The Story of Elijah’s Arrival

(Amy, here are your much anticipated details!  It is long and full of detail, so you should be happy.)

I wish I had written this down sooner to get all my thoughts and memories down before they turned into old news and jumbled sleep-deprived memories, but here is my best recollection.

A little after midnight Saturday morning, I woke up feeling a little funny, so as usual I got up to use the restroom.  I realized I felt different than normal, almost as if this baby was sitting low and was going to make his appearance now, though nothing hurt.  By the time I got back into bed to wait and see what would happen, I suddenly felt extremely nauseous.  I woke Jacob up and told him what I felt, then went to hang out in the bathroom awhile.  While there I developed severe shakes and generally felt terrible.  After all this passed and we were back in bed I had a few more less intense episodes all prior to painless contractions.  Finally this all faded and I fell back to sleep.

I woke up Saturday morning unable to believe I was still pregnant and feeling nothing.  I went to Mom’s to get some eggs to cook breakfast and as I got in the car I felt a pop, but no wet rush, so I went on (still don’t know what that was).  On the way there I remember thinking that if I didn’t have the baby that day, then I might not make it mentally (physically I was fine and in no rush) much longer because I was tired of all the weirdness my body was doing and trying to figure it out and how it affected each day's activities (more on that in another post).  When I got back home, by the time I walked up to our porch I thought the pain in my abdomen was strange and by the time I reached the steps to our house I had to stumble up them and through the door to lean on the first available thing I could hold onto. That was about 8:20 a.m. Jacob met me at the door and I told him I thought this was it.  His response?  With my ok, he went ahead and made, and ate, the pancakes while I went to our room to have and time contractions while I got dressed.  Each one was strong enough to make me lay down or go to my knees and they were roughly 3 minutes apart.

When I was dressed, I went back to find Jacob and handed him my phone, which had been tracking the contractions, as another one hit.  I think he then realized I was serious because he started to pack the car and called Mom to say Josiah was on the way.  Once the car was packed, Jacob came back in to get me and at that point we switched roles as I went into denial and he insisted it was time.  I wasn’t in denial because I didn’t want it to happen, just that I wanted to be sure first and I had been fine a half hour earlier.  God showed me it was the real deal then, though, because I had the worst one yet!  At that point I agreed I should at least be checked out.

At 9 a.m. we had Josiah dropped off and were on our way.  I told Jacob not to speed because I was fine, but when we went to pull out on 121, there was a series of 4 cars we had to wait on and I mentioned I hoped they were going fast!  They weren’t and after passing them all at once, I looked at the speedometer and could see the “70”, but no needle.  When I asked how fast he was going, he said 70 and when I called him out on it he just grinned.  Then we got into town and were slowed down by traffic created by the March of Dimes, of all things!  I thought Jacob would lose it.  I didn’t tell him that I was starting to feel the urge to push!

Once at the hospital, there was no time to park, so we just left the car in the drop off area and made our way in.  They started the check in process and asked me ridiculous questions and decided to put me in Triage.  Triage?  Are you kidding me?  Thankfully the nurse in charge said, “she looks pretty uncomfortable, lets just get her into delivery.”  Oh thank goodness!  I didn’t quite make it there without visiting the floor again.

When I was finally changed and in the bed, the nurse checked to find I was ready to push, but since I was ok, they went ahead and started to place the IV catheter.  Unfortunately soon after I wasn’t so ok and couldn’t hold still for the poor girl.  I remember the doctor saying I couldn’t push until she was done.  Hmmm…watch me!  She also asked if I had wanted an epidural and I wondered if she was teasing me or if that really was still an option.  I said something to the effect that I hadn’t planned on it and had come this far, so no.  Soon after I got that reprieve you read about between the hard labor of the transitional phase and time to push.  The contractions were there, but not with the same intensity and I could ignore the desire to push.  I commented on how much better it was this time around and we agreed it was because I had pitocin last time.  (Ugh!  Bad memories!)  We were kind of laughing and joking and I was complaining of having no intensity to work with.  I remember the nurse saying to the doctor “when is the last time you saw someone on the verge of delivery smiling?”  Now I’m feeling like this just isn't real.  Soon after the doctor broke my water and immediately there was the intensity I needed and we were down to business again!

The rest is kind of a painful blur that I’ll keep to myself since it is hard to explain or remember something where you were in your own world.  There was one contraction in particular that stands out that was particularly painful.  I had been listening to my MP3 player this entire time but at this point I was oblivious to it.  During this contraction when I had my eyes closed to the world while pushing, the song called “Untitled Hymn” by Chris Rice (a beautiful song) was playing and the words “fly to Jesus” that repeat during the chorus came through and at first I couldn’t help but briefly plead with God in my mind not to let me die!  Then reality came back and I had to laugh.  I do also remember crowning clearly.  It involved me practically climbing up the back of the inclined bed on my back – not sure how I managed that.  And I remember them telling me I had to come back down and give one more push.  It was at this point that I swore to myself I’d go for the epidural if there was ever another (I did this with Josiah as well).  I laugh now because everyone I talk to who have had epidural-free deliveries have moments where there fight or flight response kicks in and they respond differently than expected.  Some scream like crazy, others say crazy things or cry but then they get it back under control.  With Josiah I started to hyperventilate.  With Elijah I tried to escape!  But I soon came back to my senses and realized the only way out was to push, so I did!  Meanwhile they pulled me back down by my legs :)  I heard crying and wondered why I was still in pain if he was out.  Then one more push and it was over.  Turns out he came out screaming as soon as his mouth was free to do so!

Then I felt them put this warm wet thing on me but it didn’t really hit me what it was because I was busy resting with my head back being relieved it was over.  I remember someone saying “Abby, look – he’s here”.  I looked and thought, “Wow, he’s pink but I’m tired” (head went back again).  Then “Abby, look at him, he’s perfect.  Hold him.”  I half responded and told Jacob he’d have to hold my head to see.  Then I saw this beautiful healthy boy that was already a very healthy color and had BLONDE hair!  How did that happen?  Jacob cut the cord and all that followed was sweetness.

He was born at 10:22, just 2 hours after my very first contraction and about 45 minutes after arrival at the hospital.  Jacob finally parked the car about an hour later.  I signed the permission forms for delivery later that night :)

I am still in disbelief at how much better my experience has been this time.  Not just the delivery itself, which was much less painful and traumatic, but also the recovery.  I have to remind myself that I just had a baby and should rest and occasionally I get a physical reminder, but things have been great and I’m grateful for that.

We were discharged the next day when Elijah was just 26 hours old.  I couldn’t believe they allowed that, but there was no reason to stay and I knew I’d rest better at home, so off we went!  On discharge, the doctor told me that I was one of those people who could have a home delivery if I wanted to.  Yea, I’ll keep that in mind.

Such A Sweet Boy!

Josiah, that is.  I know Elijah is our new guy and he is quite the sweetheart, too, but this post is about how good Josiah has been and how proud he makes us.

We have been concerned with how Josiah would do without us for a few days when Elijah came because of some recent separation anxiety and then of course there is always the question of accepting a new sibling, but he has done great.  My labor went very quickly on Saturday morning, so we dropped him off at my Mom’s already fed, but still in his PJ’s with bedhead.  We hadn’t even told mom he had been fed, so when he asked for eggs, she didn’t hesitate to feed him an entire second breakfast, which he ate readily – Pig!

Only a short time later Elijah had arrived at Mom brought him to see us.  When he got there I was just finishing up feeding Elijah for the first time and so was holding him close.  I hadn’t planned to be near him when Josiah met him for the first time, but there didn’t seem to be any jealousy.  Instead he was just overwhelmed by the room in general and was scared to sit on the bed with me, that is until I shared my chocolate covered granola bar with him – Pig!

Over time Josiah warmed up and was loving being at the hospital and took some interest in Elijah.  The rest of the day was spent playing with family.  He even took a nice nap and went to bed easily at Grandma’s.

Looking out the window at the ducks in the pond with Uncle Jesse and Savannah.

They sent us home from the hospital the next day when Elijah was only 26 hours old.  We were home in time for a late lunch which my visiting Grandparents and Dad brought us.  I was so touched to see Josiah play so well with them since his life and routine has been turned upside down and he doesn’t get to see them as much as we’d like.  I enjoyed watching him play with my Grandfather who was always fun when I was growing up.  Unfortunately with his ALS, he no longer has function of his arms and Josiah kept trying to hand him things and put things in his lap.  Deda did his best to use his feet to play.  It was sweet to me.  When they were leaving, Deda bent over and asked Josiah for a kiss.  He is usually a bit stingy with his kisses and rarely offers them on his own, but he readily kissed Deda, then walked over to Gram and said “kiss” as he kissed her, then repeated it with my Dad.  I was blown away.

The excitement of a new brother wears on a boy!  This was on the way home from the hospital – the only nap he got that day.

Right after Jacob put Elijah in Josiah’s lap, Elijah let out one of those super noisy meconium poops.  Josiah got wide eyed and started pushing him off as quick as he could!

Since then Josiah has been anxious to hold and help with Elijah.  At first he called him by name, then “Bubba” (he did that himself even though it sounds influenced), but now it is mostly just “baby”.  His big job is to make sure every diaper in the house gets put into the diaper pail.  He loves it, but the sanitary side makes me nervous!  So far he is willing to share his toys and snacks and has even helped with his sponge bath by brushing his hair for us – the wrong direction, of course.  We’ll see how things progress, but as of now we have completely loved seeing the interaction.

“Helping” to give Elijah his pacifier.  Excuse Josiah’s bedhead.

Two cute things: I’ve heard Josiah mumble songs that seem made up and “sing” a little tune before, but the other day we heard him sing “Jesus Loves Me” clear as day.  It was precious.  Also, when Elijah sneezed he said “God bless you”.  He says new stuff all the time to the point that we take note, but don’t really “ooooh” and “awwww” over it, but these just struck me as sweet.  Maybe I’m emotional!

Once again, this post is much longer than intended.  Sorry.

Family Of Four

Elijah Corban has joined us!  He arrived at 10:22 this morning is 7lb 12oz, 20.5 inches and is healthy.

 

We are so excited to meet him and feel so blessed to call him our son.

Details of delivery will follow for those of you itching to know (ahem, Amy).

40 Weeks

I feel like I have a little person inside me wanting to come out…wait, I do and he wore me out trying last night.  He wasn’t successful in finding his way out, but he was successful keeping me from sleep, nearly sending us to the hospital, and making me sore this morning.

We went to bed (or at least started to) around 9:30, but it was about that time that I started having some uncomfortable contractions.  Jacob fell asleep easily enough, lucky for him, but I laid awake as the pain grew worse and more frequent.  Once I couldn’t lay still and take it, I got out of bed to move around and try to cope.  Once that was no longer working I went and woke Jacob up and he helped me relax and time the contractions.  We counted a long string of of them consistently only 3:30 apart (the doctor suggested 5 minutes since I’m so far progressed already) and decided to start making plans to head to the hospital. By the time we called Mom to come watch Josiah and we got her settled and us on our way in the car, things fizzled out.  We came on home and sure enough once I was in back in bed I had three more strong ones, a few lighter ones, then slipped into blissful sleep for a couple hours only to wake up to more this morning, which of course turned to nothing.  There is nothing like a good teaser.  I was SO ready to push him out!

This morning we went to our regularly scheduled OB appointment where everything checked out fine and despite my being a pig this week I still hadn’t gained weight.  Must be all the extra energy spent at night.  It turns out I’m a little farther progressed.  My OB couldn’t believe I hadn’t had him yet.  She is conservative when it comes to calling out numbers, so she still puts me at a 6, but says many would call me a 7.  I’m also more effaced at 90%.  She really was hesitant to let me head home and kind of wanted to induce or at least monitor for awhile.  I wanted to avoid induction and figure monitoring will only waste time as I’m either in mild labor or not and time will tell.  She says by Wednesday we really need an induction plan, even if it is just to break my water.  That still will only put me at 40.5 weeks, so we’ll see.  I decided to head on home to see what happens since I’m tired and Josiah and I both needed lunch and a nap.  Poor Jacob went on to work and is trying to deal with my crazy body with patience.  On our way out I was the talk of the hallway.  I must be breaking a record or something.  I guess if you can’t be known for something good, then it is better to be known for something strange rather than something bad!

Of course wouldn’t you know that my little boy who loves naps has fought it for an hour for some reason – hence me writing this now!  The one day I’m going to sleep when he sleeps and I can’t.  I think he’s out now, so I’m off to bed.  Maybe labor will hold off long enough to rest.

Still An Only Child

Now that everything is ready for Elijah and we are kind of just waiting around for him to make his grand entrance (I hope it is grand!), we’ve just been getting a few extra things done and enjoying some free time.  I only worked 3 days last week and only 1 so far this week (also scheduled for my due date Friday), so I’ve had more time to spare.  I’ve woken up the past two days thinking I had nothing to do all day but play with Josiah and wait on labor pains.  It’s been pretty great!  Of course, as soon as I walk around the house I see a million things that should be done, so I manage to fill up the day, but I’ve been able to spend more time just hanging out or playing with Josiah.  Here are a few of those moments:

With the return of his GI issues, Josiah has been straining to poop again and it is miserable for us all.  The other night all three of us were playing on the floor and I was laying on my side.  Josiah came up to me and pushed me over onto my back then crawled on me and laid on my torso with his head on my pregnant belly towards my legs and his rear near my face.  If you think about it, this position made the most sense since it elevated his head compared to his tush, but then he proceeded to pass gas multiple times right in my face.  My first reaction was to shove him off me, but then I thought, well if he feels nice and relaxed enough there to help him go, then I can handle it.  Poor guy and poor me!  The things a mom does for her sweetie in distress!

Some pictures of our playtime – not the greatest pictures, but they were great times.  We also spent some time swinging, riding in the wagon, doing yard work and walking (and stopping him from eating acorns!).

He prefers when Jacob or I hit the ball and he chases it and brings it back.  Doesn’t he look like such a big boy?

He loves pushing his little car around!  He collects rocks in the trunk

It is not uncommon for Josiah to reach for his crib and say “bed” at night when he is tired and just wants to sleep, but usually during the day he is content to just cuddle or read books until we decide to put him down for a nap.  Yesterday when I was putting him down for his nap and we finished reading, I laid him back in my arms to cuddle for a bit and relish the moment, but he sat straight up and demanded “Nap!”.  I’ll admit my disappointment since at any moment I may have to leave him for 3 days and then I’ll have another to take care of, too, but how could I deny that or not be proud?  I put him right to bed and told him I loved him.  

In addition, today I’ve had the chance to start on some of my small organization projects I’d hoped to do while on maternity leave.  I’m proud to say I have 2 small cabinets cleaned out and my car is vacuumed!

One of the cabinets I cleaned out is my gift wrap cabinet, which is hard to do with a 2 year old!  Josiah got into the Christmas stickers.

 

Here Josiah is saying “cheese” over and over for the camera, but he never actually looks at it.  I’m not entirely sure where all the stickers ended up, so I’m sure I’ll be finding them one by one over time.  Sorry the pictures are all blurry.  Jacob was doing it!  (He needs practice.)

How Is It Possible?

How is it possible for someone to have contractions for over 24 hours that start sporadically and then become very regular and closer together and seem very promising only for them to stop without warning and leave you nowhere?  I can handle that because I know labor (or lack thereof) can be like that, but it is the lack of sleep that they cause that is getting to me.  Besides, I was getting excited.  Oh well, I’m still convinced that when it is real it will happen quickly…we’ll see.

And that is my whining for the day :)

39 Week Appointment

(The one we weren’t supposed to make it to)

No real news today.  Everything is about the same.  We left Josiah at Mom’s with all his things went to this appointment with all of ours – just in case and since they’d been packed all week anyway.  Our OB had told us last week of someone she’d once sent straight to L&D for being in the same position I am, so we figured we may as well be prepared.  Today she asked if we wanted her to do anything to induce, but we said not as long is there is no risk to Elijah to wait for nature to take its course.  There is no rush since we aren’t even at 40 weeks yet and I feel good.  Jacob is a bit more anxious than me, but he’ll survive the anticipation.  He’s always been the master planner and king of the clock.

So, after some assurances that while this isn’t normal, it is safe, we headed for a nice child-free lunch at Red Lobster where I completely cleaned my plate to help gain back the pound I learned I lost this week!  (Also normal, no worries)

They Say Patience Is A Virtue

I started writing this blog awhile back figuring it would be nice for Elijah to know how he was anticipated in the days prior to his birth, but now it is a bit drawn out and ridiculous as time continues to pass.

 

Understanding that the doctor’s prediction that Elijah would be here before the weekend was over was just an educated guess, we tried not to count on it, but prepared accordingly.  Despite those efforts we find ourselves still waiting and wondering WHEN??? can we stop preparing like each day is the day?

Friday night:

Contain our excitement and try to be practical - check

Pack hospital bags and go to bed early - check

Saturday:

Call the relief vet in to cover for me because she needs to know by 6 a.m. and I wake up not feeling so good at 5:45 a.m.  Better be on the safe side (it passed in 2 hours) – check

Wash bassinet sheets and make other “must do” preparations for baby’s arrival – check

Go shopping with mom hoping that a little walking around will make things happen (doesn’t work) – check

Sunday:

Try to go about business as usual, but wind up at the hospital for a little monitoring, then off to church – check

Take an afternoon nap thinking surely tonight’s the night (it wasn’t) and I should rest – check

Lose most of the night’s sleep just because I’m waiting and can’t settle in – check

Monday:

Prepare for work as though I won’t be home for 3 days - check

Go to work (against a few people’s wishes) thinking a little normalcy would be nice and surely I won’t make it through the day anyway (I did) – check

Take my normal ~1 mile walk at lunch thinking it may help and besides the weather is perfect – check

(Side note: this really freaked a few people out, but why not?  Jacob was worried I’d make it down the road and not be able to make it back, but I just told him I’d ask one of the guys at the Harley shop down the road to take me back.  He teased that then I’d want to name the baby “Harley” instead of Elijah and we could call him “Boss Hawg”.)

Get home from work and realize I hadn’t made any dinner preparations because I never dreamed we'd need it.  Scramble to cook something – check

Get a good night’s sleep in preparation for who knows what – check (thankfully God allowed that night)

Tuesday:

Once again prepare for work as though I won’t come home for 3 days – check (this is getting old, but I live too far away not to)

Once again go to work wondering if I will make it through the day – check

Miss my labor-inciting daily walk to go to a lunch meeting with my bosses, other associate, and a drug rep just hoping and praying that this is not the time so I don’t embarrass myself – check

Pick up pizza for dinner (feeling just great about this dinner choice) – check

Wednesday:

Sleep in on my day off – um no, Josiah NEVER sleeps in on my day off

Get an early start – check

Grocery shop to spend the day preparing 8 meals to freeze – check

Prepare said meals - check

Do 5 loads of laundry – check

Call the pediatrician because Josiah is yet again having GI issues.  Start a new trial treatment and doctor the resulting bleeding diaper rash – check

Intend to take a nap while Josiah does but never slow down long enough for that to happen (at least his was long) – check

(This day didn’t quite turn out as hoped.  I wanted to be productive yet enjoy my day with my little guy in what may be his last day as an only child.  Instead we were both miserable as we dealt with his discomfort all day.  At least God allowed me this day to be there for him.)

 

I’m thinking this post is getting ridiculous and I need to post it because we all get the point by now!

I blame Jacob and my Mom for all this.  When we found out on Friday, they both hoped Elijah would wait until Tuesday for work purposes.  Now, I know the reasoning was practical and I am known to be overly practical myself, but COME ON!  I thought Saturday sounded practical since everyone could be back on normal routine by Tuesday, but no one including Elijah, listened to me.

The benefit to this waiting period is that last week I was not mentally prepared for this.  I’ve spent the last 2 years kind of dreading ever giving birth again.  Over the last few months I’ve slowly worked myself up to it, but haven’t gotten to the excited stage I was with Josiah.  Now with all the buildup of the last few days, I’m ready to go!  Bring it on!  It seems God has taken care of my every need, once again, even for mental preparedness.  (Now lets see how I feel after the fact!) 

It’s not that I’m itching to get Elijah out of me.  I kinda like being pregnant and I’ll miss the little guy moving around in there, besides, I’m not even 40 weeks yet.  But this anticipation and trying to stay prepared is exhausting!  I gave a little chuckle when Jacob came out of our bedroom this morning carrying our pillows  once again and he gave me a fake dirty look and said “why don’t you just pop a squat and have him already?”  It was good for a laugh, anyway.

A Game Of Telephone

Remember that sleepover game you play as little kids where one person whispers a message to a second person and you see what the message gets misconstrued to by the time you get to the end of the line?  We played that game at church today, I think, except I’m not sure where the message started exactly.

Since my OB appointment on Friday, we have taken this whole having a baby thing seriously and we are now fully prepared, I’m proud to say.  With that in mind and my exam and doctors warnings fresh in our heads, we’ve been doing our best to wait for it without sitting around waiting for it.  The past two nights I’ve had a bit of weirdness going on.  The first time I brushed it off and ignored it since I was free of labor symptoms, but I felt too guilty doing it twice so I put a call into the doctor to be sure.

Not knowing when we’d get a return call or what the orders would be, we went ahead and got ready for church and headed that way.  On the way there it was decided that we should come in for a test and monitoring.  We dropped Josiah off at the nursery and left a message there saying that we were not in labor and would probably be back soon, but that Mom was to take Josiah if we were a no show to get him.  (Yes, we abused the system by using them as babysitters, but technically his guardian at the time was in church!  Or at least that is how I justified it in my head.)

Everything checked out fine at the hospital and they offered to have us stay since I am now 6 cm (7 according to the nurse), but were ok with us leaving since I wasn’t having contractions and that was our desire.  So with our warning to rush in as soon as anything happens, we headed back to church, where immediately upon walking into the foyer we start getting questions from random people about why we are there, did we have a false alarm, and aren’t we supposed to be having a baby?  Um no, not that we knew of at the moment!  I think we disappointed a few :)  What do you say to men you don’t even know (I guess they are in my Mom’s class?) about it since you have to explain what is going on “down there” to give a real explanation?  I just left them thinking they were misinformed since that is technically true.  I expected our SS class to be curious since we didn’t show up, we are close, and many of them know our “business”, but having strange faces corner me for details was a little awkward, I must say.  Suffice to say “All is well.  No baby yet.  Thanks for asking.” and keep walking!

So, somehow either just by not being there or by leaving a message for Mom that we were going in for some routine monitoring, we set the telephone wires on fire.  It was kind of funny, but left me speechless as to how to answer so many questions in a comfortable way.

As I write this, Jacob is scanning our childbirth book we never read which says that 4-7 cm is “active labor” and I should be having strong 1-1.5 minute contractions 3-4 minutes apart.  My body didn’t read the book either apparently.  The doctor just told Jacob to make sure he wears shoes with laces and has his pocket knife ready at all times.  It may go quick!  Why can’t I just be normal???  Or better yet, why can’t I miss the painful part of labor rather than the beginning stages?  Maybe this time I’ll get lucky and at least get to build up to it a little bit.  Surely there has to be some warning pains at some point, but right now I’m almost scared to even cough for fear of what is going on down there that I’m not even feeling!

Maternity And Family Photos At 37 Weeks

I figured I better post these before I have pictures of the actual baby to post!

We took advantage of my Uncle being in town for Josiah’s birthday party last weekend to get some maternity photos.  He did a great job despite my lack of planning, the short time period we had to work in, Josiah’s less than cooperative attitude, and the fact that my shirt makes me look about 60 weeks pregnant.  I had a hard time just picking a few to share.   Here’s what we got:

Jacob was just to the right of me in this one, but he had crazy eyes, so I cut him out!

      The only way to get a consistent smile from Josiah was to let him play with this camera lens cleaner – that’s what that is.  

Trying to get the young ‘un to cooperate.

This one makes me feel like I still have a baby in Josiah.  Love him!

 

Thanks, once again, Tommy for the great pictures and your patience!

38 Weeks – The End In Sight?

At my 38 week OB appointment today she said I was 5 cm dilated and 80%, maybe 90% effaced!  Yikes!  How did that happen?  So, while there is no predicting it for sure, it looks like it could be pretty soon which kind of has my mind running crazy trying to prioritize what needs to be done vs. what I just wanted to do.  What I WANTED to do was go to bed at 8pm tonight, but I’m thinking my mind will be running to crazy to allow that and I might just get a bunch of stuff done.  Other than packing our bags (yes, we were supposed to do that a couple weeks ago), there is nothing that HAS to be done, but life would certainly be easier when we come home if we check a few things off our list now.  Oh well, it all works out in the end, I know.

On the flip side…we may get to meet our new little man soon!  How exciting is that?  Dr. Million asked me today (very seriously) if I had an epidural with Josiah.  I didn’t really know where she was going with that question and figured it was just an FYI type question.  When I said no, but that I was keeping my options open, she very seriously said “good, because you might not have time this time.”  Hmmm…now, I’m not really a fan of the epidural, but I’m not dumb and I’d like to at least have the option to choose it!  She says 5 cm itself is not too big a deal, but combined with 80-90% on a second baby may make things go quick.  We’ll see!

Now if I can only make it through work tomorrow…

Afterglow

My buddy likes leftover chocolate cake!  He even had it on his socks.

  

The crash!

Josiah’s 2nd Birthday Party!

This past Saturday we celebrated Josiah’s 2nd birthday with several friends and family members.  We had a great, but chaotic, time with two girls 6 years old and under, and eight boys 4 years old and under!  There was way too much food of the not-so-healthy type and Josiah got WAY too many presents.  Most of his gifts were trucks or tractors and the boys went wild over it!  We hardly even finished opening presents because Josiah was getting side tracked with all his awesome toys.  We are SO blessed to have so many great people who love us and will help us celebrate our little guy.

Whether it was the excitement of the evening or all the junk food, I don’t know, but Josiah had a very restless night of sleep and was exhausted the next day.  But at least he had a great time!  Our house now looks like a John Deere toy shop and he’s having  a blast playing with all of his gifts, so thank you to you all!

His “choo choo” cake.  I know, I know, the cows are almost as big as the train, but I had to do something with the spare space.

He got a little nervous about being the center of attention.

Boys will be boys, and Savannah too!

…and the two other girls who braved the boys, Julia and Mikayla.

They all had a blast blowing their noise makers.  Josiah didn’t quite get it and just used his voice to make the noise!

 

Then came present opening and the mass chaos of excitement surrounding the tractors!

 

Goodbye Kisses

          

A dad to be?

The night ended with a bit of wrestling and other play!

    

 

Some post-party fun: