sound like a total wimp to some of you ladies out there, but I have been induced with every baby.  Those induced contractions are STRONG and painful. 

Anyway...it is what it is.  Definitely no epidural this time around.  I'm almost relieved that the choice has been made for me.  I won't have to feel like a failure for giving in this time around, if you know what I mean. 

ANYWAY...say a prayer for the protection of our family.  We are going to use the money we would normally pay towards our insurance premium to pay for the midwife.  After that, we will probably try to sign-on with Samaritan Ministries (we've heard good things).  Pray that our family will stay healthy and injury-free!

Mom and Dad

My Mom and Dad have always been here when we have a baby.  After Ben was born, they came and brought along my teenage niece and nephew and stayed a couple weeks.  We were living in a two bedroom apartment at the time, but we all crowded in and had a great time together.

Lydia was a difficult pregnancy.  I was put on bedrest at 31 weeks, and down flew my Mom from TN.  She stayed with us for seven weeks and saw us through the first week of Lydia's little life.  My Mom is a huge homebody and I can't imagine the torture of staying in someone else's home for almost two months, but she did it with a smile on her face the entire time.

When Jack was born, we had another two week visit from my parents as well as my nephew Josh.  It was great to have them there because Jack had been a 10 pound 2 oz. big boy.  I was very sore after that delivery!  Mom served up more of her good ol' Tennessee homecooking while my Dad took the kids to the park and kept himself busy doing any home improvements for us that he could.

I started having false labor pains - intense false labor pains - pretty close to Henry's due date.  Before then, my parents hadn't been sure when they would come - before or after the birth.  But as soon as they got the update on what I was going through, they hit the interstate and were with us within two days.  Mom totally takes over and boy, was I glad to see her then.  :-)

Sophia was born in December.  My parents decided that they were going to come and spend the entire month with us so they could also be here for Christmas.  They got here around the 4th and Sophia was born on the 7th.  The whole month was one big date night for Darin and me.  :-)  Mom and Dad kept reminding us, "We won't always be here!  You go spend some time together while you can!  We'll stay here and hold the baby."  LoL  When we would leave, Mom would be in the rocking chair, holding Sophia.  We always found her in the same position when we got back.  It killed her back, but she was in heaven.  A few times Dad said she even let him hold her.  ;-)

But we noticed a difference in my parents the last time they were here.  I am the 5th of 6...my parents were born during the Depression...my Dad is 79 and my Mom is 74.  They didn't seem as energetic as in the past.  In fact, it was a big difference between Henry and Sophia's birth.  They are 21 months apart.  My parents noticed it, too, and said they probably would not be able to help out if there were another.  And they can't.  They are both struggling with health issues this year.  My Dad just had heart surgery to replace a valve and repair another and my Mom is struggling with her own things. 

It's really hard to think they won't be here when our new little one makes her debut this December!  I think it's hardest on the kids because they have so MANY cherished memories with Mamaw and Papaw and want to continue building on them.  My parents have been such good grandparents and they absolutely have the love and devotion of the Beard children to prove it. 

Sense? Sensibility???

It was one of our crazy/busy weeks this week and by Friday night I could barely walk.  I spent most of my days this week on my feet going from one thing to the next which is really nothing out of the ordinary for me, but when I'm pregnant, I always move slowly.  I've been trying to move at my regular speed, and became real sore at the bottom of my tummy - I guess where most of the weight of the baby rests.  After dinner, Darin banished me to the couch where I sat and watched Ben, Lydia and Jack cleaning the kitchen.  After we had all the kids in bed, I finally stretched out on the couch and was probably asleep before they were.  ;-)  I laid my head in Darin's lap and he rubbed my head for the two seconds I was awake.  He watched two movies he knew I don't have much interest in.  I never heard a thing.

This morning Darin put me on a sort of bedrest for the day.  So I made a grocery list, printed out tons of groovy coupons, told Darin what to make for lunch and then ate what he made (how kewl was that???), put Henry and Sophia in bed, worked a bit on planning some school for Ben, then Lydia and I got in the car and went to SuperTarget for our weekly shopping trip.  Darin made dinner and is giving Henry and Sophia a bath right now.  Ben, Lydia and Jack are almost done in the kitchen.

I am not used to such inactivity!  And while my body is slow right now, my brain is definitely not.  Feeling the leisure of the day, I have made plans to begin work on my forgotten cross stitch project and maybe pick up a new knitting project.  I bought a really neat knitting book for beginners with some new patterns in it a few months ago.  (FYI - I will never get to that stuff, but it's fun to think about.)  To top it all off, I went to Sense & Sensibility Patterns and bought an ePattern for a Regency Era dress to make for Lydia for Halloween.  Click here to view more details

Really, not a totally insane thing to do unless you realize that I have only the most BASIC sewing skills.  BASIC.  I have no business buying a pattern for a Regency Era dress.  But since my mind has been in overdrive today, I've convinced myself that we have two months to figure it out and it'll all be fine!  If you're my Mother-in-Law and are reading this right now, you're probably quaking in your boots and I would say that you're totally justified.  ;-)  But I'm determined.  Really, I am.  I have downloaded the pattern and tomorrow we will go get some interfacing (I have no idea what that is) which we will use to transfer the pattern onto that we printed out tonight.  Then we'll take it from there.  Lordy.  I'll keep you posted on our progress..... 

Pregnancy Update

Last month we had THE sonogram and found out we're having a girl!  Now everyone tells us that we're just like the Brady Bunch.  I am always quick to remind them that we don't have an Alice.  I tell you, none of us appreciated Alice as we should have.  We just thought she was comic relief, but can you imagine that Carol would have never had time to sit at the little orange dinette sipping coffee if it weren't for Alice working up the "Pork Chops and Appleshauce" in the kitchen.  Alice was the glue that held it all together.

We are usually pretty quick about coming up with a name for our new babes, but we're struggling this time around.  At first we thought Claudia.  It sounds so pretty, but it means "lame!"  We cannot call our daughter Lame!  It would be very 80's of Darin and me, but no, we just can't bring ourselves to do it. 

Darin's latest thing has been Grace Anne.  Love Grace.  I'm all for it.  But as I told him while we were driving to a "Meet the THESA Riders" (football) event, we did not have a relative with the name Anne.  It's been our custom to choose a middle name from a member of the family.  We've been alternating families, and it's my family's turn.  I was chatting with my Mom on the phone and my sister-in-law Shirley was there and they were asking about a name for this poor baby.  Shirley recommended Shirley Jackie (Jackie is my Mom's name) or Jackie Shirley.  hahaha.  We got a good laugh from that.  

So as we were driving along to meet the THESA Riders, I told Darin about the Shirley Jackie/Jackie Shirley thing.  hahahaha  Another good laugh.  Then we started brainstorming about a middle name again, but Darin could not budge from Anne.  He was refusing.  I tried my sister's name....Patricia.  No.  He didn't like that with Grace....Lynn.  My sister's middle name.  No.  That sounded too much like Graceland when said together. sigh.  We've already used a variation of my Mom's middle name for a middle name and that left only my sister!  We are overrun with boys/men in my family.  But then Darin came up with a great idea.  He said, "I'll bet Shirley's middle name is Anne."

Give me a break.  What were the odds going to be that Shirley's middle name is Anne?  I swore it couldn't be and Darin swore it could be.  So I grabbed my cell phone and called my bro and Shirley right away.  My brother, Jim, answered and I asked him what Shirley's middle name is. 

IT'S ANN!

Speechless!  We couldn't believe it!  What were the odds of that????  LoL!  So we definitely have a middle name for this child, but Darin says he's not going to commit to Grace just yet.  sigh.  I like to make decisions a little quicker than he does.  ;-)   

So...other than all this naming drama, everything seems to be going well!  24 weeks and counting.

Pregnancy Update

I've decided that I really don't know my husband as well as I thought I did.  I mean, WHO has actually been with me on the other side of the bed?  Who is this stranger that I eat meals with, watch movies late at night and go to Marble Slab with on date nights?????  For a little background...

Lydia wants us to have all the girl's names end in "ia" since that's how she and Sophia's names end.  We didn't do that on purpose.  It just worked out that way.  We really considered it, but after awhile, Darin and I agreed that we didn't want to fence ourselves in with something like that.  So we've been going back and forth over girl names for this baby (because really, I think it IS a girl.  If it's a boy - sorry, Boy! ;-).  For every 100 names I read out to Darin, he might say yes to one of them.  Well.  For a joke, I read out "Beatrice." 

HE LOVES IT.

He wants to name our daughter Beatrice, and I'm left wondering if I really ever knew him.  He's so passive/agressive....we will probably end up calling her Beatrice.  Oh.  More.  He said we could call her "B.D."  I have nothing else to say.  God bless us, every one.

I'm 16 weeks along now.  Next month we will find out if this baby is a boy or girl!  Can't wait for that!

I looked at maternity swim suits today.  Oyve.  They are so low-cut and I'm so VERY modest.  ;-)  It kills me that I never learned to sew, and now am stuck with not enough time to learn to sew. 

When I went for my monthly check-up with my OB, I tried to explain my overwhelming exhaustion to him, but I'm not anemic (the only time I'm not anemic is when I'm pregnant.  Weird) so he basically told me to buck up.  Waaaahhh-ha-haaaaaaaaaa.  I just want to not be so exhausted.

Darin and Ben are off at a birthday party-type deal today.  They are doing an outdoor Ropes Course.  God bless them.  It's 103 today.  I loaded up Lydia, Jack, Henry and Sophia and we went to the grocery store.  What a crazy trip!  It took us two hours, two carts and a stop at the Starbucks there in Target before we made it through. The cutest thing was when Henry, who is 3, asked, "Can I ride on the cart like a fireman?" I let him ride inside the cart like the Captain of all the firemen.  ;-)  While we were making our way through the store, I heard someone say, "She's got four little kids with her here at the grocery store and she's pregnant with another one!"  That just makes me grin from ear to ear and feel so blessed.  I wish more could experience it!

Baby Machine

An acquaintance told me that I am a "Baby Machine."  She said, "You know what I mean." 

Well, I sorta know what she means, but I just can't go all the way with her line of thinking because the LAST thing I feel like these days is a Baby Machine.  I am exhausted and queasy even now, into the Second Trimester.  I'm struggling! 

I'll bet I'm not the only Mom of a large family who struggles during pregnancy.  There's this strange perception of Mom's of large families out there.  We are Baby Machines - pregnancy is easy - and we can really "crank 'em out!" 

First to the "cranking them out" believers.  Labor still hurts, no matter how many children we already have.  Well.  I do have to put a disclaimer in here.  My last labor was literally pain-free.  You can go HERE to read about it.  I mean, it was every woman's dream!  At least it was my dream delivery.  You see, I showed up to be induced, was already dilated to a 4, so went ahead and asked for an epidural right way and got it. 

Ooooo - that leads to another common misperception of Mom's with large families.  We do not all give birth at home, in our bathtubs.  It sounds really groovy and all, but that route is just not for me. 

Back to the Baby Machine/pregnancy is easy for you thing....pregnancy is a marathon for anyone.  I have had great pregnancies.  I might have even felt like a Baby Machine every now and then.  But I have also had difficult pregnancies.  Just like every child is different, so is every pregnancy. 

What it boils down to is that I don't choose to continue to have children because it's easy for me.  I do it because children are a blessing from the Lord.  It's worth it to go through anything that comes up during a pregnancy, knowing that no matter what, my husband and I are being blessed by God with a new life to care for.  Children are not a nuisance, or a drain on my "me-time."  They are interesting, funny, insightful, challenging, they grow my character as I strive to be a good parent, and most of all, a BLESSING from God.  Our culture believes otherwise, but I'm not buyin' it.

P.S. I found that really nice picture frame HERE.

Appley Goodness

The first trimester has followed me into the second trimester and I'm struggling with food. Nothing seems good to me.  But I have settled on an afternoon snack that I can stomach.  An apple with peanut butter and chocolate chips.  MERCY!  It's good.  :-)  Chase it down with a glass of freezing cold milk, and I'm in Heaven!  Now if I could just work out breakfast, lunch and dinner.

You can see Jack giving rabbit ears to the peanut butter.  That boy can't let a picture go by without doing something silly in it.  Kinda like his Mom, I guess.  ;-)

Pregnancy Update

The poison ivy is practically gone, and I'm so glad.  All that's left on my arms are dark red patches, a few scabs and lots of dry, flaky skin.  No more steroids.  No more antibiotics!  I was still nursing Sophia (17 mos.) and had to wean her cold turkey because of the steroids.  I hid the Boppy in the closet so it wouldn't remind her but she found it yesterday and brought it to me, so excited and saying, "Da! Da! Da!"  That's her all-purpose word for just about everything.  I said, "Do you want to eat?"  She said, "Mmm-hmmmm!"  So we assumed our positions and she gave it a try.  It took her about 3 seconds for her to come to the conclusion that it was never going to be the same.  She got up saying something like yuck.  I asked her if she wanted to eat more and she shook her head and ran off.  Waaah.  :-)

I think the steroids helped me with the nausea I was having.  All last week I felt fine!  I thought it was because I was nearing the end of the first trimester, but after finishing all the medicine, my upset tummy has returned.  Seems the one thing I crave is milk.  It helps soothe things a bit, but talk about Dragon Breath!  Tic Tacs are a daily staple, along with the milk.  ;-)

Anyway, I had a first appointment with our new OB this week.  It was really hard to switch doctors even though I knew it was the best way to go.  My old OB delivered all our other five babies, so the familiar was hard to give up.  But after the first visit with Dr. Cummings I have no regrets!  For one thing, it turns out we go to the same church!  Best of all, he is excited for our 6th baby and is not interested in inserting himself or any unnecessary procedures into the pregnancy.  He said he doesn't expect to hear from me at all.  He's just going to let God do His thing, and we'll see each other once a month!  How cool is that?  My other OB was constantly wanting to do this test or that.  I spent all my time saying, "No. We're not interested in that." while she gave me those "how dare you endanger your baby" sort of looks.  So, peace.  Sigh.  It's nice.  :-)

I wasn't sure, but I had thought all during the month of April that I was pregnant, but had a negative test at the beginning of the month.  This has happened with  me before with all our girls(!).  When Dr. Cummings was checking me out, he mentioned that he thought I was either further along than 7 weeks, or was carrying twins.  I quickly assured him that I thought I was further along.  ;-)  So we made a sono appointment for later that day.  Jack, Lydia and Sophia went with me and we got to see our sweet little babe for the first time!  The baby measured at almost 12 weeks, so I WAS pregnant during April.  I'm so excited!  Here I am already in the 2nd trimester.  I just can't wait to meet this new little one. 

I feel SO pregnant right now because I tear up over the littlest things!  The kids and I watched the National Spelling Bee this week and evey time one of the kids misspelled a word, it killed me.  The kids would look over at me and say, "Mom!  Quit crying!"  LoL 

I'm Pregnant!

Took a test last Friday night to make it official and all, but I was suspecting all during the month of April that I was pregnant.  As the month wore on, I became increasingly more tired and slow.  The biggie for me was the night we had breakfast for dinner.  I was working my way through my scrambled eggs and got to the point, about halfway through, when they just looked and felt rubbery and NASTY.  I have not recovered from that to this day.  ;-)

Darin and I are in a little bit of shock.  We've never really felt as if we have a "big" family before.  Other people we know have big families, but not Darin and me, eh?  Now with the upcoming arrival of #6 (late December/early January), we feel as if we're going to join the ranks of our friends who have big families.  Isn't that silly?  Maybe once he/she/Stephen/Claudia arrives, we'll decide that we still feel as if we don't have a big family. 

I'm excited about the new OB that I will be going to!  This is a guy who believes that women should have babies until their bodies are done.  What a concept!  I've been totally stressing out my old OB with every new pregnancy with the homeschooling/big family/she's-too-old-to-be-giving-birth- thing.  I didn't want to be responsible for any increased stress in her life, so I am just quietly slipping off to this new guy.