A Rising Star

Saturday Morning we picked up Grandmum from the train station. Yea for Grandmum! The plan for that day was to let her rest up some and then we were to go the Christmas musical at church -- Two From Galilee. A synopsis: This musical is an interpretation of the love between Mary and Joseph--their life, love and conflict. Ensnared in family conflicts, a hostile world and by an awesome responsibility, they fight for their one true love and to fulfill their dreams. But trust is shaken and love questioned, revealing a family's shame and a husband's doubt until the couple realizes that it is not all about finding true love but about life's purpose and calling.



That afternoon we got a call from a gal at church. It was one of the cast members from the musical -- Mary to be exact. She starts out by saying that I can say no if I want to, so I have to laugh. She then goes on to say that the little boy they had used for Jesus (and another baby part) had gotten sick and couldn't continue his role. She was wondering if we would be willing to let them use Holly for the part(s)!

Well the plan was to go see the musical that night anyway...

So I said yes... how could a proud mommy resist? She reassured me that the blankets were being washed and that only three people would be holding her, and that they would be using hand sanitizer. I was very reassured! ... and this is my third child, I'm a bit more relaxed about some things.

We got to church later then I had wanted... her next feeding time was due to be right at the start of the musical... when they needed a baby, so I had wanted to feed her before they started. Well, we tried to feed her... she decided that a snack was all she wanted.

She was needed for most of the first act, and I had decided to stay back stage with her (which means that I need to get a hold of the video at some point). Holly slept like ... like a baby... only it more like she was in a coma HAHA. Since she had only snacked before her big debut, my chest (her source of food) felt like it was going to absolutely explode.

During intermission, I recruited Steve to the back of the auditorium to help me to get Holly to latch and eat. She finally did, and I am sure that we both felt better.

I knew the cue to take Holly back to the back stage so that she would 'enter' at the right time, and I knew that it was going to be soon... I may not have seen the musical, but I have read the account :) Then I hear it, the sound from Holly that says 'change me NOW'... I didn't really have time, but I thought I would try. So I run up to where Steve, Susan and the girls are sitting and grab a diaper and the wipes and start heading out the auditorium. That's when I hear it, my cue to go backstage... I wonder if I have time to change her...

When I got back there, the 'stage hand' says I have a min or two before Jesus is born. I actually contemplate changing her diaper before she has to be on stage... then I realize that she usually screams like a banshee whenever her diaper is changed (bum is warm, wipes are cold...). So I opt to not change the girl, but boy does it smell (not too badly, breastmilk poopies don't stink badly). SO the hand off is complete, and since she will be on stage through to the end, I head back to 'my' seat.

So there you have it! At all of five days old Holly made her stage debut as Jesus.

.... and when all was said and done, I changed the little comatose girl's diaper... she didn't even wake up :)

Announcing... Holly Ruth!

Sunday evening (Dec 6th) I got a call from the hospital telling me that they've had an induction spot open up for the next day and I should be there between 6-7am Monday. (They told me at the Dr's the previous Thursday that they would do that if something opened up before my next apt Mon at 10am). So I was set to go in Monday morning

About 12:30 or so that night (after midnight) I felt the baby move a bit funny like and didn't think much of it. About 1/2 an hour later I went to the restroom and my undies were more wet then they should have been and I started feeling some intense contractions. We called the Dr back up and call the baby sitter for the girls and in we went to the hospital.

We got there about 2am and they checked me and said that I was 6-7 cm dilated ...and that my membranes were bulging. That meant that if my water did break, like I think it did, that it was a high leak and would have been too much to worry about. So we sat there being monitored for about 1-1.5 hours. The Dr came back in and offered me some pain meds and to break my water (again). I decided on the pain meds and to wait on breaking the water. A little while later, he came back and said that maybe we should break my water... well I agreed and then as the doctor was getting ready to do that (according to Steve) at that moment the monitors "blurped" and we heard a pop and there was a GUSH! No need for Dr intervention there!! But.... there is meconium, so we have to take some extra precautions during delivery. So now the Dr is busy getting things ready for birth. All of a sudden I HAVE to push!!! but the Dr isn't ready and is trying to tell me to wait... emphasis on the TRY, I am! This is when the nurse looks over and says we have a head!! At this point the Dr doesn't even have his gloves on, and is telling me... begging me not to push! So as quick as he can, he gets ready, suctions out what they can and gives me permission to push. One or two pushes later we have a baby at 4:52am! Talk about quick!

After all that The Dr saw that I tore pretty badly (3rd degree with 4th being the worst -- because of Holly's very quick entrance), so we spent the next hour or so stitching me up. The Special "magic" lights refused to focus like they were supposed to, and the doctor finally asked for a snake light, when that got there the bulb was very dim and so in the end, with lots of morphine involved (yuck)... he tried to stitch it all with what faulty lighting we did have (partly by having the nurses and my Hubby moving the bed all over the room to get it into the lights as best they could.)... now we are all hoping that he could see what he needed to and that he got everything.

Pictures aren't working :( ... maybe later... or go here

Being induced...

Just a quick update to let anyone who might be reading this know... I am being induced in the morning (Monday, 10am EST). They decided to go ahead and induce me 'early' (we are only 39+weeks) because my measurement from the pubic bone to the top of the uterus is measuring 41 weeks and I was 4cm dilated and 95% effaced (thinned out) on Thursday. I will give an update on here once we are home, but I will probably get Steve to update FB before then.

A long and overdue update

So I’ve been told that I need to update this thing. And I have said it myself, that it has been way too long since I posted anything… so in an attempt to bring this up to date I will run though what has happened since Aug...

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In September all four of us (plus the one in the belly) ventured to the state of Connecticut once again for my cousin Rachel’s wedding. The event was fabulous! The girls LOVED being flower girls and I have to admit I didn’t look too different from the rest of the bridesmaids... save for the huge belly. You can view some of our pictures form that weekend HERE. The first ones are from the aquarium that is close to where the wedding was (Mystic).

The most adventurous part of the whole weekend, though, was NOT wedding related. We had just checked into our hotel and I had decided that I was hungry and wanted to find food... and there was a little issue of we still needed to get the happy couple a gift (oops). So we ventured to a nearby mall. As I was trying to pull into a parking spot, we heard an ominous CrUnCh! Upon investigation, we saw that our front driver side tire was perpendicular to the rest of the van. After many tears and phone calls and some time in the food court and some incredible acts of God (no lie – too many to list, but some include: my aunts AAA covering the tow, and the security guard being incredibly helpful and offering more help), the van was towed to the opposite side of the mall where there was a SEARS auto center. So after spending the next day (Saturday) squished into the rental car of the Maid of Honor (she definitely earned her title...), finding out what we had broken (at this moment I can’t recall...), and paying WAY too much for it, we got our van back :) and it seems to be working fine now.

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Also in September, Faith Started Kindergarten...

Mom sent the outfits for the girls, they looked cute wearing the same thing :)

... and we went to the baby shower of a friend that I used to work with at the restaurant...

Lark, Shiela (pregnant with Marissa), me (about 27 weeks)

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In October we celebrated Megan turning four! I still can’t believe that she is that old. Grandpa came to visit and she had a very quaint (just the five of us) “party” at Friendly’s (one of our favorite restaurants! ... and I may have a job there when I am ready to go back to work LOL). Here are a few pictures from that.

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There was “trunk-or-Treat” at church, the day after Megan’s birthday. I had never experienced anything like this, but it was a lot of fun and the girls are still working on candy from the event. If you’ve never heard of such a thing... what it is, is people from the church take their vehicles (at the church) and decorate them with a theme and hand out candy from their car. So all we had to do was walk around the church parking lot like we were trick-or-treating. Like I said, lots of fun... here are a few pictures of some of the vehicles:

nativity scene

"I Love Lucy" doing Vitametavegimin :) (One of my fav's)

Mater (from the movie 'Cars') - this was one of my favorite cars

the big fish from the account of Jonah :)

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In November, (or slightly before) we started getting calls from the preschool that Faith went to (Head Start) that we thought Megan was going to just go to next year... Well a state budget finally passed (one of the reasons she wouldn’t have gone this year) and because most of the already four year olds had found a different preschool to attend, there was room for Megan. So In Nov, she started preschool!

Some pictures from her first day:

I did not realize till just now that she wore the same thing on the first day of Faith's school...

With Miss Dale during school

outside on the playground.

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Over the last few months I have done some sewing beyond baby doll clothing, so here are some of my recent creations

a shirt for me (non maternity pattern, but it fits right now :))

A dress for Megan's birthday

Christmas gift for Steve's cousin

I have a few more things in the works, I just have to actually pull out the sewing machine and put it away every time I want to sew now, because where I had the machine before was where we needed to put the Christmas tree. I will gladly move stuff for that. I love our tree


...and we even have one outside with a small train village

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On the baby front...

I have reached 38 weeks plus... I am VERY uncomfortable! This is the longest I have ever been pregnant for... it is also the first time we have made it to the month I am due in (Faith was due in April born in March and Megan was due in Nov born in Oct)

My last couple of OB appointments have proved to be very interesting. At my 36 week apt (35w6d) they did the group B strep test that is done every pregnancy. It came back negative :). And they checked me and I was 2-3 cm dilated already. The next week’s apt I was at still at 3cm 80% effaced. At my 38 week apt I was at 4cm. With Megan, at 38 weeks I was 6cm before I knew anything, and wasn’t feeling any contractions (in AZ they went ahead and induced me then). This OB has said that they don’t do anything to speed labor along till 39 weeks (I think that wold be this next apt tomorrow at 38w5d), but I am becoming very impatient. I can feel a few contractions, but I have a high pain threshold and only feel them when they are strong (they are not very painful yet though).

I did wake up this morning to what felt like menstrual cramp pain, but it was continuous and didn’t correlate to any of the contractions that I was feeling... I thought I was going to be calling the OB, but the contrax have fizzled out and I am just feeling a dull pain now... hopefully something happens really soon. Another apt is scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday).

Here are a few of may last belly pictures:

30 weeks

33 weeks

34 weeks

36 weeks

I am hoping my last one... 38 weeks

22 weeks and counting...

How far along? 22weeks 1day

Total weight gain/loss: up about 15 lbs so far, as per the home scale at night

Maternity clothes? No change.. except that I went and bought a pair of sleep shorts that are WAY to big, but feel SO nice

Stretch marks? I think a few more have popped up and the ones I have are ‘growing’, but still applying lotion as often as I can remember with the “Palmer’s” stuff

Sleep: restless.. and I still have had a couple of days where my RLS has acted up and that keeps me awake

Best moment this week: Hearing the heartbeat again :) and getting a prescription (yep a prescription, so it’s covered by the insurance) for a prenatal cradle.. Oh, I am anticipating the relief!

Movement: It’s a rare day that I don’t feel her move now! The days that I don’t seem to be the days I am more active (like while at work)

Food cravings: Just about anything you mention! It all sounds good! I have noticed though that cheese is really good and green beans are really good.. things that I can’t get too much of (at least they are not junk)

Any mood swings? My temper fuse is really short these days.. according to some other pregnant women I have talked to, this is normal.. not something I remember form Faith and Megan though

Labor Signs: None yet! Thank the LORD!

Belly Button in or out? In, so far :) is has gotten tighter though, I have noticed that I can’t see inside it as much as before LOL

Wedding rings on or off? No change..

What I miss: Bras that fit!

What I am looking forward to: (not pg related..) looking forward to getting my Bridesmaid dress so that I can figure out how it get it the right length.. that should be this week..

Bought anything for baby? In the last couple of weeks I bought fabric to go with the afore mentioned Boppy cover and the fabric will work for another pattern for baby items.. We are thinking of registering soon for a few things that we don’t have..

Weekly Wisdom: pregnant women get tired easily.. my feet still hurt from my six hour shift at work yesterday

Milestones:Her lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and she's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath her gums. Her eyes have formed, but her irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers her body and the deep wrinkles on her skin, which she'll sport until she adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside her belly, her pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.

My belly at 21 weeks, taken last week