Adjusting

This is what we woke up to this morning. I LOVE the snow! It started yesterday evening. Micah was in bed and Erik and I were watching a movie with our fireplace going and the Christmas lights on and our little baby sleeping on our laps. It was so cozy! Too bad the snow won't last forever. We decided not to go into church today which was disappointing since we were hoping to show off our new little girl, but when the weather is like this here, people tend to stay indoors and we figured we'd probably be the only ones of our friends there if we decided to go.
If the snow sticks around Erik may not be able to work tomorrow - which isn't so great for the bank account, but would be kind of nice for me!

Despite the big change in Micah's life this week he has still managed to hit a major milestone - totally unexpectantly, I might add! He has pooped on the potty twice now! On Wednesday, when Erik and I were in the hospital waiting for baby to arrive, Grandma was able to get Micah to go for the very first time. And this morning when Micah told us "poop" we were able to get him undressed and on the toilet in time for success! He clapped his hands and said "Yay, Patah!" -- That's what he calls himself :)

And thankfully Micah has also been sleeping great since Keziah came home. That's such a blessing since I was up quite a bit of the night last night. Keziah seems to like nursing in small amounts but very frequently, so I felt like I was getting up every 45 minutes. Finally I tried the soother and she kept it in her mouth for three hours - long enough to make me feel a little more rested!

And what's a post without pictures of the new baby!!

Keziah after a diaper change. She's got a little bit of dark hair on her head (About the same as Micah had as a newborn).
This was one of my favourite outfits when Micah was a baby.
Keziah's first bath at home.

Getting the armpits cleaned!













We have a big trip coming up next weekend. We have been planning for a few months to fly to Manitoba at the beginning of December - to take advantage of Micah flying for free before he hits his 2nd birthday on December 13th. We expected our new baby would have been born a little sooner, but now she will only be a week a half when we take her on the plane! It shouldn't be a problem except that we have no ID for her. We booked with airmiles and they told us to get some sort of record of her birth as proof that she's really our child! So, hopefully that will all work itself out without too much of a hassle. And hopefully Micah won't be too over-stimulated by all the new changes and a big trip out east.
We will be in Manitoba from Dec 2-10; spending some time on the farm in Boissevain and with family in Winnipeg to celebrate an early Christmas. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone and introducing the newest member of our family in person!

Keziah's Birth Story

Wow, I still can't believe our baby is finally here. And I'm still trying to get accustomed to the idea of having a daughter! I thought I'd take the chance to let you know how Keziah made her way into the world!

We went into the hospital on Wednesday morning for the induction. By the time they inserted the cervadil it was about 10:45 am. I slowly started getting more frequent contractions but they were very mild. I did a LOT of walking, sitting on the birthing ball and hanging out in the shower - Erik left a couple of times to run errands or pick up something to eat. It was a bit of a boring afternoon and I kept waiting for the pain to increase. Around supper-time, the contractions started to pick up. They still weren't really that painful, but they came right on top of each other. The nurses decided to hook me up to the monitors and discovered very quickly that my uterus was hardly resting at all and that baby's heartrate was dipping really low. It was a bit scary for a minute - they pulled out the cervadil, hooked me up to oxygen and IV and rolled me into different positions until the heartrate started to pick up. At this point thoughts of emergency c-sections were going through my head, but they were able to stabilize the heartrate and with the cervadil out, my contractions spaced out quite a bit. They checked my cervix and I was still only 1-2 cm dilated! So the whole day of contractions had been pretty much useless! I was pretty discouraged and thought we were in for a much longer haul yet. They decided to call in the doctor to check me out since baby's heartrate was still fluctuating a bit. She came in shortly after and decided to break my water. That was about 8:00 pm and I noticed my contractions were a little more painful right away. The doctor told the nurse she planned to stay which surprised me because I figured we had several hours to go yet. But within half an hour I had to close my eyes and breathe through the contractions and after another 15 minutes or so the contractions became quite unbearable and I started feeling the urge to push. The doctor checked me and I was about 5 cm. I didn't know how I was going to resist the pushing urge when I was only half-way there. But a few more contractions and I was fully dilated! I started pushing shortly after 9:00 pm. Apparently Keziah's heartrate was dipping again at this point and they told me I needed to push really hard - talk about incentive to get that baby out! Erik said once the head came out, the doctor grabbed her by the neck with both hands, put one foot on the edge of the bed and twisted her out like a corkscrew! All together, the pushing was about 8 minutes. The whole thing was pretty fast and furious if you ask me! When she came out, nobody announced whether it was a boy or a girl, so I was trying to peer through all the hands as she was being passed around and dried off and when I got a peek I said, incredulously, "Is it a girl?!?" And she was!

Erik was able to call my parents in Manitoba shortly after, as well as his whole family who came to visit yet that night. Even Micah got to wake up and come to the hospital in his pyjamas.  Here's a few pictures from our first couple of days with Keziah:

Micah gets introduced to his baby sister at the hospital.

Our family of 4!

Proud Aunties, Uncles, Grandpa, Grandma & Big Brother...











Micah's first time holding Keziah all on his own - he liked counting her fingers!

I am LOVING all this pink!

Wet smooches from Micah.

Brother-Sister bonding time.

Our little princess...

Some of you have asked about where we came up with her name. The middle name, Katherine, is after my mom (and was also her mom's name) and the name Keziah comes from the Bible. In the last chapter of Job, when Job's wealth is restored to him, the Lord blesses him with three beautiful daughters - one of which is named Keziah. Erik's dad also looked up the name yesterday and found it to mean "cinnamon". So, I guess our little girl really is made of 'sugar and spice'!

Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers along the way. All four of us will be together for the next few days and then Erik will head back to work on Monday - the thought scares me a little bit, but we'll take it one day at a time and hopefully we'll be OK!

Keziah Katherine is here!

We are very pleased to announce the arrival of our daughter, Keziah Katherine (pronounced Ke-ZY-ah) who was born last night, Nov 22 at 9:15 pm. She weighed in at 8 lbs, 5 oz and is 19 inches long. We are home from the hospital and I will include more pictures and details when I have the time!

Wednesday Morning

We're sitting at home waiting to head into the hospital. When I called this morning, they told me to come in at 10 am. That seems like light-years away! But the nurse said they may call me in sooner, so I guess we're on stand-by. I asked if we would be going in today for sure and she said yes, so I guess today is my baby's birthday!
We didn't sleep that great last night - partly just the fact that my mind was spinning, but also because Micah chose last night to sleep AWFUL! He has been sleeping SO well in the last few weeks (finally!) and then last night we heard him fall out of his bed at about 10 pm (we put the bedframe and boxspring under his mattress a couple of weeks ago and so far he hasn't fallen out once). He was pretty worked up so Erik decided to sleep with him but I heard him crying out several times in the night. Erik said at one point he woke up and saw Micah sitting in the corner of the room reading a book with his pajamas off. Crazy kid.
So, Erik is trying to sleep now. It makes me feel good to know that at least one of us is catching up on sleep since I know there's no way I'd be able to sleep right now!

Soon and Very Soon

Soon it will be Christmas!

I broke down this morning and decided to decorate for Christmas. I really wish we had the room for a big Christmas tree, but I've got a little 2 foot tree that will have to suffice. I still need to find an extension cord to be able to get the lights working on the tree, but here's a picture of some of my decor. I found these matching stockings at Home Sense the other day for the kids - (wow, it's going to be weird getting used to saying "the kids"!)
And, yes, that's Ellen on in the background - my favourite daytime show!

And VERY soon the baby will be here! I saw my "fill-in" OB today and she would like to induce tomorrow! YIKES! I've been waiting for this baby forever, but it's still a crazy thought that I could have a baby by this time tomorrow! It will all depend on how busy the hospital is in the morning, but chances are they'll get me in around 7:30 am. The doctor listed a few different ways to be induced and said she would recommend trying cervadil first (a hormone that they insert inside to get contractions started) rather than break my water which can cause more intense labor. Hopefully this will be enough to jump-start labor and I can avoid all the IV and monitors that come with using the oxytocin drug. She said I'm still not very dilated, but everything is soft and the baby's head is really low so that's good news.

Then the doctor gave me a very tempting offer. She has a sonogram machine in her office (unlike my regular doctor) and said she could tell me what the baby's sex was if I wanted to know. I considered it, but only for a moment. For one thing, Erik wasn't even with me and I don't know what he would've thought if I found out without him, but I also figured that since I made it this far I could wait one more day. Besides, I need a surprise to look forward to during my labor tomorrow. SO tempting, though :)

So, it's strange knowing this is likely my last night without a baby. Thanks so much for all your comments and prayers! We'll be keeping you as up-to-date as possible once we have some news!

Non-Stress Test

I'm back from my NST at the hospital and all is well. The whole process took awhile since my normally hyper-active baby decided to take a nap once all of the monitors were hooked onto me. But with a little apple juice and prodding, we were able to wake him/her up and get the readings the nurse was looking for. It was kind of relaxing and even fun just lying there and listening to my baby's heartbeat and watching it fluctuate on the monitor - around 130 when it was resting and up to 155 when it was moving around. They also had me hooked up to a contraction monitor that showed my uterus was tightening about every 4 minutes. I asked the nurse about the frequency of my contractions. She said there is the odd woman who can have painless contractions that actually fully dilate her cervix, but in my case she said to wait until they became painful. Obviously they're not doing much to dilate me since I was only 1-2 cm's last week. There was a lady beside me also being monitored and she was showing some signs of early labour - it made me a little jealous to know she would probably have her baby before me and she was only a few days overdue!

Anyway, it was really neat to go up to the maternity ward at the hospital. I haven't been there since Micah was born and it brought back a lot of memories - even the smell in the hallways reminded me of those first days with him in the hospital. It got me really excited to know that I'll be back there very soon having this new little bundle!

41 Weeks

Wow - I still can't believe I've made it this far without a baby. Here's a shot of the belly that just won't stop growing...

Today at 11 am I head to the hospital for a non-stress test. They'll hook me up to the monitors and make sure that baby's heartrate is normal when sleeping and awake. This baby still seems pretty active despite how squished he or she is, so I'm expecting everything to be normal with the test.

I'm starting to come to terms with the idea of being induced. I really didn't think it would come to this, but I've started giving up my hopes of going into labour naturally. My main problem with induction is that it's not natural. Maybe I'm wrong, but could it mean a longer or more complicated labour? I was given oxytocin with Micah so I did get a little "help" with him as well. My water had broken but I didn't have any contractions for 17 hours and even then they were pretty sporadic. They gave me a small dose of oxytocin to help me into a regular labour pattern and Micah was born about 6 hours later. But, I remember the nurses saying it helped that my body had started contracting on its own before they started the IV. The other reason I don't want to be induced is that I have to give up the whole element of surprise - the excitement of going into labour unexpectantly, timing contractions at home and surprising family with the phone call that we're heading into the hospital...

But, in the end, what I really want is for my baby to be born healthy and whole and to begin our journey as a family of four. So, I'm hoping that by the time Wednesday or Thursday rolls around, I'll be more than ready to pack up and head to the hospital for an induction. I have to surrender the control to God and trust that he knows just how this baby needs to come into the world - and there's still time for the baby to come on his or her own before the middle of the week. I'm just thankful to know that by the end of this week - if the induction is a success - we will have our little baby!

Patience

I saw my new doctor(s) yesterday. I started my appointment with one doctor and then she had to run off to the hospital for an emergency delivery, so I ended up seeing a different doctor in the clinic. Both were really nice and it will be either of them or one other doctor who will deliver me. The second doctor checked me and I was still only 1-2 cm's! It's frustrating that all these contractions don't seem to be helping me progress at all. He also stripped my membranes again. I've felt crampy today as a result, but no real action yet. The game plan now is for me to go into the hospital on Monday morning for a non-stress test, see the doctor again on Tuesday and be induced either Wednesday or Thursday - unless, of course, the baby decides to make an entrance any time before that! Erik and I have decided to just plan on meeting our baby next Wed or Thurs and anything earlier will be a bonus! Easier said than done, though. Today was a lo-o-ong day at home with Micah. I was unmotivated to do much other than bake some cookies and tidy the house. I considered breaking out my Christmas decorations, but the thought actually made me kind of depressed. I think the idea just feeds my fear that I will still be pregnant by the time Christmas rolls around!

I wanted to avoid another picture-less post, so here are a couple of shots of Micah playing in his "new" toy box (Erik and I decided to make a new use for my hope chest to eliminate some of the toy clutter in the house):

















When Erik came home from work tonight I told him we HAD to get out of the house - if for no other reason than to give me an excuse to take a shower and get out of my sweat pants! We ended up at the mall where everything is already Christmas-y. I took a couple of pictures of Micah next to the Santa display. Santa is coming tomorrow, apparently, but I'm guessing this is about as close as Micah's going to get to him (he doesn't do so well with strangers right now...)


















Yesterday I heard of two different families who gave birth to preemies - a set of twins born at 25 weeks and another baby being born at 27 weeks (this was the one the doctor had to rush out to deliver during my appointment). It got me thinking about the long, hard road ahead for these little ones and suddenly being overdue didn't seem so awful. I'm so thankful that our baby is full-term and big and (hopefully) totally healthy!

Thanks to those of you who have encouraged me with your own "overdue" stories. It's nice to know I'm not the only one to have to endure these endless last days. I just keep praying that God would give me contentment and peace and PATIENCE!

3 Days Overbaked

There's been no action around here yet! Today I will see the OB that will be taking on my case since my doctor is out of town. I didn't expect to make it to this appointment, but now that it's here, I'm excited to see what she has to say, how much I've progressed, etc. I'm hoping she will strip my membranes again (or "tinker" as Heather so nicely phrases it!). And then I will pull out all the stops to get this baby moving. I feel as though the baby is really low - I went for a walk this morning and was very uncomfortable with all the pressure. I'm hoping that's a good sign that baby is moving down!
Yesterday was a crazy stormy day here on the coast - incredibly windy and rainy with power outages and falling trees all over the place. I figured the baby had to come for sure on a day like that - isn't that how it always happens in the movies?
Micah and I had a good last day of swimming lessons yesterday. We went down the big waterslide as promised! I thought I'd be able to control our speed a little bit better, but we kept getting faster and faster! Micah started whimpering, but I think he would do it again. We'll have to make a point of going back to the pool once in awhile until I can sign him up for lessons again.
Micah seems very aware of the baby's impending birth. We've set up our third bedroom as a nursery and he has had fun playing with all of the baby things. His Aunties taught him the other day to say, "Come out baby!" and he repeats this phrase often. One day he even said, "baby, out, tummy, hospital". I was surprised that he put all those words together for one thing, but also that he seems to understand the whole concept of what is happening.
I've started having more dreams about the baby. For some reason I'm never present for the birth but am told about the baby once it's born - too bad I couldn't skip the labour in real life! Last night I dreamt that it was a boy but it was a full-sized toddler and looked EXACTLY like Micah. I can remember trying to swaddle it and the blanket was just too small! I think this dream may have stemmed from the conversation Erik and I had just before we fell asleep. I told him I was concerned that every day I carried this baby it was just going to get bigger and bigger! I'm starting to imagine a chubby 10 lb'er in there!
I'll be keeping you all as up-to-date as I can about what's going on. But, in closing, here's something interesting to note: in the baby pool that I took several weeks ago, nobody guessed the baby to be born any later than today - Nov 16! So, if baby doesn't come by midnight tonight, then NOBODY'S right - ha ha. OK, that's actually more sad than funny.

Distractions

Distractions are wonderful in this season of waiting. I went shopping with the sisters on Sunday afternoon - we lucked out since Old Navy was having a super clearance and I bought 4 new NON-maternity shirts for less than $25! It's fun having some new things in my closet to look forward to in a week or so. I even discovered that one of them fits over my 9-month preggo belly and having a new shirt to wear at this stage of pregnancy really does wonders to lift a girls spirits :)

Today Rosanna had the day off and she suggested taking coffee and donuts up to the boys at work (Nathan just started working with Todd & Erik this week).

It was raining a little when we got there but we were able to enjoy our snack in the neighbour's finished garage.

Afterwards we took some pictures up on the 2nd floor of the house. There's one set of stairs finished so we were able to go up top and enjoy the view. Erik said most of the 2nd floor exterior walls went up this afternoon - it makes a big difference having a third guy working with them!

The boys.

A final family shot without the baby...

Micah sleeping soundly by the time we got back home.



















Every night I've been making myself a list of things to keep me busy the next day. I find I don't get to all of the things on my list if I'm going out or if Micah's being extra-demanding, but it's good to have direction and distraction (thanks A. Shirley for your good suggestions, too!) I am also trying not to analyze every ache and cramp that I have - my mom said last night "you'll KNOW when you're in labour". And she's right. There's no sense wasting my energy thinking about every contraction and symptom - once the real thing comes I won't have to wonder. So, today I felt myself relax in this waiting phase and as a result I've regained some of the excitement and anticipation that has been lost in the last several days.

Tomorrow Micah and I head to his final swimming lesson - I never thought I'd make it this far with him, but I'm glad now that I did. Apparently we are all taking our toddlers for a ride down the big waterslide tomorrow! This should be fun - and hopefully labour-inducing!

False Alarm #2

I woke up last night around 1 am feeling crampy contractions. They definitely felt more like "real" contractions than the painless ones I've been having, but still very mild. They were coming pretty frequently so Erik ended up calling the hospital. The nurse there said it sounded promising and that we should wait for them to get more intense. But she said she'd probably see us later. We got our things together and waited. Finally I just got tired of waiting for something more to happen and I decided to sleep for awhile. Next thing we know it's 7 am and I'm obviously not in labour! UGH! Frustrating. The due date has come and will soon be gone.
I'm curious about all of your birth stories. How did you know you were in labour? Did you have any false alarms? With Micah my water broke so it was easy to know what was happening. But all these contractions are driving me crazy! I keep praying that my water will break again this time around - it would be SO much easier!

40 Weeks Tomorrow

Yep, here I am this morning - still pregnant! I know I'm not technically due until tomorrow, but if someone would've told me last week that I would go to church today without a baby I probably would've cried. But, here I am! Erik said this morning "I guess you're the type who needs to bake 'em right to the end." I guess so. I'm struggling to keep my spirits up (don't let the smile in the picture fool you!) and I find I NEED to keep busy or I will drive myself crazy. I told Erik that a shopping trip might make me feel better, so I think we may head out this afternoon to Langley or something. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. I know the end has to be coming sometime soon!

No Baby Yet

Hi all - just checking in for all you curious bloggers out there. There's still no baby action. Part of me is going nutty waiting and analyzing every little twitch and cramp, and the other part of me is resigned to accept that this could still be awhile. I'm learning to be content in my current situation! Oh, so hard!!

Another Day...

Sorry to disappoint you all but there is no news yet. I'm still pregnant and still at home! I was starting to get some anxious comments, so I apologize for keeping you in the dark all day :) I just didn't feel like posting this morning with NO news to report! I will try to keep you all up-to-date though as much as I can!

I was pretty discouraged that nothing happened after yesterday's appointment - though I'm told that going into labour anytime within a few days of getting one's membranes stripped means it has been successful, so there is still hope! Not that it would be the end of the world to go past my due date, it would just mean having a different doctor do the delivery. And after all the contractions and false alarms I've been having, the wait seems unbearable!

So, I'm trying to fill my days with lots of activities - shopping or baking Christmas cookies or whatever. This afternoon I went for a vigorous walk with my friend Kelly and baby Taeya. She's so cute!

Ever since the walk I've been having strong and regular (but painless) contractions. They feel very tight and uncomfortable but I wish they would really hurt!! Erik said he has a feeling that "tonight is the night" but he's said that so many times this week that I told him to stop - it doesn't help to get my hopes up!

Update

Well, I just got back my doctor's appointment and he was able to strip my membranes. In my opinion, not really that bad. Uncomfortable, yes, but well worth it if it works!! So far, I feel more crampy and have had several Braxton Hicks so we'll see if it turns into anything. It's actually a nice day here so maybe I'll try to walk this baby out! Keep us in your prayers and hopefully we'll have a baby by the weekend!

Theologian in the Making

Last night Erik was playing hockey, so Micah and I were home alone for the evening. I was organizing the spare room (since we'll be moving baby into there eventually) and Micah was "helping". Eventually he picked out a book from our bookshelf and took it to the couch. He spent 20 minutes flipping through the pages. I couldn't believe how long this occupied him - especially considering the title of the book was "Understanding Pietism"...


















Here's a great little video that Nathan shot of Micah on Sunday night. He's got some good moves already!


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We have been getting torrential downpours of rain here this week - yesterday there was major flooding in Chilliwack and some people were evacuated. Erik drove home through the flats (on a road that I think was supposed to be closed!) and said there were moments when he couldn't even tell if his truck was still on the road! Yikes. It's not raining as hard today, and we're still enjoying fall colours here in Abbotsford...



Other than that, there is unfortunately nothing else to report! But I'll be keeping you posted after my doctor's appointment tomorrow!

39 weeks and counting...

I thought I'd better blog an update since I haven't written since Friday and some of you may be wondering... As you can see, the baby is still happily snuggled inside of my belly at 39 weeks. I don't think my belly can stretch any bigger (as you can see from the new set of stretch marks...)

The conference on Saturday was amazing. I've never heard so many great speakers in one day. It was an 8-hour day, but it went by really fast! I felt pretty good - I had a ton of Braxton Hicks contractions all day, but nothing else to report. We went out for spicy Thai food for supper and I was hoping that might get things moving, but so far... nothing.

Yesterday was a relaxing day that included the traditional supper meal with Erik's family. Rosanna and Elissa had me doing aerobics in the hopes to induce labour. I had some more contractions, but otherwise... nothing.

I did wake up at 4 this morning feeling a little weird. I had some really strong Braxton Hicks that actually woke me up during the night and some of them started wrapping around my back and feeling crampy, but nothing has transpired. It can't be much longer though! I'm expecting that by this time next week I will have a newborn in my arms - so here's hoping that the membrane stripping on Wednesday is a success if nothing happens before then!


I had to include this picture of me at 8 weeks - will I ever be that tiny again???

To Go or Not to Go...

The other day I was invited to use a free ticket for the Women of Faith conference in Vancouver this weekend and I have always wanted to go to one, but I waivered back and forth since my due date is so near and I would be an hour away (more with bad traffic) from my hospital, my doctor, my husband... Hearing someone share at care group last night about their 2 hour labour with their 2nd child made me wonder whether I should expect the unexpected and just stay home, safe and sound. Anyway, I've been strongly urged to go, with the promise that those who are driving will take me straight home if anything happens. So, I'm planning to go. Yes, I would love for baby to come anytime, but maybe just pray that it doesn't happen tomorrow between 9 am & 5 pm :) Thanks.

Vent

OK, I just posted yesterday, I know, but I'm just so confused and frustrated with Blogger right now. For some reason, it STILL won't let me post on non-Beta blogs and I feel so cut off! This wasn't a problem a few weeks ago and I notice that other Beta-bloggers seem to be able to post on non-Beta blogs (i.e. Amber & Janelle !?!?). What am I doing wrong?? I don't want anyone to think I have not been reading their blogs faithfully and wanting desperately to comment! Just to name a few: Erin G., Rebekah as well as Heather & Kerri (who are also due with babies VERY soon!) If anyone can help me, please do. And if not, I just want all you non-Beta bloggers to know that I'm not snubbing you - just please, PLEASE switch to Beta :)

Bouncing Boy

Nope - the title doesn't refer to the new baby. I'm talking about my bouncing TODDLER boy. Perhaps he may be taking after Mommy. Those of you who knew me as a child will remember my affinity for bouncing - in the car, on the couch, anytime, anyplace... I LOVED to bounce!


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Micah had one last chance to wear his elephant costume today at Mom's group.

And I haven't posted a picture of myself in awhile, so here's a shot of me at 38 weeks and 2 days! I have had to resort to looking for clothes on Erik's side of the closet this week as I only have a handful of shirts that still offer enough belly coverage! (No, this pink shirt is NOT Erik's - ha, ha). Anyway, I am MORE than ready to wear regular clothes again!