A Wonderful Birthday Celebration.

*written yesterday but didn’t have time to post til today.

We started out yesterday morning coming in to be induced at 5am. While 5am was an early start to the day (since the day really started at 3:30a for me), we were excited at the surreal joy of finally getting to meet our Hannah. One last photo of the bump before suiting up in the gorgeous hospital gown 😉 and starting the IV.

They began the induction with a very small dose of Pitocin at 6am. It was a little slow going from the 3cm I started at to 4cm that we finally accomplished five hours later. They slowly inched the Pitocin up during the first five hours. And then after 12mL of pitocin per minute, my body took over and ran the rest of the labor without need for further induction.

The labor was primarily a lot of back labor and tailbone pain added to the laboring contractions. So I happily received an epidural at 4cm dilation and 75% effacement. Unfortunately the first epidural was a “dud”, but once it was removed and reapplied, my joy and smile returned. =)

I went from 5cm to 6 and almost 7cm in an hour and a half. Then I moved to 8, almost 9cm in twenty five minutes and landed at 10cm five minutes later. Yeah… the second half of labor went fast. And here’s the funny, quirkiness of my daughter. I was dilated to 10cm and fully effaced… and Hannah still had not dropped. hehe. No sooner had the nurse told me to notify her of any pressure I may have that the pressure of Hannah slowly descending into the birth canal was felt. Dr. K was still in transit from the office when I felt the first desire to push. I ignored that desire, waiting out Dr. K’s arrival.

I felt relieved when the nurses asked me to take a couple of preparatory pushes and then Dr. K walked into the room shortly thereafter. When I first started delivery pushes I felt immediately that Hannah was big. And after six or seven rounds of three/four pushes a piece, Hannah was out and under the lights. Physically Hannah’s delivery affects on my body were the gentlest to date via delivery. For that I was grateful for no additional drama and am currently blessed to be healing well and mobile.

Hannah was born at 2:12pm on September 5th, 2012 at a whopping 10lbs, 10 ounces and 24 inches long.

Yes, I birthed a 3 month old. 😉 And she couldn’t be healthier.

Hannah blessed me by immediately taking to nursing with a kind latch and has been a valiant learner since. I am thankful for the leeway of her ten pound self to teach her to get her suck organized without the urgency of jaundice or a low birth weight.

Still under twenty-four hours old, Hannah has been kind to Matt and I with her sweet little personality desiring uninterrupted close snuggling. She prefers to listen to Matt and my heartbeat and breathing while nuzzling her little face into our necks. She has a wonderful set of mature lungs that find their power when poked and prodded by nursing staff, but otherwise just complains in bird-like pathetic squawks when she feels that Mommy and Daddy are too far away.

Rachael and Abi came up to meet our newest family member the evening of the 5th, delighting in Hannah’s little bundle amongst to excitements of the hospital room, cupcakes to celebrate Hannah’s birthday (thanks Aunt Jes) and the energy of a day of play away from Mommy and Daddy that refused to let them sit still for long. Unfortunately I was awaiting the affects of my pain medication while they were visiting, but Rachael and Abi gave me grace and tried to hug very gently.

The first night Hannah napped in the evening, her first real nap on this side of the womb, and happily nursed for at least 15 minutes per side three times before settling in for the night at 1am. She slept until Mommy encouraged her feeding at 3am and had her first dirty diaper since delivery. Hannah decided to excel in her pottying habits coming in with her daily requirement of dirty diapers not during the regular 24 hours, but at just a few minutes over 12 hours. The nurse was very happy at the fruit of a good nurser.

So as we continue to nap, study, and delight over our newest daughter, we are enjoying her little grunts, snuggling habits, and excited visitors later today who will come to celebrate with us the blessing and miraculous gift of Hannah Joy.

She’s currently sleeping with her Daddy, inching over to be closer to his face so I am going to get off the computer and take advantage of another napping window before Hannah;s next feeding session.

We are blessed beyond belief and thankful for all the prayers, encouragement and support we have and will continue to receive from all our friends and family. It really has been an utter pleasure to share in these moments with you all. And best of all, it has and will continue to be our complete pleasure to share with you our dear little Hannah Joy. Thank you all again.

Happy birthday, little Hannah. Welcome to our world. =)

September 7, 2012 0

Goodmorning Hannah

Goodmorning cricketed darkness,

Today my youngest daughter will be joining this side of the womb. in anticipation she shared some strong contractions with me last night, which were happily masked a bit by tylennol and a hearty snack. Despite the normal series of naps termed sleep for the past few months, today is a day filled with excitement and adrenalin that’s already staking it’s claim in my alert eyes and smile. Today’s the day, sweet Hannah. Today’s the day! We’ve waited for a long time for you. We’d hoped for a long time for you. And so many things about today still feels so surreal.

We made it! We made it to 39 weeks, putting the most meat on your bones and giving you the best chance without utterly torturing your Mommy.

We made it to our induction date so Dr. K can claim the rights to having delivered all three of my girls.

We made it through first trimester nausea, pinched nerves, lower back pain, sickness, being breached, hip blows, and so many more things that seem to now be on the back burner of “over”.

We made it through wonderful family moments watching “the blob” rearrange Mommy’s stomach.

We made it through sisterly love resulting in elbow pokes and your next closes sister in line sitting directly on your bump for months while Mommy carried her.

We made it!

And now all that’s left is your final debut. The revealing of God’s miracle that He has been stitching together in you.

Hannah Joy, you are beyond loved, prayed for and hoped for. Today we get to meet your wonderful character and begin to study your personality. Today!

Anticipated baby girl, we love you so and while the world will be blurry, cold and frustrating in many new demands and sensations, we look forward to you learning to feel our love not in the pats, kisses and words from the outside of your protection layer, but through the snuggles, rockings, and songs we sing over you as we embrace you as our own.

For whenever you choose to come today, for whatever happens in your delivery,

I just want to say:

Happy birthday, Hannah Joy!

Precious little girl, happy birthday indeed!

September 5, 2012 0

The Last Few

So over these last few days I’ve found projects to keep me busy and distracted.

After being given the first letters of Rachael and Abi’s names a good while back that I hung above their beds on the wall, I decided it would be cool to have one for Hannah as well. Before we got a second glimpse at Hannah’s gender (when we found out that she was breached) I was debating leaving the letter off the wall until we were certain of gender come delivery day. Even though they get a good look at her gender at 21 weeks, you never know. After we discovered she was breached we were certain of her femininity with a clear, unmoving picture. At 37 weeks she would have had VERY obvious boy parts should she have been an Elijah Joel. 😉

So the letter on the wall was now an option.

I started off to the craft store with the girls to buy an H in the same letter series that the girls’ letters came from. Unfortunately in the past two years the craft store had stopped selling that line of letters. So I became more creative. Still wanting things to be reasonably priced, I opted for the simpler letters for $1.50 a piece instead of the $3 ones since I’d now be purchasing three letters, one for each of the girls, so they matched. With the $1.50 letters I was also able to give Rachael and Abi a choice from a few decals to put on their letters. Hannah got the default one after Rachael and Abi picked.

When we got home and the girls were down comfortably for their nap, I used some nearby paint left over from painting the nursery “back in the day”. I painted all three letters the same so they’d match and then attached their decals to the letters with sticky tac so they could exchange decals later if they wanted or the decals could be used to decorate other things in the future.

Thus I give you their letters: It was a few hour project due to allowing paint to dry.

I also decided to label the girls’ drawers and put up words/pictures to help them in putting away the laundry. Rachael has her drawers memorized as to what should go where, but Abi often will forget between the couch and her squealing run down the hallway just what drawer you asked her to put her clothing into. So in an effort to reinforce literacy for Rachael and encourage Abi’s independence, I found these labels online. I printed them off and slapped their beautiful black/white selves on the drawers.

And that happy little project also extended to the closet where the organization is a happy perk in easy communication of hang-up items.

Then I saw a pinterest post of a do-it-yourself butterfly mobile and thought instantly “I’d like to do that….. some day” well some day came over the last few days. While I chose not to use the above tutorial, I did print off a basic outline of a butterfly from searching “clipart butterfly” on google images. Then I printed off 10 pages of black/white butterflies. Since I wasn’t worried about rushing the project, but instead about filling time with a fun craft, I wasn’t concerned that I planned to color each of the 60 butterflies’ front and back (120 total) and then cut each one out. I used a cross-stitching wooden ring as my circular base. I then painted it white as a primer and a light pink (mixed from the old nursery colors). I used some clear fishing line found in the bracelet section of the craft store ($2). Thanks to borrowing a friend’s glue gun (I don’t have one), I tied and glued the fishing line to four spots on the top of the circle, attaching a small washer to the top as a “hanging hook.” I then glued nine butterflies around the upper circle. Then I attached the various lengths of fishing line hanging down from the circle. After each butterfly was colored and cut out, I hot glued each at various places to each of the eight hanging strings. I did some basic math to use the remaining butterflies to attach at least six butterflies per string.

Now I did have some battle scars from gluing the butterflies on: burnt fingers, two thumbs, a spot on my wrist, and, sadly, the pad of my right foot from dripping glue. But honestly I really enjoyed the project without the time commitment feeling too laborious. And thus the product that hangs above the changing table in the nursery:

Fun projects. More simple home improvement. And time well spent. =D

September 4, 2012 0

Another Addition to the Fam.

Before Matt and I had kids, we decided it would be a priority in our household to sponsor children in poverty-stricken countries and situations “overseas”. We decided that our family would add one additional sponsored child per biological (or adopted) child in our household. We figure if we can afford to add on a child to our mix, we should make it a priority to afford a $30/month sponsorship as well. God has blessed us beyond measure and we trust He will continue to enable us to glorify Him, even if things get tight. Priorities require sacrifices, but some sacrifices are so right they feel like breathing.

With that being said, we first picked our Lidia back when Rachael was a baby. Sweet Lidia was the youngest child available that day when we walked into a local Family Christian bookstore and checked out their “World Vision” sponsorship rack. Sweet Lidia was just a petite little almost two year old (who looked more like a new one year old) when we first sponsored her and is now a thriving five year old starting school this year.

When Abi was born we discussed another sponsorship child. Our dear Tofic fell into our laps when the youth group was no longer able to provide funds to upkeep the little guy’s needs. So we joyously took on our dear Tofic in Abi’s honor. Tofic is currently an active seven year old (his birthday was 8 days ago) enjoying his second year of schooling. We love the hand-drawn pictures he sends us.

Lidia and Tofic are precious in our family as we learn about their loves, lives and families. We have clocks hanging on the wall to remind us of their real-life times and schedules. We pray for them at meals and talk about them during the day. They are two sweet kiddos who have just been dealt a hard hand and we are so beyond blessed to come alongside of their families and their communities to help them “learn how to fish” in a desolate place.

So with the addition of Hannah to our family on the horizon, Matt and I took the girls back to the bookstore to the familiar World Vision rack. We studied the faces, learned new name pronunciations and worked together to pick out Hannah’s sponsor child.

It was a given when we came across her. Valentina from Colombia. She’s a cute little two year old with a birthday split between Rachael and Abi. The sweet thing is the only child of a single mom, for whatever reason, who is doing everything she can in upholding a daily wage earning job to try to provide for herself and her little girl. Valentina is growing up in a poor community in Colombia. World Vision just recently expanded their efforts in Colombia to come alongside struggling families after a devastating earthquake.

While we still have much to learn about Valentina and anxiously await our packet of information about her that we will be getting in the next few weeks in the mail, it was so neat to watch Rachael’s excitement and curiosity about this precious life. And our dear Abi clung to Valentina’s brochure with joy. We read and reread the few paragraphs we have about her before bed that night and since then.

It’s such a blessing to watch our children’s eyes slowly opened to the precious opportunity we have to love on children in the name of Jesus that we may never meet.

So welcome to the crew, Valentina. Rachael wants you to know that she loves you very much.

*** This post is in no way to bring glory to us, but to give it to God in thanks for the privilege of bringing Him glory in our daily lives.

August 30, 2012 0

Wordless Wednesday: Hot Vanilla

Not hot chocolate…

hot vanilla baby!

– Oh yes!!! –

You make one too? 😉

August 29, 2012 0

The Last of Us

Well, I guess it’s not really the last of us, but it was the last vacation of “just the four of us.”

We headed an hour away to a hotel,

[All children must ride on hotel luggage racks before they grow up.]

enjoyed the pool,

“We’re going to the pool!!! YAY!!!”

My skinny muscle man and lovin’-the-pool Abi.

She would not stop laughing. =)

[I put the camera down and piggy-backed the children with Matt for a half hour of glamorously freezing swimming. But the kids loved every second of it.]

and stayed up late watching football together on the big king-sized bed while eating popcorn and special snacks the girls picked from a nearby gas station. We laughed, the girls did some bed jumping, and then they fell asleep around 9:30p on the pull-out sofa bed.

Abi’s zonked.

[P.S. Dry pool noodles make EXCELLENT temporary bed rails when placed tightly under the bottom sheet. No one had any problems falling out and my kids can be violent sleepers.]

The next morning we decided to go to COSI, an awesome children’s science museum. We got in free with our local children’s museum passes gifted to us this past Christmas from the grandparents.

The girls ran amuck, enjoying all they could soak in and we even enjoyed some lunch down in the cafeteria.