Anna Kate

So my sweet little Anna Kate has finally arrived! I just finished giving the sweet pea a bath. Can you smell her? I love the smell of babies just after they've had a bath. I thought i would try to get in a quick post and picture before I go to bed, for when baby sleeps, mama should be sleeping too!

Last week on Tuesday morning a day shy of 37 weeks, I thought for sure that I was in labor, having regular contractions. My mom ditched jury duty picked up my sister and headed over. I spent the morning doing some last minute toilet scrubbing, dishes, and packing my bag. Around lunch time, we headed to the hospital. Turns out I wasn't having regular contractions, just really painful ones. They did some blood work, gave me shot of morphine and phenergan for pain and to help me relax, and would then be heading back home. The results of the blood work showed that i might have had pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure). I would spend the night to get monitored and do some more tests. Those tests showed that my kidneys were in distress from high blood pressure so I was scheduled for an amnio. My liver and kidneys were like a ticking time bomb is what dr. D said. I won't lie, I was freaked out about doing the amnio and barely slept that night. When they did the ultrasound, the doctor found that I had very little amniotic fluid and the placenta was giving out. I was scheduled to be induced the next morning. Friday morning, I headed in to L&D. Pitocin is not a very nice drug. It's really pretty mean. After getting a really great epidural, my boys came in to see me. We gave them each a Nientendo DS that we had been saving for delivery day for months. We wanted them to have something fun to do to while away the hours. However, they were not long gone from the room, before I was in pain again. My nurse decided to see how far along I was and to maybe try pushing. I told her to call the Doctor first. She said, ummmm, ok, I can do that. She came back, asked me to push once, then said. Don't push anymore. I can deliver a baby by myself, but I would prefer your doctor to be in the room. She walked out of the room and said a little more forcefully, "call her dr back and tell her to get here NOW!" I was scared to death she wasn't going to make it. My nurse assured me I would be fine that she had delivered babies by herself more than once. A few minutes later, her heart rate started dropping. She was probably laying on her chord. We were going to have to get her out soon with or without the dr. Just then, Dr. D walked into the room. I started crying; I was so relieved. A minute later she had arrived at 11:27 am on September 18th weighing in at 5lbs 15 oz and 18 1/2 inches long. I had a pretty strong reaction to the epidural after labor. I couldn't get out of bed for about 12 hours. I had no body control. I spent two more nights in the hospital. After 6 total days in the hospital, we were finally able to all be together again. Man, I missed my boys.

heres what we know about Anna Kate so far:
She loves her paci
She loves it when her brothers sing to her. She always quiets down when she hears them.
She likes to be swaddled up tightly.
She doesn't seem to cry about too much except when we undo her to change her diaper.
She likes to cuddle when she sleeps
She doesn't like to burp. She's too much of a lady her daddy says.
She is the most adorable blue eyed brown hair bundle I've ever seen :)

Fast, fast, fast

Life lately, has been, well, running a pretty quick pace! For those of you who didn't already know. On Sunday evening, Noah somehow fell off my bed and broke his arm. Actually, he broke both of the bones in his left arm. It was a clean break on both bones and nothing had to be set. It was very scary for me. I was home with the boys and Thomas was at work. I knew there was no way I could drive, support Noah's arm, and get Nathan there too. I called 911. Course, i was a little panicked too. I was very proud of my Nathan. He did such a good job of finding shoes for all 3 of us, grabbing Noah's favorite blanket, and then standing the front yard and waving down the ambulance. Of course, Nathan wasn't allowed in the back of the ambulance, so I had to let Noah go with the guys by himself while I followed with Nathan in the van. It was VERY hard for me to let Noah go. I asked him if it would be okay if he went all by himself with the guys for a ride to the hospital and that mommy would be right behind. He said, "Umm, yeah, that's ok." Course by the time EMS had arrived, my little tough guy wasn't even crying anymore. He was definitely in shock though, because he was a little weak, very pale, had a low pulse, and they had to give him a little oxygen on the way to the hospital. The EMT gave him a little bear, that Noah named Fireman. But on arrival, this is how he looked. Not scared at all, like it was something he'd done before.

At the hospital they put a soft splint on his arm to allow the swelling to go down before a hard cast was put on. I spent the next couple of days following him around trying to make sure he was staying safe and didn't injure it more. I caught him jumping from my bed, doing a headstand on the couch, running across the couch and jumping to the recliner and then to the floor. The boy wore me out!!





On Wednesday, Noah went to the pediatric orthopedic doctor. I was very nervous for him. I was afraid it would be painful for him. He gave him a good dose of his Tylenol codeine about an hour before hand just in case. He was a little nervous too I think. We had told him that we would be going to the doctor to see how his arm was healing. He told me that morning that, "mama, if somebody messes with me its going to make my arm sting." It was way worse for me than it was for him. At one point, Noah said, "ow,ow,ow." Daddy asked him, what hurts buddy? Noah said, " the doctor is hurting my hair." The doctor had rested his elbow on the side of his head and was pulling his hair. haha!





After that appointment, we attended Governor Rick Perry's grassroots campaign rally an Market Street United. People, we are truly BLESSED to have this man leading our great state of Texas! 1000 people a day are moving into our great state. That's it for my soap box for now. Noah got to have Gov. Perry sign his cast. I know he doesn't understand now, but he will have a cool story to tell when he's older. His picture also made the front page of the Lubbock paper.
http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/090309/loc_489120724.shtml


On Tuesday, Nathan started Joyful Heart Tuesday school for homeschoolers. They do Geography, Science, Art, Music, PE, and lots of other fun stuff. He goes from 9-3. For his mama, it was a sad day. I had never left Nathan anywhere before other than with a grandparent or at church. He had never attended a PDO or preschool anywhere. He did have a lot of fun. He told me when he got home that he really loved going to Tuesday school better than he loved to play the Wii. haha! that kid is obsessed with video games. He did however have one little mishap at school though. Somehow he ended up going with the wrong group and attended Music class twice and missing out on geography. He told me, "mama, i was an orange that got mixed up with the blues" haha! i think maybe the blue class had more boys in it.

Thursday morning I had a doctors appointment. Anna Kate is still doing good and I am moving along good the Dr. said. I am still so glad that I don't have to worry about having surgery anymore. Dr. D cheered and praised the Lord for answered prayers with me! I feel so blessed to have a Dr. that believes in healing and beseeches the Lord on my behalf!!!! I have about 4 1/2 weeks to go. I am actually crossing my finger though for September 25th. Both boys were born 2 weeks early on a Friday, and that is about 12 days early on Friday. It would just work out best for Thomas's work schedule and for my mom to be able to be free to be in the delivery room with me. So, you hear that little one! September 25th! I am definitely ready for her to be here.

Thursday evening Nathan had his first soccer practice for this season. This year he will be playing with more kids and on a bigger field. And, from what I hear, it starts getting much for competitive between the teams. Poor Noah was set to play his first soccer season this year. He obviously can't participate. Nathan's coach has adores little Noah and says that Noah can help him coach Nathan's team and can work out with the big boys some. Noah thinks he's pretty important. I'm excited to watch Nathan play this year. Hopefully, I won't have to miss too many games due to Anna Kate's arrival. I bought a sling to put her in at the games and I don't plan on letting anyone mess with her or passing her around.