Baby Fix

 You are all dying to see more photos of our little cherub, right?  Well, this one's for you.

 We have a fascination with baby piggies around here.

 I know, those big eyes....  Sweet, sweet baby.

I love these moments with a fresh, new baby.  I'm trying to soak it all in because I know it doesn't last near long enough.

I'd like to say that our house is calm and peaceful, sucking in all the wonderfulness that a newborn brings.  That would be a lie though.  My house is crazier than ever.  My sister and her family moved in the day we brought Daisy home from the hospital, and although we love having them here, two extra kiddos in the house adds a whole lot more noise, mess, and chaos.  We now have 7 kids in the house, 5 of which are under the age of 4.  Chaos, I tell you.  Fun chaos, but chaos all the same.  

Daisy's Story

 Last Friday, July 12th, was my due date.  I had plans to go to my doctor's appointment that morning, and then join my family at our annual reunion that afternoon.  Well, so much for "plans".  I went to my doctor's appointment that morning and my blood pressure was high (this is something we always watch closely during my pregnancies), so they made plans at the hospital for me to be induced.  Now, you'd think at 40 weeks pregnant, this would be good news for me, but I was a bit upset about it.  I was really really hoping that I'd go into labor on my own.  But, a re-occurring lesson learned is that we don't get to plan these things.  Also, we had plans for my sister to come stay with the kids, but because of the above mentioned reunion, she was unavailable.  We did the last minute scramble to get our kids in good hands (you know who you are, and thank you, thank you), Nick gave me a very comforting blessing, and we were headed to the hospital.

We checked in around 1:30 and they had me hooked up to antibiotics (GBS positive) and pitocin at about 2:30.  I was nervous.  I was coming back from a not-so-pleasant experience with Lainey (an emergency c-section) so I was scared the whole time that Daisy's heartrate would drop (after all, it's happened with ALL of my other babies), and I'd be rushed in for a repeat c-section.  I was nervous being induced, knowing that it's not the ideal situation for a vbac.  I had planned to go without an epidural, and they warned me that if my blood pressure didn't go down, they'd encourage an epidural to help it go down.  All these thoughts were swimming in my head and I was a bit overwhelmed by it all.  But, I said a little prayer and held on for the ride.  

So, contractions got started.  I was 2 cm dilated and 60% effaced.  My nurse and midwife were a bit concerned that the baby's heartbeat was found way up high on my belly.  They checked with an ultrasound (twice) to make sure baby was head down (she was).  My water was broken (the midwife really didn't want to, but had to for the uterus monitor to be 'installed', which was necessary with a vbac), they also put a monitor on the baby, which fell out a bit later.  I'll say that one of the benefits of a vbac induction is that they would only increase the pitocin so high.  With a regular induction (which has been all of my other babies) they would increase and increase and increase again so fast that things got painful really quickly, topping out the pitocin around 20 or so?  This time, they could only increase the pitocin to a 9, which is where the pressure in my uterus was ideal, I guess.  I labored from about 2:30 to about 11 that evening fairly comfortably, laying on my side in the bed, watching tv with Nick and chatting with my midwife and nurses, who during this time would pop in and out of my room.

Then things got exciting.  My contractions got harder and I had to get out of bed to deal with them.  My midwife was AMAZING.  She gave me lots of options and encouraged me to do whatever felt right.  I sat on a birthing ball for awhile, and when that wasn't doing it anymore, I stood at the bedside and rocked from side to side, leaning up against the bed during contractions while my midwife and then Nick applied counter pressure on my hips.  During this time, the baby's heartrate was on an external monitor and it wasn't picking it up very easily.  The hospital nurse would come in all concerned that she didn't have a good reading, and my midwife would send her away, telling her that it wasn't a concern and that she had a good idea of what was going on.  Go midwife!  I really felt comforted in her hands, and she really calmed all my fears.  At this point, she was saying that she could get me in the tub (which really surprised me with all the monitors and IVs I was hooked up to), but I knew I didn't have much time.  I made sure that everyone was ready to deliver this baby and then climbed up on the bed.  Once again, my midwife wanted me to get to where I was comfortable.  She was willing to catch that baby right on the floor if that's where I wanted to do it.  Laying on my back at that moment sounded horrible, so I tried my hands and knees.  She checked me again (only the second time I was checked the whole time) and sure enough, I was fully dilated and ready to bring this baby here!  Now came the hard part.  Thankfully, Daisy was here in just a minute and a few pushes, but it sure felt longer than that.  Pushing a baby through the birth canal HURTS!!  (surprised? :)  I screamed, loudly, and didn't care at all that it was quiet hours at the hospital ;).  But, oh, the relief when it's over!  Daisy was born at 12:12am.  I flipped over on my back and my beautiful baby was placed right up on my chest: 

We rubbed that baby up until she was nice and pink.  She was born hungry, that girl, and was rooting and sucking on her hands.  The midwife let the cord pulse out (a new experience for me) and then was clamped and then cut by Daddy.  My placenta was delivered and I had one tiny tear that was fixed with one tiny stitch (yeah, no episiotomy!).  All this time, I was snuggling on my perfect new baby.  They did take her away for 3 minutes to be weighed and measured (Daddy guessed her weight spot on at 7 lbs. 3 oz.), a hat, diaper, and another photo or two:

 And then I got some skin-to-skin with my babe:

 Check out those bright eyes!

 She happily nursed and then she was taken to the nursery with Daddy.  We were all settled in our mother/baby room at about 2:30am.  We were all excited to get some sleep (some of us were more successful than others).  

The next day, she had some eager-to-meet-her visitors:

 Everett would have sat and held her all day.

 Lainey just wanted to poke at her.  She's since taken to wanting to hold and snuggle on her too.

The girls did get to go to the reunion thanks to Grandma.  They had a great time, but were excited to come home and meet their new sister.  They are awesome second mommas.

 This is my new crazy:

 All ready to go home from the hospital, Sunday morning:

 And some extra cute photos, taken when she was 3 days old:

 A little perspective on just how tiny Daisy is:

I did finally cut off her hospital bands.

So, in retrospect, after all my fears, I don't think this birth experience could have turned out any better.  My blood pressure did go down, Daisy's heartrate was perfect the entire time (a miracle with her cord wrapped twice around her neck,  and an answer to our prayers), and my midwife just topped it all off with her extra care in my un-medicated state.  And, we have another perfect baby.

Introducing...

Daisy Nicole

July 13, 12:12am

7 lbs. 3 oz.

18 inches

Birth story and more photos coming soon.

A Happy Fourth

I could be in bed right now.  My babies are still sleeping, and I should be there with them, but my hips are killing me.  I'm ready, yes I am.  Since I can't sleep, I might as well be blogging, right?  :)

July 4th was a good day.  The kids helped me make cupcakes by licking the bowls clean:

 That evening we went to the cousin's house to enjoy good food and our own firework show:

 Lainey decided that the best place to eat her cupcake was right in the middle of all the snap action.  And this boy:

 was so excited for fireworks and was all into it, until about 10 when he declared he was sleepy and wanted in the car so he could go to sleep.  And he did.

Cute cousins.  I also love Lainey's blurry grin in the corner.  :)

Making Fireworks

Last week, Maren got her 5 year check up and kindergarten shots.  I guess that inspired her to be extra brave (after all, she hardly even winced when she got her shots) and she decided that she could give her two-wheeler a try.  A few minutes, and she had it down:

 What a big girl!

Also, we made our own play dough last week: 

 Can you tell we pay a lot of attention to hair around here in the summer time?

 Want a great recipe?  Put 1 c. flour, 1 c. water, 2 tsp. cream of tartar, 1/4 c. salt, 1 T. oil and a few drops of food coloring in a saucepan and let your little cherub stir it up.  Then put it on the stove over medium heat and stir until it forms a ball.  When it is cool enough to handle, knead it for a few minutes and, ta-da!, play dough that can be stored and enjoyed until your kids leave it out and it dries up!

Over the weekend, we had a sick little boy, so Daddy stayed home with him while I took the big girls to church.  It is always a surprise to see what Nick has been up to in the house while I'm gone.  On this particular day, I walked in to find pizza dough in the works, as well as this:

 Nick had cut out "fireworks" and he and the girls glittered them up, and then tied them to our dining room chandelier for some Fourth of July decor.  My man crafted of his own free will.  Two days later, it still makes me smile.  My girls know they have the coolest dad ever and the kids all comment about our own firework show all the time.

And, here's a little collage of some other happenings:

*The kids all passed their swim levels and had a great time in the pool every day for the last two weeks.  Also, adding to dad's coolness is that he took the big girls to the pool for several hours so they could show off all their new skills.

*38 weeks.  We're getting close, folks.

*A great evening with our great friends.  We watched a parade and enjoyed delicious food.  Lainey totally spilled a cup of ice water down my crotch.  I squealed and stood up with a wet bottom.  Our friends were hoping that my water had broke, but nope, just cooling down on a hot day.  :)

Another Week Gone By

The kids had a fun week, playing with their cousin (and a box):

And other happenings?

We are ready for baby girl: 

 Although we are definitely ready, I'm not holding my breath that she is ready.  Gauging by past experience, she will likely be born past her due date.  So, I'm trying real hard to just sit back and enjoy these last days of 'normal' instead of counting down days.

So much summer fun just wears this kid out:

Oh, this girl has the best smile in the whole wide world:

Perhaps we need a bigger kiddie pool?

And, I share this because I'm pretty sure Nick would want you to know about it.  ;)  We don't dutch oven very often, so we are still learning (like, it always takes longer to cook than we expect), but this little creation of Nick's was delicious.  It has chicken/veggies/sauce topped with our favorite cornbread recipe.  Yum.  We also had an enjoyable evening with our good friends and neighbors.  Shout out to you!  Thanks for being patient!  :)

More Things

We pulled out paints the other day.  The big girls handle them well, but the babies love making a mess.  Why does a mess stress me out so?  It is washable, and I still have to turn my head so I don't give myself a heart attack.

 I should've taken a photo of Lou when she was done painting.  She didn't look near so clean.

 We all survived this painting episode and now the paints are put up high and out of reach until a future date when Mom is feeling extra brave again.

We had a good weekend with not many photos.  Nick ran his first Half Marathon of the year (has another one in the Fall, plus the Ragnar) and we spent the rest of our Saturday recovering with him.

We all enjoyed Father's Day.  My kids loved giving Dad their gifts.  They have one awesome daddy, that's for sure.  We spent the evening at my parent's house.  Everett had to go sit on a tractor:

 And other things going on:

*Weekly doctor visits for baby and I.  I'll be full term this Friday.  We are excited to meet this baby that is making me so incredibly uncomfortable.  Truthfully, I'm also nervous to be handling FIVE little people.  I'm hoping that once these pregnancy hormones phase out, I'll have a little more patience.  (One can hope, right?)  I'm pretty sure Nick is hoping the same thing.  ;)

*We have a cousin here with us this week.  He's got to be one of the happiest, most easy going 6 year olds I've ever known.  And, big bonus, I hear happy kids playing all day instead of the regular 'friends one minute, enemies the next' between my two girls.

*Ellie, Maren, and Everett started swim lessons yesterday.  They love it.

*Nick is currently on his way to Chicago for work.  I don't love it.  He won't be gone for long, thankfully.  I'm thinking we just might make it while he's gone.  We are already looking forward to his return.

And here are just some cute photos of my Lainey Lou.  She's learned how to take off her clothes and often wants them removed (come on, if you could get away with it, you'd do it too!  ;)

Also, a new fun game the kids have come up with for car drives:  they tell Lainey to say words, and are shrieking with delight when she actually repeats them.  It is really cute.  Having her still facing the back has done good things for her vocabulary.