A Spin on the Usual Story...

This is a must-read:

http://dayngrzone.blogspot.com/2008/12/three-wise-men-real-story.html

Enjoy!

:-)

Merry Christmas!

More pictures will come later, but Emily loved opening gifts at Bella's house.





Had several really good gifts, but my favorite so far is my new sewing machine. Well, it's not new - my MIL got a new one for her birthday, so she gave me hers, so it's new to me!

:-D

Projects, here we come!

I'll post more after tomorrow, as well as Emily's six-month pictures with her Pooh Bear.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Life is Getting Back on Track

For those of you who know, I have been working for an insurance company (the local office of a national company) since we moved here early this fall. It's been a bit of a crazy ride. To make a long story short, at the beginning of November there was a corporate buy-out of the national company, and the existing CEO and the rest of the V.P.'s and directors, down to all the regional branch managers (including my boss) resigned. When this happened, they established a new corporation with a much larger and more established national company and are now under the wing of this company.

At that time, I had three options in front of me. Stay with UIG, the company I was originally working for, go with my boss and manager to the new company, as I was one of eight asked to go over with them, or go a completely different route. I chose to go with the new company, and though at has been a hard and very busy month of transition, I am glad I did. And I finally (finally!) got my paycheck yesterday - things have gotten a bit tight while we've waited for the new payroll to get set up, and our emergency savings had gotten depleted with the birth of Emily and our move to Georiga. But I think things are looking up again. Killing our debt again, here we come!!! :-)

But I'm enjoying a weekend off right now - it's the first one I haven't worked in about three weeks. And Emily is sooo snuggly today in her new Pooh Bear flannel footie P.J.'s, so I'm going to spend time with her. I'll post again soon!

Good Day, Bad Moment

Okay, much better day at work today; last week was just horrid.

It was a pretty good day until I was 2nd in line to make a right hand turn, at a light with a green arrow for our lane to turn right. However, after the guy in front of me started to roll forward (and thus, I started moving forward), someone ran a red light. Mr. Silver BMW in front of me slammed on his brakes to avoid hitting the Mr. Stupid Driver Who Must Have Been Color Blind And Could Have Caused A Very Bad Accident thus causing me to slam on my brakes.

But poor Nitska, our lovely Nissan Sentra. She can only stop so fast. And this time, not fast enough.

So yep, my first ever accident. However, I only scratched Mr. Silver BMW, and as the driver informed me it was just a company car and not to worry about exchanging insurance information.

As for Nitska? She is fine, just minus one of these:


Yep, her poor deer whistle snapped off; Mr. Husband fussed at me for not picking it up off of the road (I was a bit distracted, you know?).

So, I'm okay, the car's okay, and Jonathan has forbade me from doing anything in the car but driving. Probably a good thing I'm not driving to Atlanta tomorrow for our conference (a group of us are car-pooling together). But I have to leave here at about 5:15 in the morning for it. Ugh.

So I need to go. To bed.

Will post later! :-)

I think (and hope) our search is done!

What search is that, you ask?

Why, it's the biggest, most yucky, very marriage-challenge search we've had in quite a while.

Yep, finding a new home church.

It's funny how two people very accustomed to working in fulltime ministry would struggle soooo much with finding a church home. But in a word, it makes sense. We've never gotten to choose our own church - they have always come with our jobs. So yep, Jonathan & I have had a challenge as we've weighted the pros and cons of church shopping.

But I think we finally found one we agree upon.

We've visited their "daughter church" before, and though we both really liked aspects of it, it wasn't the one for us. But today we went to their planting church, and we both really felt that this is a church we can stay in for a long; I can totally see Emily growing up in this church (did I say I really like their children's ministry?). So yeah, I think we've finally our new church home.

:-)

Yeah!

Big weight off our shoulders.

Check it out at www.vineyardaugusta.org.

Wow! It's a post!

Okay, okay, I haven't blogged in ages.

Whoops.

It's not intentional.

It's not even really an accident.

But after years of blogging, I've found I don't have a lot to say lately. There is Jonathan, Emily, and work.

And that's about it.

I don't want to be one of those mommies whose whole life is wrapped up in their child, but she is typically one of the highlights of my day.



Isn't she a cutie? :-)

I'll try to post more often. But until then, adios!

Back from the (almost) dead again...

My apologies if you've tried to get in touch with me over the past week; last Thursday I started to develop a mommy-related infection that was very painful; by Friday it was full-blown and I was downright miserable. I've been on some pretty strong antibiotics three times a day, and will continue them for another week, but at least I'm able to nurse Emily again. A note to new mommy friends who are BFeeding - keep a few days worth of milk in your freezer! You will probably never have to use it, but on the off-chance you get sick for a few days, and can't nurse, you won't have to switch over to formula! My aunt recommended this to me while I was preggers and I'm so glad I followed her advice. Emily's been getting a bottle once a day since she was six weeks old (though I never feed her it), and so she swapped back and forth really well. But in milestone news, she has rolled over a couple times now - I can't believe how big she is getting!

It's going to be a short post today; my energy is still pretty low. If you've called or e-mailed, I will do my best to get back to you in the day or two.

--Debbie

Hands, Tounges, & Drool

Okay, so it's not the most appealing title in the world, but it's my world right now! Over the last week she has discovered all three:





So I don't have a picture of her drooling, but trust me, she does! We go through several bibs and shirts a day! Put I love that she is reaching out for everything now, especially when she reaches out to touch my face when I'm playing with her. I can't believe how much she is growing up - she's just shy of 12 1/2 pounds now and we'll be starting cereal with her in about a month.

We're trying to get her on a consistent schedule (i.e. get up at the same time every morning so she eats at about the same times every day), because I'm getting ready to go back to work. Yep, I finally got a job, and I think it will work very well for us. I am now a Medicare eligibility specialist for United Insurance Group. The office set-up is very similar to the insurance company I worked for in Tennessee. It has very flexible hours, which is what I was looking for; I am in the office on Tuesdays and Fridays, and as it is a performance based job, not a per hour job, if my work for the day is done at three, I'm done at three. The other benefits are that it's a job that has room for growth and meets our financial needs as well as the fact that my job stays at my job. The past several years I've worked in the non-profit sector, and they were very emotional-connected jobs. Anyway, I'm excited. :-) Jonathan is gearing up to be "super-Daddy", as he'll be home with her when he's not at the school district. He's looking forward to it - as well as teaching part time, and improving the farm part time, he's going to finish his last year of school. If he can finish his bachelor's, he can get his teaching certification.

So that's kind of where we are, for those of you who've been wanting updates. I do need to run, though, and hit the shower before Emily wakes up from her nap.

Adios!

Life Moves On...

We are continuing to settle in well - Jonathan's orientation with the school district is done and he should be fully in the system at the beginning of next week, so he'll be in the classroom soon. In the meantime, he's happily working his other job - working for our grandparents on the farm. They were down this week and we had a great time, and man, they have a lot of projects! It's been a couple of years since someone has done a big clean-up on the farm, so right now Jonathan is doing lots of cleaning; once it's cleaned up and thus, easily maintainable. the projects can begin!

In the meantime, I'm continuing to job hunt. There's one in Waynesboro that I really, really would love to have: it's a site coordinator position with Burke Community Partnership, whose mission is "to champion the collaboration of resources to improve results for children, families, and the community." It's right up my alley; I have all the qualifications, yet am not over-qualified for it, which is one area I'm struggling with right now as I job shop. Yes, I'm going to have to work, and I've gone round and this round this with various family and friends. It was always my hope and dream and goal to stay home with my kids; however, until we get our debt off of our backs, we can't afford for me not to work. One of the pluses of this position - it has flexible hours. The other position I'd love to be in is at the American Cancer Society in Augusta. If you don't remember, I worked at the Columbia ACS office right after Jonathan and I got married. The Augusta office has an opening and I have a good shot at it, but they are in a hiring freeze right now - non-profit organizations across the board right now are struggling. In the meantime, I've loved the time at home right now, and Emily has enjoyed it, too! She likes to help bring the laundry in off the clothes line:

And of course, has plenty of playtime:

Chillin' out at The Pond for a family picnic:

Exploring the farm with Mommy & Daddy:

In fact, it makes her so tuckered out she fell asleep halfway through her last feeding:

Hmm... I love our life...

:-)

In the meantime, I'm stretching her schedule. She'll go a solid ten hours at night now, so I'm trying to stretch her 2 1/2 - 3 hour feeding schedule to a 3 1/2 hour schedule, with the hope that she'll go four hours by the time she's four months old. She's doing good with the 3 1/2 hours - she'll be up for an hour and a half to two hours, then will nap until the next feeding time. I've also started backing her bedtime up, so by the time she's four months, she'll be going down for bed around eight. So far, she's adjusting like a champ! And speaking of which, it's time for her to have lunch, so I must adieu!

Georgia REALLY Bugs Me Today

Can we say "Eww!" and "Very Cool!" all at the same time?

Georgia Bugs Me

Okay, it is not as if I am new to living on a farm; I grew up on one, for goodness sakes! But good grief, a farm in the plains of Colorado and a farm in humid Georgia are two different things. Want an example?

• The two mammoth spiders living in the mailbox (or I should say were living in the mailbox)...
• The "palmetto bug" (2 points for you if you know what a palmetto bug really is) running over the top of my foot while cooking dinner...
• The brown recluse spider taking a bath in the bathtub (now totally crushed and floating in the septic tank)...
• The wasps and hornet nests that are everywhere! The back porch, the picnic table in the back yard, etc. It is very entertaining watching my husband do the wasp-killing dance, complete with spray-can and fly-swatter...

...and that is just the start! But Jonathan picked up bug-killing-juice to exterminate the house and that has helped over the past couple of days. Hopefully the house will be mostly bug-free by the time Bella (Jonathan's mom) and Mama & Papa arrive later this weekend.

But in other news, I've lost three pounds! Yeah! I guess I'll keep up with Weight Watchers for awhile. :-) It may not seem like such a big deal, but I was encouraged.

I'm off to go wash the dishes before it's time for Emily's "second breakfast"; I think she's part hobbit - she eats all the time and she's short and stout! :-)

Home Sweet Home

Thought y'all might like an update! :-)

Our move to Georgia went well, though it's been raining cats and dogs since we left South Carolina. In some ways it was symbolic; it started pouring just as we were pulling out of Calvary - I guess we were being washed clean. :-D

Anyway, we are currently staying at Jonathan's grandparents farmhouse for the next few months as we get settled and our feet underneath us. Jonathan had his orientation at the school district, and he's also looking forward to starting the work around the farm, too (as soon as it dries out a little). I had so much fun setting up Emily's room; though we couldn't do too much (it is not our house), I have more freedom here than I did at Calvary and it feels more like home here than it ever did there. It's nice to run my own home again; it's been awhile. Mentally, it still feels like we're on vacation and that I'll be going home to my eight kiddos again soon, so I guess it will take awhile to adjust. I've heard things are a little chaotic there, which grieves our hearts for the kids, but we are going through the process of emotionally seperating ourselves. It's hard when we are still getting e-mails from teachers and what not, but that shouldn't happen much more as we pass them on to the director at Calvary. It's an adjustment for us.

That's the main update right now - not too much going on except for unpacking! The kiddies love being farm cats and Carolina wishes she could roam free, too. Jonathan's mom and grandparents will be here for Labor Day and it will be nice to see the family again.

That's all for now!

--Debbie

New Things Are Coming!

We are on the homestretch now - Moving Day is four days away. Thankfully, we don't have too much stuff, as we live in a furnished house and are moving into the furnished farmhouse; our only furniture right now is Emily's crib and changing table. But I guess this means I'm going to have to change the name of my blog; I'm not going to be a professional mommy in the truest sense of the word here very soon. I'm open for name suggestions! :-)

But in the spirit of change, I decided or desperately-needed-since-I-hadn't-had-a-trim-since-April to get a haircut. Here is what I had:



Here's what I have now:


I like it; Jonathan isn't crazy about it (mostly the bangs - he's never seen me in bangs before). I just wanted something new and different, and something that flattered me more as I'm still carrying half of the baby weight and it shows in my face. And it was just getting flat out too long. I still want to get blond highlights in it, but that is going to be saved for my reward for reaching my future goal weight.

I've also just started Weight Watchers, now that I've been cleared by my OB to start gradual weight-loss and more vigorous exercise, and so far, I'm enjoying it. I like that it isn't restrictive on the types of food you eat (though obviously, the healthier you eat, the more you can eat), and it's one of the few programs I can do while still nursing. I do much better on a "program", saying that I'm going to eat less sugar or what not never lasts for too long. For instance, I do great on low-carb, and it's been very effective in the past, but I can't do a weight-loss phase of low-carb while I'm still feeding Emily. So I'm at least going to try it for awhile; Jonathan has done WW and really does like it. Going to the gym again has been great, too; I'd missed it the past few months. I can't wait to start playing tennis with Jonathan again. In fact, Waynesboro just finished building a new tennis complex at their city courts, and we are itching to get down there and try it. Now we just need to buy this:

Or something similar to that for little Miss Emily so she can go bike riding with us. So yep, my weight-loss journey is on! I kind of wish I'd had a few more months to lose weight before I'd gotten pregnant with her. I'd lost 35 pounds before I'd got pregnant with her (and with 40 more to go); now after having her, I have sixty to go to reach my goal weight. It'll probably take a year or so, but that's ok. It didn't come on overnight and won't just fall off overnight either!

Well, that's about it today - time to make snacks for the kiddos! :-)

--Debbie

Emily is 2 months old!

Favorite Picture of the Week

No caption needed.

:-)

A New (Sick) Day

I hate to wake up on Saturday mornings to sick kids. Even worse is waking up with a sick husband. But put them together and it is yucky!!


Yep, Emily had her first sick visit to the doctor this morning (I am truly thankful that our pediatrician is open on Saturday mornings); nothing major, but with six other kids in the house, I was not going to let a yucky, matty eye go without some attention. She technically has a blocked tear-duct, but since her eye is already filling with green goo, she has an eye ointment to prevent pinkeye.



But it was nice to have a weight-check - she is exactly 11 1/2 pounds. Not that I needed a weight check; she has her two-month check-up on Monday. At least she's gaining good! But Jonathan is sick in bed with stomach issues, so I'll try to keep the house quiet this morning. I've got to run to Walmart anyway, and I'll take the kiddos with me there, and maybe to the library. I might even take them to the YMCA; it is cooler today, and Emily won't boil in the heat.

However, I was not thrilled to see the following this week, even though it is cute:






I shouldn't be surprised - I sucked my finger for years...



In totally other news, in case you didn't know, Jonathan and I are leaving Calvary Home. He is going to be working for the school district in Burke County, Georgia, and helping with his grandparent's farm. This is where the majority of our family lives, and we'd eventually like to build on the land Jonathan will receive from his grandparents. We've wanted to be down there eventually; this is a little sooner than we had planned! However, we feel that we've come full cycle with our kiddos at Calvary and that God is leading us in a new direction.



That's about it for now - I need to get feed Emily. Oh, and she kicked me off her blog and did a post of her own this morning. ;-) You can view it at:


http://pictures-of-emily.blogspot.com/


I'll try to post more later!

Another Page is Turning

If you attended our wedding, you might remember Bebo Norman's "A Page is Turned" was performed while Jonathan and I washed each other's feet during the ceremony. The lyrics speak of a young boy and young girl who first find salvation and a 2nd chance in Christ, and then God brings them together. Anyway, we love the song, and it tells our story very well.

However, as much as the original version is great, I'm thinking though that he needs to write another verse, the one we are currently going through of falling in love with our daughter. I cannot believe how one so little can clench so hard on the heartstrings. And she is getting so big! The day after my mom left, she started "talking" to anything that she watches - she coos at her mobile, her crib gym, her toys in her bouncy seat, and even herself in the mirror on the changing table. It is so cute! And we're starting to see more and more toothy little grins, but of course, we can't get her to do it for the camera yet.

She is starting to get better at nap taking, too, which is a huge blessing for me. When she turned a month old, I introduced a pacifier. Now if you know me, I'm not crazy about that, but we've learned that Emily sleeps light during the day, and with the pacifier, instead of startling herself awake and crying, she startles, sucks, and goes back to sleep for the remainder of her nap. Also, I made a naptime routine for her - swaddle her up, read her a story, rock for a minute or two while I hum her lullaby, and then lay her down. She's drowsy at this point, but not sleeping, and 95% of the time, drifts off into dreamland without a fuss.

We are still fighting her evening fussy time, and it has gotten really bad during the past two or three days. I think a lot of that is the food I'm eating now; one of the changes we came back on duty to is that we have a menu set for us and the food bought for us, so it isn't quite as healthy as I was eating during pregnancy and during our maternity leave. I do the best I can, and I've pulled hard from the garden (but I've pretty much wiped it out by now - it was a big garden, but with little amounts of 11 different veggies, strawberries, and herbs), but the extra processed foods and not as many fresh veggies makes her pretty gassy. I finally got Little Tummys Gripe Water for her yesterday and that helps if she takes some right before she eats. She actually had a great night last night and that was the first in a couple of nights, so I'm encouraged.

On news other than the baby (yep, you can say thank you now!), it's been a challenging three weeks or so. Some things changed while we were off duty with Emily, and we're adjusting to a momentarily bumpy ride on the campus, and I think I'm struggling with some baby blues as well. Of course, having three of our kids leave in one week didn't help that at all. I'm also not handling stress as well as I could before Emily was born, so I get overwhelmed, and I just don't function great when I hit that point.

But if it has done anything, it's deepening my relationship with Christ. I'd been struggling for quite some time on desiring Him; not feeling like I'm spending time with Him because I'm supposed to or am obligated to, but wanting to be with Him because I crave it and get joy out of it. I don't know if it was pregnancy hormones or what, but the past almost year or so has been a struggle in that area for me. It's been a lonely struggle as well. As you well know (warning: prepare for a soapbox), Christians aren't supposed to be unhappy in the relationship with God; it's like we aren't normal human beings who go through the gamut of feelings. We sit in the pews Sunday after Sunday and fake it, always having a smile and the reply of "I'm fine" or "We're blessed" week after week when everything is very not fine, but of course, one never says that, especially when one works in a ministry field. It's funny, though; when I worked for a church, and it was probably just the church I worked in, I could be honest about that. I had struggles, and people knew I did, and didn't blow it off with a "well, you just need to pray more or study your Bible harder". Truth be told, I wanted more and always have wanted and craved and fought for a dynamic relationship with Christ. If we really are Christians, we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit. That Holy Spirit is so powerful that it has the power to rise one from the dead; He did it with Jesus, and He has done it for millions who were utterly dead in themselves and their sin. Why don't we live that? What would the church be like today if we touched that? Instead of diseased, decayed, and dying, there might be a breath of life!

Anyway, I'll hop off my soapbox now before I get myself into trouble. One of the best books I read during this past year, and would highly recommend it, was When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight for Joy by John Piper. He is very honest and it was very refreshing for me. In the meantime, I feel like I'm starting to come out it, which is a huge relief and joy for me. I know God has us go through our seasons for a reason, and so I'm trusting in that.

I'd keep blogging, but Emily is crying, so I need to get going.

--Debbie

Just A Quick Post

I've updated Emily's pictorial saga at http://www.pictures-of-emily.blogspot.com/, so check it out! :-)

In the meantime, keep us (Jonathan and I) in your prayers. We're just going through a lot right now and are seeking the Prince of Peace throughout this storm.

--Debbie

Opps! I fell over! :-)

Maybe the postings will pick up?

Okay, so I've been lax about posting updates in the past couple of weeks; my apologies there!

Jonathan and I finished our last two weeks of maternity leave and are now back in the house with all our kiddos. They have adjusted back to us well, and they love Emily! She, on the other hand, hasn't been so sure about all of them! :-) But after a couple of days she seemed to settle into her new room and crib. And she is getting sooo big! I can't believe she'll be a month old this week! To see her latest pictures, go to http://pictures-of-emily.blogspot.com/

We had a good break while we were off duty, though; we went up to Cold Mountain for two nights just to get away - the first vacation Jonathan and I have had since our honeymoon. The we went to Georgia for a weekend at the farm and to see the immediate family. Emily got to meet all her cousins on Jonthan's side:

In the meantime, Jonathan and I are happy to back in our own bed (and I had sorely missed our bathtub!), and are busy planning for the future. My mom comes into town on Thursday and we are very much looking forward to seeing her. But I'm off to take a shower while Emily is happy and content and entertained by her daddy, so adios!

Pictures Have Been Updated!

Check out Emily's One-Week Pictures at:

http://pictures-of-emily.blogspot.com/

Growing Up, Day by Day

Wow - I cannot believe our little one will be one week old tomorrow! The week has gone by fast - of course, having spent part of it in the hospital probably helps to make it that way!

We are starting to settle into a routine; Emily eats about every 2 1/2-3 hours, stays awake for an hour or so, and then naps for an hour or so before getting up to eat again. She's growing great and gaining back her birth weight; her weight-in at the pediatricians yesterday had her at 7 lbs, 10 oz, up six ounces from when she left the hospital. That was a huge answer to prayer for us, as for her first couple-three days I had to pump and then feed her with a syringe (she likes to roll her tongue back in her mouth which made nursing very difficult). But in the past couple of days she has really seemed to click with this nursing thing, which makes life much easier for me!

We took her up to the house yesterday to meet the kids and all but one instantly fell in love with her. One of the three year-olds got extremely jealous, would not have anything to do with me or Emily, and got all baby'ish on Jonathan's lap (thumb-sucking, etc). When I passed Emily to Jonathan so I could get something from our bedroom, she had a huge tantrum and fell to pieces. Other than that, Emily is quite a hit with the others, though they still are a bit confused how she got out of my tummy. :-)

In the meantime, I'm starting to feel much better; I still don't get much sleep, either at night or during the day, so I'm still tired and yep, I'm still on painkillers. But we are really enjoying our time at the relief apartment; it is very peaceful here.

I think that is about it for now - oh, I've created a photo blog for Emily at http://pictures-of-emily.blogspot.com/. It will be updated probably once a week or so, so after you check it today, be sure to check it tomorrow for her one-week photo!

Our Birthing Story

Ok, so since people have been asking, here is our birth story!

This past Monday morning, the 16th, we headed into our OB for our 38 week check-up and a non-stress test. I had started to dilate a little bit and my blood pressure was fine, but the NST indicated that the baby's heartbeat kept dropping. After an hour on the fetal monitor, our doctor told us to go ahead and head to the hospital for fetal monitoring for the rest of the day and night, and to start some 24-hour lab work. So we did, and we waited.

And waited.

The baby's fetal monitoring was fine at the hospital, and by Tuesday afternoon, my blood pressure stabilized enough for me to go off the medication I'd been on for it. Tuesday night our OB came by to let us know our lab results and that he wanted to go ahead and induce me, for a couple of reasons. First of all, she was measuring big via our ultrasound, but most importantly, I was doing well in the hospital and he didn't want to see me go home and go back to where I had been physically.

So that night I was given a gel internally that would help my body get more ready for labor (cytotec), ideally that I would start dilating more or at best, go into labor naturally. Come six o’clock in the morning, I was started on a very low dose of pitocin. Within fifteen minutes or so, the contractions started. They were mild for the first couple of hours, more like cramps than contractions. Our doula, Fran, arrived at about eight, and got settled in with us for the long haul to delivery.

Thus this is how our day started and progressed; I was having contractions about every two minutes, but they were manageable. I spent some time rocking on a birthing ball, or sitting upright in the labor/delivery bed (I was not allowed to walk or do anything of that nature to help baby drop more naturally). We saw some progress at 1:30 in the afternoon when my water broke, and labor got a lot harder after that. At one point, I did get a shot of a narcotic to help take the edge off, and to let me rest a bit between the contractions.

When the doctor came by to check me at six p.m., I was very hopeful that we were near delivery. I was super disappointed to find that I was only 2 cm dilated at that point, and also a little nervous. I knew if we didn’t make some progress in the next couple of hours, we would be looking at a c-section. Instead, I was given one more chance and the medication turned way up. Within an hour I was at 5 cm, but physically, I was falling apart and just could not stay on top of the contractions, especially as they were now coming a minute and a half apart. So yes, though I had wanted a natural birth without an epi, I asked for one at this point; I knew there was no way I would have any strength left to push if I had to endure these type of contractions for much longer.

We had to wait for the epidural though – it was eight o’clock before the anesthesiologist came in and I though I was fully dilated, I still wanted and needed it. I had the urge to push, but was so wiped out and could not handle the contractions any more. I have since found out that Jonathan and my doula were started to get worried about me; I was not handling it well, throwing up and shaking violently. I am not and never was a screamer, or even a moaner, but when I started to cry and sob that I couldn’t do this any more, Jonathan knew I needed something at that point. So in went the epidural – it was torture to stay curled in a ball for four minutes when contractions were tearing me apart, but it was worth it in the end.

Though I was ready to push by the time the epi kicked in, I decided not to and just wait and rest for awhile, which we did for about forty-five minutes. In the meantime, the nurses and techs turned our LDPR (Labor, Delivery, Postpartum Recovery) Room into a sterile birthing environment and broke the bed down for delivery. At 8:45 I started pushing and with seven or so pushing sets later, little Emily was born at 8:58. I was immediately allowed to hold her, and did so for a few minutes before the nurses took her over to the baby warmer and started on their procedures while the doctor stitched me up. I’d torn in two places, so the stitches took a little while, but everyone was very calmed and laid back. Emily scored an 8/9 on the apgar scale, and is such a pretty newborn; I fully expected the red, wrinkled baby, but she was a cutey! We didn’t get to bed until about one a.m., when the nurses were all finished with her and me, and our room cleaned up. We were one tired, but happy, family!

I'm so depressed...

I'm sooo tired of being in the hospital!!!!!!!!!

We are going on a day and a half of sitting here doing nothing. My labwork was finished about seven hours ago, so now we are just waiting for the results to come back and the doctor to visit us and let us know what is going on.

It's a bummer, though; my next door neighbor just had her baby (she came in about lunch); argh!!!! I'm jealous; Jonathan has becoming very... very... um... moody and negative about it. He swears Dr. Roesch is going to send us home when he comes by tonight, especially since my blood pressure issue has basically reversed itself since late yesterday afternoon. However, my new night nurse just came in and informed us that the doctor should be here in about an hour, and yep, they talked about induction. :-D I don't know if she was supposed to tell us that, and we aren't officially going to start calling the cavalry yet, but it was a breath of fresh air for us.

But anyway, we'll update as we know more!

--Debbie

My First Night in a Hospital

I've never had to spend the night in a hospital before; even when I had my tonsils out at the age of five, I didn't have to spend the night. But let me back up - some of you don't even know I'm in the hospital!

We went into the OB this morning for my 38 week exam and a NST (non-stress test; they hook me up to the fetal monitor for 30-45 minutes and see how baby and I are doing). I had some protein show up on my dipstick, my BP was okay at 130/80, and great news! I have started dilating some on my own. However, during my NST, the baby's heartbeat kept dropping. Needless to say, we were sent home to get our bags and check into the hospital, so we did! The timing worked out well; we started our maternity leave this morning, though we weren't expecting to go the hospital today.

Anyway, baby and I are doing well; we had an ultrasound and she seems perfectly healthy and my fluid levels are fine. Better yet is that I am having small contractions that have been fairly regular; nothing like what we will have when we start active labor, but enough to help continue the beginning dilation process. We are also doing another set of 24 hour labwork, which will be done and back early tomorrow afternoon. From what we are hearing from the doctor and nurses, though, is that I probably will NOT be sent home; I will probably be induced, but my OB wants to see the lab results before he makes the decision. The only issue today, which is crazy of all days, is that my blood pressure keeps dropping, which is nuts! It's never been as low as it has been this evening. So I'm off of the meds unless I jump back up into hypertension range.

So that's the latest update of the moment - we'll keep you posted! :-)

The Clock is Ticking!

Told you I'd be updating again by the end of the day!

Well, we went back in to the doctor this morning, and though some of my lab work came back negative or normal (primarily the tests for preeclampsia and my platelet count), it did indicate that the high blood pressure is beginning to make me sick and starting to do damage to my kidneys. At this time, however, being induced could be very difficult on myself and the baby, and we would run a much higher chance at a c-section as my body needs to do some natural work to get ready for labor first. In the meantime, we are on a ticking clock, trying to give the baby a bit more time in utero and my body a chance to prepare for labor without me getting to the point where I will struggle with labor because of the hypertension/kidney issues, and thus, needing a c-section because I don't have the strength to go through labor. So we wait and see! Our OB is predicting that we will be induced by this time next week, though we will know more when we go back into seeing him again on Monday.

When we got back, we talked with our director, and we are going to go ahead and go off-duty on Monday, with the baby pending so close, and lots of doctor visits next week anyway, and will stay off-duty until I've recovered from labor and we are ready to get back to work (about two weeks).

Will we keep you posted as we know things, and Lord willing, will be announcing our little one to you soon!

The Baby Saga Continues...

I'll probably to an update to this post later today, but I wanted to blog this morning. :-)

We head back into the doctor for the first appointment of the day this morning; we are killing our director, Dee, this week with being in and out so much as he has to watch the kids and is not used to being on campus by eight a.m.! All the lab work they did should be in, so after an hour on the fetal monitor, and then my check-up, hopefully we'll have a closer idea as to what our delivery date will be. If my lab work came back "bad", then we should deliver tomorrow or this weekend; if not, probably next week, but we'll see after my next appointment early in the week. Dee is praying it is not this weekend!!

I think this week has been a bit easier on Jonathan than last week, the primary reason being food! We've had someone bring dinner every night this week, and it was our shopping week, so Jonathan did a big order from Sam's and I made sure to include A LOT of easy-to-cook meals on the click-n-pull order. That and we've had great volunteers here in the evenings this week; yeah! :-) We'd talked about going off-duty this weekend (it is our weekend to go off), but in some ways it would feel kind of stupid taking off if we are getting ready to go off for a couple weeks starting next week. And, there isn't anyone to watch the house this weekend, specifically Saturday, as we were not planning to go off duty again until the baby is born, so yep; I think we'll be here this weekend. The kids have VBS next week, which will lighten the load some in the mornings (with the exception of the toddlers; in two weeks there is a VBS going on in which they can ALL go, which our relief staff will love!).

Speaking of toddlers, we are losing Brandon today to go back to his mom and dad. :-( We had to pack him last night and it was heart-wrenching. We are his 3rd placement, so we Jonathan pulled out his suitcase last night, it was an utter meltdown; the boy knows a move is coming. Screaming, crying, trying to take his stuff back out of bags and put it back away, etc. We also had to break it to the other kiddos, and they were upset - he's only been with us a few weeks, but has quickly joined ranks as their foster brother. *sigh* Only once have we looked on the leaving of a child from our house with joy and gladness in the year we've been here.

Maggie is going through the typical first week of "testing the boundaries". She's acting out via food, trying to use that as her control. We typically don't power struggle with the kiddos; if they don't eat, it's not a big deal - they just get it for their next meal (this has happened once or twice per kid in the house - usually doesn't happen again). I'm not strict on them cleaning their plates - our rule is all your veggies and fruit and half of the main entree, even if you don't care for it. Anything else, I don't care if you eat it or not (such as the bread, rice, etc). For her though, it's makes me roll her eyes; she's working on three pieces of fruit and refusing to eat them. We even had an awesome dessert last night, made by our executive director's wife (her creation with Jonathan's creativity in the picture!), and nope - she threw her fruit on the floor. Jonathan rinsed it and put it back on her plate. *sigh* So she spent some time in the corner yesterday for being very rude and disrespectful to our volunteer (and Jonathan!) yesterday, and depending on breakfast, might again this morning! But Jonathan and I brought her into our room last night and talked with her; she cried, and it's not easy for me, either. She is the exact same age I was when my mom died, and though I struggled for years and years with that, I at least had my familiar family and friends around me, not in a completely unfamiliar surrounding.

But anyway, this is getting longish and I need to take a shower. I'll update again after our appointment!

Baby Update

Here's the update of the day for y'all! :-)

We went to the OB today, instead of my scheduled appointment for tomorrow, since my blood pressure (BP) was kind of crazy over the weekend. We spent an hour on the fetal monitor, and since my BP has been spiking up over 150/100 anytime I get out of bed, I am now on a mild dose of blood pressure medicine so I don't stroke out next time I get up to go use the bathroom! I really don't like it, but that isn't uncommon; I don't do well on prescription medications. This one makes me groggy and shaky. But anyway, it seems to be doing the job; I've only been over 140/90 twice today (hypertension level), and yep, I'm still on bedrest until the little girls arrives into the world.

In the meantime, they are doing a slew of labwork on me and we have to go back in Wednesday morning for more. We will have all the results by my Thursday morning appointment and depending on the results, we could be induced Thursday or Friday. If everything comes back negative, we will probably be induced sometime next week, more for my health than the baby's. He'd like to see my get into my 38th week and see my body get a bit more naturally prepared for labor; with where I was at today, I run a higher risk for a c-section. But the baby dropped over the weekend, so he's hopeful with the extra pressure on my pelvis that I'll start to dilate a bit before we have to induce. It's thrown us for a bit of a loop; we were so sure that we were going to have a July baby (our original due date is June 29th), so two weeks early is not what we were expecting!

In other news, we got a new girl, age 7, today. Needless to say, she's a bit of a handful (she's ADHD, and really needs some guidance on respect, obedience, and manners!), and I feel guilty not being able to help her adjust more (only so much I can do in bed!) and then looking at us being off duty for at least two weeks. But at this point, we can only do what we can do, so I'm trying not to stress out about it. One of our kiddos, the 2 year boy, will be leaving on Thursday, and we're bummed; we've grown a bit attached to him over the past 5-6 weeks.

Well, we need to go to bed; I just wanted to post a quick update while I was online (we actually just finished our shopping list via Sam's Club click-n-pull) and we'll keep you posted!

A Tisket, A Tasket, A Green & Yellow Basket

Okay, so I'm getting a bit bored. :-D Welcome to life on bedrest! Since my blood pressure (BP) has been fairly good today, Jonathan has allowed me some computer time while he takes a nap during naptime, so yeah - blog updates for you (as well as updating the bank statements, facebook, and e-mails).

I can't whine too much about being on bedrest; I've done this once before for three weeks while I had mono 2 1/2 years ago, so I can handle it, and yes, I've been behaving (for the most part). I did have Jonathan bring the kiddos clothes to me this morning while they were at church and I folded them while in bed (the girls were running out of clean underwear and socks), and oh yeah! My bed also turned into the hair salon this morning; do you know how long it takes to get all these girls' hair ready for church? It will be worse in a couple of months, when we will (tentatively) have six girls and two boys, not including our little girl and myself! Of course, that could change, but from what we've been told, that is about what we will have come another month or so.

It hasn't been the greatest weekend, though; my BP has been crazy. It doesn't help that my OB is out of town this weekend, so I've had to talk with the OB on call (he's from a different OB/GYN office). Needless to say, I like my doctor more; he is just very calm, thorough, and reassuring, and I needed that this weekend when my BP spiked up to 158/99 and we could not get it to go down. It finally did after several hours; this other OB continued to recommend bedrest and call my OB Monday (tomorrow) morning.

We're learning a few things about my blood pressure as we track it throughout the day, though. It is typically higher in the morning/early afternoon, and though it is never 120/70, it will typically stay around 135/85 if I lay quiet on my side (especially my left, but I can't live on my left side - my hip kills me after awhile). However, if I sneeze, go the bathroom, eat a meal, or anything, it will immediately shoot up over 140/90, which is very not good (the goal of the bedresting is to keep it below 140/90), and it can take 2-3 hours for it to go down again, though sometimes sooner. So even though I have my weekly checkup on Tuesday morning, I will call and talk to the nurse tomorrow morning to let her know how our weekend is going to see if she wants to change my appointment to Monday or not. It makes me a bit nervous that it is such a struggle to keep it below 140/90; hypertension during pregnancy restricts the blood flow to the uterus and placenta, so the baby doesn't get as much oxygen and nutrients and thus, the placenta will eventually start to disintegrate. Not the greatest environment for our little one!

Another odd pregnant thing happened this morning, too, that I will talk to our doctor about as well; I was in the shower this morning and noticed that all the skin below my belly-button is suddenly flabby. Truth be told, it makes me wonder if she has flipped herself sideways, because the top of my stomach is now very pronounced and hard. I think Jonathan is more worried about it than I am...

Anyway, I think that is about it for today! Oh, and check out Jonathan's blog at http://www.southerncoffee.blogspot.com/. He's doing a "dad edition" of my site, as he journals what it is like to run the house without me.

Bedrest (Again!)

I think my title says it all.


Bedrest.


Again.


But this time for longer; at least until next Tuesday, when we go back into the doctor for our weekly checkup. I have a funny feeling though that I will be on bedrest until our little one decides to make an appearance into the world. Our OB is already planning on having us not go past our due date due to my blood pressure issues. Thankfully, it is still gestational hypertension and not preeclampsia (a much more serious pregnancy induced hypertension). And as we track my blood pressure, we tend to find that it is higher in the morning and early afternoons than in the evening, which I would have figured would be the other way around. It's frusterating at times; for example, just taking a shower this morning bumped it up to 144/94, and took an hour and a half before it came down again.


We are managing, though, and Jonathan has done well in running the house. Thankfully, we have three kids going on home visits today for the weekend, so it won't be some busy here. How we are going to do the grocery shopping will be interesting... the Sam's Club order will be fine (we do it online and just pick it up), but Publix... we're still working through that! Plus, since Jonathan is cooking, he needs to make a menu that suits him; my cooking style is different! :-)


I'm keeping my sanity; I pulled out my craft basket yesterday and got started on an unfinished cross-stitch I started right after our honeymoon, and am working on a new afghan that will probably end up being a Christmas present for someone (I tend do give craft stuff for gifts if I can plan enough ahead!). I'm also reading through Jane Austin's books, which is fun, and a friend of mine brought me a whole stack of magazines to flip through this morning. Maximum time for bedrest should only be about three weeks, so I think I can handle it.


Well, I should be signing off now - have a wonderful day! :-)

A New Month Has Dawned

So, it's the third of the month, but still a new month for us! :-) All the kids are out of school as of tomorrow and I'm looking forward to the slightly more relaxed schedule, especially as I need rest breaks more often!

But summer is great, and Jonathan and I are looking forward to things we have planned, such as the library's summer reading club (appropriately bug themed this year, which is great for our kids!), swimming at the YMCA and swim center, going to the park, having daily craft/school prep time when it is too hot to play outside, and reading through a book(s) as a family (we are starting James and the Giant Peach tonight). We are also starting a new devotional series with them; last summer and fall we went through the Pentateuch (the 1st five books of the Bible), and this spring have gone through the Ten Commandments, the Greatest Commandments, and the Fruit of the spirit. This summer, though, we are going to start going through the Bible and learning about the names of God, which I have really enjoyed studying as I write their daily "lesson" for them.

My only hitch in starting all this is that Baby Rogers may be coming a little earlier than we had been planning. I've been planning for a July baby, as we have an end of June due date, but today at our weekly OB appointment I was told that I will most likely not be allowed past my due date and need to prepare for the fact that I may have to go early. The reason? My stinking blood pressure; the stint of 1 1/2 to 2 weeks ago when my BP skyrocketed seems to be having lasting effects. Though my BP is not in the danger zone at this point, it is still higher than normal. Secondly, I'm retaining fluid like mad, though I'm drinking a gallon of water a day. I gained five pounds of water weight in one week, which frustrated me to no ends, as we really been watching my diet of the past couple of weeks. I feel like a bloated whale, literally! So though I'm excited about seeing our little one earlier than we thought, I'm not wild about the idea of being induced - harder labor (I want to do this naturally), higher chance of a C-section, not being able to labor quite as I'd like to, etc. But it's about the health of me and the baby in the long run, so if it's in God's will, it is!

Well, I'm working on dinner so we can go swim tonight - adios!

Summer is Almost Here!

I think I'm actually a crazy mom who is looking forward to the summer! We already have one out of school, three more finish today, and our oldest finishes next Wednesday. I've enjoyed having four kids home this week, and I'm working on a tentative "schedule for the summer" which has worked great this week. For example:

• Wake-up/clean rooms/breakfast: 8:00 am
• Play outside until 11:00'ish (until it gets too hot)
• Craft/reading time until lunch (will be 12:30'ish) - this splits up the kids; 4 kids read while 4 kids do their craft/school activity; we switch halfway through.
• Nap/Quiet time: 1'ish - 3:30
• 3:30 - 6:00: Playtime and/or outing time (usually swimming - we are at the YMCA or Swim Center several times a week; we also have a couple awesome parks that we enjoy going to)
• 6:30 - supper time! My volunteers arrive around six to eat with us, and then help with whatever I need help with - bathing toddlers, dishes, laundry, sweeping/mopping, etc. It has been a wonderful help for me, and I'll be leaning on them even more after the baby comes, I'm sure!

The one thing Jonathan and I are still debating is bedtime for the kiddos; the toddlers will still be around 8:00 pm (we have learned that once you miss that first bedtime window, they are nearly impossible to get back into bedtime routine!), but the school-aged kids can stay up later than eight in the summer. About two weeks before school starts, we start backing up the bedtime to the school year time, so the start of school is an easy transition. Anyway, we aren't sure what ages will we have at that time; we have three leaving in the next couple of weeks, and two more in the middle of the summer, so we may just have to play it by ear.

In other news, we are doing really well. Once my medical stuff started clearing up last week, I have felt so, so, so much better! I'm starting to feel very preggers, though; getting the bigger/heavy feeling. The kids are obsessed with my stomach right now; I'm constantly getting touched, patted, listening to, etc, all day long. One of the three year olds has this horrible habit of yanking up my shirt to look at it, no matter who is around (especially if they are asking about the baby!). Six hours of uninterrupted sleep is rare and wonderful, like last night. Of course, I had crashed about nine o'clock, Jonathan came to bed around ten, and I woke up about 3:30 for the bathroom run and nope, could not fall back asleep. Of course, I woke the kitties up when I got up and Egypt loves to snuggle in my hair, but she kept trying to lick my face, which drives me crazy! In some ways I cannot wait until they are big enough to stay outside 24/7; my sleep will approve (our hope is that they will be totally outside before the baby is born). So I'm up - revamped the June budget (just have to show it to Jonathan to get approval), and now I'm blogging! But this means I'll actually get a shower this morning! :-)

Well, I should sign off; we have a big day today! My PreK's finish school today, and get out early, and our six year-old is leaving with his adoptive family today after a big campus-wide party tonight to celebrate/say goodbye to him and his older sister with their new family and friends they've made here. He's excited, but a bit apprehensive, too. Anyway, he and I have to finish packing this morning, and then make cupcakes for tonight. But pray for our other kiddos, especially the other boys. D'ante's been struggling with it, and Logan has been horribly jealous and thus lashes out verbally in cruel ways towards him and some of the other kids. This is one other hard part with these kids; they become siblings, and it is hard when the family dynamic is changed. We've worked really hard with X leaving to work through the adoption with the other kids; for some of the younger ones, adoption is this scary black hole kids fall into and we never hear from them again. We weren't here when Z, the baby, was adopted over Christmas, and when we came back the kids kept going on and on about how somebody just came and took him! I felt bad that no one had worked through that with them, so with these upcoming summer adoptions, we've really tried to prepare them.

Okay, this is getting long - y'all have a wonderful day! :-)

PS It's May 29th! One more month to our due date!

What a week!

Wow - a lot has happened since I last blogged! Let me bring you up to date:

First off, we finished our childbirth class last Saturday; I can breathe with the best of them now. :-D But I think it has been good for Jonathan and I, especially for him. I think he's a lot calmer now about labor and has a better idea what to expect.

Then we got home, and truth be told, I felt awful; I was still really struggling with an upper respiratory infection that had started about three weeks prior, and just could not get over, even with prescription antibiotics and decongestants. I still went and got supper on for the kiddos, but excused myself and laid down during the meal. I was hoping that I was just tired, and a good night of sleep would make me feel better.

Needless to say, I didn't. I got up and ready for church, and got the kids up and ready for church, but holy cow - I was weak and achy all over. Jonathan told me to go back to bed and declared Sunday to be a bedrest day for me; he'd take care of the house. I didn't argue much!

I got worse through the night; I developed a really bad headache, and at about four in the morning, started getting really, really dizzy. At about six I called our OB; something just wasn't right - I don't get sick like this. Unfortunately he was delivering a baby, so I ended up talking with one of the nurses from the office, who told me to immediately go lay down, and then get my blood pressure taken as soon as possible. We took the kids to school and drove up to CVS to check it and it was 138/96. Not a good number, pregnant or not. The nurse told me to go lay down on my left side, drink a ton, and check it again in three hours. Did that, and it was 136/94. Still high, so we went in to spend an afternoon at the doctors office for lab work and fetal monitoring. Their main concern was preeclampsia: pregnancy induced hypertension, which would put me on bedrest until she was born, and often, they end up delivering early via c-section or induced labor for both mom and baby's health. Trust me, that was not a thought that I relished! But I was instructed for bed rest until my lab work came back, and to come in again in the morning for another check-up.

That day did not pass well; I was bored with being in bed and worrying about the baby. Jonathan ran the house like a pro and the kids did really, really well. We went back to the doctor in the morning and thank the Lord, the hypertension test came back negative, which was a huge answer to prayer. However, it did show that I have a bacterial infection that had kind of taken over (on top of the respiratory stuff I was fighting off), and I just could not battle both of them. New antibiotics were prescribed and I was sent back to bed. Within 24 hours I felt 100% better; the weakness and dizziness were gone, and even my respiratory infection seemed to start to improve. Now on Saturday, I feel like me again. I overdid it some on Thursday and was really wiped out yesterday, but this is our weekend off, so I hope by Monday I'll be fully well again.

So it's been a good weekend so far; we are in the apartment just up the way from the house that we are staying in for the first time, and really enjoying it. Jonathan and David (our maintenance guy) have done a lot of work in it over the past two-three weeks, and it feels very homey. We will be staying here for about two weeks after the baby is born, so we moved some nursery essentials in yesterday. Then this morning I had a wonderful baby shower; it was a great time of fellowship and fun, and we got some much needed items, like a car seat and baby swing. And then to top it all off, we have two new little girls; not foster kids, but kittens, which we have named Kenya and Egypt! Our boss called yesterday and asked if we would like one or two (a mommy cat had her babies under their porch), and we jumped on it; we have missed our cat very much over the past year. Of course they will be outside cats when we are on campus, but we are enjoying playing with them this weekend.

I think that is about it for now; I'll blog more next week, which will be another busy week for us as we have two getting ready to be adopted in the next week or so, now that school is getting out. Hope y'all are well!

45 Days to Go!

Woohoo! Baby day is getting closer and closer and I’m getting very excited and ready to meet our little one. Jonathan says I’m being crazy, and maybe I am, but I’m still looking forward to it!

Yesterday was one of the best days we’ve had in a long time. On Tuesday we started a new motivational system with the whole house. It was a bit ironical how that came to be. The past few weeks have been on the frustrating side; we were struggling with the kiddos, and they were struggling with us and we felt that we were constantly harping on them. I think most of it comes from the fact is that we are going off duty a lot more than we used to (every other weekend compared to one weekend a month), and the house is constantly in a state of flux. We are planning after the baby arrives to go back to the once a month reliefs.

Anyway, Jonathan started a star chart system with one of the boys to help them with some struggles at school to keep him motivated, and I was reading “Raising Great Kids” by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend. I don’t agree with all of their philosophies, but both Jonathan and I really felt that we need something more positive for these kiddos. So know we have a star chart system for everyone in the house. Their goal is to get 2-3 stars a day, for a total of 15 a week. However, each child earns stars for different things. For our oldest who is struggling in school, he gets stars based on daily reports from his teacher. For our almost four year-old who is struggling with wetting her pants, she gets a star when she goes to the bathroom without me having to remind her. For two of the boys, it is eating their dinner (especially the veggies!) without complaining. The little girls and our toddler boy earn stickers for potty-training, helping clean-up their rooms and bathrooms in the morning, or little extra things that they do throughout the day. And oh my goodness, in the two days we’ve been doing this, it has completely changed the whole atmosphere of the house! We’re happier, they’re happier, and as all the kids work for their weekly stars (if the whole house can get 15 a week, then we’ll go do a special event on the weekend, such as going swimming or to the park, etc), it’s not a competition and they encourage each other. So for right now, we’re sticking to it, because it seems to be working! We may not need it in the future, but I think it will be a good thing for the summer, especially as we will probably have four kids going out with four new ones coming in.

So yes, yesterday was a good day. We had a lot of fun with the three toddlers in the morning (as we aren’t having them at Mom’s Morning Out for the next couple of weeks due to germ exposure and getting X adjusted we are doing some school activities here), and after school and homework, Jonathan and I played in the backyard with the kids until 5:30. So yep, supper was late, but we sure did have a lot of fun and good bonding time with them. And then Jonathan and I got to spend some good quality time with each other after the kids went to bed, and we enjoyed that; with a house of eight, we don’t always get to focus on each other!

Well, I’ve got laundry to fold, and Cheyeanne just had an accident, so I’m off to go clean that up! :-)

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired...

I don't know what it is lately, but I've been fighting one thing or another this past month. Ugh! Jonathan made me go see the doctor today (I had a check-up scheduled on Thursday, but he thought I was going to be dead by then). I'm glad I did - I have an upper respiratory infection, so I'm on antibiotics and a super-duper decongestant/expectorant.

And once again, my wonderful hubby saved the day! I had made supper at lunch time (chicken lasagna to throw into the over for a bit before supper), salad, and then just a loaf of garlic bread to heat up, so he served dinner and let me lay down. The only condition? That I bathe the three toddlers in the morning, and I said I could handle that! :-) But he even started a new motivation star/chart system with them, something we'd been talking about with them, but I hadn't had the time to put into motion yet.

Good news of the day is that baby is doing fine - 152 heartbeats a minute, and everything that is going on with my body is totally normal (minus the above mentioned infection). So yea there! I'll just be happy when I can talk again - I haven't had a voice in almost 3 days, and I have a list of people to call, be it for volunteers, Premier contacts, family catching-up, etc. I'm hoping to be better soon!

Our new little boy is adjusting well, and now that he has started eating (only took him 2 1/2 days!), is a bundle of joy. Laughs all the time, and is Jonathan's little puppy dog; follows him around everywhere, literally. He babbles constantly, but has a very small vocabulary for someone three months shy of turning three. Hopefully we'll see an improvement there in the next few months.

My thoughts are very scatter-brained at the moment (probably the medication!), so pardon the random post. Y'all have a great night!

A New Day For Me!

I've never gotten to celebrate Mother's Day for myself before, but this year is special. :-) It's funny - a year ago today we interviewed at Calvary Home; it's been a good year, but a full and busy year!

So Jonathan made me the coolest present that I got earlier in the week. As many of you know, we are addicted to a board game named "Settlers of Catan" and the various additional games that go with it ("Cities & Knights of Catan", and we are desperately trying to find a 3rd edition "Seafarers of Catan" to match the other two we have). Anyway, the boxes they come in are falling apart, so this is what Jonathan made for me:

It's a really cool antique-looking chest; I love being married to a guy who is very handy!

In the meantime, I'm not feeling so hot this weekend, which I hate, as this is our weekend off and our last weekend to go out of town, as my OB has "grounded" me after May 18th. So we are at the family farm in Georgia, relaxing, and just getting a chance to spend some quality time together. Jonathan's been very patient with me feeling yucky, which is great. We drove into Augusta last night to this really good Indian restaurant, the Taj of India. It was very authentic, and really good. I've been craving Indian for months now, and baby and I enjoyed vegetable samosa, chicken curry with balsamic rice, and lots of fresh naan very much! :-)

Right now we are both fighting a yucky cold that won't go away, and on top of that, my upper back has really been causing me problems for the past week (really bad since Friday), so I'm going to try and see if I can go in on Monday to see my chiropractor. For my pregnant friends, I highly recommend chiropractic care during pregnancy; it has helped so much! Over the past week, though, I've had the Webster Technique done, so my hip/tailbone problems have all but gone away, thanks to having a fantastic chiropractor. Hopefully, Dr. Clay can help with my upper back that has been acting up this weekend; I'd love to be able sleep well again!

I think that is about it for now - arrivederci!

A Bit Bummed Today...

*sigh*

It feels like one of those days today.

Or I should say, it is a good day with some of those moments in them.

For example, one of the older boys decided to gouge all over the very nice and polished dining room table while I was in the bathroom after lunch. It looks awful now. Needless to say, he's in a bit of trouble!!!

Or then there is the fact that we thought we'd be getting our tax stimulus via direct deposit here in the very nearby future. Nope. If you used your refund to pay your tax preparer, it will come by a paper check. So we wait for July. Not that we needed it for our budget this month (it is all earmarked to making a deeper dent in paying off our debt), but I'm bummed that I won't totally pay off another two or three accounts this month. I shouldn't complain - I have one ready to be destroyed and half of another one. Still a bit bummed, though.

But other than that, it has been a pretty good day. We have a new two year-old, Z. He's a cutie, but a handful! He can climb over everything, refuses to eat (though he did eat lunch today without throwing a tantrum at the table), no is his favorite word, and constantly chatters, but he's a good kid. On the great side, he is potty-trained and goes to bed and nap without a single problem (and stays dry!). X is incredible jealous, so she's been a bit cranky today.

Well, this is looking like another blog-and-run - I'm off to go do carpool.

Adios!

Pregnancy Perks

Had my first big perk in Walmart today, and yes, I know to never go to Walmart on a Saturday, but Jonathan really needed razor refills and I wanted to get the white border yarn for the baby blanket I'm making for our little one. Lines were horrid, and of course, I had to go to aisle 17, as they are where the razor refills are now (along with the cigarettes and tobacco). But as much as I felt embarrassed being the in cigarette line with 3 burly men buying beer and wings, but they were very sweet to eight-month pregnant woman and told me I could go the head of the line (one guy even told the guy in front of him to let me go first).

I guess it is another lesson in don't judge a book by its cover.

--Debbie

PS Unfortunately, Jonathan doesn't use Mach3 razors; he uses Mach3 Turbo razors. *sigh* I tried.

A Day of Rest

This post is dedicated to my awesome and wonderful husband, though I initially wasn't happy with him last night when he informed me that today would be a bed rest day for me. Truth be told, I needed it. I had a horrible weekend when it came to sleeping, due to a yucky head cold as well as bad allergies. Then we came home to two sick toddlers and if any of you have had toddlers, they are miserable little monsters when they don't feel. So it has gotten to the point where I hit the exhaustion wall and because of that, was pregnant-hurting, and that is when dear husband told me I was stuck to bed rest tomorrow so I would feel better.

So I rested today. And Jonathan cleaned. Did laundry. Took care of cranky X and Z. Brought me lunch in bed. Brought me a movie to watch in bed this afternoon between naps. Made fantastic southern BBQ and hash for supper (which he again, brought to me in bed). Got all the kids' to do their chores and into their baths. They are currently watching their Friday night movie (I told him I'd put them to bed), and he's outside working on the bobcat with Dexter.

I am much more rested, though will still sleep well tonight.

I have such a great husband - I am blessed more and more every day being married to him.

Baby Shower!!

This morning was my first baby shower, thrown by a handful of the women from Jonathan's family. It was totally lovely, very Christ centered, and it was great to see some people that I haven't seen since our wedding (and it was very hard to talk and fellowship with them then!). We also got some great stuff that we were very happy to get, especially some items for the nursery that Jonathan really, really wanted (and yes, I wanted it too!).

Here are some pictures:

This is the cake table, with a close-up below

Decorations in the living room:

Our cousin Natalie, who did a really sweet devotional instead of a game, which I loved. She had a piggy bank and a basket of gold dollar coins with a card that listen a virture, along with a short prayer and verse. We then passed the piggy bank and deposited our "blessings" into the bank, and prayed each virtue for our little girl. It was very meaningful and was my favorite part of the shower.

This is my 2nd cousin (and the newest addition to the family), Katie. She and our little one will be about five months apart. She has the craziest hair, but she was so cuddly and cute (and yes, she had two blowouts while we were there, so yes, we know about that part, too!).

And of course a picture of the mommy-t0-be, at her most exhausted state I've been in at a long time, but at a happy 31 weeks.

It's a Miracle!

I shouldn't use that word, but at this stage, sleeping through the night certainly feels like a miracle! I haven't slept all night in ages, and it felt so wonderful! I should enjoy it while it lasts, because I know it won't happen much from here on out for the next few months. :-)

It is definitely a calmer week than last week; I'm taking X to the doctor today, as she has not been herself in awhile - she's lost weight and isn't sleeping, but is tired and cranky all day. Then Jonathan and I get to go back to the OB Wednesday morning, the kids are out of school on Friday, and we head down to Columbia for five days Friday night! It should be a good weekend; Jonathan's dad will be in town, I have my first baby shower, a Premier Designs' Leadership Club dinner Tuesday night, we are working for MaMa for at least a day, and it looks as if both of Jonathan's parents will be leaving on Sunday, so we'll have the house to ourselves for a couple of days, and the downtime is much needed right now! I can't believe April is nearly over... where has the time gone!

And... we hit 30 weeks on Sunday! 3/4 of the way there! Woohoo! I keep dreaming about her... we are so looking forward to her coming (but not too soon!).

Here's some new pictures of us and the kiddos - enjoy!

What a Week!

Phew! I'm so glad it is Saturday! The boys are going roller skating this morning, so it just leaves us with the four girls for awhile. It has been a crazy week - field trips, DSS visits, my trip to the hospital, getting one of our girls ready to leave when her adoption is finalized in the next week or so, keeping the house up to DHEC and licensing standards for a surprise inspection we know is coming soon, doctor's visits to have warts removed and tonsils checked, training new volunteers... argh! It was busy!

It's been a good week, too; we've paid off two more of our smaller debts this month (a total of nine in the past two months), we had a ball yesterday afternoon cleaning house with all the kids (did you know you can clean a 6500 sq foot house in about two hours when you have seven kids helping out?), so if the weather holds, we'll go out for ice cream this afternoon. I'm feeling 100% better than I have in the past couple of weeks, everyone is finally well after about 2 1/2 weeks of a very nasty gastrointestinal bug. Then to top it off, Jonathan and I got to have a free date last night - we'd been given a gift card to the movies for Christmas, so we even splurged and got concessions, which we never do. However, that is the last movie we see in the theater until baby comes; I simply cannot sit for two hours in a chair without my tailbone lighting on fire!

I've also finally started on our daughter's baby blanket this week (I know, I know - it's a little late!), and Jonathan has put the nursery up and is probably 90% done with it. It's also been a week of dreaming - future jobs, saving a down payment for a house and how long that will take when we are debt free (this is of course after we start saving for retirement and a college fund for Baby Rogers), when we would want to start trying for Baby #2, etc. We're content here, but it is fun to plan for the future as well.

When Jonathan downloads pictures from the digital camera, I'll have some more pictures to post, but none right now. Have a blessed day, and I'm off to get the kiddos up before the toddlers wake up Jonathan!

My Day Didn't Go As Planned...

...when it includes a trip to the hospital for contractions.

Yep, you read right. I'm now the proud "owner" of a pre-term labor scare. Very not fun to wake up in the middle of the night hurting and wondering "is this a contraction or not", 'cause I've never had them before! But after about 8 in two hours, I called the OB and he told me to go on in. Needless to say, Jonathan is praying that Baby Rogers will be born in the day or at least after seven o'clock in the morning. Dragging him out of bed was not nearly as easy as getting one of the other houseparents on the campus to come crash on the couch.

The good parts of today? Well, it was a great trial run of what "B-Day" will be like; everything went perfectly smooth as we checked into the hospital and we even got to ride the special reserved "Mom Express" elevator up the 4th floor (which is the OB floor and yes, the elevator even has a sign on it with that). People, if you are pregnant, register early at your hospital! It makes emergency trips like this go so much easier and quickly!

But anyway, we were lead straight into our room, where I changed and was fitted with the fetal monitor. About five minutes into listening to our daughters heartbeat, yep, there came another contraction! I was so glad I had one there and that quick - I was scared they were going to think of me as the crazy-first-time-mother-who-thinks-every-ache-and-pain-is-labor. I had two more within 30 minutes, but by that time, they were pretty sure they knew what was causing my pre-term labor: an untreated and undiagnosed UTI. I didn't know that could cause pre-term labor, but yep, about 30-40% of women in their last trimester that have untreated UTI's go into labor early. It even says that in "What To Expect When You're Expecting", which of course I had to look up UTI's when we got home.

So now I'm home, doped up on meds, and though I still have the occasional contraction (they've gotten much, much less as the day has passed), I'm having a love/hate relationship with the medication I'm on. Love it because it keeps baby where she belongs for ten more weeks, but I hate it because it makes me groggy and kind of shaky. But she's been loving the attention; I think she's thrown a party in my uterus because she's been dancing a TON today, especially when she was hooked up to the fetal monitor. But they all say she seems to be perfectly strong and healthy, which makes us glad. The only other real downer I had to deal with today is that I had to postpone a Premier show tonight, but the hostess is a friend and she was very understanding.

Well, I love you all, but this has just about ate up the last part of my energy. I'm think I'm off to shower and go back to bed (and even maybe finish paying the rest of the bills). I'll keep you posted!