Thursday, May 31, 2012

Humor in my days

Well I know I have a lot of catching up to do. Gabric is 5 weeks old today :O
To be honest the weeks have been difficult but it is amazing how little ones can brighten a dark day.
Today during Bible time the kids decided to act out the story of Daniel Each child cried out who they would be.
" I will be Daniel"
" I will be the king"
" you be a wise man"
" I want to be the lion"
Then Titus - " I will be the dinosaur, ROAR"



Friday, May 11, 2012

Off oxygen!

My littlest man is off oxygen except when riding in his carseat! It is so amazing being able to pick him up and not feel like we are on a leash. He also has gained 8 ounces in the last three days :)
The past 2 weeks have had some very hard trials where moment by moment has required complete reliance on Gods strength. He has been so gracious with us and sustained us. He has also blessed us incredibly through others. It is amazing how God orchestrated the timing of my parents coming in and my birth. My parents got here 4 hours after Gabric was born and my mom ( who is also the best midwife in the world) took one look at him and said we needed to take him to the hospital. Not five minutes later we were out the door. For the next five days I didn't leave the hospital. My parents loved on my babies, fed them, played with, took them on hikes, and my mama even slept with Hadassah to keep her leg braces on. While I was an emotional wreck wanting to be with my littles, I never had a single worry about them and knew they were blissful.
While we were at the hospital our church family came and prayed over Gabric, brought us food and supported us.  Through the worries and unknowns they shared wisdom they had gained through their own difficult times.  While we were in the hospital Gabric stopped breathing three different times and turned blue.  It was very scary.  It made it hard for me to go down the hall to take a nap in our room.  I had to remember that is was God in control and protecting him.  Our room was another huge blessing.  When we got to the hospital (remember I had just had a baby), the hospital had a room in labor and delivery that had broken moniters - they let us stay in it and then actually let us keep the room the whole 5 days which is apparently unheard of.   Isn't God amazing!  I unfortunately had three migraines while in the hospital and I was able to stumble down the hall crawl into bed and sleep for a few hours while I gained my bearings so I could go back.  The nurses were great and so supportive and we had a great pediatrician.  The doctor was good enough for me to consider switching my kids over and I am SUPER picky about pediatricians. 
At one point they were going to let us take Gabric home and then he failed a car seat test.  We prayed while they were setting up us going home that God would prevent it if wasn't the right time and that we would be able to go home despite hospital red tape if we were supposed to go home.  Well when he failed the carseat test I was feeling a little frustrated because the doctor was saying to give us a waiver and the hospital policies were keeping them from releasing us.  God was just answering our prayers because just a couple hours later Gabric stopped breathing.  If we had been home he could have died because the nurses had to bag him to get him breathing again.  He had a Cat-scan the next day because of that incident and they found that he has nodules (like cysts) that are in both of his nasal passages.  It is very rare and usually resolves itself but makes it difficult to impossible for a baby to breathe.  The doctors are hoping that they will absorb by themselves which is likely.  Right now he has steroid drops every 12 hours put in his nose to make everything shrink and open his passageways.   Thank you so much for everyone that is praying for us! 
!
Off Oxygen!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Happy Birthday Peanut!

Baby girl, we are so thankful that 2 years ago you joined our family! We love you!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Gabric's Birth



The week leading up to Gabric's birth I had been sick with a cough and cold.  Every night I had felt frustrated with not being able to sleep because of a constant tickle in my throat.  On Wednesday night it was especially bad and in the middle of the night I was reading in bed on my phone unable to sleep.  I was praying and giving my worries to God - worries about going into labor sick.  Thusday morning when I woke up I still had my phone in my hand and right there filling the screen was this verse:

And after you have suffered a
            little while,
the God of all grace, who has
 called you to His eternal glory in Christ,
will himslf restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you
1 Peter 5:10

  I also woke up feeling so much better.  I felt like God was pouring encouragement into me and refreshing me.  I went about my day trying to get things ready for my mama and daddy, who were coming in that evening.  I was abuzz in anticipation of my parents getting here, everything being done and then waiting to have my baby :)  Well at about 3pm or so I noticed a change in how I was feeling.  I was getting last minute cleaning up done and was getting ready to go to the store for last minute food when I had a real contraction.  "No, I am just imagining things" I thought. 
I went to tell Stephen I was about ready to go to the store and I had another one. 
Hmm these contractions were feeling different but this couldn't really be happening.  I was not expecting to go into labor yet and my mom wasn't coming in for 7 more hours.  I started pacing the house a little bit, I felt restless.  At a little after 4 I called my mom and broke the news that I thought that I was in labor.  She had me call the midwife who was going to deliver Gabric if my mom wasn't here to do it. 
I still was in denial that I was labor.
  Stephen had a M1 Garand in itty bitty pieces all over our kitchen island.  I told him I was in labor and he picked up the pace on his work but he couldn't just leave it there.  Now usually when I have a baby I have time but the labor felt different.  My midwife's intern got to my house and checked me. 
"You are at a 4cm " she said.  Well maybe, I did still have time.  A 4 is really not much - I called my mom to give her the good news.  Then worked on helping organize dinner for the kids.  I had a few more contractions and suddenly my water broke all over the kitchen floor. 
That was a first!
 I have had to have my midwife break my water every birth after I have been at a 10cm.  I made my way to my room and got on my birth ball.  Stephen was finally able to wrap up what he was doing.  He came and sat with me through contractions.  I rocked and relaxed and tried to wrap my mind around the fact that I was having a baby right now.  At about 7pm I moved over to the bed for a few contractions. 
The whole time I was talking to God and praying through my pain and any fears I had.  I felt like he said go ahead and push a little bit, so I did.  At this point the contractions were getting to the overwhelming stage and I was telling Him it was getting to be too much. I felt like he said it was almost over and then after one more contraction I felt like I should get up and get ready to push him out.  ( I have found from past experience that I push out babies standing up)
 I stood up and told my midwife I was ready to push.  She checked me, said I just had the smallest lip and to go ahead and try some small pushes.  She heard someone pull up in our driveway and walked to the window to see if it was the midwife.  At the same time I felt a contraction and pushed and Gabric slid right down.  I hollered that the baby was coming and Christie ran back and caught Gabric as he slid out.  He had his cord wrapped around his neck twice and she quickly took care of it. 
I couldn't believe it!  I was already done.  He was born. 
They helped me to sit back on the ground and suddenly our door flew open and my three year old Titus came running into the room.  He stood there gaping and said "  Mama, the baby came out of your belly!"  :D  He was quickly followed by Caleb and Isabella. 
He was born at 7:40.  I was in labor for only a little over 4 hours ( part of which I wasn't even sure I was in labor).  He came out in one push which is beyond incredible for me as that is when I have trouble usually.  I was so very blessed to bleed very little which last time was cause for me to transfer to the hospital. 
All in all it was the most awesome birth and such a blessing.


Thursday, May 3, 2012

Welcoming Gabric home

Gabric Hosea

One week ago today our little Gabric was born. It was the most wonderful birth and I will share more of that story later. But for now Gabric was born on the 26th of April. He was 6 pounds 13 ounces. 5 hours after his birth he was rushed to the ER for difficulty breathing. The next 5 days he was in the NICu where we went through some very rough times but through it all God has been so incredibly present, comforting and protecting us. We are home now with a little one on oxygen. Thank you so much to those who have been praying. I will have more to follow later.