First Visitors

Hannah and Isaac were staying with grandpa and grandma and they all headed over to meet their new sister and new granddaughter.

Grandpa and Grandma with grandchild #5

Hannah was thrilled and couldn't wait to hold her. When she first came in Audrey was crying and Hannah said, "she hasn't learned how to use her inside voice yet". Also, as she was holding her she looked at her fingers and said, "she has polish on her nails" because they were a little purplish. So funny!

Isaac was so cute when he arrived because he had all sorts of things he wanted to show me and give me. He was real snuggly with me and wanted to sit right by me. He wasn't sure if he wanted to hold her but then was pretty excited.

She is HERE!!

Audrey Elizabeth made her grand entrance this morning at 11:14 a.m. She was 7 lb 3.5 oz & 19 3/4 in. long. I woke up at 4:30 this morning with contractions 5 minutes apart and knew it was time to call the midwife. We met her at the birth center at 6 a.m. and things moved right along.

We LOVED our midwife, nurse and everything about the birth center. It was completely relaxing and an amazing experience from start to finish. My water had broke at home and I was 6 cm when I got to the center. I had a nice big bed to sprawl out on and relax in. Brock was awesome (of course) and did a great job of helping me with whatever was needed.

I pushed for 13 minutes, 3 pushes and she was born. My mom and Madison came in just before pushing and got to see her be born. My mom has been able to witness the birth of 22 of her 27 grand children! Madison LOVED being a part of the birth of her sister and did great.

She was so amazingly alert for just being born. This is what she looked like the minute they put her up on me!

Not sure what was so funny - I suppose this was my first laugh in some time :-)

We feel completely blessed to have a healthy, beautiful baby and to have joyfully experienced the amazing aspects of the birth process. God is so good!

Waiting . . . .

. . . . can be hard to do :-)

We are all patiently waiting for this little baby to make his or her grand entrance. Things are moving along and I am having lots of labor activity but not enough to be in full blown labor. Of course, I have always been induced so I don't really know what early labor is like :-)

My mom is here, all our bags are packed, baby stuff is out and we are READY. We have been busy playing at the pond, hiking to some awesome falls (easy hike), taking rides up the mountain, swimming, making cookies and anything else we can think of to pass the time :-)

We had a beautiful day on Friday so enjoyed it at the pond - and even had it all to ourselves :-)

Probably our last family of 5 picture :-) Grandpa Matt, Grandma Donna and Grandma Mary were there too but we didn't get a good pic of us all.

Oh, and for that 41 week belly picture I didn't want to have to take - here it is . . .

Not a great one but we wanted to get one of the baby, me and the falls. This is actually 2 days before my "official 41 weeks"

40 Weeks

The due date has finally arrived! I thought it would be so cool to have the baby on my due date - but that isn't to be. The day is half over and no sign of anything :-) We took a drive up the mountain today and got out and walked a little bit but it didn't spark much :-) Although I am still feeling good, sleeping good and have not developed the "pregnant waddle" yet - we are all ready for this baby to be born. We are all excited to see if we will be adding a boy or girl to our household!

My appointment went well this week. The baby is still growing (39 cm - yes I know my belly is HUGE!!), his/her heartbeat was 136 and my bp was good (102/66). I have dilated a tad more but not quite to 3 cm yet. The cervix has done what it needs to do (softened) and the baby has moved even further down the birth canal. Every little bit of progress is good for me because with all previous babies I have never had anything happen. I was induced because of lack of any sign of impending labor/delivery. So, I am encouraged that there is stuff happening at all :-)

Hopefully, there will not be a "41 Weeks" post and the next time I post about this pregnancy it will be with baby news! We would appreciate your prayers as we venture into the next stage of this pregnancy - labor and delivery!!

39 Weeks

Wow - what a difference 20 weeks can make!!!

It is very exciting to be so close to meeting this new little baby. We are all excited here and the kids are counting down. I try to explain to them that just because I have 7 days left, doesn't mean the baby will be here in 7 days. Hopefully, their new brother or sister won't keep them waiting too long :-)

This has been a great week. I have felt good, the baby continues to entertain us with crazy acrobats and Brock is back after 10 days in ND. I missed him like crazy and my nesting has been temporarily put on hold to snuggle with my man :-) I suppose I will get back to wreaking havoc on this house in no time :-) I had an appointment today and all was well. My belly/baby measured 38.5 cm, heartbeat was 136 and my bp was good (102/66). Things are progressing slowly in terms of my body preparing for birth. The baby is now engaged (lowered into the pelvis) and I was dilated to 2 cm. However, my cervix has not softened much which is a necessity in order to start labor. I have always been late with my babies so I have no expectations for this one to be different. So, with all that said I am sure I will see y'all next week (big belly and all) :-)

38 Weeks

This week has seen a baby popping out like crazy and his/her mama nesting like a maniac. I never truly realize how big I am until I look at pictures and then I think - WHOA, no wonder I feel huge - I AM! :-) The baby is doing great and showing no sign of being born soon. He or she is still real high in the birth canal and enjoying the space to do the norm - kicking, squirming, pushing, pulling, etc. My appointment this week was uneventful, all was great. The heartbeat was 156 (pretty high compared to normally because he/she was moving all over the place) and my belly measured 38. Also, my iron had increased so that was good.

I figured a belly this big had to be seen in my tight tank top in order to truly appreciate its hugeness :-) It is so funny how it pops right out to almost a point! My baby bellies have always been like this - a total torpedo. The midwife told me it means the baby is laying perfect for birth. Okay, I suppose that makes it worth it. :-)

The midwife asked me at my appointment how I am able to still shave my legs. I was kind of surprised and wondered if people seriously can't shave their legs when pregnant???? Hmmm . . . . if so, I didn't know that!

Hannah is nearly out of patience waiting for this baby. She says several times a day, "I want the baby to pop out now". I have tried to explain that God decides when the baby will be born. I have also used this explanation many times when talking about whether the baby will be a girl or a boy. I think she got confused and recently said, "I wish God would hurry up and decide if it is going to be a boy or a girl so the baby can pop out!" I tried to let her know that God already knew and this wasn't the hold up but I am not sure she got it :-) What a funny girl she is!

Brock & Isaac have been gone this past week and we are all missing them. However, it has allowed me to "nest" late into the evening. I have organized, sorted/eliminated, cleaned and attacked many areas of my house (including the crawl space!!) and still have many more to go. Thankfully, I am still rearing to go so should be able to get to the rest shortly. It cracks me up that I can go to do something simple (put Hannah's clothes away) and end up sorting them all, eliminating a bunch of them and organizing everything before I leave the room. I have also gone bonkers in the kitchen - making freezer meals and getting all sorts of fruits/veg into the freezer. I have been working on that most of yesterday and today. It has been fun being so productive, especially when I know it is all in preparation of another very exciting event in our lives!

37 Weeks

Another week has flown by and I can't believe how soon this baby will be here in our arms instead of in my tummy! I have felt pretty good this week, although still quite tired. The past couple days I feel like nesting has finally kicked in. I am ready to conquer all parts of the house and now just need to get some focus :-) I have tore into several projects instead of finishing one at a time. I suppose the focus will come :-)

I had an appointment yesterday and all was well. The baby measured 37 cm (1.5 cm increase from last week so has grown quite a bit). The heartbeat was 148 - higher that it normally is but still great. My blood pressure was good (100/63) and the fluid around the baby felt perfect. I had a B12 shot last week and another one this week (to help with low energy due to low iron). I will have my iron checked again at my next appointment to be sure the iron supplement is working.

Last week the kids came into the room with me and heard the heartbeat. They thought that was pretty cool. This week Brock was going to take them to the library while I had my appointment but Hannah wanted to come with me. All she could talk about was hearing the heartbeat again. She kept asking if it was time to hear it. After hearing the baby the midwife put the monitor on Hannah, which she thought was pretty cool. It was very nice to just be Hannah and I and she especially seemed to enjoy it. Alone time with each kid can be hard to come by but is a definite necessity.

36 Weeks

We have been visiting MN, WI and ND for nearly 3 weeks so I missed my 35 week picture. Oh well - I guess I will start taking pics weekly now anyways (considering there are only 4 weeks left!!) YIKES. Although I feel like I have been pregnant a long time - the end is coming quickly. It is crazy how things can go fast and slow at the same time.

I feel like my belly has grown alot these past few weeks. It pops straight out and makes me wonder how it could pop out any further! The baby still moves like CRAZY and has entertained us and many others with how he/she makes my belly change shape continually.

I had an appointment yesterday and the heartbeat was 136 and my tummy measured 35.5 cm. They did find that my iron was low so I will take an iron supplement and try eat more iron rich foods from now on. I have been SO tired lately but thought it was all the running I was doing on our mega trip (we drove 3000 miles, traveled in the car 43 hours and visited 5 different locations - 1/2 with Brock and the other half just the kids and I) Also at my apt. we went over all my questions about being at the birth center (vs hospital as I am used to) and I now feel quite prepared :-)

I am feeling less comfortable lately but still pretty good. I can't eat as much or change positions as quickly and feel pretty tired in the afternoon. It may be time to bring back the naps :-) I also find myself more picky about eating - lots of things just don't sound good (like I felt in early pregnancy). I thought maybe I would be "nesting" by now but don't feel the urge to clean and organize yet. I hope it comes soon because I could use a boost :-)

We are all so excited to meet this active little girl or guy and yet are trying to enjoy this stage of awe and wonder as he/she changes so rapidly inside of me. Pregnancy amazes me and gives me added appreciation for the creative abilities of God! I try to make sure I don't lose the joy of that because of getting too anxious for the big day!

33 Weeks

We have had amazing weather for the past week and have been out enjoying it!! I couldn't resist having Madison take some "baby" pics for me today outside! I usually just set the self timer but Madison was around and I was happy to avoid all that running back and forth :-) Doesn't the field with all the hay baled look beautiful!!

Hannah talks all about the baby. She talks about "her" doing this and "her" doing that. I said, "Hannah, do you know that the baby might be a boy and not a girl?" She thought about that for a second then said, "But mom, I don't want a boy - I want a girl" Something tells me she won't care when the time comes :-)

I had my appointment with the midwife today and all was well. The baby has grown a lot and actually measured 1 week ahead (34 cm instead of 33 cm). He or she was moving like crazy (as usual) and made it hard to get the heartbeat recorded :-) Once she finally got it I forgot to ask what it was :-)

I LOVE to feel him/her move and will miss that when this pregnancy is over. He/she moves SO much that there is rarely a moment where I don't "feel" his/her presence. I love that!

We are getting very anxious to meet this little acrobat who keeps us entertained with all the crazy stuff he/she does :-)

31 Weeks

Another two weeks have flown by and it is hard to believe there are only 2 months left until we meet this little guy or girl. My feeling is that we are having a boy but as Brock reminded me I thought that with Madison too! So . . . . I guess I should say I have no idea :-)

I continue to be amazed at how active he/she is. There is rarely a time that there isn't movement and for the most part it is usually big movements - flips, kicks, twirls and so on :-) I had an apt. with my midwife today and all is going well. She kept the monitor on the baby for quite some time because of how active he/she was. The heartbeat ranged from 118 - 140. The heartbeat has been (for the most part) fairly low which is another reason I am thinking boy. I guess we will see in 2 months!! I have been feeling good with only the normal aches and pains that come with pregnancy - sore feet and back at the end of the day, alot of tossing and turning at night and several uncomfortable kicks and pokes from the little gal/guy. I love feeling the movement and I am trying to enjoy it all, knowing it will be over way too fast.

10 weeks sure does make a difference in size!!! Yikes :-)