Pictures!

Ok, here are the pictures we have so far:


Troyer holding Jacob, just an hour or so old



Jacob 1 day old

And 2 days old:


Noah and Jacob


Noah, Micah and Jacob


Troyer, Caleb and Jacob


Levi didn't get to hold Jacob, but he wanted to make sure he got his picture taken too!

Notice that there are no pictures of Samuel; he thought the whole baby thing was "boring," but he has since changed his mind and decided that he likes the baby after all :-)

He's Here!

And he has a name!

Announcing... Jacob Matthew!
born on Feb 22 at 3:15 pm, weighing 9 lbs even, measuring 19.5 inches long

Here is the short version of the birth story:

I was absolutely right on Thursday morning; when I went in to my doctor's appointment at 10:30, I reported the contractions and a bit more bloody show, so the doctor checked me. She said I was 4 1/2 - 5 cm dilated, so I could go check in to the hospital! Whew! SIL was home with the boys and Chris and Troyer were with me, so we went right over. I got checked in and put in a room, then waited to meet the doctor who would be delivering. Of course it was a doctor I'd never met, but oh well. He ended up being very nice. He checked me and said he could break my water any time, but I said I wanted my epidural first, so we'd have to wait for that. It took a while for the blood work to get to the lab and the anesthesiologist to get to my room. I guess there were a few other moms in labor at the same time. Finally at about 1:30 the doctor came back and said I was almost a 6, and he'd break my water during the next contraction. I think about 2 or 2:30 they started some pitocin because the contractions were still not closer than 10 min apart, and at 3 the nurse came in and checked me. I was over 9 with just a lip left. She told me to try a push to see what would happen. The epidural was way too strong and I couldn't feel anything, and I had no urge to push, so I tried but couldn't tell what it was doing. She bugged her eyes out and said Stop! LOL She called the doctor back in and they had to tell me when I was getting a contraction so I could push. It only took 3 pushes and out he came. He was born at 3:15. He cried a lot, but as soon as they let me hold him he quieted down again.

I was supposed to have about 2 hours to recover and then get transferred to my regular room, but since the epidural was so strong, it took much longer for me to be able to get on my feet again. I hated that; I wish it wouldn't have been so strong. I think it caused some trouble for me as well, because since I couldn't feel when I pushed, I think I pulled quite a few muscles in my abdomen. They are still really sore. Finally I got in my room about 6:30. They brought the baby to me pretty quickly, which was nice.

We didn't get the name picked until Saturday morning, right before we got checked out. We went in circles back and forth, and finally settled on Jacob Matthew. A nice normal name, no hillbillies, LOL. When we got home the boys were very excited, and all took turns holding him. SIL Shawna stayed a while so she could see him and hold him, then headed back home. I'm so grateful to her for coming over and helping out with the boys so Chris could be with me. The boys had a lot of fun with her too. :-)

I'm really tired, since Jacob seems to like sleeping during the day, and coming more alert at night, plus he was colicky already last night, poor baby. But Wow, he is awesome. I'm so glad he's here!

I have a bunch of pictures on my camera, but no time so far to get them uploaded to post. Hopefully soon!

Happy Due Date to Me

Today is my due date. I am still not having regular timable contractions. I never thought I was going to make it the full 40 weeks. If I go in to my appointment today and the doctor says nothing is happening, I will cry. It is not fair to be so uncomfortable and bothered by contractions that do nothing. If, oh happy day, the doctor does find that I have been dilating and lets me go check in, I will not have time to post again after my appointment. Obviously, if I come home then I will post and let you all know. Otherwise, I won't be posting again until Saturday!

Rats!

I guess I jinxed myself by posting; the contrax have slowed way down and hurt much less. I won't be calling anyone yet. Oh well.

As Close As I've Gotten Yet

Tonight I had over 4 hours of very close, very painful contractions. I may yet call the dr and go in. They are not being consistent, but they are anywhere from 12 to 3 min apart, and they HURT. The baby was super active tonight, more than he's been in a few weeks, and I wonder if his activity is causing the contractions. Though he is mostly quiet now, and I am still getting them.

Honestly, part of me is putting off calling in because it is the middle of the night. I just hate to call the babysitter to come over and then end up coming home in the morning. Another part of me figures it's best to put off going to the boring hospital as long as possible, LOL. I think, though, that if I do end up going in and staying, I won't be able to post again; so this would be my announcement. If I do go in, and then come home, I'll post again that I'm home. And if I end up not going in at all, of course I'll post that too in the morning.

Wish me luck!

More Waiting

Tuesday morning, and still nothing. I sure wish I had more news. Looks like I'll make it to that appointment on Thursday.

Meanwhile, we got the bad news on the car. We had the wiper motor fixed on Friday, but there was a long list of other repairs it needs to pass inspection. Today I called and got the estimate on it: almost $800. UGH! The darn car isn't even worth that! However, we don't have anything else lined up to drive; we were hoping to be able to wait until summer to shop for a new (used) car. And even at that cost, it's still less per year than paying a new car payment. So we are going to have the work done, but now the question is, when? The mechanic says that he can have it done by Thursday afternoon, so that should work out for us. I'll have to take the van to my appointment Thursday morning, but even if the doctor has me check in at the hospital, I still have to drive home to get Chris, so we'll be able to pick up the car at the garage before we go in. What a hassle. Why did this have to happen now??? And heck, at this rate, I won't be having the baby until next week anyway.... *sob*

Up All Night Again

Well, I've had contrax all day, but mostly the ignorable kind. Tonight I had a few that really hurt, but of course, as soon as I tried to time them, they calmed down. So for now, nothing more, but maybe soon? I was looking at the calendar and realized that if I were to go overdue a week, I would actually be having a March baby! Aaaagh! I never never never thought I'd be even considering the possibility! The roads here are slowly getting better, so any time now would be great. Really. Please. Please! LOL

A BAD Day

I called the dr's office and asked if I could just cancel the appointment, rather than contribute to the traffic in that mess of ice and snow. They reassurred me that the main roads were clear and I should have no problem. They implied that they were looking out the window at the street in front of the office.

Well, they lied. The roads were AWFUL. I swear the drive in could have put me in labor. Even the main roads weren't cleared, and it seemed like *everyone* was out. I sure didn't need to be out adding to the mess. THEN to top it off, the doctor didn't even check me. They did the usual weight, bp, hb, and said "see you next week" - UGH! So it was a total waste of a trip! Why the heck did I have to go in??? I was also the last appointment of the day, so of course I sat for 30 min (in spite of the fact that half of their appts DID cancel, they still were behind?) and stewed about how I had to drive back home in the mess. I mostly wanted to be sure to get home before dark, when all the slush would start to freeze over again. It never got above 20 yesterday, so nothing melted away.

THEN (LOL yes, it's not over yet!) on the way home I tried to use the windshield wipers to wash off the slush splatter from my window, since the sun was setting and glaring off the window and I could barely see, and the wipers went up and then quit! The wiper motor died before it even did one swipe, so now I had road splatter AND wipers in my way! I was never so glad as when the sun finally sank below the level of the tops of the buildings, so the glare cut out. Of course, when I got home, dh tried to blame me for breaking them. He actually asked me why I thought I needed to use them, as if turning them on was a dumb thing to do. Uh, hello? I thought the car had wipers because you were supposed to USE them??? UGH

So now instead of wishing this baby out, we have to keep him in, at least long enough to get the car to the garage and get the darn wipers fixed, since there's no way we'll be able to drive it as the snow melts and splatters the windshield. Our street still has about 2 inches of ice on it, so taking the 12 pass van out is out of the question.

My next appointment isn't until next Thursday, which is my due date Waaahhhhh.

Snow!

The boys finally got their wish and we got a decent snowfall. Unfortunately, it ended in a lovely crust of ice on top, which was horrible to shovel. Chris sent the oldest 2 boys out to shovel, but they spent more time falling down in it than shoveling it LOL.



He went back out to clear the driveway so he could go in to work, but the plows came by, and it took him 3 tries to get the driveway open. He was very frustrated and exhausted by the time the plows went home and his work wasn't undone one more time, so he ended up staying home from work for the day.

The temperature has now fallen below 20, so the roads are still awful, even one day after the snow has ended and the plows have been through. I have a dilema now, I have an appointment this afternoon, but I'm considering cancelling it; I haven't had any more signs of labor, and I have enough trouble driving the stick shift while pg when the roads are good. I am dreading the drive over to the doctor's office. But if I cancel, I may not be able to get another appointment until late next week. What to do, what to do...

Just Popping In Quickly to Say Nothing

Nothing more is happening, that is. On Monday the dr checked me again and said I hadn't made any further progress. I was very disappointed, and he was sympathetic, which was nice. I haven another appt on Thursday, but I've been feeling pretty good the last few days, so I'd be surprised if anything more happened.

Still Waiting.....

Thursday night and Friday all day long, I was having contractions about 10 minutes apart. They were the annoying, probably-Braxton-Hicks kind. I wasn't sure if they were worthy of paying attention to or not. In the past I have been known to start dilating without noticable contractions, so I just didn't know. Well, on Friday I ended up calling the doctor's office to see what they wanted me to do. They had me come in to the office and checked me to see if anything was happening. Nope, nothing. All those annoying contractions for nothing. Sigh. But at least it freed me to ignore them rather than wonder if anything was happening and I should be paying better attention. So I've been having irregular contractions all weekend, though fewer than Thursday and Friday, but ignoring them. I have an appointment Monday afternoon; we'll see if I'm getting any closer or not.

Closer Than I Thought

Tonight, for the first time in 7 babies, I actually had a bloody show! I was taking a shower this evening, and there it was. I guess I'm closer than I thought to actually having this baby! I don't know how close, as I've read that it could be anything from 24 hours to several days (a week?) before real labor starts; but it's definitely going to be sooner rather than later! I also got woken up by a real contraction at 2:30 this morning. I've never really had any of those before, either, without being in the hospital hooked up to pitocin. I haven't had any more since then, so I'm not calling the doctor yet or anything, but things are definitely moving along!

Oh, I should mention, the funny part is that I was grabbing the shower before Lost started, so I told Chris when I got out of the shower, but said we wouldn't be going anywhere for at least an hour, LOL. If the baby decided to come really fast, I'd be having it on the floor in front of the t.v. LOLOLOL

A Little Update

I had an appointment this morning, so I thought I'd let you all know how I'm doing. My blood pressure is fine, the baby's heartbeat was 150, so fine, and I only gained 1 lb (phew, after last weeks' 2.5 lbs I was worried!) and the doctor checked me, and I am now a "good 2 - 2.5 cm" dilated, so things are getting started! I've had lots of crampy contractions as well as the usual Braxton-Hicks ones, the baby is moving well but running out of room, so it's starting to get uncomfortable! I think I will probably be having him next week sometime. Thanks for the suggestions on names, Chris is being ultra stubborn, so maybe I should hope the baby comes next Wednesday so I get to name him without argument LOL.

37 Weeks

37 weeks? 37 weeks???! Wow, I am almost there! Less than 3 weeks to go. Some days it feels like any day now. I can say I have finally gotten most things ready. I got the carseat out and into the van; I washed the baby clothes; I found a baby outfit so he won't be coming home naked; I remembered to actually buy newborn diapers, so he won't have a naked butt at home (what? wouldn't Levi's size 5s fit him? LOL) All I have left to do is pack my bag so *I* have something to wear home. Oh yeah, and pick a name. UGH! Chris is just so intent on having a hillbilly in the family. His name list is now up to 4: Jethro, Zeke, Jeb, and Gunther (not a hillbilly but a German wrestler!). I seriously am thinking of just writing Timothy on the birth certificate at the hospital when he's not around.

Ok, so I am ready, and I think my body is getting there too. My hips are killing me, the braxton-hicks contractions are getting closer and closer to the real thing, and my feet are starting to swell. I have now entered that time frame (you know, the one where the last month seems like it actually lasts 3?) where every twinge makes me wonder, "Is this it? Should I start timing them? What if I'm dilating and don't know it? (with #5, I really did dilate all the way to 6 without feeling any real labor pains.) On the other hand, Chris has scheduled to go out of town for the day for work next week. Yes, on the day I'll be 39 weeks pg, he's going to leave town without a cell phone and drive 2.5 hours away. I warned him that #1, if he misses the birth, oh well for him; #2 I may have already had the baby by then and what will he do? ( I suspect he will still try to go up for this meeting, even while on vacation!) and #3, if he is not here to watch the kids and I can't get to the hospital, I may be having the baby in the bathtub . I am telling you, he is in such denial about this whole baby thing. He is not taking the naming thing seriously because he feels like "there is still time;" and he isn't concerned about leaving town so close to my due date. I, in my hormonal pregnant state, am considering him an idiot. But hey, that's just me.

So, if you have any name suggestions that I somehow haven't thought of, I'd appreciate it. Keep in mind that Chris and I were in school in the 70s and 80s, so he's against any of the names that there were gobs of back then: Bob, Tom, Tim, Pete, Dave, Matt, Mark, Dan, Rob, Will, Jeff, Jim, etc. Oh, and Chris, LOL. We like Biblical names, but they are trendy right now, so Isaac, Isaiah, Elijah, Joshua, etc are out, as friends of ours already have used them. Jacob has been in the top 10 list for over 10 years now, no need to go there. Man, this would be easier if we were having a girl!