Parker Elizabeth is here!

I woke up Tues. September 13th at 4:30 am and couldn't get back to sleep. I was having some very mild contractions, but it was not the first time. I had contractions on and off the whole week before. I didn't pay very much attention but let Dave know again that he may need to come home early. I wanted to keep busy so I wouldn't pay too much attention to them so Sammi and I went to the fabric store and Walmart. I also had a craving for a Mcgriddle so we went to McDonald's for breakfast. After calling the midwife so late last time and her barely making it Dave was understandably nervous about waiting too long, so he called her and gave her a heads up that I was having regular, although still mild contractions. He asked me to time a few and I let him know they were about 9 minutes apart. He came home at lunch time and we ate lunch then went for a short walk. Since my contractions were getting a little closer and stronger we assumed this would be the day but tried not to get too excited yet. After our walk we took a nap, Dave, Sammi and I all snuggled in our bed. Contractions continued and we got Emma off the bus, debated what to have for dinner and decided to call the midwife and give the photographer and Aunt Jenn a heads up that we would need them for sure that day but still didn't know when. After talking with the midwife she decided to come over and check on me and we decided to go to Hyvee and get Chinese for dinner. We told Emma it would be today and she was super excited. Her and Sammi were bouncing off the walls they were so excited. It was very sweet. I relaxed knowing our midwife was on the way and while we were at Hyvee around 6pm my contraction got longer and closer together. We arrived home about 6:30, midwives arrived shortly after us and checked on baby and my vitals, etc. I was nervous about baby's position so we decided to do a vaginal check. She told me I was at a 7 and they would stick around. She told Dave that when I contracted I was a 9, but kept this from me. They went outside to let us labor and we called my mom to come down and hang out with the girls a few minutes before 7. Everyone else was on their way. Dave was his usual awesome self! He was right there with me the entire time, coaching me. This labor didn't have the difficult transition that the first two did. I didn't feel the confusion like I did the first two times. Labor got very intense at that point and we were trying to fill up the pool. We never got enough water in it and soon it was time for me to push. When we stepped up to the bed to start pushing my water broke. I asked if that was meconium in the water and Cheryl said yes, and to get on my hands and knees. My body pushes very quickly so we had agreed that I would try not to push. There is a picture of them taking baby's heartones and 5 minutes later there is a picture of me nursing! The girls wanted to be in the room but it was too much for Emma and Dave said she looked like she might be sick, so she stepped out into the hall. Mom said she leaned on the wall threw her hands up and said "I am not going back in there until that baby is all the way out!" It was the hardest pushing stage of the three girls, but we did a good job and I only ended up with minor tears this time! I wouldn't have been able to do it without Dave's amazing coaching. The entire time he kept telling me how great I was doing. Yay, no stitches! We promised Emma she could be the one to tell us whether baby was a boy or girl so after she was born we covered her up and I waited for Emma to tell me it was a girl. She lifted the towel and said it so matter of fact! Parker Elizabeth was born at 7:20pm on Sept. 13th. She weighed 8lbs 1oz and is 21 inches long. She is so far, a good sleeper and a very calm baby. The big girls are completely enamored with her. And of course Cheryl was there supporting us the entire time. My midwife and her assistants were amazing. They were so supportive throughout the pregnancy and labor.

baby update!

We are 38 weeks so we have about 2 weeks or so to go! It is exciting! I can't wait to meet this baby and find out if it is a girl or boy. I am definitely more restless this time, it is all I think about, which means I will never go into labor! At my last appt. midwife informed me that baby is OP which means they are sunny side up. She can tell by feeling my belly and by where the heartbeat is. She said this is one of the reasons for my being so uncomfortable! Well yay, I was afraid that I was just getting to be a whiner. I have heard that back labor is the worst so we are hoping that baby will decide to roll on over before labor. She suggested that I scrub my kitchen floor on my hands and knees to encourage him. I did once, guess I should do it again. We will have the cleanest floor ever! Last night I told Dave to tell the baby to roll over and he was acting silly and putting his mouth right on my side to talk to the baby and Trey started dancing around! It was so funny! Trey is also in what she called an oblique position which means his head is by my hip bone instead of my pubic bone. She says when baby decides to move down onto my cervix labor will probably begin very soon. So everyone send thoughts of baby getting into the right position my way next week!

Here we are with just two months to go! I think we finally agreed on names and have all of our supplies for our birth kit! I have been trying to clean up projects around the house and Dave went on his trip and is home from now on so we are ready! A few short weeks and we will meet baby trey!

I made baby Trey's quilt! Dave bought me a new sewing machine for our anniversary and it works so well! I finished it and it is soooo cute! I got the idea for it and most of the instructions off of littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com

They have a lot of quilting tutorials. I used the applique tutorial for the elephants and the free motion quilting tutorial to quilt it. It turned out really well, there are rookie mistakes if you know what you are looking for but I am happy with it. It is really only my second quilt and the last one was a rag quilt so this was very different. On their blog they have an elephant quilt that has an elephant template, I printed it out and made it bigger then traced it onto freezer paper (great tip from their website) and cut that out. I put heatnbond light (learned the hard way to use lite!) on the wrong side of my fabric, then I ironed the freezer paper onto the right side of my fabric and cut around the elephants. I tried using heat n bond ultra because I had it on hand, it is not sewable! Don't use it! Ok, then I used a zig zag stitch to finish the edges of my appliques. After that you stack your quilt layers and pin them then trim them to match and you can quilt them. I did practice for quite awhile before I actually quilted on my quilt. I made practice sandwiches. Then I used premade quilt binding to finish it. Next time I would love to make my own binding out of a really cute fabric but for this time I needed easier. So there you go.

I think everyone has that moment during each pregnancy where reality sets in and you panic a little bit. You are not just pregnant, you are going to have a baby. I know, that is what being pregnant means but it is really easy to lose sight of that. We get a lot of attention, there are so many things to get done and all the pregnancy symptoms that distract us from the fact that we will in fact be bringing a new person into the world that we will be responsible for very soon. With Sammi it was towards the end of my pregnancy when Emma and I walked into a public restroom and I saw the changing table. I suddenly realized that I would have to start using those again, no more easy trips in with my potty trained big girl. I was having a baby. This time that moment came today when I got my weekly email updating me on the progress of my baby. I thought I was 33 weeks. Somehow I lost a week and am 34 weeks today! That means I have only 4-8 weeks to go until we meet baby trey and I am the mommy of 3 small children! Scary! Plus there is the whole impending labor thing. There is a lot I would like to get done before baby makes their appearance but I am going to have to just take a deep breath and realize it may not all get done and it isn't necessary. We have everything we need to have this baby, so what if my living room needs to be painted or I don't get all my sewing projects caught up. Although it would be nice to have a name picked out before baby gets here. But that is a topic for a different day.

Everyone keeps asking me how I am holding up in all this heat. I have to say I don't think I am any hotter than anyone else. (Ask me again in Aug and the answer could change) It is hot and yucky out there but that is summer. My bigger complaints are the back problems and the massive mood swings. I am ready for Sept to get here just so that I am not so moody. And the pregnancy brain drain is getting out of hand this time. The other day I got out my toothpaste and grabbed my toothbrush and started brushing my teeth. I thought, man this feels weird, why is my toothbrush so tiny today? Oh, because I was using Samantha's princess toothbrush. How did I make that mistake? Eww!

Boy or girl, cont...

I forgot to mention the most important one. The girls are sure that baby Trey is a boy. Emma was positive that Sammi was a girl even though I thought we were having a boy. She told me the entire time that I was wrong and her child's intuition was correct. This time both of them say boy so...