The Long Story of a Deceptively Short Labor

At 6:37pm Saturday, May 8, Little Leeli arrived on the scene of our very busy house.  I have said all along that she was a surprise and her arrival was no different.

Leeli's due date was two days before the big Arlington Homeschool Bookfair.  This is one of my favorite times of the year and I really wanted to go.  Since we're changing direction with school next, I was hoping to get there and take advantage of fair discounts and free shipping.  There was an added bonus to this year.  We were going to meet a family that we had befriended online as they are convention representatives for Rosetta Stone.  That was what I really wanted to do.  I had been praying for a while that God would allow Leeli to come early so that I could make it to the bookfair for all the reasons mentioned above.  That was not His plan but He did answer these in a different way.

We arranged to meet with the mother/daughter team coming to Arlington on Thursday before the bookfair opened.  They spent the day setting up and then they were going meet us for dinner.  We drove to them so they didn't have to maneuver through too much Dallas rush hour traffic.   But the morning of this meeting, I woke up with fairly consistent contractions and bloody show.  They weren't hard to work through.  Throughout the day, they slowed down so we decided to do anyway.  Of course, being in the bumpy van made everything start up again.  They weren't hard contractions but they were starting to require a bit of concentration.  They stayed fairly consistent through dinner and into the evening but finally fizzled out.  I did have trouble sleeping through the night but once I got up there just wasn't any thing left.

When I woke up on Friday morning, I debated going to the bookfair.  I had slept on the couch with a few contractions through the night.  I didn't want to drive an hour away and then have something happen.  But when we finally realized that I really wasn't doing much so we decided to just pack the whole family up and go get our books.  This is not something we'll ever do again until everyone is much older but it was kind of fun having everybody there.  They all dressed in a green shirt (their choice) in order to help mom and dad keep track of everyone.  I was able to get all my books and a few extras and all with no contractions.  I was still having bloody show but nothing else.

We came home around lunch and everyone took a nap.  As I woke up I started to have contractions start up again but they just weren't regular enough to time them.  They were, however, requiring more of me.  I was getting irritated with noises around me and just wanted everyone to go away.  Underdog started a movie and got dinner for the kids.  It was also our date night.  We get the kids dinner and sometimes they do a movie.  Then they go down a little earlier to bed.  Sometimes we cook dinner at home for ourselves and other times we order out.  That night, Underdog went to get Jason's Deli so I could have a California Club sandwich and a salad.  But as the evening progressed I just didn't want to do anything but sleep.  Eating just made me nauseous anyway.  About 45 minutes into our movie and a few bites of my meal, I went to bed.

The night was quite restless for me.  I didn't sleep much between the contractions.  They just simply weren't something I could time though.  There was so regularity to them.  I would have one then go seven minutes then have another and wait for another 15 minutes.  In all reality, that is quite typical of my labors.  But once I got up on Saturday there just wasn't much going on.  By mid-morning I felt like I was going insane and I called my midwife to tell her so.  She wanted me to find a way to relax and get some sleep through the afternoon.  I agreed and set out to do that.  I was still having contractions and they were taking concentration but still no regularity.  I was starting to feel them in my back but not bad enough to need help to get through them.  My plan for the day was to relax a bit (shopping on ebay :) and then spent some time with my family, including my parents, brother, his girlfriend, and my baby niece.  My brother and his family had come down to visit for Mother's Day and hopefully see the new cousin.  I was excited to see them all.

Just before my family arrived, the baby started moving in a way that was causing intense pain.  These were not contractions, although the movement often caused a contraction.  I got in a warm bath to see if it might calm her down and stop some of the pain.  But nothing helped.  By that time, the flood gates opened up.  I started crying uncontrollably.  Underdog finally came in to see if I was alright and I just cried.  I wanted the pain to stop.  This wasn't labor pain.  I could handle that (for the most part.)  These were sharp, sharp sensations that wouldn't let up.  Then a contraction would come on and make it all even worse.

I finally got most of this to stop so I went down to join my family and hold my niece.  She's beautiful and looks alot like I remember her dad looking (at least in my 5 yod memory.)  I talked for a bit with my mom and Carrie and then the baby started moving again.  I was rather embarrassed and rushed out of the room.  I was crying and Underdog had to help me up the stairs.  I had another contraction when I got upstairs.  I decided to try and start my nap.  About 20 minutes into my nap I had a contraction that I didn't think I would make it through.  The contractions were still coming so far apart though.  I am thinking that they really were at about seven to eight minutes apart.  Underdog took the kids out of the house so I could get some quiet but there would be no nap.  I finally called him to come home.  I needed help.   Length between the contractions is typically what you would see in early labor.  You definitely wouldn't see that spacing in transition but the contractions felt like transition.  I really was beginning to feel like I was insane.

I called Rose Marie, my midwife,  she recommended I get in the tub to see if that might slow things down.  She felt that perhaps I was just so overly tired from having walked the day before and not sleeping that my body was overreacting.  So I got in my birth tub.  It didn't help though.  Underdog got home and we decided that it would probably we best for the kids to go to my parents house.  So they came back to get them and decided without me to take overnight clothes just in case.  By this time it was about 5 to 5:30pm.  The contractions were so hard.  I was just about ready to give up.  Underdog called Rose Marie and they decided to put me to sleep with alcohol.  YUCK!!!!!  I could barely get the drink down.   I finally gave up.  I was done and I told Underdog so.  He was to take me immediately to the hospital so I could get pain relief and sleep!!!  He didn't go for it but humored me.  He wanted me to take a nap so he got me out. I found out later that he told Rose Marie that he thought I just needed sleep.  He was right to think so.  That is what I thought as well but the contractions wouldn't let me.

Now there is something I must explain at this point.  I have very specific signs of coming to the end of transition and very close to dilating completing.  First of all, I am usually done, get me to the hospital for pain relief.  Secondly, I hate wearing clothes at this point.  I am an extremely modest person but there is something about giving birth in your element that makes me want nothing to do with clothing. Midwives see this alot so they don't think anything of it.  So I had hit two of the signs.  The third is crying.  Well, I had started doing that much earlier in the afternoon. Finally, I get the shakes really bad toward the end.  The problem with all this is that I had ALL the signs of transition BUT the contractions were still seven to eight minutes apart.  Even my midwife didn't think anything was going on except exhaustion on my part.  I just confused and honestly afraid this was all in my head.

So I was on the bed after getting out of the tub and the contractions are coming really hard.  I needed pressure on my back which I actually remember hurting more.  Then I felt the strangest sensation. . . I felt like I needed to push.  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!  I had no idea where I was in the dilation process and I didn't want to do anything wrong to hurt myself.  But it wouldn't go away.  The only way to make things feel better was to push just a bit so I did.  Then I felt something strange.  It was bag of water.  Then it broke.  That was it.  That usually means that labor is imminent.  There was no turning back.  We called the midwife and I got back in the tub.

You must understand something else.  My water doesn't usually break until near the end.  Now I was really confused.  These are some hard transition like contractions coming every seven to eight minutes.  That was the consistant time of them ALL.  I got in the tub and suddenly things changed.  I wasn't purposely pushing but my body was.  I was getting really scared.  I thought I could feel a head. Panic begin to set it.  Underdog was amazingly calm and he called the midwife.

We found out later that Rose Marie called another midwife, Pam, who lives about 20 minutes from me.  My midwife was 20 minutes from me at that time as well.  It just so happened that the other midwife had just walked out of the movie with her daughter was 2 minutes from me.  I call that God's grace.  To be honest, I interviewed this midwife a couple of years ago and was hoping Rose Marie would think to call her.  I trusted her very much.

So the weird pushing sensation wouldn't go away, the contraction were changing, my back was screaming at me and I am screaming at baby to stop moving.  Yes, the movement from her was starting again.  I knew what that movement meant though.  She was readjusting for the final decent.  I was scared to death.  I am home alone with my husband in a full tub of water and this baby was coming with NO MIDWIFE.  Pam walked in started getting gloves out and towels ready.  Then it hit!!!!  That sudden feeling of GET THIS THING OUT OF THERE.  There was no stopping now.  I had passed transition without even knowing it.  Pam barely had time to get her gloves on before I had pushed her out.  She was arriving with just as much surprise as when we found out about her coming last summer.

Miss Leeli (that will be her blog name) was wrapped in her cord several times AND holding on to it.  Dad was ready to catch if necessary but he was glad he didn't have to.  It took a bit to get her unwrapped.  The amazing things is that Pam did not bring her up out of the water until she was unwrapped and she floated her to me to grab.  Water birth is amazing.  Babies don't take a breath until they hit air.  As she was coming up her eyes were wide open.  Several months ago I was at friends house to help with her older kids while she was birthing to her baby.  When we all finally got to go into the room I made a comment about how alert undrugged babies were.  She was puzzled at first having had all EIGHT of her babies at home.  But her midwife confirmed what I said.  The drugs that are given to moms in the hospital do indeed cross the placenta and it makes for VERY tired babies.  I have had 3 babies this way.  All I remember if that they simply wanted to sleep.  Imagine my surprise when I realized that babies really are born very alert and ready to interact with you.  Leeli was as alert as any baby I have seen and she's still that way.  She's not having to work the drugs out of her body.

Leeli was born at 6:37pm.  She weighed 9 1/2 pounds (my prediction) and had a 14 inch head (another one that I called.)  She was 21 1/2 inches long.  She has a full head of beautiful black hair, much like the color of her daddy's hair right now.  When I first saw her I thought she looked alot like Si-Bay.  They both have a perfectly round face and pretty little almond eyes.  On occasion I will see some of the Pee-Poohs face.  And then both my mom and I can see alot of my grandmother's face in her.  My grandmother had alot of Cherokee Indian in her so she had really high cheek bones.  I see that is Leeli's face.  I expect she will change over time but for right now, I am just having fun trying to determine who she looks like and when.

The aftermath of the birth was a bit trying for me.  My blood pressure was very low.  I lost just a bit more blood than they initially thought.  I was very dizzy as well.  At one point I ended up getting sick to my stomach.  Nothing made me feel better.  All I wanted to do was sleep.  The one thing I needed to do more than anything was empty my bladder but I couldn't.  It simply took me forever.  Until I was able to do that I was going to stay sick and dizzy.  So I was finally able to "run" with help to the potty and finally to empty my bladder.  But I was still so dizzy from the blood loss that I had to crawl back to my bed.  I can only imagine the sight.  HA!!!

I did eventually get to eat and keep food down.  By 10pm I was just simply ready to go to sleep with my baby girl.  She had other plans though.  When I finally was able to think straight after getting out of the tub, I nursed her for the first time.  She is truly a champ.  They was very little help needed to get her latched on right.  Thus, it's now her favorite past time.  And that was all she wanted to do that night.  She's good at nursing lying down so I was able to get a little sleep.  It also didn't help that Underdog was instructed to get me up every two hours to empty my bladder until my milk comes in.  URGH!!!  So between that and her wanting to nurse all night, I didn't sleep much.

The recovery hasn't been hard at all.  I am still a bit dizzy when I stand up so Rose Marie wants me resting alot.  I will go to the chiropractor on Thursday for an adjustment and to get Leeli her first adjustment.  The rest of the family is in a bit of teezy but that is to be expected.  The next several weeks are going to be quite an adjustment for us all.  But I thankful for the timing of her birth.  It the start of our summer session so we will use that as a time to do a bit of school as well as adjust to Leeli's new presence in our home.  I am so looking forward to her first year with us.

Pink with Daddy helping her hold her future roommate and best friend.

We said this last time with Pinky Poo, but we are done, really.  We thought we were after Pink.  We are pretty certain unless God has other plans, that we are truly done now.  My body is tired.  And I am ready to move to my next stage as a mom.  It's the first time both of us have been on the same page with a decision long before we ever discussed it.  And we believe we are in the will of God.  All I can say is that this was one of the best ways to end this stage of my motherhood.  I started my motherhood out on a pretty spring evening in May nearly 11 years ago.  That one was a surprise birth as well considering her due date was in June.  I ended the maternity stage of my motherhood on a beautiful spring evening as well finding a surprise involved.  Those in between have been full of fun and adventure.  I am so excited to see what God has in store for the next stage of motherhood and fatherhood for us.  And I am thankful that I get to do it with the greatest husband in the world and SEVEN of the most awesome children God could possible bring into our lives.  Thank you, Jesus, for the blessing of my family.

BORED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I have finally hit the "This is no longer fun" stage of bedrest. At first, I was afraid to move around for fear and bleeding to death (yes, I know, I bit overdramatic.) Then I was taking too much liberty with moving around and ended up not moving around that much. In all that, though, I was finding stuff to do with myself. Then came the "I still have to educate my children" stage. We were getting school done and I was excited to be there. This week is the "I'm BORED!!!" stage. It's bad too. I get so bored that I have found myself back on the silly message boards I used to be on early in my motherhood. I don't really like being out there but somehow I think I have fooled myself into believing that somehow I am important enough to answer questions and make intelligent comments to people whose faces I have never seen and I will never see. It's madness, I tell you. Madness.

I was talking to a particular sinful child this afternoon about a sin he seems to be struggling with right now. This sin is related to feeling like he's a big shot because he got to go help at a volunteer function yesterday. His behavior was awesome yesterday but he seemed to have come home with the big head. SOOO, I was discussing how we should be doing our work for the glory of God and not for our own glory. I talked about how seeking glory for ourself is wrong and that God will not share His glory with us. As I am talking I found myself thinking to myself, "Gee, you are the same way. What do you think you are doing on the message boards?" Ouch!!! I am out there totally seeking attention for myself. The reality is that I have absolutely nothing to offer o those type of message boards. There are times when I desperately want to share the gospel BUT the rules of bb won't allow me. What else do you say? I end up not answering those questions or comments. The rest of the time I am just looking for attention and trying to bring glory to me as if somehow I have arrived as queen of motherhood.

The message boards aren't too hard to get off. I usually go through a few days of withdrawal because they did help pass time away. I am going to have to double my efforts in other areas and use my time more wisely. That doesn't help the boredom I feel right now. I think I need to seek the Father to find ways that are better uses of my time. I can only handle so much cutting out of file folder pieces. So what do you do to pass away idle time that might come your way?

Midwife Appointment #1

I had my first appointment with my midwife this evening. She was supposed to come tomorrow but she needed to do my labs and it's best to do those at the beginning of the week. So that was one thing she did tonight. She stuck me with one of those dreaded needles and took my blood. That is probably one of the reasons that I avoid doctors. I just simply despise needles. They are necessary evil though so I had to deal with it.

The appointment went well. I love using a midwife because you can discuss things with you just simply couldn't with a doctor. There isn't enough time in a doctors office. We recounted my previous birth. I shared some fears that seemed to have cropped up since then. She was able to give me a more accurate account of that morning as well. As I had remembered, it was a FAST labor. I went from 5 cm to 7 cm in about an hour. It progressed quickly to 8cm and 9cm. At 11:15am I had just a lip. Pinky Poo was born at 11:24am. I told her that I remember it feeling like she simply put her feet on the top of my uterus shoved herself out. (Come to think of it, that little girl loves to straighten her legs and bounce in my lap. Must come from practice in the womb. There were times it felt like she was standing up in there.)

Then we got to the case at hand. . .bedrest. URGH!!!!! I am down for the count, at least until I am 18 weeks. That will be the first week of December. The next two weeks I have to sit with my feet up BUT she wants me up moving a bit for 15 minutes. I can pick up NOTHING!!!! (Except a very light shopping bag, her example, LOL!!!) In 2 weeks we'll reevaluate and see if there are activities I can add back into my load. Regardless, it still must be light work. I must do everything I can to prevent any further tearing in there. If I don't, it could potentially lead to the whole placenta coming away from the uterus and then we lose the baby. She considers me me a high risk pregnancy until at least 20 weeks. But I am not so high risk that I need a dr. That I am thankful for. I trust Rose Marie. I believe she will tell me when it's time to seek professional help if we get there. She's been a midwife for over 20 years. She knows her stuff.

The good news, I can go to church on Sunday. Assuming no one is hacking up a lung that day, we'll finally get to go back to church. I have to sit when I get there. I must be very careful getting out of and into the van. That is the ONLY place I can go right now. I'll take it though. Better than full bedrest.

So that is the jist of it. I got to hear the heartbeat. I am still in a bit of denial that there is a baby in there. I am hoping to begin feeling regular movement soon. That will help with the denial. Can't deny little feet kicking you. :) I can't wait either. Oh, I gave predictions today. I think it's a boy. I had a moment this past few days where I just suddenly felt that it was a boy. We'll find out at the beginning of December. In the meantime, this is Simply Baby Pup. :)

Bedrest, Week 3

Well, I am stuck on my bed again. I was doing so well that I was getting just a but more than I was before. Unfortunately, I had some spotting again last night and a bit this morning. I am disappointed. I was enjoying being able to go downstairs and eat dinner with my family. Now I have to stay upstairs and on the bed again. URGH!! I just don't do well being tied down. What's funny is that I tend to have a lazy streak. You would think this would be fun for me with nice that little sin that crops up periodically. Nope!!! I really don't like this at all. Now, that doesn't change the fact that I am still trusting God's Sovereignty in the midst of it all. He's got a plan for this baby, for me, for my family, and everything.

There is a gracious group of women at church that are collecting freezer meals for Underdog to be able to make when he's in a pinch for dinner. That is a blessing and something that is often hard for both of us to accept. So we're being humble to the place of accepting help from our church. We've never been in a church that wanted to help so much. They are simply wonderful people that exude the love of Christ everywhere they go. I am often to put to shame over my selfishness at times. And my pride!! Oh, to accept help is just not something I do well. But have allowed myself to be loved in the midst of this though. Not many people knew we were pregnant. I had only known I was pregnant for 4 weeks before all this started. We had gotten sick in the midst of that and we're pretty much going to be out for a while. By the time I returned to church it would be obvious that I was pregnant. I was a little embarrassed to be pregnant so quickly. I mean, Pinky Poo isn't even one yet (although she's next in the birthday/holiday marathon that we run this time of year.) Based on my sonogram, she would have been 9 mos when I conceived. That is young. So, there was alot of shock that we were pregnant again AND already on bedrest. Didn't we just do this? After all, I was on bedrest with Pinky Poo LAST fall about this time. So, receiving help is sooooo hard for me and these circumstances didn't help much. But God has used them to reveal a great deal of pride in my heart. Again, I marvel at the grace He has in life not to leave me as I am. Sanctification is becoming my favorite word and concept. I need alot of it.

Things are hopping with school, believe it or not. I hope to post more on the Grace Academy blog later. Let's just say that several years ago I read a book called Teaching the Trivium. I LOVED this book. I had been homeschooling for a couple of years by then and loved the concepts of Classical education that they presented in this book. But they were radical and different at times. It definitely challenged my public school mindset. Despite that, I attempted to implement these ideas in our home. I can honestly look back and remember the times that we followed their ideas as the most joyful time I had in homeschooling. So as I have discovered that I am really just burnt out with school, I have been praying for direction. This book keep coming to the forefront. So I am rereading it and remembering why I loved it so much. It was fear that drove me away from the concepts. Underdog and I are discussing the ideas together and he seems to be getting excited about school as well. Most important, we've seen through this bedrest that our children are not being challenged. They are bored and it's showing up is purposeless play, fighting, and wandering (specifically by my toddler and preschooler.) So, we're stepping it up a bit. They are liking it as well. You can tell they don't like all the "work" but they seem happier.

Bedrest has purpose beyond just healing the body. It's not always fun but if we can to the point of trusting the Father and His plan, there is often great reward. I am living that experience right now.

Bedrest Update

Well, I have started day 6 of bedrest. Personally, this is the for the birds. LOL!!!! No, no, I know there is a purpose. God is already using it in my life in ways I never dreamed. My children are learning alot about how Christ served the church. . .by laying it down. It's been a sacrifice for all of us. Although I feel that I just sitting around being lazy, I realized this morning that my area of serving is toward this little life growing within me. Right now, God is calling me to sacrifice what "I" want to do and do what He wants me to do.

Through the week, I have had many old memories brought back from the past 10 years. As I have had to wean Pinky Poo to a bottle there were floods of emotions and memories from when JB and BroncosFan were babies. In the midst of that, I had a dream about the old house in Carrollton where these two spent part of the baby and toddlerhood. Yesterday we had the opportunity to drive by that house and show the kids. Everywhere I drove yesterday, I could see the way it used to be. New stores that had replaced the old stores and memories of what took place there. These weren't just memories from the past 10 years. Those memories wen very far back.

In the midst of all the memories, I had a strong since of sins that have gone uncomfessed. Perhaps they were sins of mine that I had actually put off on other people. Hurts from my past that had areas I needed to own. Realization that I had seriously dropped the ball in areas of my life that I just didn't want to own. . .until now.

Since I am resting today, I decided to rest in a warm hot bathtub. LOL!!! Sometimes you do your best praying when you're relaxed. I do. The floodgates opened. I couldn't stop confessing to the Lord the mistakes I have made a mom in my past. Oh, the freeing effect of giving those sins to God to be completely forgiven. How wonderful it is to be free!!

With confession must come the repentance. The turning the other direction. What does that look like? I hae no clue. But I hopeful in the Lord that He will direct me. If He's behind leading me to confess all these, then He'll show me the change. He'll show me the way to go with each step in this process.

The Question of the Day

What purpose does bedrest serve? I mean, really, you just sit there all day. i have a headache from just sitting here. It doesn't matter if I lie down or sit up. And I am bored to death. I could work on school stuff or read a book but I have a headache. I can only handle so many blogs in one day. I get ideas that I start researching but then I find I have too bad of a headache to think. OR, I start researching one idea only to find myself chasing something else. It's hard being scattered brained. Ok, so that is what I am deeply comtemplating today. Maybe you can give me good reasons for bedrest. :)

What is He doing?

We have had a day. I woke up this morning about 5:30am with my alarm. My alarm woke up Pinky Poo so I nursed her and debated getting up to do my quiet time. I hadn't been up in a while but I have been so tired lately I felt like I needed the sleep. We had shopping to do today so I decided to get up and pray for a while. When I got downstairs I started the oatmeal in the crockpot. I wasn't feeling so well but I thought it was because I was hungry. I ate some toast and started my Bible study.

By 6:45am I was ready for my day. I got upstairs before everyone was awake (which was really good for me) and started my bath. Si-bay came in to help me put my "bubbles" in the bath. The "bubbles" is a special Vit C disk formulated to help clean out some of the impurities in the bath water. :) Once I finished my bath I got dressed. I still wasn't feeling so hot though. I was kind of crampy but thought it was intestinal (I had alot of meat this weekend and we were running low on veggies so I figured I was just slow in there.) We all went down to get breakfast and discovered that the breakfast maker hadn't put enough oatmeal in there for the amount of water. Breakfast was, well, ruined and there was nothing else. It's shopping day, remember. Underdog suggested that we just grab something on the way to shop.

We left soon after that and headed to get gas. I started to noticed some weird cramping but again I thought it was just something with my bowels. I finished the gas and headed for Chick fil A (everyone choice for breakfast.) I couldn't decided whether I should go through the drive through or go in without one hacking up a lung (I think I forgot to mention that we're fighting pertussis in our house.) I decided to go in and told everyone to get out. As soon as I got out of the car I felt like my bladder exploded. But I knew it wasn't my bladder. I paused and quickly got back in the car and told everyone to get back in. The kids were freaking out. I had to be honest and tell them I was bleeding badly, which I confirmed after getting back in the car and seeing it rolling down my leg (ewwww!!!) We left immediately for home.

I called my midwife and she gave me instructions to go home, put on a pad, and lie down. Done!!! I called Underdog to let him know what was going on. He was ready when we got home and took over with the kids. This is a busy week for him so I knew this would not be something he'd be happy about on many fronts. I got everything squared away and tried to remember if I was supposed to call my midwife or if she would call me. She eventually called me. This was 30 minutes after returning home. She gave me instruction to have Underdog go pick up some herbs that will help stop a miscarriage if there is still a baby or help the process along if there wasn't. I was trying to get him to come to the room when I heard him exclaim, "AHHHHHHH" downstairs. Next thing I know he's shouting orders to everyone and there is mass hysteria. Apparently the bathtub and toilet in our downstairs bathroom were flooded and there was 2 inches of water on the floor. What next?

I called a precious friend of mine and asked if she might be able to help me get the herbs that I needed while I put the kids in charge of helping dad and keeping track of Pinky-Poo. She was glad to serve and did a wonderful serve to my family. Oh, speaking of Pinky-Poo, this is the by far the worst day. My midwife has told me no more nursing right now. I have cried more over the cold turkey weaning of my little girl than the potential loss of this pregnancy. Perhaps it's because I know her. She's part of me right now. I literally meet her every need. Now, I have lost that. If I lose this baby as well, it will almost seem as if I have lost two babies. I am already grieving my loss of nursing with her. I will then begin to grieve the loss of my unborn baby.

We figured out the plumbing problem. It cost alot of money to unclog a pipe that we found out had a stake driven through it when they were planting our trees before we ever moved into our home. God's is Sovereign. He knew that stake would go through and He knew the events of this day long before we ever did. He's still in control. The plumber offered to did up the pipe and replace it for us but it was going to cost of $650 to do so. I am thinking this is a do-it-yourself project.

So with that fixed and Underdog finally getting a small bit of his barings, I reminded him that we still had no food in the house. He gracious packed up 3 boys and a baby girl and headed out. He first took baby girl to Stride Rite to get her first pair of shoes with our 20% discount coupon I found online last night. They are precious. It's the only time in our children's live I will buy a brand name shoe. I feel that little feet need a good start. . then they can move to cheap shoes. LOL!!!! He brought her home and headed out again. He got to Costco and faithful did all the shopping. He even called to verify certain items and such. Then he called again and told me that things couldn't possibility get any worse. I was puzzled. Then he explained that the transfer he made from our living expenses account (this was Friday) didn't go through and today is Columbus Day. . .no banks are open. We had insufficient funds in that bank. <> What next?

He's home. Great friends bought us dinner. We're having bar-b-q chicken and something else. I am so thankful for friends that help and reach out to us.

I haven't told my family what is going on yet. I am reluctant to. This baby wasn't exactly welcomed by some. I really don't want an earfull about how I can't take care of my family on bedrest and all that other jazz. It will only cause worry in some people as well. They say they will pray. I don't feel that I can ask them for help. We've always told them that we don't expect them to help as our families grows. It's sad really that we've come to rely more on faithful friends than on family. But that is the reality. I figure my dad can probably help Underdog dig up and replace the pipe under the yard, if Underdog wants it. I have full confidence that he can do anything he needs to do to take care of this house though. He's that good. :)

Only God knows what tomorrow will bring. I am resting in that.

You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
Isaiah 26:3-4

I am resting in his Word right now. It's my time to lean on Him and trust Him where I have no control.

New With This Baby

I am discovering so nice new pregnancy symptoms that I have NEVER had before. One of them is actual food aversions. Now I have always had one food aversion but it was simply smell. I can't stand the smell of raw sea food and that was always doubled in pregnancy. It took walking through a sea food department with one baby to realize I probably needed a pregnancy test. This time it's no different. But I found something else last night.

My older children LOVE my Chicken Tortilla soup. I don't follow a recipe except the one that I finally wrote down last winter. But this time I just threw it together like I normally do. I was about half way through with making the soup last night and thought I was completely going to lose my stomach. It took me 2 mints, a glass of OJ, and finally a nectarine to keep me from the bathroom. Underdog had to come in and help me finish the meal. I thought it was a fluke. But tonight, Underdog added a few extras to the soup and started it simmering. I am sitting on the couch doing research for health breakfasts and my tummy is really churning over the smell of the soup.

What gives? Mexican food is usually my food craving of choice. Tortillas soup would be one on the top of my list. Not this time. I think I'll be finding something else to eat tonight.