Trunk or Treat

The kids got to experience their first Trunk or Treat up at the church tonight. It was so much fun to dress Hannah up as a princess. She very excitedly put on all the play necklaces we could find and was so proud to wear her tiara and carry her wand. Zach looked so darling in his Tigger costume, but he wasn't very enthusiastic about it! They got some yummy candy (which Hannah immediately wanted to eat) and Mommy and Daddy got a stash of not-suitable-for-tots candy too!

Welcome Baby Rebecca!

The birth of a baby is truly amazing, no matter how it arrives. My sweet Rebecca chose to make her appearance early morning on the 21st and I am still basking in her speedy arrival. Here is my birth story . . .

As I have mentioned before, I had some false labor Sunday morning. I knew labor was some time in the next few days, but the false starts are still annoying. With each of my babies, I think "get it over, already!" But they have their purposes in making the actual event much easier on your body, so I grudgingly accept them.

Monday 8:00 pm. Some strong short contractions started up again. Since they were only 15-30 seconds long, I dismissed them as Braxton-Hicks and excused myself from putting the kids to bed. I'll just lay down and these will go away, I thought to myself. Chad came to our room some time after 9:00 and I puttered around a little, feeling a little frantic to get everything in its place then decided to rest again. Hmm.

10:28 pm. Chad decided to start timing the contractions, which were waking me up violently, lasting for less than 30 seconds, and coming every 3-5 minutes. I would lapse back into sleep between them, so I wasn't really aware of time passing. Finally, I decided we should call Jeanean and see what we could do to make these things stop. Duhhhhh. Less than a minute of talking with Jeanean and she announced I was in labor, should try to take a shower to encourage the contractions to last longer, then head to the hospital. Chad called Mom to tell her to come on. Then I stood up. Whoa, Nelly! "I'm further along than I thought," I said to Chad. "Call Donna!" Donna is our dear friend in town who arrived in about five minutes so we didn't have to wait for Mom to drive 40 minutes to us. A few minutes after Donna arrived, off we went. Once we got to the Interstate, Chad turned on the flashers and hit about 90 the whole way. Our 35 minute trip to the hospital took 20 minutes!

11:40 pm. After checking in at the ER and talking with Dumb and Dumber (okay, not kind, but that's my pregnant memory's recollection), I was wheeled to my room, poked, prodded, and checked. "You're at 7 centimeters." What??? They assured me Jeanean was on her way and I told them she better hurry. True to her word, Jeanean arrived within 30 minutes and took charge, allowing me to get off the monitors and walk around the room. I sat on my birthing ball all of two or three contractions and decided that was a bad place to be. So I got back on the bed on my left side.

12:40 pm. I had about five contractions on the bed before my water broke. I almost popped open one eye to look at the clock, but forgot all about it when the next contraction slammed into me. Next thing I know, I am hollering that I am pushing and I have this sinking sensation that everyone has left me. Sure enough, Chad has disappeared from his post, Jeanean calls from across the room that it's okay, and nurses are scurrying around the room. Hello, does anyone remember that I'm over here with a head popping out?? Turns out they did. My sweet husband had decided to take the plunge and "catch the baby" so he was putting on his gown. Everyone else was, of course, doing their jobs!

12:53 pm. After pushing for just a few minutes, out came this beautiful little girl and her daddy softly laid her on my chest. There are just no words to describe that moment that don't bring tears to my cheeks. After that quiet moment, she let out a holler and announced her presence.

Of the three, this was the best delivery. She caused me the least pain both before and during delivery. After the delivery is a whole other topic. Those who have had multiple births know what I'm talking about! It was such a joy to have the same incredible woman deliver all of my big beautiful babies. If you don't know about Certified Nurse Midwives, let me just tell you that the experience is totally awesome - all of the wonderful aspects of a midwife but in the safety of a hospital.

So now I close a chapter of my life and open a new one. Goodbye to birthing babies (yes, that was our last) and hello to the wild and exciting life as the mother of three under the age of four!

One week appointment

Due to some extra blood tests she had, Rebecca had a one week appointment today. She passed with flying colors. Jaundice is gone, blood tests are all terrific and weight is up to 8 lbs 5 oz. Next appointment is 11/4 and I'll be taking all three kids . . . by myself. Chad will be back to work and the two older ones need their flu shots. One mom, three kids, multiple needles. Pray for me . . .

She's Here!

So this has taken me several days to write, but this child sure has taken me down for the count! Rebecca arrived Tuesday morning in the wee hours after less than 5 hours in labor. I am working on my birth story to post later plus will send out Snapfish pictures soon. She is absolutely beautiful with a head full of hair. She was 8.28 pounds and 21-1/4 inches. But with all that weight and length, she still looks smaller to me than the other two at birth and I can hardly find any newborn clothes that don't swallow her up!

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I had my first outing this morning and went to the worship service. Well, the first 30 minutes or so. Then little miss got hungry, took her sweet time, fussed a bit, and I ended up chatting with some ladies in the nursery. Still, the female companionship was terrific and it was wonderful to get out of the house even if it did wear me out.

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I'm off to change a diaper and hopefully get a nap!

False Alarm

False alarms. I really hate them. My third pregnancy and you'd think I would recognize true and false labor. Sunday morning at 5:45, I started having hard contractions that came every 12 minutes. Just when we were going to make the call and get all the balls rolling, the contractions stopped as quickly as they had begun. I had mild ones for hours, but the drama had ended. I was left feeling slightly dejected for the rest of the day. It's like being pumped up for the big game and then being told the game has been cancelled.

So here I am on the morning of the 4th day of my 39th week. She is not very active today. Perhaps she is gathering her strength, like the calm before a storm.

Hannah's Stuff

Hannah has a pile of dolls and debris that she commonly refers to as her "stuff." The contents of the pile change, though some constants remain (there will always be Piglet and Mickey) and now the way she presents her stuff also changes. Here is an example: lately she is piling the shopping cart full, then Daddy brings it downstairs and she distributes it. This week, the bottom steps became the hot spot. She has so many quirks. Poor kid - she's taking after her Mommy!

Visit to the Fire Station

I decided to venture out with the kids on Thursday morning and attend our MOPS meeting. I am so glad that I did because we had some great mom conversation while the kids played at our friend Donna's house. Then we all went to the Gunter Fire Station and the kids got to climb on fire trucks and see Donna put on all

her gear. It was kind of scary for some of them (especially when she sounded like Darth Vader), but they all got past their fears and really paid attention. Even the 2-year-olds did a pretty good job of listening! The kids had an absolute blast and Hannah asked me today when we were going back!

39 Week Appointment

I had my 39 week appointment on Thursday. Sadly, no changes. I am still 1 cm and still getting bigger by the hour (or so it seems). My next appointment is on Wednesday and it's a doosey. I have to take a stress test and have a sonogram to make sure all is still going a-okay in there. Let's pray that I don't have to attend that 2-hour appointment!!!

Full Moon - Yeah, Whatever!

I have come to the conclusion that my babies just like to cook and cook and cook. I will be 39 weeks on Thursday and so far nothing I have done to speed up the process has worked. It may work for some mommies, but then again, perhaps they were getting ready to pop anyway! So I just keep on going, though I am much slower than I used to be. If you call me and I sound like I am half-asleep . . . I probably am!!

Enter the Blogging Newbie

After much pondering (as I am proned to do), I finally decided to have my own blogging spot. I must admit that I am a novice on all this and will certainly learn much as I go. All I know right now is I am 38-1/2 weeks pregnant and ready to be a mommy of three!

Chad and the kids went to Canton this weekend while my mom and sister treated me to an incredibly awesome house cleaning and lunch. The kids had a blast at a local pumpkin patch and mommy got a much needed break. So my house is clean, my bag is packed, and I am ready for Rebecca to make her appearance. There is a full moon on Tuesday . . . bring it on!