Wordless Wednesday: Our New Love

Baby Boy

Tonight I met someone I've loved for a long time.

Abram Timothy is here.

His birth is quite a story; I'll share it soon.

Abram Timothy

7 lbs. 13 oz.

19 inches

6:13 pm

37 Weeks

Thirty-seven weeks.
Hm.

That point in pregnancy when people usually respond with some variation of "So, wow--the baby could really come any time!"

I've heard that before.
I think it makes the next several weeks seem awfully long.  Because I know from experience that I could be pregnant for quite awhile yet!
On the other hand, it's good to be ready just in case baby does come early-ish.

So, I've washed up a little bit of pink and a little bit of blue and the handful of gender-neutral little bitty things that I've accumulated over the years of having babies.


Even though this is my tenth baby, there are still a lot of "new" things for me.

For one, planning to have the baby at home.  All the other children have been born in a hospital; eight under obstetrical care in our local hospital and #9 was with a midwife in a different hospital.  It's new to me to know that I won't have to stress about when to make the decision of when to leave for the hospital.  Everyone scares you with their stories of women having babies in the car, and how you'd better run to the hospital at the first twinge because after one or two babies, you know, they just practically fall right out.  Except they don't.
So, what I'm getting at is that I think it will take some of the pressure off of me knowing that I only need to call the midwife and she comes to me and all I'll need to do is keep laboring until the baby is in my arms.

Another "new" is a new midwife.  I had to search around a bit for recommendations because there are no midwives near where we live.  This woman is located about an hour and fifteen minutes away from me.  I'm very pleased with our relationship thus far and hopefully I get to continue my care with her for many years.

Also "new" is a different doula.  My wonderful friend Megan assisted at both Ivy's and Elizabeth's births.  What a wonderful help a doula is!!!  I had never had the help of one before and would highly recommend one for any pregnant woman.  Another friend Sarah will be with us this time.  It's new, but exciting.


I have all the birth things ready now and that was a new process for me.  My midwife recommended this site and I ordered what I needed from there.  (I didn't order a "kit" because I already had accumulated several things from the list my midwife gave me, so I just ordered the items I didn't already have.)
Going through the process of having these things on hand at home made me realize that it would have been a good idea to have an Emergency Birth Kit on hand for the other babies.  Especially since we live very rurally and the nearest hospital is 30 minutes away; also, several of the babies have been born during the time of year when weather could have been a travel factor here in MN.  For $12, really, every pregnant woman should have one of these kits.  Maybe those car-birthers wouldn't have been so freaked out if they'd had one! :)  I feel it would take a bit of the scariness out of an unassisted birth knowing you had the right tools at hand.

Another "new" is making the decisions for me and the baby based off of things that I've learned, as opposed to just "letting" the clinic/hospital staff tell me it needs to be done.  I may post about some of them in the future, I'm not sure yet, but for brevity here those decisions include the Gestational Diabetes screen, ultrasound, Group B strep culture, Vitamin K for baby, erythromycin in baby's eyes, cord clamping, etc.

One last "new" thing I'll mention:  Dennis looked at me last week and asked, "Are you sure you're gonna make it another month??"  To which I responded, "Thank you for noticing!!!"  It's the first time that he's ever commented on my pregnant-size so it struck me funny.
Some women may have felt offended, but not me--I've felt so big for so long, bigger than with the other children, that I keep wondering the same thing!

That's all the "new" news I have for now...it won't be too much longer and I can show you pictures of a little someone new!

Just the Wait

I've washed up a little bit of pink,
and a little bit of blue...
All that's left now, Baby,
is the wait to meet you.

In Moments Like These

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who ever feels like this, right?

Like the world is spinning pretty fast and you can only catch glimpses of stillness...

Each day seems to pass so quickly, yet I'll admit that sometimes I look at the clock and think "only 10 more hours until bedtime...I can do this..."

I heard something on Focus on the Family last week where the speaker encouraged just one better reaction;

instead of deciding that one needs to conquer a habit (say, a bad temper),

commit to having one better reaction to something that normally causes one's temper to flare.

Her point was that conquering a deeply ingrained habit can seem nearly impossible, too great a task to accomplish but that by focusing on just having one better reaction we might take small steps toward improvement.

So, I made it my goal to have one better reaction.  

And, like the speaker said it would on the broadcast, it has led to another better reaction and another.

I tend to get too upset by too many things;  I raise my voice and I am very sarcastic.

I feel I've responded better in several situations lately, though certainly not all.

 It has made for a better end of last week and beginning to this one.

In the midst of a bustling household, I have a VERY hard time just sitting still--even to read a story to my kids.  

I've purposed these last couple weeks to read more stories.  The younger kids are all for that!

Today I decided to sit down with my feet up and take 15 minutes to crochet on a project on which I've been working.  Then the washing machine beeped to let me know the load was finished.

My OCD-self really wanted, nearly needed, to get up and switch out that load.

My seeking-opportunities-for-stillness-self had to speak clearly to OCD-self:  

 "just keep stitching until these 15 minutes are up...the laundry can wait so that you're able to enjoy something relaxing for just seven more minutes." 

I waited until my pre-determined time was up and then went to the laundry room.

It had been a good 15 minutes of refreshment for me.

My legs and feet have been doing so very well this pregnancy;

usually by now I deal with some swelling but not this time!

That said, I do notice if I put in too much non-stop time on my feet so I'm learning to take a few minutes to sit when I need to.

It's in those moments especially that I feel like the picture at the top of this, my rambling post;

the busy-ness and business of a homeschooling, farming household doesn't ever really stop

but I can find stillness if I really seek it out, even if it's just for a few minutes.

Incidentally, I didn't take that picture.  I found it on the camera, presumably taken by Christopher and most likely while I was seeking stillness in another room--or switching a load of laundry.

Bump

Taken several days ago when I was 28 weeks.

I'm really curious to see who is growing inside there;

my shape seems so different to both Dennis and me than with the other pregnancies:  I'm much rounder than before, not necessarily bigger, just rounder.

The big reveal is drawing ever nearer and we're oh-so-delighted to be expecting another precious gift.

The News from Here

Do you know how many posts I have saved in my drafts folder that I just haven't been able to finish?
Do you know how many things I have filed under "blog post ideas" on my computer?
Probably not--'cause that would be creepy if you did.

But say you did, you'd know that I have a lot of things I'd like to talk about, and not a lot of time to organize my thoughts and publish them into a post.

So, there are spaces between posts.
I haven't spoken much about this pregnancy.
I haven't talked much about the other kids.
Or the farm.
Or anything, really.

We'll see if I can remedy that.

Let's see.
Pregnancy:  I am 25 weeks along (or so. :) )  Baby moves around a LOT, which is always one of my favorite   aspects of pregnancy.
We no longer do ultrasounds and like the previous two babies, we didn't and won't find out the gender of this baby until we meet him or her face to face.
Boys to girls ratio at this point is 5:4.  The boys are rooting for a boy because a)boys are cool and b) boys want to "win".  {More boys than girls would mean that the boys would be "winning".  Such is the way that six-to-ten-year old boy brains work. :) }
The girls are undecided...some days they say they would like to have a new baby sister and some days they say that it would be fun to have another baby boy.
I tell them that the great thing is, the baby is what it is already and that no amount of our guessing will change who is in there!
My belly is growing quite a bit and the younger children are really noticing, triggering remembrance of when LittleBit was in there last winter.  Some have been able to feel the baby wiggle (I use the word "wiggle" instead of "kick" because one of our toddlers years ago used to resort to kicking from time to time--that kicking was naughty and I was pregnant at the time; it seemed contradictory that the baby could kick and it was cute but if the toddler kicked it was a punishable offense.  I just kept using the word wiggle for subsequent babies.)
I've been to see my midwife twice; we go back the end of February at which time I'll only have 8 weeks left until my due date. I'm excited to approach the birth of this baby in a different way as we prepare for birthing him or her here at home.  I'm a meticulous planner and Dennis is not.  I drive him NUTS if I plan too much so I'm learning to back off and not plan too far ahead out loud.
In my head, I'm planning and wondering and thinking and going over what I've read and learned in 17 years of pregnancy and childbirth.
I have had zero morning sickness which is new.  With all the other children, I have felt crummy and queasy for the first weeks and months.  I've never been violently ill, nor have I have thrown up--just felt extremely tired and nauseated.  That never happened this time and I attribute that to avoiding gluten and conquering a sugar addiction/candida problem.  I do still try to take a nap each day, but unlike the other nine times when I was drop dead tired and could not function without an hour nap, a 20 minute refresher is now sufficient for me (even with the added stress of Elizabeth being a horrible sleeper herself at night!)
In general, I feel so much better this time around, though I will admit that being pregnant at 34 is different than my early 20's. :-)  It will be interesting to me to see how the third trimester progresses; with Elizabeth, I had some swelling near the end, rendering me unable to wear shoes for several weeks.  I wore slippers instead (it was winter).  I'm predicting that since straightening out my thyroid issues by dealing with a gluten intolerance, I will feel better at full term than I have other times.  We'll see!

I'm thankful on these cold, cold days that I don't have any work to do outside like the men do here.  Dairy farmers have no choice--cows need to be milked every day and all the animals cared for especially so when the temperatures are severe, whether extreme heat or cold.  So even when I'm disgusted that the windows are all frozen shut making it impossible for me to air out rooms, or when we have to kick the front door to shake lose the ice in the jamb in order to open it--yes, even then, I'm thankful I don't have to leave home to go to a job.

Next up--an update on the kids (when I get around to it)!

Stormy Days

I was supposed to have an appointment with my midwife today, but needed to cancel due to weather.

See why?

Yeah.  Couldn't argue Dennis on that one.

I was excited to meet with her again, but mostly I was looking forward to a day trip as her office is 1 1/2 hours away.

In one way, though, I'm sort of glad there's a storm...

On my previous appointment in early December,  Dennis had suggested we make a date of the next appointment...a little getaway, even.

So he said if I worked out all the details (what to do and hotel reservations) that we could plan to be gone overnight.  I was SO excited--we've never done that in our 16 years of marriage ...gone somewhere "just because".  I've read that some people do a little "babymoon" during their pregnancy and, well, I've been pregnant/nursing for pretty much all of our marriage so it sounded romantic, fun, and indulgent.

There's not much "indulgence" in the life of a mother of ten.

So, I looked around on the internet for ideas and hotels...

but when I asked him about it to be sure that I could indeed proceed,

he said he just didn't want to be gone overnight in the middle of winter because so much can go wrong on the farm and he didn't want to leave it to the boys.

I was disappointed, but knew that he was right.

Anyway....I've been thinking about this big storm and how REALLY disappointed I would be if I had gone ahead and made all those plans, for us and for the kids, looking forward to our time away so excitedly--

oh, MAN, I'd have been pretty heartsick.

It was good that I was moderately disappointed early to save me from major disappointment now, see?

At least, that's how I'm choosing to look at it.

So I think tonight will be early bedtime and I'm going to curl up in the recliner and crochet and maybe watch a movie on this stormy evening.

Supper is just about ready to put on the table, bedrooms got cleaned today, living room vacuumed,

and the kitchen floor washed.

I did TONS of laundry yesterday so today was only a few loads.

I might actually get to sit down--wouldn't that be something??

Linnea and Christopher were going to go to a 4H activity tomorrow, but that's been cancelled, too.

Hmmmmmm, the kids have been asking about making popcorn balls--I think we'll put that on tomorrow's agenda.

To Catch Up (Along with Some Ketchup)

In typical middle-child fashion, Andrew and Elijah didn't get their very own birthday posts--

neither here on my blog nor on facebook.

At least in this family there are several other middle children with whom 

to share the cost of therapy when they're adults.

I'm finally getting a chance now to post some catch-up pictures.

We celebrated Andrew's 10th birthday earlier this month, see?

He was satisfied with the little tiny bar I cut for him.

We learned that day that LittleBit loves suckers

and that she insists on one for each hand.

Ivy shared hers with her baby sister.

We celebrated Elijah's that day, too, as he & Andrew have birthdays ten days apart.

Loaded cheeks for all those candles!

The one-and-only picture I got of any of my family deer hunting.

This was Andrew's first year--he was VERY excited.

Dennis, Nathaniel, Isaiah, and Linnea each got a doe.

Andrew will have to wait for another year. :)

THEN,

Elijah actually did turn six, see?

It will help me in the future to remember how old they are in the picture so I have them hold up the correct number of fingers on their birthday morning.

Later on the day of his real birthday, we had a little party with "just us".

His favorite gift was his very own bottle of ketchup.

Look at his face!!

I took a picture of this baby belly at roughly 14 weeks, which was a couple weeks ago.

The children occasionally comment that the baby is growing!

I seriously don't know how other women take belly pictures--

either the flash was completely reflective in the mirror or I wasn't looking in the right direction at all

or you could see the toothpaste smeared on the counter or you get the idea.

There--I think I'm a bit caught up.

Now, back to that laundry...

Cheaper By the Dozen

We are happy to announce that our family is expecting a new baby in the spring,

bringing our number of family members to 12.

I guess we'll see if things really are cheaper by the dozen!

(My guess is they're not--but that doesn't lessen our excitement!)