For Val

It fits perfectly. He is 11 days old in the first three pictures, and 18 days old in the fourth. Thank you so much, Val. We love it!

(For you knitters – it’s the Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman, knit up in Socks that Rock in Blue Brick Wall.)

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Quick Update

Just popping in to say hi! Callan is doing great, and I’m enjoying my babymoon. (He’s eight days old already!) My mother-in-law left yesterday; she arrived minutes after he was born, and stayed the whole week! She is wonderful. I haven’t cooked a meal or washed a dish. My mom and dad came yesterday afternoon and will be here until tomorrow afternoon.

Then, I’m on my own.

School starts back up tomorrow. Pray for me to be able to juggle it all. I was smart and only scheduled one subject this first week; everything else picks back up next week. These kids, I love them so much, and I don’t want to fail them. Hoping I can balance it all again, in time – household management, school, meals, church, parenting, marriage…

This new little guy is so precious. He’s gorgeous, and tiny. For the moment…he’ll be a giant before we know it! Have to enjoy it while we can. He still smells new.

Need to place seed orders already. I’m both excited and overwhelmed; too much going on for this emotional post partum mama!

Still processing Callan’s birth story. It was really, really hard. Almost devastatingly so. I need to type it out, but sometimes I’m not sure what to say, except that I feel like my body almost failed me.

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Pictures of Callan

A few pics to tide you over. Click on any image to see it bigger.

40 weeks pregnant and more than ready:

Callan North, minutes old:

Just weighed (8 lbs., 3.5 oz.):

Exercising his lungs:

Proud big sister Ellery:

Proud big sister Maya:

Proud big brother Asher (who waited a day before deciding to hold him):

Over Grandma’s shoulder (this one is to showcase the blond hair):

He has such a strong neck – he won’t rest his head on your shoulder if he’s awake! (Can you see the blue eyes?)

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Prayers for Callan

Callan was less than 12 hours old when he had difficulty breathing and turned blue. It happened twice in two hours, and the second episode was longer than I was able to handle comfortably. So Jason and I made the difficult decision to bring him into the ER last night. They admitted him onto the pediatric floor for observation, and we were there from around 3 a.m. until 1 p.m. Now we are home.

In the end, there is no clear reason why he is choking. His lungs are clear, his blood tests were fine, and hours on an apnea monitor revealed no problems. He just has extra fluid, perhaps from a quick passage through the birth canal (labor was long, but the pushing phase was very short) and being born in his bag of waters. He chokes on it and can’t breathe, sometimes for uncomfortably long seconds, and it worries me. But we are praying that it gets better as he goes through his first few days.

Please join me in praying that this stops soon. It often happens when I’m changing his diaper, which is not something I can avoid doing.

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He’s Here!

After nearly 18 hours of labor, Callan North made his grand entrance at 9:22 a.m. He weighs 8 lbs. 3.5 oz., is 21″ long, had a 14 3/8″ head, and has blond hair!

We are so thankful to God for our new son. Stay tuned for details and pictures.

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The Wee Hours

It’s close to 4:30 a.m. now, and I’ve been laboring all night. Contractions are 2 – 4 minutes apart consistently. The midwife around in the two o’clock hour, and now she’s sleeping on the couch while I continue to labor. A couple hours ago, my cervix was “paper thin,” but I was still only dilated to five. Baby’s head was still rather high, though not has high as before. Lots of goop and such.

Contractions are getting harder. I’ve never had a labor like this, so I have no idea what to expect. I’m typing in between contractions here. This kid has his own mind, his own gestation, his own labor. He is making himself known. I would like to hold him before dawn. Praying for just such a thing.

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A Little Progress

Since the midwife stretched my cervix before lunch, things have been going on. I timed light contractions (crampy, down low, like labor, not Braxton Hicks) every 8- 10 minutes from around 3:30 – 6:30. From then, they’ve been sporadic; sometimes 3-4 minutes apart, but sometimes taking 20-30 minute breaks before coming back for another stretch of regularity.

They were most regular when we were busy, trying to decide whether or not to take Ellery to her first ballet class at 4:45 p.m. She has been looking forward to this for months, and I couldn’t stand to break her heart. But neither did I want to drive her alone and risk have a baby at the YMCA, or send Jason off and have a baby alone at home with Maya and Asher. (I’m usually that fast, remember.) So we decided we’d all go, drop Ellery off, and grab dinner. So that way, whether I had the baby in the car or made it home, I wouldn’t be alone, and I wouldn’t have to drive. The contractions stayed regular the entire time, through dinner, until we came home. Then they got irregular.

Jason and I just watched Bridget Jones’ Diary (thanks to Netflix instant watching feature) to pass the time and see how things went. Nothing new, just contractions now and then. In fact, I’m having one right now…

…okay, done. Lots of bloody show tonight, but that’s probably a combo of cervix dilating and the vaginal exam earlier.

Perhaps I’ll get a more normal length labor this time, and it will be a few hours before things pick up. Honestly, after two lickety-split hard-and-fast labors, this is such a relief. I can handle this. But I also have to decide when it’s the real deal so I can call the midwife. This could also just be my body getting ready, and it could be a another day or two (or more). I’m really okay with that, though of course I’m disappointed that he’s not here yet. After the last few weeks, I’ve learned not to get my hopes up too high.

I wonder if this is what early labor is like? I’ve never had early labor, in the traditional sense. I feel like I’m doing this for the first time.

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40 Weeks, 1 Day – A Midwife Visit

Our midwife just left. The snow has stopped and the roads were cleared, so she decided to make her trip into town after all. I’m 4 cm, 75% effaced, -2 station. No bulgy bag of waters or anything. She stretched me a little and did a little sweeping, so we’ll see. I feel like you might expect after such an exam – crampy, uncomfortable. She left me with an herbal labor enhancer that contains blue cohosh, with instructions for use, and I decided to go ahead and try a little. Tasted awful.

I guess we’ll see. She said the baby’s in a great position, and she expects to hear from me soon. I’m not getting my hopes up.

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Mower Fings

(Still no baby. But allow my hilarious son to distract you from all of your baby stalking:)

Asher had my size eight 16″ circular knitting needles curled around his neck, and he was repeatedly poking his ears with the needle ends. He kept saying, “Dese are my mower fings,” which means “These are my mower things.” He then went and got the push cart and said, “Dis is my mower.”

It took me at least a half hour to realize that he had turned my knitting needles into ear plugs on strings! Just like the ones his daddy wears around his neck and in his ears to mow the lawn and blow the driveway. That kid cracks me up. (And I felt brilliant for finally making that deduction.)

And now they’re all waxy, by the way.

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40 Weeks

It’s my due date! And I’m still pregnant! Wheeeeeeee!

Had lots of tightening/painless/Braxton Hicks contractions last night, but they petered out and I fell asleep just fine. Nothing else cool to report.

Trying to stay upbeat, despite the fact that I’m far from pleased at my current gestational status. I’m going to focus on praying for the labor today, that it would be easy, or I would be given extra strength to endure whatever comes.

I do hope that he’s staying in this long because he needed extra time to grow. Because if he was already big enough weeks ago, how big is he now? My babies already have huge heads; don’t need extra fat to push out, too.

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