Labor

Well, I meant to get on here and post about the day Lucy was born before I forgot all the details... but it has been BUSY around here! She's almost two weeks old! I'll do the best I can...
Wednesday morning (one day past her due date) I woke up around 7:30ish... feeling small contractions, but that was not unusual... I had been feeling like I was in labor for weeks. I had my weekly app0intment that morning at 8:40 so Jeff stayed with the kids and I went to the doctor. I waited for Dr. Tag for a LONG time... I think it was about 9:30 when she finally came in. All the while contractions where getting a little stronger about every 6 or 7 minutes. Anyhow she checked me and I was at 4cm, so she told me I was crazy for going there instead of the hospital and sent me straight from there to the hospital. (except I had to go home first to get Jeff... Dr. was not happy to hear I had driven myself there in labor) So I headed home to get Jeff... called my AMAZING friend Ann to come stay with the kids... called my sister and cousin.. all the important people who had to know!
I don't know what time we got to the hospital... it was all very confusing... Kennestone Hospital had changed a LOT since we were last there. (surprising since it was only 19 months ago when Lyla was born!) So here I am in the picture after finding the labor and delivery department and getting all checked in... around 11ish.. maybe even 11:30am. Lots of contractions... not sure how often, Jeff and I have never been very good about timing contractions. I quickly changed clothes and laid down, water broke, contractions got much much worse... waited for what seemed like a long time for the anesthesiologist, just after he left I posted on facebook that I was in labor (not sure why... seemed appropriate at the time), that was at exactly 1:30pm (thank you facebook for the time stamp), just after that the doctor came in to break my water (thought that was weird since my water had already broken) and was surprised that I was already fully dilated and ready to push! So he left to "get ready", came back and chatted with the nurses for a very long time about a vacation in Denver... then FINALLY he was ready... pushed a few (maybe 3 or 4) times and Lucy Rae was born at 1:56pm! Although it was several minutes before we knew baby #4 was a girl because she was a meconium baby and was not breathing. Thankfully the respiratory team was waiting for her and they had her cleared out and breathing on her own pretty quickly. However she did NOT regain color very quickly so I am not posting any of the delivery room pictures of her because she was so blue they are upsetting to look at.
Other fun delivery room things: My sister had called our brother after I had talked to her in the morning so just minutes after Lucy started breathing (before they handed her to me or had weighed her or anything) they walked in expecting to find me still in labor! They were surprised to hear a baby cry when they came in. Fun for Lucy to get to meet her Aunt Lyndsay and Uncle Myles so soon after birth (again, not posting the pictures... still very very blue). Poor Uncle Myles thought he was coming to say hi and then heading to the cafeteria for some lunch while he waited. He gets disappointed when he doesn't get the whole waiting experience. :)
Anyhow, she weighed 8lbs 12oz and 19.7 inches long... we were surprised at how big she was! And so so so thrilled to have another baby girl.

Easter Egg Hunt

Saturday morning we headed out to our Church Easter Egg Hunt. This year they had 40,000 eggs! The kids also had a fun time playing on the jumpies and in the petting zoo. It was a fun morning/afternoon!

Lyla, Maddy and Ava

Luke, Brodey (looking oh so excited to be sitting with all the babies), Lyla, Maddy, Ava, Caleb and Brock

Jeff caught this picture of our Pastor and Lyla... he carried her around for while... she LOVES him.

After the egg hunt we came home and helped daddy assemble our new (to us!) play set!

This video is for Luke's mommy... he is sooooo hilarious. So wish I would have taken the time to focus my camera before I shot this, but it's still so cute. The boy likes to dance!

They think they're funny.

This is what the boys looked like when they got up the other morning. "we have biiiiiiiiig bellies like MOMMY!!" funny.

Silly boys

This is just a list of a few silly things that I have facebook'd about but want to document here for the sake of the blog book.


Brock to Brodey: "let's get out of here before mommy pukes on us!" (this was whispered to him in the bathroom.)

While picking Brodey up from school he smiled huge at me and then gave me the finger. His teacher and I both gasped and then she hurriedly shoved him in the car. Driving away I ask him why he did that and he says, "what? show you my pointy finger nail??" Too bad his teacher didn't hear his explanation!

brodey just ran out of the bathroom naked, spread his cheeks apart and said, "mom... did I wipe good? i can't tell." this is my life.

brock at the dinner table: "don't eat my cookie biiiiiiig mama." emphasis on big.

Brodey told a woman in the grocery store the other day, "a baby is going to come out of my mom's belly and it's going to be naaaaked!" so exciting.

Brock: "mom... when your belly isn't GIANT HUGE anymore, you can wrestle with us again right??" (giant AND huge. Thanks Brock.)

Preschool Christmas Program

Lyla, patiently waiting for the show to start

My little angel: top row, second from left. He was so far back I had to take his picture every time his little face came on the big screen.
Sitting with the girls. Doesn't he look excited???! He did really well singing, but we could tell he was concerned that he couldn't see us out in the audience.

To clear up the confusion I marched myself right down to the front and yelled his name right in the middle of the program... he was very happy to see me!

After the program we went back to Brodey's classroom for "refreshments". Brock, of course, had to sit at the table with Brodey.

Me and my 3.6 kids

It's a.....

Healthy baby!! As usual, we did not find out the gender of our baby... but we were VERY HAPPY to hear that everything about the baby looks perfect and healthy. Boy or girl... we are very excited!!

The boys are both saying it's a boy, and his name will be "Logan"... so cute. I'm also guessing boy... I really want to use the name Henry... Jeff has no guess. He is just excited about being the father of FOUR!

Here we all are waiting in the waiting room... Brodey was thrilled. He kept saying, "We are having another baby!!! I'm so excited!!" Then he got really serious and asked if it was going to be really scary when the baby came out. Poor guy thought the baby was going to be born that day! He was disappointed but got over it quickly when we saw the sonogram. They both did much better this time than they did with Lyla's sonogram!

Party of 6

That's right! We're having another baby! We found out on July 28, 2009 but waited until now to commit it to the blog just in case it was a mistake. Which we thought it might be considering we were not planning on having another baby. Turns out, pregnancy tests don't turn positive by mistake! But, after one ultrasound, LOTS of throwing up and hearing the heartbeat today... I'm starting to believe that it really is a baby. We are embracing the craziness of 4 kids in 5 years and can't wait to meet baby number 4! Let's hear it for the BIG families!!

Meeting her brothers

Me: "Brock! You have a sister!"

Brock: "see my motorcycle?"

He didn't even look at her. Brodey came in.. smiled at me.. then said "Can I eat your breakfast?"

The men working outside were much more exciting to them.

Brodey warmed up to her pretty fast... he wanted to hold "him".

Brock was too busy checking out the hospital. He loved to push the buttons on the bed. I'm not sure he knew why we were there. At one point Jeff was holding Lyla and talking to her and I look over and Brock is standing face to face with a floor fan saying, "Hi fan!" in much the same voice Jeff was taking to Lyla in.

It wasn't until we got in the car to come home that he realized we had an extra. He looked over in her car seat and got really excited.. "BABY!" he kept yelling and pointing. He was excited she was coming with us.

Since we have been home the boys have loved all over her. Neither one of them seems to be jealous. The want to hold her all the time and kiss her head. They are both still calling her a "he" or "him".... we all are! I still can't get used to saying "she". And they don't understand why she's not sleeping in their room with them. Or why I won't put her down to run around with them. I told Brodey she can't stand up yet and he said, "well, lets just try it and see".

Lyla is the luckiest girl in the world to have two big brothers! Especially these two... they are going to take great care of her.

Update...

I've had several requests this morning for an update... so here ya go. Went to the doc yesterday for the non-stress test (apparently the norm when you are past due)... I'm 2cm. Non-stress test again tomorrow and again on Monday if necessary. Good news is baby is looking good... probably toddler size by now... but looking good anyway!

Brodey had his second day of preschool today.. we braved the carpool line this time... he did great.. such a big boy walking into school with his bag over his shoulder. I asked him what he learned when we picked him up... "My head is round like a circle."

While Brodey was at school Brock and I went for a long walk, played on the playground, and then went to Dairy Queen and split a banana cream pie blizzard. At 10:30am. I think he likes having a pregnant momma. It has been fun spending some time with just him before the baby gets here.

First day of Preschool..

Today was the big day! Here he is still sleeping...


And Brock sleeping... it was a big day for him too.

Here is his foot... when he woke up and realized I was taking pictures of him he was not too thrilled and tried to block the camera with his foot.

Then I reminded him that he was going to school today and he perked up a bit.

Here we are... all dressed and ready to go (40 weeks, 4 day pregnant.. that's all I have to say about that)

Daddy stayed a little later than normal to see him off.

Here's Brodey waiting for school to start...

He had a great day! And I was a good mom and didn't cry until we got back to the car. He hugged and kissed me at the door and then marched right in.. no looking back. I can't believe what a big boy he is! When I picked him up he was all smiles. He said he made a new friend, but he doesn't know what his name is.

Brock and I went to Target while Brodey was at school... it's never been just me and Brock before. I don't think he knew what to do... for the first half hour he would only whisper to me and he wanted to hold my hand a lot. It was so funny how different his personality was with out Brodey around.

To celebrate we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch and Brodey told us all about his big day. (mostly about the playground and what he had for snack.)

40 weeks, 3 days

I have officially never been this pregnant. Brodey was 5 days early, Brock was 6 hours and 27 minutes late. 9 months of expecting an August baby and here it is September!! I have to say though, this is not as bad as I thought it would be. (Aside from the nausea... but really I can't remember what it's like to not be nauseous, so that's not too bad either.) The extra time made it possible for us to finish all our "projects", get the house cleaned up, stock up on groceries, PUT THE CAR SEAT IN THE CAR... I even organized all our files and banking! Now today we are actually able to rest and do fun things... it has been a long while. We went out for breakfast, played at a park, watched a little league baseball team practice, visited a friend.. after naps we plan on cooking out with some good friends we haven't had time to see in a while. I think maybe this baby has been waiting on US to get ready.

I don't know if Jeff would say the same. The further we get from our due date, the more nervous he gets. Yesterday I had two tiny contractions back to back and then got to witness him frantically pack a bag (that's right... bags hadn't even been packed). He packed several pairs of socks, when I asked why he says, (in all seriousness) "my feet get cold when I'm nervous." Last night he put his feet on me... they where ice cold. Poor guy... I don't remember him being this nervous with the other two.

Anyhow... my new guess is Friday, SEPTEMBER 5th, 1:15am. Still a boy... same size that I said before. (I want to wait until Friday now so I don't miss Brodey's first week of school!)

40 weeks, 1 day

This is what I get for saying last weekend was my last ever pregnant weekend. ;)

Oh yes, still pregnant.

Just a few pictures from the weekend (hopefully my last ever pregnant weekend). Jeff and the boys spent the day on Saturday watching movies on a stack of pillows while I went to a wedding. (They were also "supervising" some work that was being done in the basement.. which is really the reason they skipped the wedding.)

And a picture of me and Brodey comparing bellies. Mine is bigger.

Jeff told me whenever he thinks about this pregnancy he will think of this purple dress... as I have worn it pretty much everyday for at least the past two months. He says "what are you going to do when you aren't pregnant anymore and you can't wear that purple dress??" The first time I wore it Brock went and found him a blanket (a sheet actually), wrapped it around him and said, "wook mom.. I make tent too!!" Tent, even he can see that this is more of a tent than a dress. He was more amused by that than I was.

Final Guess?

One more week to go (hopefully not more!) before we have this baby. I wanted to document our final guesses before it is too late.

Me:
August 28th, 3:46am
Boy
8 lbs 5 oz, 20 in

Jeff:
August 30th, Kickoff Alabama/Clemson game
Boy
7 lbs 14 oz, 20 in

Brodey:
Another Brock. And we will call him Brock.

Brock:
"Girwl"

I see from my poll that 29 out of 39 people think we are having a girl... my intuition has yet to be wrong.. but we shall see!

Getting Ready for Baby

We spent this week getting the baby's room ready. Wondering why we have such a small room in our house? It's our master bedroom closet. It's not child abuse if there are windows! Brock slept here too... the plan was for him to spend 3 months... I liked having him so close he ended up not moving out of the closet until he was 18 months old. Brodey and Brock are sharing a room now... so in a few months (or whenever I feel like it!) this baby will have an actual room on the other side of the house by the boys.

Also, two much requested pictures of me 27 months pregnant (actually 38 weeks). Jeff was teasing me.. which is why I found it so difficult to smile. ;)

Brodey's goal: Public Embarrassment

Yesterday one of Jeff's friends came home with him to help him move some things. Brodey says to them: "Were didn't have lunch today" (he says were instead of we). Of course we had lunch... I don't know where he comes up with these things.

Today at Barnes and Noble we stopped to play with the trains for a little while. There were 4 other moms and their boys playing too. One of the moms says to her boy "It's time to go.. we need to meet daddy for lunch." Brodey chimes in and says, "Were don't have a daddy." All eyes turn to look at the giant pregnant woman too swollen to wear wedding rings. What does one say to that??

Just two of several reasons I'm concerned about him starting preschool, away from me, in two weeks.

Dr. Daddy

Today Brodey was hugging my belly and started yelling "BABY!! Come out of there already!!". Then he looked at me and said "when is this baby going to come out??". So I asked him how he thought the baby was going to get out of there (risky question, I know). Here's Brodey's 3.5 year old take on childbirth:
"First daddy is going to get a big knife and cut your belly off (there were hand motions with this explanation) and then the baby will be out!" Big smile.
Me: "but Brodey.. won't that hurt????"
Him: "well yeah, but I will bring you a band-aid and it will feel better."
Me: "don't you think I should go to the hospital for that and have the doctor do it?"
Him: "NO! Daddy can do it."

We left it at that.

I for one am thankful that is not how this baby is coming out.

VBS 2008

We had Vacation Bible School at our Church last week... Ropin' Round-up, so we got to dress like cowboys! The boys loved it.