Our Gift

Our Gift. Our Wonderful Gift from God! 

Really is more like a thousand gifts and provisions.  I cannot even count the many ways He has blessed us in the past year! Let's start close to the beginning, ok?!

I found out we were having another baby the first week in May.  I am not going to lie, I cried. I mean I really cried.  I just stared at the pregnancy stick, knowing I was pregnant before I even took the test, but still not believing it.  How on Earth does one person manage FIVE small people 5 and under...wait, what will the due date be? Oh no! I rush to my computer (no smart phone here), and type all the information into the due date calculator. REALLY?! My due date is Jan 12th....2 weeks before my oldest turns 5.  That means I will have almost 3 weeks before my oldest is 5, and I will have four kids 4 and under. Oh my goodness...the looks, I cannot bear any more looks, they already think I'm crazy. UGH...do we have to tell anyone?  Maybe one day we can just magically appear with an extra?!  What are we going to do with 5 babies? I don't have the patience for the 4 I have, and now we are throwing one more into the mix? What about my body, oh goodness, I pray we make it?!  I'm not kidding, all of these were very real thoughts that ran through my head.  NOT because I was ashamed to have a baby, but because of all the shaming looks I get everywhere I go with 4 small ones in tow!  I LOVE my babies, and I would do anything for them.  But society as a whole, well, they are very draining, they look down on you, and act surprised when your children behave in public, or if you have more children than they personally deem necessary. Greg gets home...I show him the test. He looks surprised, but he hides it well, he is good at hiding, him being the quiet soul that we all need!  He says "what are we going to do?" I laugh "What can we do?" By this time, I had wrapped my head around it, and was actually starting to feel that joy come back, joy for a little one, though unexpected, would be a perfect fit for our family.  God chose to give us this gift, and he would give us the grace, and the joy (if we choose it!), and the patience to make it through! We hug, smile, and know, in the end, it is all in God's control. Everything, God ordains everything. "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice"  Philippians 4:4. Funny if you keep reading, you then come across this. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation ,by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6, 7

Here is a short back story, on a bit of the panic, that came with this baby surprise...other than the looks, and weird glances I receive almost everywhere I go!  While having Noah, we hear "oh look, we can see the baby."  Then the Anesthesiologist says, "Ok they are getting ready to cut the uterus and pull baby out! Get ready!!"  We are excited and this conversation slips past me. (*notice anything weird in that conversation order! Neither did we at the time, all too caught up in the moment!) Fast forward a few days, Dr comes in and says "Well, looks like you are recovering good, I wouldn't recommend any more babies any time soon.  But you can talk to your Dr. about that at your 6 week check up.  And next time I would probably send you to a high risk Dr., I'm not sure about doing another C-section on you!" Dr. walks out... "Wait, what?" I turn to my husband, "Did he just say what I think he said...next time I need to go to a high risk Dr.  Why on Earth would I need to do that? Especially if we are going to wait a couple years? So confused...oh well!" "I guess, he just thinks we had too many too close, weird, oh well" Hubby responds. Fast forward a bit more...Now I am at my 6 week checkup.  My Dr finishes everything up, comes back into the room, and says "Everything looks good,  Did the other Dr. by any chance tell you about your uterus?" "Umm..not really, just said to follow up with you for my 6 week check, and that next time we need to go to a high risk Dr...why?" I reply. "Well, your uterus was so thin we could see right through it.  We call that a window.  That is NOT something we like to see.  I just kept thinking while you were on the table, oh goodness please don't sneeze...It was THAT thin, I thought if you sneezed your uterus would rupture right there in front of me!" Yikes! I let that sink in on the drive home, and promptly tell Greg upon our first moment of quiet.  We google uterine windows, and uterine rupture...you know how you should never google anything...really DON'T!!  Moral of what we learned...If my uterus ruptures and I'm at home, they like to have baby out in 35 minutes, this assures that mom doesn't die of a bleed out, and baby comes out alive, and hopefully not brain dead! Anyway, now we see the concern through a whole different set of eyes, and see why, we really CANNOT get pregnant any sooner than 1-2 years.  We decided to use two different forms of birth control to make sure there were no issues.....Fast forward 9 months! Guess what?! We are pregnant. Now you see my concern, my fear, and my issues with why I don't think I can or should be pregnant! But believing this little life is a gift from God, we embrace joy! We hold it close, and honestly we tell no one about how dangerous this pregnancy really could be for me! I don't like to live in fear! We cling to God, HIS plan, and HIS promises.  We know it will all turn out good.  I also know to watch out for any weird pains, as they can be a sign of something major!  Fixed with this knowledge we move forward. And funny enough, no high risk Dr was needed (at least, not yet!) I should also mention that we go for our first ultrasound, and they tell me my due date is incorrect, we are actually due January 23rd and not the 12th...which means that I found out I was pregnant pretty much as soon as it happened! Which to me, means I will only have five children 4 and under for about a week, totally doable right?!

We continue to move forward in this blessing of a pregnancy, we do decide to tell people.  I mean come on, I get HUGE fast, there really is no hiding a pregnancy for me! I find joy in all the little moments, even the moments where I am so sick I don't want to move from the couch in the evening.  The kids are so good, at helping and taking care of me when I need to rest, as is Greg!  We have a house full of extra kids, that come and go through out the summer, and some that stay longer! We love having extra little faces around to love on! Usually those of friends!  We have a great summer! We celebrate our current baby turning 1, and being sooo big!  We celebrate our anniversary, my birthday, and Halloween! All without a hitch.   We are doing good so far, and if you ask me about my pregnancy I will laugh and tell you all is good. Sometimes I feel like a ticking time bomb, thinking I might just explode somewhere, anywhere... will we be ready?  Will we be ok? My fears are always calmed by God, and they are gone as quickly as they came. We live a joyful, and a full life, one I wouldn't change for the world! I do tell a couple people about what my future could hold, but I always tell them not to worry, we will be fine.  I had claimed that I would be fine.  I was confident in the fact that God would take care of me, and our new gift.  He would see us through this and bring us all out alive. I was confident in God, and the fact that He can and does perform miracles. Obviously you are reading this today, and this means He has shown us some of His best miracles! Can you see all the precious gifts and miracles we have been given? I can, and they are too many to count.  They are wonderful.  I have made it to November, that is seven-ish months of miracles.  Seven-ish months of protecting me, seven-ish months of a beautiful, growing baby inside my ever growing belly! Seven-ish months of time with family and friends. Seven-ish months of health!!

Mid-November (November 19th to be exact!) I start having some pain,  Now I have already written about my stay in the hospital so I will keep this portion brief(hopefully)!  I am grateful that God put it in my heart to go to the hospital, and get checked.  I hate going in for no reason, or for people to think I'm freaking out for no reason.  I called first, and they called my Dr, who then immediately called me, and told me to get up to OB now! I listened.  I listened to God, and I listed to my Dr.  Thank goodness! I am blessed that I went in, and that God took care of us. On the way to the hospital all I could hear, and all I could do was sing "Be still and know that I am God" that line just rings over and over in my ears and across my lips. Turns out we get transferred to Wesley, and again the whole hour drive there all I can here is "Be still and know that I am God."  How can you doubt anything with that ringing in your ears, echoing into your whole being? This verse saturated me, it reassured my spirit that God was in control and all I needed to do was be still! What a Mighty God we serve!  I have one more episode of severe pain while at Wesley but the rest of my 5 1/2 week stay goes off without a hitch!  I learn to love the quiet there, and all the nurses.  I am able to listen, I mean really listen to what God is telling me about my life.  I know I am where I am supposed to be.  My children are well cared for by all our family back home, and although I miss them dearly during this time, I know all is well.  I can just be.  Baby and I can grow, and be peaceful, we can learn to love life again, and all the little moments, because when you have a scare and think maybe this is something major, well let's just say your eyes are opened a bit more to all the little things around you.  I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.  This experience has taught me to really live, and to rely on God more than I ever have before.  I had to rely on Him to continue to keep us safe, for him to keep my children safe and secure with family.  To help them stay calm and not be anxious.  For my husband to be ok with a momentary bachelor pad, one that was eerily quiet compared to the chaos that usually rings through all the walls! "Be still and know and that I am God"  Psalm 46:10a The verse for my stay, along with the one that we were "coincidentally"(note: I believe everything is God ordained) learning for school that week. "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18 My resolve for while I am there, I will give thanks for everything, and I will be still! What refreshment for my soul, my soul that is usually busy, gets to be still and give thanks! The Lord always knows what we need! Do you see all the gifts? I can see them, and they are too numerous to count!  More miracles are performed, more than we could have ever imagined.  I am now on a forced maternity leave, one I wasn't ready for.  We had prepared for a maternity leave, thinking maybe one of eight weeks.  I really thought come January my Dr would tell me no more working, but I was prepared to work up until that point.  We were not prepared for a 5 1/2 week hospital stay, and we were not prepared for 5 1/2 extra weeks of no pay! But we serve a Great and Mighty God.  He provided food and goodies for us, He provided money for us (It literally poured in and brought us to tears!) , He provided company and companionship for us.  He took better care of us then we ever could have imagined, and we cannot thank you all enough for having such huge hearts and for taking such amazing care of us.  We have amazing friends and family.  We even had people think about our kiddos and they gave us Christmas gifts to give to our kids (which they LOVED by the way!)! God thought of everything before we even had time to think about it. I hadn't thought about how we were going to pay the bills yet, when my friend said she was going to set up a go fund me account for us, because she had people asking where they could give.  I mean seriously you cannot make this kind of provision up! We serve a very big God, and for that we are grateful! Do you see the gifts?  They just keep pouring in!

Me, 36 weeks pregnant, ready to head downstairs for my C-section! (*I'm huge...good thing he came early!)

AND now it is baby time! Our most precious gift, the one of bringing a special, new life into this world!  He is born 4 weeks early via C-section at 11:30 am.  Weighing 7 lbs 15oz, and is 19" long.  A wonderful, good sized baby!  I hear them say he needs oxygen, again I hear "Be still and know that I am God!", and we were warned that he may need oxygen he is to be born a preemie and with that comes unknown territory and with that unknown there may be some extra medical intervention needed.  

 Maybe just a little blue?!

Not even 2 minutes on oxygen, and he is fine!

I get to hold my sweet baby! 

We get to go upstairs together.  This is big for us, a God thing! There is no NICU needed for this good sized preemie.  An answer to mommy and daddy's prayers!  We get to recover together.  Then for some reason they decide to check his blood sugars.  Still not sure why, again a God thing.  They are low.  They decide Sunday at 1130 that he will need to go to their step down unit for IV treatment to keep his blood sugar up.  I can still go down to nurse him, but there is no bed available, and since I just had major surgery, I pretty much just go down to nurse him, and snuggle for a couple minutes before I need to head back upstairs (usually for some pain meds!)  By 2:30am he is OFF the IV not even 24 hours later he is off! Another answer to prayer.  Monday the Drs come around and tell us that I can for sure go home today as planned, and as long as he passes the rest of his tests, he can too!  What seemed like a set back at the time, turns out to be nothing major at all.  Although, we had to trudge downstairs every 3 hours for feedings (something mommy would do no matter what!), it was nothing more than a minor inconvenience!  We start packing up our things, and only leaving out the essentials knowing it will probably be sometime after lunch when they can do the car seat test, and give us the "official" all clear to go! The blessings just keep coming!  We are beyond ecstatic! He passes his car seat test, one thing we never doubted he would be able to do, and we get the all clear to go.  We finish packing up some stuff, and come back downstairs for another feeding...in walks the resident "um, I'm sorry but we would like to keep the baby over night.  We can move you to a room here on this floor with him, but his bilirubin level is starting to go up, and we would like to monitor it.  We will recheck it in the morning and if it is fine you can go home them." Wait, what?  All my dreams come crashing down.  We have been here 5 1/2 weeks, and were already told we could go home today if we had an appointment scheduled for tomorrow,which we did, and now you want to keep us an extra night just in case... Lucky for us the nurse was in the room with me, when the resident was talking with me, and she had stayed to listen to what the resident said.  I just looked at her defeated as the resident left.  The nurse turned to me and said "you are still in charge, and are his mommy.  If you think you can go home, then tell them you would like to go home. We can send you home with some formula, that helps kick the bile out better than breast milk sometimes, and you can just give him a couple mls after you are done nursing him to give his system a boost.  I don't see what you need to stay here for an extra night just in case. We will talk with the resident and see what we can work out.  You were already told you could go home today, and we are going to try and get that to happen." This nurse, an absolute angel in my mind.  She was on my side, and was going to fight for me to be able to keep our family together, and to spend a night in our own home, this night, together in our own bed! Turns out we got to go home!! I am ever so grateful, to our angel nurse (and to all the angels who took care of us our entire stay!) who got us out of there that evening!

 Heading home!

 We are HOME! And the Dog won't leave us alone!! I think he missed mommy!

The Doctor had so graciously allowed us to go home, but ONLY IF we made an appointment for the next morning! And we made sure to get an appointment with both lab, and the Doctor (unfortunately mine was on vacation, but we got to see a wonderful PA instead!)  Turns out his bilirubin was too high- which we pretty much already knew when we woke up that next morning (he was looking a bit orange!) We were immediately sent to the hospital here in town.  Now this may seem unfortunate, we are now back in the hospital, but really it wasn't!  Let me tell you the good things!  We have no other kiddos home at this point, so really what else did we have going on? Nothing really except just chilling around the house, and guess what you can do that just as easy in the hospital.  I know, I know I was desperate to get out, and here I am a day later back in, and we are just fine.  See now we are in our home hospital.  Greg doesn't have to drive an hour to see us, he has to drive maybe 5 minutes if the traffic is bad.  See?! Not such a bad deal.  We are told we will stay overnight.  No biggie! They will provide a meal for both of us if we both decide to stay, and they will bring in a cot if Greg wants to stay.  Greg opts for the night of good sleep at home, and I stay up with baby! Another good thing about this, the hospital bed that I get to sleep in again.  Let's just say when you can't use your abs, and you are sleeping in a regular bed, getting up in the night can be quite difficult.  I am actually thankful for the chance for another night in a bed that can move you to a sitting position with the push of a button! See?! More good! His bilirubin levels are down by the next morning, and off we go!

Little man getting his sun tan on!

After a check up the next morning at the hospital it is decided, yet again, that he will need to be under the bili lights!  Back up to the hospital we go! And we get to spend New Year's Eve in the hospital!  Let me tell you what.  Now I have gotten to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year's Eve, and New Years morning now in the hospital! We are on a roll!!  My wonderful hubby left us for a bit, and went up to the local Dillons, bought us a bottle of Sparkling Grape Juice, and a meat and cheese tray! That way we could feel like we were bringing in the New Year! LOL!  Got my New Year's Kiss from two sweet men! And Greg left for a good nights sleep at home, and I stayed with the little man!  We were sent home again the next morning!  We continue to go back for heel sticks, until we get the all clear!  Thankfully during all of this my mom still had the kiddos, and Greg thankfully had the week off.  This made all this even easier, no one needed to take extra time off to transport me and baby around all the time, and we didn't have to split up for the hospital sleeps except for at bed time!  Made life easy.  Again, we were blessed tremendously with the way that everything was worked out by God!

We are finally home! No more overnight hospital stays! Feels good!

I know, I know this is a looong post! BUT there is one more part to share in this delightfully long journey! It is time to bring the other kiddos home! YEAH!! Greg has been back to work, and now it is time to go get the kids.  We cannot wait, it has been 48 days since I last got to squeeze on them! We cannot wait! I stop and pray for safe travels, and we head on our way!  The whole ride I cannot shake this feeling that something might just go wrong on this trip! I just keep praying that no matter what happens on our trip, we will make it to our babies safely, and they will make it to us! All of the sudden we see signs for construction, and a curve coming up...NO CONES ANYWHERE, and it is snowing, and dark out. Here we go, bumping around in a construction filled ditch on the side of the road!  I was in the backseat sitting next to the little man.  Thank goodness, I just gripped his carseat, and bumped away!  We land! We are safe!  Unfortunately, I am no help getting us out of the ditch!  I just had major surgery, and am now sore from bouncing around! Greg finds a piece of plastic in the ditch and puts it under one of the wheels.  After 45 minutes we are finally unstuck!  We made it out...Mainly Greg got us out, by some miracle! We serve a Mighty God!  The only damage, a muddy car, and a sore tummy!  That's it! And I was able to laugh. I mean really laugh, we were 30 minutes from the hotel, and get postponed by an accident in a ditch!  Makes you even more thankful that you get to see your babies, and that you all arrive safely!  God protected us that night! For that I am forever grateful.  I have never had an intuition before that something would happen, and have never before felt the urge to pray so much on a trip for safe travels!  Thankfully, we serve a God who answers prayers!

Our big, dirty van!

We are all back together!  We could not have been more blessed during this time!  We have been given so many gifts, and we cannot thank everyone enough! You all have loved us so well during this time!  You have given us your time, resources, money, attention, prayers, gifts, taken care of our fur babies, and our babies! We are blessed! We are thankful for everyone that God has put into our lives.  We have been truly touched by everyone of you!

You see?! God didn't just give us one gift! He gave us thousands! Although, this little man the most beautiful gift!

God had put it on our hearts to find a name with significant meaning!  I wanted a name that meant gift or miracle.  We came up with Micah which means Gift from God, and Who is like God?  I wanted it to mean gift purely because he was born in God's timing and not our own! Who would have thought that he would live up to his name so perfectly in every aspect of his life?! God did! And we will forever remember all of God's goodness, and that there is no one like our God! Our God who performs miracles, and gives us the best gifts!

33 weeks!

Well little one, we have done it!  We made it over 33 weeks!  We have a little more than 2 weeks left on bed rest, unless you decide to come sooner. (but we are praying you stay there for awhile yet!)

Our time in the hospital has been pretty calm this past week! We thank God for that!  Each day that you stay inside is a blessing, and we hope that trend continues.  Although, we cannot wait to meet you, and get the family back together! I still get to see your sweet face everyday, and you cannot imagine the joy that brings me!  Even with our daily ultrasounds, we still don't know if you are a boy or a girl.  We do know you are beautiful, and a precious gift from God, and we cannot wait until the day when we can find out, and get to kiss on that sweet face!  If you don't decide to come sooner, we have a scheduled C-section for Dec. 26th the day after Christmas!  I hope you don't hate us forever for that date, but that is the day you are 36 weeks old, and the Doctors want you out by then!! Wasn't really our choice-we can blame the Doctors for the date picked!  But we are excited to welcome you into our family as a little late Christmas gift! There is no better way to spend the day after Christmas in my opinion.  Christmas day we get to celebrate Jesus, and the Man who brought us a new life, and makes us a new creation.  And the very next day, we get to celebrate our own special gift from God.  Which by the way is what your name means....we didn't know when we picked out your names it would have more than one meaning! But God always has a way of surprising us that way, doesn't He?

The kiddos are still doing really good, and are having a great time with Mimi and Papaw!  Loving every minute of the extra attention they get, with all the aunts and uncles and great grandparents around.  It makes my Momma heart happy to see them all having so much fun, and getting so much love!

Greg has been busy at home.  Slowly getting things ready for us all to be home, and taking care of Decaf and the cats!  Thankfully a good friend volunteered to keep Kona while we are all spread out all over the place.  That has been a huge relief for us, knowing we don't have to have someone there to let her out every couple hours.  We also have another amazing friend that has been going and letting Decaf out when Greg decides to spend the night up here.  Another huge help, because then he doesn't have to drive back and forth so much!

We have been blessed majorly by friends, family, and church family!  Through all the visits, cards, presents, help with our animals, and kiddos.  We couldn't do it without you all supporting, and praying for us!

"I thank my God every time I remember you."-Phillipians 1:3

Week 1 DONE!

Baby and I have officially made it past 1 week in the hospital! YEAH!  Feels good to check that off the list!  We are now 32 weeks, which means we are pretty much in the clear for a lot of the major medical issues that could arise with baby coming early!  Feels good to know that pretty much anything with encounter from here on out, and easily be "fixed."  As in, most babies this early cannot suck, swallow, breathe together making eating hard, but they will put in a feeding tube so baby can eat, and they will swab baby's mouth with breast milk so it still gets all the wonderfully good antibodies my body has made for it! Then as baby masters this wonderful technique the feeding tube can come out!  Baby may need oxygen at this point, but again that is another pretty easy, and non-permanent fix!  It just feels so much more reassuring knowing that most things at this point can be treated and solved with little to no issue for baby or I!

(This sweet face! I am so in LOVE!)

Our hospital stay for the most part has been fairly uneventful-with the exception of Tuesday afternoon!  Tuesday I got out of bed to go to the bathroom, and found I couldn't walk!  That is how this pain thing seems to work-ZERO pain all day, and then suddenly BAM knocks me on my feet (almost literally that day!).  The nurses up here where amazing, they had me down to L&D in less than 5 minutes!  I was down in L&D for 10 hours that afternoon.  I have never been so happy to come back to my cozy room up here!!  They had me hooked up to all the monitors, did an ultrasound, and tried to keep me as comfortable as possible.  They came to the conclusion that my pain is probably just coming from my old scar tissue (along my old incision line), trying to stretch, and grow with the rest of my uterus and body. BUT since it is scar tissue it can't really stretch like the rest of me, meaning it is going to feel painful!  The best thing they likened it to is the following (Just to give you an illustrations as to what is might feel like!)  You fall when your little and scrape your knee-bad enough that you get a nice scab on the top of your knee.  Now that  you have this wonderful scab on your knee walking isn't so easy- it hurts when you bend  your leg, or feels tight when you stretch it out because you have that scab sitting on a place that used to be flexible and just move where ever you did.  Essentially what that means is I have a nice "scab" on my uterus, and as it is stretching it is pulling on it! Make a bit more sense?! I hope!

We have officially spent our first "couple" holidays in the hospital, and they weren't all that bad!   I say couple...We were here for Thanksgiving, which also happened to be my hubby's birthday this year! Poor guy!  He came up here for the day, and we spent it just chilling and hanging out. SOOO very different from every other year, where I am up early and in the kitchen all day-or at work all day to come home and get to work in the kitchen!  Very, very relaxing.  They served Turkey for lunch and it really was pretty good, especially considering it was hospital food! They gave me pumpkin pie (which is Greg's favorite!), he got to have that and call it his birthday dessert! THEN a wonderful friend of mine (who is ready to pop any day herself!) Brought us up a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving feast for dinner! Oh my goodness, it was AMAZING!  It was beyond sweet to have a home cooked meal, and homemade pie for dessert, Apple and Pumpkin.  Needless to say, I think we both were in heaven with this meal!  Greg got to spend the night Thursday and Friday since the weather was bad!  He is home now-that way he could keep an eye on the dog and not get stuck here if the weather got worse!  It was so nice to have 2 days to spend with just my hubby.  We may have been stuck in a hospital, but we got to talk without much interruption-he got to see the baby on the ultrasound, and we got to just hang out! It was amazing! We finished our first puzzle in like 5 years! Which really brought me back to our early marriage when it was just the two of us...we would spend almost every night working on puzzles together in the dining room after dinner! Always had a blast! I enjoyed getting to do that with him again. I will say I think I am totally out of puzzle practice though-puzzles these day consist of match the shape, or object, or alphabet, or letter, etc.  doing a "real" puzzle really stretched my brain power! LOL!

I honestly thought I would be more bored up here than I am!  Which is a huge answer to prayer! Anyone who knows me knows, I CANNOT sit still!  I, however, have been able to be still.  And in fact have come to like some of the quiet!  I have had more adult interaction in the past week, than I probably had in the past 5 years (since I don't have to stop and chase kids in the middle of conversations and such!).  I have gotten 4 knitting projects done, finished 2 books, made all my kids a mommy loves you bracelet (and the girls a necklace-per the princesses request!), finished a puzzle with my hubby, and had a couple naps! I even have gotten to have my quiet time in *gasp* the quiet! All in all a good week!  I miss my kids like crazy, but I'm sure that goes without saying!  I am able to skype them and have done that several times since being here.  They seem to be doing quite well, and are having a good time with all the family they are getting to see! Their Mimi even lets them color with markers *gasp*! (<---Mommy usually saves those for special occasions, making this a very big deal for them!)

Thank you to everyone who has made my stay here great!  I have had many wonderful friends visit, bearing wonderful gifts, and food, and goodies!  I cannot say thank you enough.  It has meant more than you will ever know, and makes me feel so very loved!  Also, to the people who have helped watch our pet babies so Greg could come up here, you are also amazing, and we wouldn't know what to do without you!  I know a lot of you have also donated to our gofundme account that my friend set up for us, and I cannot thank you enough for that as well, since I will be out of work for at least 12 weeks, and we were really only planning on 6, every little bit helps!  All of the love you have shown us, in so many different ways has truly touched our lives! To our family, who stepped up and took in our kids for such a long period of time, so we wouldn't have to worry about who was going to watch them when!  I know they are happy and feeling loved as well, and as their momma this makes me feel at ease, and able to rest!  Thank you for everyone who has prayed for us!  We need that the most! Just keep praying the kiddos will behave, this little one will stay put, and I will continue to stay "busy!" And Greg will continue to maintain the home front!(which is sounds like he is doing quite marvelously!)  We love you all, and I thank God for you all daily!

Our little Surprise!

This is about the best title I can come up with for this blog post! This one has been a surprise from the get go!

A recent pic of our sweet angle's face! (and big belly!) Look at those chubby cheeks! 

Let me give you a little background for those of you who keep asking...Are you ready? There may be some TMI, but people are asking so I'm just gonna answer all the questions I have gotten here, and maybe that will make it a bit easier for everyone!
1. Why on Earth did you have them so close together? Didn't you know that would cause so many complications?  Well there are several answers to this question.  Although I HATE this question and really don't think it is very kind of people to ask, here are the many answers to it! Number 1: we believe in this family that all children are a gift, and are put into our lives for a reason.  NOW with that said, this was the first pregnancy we were trying really hard NOT to have. Not that anyone should need  to know, but because everyone wants to know we were on two different forms of birth control (if you count all the old wives tales-well that brings that number to about 4-5! But those are old wives tales!) Yes, we still got pregnant. And that brings us to baby #5! God's obviously chosen baby just for us.  Our little surprise! Our special miracle! And that is something this baby will always be to us, a miracle and a gift no matter the outcome!
2. Did you know you would be put on bed rest?  Call it mommy intuition, but I kept telling people I didn't for see them letting me go (as hard as I do) for my entire pregnancy.  I had a feeling I would probably be told I couldn't work any more as we got closer to the due date, but I never dreamed I would be stuck in a hospital at 30.5 weeks, and stuck there until delivery date!
3. Why are you there? What happened? This is a good question...I am here for the moment strictly on precautionary measures.  I got here under somewhat false pretenses (meaning I didn't think I would be staying!) Story Time:  Thursday I was having some pain along my old incision line in the morning.  It went away and I thought I was in the clear. HAHA, NOPE came back with a vengeance that night, and it hurt to walk.  I just had this feeling something wasn't right.  Knowing I was high risk, but not wanting to freak out, I called the hospital.  They put me in touch with my Dr. since it was after hours.  My Dr. decided it was best that I come in for an ultrasound, that way they could check out my uterus and the baby and make sure all was good!  Well, as you know we have 4 small children, so I hollered down the stairs to my hubby that I was going to the hospital for an ultrasound and would be back soon.  They just wanted to take a look on the inside and make sure all was well.  YES I drove myself to the hospital, what else do you do when it is bedtime, and someone has to be with the kiddos? Plus at this point in time, I really just thought it would be an ultrasound, everything would check out, and I would be on my way home, and told to take it easy! I get the hospital, they check me in, and start me on fluids, and the baby monitor until the ultrasound tech can get there.  Dr arrives and notices I am having some contractions.  She ordered a shot to stop those in their tracks...Here I sit by myself thinking, well baby is fine so far from what the monitors say, they have given me fluid so there is no way I'm dehydrated, they have now stopped any hint of contractions I was having, so let's get the ultrasound done, so I can go home and go to bed (I had planned to go to bed early tonight, and I really didn't want to miss my early bed time HA!) Ultrasound comes in, says baby looks healthy and fat (estimated size at 30.5 weeks was 4lbs 5oz, which is a good sized baby for as many weeks as I have left!)  Now I'm really feeling good, ultrasound looks good, baby is more than healthy! I can go home now,...NOPE.  Dr comes in and says she is going to consult her friends and fellow Drs in Wichita just to make sure we aren't missing anything.  She then orders me a steroid shot, and Mag. (BOTH nasty drugs!) She returns about 10 minutes later, and says "Well we are sending you to Wichita via Ambulance.  Would you like to call your husband and let him know? We want you with a neonatal specialist there, and we are thinking we need to monitor you for 24 hrs, and we will know more." OK?! Small freak out moment, I thought this was just an ultrasound now like 4 medications in, an ultrasound, and like 7 sticks later, I am headed to Wichita via Ambulance, not really how I had my evening planned.  Time to call Greg..He of course stays calm, he gets to work on finding someone to come stay with the kiddos. (HUGE shout out to Aly for coming and staying overnight with them, so Greg could be with me in the hospital on such short notice!) Fast forward and we are in Wichita.  This means more Mag in the IV, more IV fluids, people come in and check on you every 30 minutes, I have strings and things attached to every place on my body.  Drs come and go, another ultrasound, and finally it is 330AM!, unable to sleep because of the constant interruptions and all the cords going every which way.  The kind nurse offered to bring me some benadryl to help me sleep! I have never been so excited to hear that I got to take a medicine in my life! LOL! They still continue to check on me, but luckily the benadryl has take a hold and I hear them talking, can answer about 1 word answers, and am back asleep! Thank goodness for some good rest.  530 am, Greg's alarm goes off, and he gets ready to head back home to take care of the kids for the day.  Again, we are still just thinking I'm here for 24hr observation and should be home by tomorrow am(Saturday!) at the latest! I tell Greg I will keep him posted, and to love on the kiddos for me, and tell them mommy will be home soon! (HA!) Can you see this just keeps getting better? 630am Drs begin their rounds, I start by meeting the residents.  Then about 730 the Neonatal Dr comes in.... Very nice Dr, but he gets to drop the bombshell, he says I will not be going home! Wait, what?! Did I just hear that correct, I am NOT going home until I have this baby?  You know I'm like almost 31 weeks, but that is a LOOOONG hospital stay, and I don't sit still well! He tells me why, and I have to agree that his reasons are correct, and it really probably is the best thing for baby and I, I just hate to admit it! Well, now it's time to call Greg and update him to the "new" plan! He takes it well, and says as long as you are ok, and baby are ok, we will figure it out.  I love my cool calm and collected man.  Well I can be a spazz, and he is just always so calm and put together.  God knew I needed that in a man, and what a special man he gave to me!! Now we get to work calling family, now that we have the story, and know the long term goals!  LONG story thanks for hanging in there, but now you know ;)
4. What are they watching you for?  They are watching me for any signs of any more pain (No I am not taking pain medication, as they want me to feel even the slightest change in my body!).  They are doing daily ultrasounds to monitor both my uterus, and the baby.  This is so if they see any change what so ever in my uterine thickness or in baby's movements, or detect a leak they can get to work immediately.  They are mostly worried since I started having pain that it is a symptom that my uterus is weakening.  They don't want me and baby an hour away and need emergency surgery.  So I am here, and being monitored and watched through out the day.  I am instructed to call with any change in anything, and if the pain strikes immediately to just pull the call light out from the wall, and that signals emergency, and everyone will come running!
5. What are the plans?  I am currently 31 weeks pregnant, they would obviously like to see baby in there as long as possible. NOW if something is to happen today or tomorrow they would get baby out ASAP! BUT the goal is to make it until at least 34 weeks with no baby (hence the strict bed rest, so I can't upset anything!) The Dr  is thinking that he would like to see baby here no later than around 36 weeks though, because they just don't think my uterus will be able to hold onto baby much longer than that, and they don't want me to go into any kind of labor on my own for fear of uterine rupture!  What this means is that I am stuck here for at least the next 3-4 weeks, and at the most about 6-7 weeks.  That is a lot of sitting for this momma, who is used to staying so busy!
5. How am I doing with all this? Glad you asked....I am doing really well.  The hard part: Being away from my family! I hate not being able to see them all day long, and give them hugs n kisses n snuggles whenever I want.  My kids and my husband are my world, and being far away from them is the HARDEST part of all! Other than that, this hospital gets boring, but when Greg gets back I am going to hopefully talk him into bringing me up something to do!  I know I am in good hands, both here with the hospital team and with GOD.  He has held me since day 1, and I know he will continue to hold me.  He gave me this miracle child, and I expect that he will show us all the way to the end, whatever and whenever that will be!  I have complete faith in him, and from the time I pulled into the hospital for my ultrasound to this very day, the song "Be Still and Know that I am God" has been stuck in my head.  And I can only guess it is there for a reason!
6. How are the kiddos? They are sooo excited.  They came up here yesterday to say good bye to me, and all they could talk about was going to see all their grandparents and great grandparents! They also talked about how excited they were that mommy was going to have a baby, and they can't wait to see it.  They are all rooting for a boy (it is a surprise!) so we shall see.  They are really being troopers, but they have been able to have daddy with them during the day,and now they get to be spoiled and loved on my family and friends, so they see nothing wrong with their end of the bargain!

 

7. How is Greg? He is good, he is such a calm quiet man. He can be hard to read.  But he is a rock that is holding this family together, and keeping us all in order.  He has arranged transportation to get the kiddos to MI to be with family.  He has brought me things that I need, and I'm sure come next week when he can chill a bit he will be thankful, and able to soak more of it in!  For now, he just tells me he is all good, because he knows the kids will be taken care of, he can still work, and baby and I are in good hands here in Wichita! What would we do around here without this wonderful, strong, quiet man, by our sides! I'm sure we would all be lost!

Well there is the really, really long version of our story.  I will keep you posted as we know more!  I have noticed I haven't updated this blog in forever so while I sit, with little to do, I will probably go on blog overload with updates on all my kiddos, and putting things up that I missed! Here is your warning! If you have any questions, I never have any problems answering.  Just know that I work in the medical field and nothing scares me, so your answer may be blunt or contain TMI but I will answer it to the best of my ability!

Baby #4

9 short months(yes I said short!) of pregnancy, 19lbs gained, a ton of energy burned, and 1 scheduled C-section later our baby is here! Noah Thomas, 8 lbs 15 oz and 21 inches long.

Baby Noah Thomas!  You are PERFECT! Perfect in every way imaginable! How could you not be? You are a wonderful gift from God! A true blessing to our family!

 Psalms 139:13 "For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother's womb."

I cannot believe that God would count us so blessed to add you to our ever growing family. Daddy and I are head over heels in love with you.  You have stolen our hearts with your little squeaks and funny faces! Daddy and I have been loving on you every second since you arrived.  This is your week to get truly loved on! For this week only it is just Mommy, Daddy, and you.  We are having amazing quality time getting to know you, and all your little noises(and you do make a lot of noises).

What we have learned about you so far:

• You are much bigger than we expected, we were guessing you were around 7lbs, man did you surprise us!
• You make quite a bit of noise-not bad noise, just little grunts, groans, and squeaks.  ALL of which are adorable beyond belief
• You are content. 
• You love to snuggle up close to mommy and daddy
• You are a good eater!
• You don't cry! You kind of squeak, and grunt when you need something.
• You are a good baby, take that back a GREAT baby!

I know there is much more that could be said about you, and what you have added to our lives in just your short time here! And I'm sure I will write more in the days to come!

We cannot wait for your siblings to be able to meet you in person.  You did get to skype with them(although you slept through it!), and they thought you were sooo tiny, and sweet!  Your big brother is so excited to meet you, and hold you.  He sang songs to you, and played with you every day while you were in my belly.  He couldn't be more excited about having YOU as his little brother!

We should get to go home on Wednesday evening, and then you will get to meet your doggy.  He loves babies, and is sure to shower you in kisses when we walk in the door.  I can't wait to see your reaction to that.  All your siblings love the dog, and loved even those first kisses! You will also get to meet the cats-although to be honest they don't really care about babies too much.  They like them when they can't move-so they will LOVE you. BUT as soon as you are mobile, you can forget about it.  Since that usually means you will try and pull their tails, and chase them around the basement.

We have so much going on in our lives right now, that we are blessed that you arrived safely, and are doing so well.  Mommy and Daddy have really enjoyed the down time we are able to have with you.

We LOVE you sweet boy!

ONE!

My baby turned ONE!(well about 2 weeks ago she did, I'm a bit slow per usual) I cannot believe it.  The joy that we feel for her and the love that we have for her is so overwhelming.  She is the perfect little addition to our family.

 When she "arrived" a year ago!

 Birthday Cupcakes!

 First Taste-not quite sure

I'd say she LOVED them! The whole time she said "yum"

What is she:

She is our little, chunky pumpkin! The shortest in the bunch-also having her weigh the least at one(who would have thought my heaviest baby would be my tiniest one year old!) 29" and 20.8#

She has always been our serious child-NOT any more.  She is developing such a funny little personality.

She loves to giggle, and make other people giggle at/with her! And oh the faces she will make to get you to laugh at her! HA, I wish I had some pictures, but they change so fast you have to be careful not to miss them!

She loves to dance-oh man does she love to dance.  You turn on the music and her whole body rocks out!

She is opinionated! Yep.so.very.much. She may not be able to "Speak" but she will let you know what she wants, and what she wants she wants NOW!

She loves her siblings, and they love her.  There is nothing like some good sibling lovin' in this family!

She is determined!  She is determined to learn how to walk-currently she cruises around the furniture, the walls, ANYTHING that can help her walk, she will find it and she will use it!

She is starting to talk! Words she can say: mama, dada, dede(Decafe), kitty, yum, we are still working on getting the siblings names down but if you ask her to look for one of them specifically-she will point to the correct one!  She can sign: milk, thank you, eat, and more (we are working hard on please, she loves to just yell!)

She is our baby with the most hair! I love it! I'm not always sure what to do with it, since we have always had bald, blonde babies. BUT we love it!

She LOVES her daddy!  She is the 1st baby in this family to LOVE their daddy SOOO much.  He comes home and she squeals and runs to the door, if she isn't the first one kissed on and picked up oh man watch out-daddy gets a good scolding.  She loves mommy too, but she is the first one to truly be all about daddy!

She makes our lives complete.  I think we would be so lost without this wonderful, chunky, bundle of love! The one who makes us giggle, and sit down to snuggle! Our little pumpkin!

Happy Birthday Pumpkin! We love you soooo much!

Baby Shampoo/Soap-Homemade

1/3 c Dr Bronner's Baby Mild Castile Soap
1 tsp coconut oil(melted)
water
a few drops of your favorite essential oil(if you wish)
Old Shampoo Container(I just like to use what I already have in the house)

Take your old shampoo or soap container and fill it half way up with water.  Melt your coconut oil and add it to the container.  Add the essential oil(if you wish), and the soap(you can buy this soap on Amazon!)! Mix it in, and add enough water to fill the rest of the container up.  This is what I used to fill up my 15oz container-so feel free to add/subtract based on the size of your container. Super quick, super easy, and super cheap to make! Right up my alley!

*We have used this for a month now on our babies and I will never go back to any other soap.  It leaves their skin so silky smooth! My husband and I love to rub their backs and bellies when they get out because they are so smooth! (Confession-I have even used it a couple times myself and my skin felt the same way)

7 Months Old

My baby is 7 months old today....where has time gone? I know I say this all the time but I just can't believe that she is over 6 months old now. Getting closer to her being a year old and I just can't even imagine her more than my "little" baby.  On another note-my first baby will be 3 in a week(that makes me feel old!)
Here are some recent pictures of my cute little monkey!

 On Christmas morning opening(eating) her stocking.

 In her big girl outfit.

 She would only smirk for me this day...

At the zoo with the goats!

She is a little over 25" long now(still a bit of a shorty), and is over 18 lbs!  She can say hi and dada. She can sit pretty well by herself, although she is very uncomfortable sitting without someone close by and will scream if you walk away and leave her sitting by herself.  It is kind of cute!  

She loves her big brother and he is always begging to hold and snuggle her.  She squeals and giggles every time she sees him.  When she sees her big sister sometimes she cries and sometimes she gets so excited and the slobbers all over her face(aka giving her kisses).  

Her big sister adores her and is always begging to hold her and snuggle her as well, often leaving the two older ones fighting over who gets to love on her first.  Which for me, is amazingly cute that they love each other so very much!  

We have been blessed with 3 children that love each other so much and help each other out with everything daily.  We have a ton of fun and cannot wait to see where the next couple of months lead us in this little ones life and watching her grow!  We pray she will grow to know the Lord and will have a kind and compassionate heart.  We are truly blessed by you little girl.  We love you!

Pillow Case Dress- 12months

Pillow Case Dress:

I love these because they are super simple and they are quick!  I made one for Athaiah to wear to a bridal shower to go with my maxi dress!  It was a lot of fun and I will definitely be making more.  You do not necessarily have to use a pillow case you can obviously just use some fabric, but I found the pillowcases on sale and loved the cute little pattern!

 

What you will need:

Pillowcase(or fabric if you are going that route)

Ribbon-cut 2 equal pieces twice the length of her neck-or greater for a bigger bow

A dress of current size(for measurement purposes)

 

First step:  Cut out your dress.  To do this I placed a dress that currently fit her on top of the pillowcase.  Fold the pillow case in half width ways, that way you just measure half the dress and you won't have as many seams to sew up! Easier is always better in my book!  Make sure you add 1/2" all the way around for seam allowance.

 Second Step:  Cut it out! Easy enough, right?!

 Third Step: Sew up the sides with the right sides of the fabric together. But do not sew the part where the arms would be or the top part(along the neckline)  When you get to the arm holes, sew up each side(top and bottom) separately, this will make a nice seam ensuring you don't have any rough edges. But will keep the arms open so it is easy to slip on and makes the ribbons the top of the "arm hole."

 Fourth Step:  Cut out a piece of ribbon for the neck line.  I did one piece for the back and one for the front so it can tie together at the sleeves.  You can use any size of ribbon you like. I did super skinny ribbon because Athaiah has super, super petite shoulders and I thought a big ribbon might be overwhelming on her little arms.

Fifth Step: Fold the top piece of the fabric down 1/4"(I recommend ironing so it stays nice and straight). This is so there is no fraying fabric.  Fold the fabric down again the width of your ribbon(mine was another 1/4").  Lay your ribbon inside the flap(This eliminates having to string it thru later, but if you prefer that method by all means go ahead, I just like to cut out as many steps as possible) See picture below!

Sixth Step: Now sew along the bottom, ensure the ribbon is tucked inside, but don't sew the ribbon.  You need the ribbon to be able to move some! Center your ribbon in the sleeve with extra on either side, sew a line down the center(top-bottom) this will hold the ribbon inside the sleeve but still enable you to gather it at the sleeve so it can fit your sweet little one!

Do this again with the back piece!

 No need to hem the bottom if you used the bottom of the pillowcase.  I made sure that I did to eliminate another step of sewing, keep it simple.  That is the point of these dresses to be extremely simple!!

Tie/Bowtie Onesie Revisited

I absolutely loved the tie and bow tie onesies that I made for Elijah.  Problem was that with the red felt and the white onesie it bled a bit when washed.  Not bad or anything...but just enough to notice slight pink color on the onesie.  I also really wanted more, but didn't want to sew them all onto the onesie, although it is by no means hard to do there had to be an easier way!  Well I found it, so here it is! I hope you like it as much as I do because I love it. I found out I'm going to be an aunt for the first time and am thrilled beyond belief.  I wanted to make something special for my new little nephew and these onesies seemed to be the perfect thing!

What you are going to need:
Sewing machine
Snaps
Thread
Fabric of your choosing
Onesies

Take your onesie and near the top of it(neck line), place a snap!  I used the pointed end of the snap on the onesie so that it matched the rest of the front of the snaps on the front of the onesie.  Mainly because I'm just OCD like that(feel free to use whatever end you prefer!) I placed the snap about 1" down from the neckline, and right in the center. (I really shouldn't say I put the snap there because to be honest, my husband is in charge of attaching the snaps!)

Next make all of your bow ties and ties.  This really is easy to do.  I'm going to have to explain it to you as I forgot to take pictures during this part-must be the mommy, post surgery brain I was having while making these! 
To make the tie: I folded a piece of fabric in half, so that you can make it nice looking on both sides.  It was about 4" in length as this was for a 0-3mo onesie so it doesn't need to be too big!  I just took a stencil of the tie, similar to how I did it the first time around,  cutting it out in the shape of a tie-just make sure when you make the stencil that it is about 1" wider than you need it to be so you have 1/2" seam allowance on either side.    Putting the right sides of the fabric together I sewed the whole outside of the tie together, leaving the top unsewn so you can flip the tie right side out.  Iron the tie so it is all straight and neat, then sew the top part of the tie together tucking the top edge like 1/4" under so you have a nice straight edge!  You will then slide the knot part(see below) over the top of the tie and down to the section that goes in bit(where you would normally see a knot on a tie) It is now ready to be attached to the onesie!
To make the knot: Cut out a piece of fabric about 1" wide and 2" long so that you can make the knot part of the tie. This knot part is where I attached the other side of the snap. For this to look nice, I put a seam on both sides about 1/4" wide so that you have nice straight edges that are not going to fray.  Next turn your fabric so the right sides are together and sew it together using 1/4" seam allowance again.  Turn it right side out again and now you should have a circle.  Attach a Snap to the bottom area where the seam now is, as this will go on the bottom side of the tie and attach the tie to the onesie.  You will make one of these for the tie know and for each of the bow ties.  I won't explain this part again, just an fyi-so when I say put the knot on it is this section and the circle that you now have is the knot!

To make the bow tie: Fold your fabric in half so you will have 2 pieces of fabric to sew together.  Cut your fabric so that it is 2.5" wide and 4.5" long.  You are going to use 1/4" seam allowance on all sides.  Put the right sides of the fabric together and sew up 3 of the sides.  Turn the fabric right side out and sew up the last side, tucking 1/4" of the fabric on the inside so you have a nice finished edge. You should have a rectangular shaped piece of fabric.  Now you just slide your knot over the fabric and place it in the middle, it should pull the fabric together so it looks like a bow tie.

Simple! Quick! Easy! Amazing!  Maybe I'm just partial but I love that you can now interchange the ties and bow ties to create whatever look you want and you don't have to use as many onesies.  I made baby Oliver a red, blue, grey, and camo bow tie! Red and blue since those are mommy and daddy's school colors, grey because well it was a dressy fabric, and camo because his daddy likes to hunt.  I also made a camo tie just for kicks and giggles!

1 month

How has it already been a month little one? 1 month ago you were delivered! We couldn't have been more thrilled. Your siblings were so excited to meet you and they love you to pieces! You entered the world at a wonderful 8lbs 7oz, and at 1 month old you are going above and beyond already and are 10lbs 4oz! Way to go girl! An overachiever just like big brother. I see you catching up to big sister mighty quick, she may need to watch out!

 You have such a sweet little face, and a beautiful smile.  You are starting to be more alert and look at everything around you.  You talk all the time, and this makes your brother especially happy, he loves to sit and have conversations with you.(as do Daddy and I)

Your brother also loves to give you baths.  He talks to you the whole time and tells you how much fun tubby time is, and he makes you splash in the water with your hands and feet.  You love your baths, just like your big brother and sister!

 We have girl time at the request of your brother(he is always looking out for his 2 baby sisters), he insists that mommy paint every one's toes so we can all have "pretty toes!"

Athaiah loves to give you kisses while on the run.  Every time she walks by you, you get a kiss!  She yells "baby" in such an excited voice, plants a kiss on you, says "nice," and off she goes!  On occasion she reaches for you and wants to hold you, and when you want to eat she wants to climb up and snuggle us both.

Avery you are such a wonderful addition to our family.  What did we ever do without you? We love you so much and can't believe how big you are getting! Don't grow too fast little angel, there is plenty of time for that!

It's A...Part 3

I promise this is the last post(at least I think it is), it is a long birth story, but it is something that I learned a lot from and I just feel so refreshed and I feel like a new person.  Something I was not expecting to feel like after going through surgery and being on an emotional roller coaster!

It's time for surgery! Yeah.  I'm getting prepped and everything is going into place.  Epidurals they are a wonderful thing-but they hurt like crazy(in my opinion) going in when you are not currently in labor because you feel everything.  If you are having contractions then guess what, you feel the contractions and not the extra pressure on your back, no contractions equals a lot of pressure and pain. I might also add here that I am a total wimp when it comes to pain.  I absolutely hate pain in any way shape or form and can be a baby. Plus today I seem extra emotional since I am learning so much, and have been told we can't follow through with the plans we had made. I think that makes the pain a bit worse and something I didn't really want on top of everything else.  But trust me, so worth it, because then you are awake for the birth of your little one, and when you are done they give you some morphine through it so you are nice and numb for a good while after surgery.

I'm laying on the table-relaxed as can be(honestly really relaxed, the medicine tends to put you in that state of mind).  The anesthesiologist leans down and says "baby time, are you ready?" I told him yep!  He keeps his eyes glued over the drape so he can let me know as soon as it arrives.  I love that they give you a play by play if you want them to.  I always like to know what is going on.  I don't necessarily want to see it as it is happening, but knowing is kind of fun.  Maybe it's the medical person in me.  I then hear the Dr say "that's not a foot, that's a head" I look up to the anesthesiologist, and then I look over at Greg-just to make sure I am hearing things correctly..a HEAD, no that should be a butt or a foot, this baby is breech remember, you should not be pulling out a head first.  Then I hear the other Dr say "ha, and it's face down" WHAT!  My baby is head down and face down-exactly the position that we needed it to be in so we could induce that morning, but that morning this baby was breech.  Again I am a bit taken a back but everything happens so fast, I mean this is surgery and they do hurry to get the baby out.  Greg looks at me and says "what did they just say?" I look back, smile and shake my head "the baby is head down, face down, it is ready to be delivered naturally, it is how we needed/wanted it to be this morning-go figure huh?" God does have a sense of humor doesn't he.  I am reminded of this quite often especially with little ones running around.  I'm glad I had accepted the day the way that it was and was fine with the surgery, and over the disappointment-otherwise at this point in time I may have just broken down and cried. 

It's a girl!! What fun words to hear(honestly it would have been fun either way), I love that this baby was a surprise it made the suspense so much fun and all the waiting so very worth it(although, it is worth it even when you know what it is)!  We are so blessed to welcome this wonderful baby girl into the family.  Greg got to go over and take some pictures while they were weighing her, they even asked if he wanted to cut the cord. He quickly said no and came and sat back down behind the curtain with me(blood and him don't quite mix)!  He said "Ashley she has a lot of hair and it's dark." I say "well all our kids had dark hair when they were born and they were born with hair they just lost it all" "No really," he says "it's really dark."  Here she comes, my baby girl.  I got to give her a small kiss and hold a little hand, the took off her hat and OH my goodness! She has a lot of DARK hair, I mean like black hair.  I have no clue where that came from. What a sweet bundle of goodness she is!  8lbs 7ozs and absolutely perfect, chubby little arms, and jet black hair! There is no denying she is ours, she looks just like her older siblings...she has the same tiny little facial features like her big sister Athaiah, and she has chunky arms and thighs like her brother. A perfect little combo is what we got for baby #3.

Avery Grace you are a wonderful gift from God.  We pray you will grow up to know the Lord and that you will be strong and courageous for him.  We pray you get along well with your older siblings.  Your brother has already taken on the role of the big protector.  If you start to fuss or cry he demands we get you a binker.  If you are squirmy, he says you need a blanket.  If your big sister gets to close, he holds her off and says "careful with baby sister" Your big brother screams if we try and take our turn holding you, because you are HIS baby sister and he just wants to rock you and smooch on you all day long! You are blessed to have a good big brother who loves you.  Your big sister, well she is still pretty little.  She comes and gives you kisses, she looks at you, but mainly she is busy all the time and doesn't have the time to sit and hold you.  She did just learn to walk, so give her a break-we know she loves you, she just wants to explore.  She is interested in you, and not quite sure about you at the same time, after all, you do get a lot of mommy's attention, and she is a mommy's girl.  You fit in so perfect and add so much to this family!  We all love you and couldn't have asked for a better or sweeter baby!