O Holy Night

I have really started to love the words to "O Holy Night." It's a Christmas song I will actually listen to. :-) Christmas is about the birth of our Savior Jesus and the hope that comes with that. I love this song because of it's focus on that. I starred some of my favorite lines:

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
*Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.*
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
*For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.*
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!



Truly He taught us to love one another,
*His law is love and His gospel is peace.*
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
*And in his name all oppression shall cease. *
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

Where have I been???

Hey! Long time- no post! Life moves fast, and between life and a broken computer, blogging hasn't been a top priority lately. But alas, here I am again! Let's see what has been going on.....

The school year is going really well. The kids are loving school and excelling in their classes. Both boys have been recognized out of their classes for a special award, and Ethan found out today that this month he got picked out of the whole 3rd grade to be student of the month. He was very excited, and we are very proud of him! He deserves it! Sean has started in the enrichment program and is one smart little dude! He's not as out with knowing facts and figures, but he is very smart and stinkin funny! Kaitlyn is our social one. She loves school not for the work but for the social part. She is learning to read, but she has really started to show a love for art. She love, loves to draw and color and paint. She is good at it too!

Nat has grown a lot! He has two teeth, waves, claps, says mama, dada, bubba, kiki(kitty), pulls up, cruises, and sleeps through the night! He is one happy little guy! He is giggly and constantly smiling. He loves to play with the kids now, and he just fits in our family. He loves his family and loves 3:05 when we pick the kids up from school. He has a buddy at church and preschool named Samuel. Those two boys just love each other! They smile and give each other kisses and hugs when they see each other. So cute! Nat is at a very fun age, and we love seeing the little boy he is becoming!

Jarod and I are doing fine too. We stay really busy with work and church. We got to enjoy spending time with the Youngs coming down in October and Dana here a few weeks ago. We are so excited to have family coming here for Christmas! I love having company so if you want to come visit, let us know!

We are going to have a fun weekend this week. Fridays are my favorite day b/c Jarod and I are both off, and so we get some time with just Nat before we kick off the weekend as a family. Tomorrow night we have the Northside staff Christmas party. It is such a fun group of people, and we love! spending time with them. Saturday we have a birthday party and football. Sunday we are getting our tree and decorating our house, and then that evening we are headed up to church for a Christmas event. I love weekends full of family, friends, and good memories!

That's my update for now! Hopefully I will stay up to date and post some pics of the kids soon!

Fabulous Weekend!

Labor day weekend was so great! It started off with Ethan having 2 friends, Bryson and Jackson, come spend the night for his birthday. They were so much fun and so well behaved. That age of boys is fun b/c they are crazy but still so sweet. One of the presents he got was a book of "Ducktogomy" which is a book of things to make with duct tape. His friend Bryson got that for him as well as 4 different kinds of tape. It's pretty cool. You can make anything from a mask to a wallet to even a shower curtain. Ethan loved it! We had a good time making homemade pizza, eating cake, and playing.

Saturday we took the rest of the day to rest, do chores, and spend time as a family. Sunday started off with our Northside peeps at church. Then we got invited to go to the Drillers(Tulsa's minor league team) game. One of our elders won a suite through his work, so they invited a bunch of us to go. It was so amazing! We had the best time! The suite was so great for having our kids with us. It had chairs and a tv and also all the hamburgers, hot dogs, and pop you could want! Our seats were right along the firstbase line. One cool thing was that the Driller's were playing Northwest Arkansas Naturals and they happen to be the Royals minor league team. So before the game we went down to get an autograph (Sean really wanted his baseball signed) from one of their top prospects Will Myers. Here he is signing Sean's ball and card:
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I think Jarod was just as excited if not more than Sean! What a blessing it was to get to go and have such a great night as a family and also with our friends!

Monday we had our fantasy football draft with our small group. I'm teaming up with my friend, Nichole Anderson. Our team name is "Better Halves." We will see how it goes! It was one of those weekends that I just didn't want it to end! I love my family and getting to spend time with them!

Here we go....

-Summer is over and the kids are back in school. They had a great first day and seem to really like their classes. It's very quiet in the house with all 3 in school all day. But it has been nice to have one-on-one time with Nat.

- Nathaniel said 'dada' for the first time yesterday! It was so cute! He was looking at Jarod and started saying it. Now he says it all the time. I love that he is starting to say things. I can't wait to hear all the things he has to say!

- Last week we went on the staff retreat to Grand Lake. It was so much fun! I absolutely love the staff and spouses, and it was great to get away and relax. Jarod and I got to go out on the seadoo together and also on the tube. I've never done either one of those, and it was hilarious! We took Nat with us for the weekend, and he even went on his first boat ride! He just leaned against Jarod and was so peaceful. I think between the wind, the motion of the boat, and the sound of the water he couldn't help but just relax. I'm already looking forward to the retreat next year!

- I've been having the kids do chores once a week. They have their normal chores such as feeding the cats, putting away laundry, and picking up their rooms. Once a week we deep clean the house, and they get to help out. It's amazing how much gets done when we all work on it together! Why didn't I do this years ago? :-)

- I have been blessed with a great friend here in Broken Arrow. She and her husband just moved here this summer, and I am so thankful! We have a lot in common, and the more time we spend together, the more I see God's hand in this friendship. I can't explain it, but I am so thankful to have her and here family here!

- I am ready to start preschool again. We've all been working on our rooms and getting them ready for next week. We have open house Monday night and our first day on Thursday. I am ready to love on some babies!

Random Things

- Nat is growing so fast! He is 6 months old this week, and he is definitely developing a personality. He is super sweet and loves anyone who will talk to him. But his favorite people are Mommy, Daddy, and especially brothers and sister! As I write this he is laying on the floor next to Sean talking and trying to get Sean's face. So cute!

- We are making a Kansas run a week from Tuesday. We are going up to KC on Tuesday after I get off work and staying till Friday. Then we are going to Emporia to celebrate our nephew's first birthday! We are excited to see as many people as we can!

- It is so hot!! I've never seen this many days in a row over 100 degrees. Today it hit 105 temperature with heat index of 110. Needless to say we are staying indoors a lot lately. I am so thankful we have an ac unit that works now. It's amazing how much a new unit helps :-)!

- It's been fun working at the preschool this summer. The 2 year olds have sure kept me busy and worn me out! They are so stinkin cute and sweet and crazy all at once. My favorite part is getting to chat with the other teachers. I've gotten to know some new people this summer and definitely make some new memories with them! But I am ready for the regular preschool year to start so I can be back in the baby room with our sweet babies!

- VBS starts tomorrow! It's a huge endeavor for our church, but it is such a great ministry opportunity. I look forward to it every year. This year I am not helping out in the special needs class. I felt like I needed to see and experience what our kids get to do. So I am going to be an elem. crew leader for some 2nd grade girls. It's going to be a blast! I will let you know all about it later this week!

The Great Date

Jarod and I were able to go out on Saturday for a long overdue date. One of the other ministers on staff heard about North Point Christian Church in Georgia putting together dates for married couples. It is called "The Great Date Experience." It went over well in their church, so Jarod and I thought we'd try it. We did date number one: "Nurture Romance." It was so great!! We had a great time and talked about all sorts of things both serious and fun. I recommend these dates for you if you need some ideas to revive your dates. Here's the link.

Home improvement

Okay so I'm finally going to post some pictures of our home improvements! We love the results! I've already posted pictures of our kitchen and Kaitlyn's bedroom, so this time I'm going to post pictures of our living room. We did a lot of work and not all of it can be seen in the pictures. We scrapped the popcorn ceiling, textured, primed, and painted. We sanded, primed, and painted all the trim and doors. We sanded where the formal dining room was because the paint had the sand texture in it. So we sanded the walls, primed and painted. We also removed the double chair rail in the dining nook and removed the paneling above the fire place. So here is the before and after:

The fireplace:

I love the mantle painted and the paint color made the brick really stand out:

The formal dining nook(we also switched out the lighting):

Someday we'd love to make this a little computer/reading area:

Another view from the fireplace looking towards the kitchen and hallway:

I love, love the results! It feels more like home now that we have our touch on it. I think we are done with major fixes around our house for now. Our bedroom and bathroom will be huge projects that will require time and money that we don't have right now. But down the road we will tackle them too! :-)

Time flies!!

Wow how time flies! So much going on and not enough time to write about it! (But I'm going to try!) Sean got to go on his field trip this year. Jarod went with his class to the Broken Arrow Police Department. Sean was so excited and had a blast. Here's a picture of his class(Sean is the second kid on the left):


Right after they got back from their field trip we left to go help Jarod's parents work cattle. We really enjoy going back and helping out. This year Jarod and Nathan (Mindy's husband) really stepped in and helped which freed Roger to do other things too. It was great seeing them work together, and they got all the cattle worked and out to the pastures. One of the cows gave birth to a little boy calf, and Kaitlyn got to pet the calf when it was about 12 hours old:



On our way out of town we stopped and saw Nathanial. We wanted our Nathaniel to meet the man he is named after. It was such a great moment! Nathanial is such an incredible man with such deep faith. It meant a great deal to all of us for this moment:


The school year is winding down, and soon we will have a 3rd grader, 2nd grader, and a kindergarten kiddo. Kaitlyn had her program at preschool a couple of weeks ago and "graduated." As they walked across they asked what they want to be when they grow up. Kaitlyn said "A princess." Too sweet! Here she is with her teachers Ms. Lisa and Ms. Michelle:



They are great teachers, and Kaitlyn had a great year. I am so blessed to work at the preschool with so many godly women. I am thankful for that job. This summer I will be teaching 2yr. olds at the Moms Day Out program. It will be fun!

We've also been busy with renovations, but I will post pictures of that soon! For now, it is off to bed!!

Random

- Well I'm glad the surgery and recovery are over. I'm one week out from surgery and feeling pretty good. I'm so thankful for Jarod and his mom. They were amazing and let me rest and heal. It was a very quick surgery. I was taken back to the operating room at 7 and was home by 9:15. I think the surgery itself was only 35 minutes. I was very light headed and nauseous when we first came home. I don't remember much of Thursday b/c I slept all day. Jarod was great and helped me move and get in and out of bed. Jacqui took care of Nat and even kept him overnight for 3 nights so I didn't have to get up with him. By Monday I was feeling pretty good, but I would just get tired quickly. Now I feel almost normal and have a little more energy. I'm just glad it is over and done with!

- Nathaniel has been sleeping so well these last few nights. For a week now he has been sleeping 6-7 hours at a time at night! He has been moved to his crib in Kaitlyn's room, which Kaitlyn is thrilled!

- Nat has been so sick lately. He got a cold a couple weeks ago. It started with just a bunch of green snot. Then it moved from his head to his chest. He started having a barking cough and just getting worse and worse. I took him to the doctor on Wednesday and she put him on steroids to help open up his airway since he was croupy. So far it has not helped. He has taken 6 doses of it and he is still barking. It makes me so sad when he coughs cause he whimpers after he does. So sad! He is such a sweet boy, and I hate seeing my little man hurt. The doctor said to call her if he doesn't improve by the end of his medicine, so I may be calling her back Monday. Please pray he gets better!

- I love my church family! I think as I grow in my faith it becomes more and more clear to me the need to be a part of the church and having community with other believers. Jarod and I have been blessed to be a part of 2 great churches: Wyandotte and Northside. We have been loved, encouraged, corrected, blessed, and supported by some incredibly godly men and women. We cherish these relationships, and it breaks my heart when Christians don't get the importance of belonging to a church family. When forgiveness is not given and grudges are held, and people leave a church over this. We need each other. We are called to love one another. We are called to forgive. We are called to worship and serve together. I love God's church and His people. I have dedicated my life to ministry and serving His church. I don't know what my exact point to this is other than I need God's family.

Coming out of it....

I'm not sure how to write this blog entry. I want to be real and authentic and so part of that is admitting when things are tough. I feel I'm coming out of what I want to share, so I have a better perspective now. After Nathaniel was born, I really struggled with postpartum. I could only describe it as a cloud over my head where I didn't enjoy anything. I had no ill feelings toward Nat or myself, but it was just a constant overwhelming feeling. I couldn't handle things if they didn't go the way I thought it should, or I got angry at Jarod for no reason. I cried a lot, felt sad a lot, and just wanted to sleep. It was very difficult to want to be around people and to pretend like everything was okay. It was very dark and lonely.

Jarod noticed but not to the extreme that I felt inside. He just noticed that I didn't enjoy anything. I felt guilty for feeling this way. I had this beautiful baby boy and amazing family that I've always dreamed of. I knew where God had brought me in my life, yet I still felt blah. I finally caved and talked to Jarod one day about how I was feeling, and it brought some relief to tell him. I also talked to a couple women from church and to my sister. It was comforting to know I wasn't alone in feeling like this and to also not have it blown off as just "hormones." I talked to my doctor at my 6 week check and got prescribed Zoloft. I didn't ever take the pills b/c the list of side-effects seemed worse than how I was feeling :-).

During this I didn't feel like going to church. I just felt so blah that I didn't "feel like" going and worshiping. Yet I knew that is exactly what I needed. I sang when I didn't feel like it; I prayed when I didn't have the words; and I listened for God when I didn't want to listen. It opened my eyes to loving God even when we absolutely don't feel like it because it is not about us. It's all about God. Loving and worshiping Him simply because He loves us so extravagantly! There is a new Chris Tomlin song out called "I lift my hands." It's all about raising your hands and worshiping God in the midst of your struggles. It perfectly describes how I felt during that time. The chorus says:

"I Lift my hands to believe again.
You are my refuge you are my strength
As I pour out my heart these things I remember
You are faithful God forever."

Through opening up to others and to God about my heart and how I felt, I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I began to have better days and better moments. Now I feel back to my normal self and do enjoy things- simple things too- and smile a real smile. I'm thankful to be out of that season and into a season of enjoying my family. So sorry for the distance to some and to others may it be an encouragement to keep living the faith and worshiping in the midst of our struggles.

It's outa here!

Well Thursday I will be having my gallbladder surgery :-(. I've been in pain the last couple of weeks and finally called the doctor today. We either do it this week or we have to wait till May. Part of my decision to do it now is that for recovery there is a 15# weight limit to what I can lift and my little guy weighs that now. So if I were to wait till later, I wouldn't be able to lift him. I'm nervous and anxious, and I am emotional about not being able to nurse Nat for a day or two after the surgery. I have been pumping and storing up, and I might have enough for him to make it. But we might have to supplement which for some reason makes me emotional. Anyway, let's get it done and move on! So please pray for us this Thursday! Thanks!

Our Little Man:

Well, he's not so little anymore! He weighed in at his 2 month appointment at 15 lbs (100 percentile), 24.5" long (99 percentile), and his head was 90 percentile. He is just a big boy!

Not what I had planned....

So every break from school this year we have been sick. Fall break we had a stomach bug. Christmas break I had bronchitis. Now spring break Jarod, Nat, and Sean have an upper-respiratory cold. Nat has been sick for a little over a week. He is finally starting to sleep better and not so much snot when he sneezes. Jarod has been really sick this week. He missed two days of work with no voice and no energy. Seaners started losing his voice and sneezing yesterday. I had this whole idea of a week full of relaxing and playing, but instead it was taking care of my sick family.

Then yesterday happened. I woke up feeling fine, and I fed Nat and ate breakfast. Jarod left for work, and then I started to feel a pain in my right side. At first I wondered if I had hurt my back or pulled a muscle. I thought I would take a hot shower to see if that would help. While I was in the shower it started to get worse. So I got out, and by the time I got dressed, I was really hurting. It hurt so bad I was having a hard time picking up Nat. I called Jarod to tell him I wasn't feeling good and to give him a heads up. He asked if he needed to come home, but I thought at this point I could tough it out. But then it just spiraled downhill. I got to where I couldn't stand, sit, or lay down, and I was sobbing in pain. I started to get scared b/c I couldn't pick up Nat and hold him. So I called Jarod crying and asked him to come home. In the 15 minutes it took him to get home, I was shaking, having chills, nauseous, and eventually vomiting from the pain. He was going to take me to the urgent care but decided to take me to the ER since I was in so much pain.

He called his cousin who lives here in BA and asked if we could drop off the kids. (Thankfully they were home this week too.) So he loaded up a bottle for Nat cause there was no way I could nurse him as I was doubled over in pain. We loaded up and drove to the hospital. I figured it was a kidney stone with the pain being on my side and cramping in the front too. But it was so painful. I was shaking and couldn't sit still and sobbing the whole way. Ethan and Sean started crying b/c they were scared. :-( We got there and they had me hooked up to an IV within a few minutes. They had to check what they could give me since I was nursing, and they then could give me some morphine. That stuff works! I felt instantly better and could breathe again. They did a CT scan and checked my blood and urine. I passed a stone while we were there, and I felt so much better. From the CT they found I have another stone in my left kidney, but hopefully it won't become dislodged. I also have a gallbladder full of gallstones, apparently with some large ones. The doctor checked my gallbladder and still figured the pain was from the kidney stone. So I was referred to a urologist for the kidney stone and a surgeon for my gallbladder. I will go see the surgeon on Monday and see what they want to do. The ER doctor said she recommended taking it out electively before I ended up needing emergency surgery. So we will see.

Anyway, I feel better- still a little sore and tired but better. I will let you know what we find out next week. So that was our spring break. I hope yours went better!

Happy Birthday Jarod!

Today is Jarod's birthday! Happy birthday to the man I love most in this world! In honor of his birthday, I thought I would post some fun pictures of him:



Happy birthday sweetheart!!

Howdy!

Wow- time to catch up! Life is flying by with a new baby in our house! After missing 2 weeks of school, the kids did manage to make it back into the classroom. They were pretty excited to see their friends again. Sean got picked for Tiger Cub this month from his class. The character trait he got picked for was kindness. I'm proud of my Sean and the way he has been showing God's love to his friends!

My friend, Dana, got to come down for a weekend. She wanted to come meet Nathaniel and hang out. It was so good to see her and catch up. She is such a blessing to me and such an encouragement! I'm so thankful God brought her into my life! Here she is holding Nat(she enjoyed snuggling that boy all weekend!):


Another big event was chopping my hair!

It's the shortest my hair has ever been, but I really like it. Not sure if I will keep it this short but perhaps maybe :-).

I started back at preschool this week. The last 6 weeks flew by! It was good to be back and to get into a new normal routine. Nathaniel did really well on his first day of preschool. :-) He is getting bigger and has started smiling. His eyes really light up when you talk to him, and he does coo every now and then. I love this little man!

My Dad got to come visit for the weekend. It was nice to have him here, and he got to meet Nathaniel. Tomorrow Jarod's mom and sister and her family are coming. So I better go clean while the little man is sleeping! :-)

After 14" of snow-happy 3rd snow-day in a row!

Jarod pointed out last night that due to illness and snow-day's, our kids have gone to school a grand total of 1 day in the last 2 weeks! Stay safe everyone!

This and that

-What a week in our house! The kids had 2 snow days a week ago Thursday and on that same day Sean started running a fever. Ethan soon followed, and for 8 days they had temperatures over 100. They had a cough and congestion in their chests. Sean got really sick and went to the doctor on Monday. He had the start of pneumonia and got started on antibiotics. Kaitlyn threw up and started a fever that same day. Fortunately they are all over this nasty stuff after 8 days of fever, 2 boxes of Kleenex, 1.5 bottles of Tylenol, 5 days of missed school, and lots of Lysol. We kept Nathaniel away from them and used tons of hand sanitizer. So far he has kept away from it, but we will keep an eye on him.

- Nathaniel has a gooey eye. I think it's just a blocked tear duct. It gets crusted shut when he sleeps and is just gooey. Has anyone else had this with one of their babies?

- I took him to his 2 week check up yesterday. When he was discharged from the hospital and at his appointment 2 days later he weighed 7lbs. 1 oz. In 10 days he gained almost 2 lbs. He now weighs 8lbs 12 oz. I'm guessing he is getting enough to eat :-)!

- I'm ready to cut my hair!! I've been growing it out for Locks of Love, and I have to have 10" to donate to them. I'm really close and so ready to cut it. I haven't had my hair this long since high school. It's hit the length where it just hangs there and does nothing. I will probably chop it in February and just have short hair for a while :-).

- So I'm already ready to fit back into my clothes. I've lost 23 lbs since he was born but have another 27 to go. Not all of that is from pregnancy- but I did gain 45 lbs. So I will be starting that lovely journey soon so that I will have clothes to wear and be healthy :-).

ummmm... that's it for now!

Moments to Remember

These are some of the moments from this pregnancy that I want to keep stored in my heart:

- Jarod and I discussing whether or not to have another baby. We prayed and sought God's heart for a month and then decided to try for another. I remember when we made the decision, and I got a twinge of excitement and nervousness at the same time.

- Telling Jarod we were pregnant. It was such a sweet moment that I don't want to share (sorry but it's for us to know!). But the look on his face and the moment will stay in my heart. I remember laying there holding my hand on my stomach thinking, "There's a sweet baby in there! Thank you Lord."

- Telling the kids we were having another baby. They were so excited and handled the whole 9 months so well!

-Telling family and friends. Everyone was surprised and excited for us. It totally surprised my family. Adam laughed :-). Sean went up to Matt and said, "Hey Uncle Matt guess what? My mom is going to have another baby!" I remember he looked at me and said, "Really?" with a great big grin. Such fun!

- The nausea. I had it really bad with Nat. The time I remember was when I was maybe 8-9 weeks along, and Jarod and the kids went grocery shopping with me. We were standing in the checkout when I went pale, started shaking, and felt like I was going to pass out. Jarod looked at me and asked if I needed to run to the bathroom :-). Glad he was there with me.

- The first sono when Nat was the size of a piece of rice. I had some spotting and was getting things checked out and seeing that heartbeat made me cry! I loved Nat from the moment we found out I was pregnant, and to see his tiny heart beating was a blessing!

- Finding out it was a boy! Jarod thought it was a girl, and I think deep down I thought it was too. I was surprised when she told us it was a boy! It took a minute to process and then we were in love with the idea of another boy. It just seems right, and especially now that he is here, he is the perfect addition to our family!

- God's peace and faithfulness when I was measuring big and was concerned something was wrong. His peace overwhelmed this sometimes- worry- wart. Turned out I was just measuring big, and we thank God all was well!

- Naming him Nathaniel. We were driving to Jarod's parents house when we thought of that name. I really look forward to having our Nat meet Nathanial Pearson. We called him when Nat was born- what a special moment! To name him after a godly man is an honor!

- God's provision for this baby. Everything from maternity clothes, to all the baby stuff, to doctor's bills, and more- He provided through people in some truly unexpected ways. We have all we need and more for this little man! We are so thankful for everyone's generosity!

- The last few weeks of pregnancy. Even though I was very uncomfortable and ready to see him, I did take the time to just marvel at the idea that he was in my belly. I loved my belly at the end and loved that it was so big! :-) Even the night before he was born I took time to just look at my stomach and watch it move. What a blessing and honor to have carried 4 babies! Thank you Lord for that experience and for the joy of being a mom!

- His birth of course! Just that moment when I first saw him. Just like with our other babies, I will never forget that moment.

-And finally, when the kids got to meet their new brother. They were so excited and all loved him instantly. They giggled and awed and held him. He is loved, and my heart runeth over!

The Story

Warning: birth story ahead. I finally have a moment to sit and write. I wanted to blog about Nathaniel's birth so that I would remember it here in a few months when my memory of it has faded. Last week was a good week before his arrival. I felt pretty good and didn't have very many contractions all week and was able to get everything done that I wanted to. Thursday I took the day off from the preschool and went grocery shopping in the morning, took Jarod to lunch, and spent the afternoon getting the house ready. I started to have contractions and just not feel right by that evening. Plus my emotions were all over. I was really nervous and anxious for the delivery and the pain that comes with it. Jarod's mom arrived that evening and just sitting and talking to her and knowing she was here to take care of the kids eased my mind. We went to bed around 10 that evening, and I slept from about 11:30- 3:30 and then was wide awake. We got ready and left the house by 5:30am.

On the way to the hospital we made our predictions of his size and what time he would arrive. I guessed 1:30pm and 8lbs 1oz. and 20". Jarod guessed 12:30 8lbs. 2oz and 19". We got to the hospital and got checked right into the room across from the nurses desk. My first thought was "Great they are going to hear me in pain." They got the monitors on me and I was contracting on my own every 5 minutes. So we think Nat was on his way that day anyway :-). After being poked 3 times the IV was started with the pitocin around 6:45am. The doctor came in around 7:15 and did a check (I was at a 4 and 70%e) and broke my water. So we were on our way.

The next couple hours was pretty easy labor wise. Jarod and I were talking, watching the sunrise over Tulsa (we had a great view of downtown), and waiting in anticipation. The pain was very mild and after a check I was at 6-7cm. So it started to get more intense where I needed my ipod and got into my zone for the contractions. I could breathe through them but could tell they were getting stronger and about 3 min apart. I had her give me some Stadol while she could to help me relax through a few contractions. That stuff makes me loopy! Jarod got a kick out of me trying to talk and saying that my head was heavy during it. It wore off soon and things were still progressing. At around 10 she did another check and I was 7-8 cm. I was past the point of no return for an epidural, and I'm glad b/c I wanted to do it without one again. The contractions picked up in intensity and got to where I was crying through some of them. Jarod was there encouraging when they were going away and holding my hand. I started to get hot and nauseous, so I knew things were progressing. After a little over an hour I knew it was close. A nurse came in to set something up and Jarod told her we needed our nurse to come do a check. I had one contraction where I didn't need to push. Another a minute later where I felt I might need to. Our nurse did a check and I was at 9cm. She left to call the doctor, and I had another contraction where I knew I needed to push.

The next ten minutes was intense! I was in so much pain and needed to push. Jarod had his arm under my neck holding me, and he and the nurse kept telling me to breathe. They were trying to keep me from pushing. I really felt like I was going to die it hurt so bad. I kept saying "I can't do it!" But I had to dig deep and get through the pain. I couldn't help but push and at the same time trying to wait for the doctor. She finally showed up, and they got the bed and me ready for delivery. I asked if he was close, and she said one more contraction and we were having a baby. So on the next contraction I pushed twice, and he was here. He came out with his hand under his chin, and I immediately felt no pain.

This is right after he was born and I love this picture:


I have to say that Jarod was my rock through this. I could not have done it without him, and my love for him grew even more. Now we have another precious baby to raise and love! I want to write more about the last few days, but for now a crying baby is calling my name! :-)

The end is near...

I went to the doctor today for my 38 week check-up. My weight, blood pressure, and measurements were all good. Apparently I had a "I'm done being pregnant" look on my face because the doctor asked immediately if I wanted to talk about getting this baby out. :-) Well sure since you asked! I didn't dilate or efface any more so I am still at a 3 and 70% effaced. But she said since my this is my fourth and I have had some contractions all week that they are fine helping things along when I am 39 weeks. So next Friday if he hasn't made his appearance yet, we are to check into the hospital at 6 am and have my water broken. So at the longest we have one more week till we meet this sweet, precious boy!

It's weird having a date set that he has to be here by. I've never been induced, and it's weird to know it will be over in a week. I'm making plans for next week like getting the house ready, grocery shopping, and taking some time off of work. Of course this could all be thrown aside with a surprise arrival! But if not, Jarod's mom is going to come Thursday night so she can be here with the kids on Friday. My doctor will be back from maternity leave by then, and it's MLK day on Monday so the boys will be home from school for an extra day that weekend. So it really is a good day to plan on having him. So sweet Nathaniel- we get to meet you soon! I'm ready to kiss your sweet face and snuggle you!!