He’s here.

James Matthew Pence was born October 18th, 2010 at 8:53am.  He weighs 8lbs 13oz and is 20 1/4in long.  The nursery just came and grabbed him, so I have both  hands to type!  Here’s the story before I forget:

I woke up to a painful contraction at 5:30 this morning.  Occasionally I’ll have one lonely contraction that hurts (and sorry if this is TMI, but I was thinking it may have been gas).  But when I got another and then another, I called my mom and had Matt start getting ready to go.  We managed to leave about 6:40 for the hospital.  We caught every red light.  :)  Even though it’s a work day, I think traffic could have been a lot worse.  We made it around 7am to the hospital.  They put me in a triage room (ha!).  Soon the nurse checked me and moved me to a regular room.  She had trouble telling how dilated I was; apparently my bag of waters was “hanging out.”  Lovely image, don’t you think?  Anyway, the doctor on call came in and pronounced me 7-8cm dilated, +1 station (I think that’s what she said), and 100% effaced.  The contractions were definitely hurting me at this point, but I was still getting some rest time in between.  Dr. Zavala was on call today.  So at the Care for Women practice, there are eight doctors: 4 men and 4 women.  I’ve had three deliveries, using each of the women doctors except my own!  Dr. Zavala left to assist in a c-section, but told the nurses to pull her out if I got serious.  I got all hooked up and bracleted; I threw up a time or two, had them turn on the fan.  Then everybody left me alone in the dark to labor.  They also left some paperwork with my poor husband to fill out.  It’s still not done.  :)  I labored and cursed a little as the contractions got stronger and closer together.  I took a picture of the first “really really bad” one on the monitor.  Ow.  A lot.  I probably should have started pushing around then, but I was dawdling.  It felt better when Matt put pressure on my back, which I made him do instead of filling out his forms.  :)  At some point we called the nurses because I was really hurting and definitely headed somewhere.  They came in and got ready and pulled the doctor out of surgery.  I had a couple more contractions (or what felt like a million right on top of each other) to bring him down a bit.  Then I really felt the urge to push so I did.  (I won’t write about all the crying and whining I did during this time.)  It took three contractions of pushing I believe.  I could really feel it working this time – it was cool.  They actually told me to hold off so the doc could get her gloves on.  Everybody worked very quickly!  Then he was born!  He cried pretty much right away.  He scored an 8.9 on the apgar.  It was a little low (lower than the girls anyway) mainly for his color; he didn’t pink up as fast as they would have liked I think.  I got to snuggle with him for a few minutes, then they cleaned him up and weighed him.  8lbs 13oz – I could not believe it!  That is quite a bit bigger than the girls!  Matt held him for a little while when they were getting me sewed up and cleaned up.  When I got him back he latched on easily and nursed forever!  I ate my breakfast too, and at some point the nursery came and took him.  He should be coming back soon!  My mom just got here with the girls and they’ve seen him through the nursery window.  We are waiting patiently for him, watching HGTV.  I’ll post pics soon, maybe now.

For Your Information:

Joanna was born 12 days before her due date and weighed 7lbs 4oz.

Natalie was born 3 days after her due date and weighed 7lbs 9oz.

James was born on his due date and weighed 8lbs 13oz.  Oh my!!

Conversation

(We were talking about a friend who had her baby on Wednesday.)
Joanna: When are you going to have your baby?
Me: I don't know. When should I have him?
Joanna: Tonight.
Me: Oh, really?!
Joanna: Yeah, but he won't come.
Me: Oh, no? When is he going to come?
Joanna: Not for a long time.

Hoping Baby Brother didn't hear that.

Not a moving vehicle

Natalie is checking out Gran’s new car:

She was pretty excited to be strapped in the front seat!

She was not excited when it was time to get out.

Today is Friday, October 15th.  Three days before my due date.  I’m all finished with work for the week.  The house is reasonably clean.  We don’t have any plans for the next couple of days.  This is a good feeling.  I’m trying very hard to be patient for my little man.  I really am happy to wait for as long as he needs to gestate.  I have felt a little “off” today though.  It’s probably just wishful thinking.  :)

Joanna mentioned last night that Mamma and Pop would be coming over today.  Maybe she knows something I don’t?  Also, Matt called a little while ago just to check on me.  It was tempting to tell him to come home, but feeling “off” doesn’t really justify that.  He should save his vacation for when he’s got a son to tend to!

Definitely looking forward to the weekend with my family and fun at church on Sunday!

Palindromes and other things

So I'm pretty sure other people have realized this first, but I am a little slow. I've decided the next cool birthdate for Little Man has to be 10-20-10. Like all the dates in October, it's a palindrome of sorts (same forward as backward), but I just looked at it this way too: 10-20-2010. It's the only date in October that's still the same forward and backward. (Now obviously it's not the same actually backward -- 01-02-0201, but if you look at the "tens" it is.) I think it also sort of works with the pattern our girls' birthdays have created: 1-11 and 2-22, if you think of the first number "doubling" to the second.

Not that I want to wait that long, but I've also sort of had a feeling he might come on a Wednesday. Mostly because I don't want him to. :) Really just for work purposes, that puts it right in the middle of the bulletin process, instead of in-between them. Oh well -- what a tragedy, huh!

I've been feeling really not at all like cooking lately and it's getting worse. I picked up several "convenience" foods at the store today because warming up is just about all the cooking I can stand. Sadly our oven doesn't work either, so I couldn't grab any frozen pizzas. Chicken nuggets work in the toaster oven though! I also actually bought a loaf of bread. I cannot tell you how long it's been since I've done that! I just wanted one to stick in the freezer as backup. Even without our oven, we've (and by we I mean Matt) been keeping up with the bread baking by using our families' ovens. When the baby comes, that might not be top on our list of priorities though! We really do need to get the oven fixed. I guess we just need to figure out how.

Back to work now -- trying to get everything done early this week.

10-10-10

So I have to be honest: I was really hoping to wake up in labor today.  But I didn’t.  It’s okay though; it was kind of fun to hope for it!  And we’ve had a lovely day.  But seriously – anytime now Little Man; we want to meet you!!

At church today Matt needed to call me for some reason – look what time it was!

After church we had lunch at a local favorite restaurant with our friends the Vandenberges, Eges, and Beasleys!  After eating the big kiddos played around a bit in a close-by booth.

Aren’t they just precious?  These are the “big kids” from each family: Joanna (little sister Natalie), Anna (little sister Emma), Caleb (little sister Callie), and Abby (little sister Josie).  Man, that’s a lot of girls!

If I’m doing my math correctly, there were eight kiddos there from 6ish weeks old to 4 years.  Are we brave…. or crazy?  It actually was a very fun time to visit.  I think the only catastrophe was Joanna spilling a large cup of ice water on herself and me.  I was really hot at the time, so it was nice.  :)  We miss you Eges – thanks for inviting us to lunch!

Also today I said goodbye to my very first car, “Little Green.”  :)  It’s been in the family for 10 years.  (sniffle, sniffle)  It was still kicking, but my mom traded it in on a voucher for a “new” car for her!  She and I were technically co-owners since we bought it when I was not quite 18 years old.  I never got around to taking her name off the title, and it worked out for her!  She’s been driving it and paying insurance on it for a while now.  My mom needed a reliable car.  I’ll have a whole other post dedicated to the memory of Little Green.  I made my mom take pictures before she traded it in.  :)  And I’ll take some pics of her new ride as well – it’s very pretty!

Totally unrelated… I bought this foldy-up laundry rack last weekend.  I love it!  I’d been thinking about what to do in my laundry room for this winter and rainy days for the diapers.  I’m still thinking I may hang a couple of retractable clotheslines across the room as well, but this is working for now.  I can pop it up, fill it full of diapers right out of the washer and put it wherever I want to dry them.  Today there was still some good afternoon sun out, so I put it in the backyard.  I often find myself washing diapers in the evenings though, with how busy our days often are, so this is handy for leaving it inside, as well.  I’ve also thought I could put it out in the garage, but I don’t know if that would help dry things faster or not.

On the same trip to Target, we picked up some little hooks for the kids bath towels.  I wanted them to be able to put their towels away themselves (which is why it’s so low on the wall!).

We’ve been hanging them on the back of the door, but that means Matt or I have to do it – no way!  Matt installed it and took these pictures of the inaugural hanging since I was in the kitchen.  :)

We (and by we I mean me under the supervision of Joanna) finally cleaned up the playroom today.  It’s been so disastrous for so many days, and it just makes me crazy every time I think about it!  Even when it’s awful, it really only takes me (even as preggo as I am) a little while to do it, and I feel so much better afterward.  The girls play in there better too.  With some help and encouragement, they do a pretty good job helping clean up in there, but I find I’m just so tired at that time of day (after Joanna’s “rest”) that I just put it off and put it off!

Wow, I ramble.  Anyway, I passed by the room after fixing dinner and found this:

I had tossed the egg carton on the floor of the kitchen, intending to put it in the recycle bin later.  Somebody found it first.  :)

And I’ll share my latest piece of weird mail.  So today this giant, padded envelope comes in the mail.

I open it up and find this teeny tiny letter.

 

Regarding the Similac recall from last month.  Seriously?  How did I get on that list?  First of all, my children are old.  And second of all?  Um yeah, THEY DON’T DRINK FORMULA.  At all.  Ever.  Oh well, I’m glad they’re clearly covering their bases.  But that seems like an awful waste of postage and plastic for a teeny tiny letter.

Earlier this week I picked up some brownie mix at Kroger because it sounded so good!  Then I got home and remembered my oven was broken.  SNIFFLE SNIFFLE.  But today Matt was headed to his mom’s to bake a loaf of bread in her oven (and I checked and brownies bake for the same time at the same temp) so I sent a pan of brownie batter along too!  And Mom and Dad: I’m really sorry for making your house smell SO GOOD right now.  You can have some brownies if you want.  :)  Even though I’ve made brownies from scratch before, I really love brownies from a mix.  A lot.  And when you’ve got a craving… it’s really just best to go with it.

Due date milk

The whole milk I bought at Kroger today!

It’s possible (although not likely considering how we go through milk around here) that Baby Brother could come before we use all this milk!  Of course it’s also possible we’ll be three gallons down the road.  :)

I was reading through my blog of the last few weeks before Natalie was born and ran across this post about waiting on her.  I’m pretty much feeling the same way right now.  Although I think I have way less energy.  I cannot fathom a trip to the mall right now!  Yes, I’m a little tired of being pregnant, but I also know that soon enough I actually will miss it.  This may or may not be my last pregnancy (don’t know!), and I will probably get those baby crazy, wish I was pregnant feelings again, whether or not we have more children.  Might as well try to enjoy it now!  I really do love the feeling that he’s developed in there and I could go into labor any time.  Joanna came at 38 weeks + 2 days, but we all know Miss Natalie held on until 40 weeks + 3 days!  I firmly believe that’s exactly how long she needed to gestate, so I’m trying to be very patient while waiting on my son.  He’ll come when he’s ready!  It’s so cute, Joanna knows the due date.  It doesn’t mean much to her, but I love to hear her say “October 18th.”  Natalie goes over to the pack-n-play and says “baby, baby” every day.  She leaves little presents in there for him too.  :)

I’m hoping to spend Friday and Saturday (with enough energy!) cleaning and picking up the house.  I feel so much better when it’s basically picked up and clean.  It’s just so hard when I don’t have mornings at home.  I get so behind.  The mornings are when I feel fresh and have energy.  It all goes down hill from there!  I should have Friday and Saturday morning at home though.  Phew!

To do then:

• Clean kitchen
• Clean table and chairs and dining room floor
• vacuum carpets
• pick up playroom
• put away any lingering laundry and probably do some more
• clear off surfaces of paperwork and misc. junk
• clip and file coupons (maybe…)
• clean middle bathroom

I know I said I’m happy to wait (and I am!), but I really think Sunday would be a very cool birthday for Little Man.  The girls’ birthdays are 1-11 and 2-22.  Sunday will be 10-10-10.  That goes very well with our theme!  Of course, today’s date would be good, or tomorrow’s or some time next week…  :)  I’ve been feeling so happy the past few days.  I LOVE the weather; my girls have started sleeping until 7am (instead of 5:30 or 6:00).  Things are just so nice!  In fact, sometimes I wake up at night (on one of my 900 trips to the bathroom :) and I get a little scared about labor.  I think: “I’m not ready!”  But then the next day, I have trouble getting up and moving around and I hurt, and I look at his little clothes and his little bed and think about his name and how much I want to hold him… then I’m not so scared anymore.  :)

Good night and thanks for listening to me ramble.

The fun of putting together a new stroller!

Our new stroller was (one of!) our splurge items this baby go around.  I really prefer buying this kind of thing used (greener, cheaper), but I couldn’t find just what I wanted.  I loved having our sit-n-stand with the girls, but Natalie’s technically a little young for the stand part.  If I want to start using it right away (and I do), I really would prefer having her in a seat.  So I found a sit-n-stand that offers two full seats which both accept a carseat, but the back seat can be converted into the “jump seat” that is standard on the sit-n-stand.  Another cool feature is that I can put the carseat in the seat closest to me and Natalie up front.  She can see the world; I can see the baby.  I decided to sell our sit-n-stand as well as the side by side double umbrella stroller we had.  I liked the double umbrella, but it didn’t fit in many doorways, which was troublesome to say the very least.  By selling both of those and adding in the Target gift cards we received (!!), we were able to buy the stroller without dipping into our baby savings.  That’s a nice feeling!

It came today, and we spent a few minutes getting it ready for flight.  And playing (on the part of the girls) and taking pictures (on the part of me).

The box made for a good little tunnel!

 

It came basically assembled; the trays and wheels had to be snapped on.

The girls are very good helpers in this kind of situation.  :)

     

Time for a test drive!

We just went to the mailbox and back, which was not enough for Natalie!  She threw a fit when it was time to get out.  Daddy may just have to take them on a longer trip this weekend.

A Dream

I ran into my friend Amy yesterday (and I stole her tiny baby to snuggle), and she was telling me about a dream she had.  She dreamt that I had my baby and we named him Robert Daniel (and planned to call him Daniel).  Also, he was 32 inches long.  Ha!

Dentist, cleaning, food, and fashion

Matt had a dentist appointment Thursday afternoon for some repair work, and I decided to wander up there with the girls.  They were crabby; I was tired.  :)  There was a few minutes that we got to go in and say hi.  Matt had cotton rolls in between his lips and gums so he declined to be photographed.  :)

The girls each got a cotton roll and a glove.  What treasures!

I’m thinking this is the next day down at the ol’ child labor camp.

Sweeping is very fun!

My mom took us to the Potato Patch for lunch on Friday.  What a treat!  Fortunately we’ve been there before and know how wonderful it usually is because we had terrible service on Friday.  Our server was brand spankin’ new to the profession of service.  Ick.  And the guy throwing the rolls was really bad at it, and he never came over to section.  The food was good though (of course, our server left it sitting under the lamps for quite a little while…).  So I’m considering it a fluke day, and we’ll go again! 

The girls were kind of in a zone when I was taking these pictures.  It’s like they wanted to smile but just couldn’t.  My mom also took a couple inside with her camera that I forgot to steal.  Oh, well.

Gran and her girls!

Sadly Natalie fell asleep on the way home and that was her whole nap for the day.  Ew.

That evening I got to go shop Baby Daze!  My wonderful hubby had volunteered (with rave reviews, by the way) on Tuesday so I could shop the presale.

My tastes have definitely gotten more specific in the few years I’ve been a mom (and we already have a ton of stuff!).  My main goals were to get the girls a few things to wear this fall/winter.  I really like them wearing dresses, so that was the goal.  I also wanted to look for shoes, maybe warm jammies, a little backpack for Natalie, maybe accessories for the play kitchen, and anything else we just couldn’t live without.  :)  Hee hee.  I did okay on the dresses.  I found each girl a long sleeved knit dress, each girl a cord or denim jumper dress, each girl a short-sleeved denim dress, and Natalie a brown sleeveless knit dress that I’ll layer under.  Nothing really matches, but their stuff does kind of go together.  I also got Natalie a night gown and Joanna a layering shirt and a couple of pair of knit pants to use as PJ bottoms.  They each have a couple or a few things in their drawers right now that can be layered with a shirt and tights to make a more fall or wintery outfit.  I’m looking forward to the cool weather!  I glanced through the 0-6 month boy stuff, thinking I might find a warm 3-6 month outfit or two, but I saw a 0-3 month train outfit I simply could not leave behind, even though he needs that size like I need a hole in the head.  You can see it in the picture.  (The outfit, not the hole in my head.)  It looks like it’s got some room in it, so I think he’ll be able to wear it when it’s cold.  We’ll definitely take pics in it!  I pretty much struck out on shoes; nothing was the right size that we needed.  Fortunately we don’t need much, I’ll pick up some church shoes when it gets colder.  However, I did find some rain boots for Joanna that I knew she would love.  And she does; she’s worn them most of the day!

My haul, although you can’t really see everything.  Total spent: $34.

Joanna in her boots:

The lighting is better in this next picture, but her face isn’t as cute so I posted them both.  :)

Natalie got in on the boot action this evening.  I may be in trouble that there weren’t any boots in her size.  :)

 

I just love shopping Baby Daze.  It makes me feel so frugal and green, and it’s fun!  Although my back was definitely doing that clenching thing when I got all finished.  Ouch!  I really should just sit on the couch till the baby comes, don’t you think?  Ha!  Although I think I’m really going to have a pedicure in the next couple of days.  I simply cannot reach my feet!  Yay for some pampering to look forward to!

Mostly Joanna, but some other people too.

I was playing with my mom’s camera yesterday, and Joanna just happened to be the most available subject.  :)

Natalie managed to get in a shot or two though.

I can see her saying “cheese” here:

This post could really be titled “The Many Faces of Joanna,” since that’s what you’re about to see!

       

And even though they’re not quite as cute and tiny as they used to be, I couldn’t resist taking some pictures of her feet.  :)

Natalie would have been in on all of this too, but she was still sleeping.  Joanna and I were killing time until she woke up from her nap.  :)

I love her little hand on the belly!

And then we practiced a little bit for when Baby Brother comes.  We pretended Purple Baby was Baby Brother, and we practiced how Joanna would hold him. 

We also talked about that when she’s finished holding him (and I’m right there, of course) that she shouldn’t just let go, but tell me that she’s finished so I can take him.

Here Purple Baby was finished being Baby Brother.  She’s just Purple Baby again, and Joanna is taking good care of her.