"Ours Baby"

 

Throughout my pregnancy, Luke absolutely adored my belly & the baby growing inside.  Talk about endearing.  He would cuddle my belly & whisper to baby, lotion my belly poolside & before bedtime, loved feeling baby's movements, and I could always count on him to rip up my shirt in public in order to give baby a big hug, kiss, or zerbert!  In the weeks leading up to baby's birth, Luke began asking me "when's ours baby coming?"....."when's ours baby gonna be here?".  He was as anxious as the rest of us to finally meet "ours baby"!  I knew I didn't have many, if any, photos of him with my belly...so we decided to take a few....and 5 hours later I was in labor!        

 

 

I started feeling contractions around midnight.  They weren't more painful than braxton hick's can be, but there was an intensity there that I couldn't deny...although I was trying too.  After 5 natural births, I remember everything, & fear...of the known and unknown...begins to creep in. I told Jed we might be heading up to Titusville...he knew we would.  I finally packed my hospital bag....Jed took a nap.  Then, I took a shower & laid down & realized that I couldn't delay the inevitable any longer...it was time to go.  Jed's parents came around 2 a.m. & we started the hour drive to the hospital....with contractions 4 min. apart.  We arrived at the hospital around 3 a.m....I was 3 cm.  At 4 a.m.,  after all of  the normal paperwork & monitoring of baby, they let Jed & I walk the loop of the maternity wing, which, along with Jed, is a staple of my laboring.  We walked, breathed through contractions together, & tried to figure out a boy's name!  Around 5 a.m. the nurse said it was time to monitor baby another 20 minutes.  At 5:20, just before getting ready to walk again, she checked me, I was 4-5 cm.  I was a bit surprised I wasn't further along because contractions had been much stronger....I looked at Jed and told him we might be in this for the long haul....he shook his head no.  At 5:30 a.m., one of the other nurses, Michelle, came in to check me too & asked me about when my water broke with previous births.....as we talked, my water broke!  She checked me and said I was 6+ cm!!!!  Of course, I couldn't walk the halls now & there wasn't much Jed or anyone could do....so I had to just get out of my head and let my body take over...extremely difficult to do as contractions are doubling up and coming less than a minute apart...Jed had to remind me to keep breathing through them.  Around 5:50 I felt the urge to push & I told Jed I think they needed to check me...the nurse heard me and ran in & checked me, she said I was at 10.  Dr.Ferreira had just arrived and he heard from the hallway that I was at 10....he came in immediately to check me and also discovered that the baby was breech.  No one was expecting that...especially me.  I asked if I needed a c-section and he said the baby would be here too quickly.  He mentioned that there were risks but he felt things would be ok being that it was my 6th baby..."we're just gonna go ahead and deliver this baby breech", he said.  And we did.  Because baby came out bum first and bent in half, no one could tell the sex of the baby until she was unfolded on my belly...that's right, "she"!!!!  We had a healthy and beautiful baby girl to love:

 

Jenna May

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

6:02 am

7lbs. 11 oz., 20 in.

   

 

 



 

Can't even describe how blessed and thankful we felt to be holding our sweet, long awaited,

 Jenna May.  

 



The kids skipped school and came to meet "ours baby"....it was love at first sight!



 

 

Jenna and I were discharged on Thursday, Sept. 27th and Jed & the boys came to bring us home.

They are so proud of their baby sister!  She has no idea what a lucky girl she is.

 

 

And Luke is taking his new role as Big Bro seriously:  someone has to remember the diaper bag!

 

 

 

 

 

The girls welcomed us home with the biggest smiles I've ever seen!  This is one of my favorite pictures...they haven't stopped loving on her :)

 

It's a Girl!!!

No, sorry, we don't know what we're having......it's a BIRTHDAY Girl!

Ella Bella is 6!

Again (like the past 2 years!), she insisted on a "baby" party. This has nothing to do with us expecting a baby and EVERYTHING to do with her love of babies :) So we went with it...right down to the baby shower balloon and "New Baby" plates that she picked!

Thursday morning started out, as it should! I was volunteering in her class that afternoon and decided to surprise her with McDonald's and have lunch with her beforehand. It was great....maybe too great....because as soon as we got back to class & started writing, little Ella just started tearing up and crying! Her teacher was at a loss & said "I never see this side of her"! Leave it to Mom to bring out the worst. The problem was she wanted me to stay or to come home with me, neither of which was happening....so she cried for a good 15-20 minutes! I felt horrible that she was so upset, especially on her birthday! Her teacher was awesome about it....pulled Ella aside and did the "teacher" thing....then she slowly got it together. One little boy in her class, David, was so concerned about her being upset and really tried to help. The pregnancy hormones are flowing here, so David nearly had me in tears with his sweetness ;) Anyhow, David suggested Ella show me her journal.....just what we needed! We giggled at her stories & pictures & Ella was back to herself.....phew!.....just in time to head to computer! So much for writing!!!! Moral of the story: I'm only volunteering in the morning.....by the afternoon she's just too tired and seeing Mommy puts her in a tailspin!

After all of that, I came home to make Ella's cupcakes!

She LOVED them!!! Babies...what's not to love??

This is the look of sheer joy.....as Ella opens the only thing she really wanted: high heels!!!!

Sometimes I wonder if she really is my daughter......

She almost teared up again after blowing out her candles because she forgot to make a wish! We quickly did a "take 2"........then she whispered to me "Mom, I wished that you will be with me forever" :)

After cake and ice-cream, she put on her pj's and nearly passed out on the couch. We could tell she had been pretty tired all day....reminded us of Berenstain Bears' "Too Much Birthday"!!!

Thanks to everyone for making our sleepy 6 year old feel extra special!

A Monster Bash

We celebrated Luke's 3rd Birthday on Saturday! Time flies, seems I was just blogging his 2nd birthday......silly me ;)

Anyhow, we started off his day right: Waking him up...like it or not....with his birthday breakfast in bed...nothing fancy, but the kids LOVE this!!!

The boys and I made his "monsir tuptakes" on Friday...they were tons of fun to make with them and Luke was THRILLED!!!! He couldn't have been more excited over these things!

I have to admit, I definitely shared in his excitement!!!

Enjoying Mema's number cookies....more monsters!

His prized birthday gift! Once this thing was opened, he spent the rest of the night sweeping! He would try to put it down, but coudn't stand it...he'd have to get back up and sweep!!! Thank you Mema and Pappy!!! He's a huge helper sweeping the house with the real thing, but I had to lock it up when the job was done, because he'd want to lug the huge thing around all day & keep sweeping...now we all have the best of both worlds!

Thanks to Grandma and Papa and Mema and Pappy for coming to celebrate our little monster and to everyone for thinking of Pookie on his special day! We love you!

Our Sweet Valentine

We spent Valentine's Day sharing some very special news with the kids:

They are all pretty excited about this little Love :)

None more than our baby-lovin' Ella Bella...pretty sure we made her year (atleast until late Sept!)
She wants to be the first to hold the baby, she wants baby to sleep right beside her in her room, and she keeps telling me "Mom, I am SO (with an eye roll) excited about this baby, and you know why, right?...cause I LOVE babies"! No doubt, SHE will be the baby hog ;)

Emma and Anna quickly realized what a change this would be for our family....more specifically, them. Emma's biggest concern was if we could still go to the beach & was quite relieved when we said yes! Anna was immediately trying to figure out where baby would sleep, where baby would fit in the van (won't), and was saddened a bit thinking about all of the attention baby would receive...I expected this a little from her. We had a little talk and the next day she told me "Mom, I'm so excited for the baby now since you explained about how babies can't do things like I can and that you and Daddy love us all the same".....love you, Boo! Ty is pulling for a boy.....hoping that with 3 boys, he might end up with the neat loft

bed the girls have :)

Then there is Pookie.

He is so sure he is having a "sis-sir".....it may or may not have something to do with the fact that he is smitten with his newest cousin, Gracie Marie......

Hope you all had a Valentine's Day full of love too ;)

Happy Birthday, Pook!

My baby is already 2!

He's so stinkin' cute, but he REALLY turned on the charm today! Of course, when you start the day off with powdered donuts and cake batter....you're bound to be H-A-P-P-Y :) Seriously though, I wish I could just bottle up everything about him right now & save it. Forever. His beaming smile. His kisses (he finally learned to pucker!). His silliness. Even the way he yells (and I mean yells) "Mom....mama.....mamom" everytime he wants to show me something or needs anything.

All of his birthday charm made for some precious memories & adorable photos.

I didn't want the day to end!

I don't know if we have a future chef on our hands, or if it was my imitation of Dana Carvey's SNL skit, "choppin' brocco-lay", but he LOVED helping chop!

Mema's number cookies are always a hit! And Luke hit them....hard.



His little party was a bit of a camping theme.....had to test out his new camp chair.
He'll be happier in it once he learns how to get out of it!



It may have taken him 2 years to get the hang of the present opening thing....but he's already a pro! The sweetest thing was the way he kept lining up his lantern, water bottle, and bubble tumbler just perfectly before he'd move on to opening the next gift.



See.....checking to make sure they're lined up!




The $2 bubble tumbler from walmart may have been his favorite gift! He was so proud of himself for learning to blow bubbles.....and he was practicing his new-found bubble blowing skills between almost every gift!



So excited about his first wheels!

Luke, we're s'more in love with you each year!

Our "real" group photos ;)

Well, like I said, I didn't want the day to end....so we kept the little man up until almost 10:30!

By 10:30 Friday morning, he just couldn't keep going & absolutely passed out on me...for the 1st time in months.

He may be 2, but he's still my baby!

Buddies.

They are.

It is one of the sweetest things. Luke will call for me in the morning....and when I don't respond fast enough, he quickly changes to yelling "El-waa....El-waaaa....El-waaaaaa". She gets a huge smile on her face, kind of rolls her eyes(to fake annoyance), then goes RUNNING to him with all the excitement of a new Mommy:)

The Snowy Day(s)