For those that didn't see The Man's comment on Friday's update...
It is a boy! We are all thrilled. Baby G was born on his due date, Saturday, October 25, at 9:57 a.m. (my apologies to those I have told the wrong time...blame sleep deprivation). He was 7 lbs., 9.8 ozs., and 19 1/2" long. We praise the Lord for this perfectly healthy baby and his safe arrival.
Some of you may wish to just skip ahead and look at the pictures. If you are the sort to want to know all the labor details, read on.
On Friday evening the contractions started back up much more seriously. By 10:00 p.m. The Man and I were loading up the rest of our stuff and were on the way to the hospital. By 11:00 I was hooked up to the monitors. The first contraction showed the baby's heart rate went way down following the contraction. It took a minute for it to come back up. I wasn't too concerned, but the nurse was. She made me lie down, put oxygen on me and called the doctor. The doctor came and observed a few contractions and said that everything looked just fine.
I was let off the monitor and given permission to move about as I pleased. The Man inflated and filled the pool that we brought. The hospital does have a physical therapy tub that the women can use during labor, but it is down the hall from the OB department. I received permission from my doctor and the nursing staff to bring my own pool to have in my room so I wouldn't have to be traipsing up and down the hallway while in labor. A few hours later I got in the pool and was able to doze for a while.
About 6:00 a.m. my doctor checked and said I was only 3.5-4 cm. The contractions had lessened considerably. She offered to let me go home or give me Cytotech to stimulate the labor. I wasn't excited about either of those options. Actually, since I hadn't had any real sleep since 2:30 Friday morning, I wasn't very excited about anything at that point.
After discussing it with The Man, I decided that I wanted to go the route that I did when A's labor stalled. I asked to have my water broken.
About 6:40, my doctor broke my water and put me back on the monitor. It didn't take long for the contractions to pick back up. I was 4.5 cm. when I was let off the monitor and I got back in the water.
After an hour they wanted to monitor me again. The contractions were very intense at that point. I asked The Man to get me a basin in case I needed to throw up. I did. I was somewhat surprised since I'd never gotten sick during my previous labors.
About 8:30 when they got me out of the water to monitor me again, I was about 6.5 cm. The doctor only monitored me through one contraction. I got sick again during that contraction so she let me get back in the pool right away, telling The Man to be sure and get her when I had the urge to push so she could get me out of the water and check me. She had already told me that we couldn't do a water birth!
The contractions got very intense even while I was the pool. I was beginning to wonder why I wasn't handling this labor as well as I had my previous labors. The contractions started coming fast and furious and I wasn't having very much fun!
Then I told The Man that I did need to push. He went out to the nurse's station to get the doctor. They came back in the room and she started to check my dilation, but noticed the baby was crowning. She told me to go ahead and push (which I was already doing), and during that one contraction, Baby G was born.
I held him for a minute while the nurse suctioned him and the cord was clamped and cut. It was then that we noticed the approximately 2 1/2 ft. cord had a true knot. That must have happened during his late night gymnastics last summer.
We got out of the pool, and the rest of the day was rather pleasant. He had a bit of bruising on his face due to his very rapid entrance, but there wasn't time for any head molding. He has dark hair, unlike his siblings who were all bald or blond.
First official bath at 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning...
At home Sunday night...
He reminds me the most of J. I need to pull out all the kids' baby pictures and compare.
We've had many "discussions" today about whose turn it is to hold him. I usually win. He likes to cuddle, eat, and sleep.
The Man is taking the week off from work. We're all going to try to get some rest now!
This post is dedicated to the lady that has checked my blog no less than EIGHT times today. Just what were you doing up at 4:30 this morning? I know that I was having contractions. Not huge big ones, but enough to move me beyond 3 cm.
I made up a list of all the stuff the kids were supposed to do today in case I wasn't here. Even though I was here, I just had them follow the list anyway. The house is now fairly well picked up, school work is done, and the kids are enjoying a video before supper. Now I need to make another list of what they are to do tomorrow in case we aren't here.
I do think it will happen tonight. Just because.
P.S. I just realized that this month I've had more blog posts than any other in the history of this blog. Of course most of them were to simply inform you of a non-event. :-)
I had my visit with the FNP yesterday. She is as anxious for me to have the baby as my doctor is. After assuring her that I am patient enough to wait until my due date (although I wouldn't be upset if baby decided to come early) or beyond, I made an appointment with my OB for next Wednesday. Although I fully expect to cancel that appointment, if I do make it there, we will discuss other options at that time since nobody likes to let pregnant ladies go beyond 41 weeks these days.
So, one way or another, I will have this baby by a week from tomorrow. Aren't you all glad that there is a definite end in sight? The FNP said I'm at least 3 cm. now, so progress is happening. I fully expect the baby to arrive Saturday on the due date. I think The Man is making sure that it happens then since, as far as I am aware, he hasn't lined up anyone to preach for him that day!
Sacagawea lost one of her front top teeth the other day. She had been wanting it out for quite a while since it was so hard for her to eat with the wiggly tooth there. We had wondered if her tooth or my baby would come out first. She won! I think she would have preferred for me to win that one.
P.S. The Man says he doesn't see a need to post an entire blog post when the baby comes, but he will leave a comment in my most recent post if need be.
It was a long and tiring day yesterday, but now my pantry is stocked, my refrigerators are full, and we don't have to take M to another music lesson until next Wednesday! I slept like a log last night and didn't get up until about 8 this morning. Whew!
Less than 24 hours after posting an update you folks started bugging me for another. I do have a life, you know! ;) I seem to be the only one not concerned that I haven't had this baby yet. It isn't even my due date!
With M (for those of you that are just itching for a birth story, click on links), based on dates and an early ultrasound, I was given due dates of either April 8 or 10. I went into labor on the evening of the 8th and he was born on the evening of the 9th (Saturday).
J ~ I was given a due date of May 30 based on dates. A few months later the sizes weren't matching up so an ultrasound was scheduled. Based on that ultrasound, I was given an approximate due date of June 25. My water broke on the afternoon of June 21 and I went into labor the morning of the 22nd. J was born about 6 hours later (Sunday).
S ~ based on dates I was given a due date of November 10. The ultrasound wasn't too far off, so the original due date was kept. He arrived on the morning of the 6th (Saturday).
A ~ due date of April 12, which was when she arrived (Friday).
Although a few of them arrived prior to their official due dates, none of them have gone past. With the exception of Sacagawea who arrived on her due date, the others were born on the weekend. Since my due date falls on this Saturday, I'm truly not going to get excited until then. If this one happens to arrive before then, great. If not, we'll deal with that concern the following Wednesday at my OB appointment. Yes, I am that patient! The baby will arrive exactly when he or she is good and ready!
Oh, by the way, my bags are packed and in the van. That is why you haven't seen any pictures lately. If I'm inclined to take some pictures, I have to get the camera out of the van, take the pictures, make sure the battery is charged, then return the camera to the van.
I still need to school The Man in the art of blogging. He should be able to find a computer somewhere in the hospital (if we don't take ours) to update y'all when the event occurs. Grandparents' phone numbers are in our cell phones so they will get official calls before a blog post!
We did make it up to the hospital yesterday to see The Man's assistant's new baby. The attempted induction for a VBAC turned into an early morning c-section. Mom and 8 lb. baby boy are both doing well.
We went to visit the other man who had surgery on Friday, but were very surprised that he had already gone home!
This morning we are headed up to the big city for shopping and music lessons. There is a special group music lesson this afternoon that M's piano teacher wanted him to attend, so we switched days this week. We won't be back until after 7:00 tonight. A long, long day!
Last night my 14-year old niece introduced me to Facebook. Over the past few months I have had some friends and family ask me if I had an account, so I thought I'd go ahead and give it a go.
I don't have time to randomly guess which people I know have accounts, so if you do, and you'd like to add us as a friend...
Our first name: Tree
Our last name: River
Clever, huh?
I may even put some actual pictures over there.
(This is my sneaky way of saying I didn't have the baby last night without posting a pregnancy update!)
I know some funny people. Last Wednesday night I was awake for quite awhile with some pretty heavy contractions. I told The Man that if the baby was going to come early it would be on Wednesday night due to my somewhat strenuous excursion to the big city on Wednesday. Nope. Nothing significant happened.
On Thursday afternoon a friend stopped by with a newer infant car seat for us. She said she had prayed the night before that I wouldn't have my baby yet because the cover she had washed was still air drying. Ahhh. So that's why baby didn't come!
Today I see that Ann has been hoping that baby news waits on her keyboard!
Carseat? Check.
Ann has her keyboard? Check.
I think we're ready for a baby!
In addition to The Man's brother's family, we also had another couple for lunch today. The Man and his brother knew the man from the church they went to as youth. We were surprised when we first visited our current church to learn that he had re-married a lady here. We've enjoyed having them in our church the past five years, and we're sad that they have sold their house and are moving to Washington to be closer to her family. We all had a wonderful time singing after lunch as our sister-in-law played the piano, our niece played the violin, and M played the organ (given to us by this couple).
The couple went home, and everybody else (except me!) headed for a walk behind our property in the National Forest. A few minutes after they left, it occurred to me that I could hear the water running in the bathroom. Uh-oh. I shut off the water, grabbed some towels, and called The Man on his cell phone. I knew he couldn't have gotten very far. He ran back to the house and took care of the puddles over behind the toilet that I couldn't bend over to reach. I am so glad that I stayed behind, otherwise we all would have returned to a major flood!
We may head up to the hospital later this afternoon, evening, or perhaps tomorrow. The Man's assistant's wife was actually induced this morning, so we would like to go see that baby. Also, we found out that The Man's 2nd cousin and family are up here because his father had surgery yesterday. We want to get up to the hospital to see all of them also. Perhaps I may even need to go to the hospital to have this baby!
Here is another quick update to let everyone know we are still patiently waiting. The doctor's appointment on Thursday was fairly non-eventful except that things are slowly progressing as they should. My doctor offered to induce me if I wished, especially since she's heard rumors that we didn't make it to the hospital for S's birth. My doctor is on call this weekend, next weekend (my due date) and the following weekend, so at least she will be the doctor present when the baby is born.
I did get a lecture from the nurse since I haven't gained any weight over the last three weeks. I really haven't had much of an appetite lately. Even if I did, I'm not sure if there is any more room in there for additional food.
The Man's brother and family are coming up tomorrow for church. The Man thought he should have someone else lined up to preach just in case we have somewhere else we need to be.
I am completely appalled at the amount of sawdust in my house. Apparently installing a sliding glass door is a very messy undertaking! This morning M went out to the shop to get the shop vac for me. It is one of those items that came with the house, and it is not the greatest machine, but I would rather suck up the sawdust and nails with that than my good vacuum. I'll still need to go over the living room again with the real vacuum, but this will be a good start. I have to round up another extension cord before I finish that project.
I am managing to get a good sleep about every other night. Last night was not one of the good nights. I got to bed about 11:00, woke up at 12:30 and didn't get back to sleep until after 5:00 a.m. There weren't any heavy contractions or unnecessary baby movements (child has been behaving wonderfully), but I had terrible heartburn most of the night. I keep a bottle of antacids on my bedside table and I usually take a dose once or twice at night. This morning it occurred to me that I really have no idea how many I took last night! I've never worried about O.D.ing on antacids before, but I'll need to watch that more closely.
Tomorrow The Man has to work all day so I'll be taking the kids to M's piano lesson in the morning, then a trip to the big city for a Costco and grocery run, then back to M's violin lesson, and then home. The Man informed me over the weekend that M's violin lesson was switched from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. this week. That wasn't going to work because I had an OB appointment scheduled at 3:45. I called Monday to reschedule my OB appointment for Thursday. A few hours later M's violin teacher called to say that we could do the violin lesson at the regular time. Eh. I had already started my Costco list, and since we wouldn't otherwise have time to make the trip, we're keeping the 3:30 lesson time. This (hopefully) will be the last chance I have to do a trip to Costco and the grocery store with cheap prices (but we have to bag everything ourselves) before the baby is born.
So, don't be concerned if you don't hear from me tomorrow since we'll be gone all day. Don't expect to hear from me Thursday either. Friday will be busy also since The Man is planning on working all day (his assistant's wife may be induced that day--they didn't coordinate their wives' due dates very well!). The weekend isn't looking too good for an update...
I will try to let y'all know if and when ;) the baby does arrive, but no news means no news!
Still waiting! We all are getting anxious to meet the new little one. Even The Man has started nesting.
Last week The Man assembled the little bed for the baby. I found this neat bed online, but I didn't think this particular design would work with our bed (not to mention that I found the cost exorbitant for the few months it would be in use). I sent the link to my dad with all the changes that I wanted made. Last summer he designed and cut out all the pieces and sent it back with us when we visited. For the past 4 months,the pieces have been patiently waiting in the corner of the bedroom. Now it is assembled and installed on my side of the bed, just waiting for the baby! I would like to prime and paint it first, but The Man thinks it looks great as it is. I may get it done, but it is not a priority right now.
This morning The Man attached the supports that fit snugly under our bed frame to keep the baby bed from tipping or moving away from our bed. He also attached a top to some drawers in our bathroom...now we have an official changing table!
Yesterday The Man cleaned out the chimney so we are using our wood stove for heat now. He also installed the new sliding glass door that we purchased. I really wanted it done so that I wouldn't have to be the one to open the door for the kids when they bring in wood. Yesterday was the first perfect day that we've* had for the job. The frosts that we've had have killed off most of the bugs and and it wasn't too chilly during the day to have an 8-foot opening in our living room. He still has a bit of trim work to finish up, but I'm really liking the new door!
Last night a church member brought a few bushels of apples for us. The Man and children are excited about making some apple sauce this afternoon. I better go start washing some jars!
*I did give my opinion a few times, and even helped steady the door during installation, but I left the hard work to The Man and boys.
Don't assume anything, especially when you hear water splashing in the bathroom. After a minute I finally went in to tell whichever child was in there to quit playing in the water. HA! No child was there, but water was running over the edge of the toilet bowl and there was 3 inches of water behind the toilet on the "low side" of the bathroom. It is times like this that I'm thankful the floors in our old house slope a bit!
I immediately shut off the water to the toilet and yelled for someone to bring me towels and the mop. I would have gotten them myself, but my socks were wet from getting over near the toilet to shut off the water. M brought me two towels. NO! TOWELS! LOTS OF THEM!!! You would think they would learn that when I yell for towels AND a mop, that mama needs more than two measly towels.
I got all the water sopped and mopped up off the floor. That bathroom is officially out of order until The Man gets up from his nap (tonight he is working his last shift in the ER until after the baby is born). I cleaned up the mess so I'll let him make sure it won't happen again.
This is not exactly my idea of nesting, but at least that bathroom floor will be nice and clean!
I'm very pleased to report that I went to bed at 8:30 p.m. last night. Despite the contractions I was feeling in my back, I didn't have too much trouble drifting off to sleep. Sometime during the night I woke up and turned over to my other side. Just before 8:00 a.m. The Man came back into the bedroom to get ready for work. That was when I woke up for the day. Ahhhh. I'm so glad that this baby is taking the concerns I expressed yesterday seriously. He or she is now happily wiggling about. I think the rest was good for the baby also.
My OB appointment yesterday (actually, it was with the FNP) went well. Blood pressure, weight, movement, size, and position were proclaimed perfect. 2 cm., just a lip of the cervix left, and baby's head at +2 for those that actually follow such statistics. Basically, that just means that things are progressing as they should be.
I've got to go do some more school with the kids. Then we may even go clean the bathrooms I didn't get to do this morning.
These pictures were still hanging out on our computer, so I'll put them here. The Man took the children to the balloon fair a few weeks ago. I stayed home and rested went to the gym, fed the horse, fed the chickens, fed the dog, and cleaned the house.
******
M E M O
Date: October 8, 2008
To: Baby
From: Mother
Subject: Sleeping Arrangements
It has come to my attention that there are lots of other things you would rather do than sleep. At this point in your life, your non-sleeping activities have mainly consisted of rolling, kicking, and punching. That is fine. Actually, it is exactly what is expected of you, and you may continue for the duration of your time within the womb.
However, repeated abuse of these other activities at times in which your mother is supposed to be sleeping (as in the few weeks before you make your out-of-the-womb debut) is not appreciated and will be met with dire consequences. When these activities are alternated with whatever it is you do to make the uterus contract, it makes for a long and sleepless night for me, your mother. 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m. is not a sufficient night's sleep for me. No longer will I lie in bed quietly until 3:00 a.m. waiting for you to settle down. I will get up earlier to call your bluff (some people refer to it as "nesting"). Yes, the kitchen floor DID need to be mopped. I'm so sorry if it disturbed YOUR sleep.
Tomorrow morning we can clean the bathrooms if you so desire. I'm sure the rest of the family would enjoy fresh homemade biscuits every morning (they gave me heartburn). Last, but not least, we could be at the gym when they open tomorrow morning also. That leisurely mile on the treadmill certainly kept you kicking and the uterus contracting. Oh, that "whump, whump" you felt was my legs hitting my abdomen while cycling. Either settle down, come on out, or learn to deal with it.
I love you.
Mom
*****
I did get a few minutes of dozing done between contractions after The Man and boys left for M's music lessons. Sacagawea and I will head up to the city after lunch to do a bit of shopping and go to my OB appointment.
Here are a few pictures from the baby shower at the church last Saturday night. We now have pretty much all that we need except newborn-sized diapers. We'll remedy that today.
Our baby and the almost 1 year old that just moved in with his grandma were the recipients of the gifts.
M took all of these pictures. Almost all of the family pictures were "headless." Maybe I should explain to him that I can crop them on the computer for the blog.
A knitted blanket and little blue cap.
A pink and white crocheted blanket...with an assurance that a blue and white blanket is all ready for a trade in case Sacagawea doesn't get her wish of a baby sister.
Many, many other gifts plus a nursery monitor as a group gift from the church...
I think it is time for another nap.
First official bath at 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning...
At home Sunday night...
He reminds me the most of J. I need to pull out all the kids' baby pictures and compare. 
We've had many "discussions" today about whose turn it is to hold him. I usually win. He likes to cuddle, eat, and sleep.
The Man is taking the week off from work. We're all going to try to get some rest now!
