But let's start at the beginning. Five days before John was scheduled to arrive, Abigail and Sam both came down with the stomach flu. Abigail seemed to get over hers quickly only to wake up sick again on the day of the c-section. Sam's illness lasted through John's birth and a few days later. Matt also caught the bug and was very sick two days before John's birth. And my brother woke up the day of the birth with terrible back pain that ended up being diagnosed as a kidney stone that required surgery. All in all it was a crazy chaotic week leading up to John's birth but onward we went and I escaped the plague and we were able to keep the c-section date.
My c-section was scheduled for 12noon and John was born at 12:27pm. He came out without a hitch weighing in at 7 lbs 8 oz and 21 inches long. He was the exact Sam weight as Sam and 1/2 inch longer. I also did very well with the anesthesia and enjoyed the experience much more this time around.
Mommy "meeting" John for the first time.
My hospitalization was very uneventful. I had lots of visitors and even had 9 kids (not including John) in our room all at once! The nurse walked in and seemed rather suprised by the sheer number of children. Matt jokingly asked her where he could set up the bounce house!
Kids galore in our room.
A beautiful picture of John's cousin Alora holding him.
John did develop some jaundice while in the hospital and we were encouraged by the nurses to keep him in the sunlight from the window. It worked as he is doing much better and is less and less "orange" each day. For awhile there he was looking like a little oompa loompa.
Matt holding John in the window sunlight.
A cute picture of John looking like Matt's Uncle Allan.
We were discharged Sunday and finally we got to come home and start our life as a family of 5. I would be lying if I said it was easy but it is never dull or boring. Abigail and Sam are learning how to share their mommy with a baby. (Some are adjusting better than others!) And we even made our first non-doctor outing to the local farmers market and outdoor mall yesterday. And today we went to the furniture store and outlet malls.
Abigail holding John. She loves, loves, holding him.
Sam holding John. He doesn't love holding him.
Matt and Sam on the merry-go-round at the mall
Mommy and her "boys".
John is really doing great. He is an excellent eater and really good sleeper. Last night my alarm failed to go off for his scheduled 3 hour nighttime feeding. When I did finally wake up, I realized he had been asleep for 5 hours!!
John means "gift of God" and we really truly feel like God has given him to us as a gift. We feel so blessed to have 3 happy, healthy children.
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D-Day meaning delivery day. We are about 3 weeks from my scheduled c-section date. I know with how busy Matt and I are that this will most likely be the last posting before we are the parents of 3 children! In true Matt and Cindy fashion we are waiting until the last minute to get everything done. We have nothing resembling a nursery yet-but what can I say-we work best under pressure! We have not picked a name yet-we work best when threatened by the nurses in the hospital! (With Sam, the nurses were threatening to name him for us after we still had not come up with a name after 2 days!) But, we are having fun with the kids and we are all anxiously awaiting the birth of our son/brother!
I have to admit, this pregnancy has been the hardest on my body. I seem to be requiring more breaks and restful times than I did with either Abigail or Sam and because of this Matt has really stepped up to the plate and done alot with the kids while I have rested and attempted to get ready for this baby.
In April Matt took both Abigail and Sam to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for the weekend. I have to give my husband major kudos-he did the entire weekend on his own (okay, with a little help from grandma and papa) with two small children in a hotel. He did a fabulous job and Abigail and Sam (along with their cousins Austin and Alora) had a marvelous time. Here are some pictures from the weekend.
Abigail and Alora at the Aquarium
Abigail having fun in the kids section of the Aquarium
Abigail in Monterey
Abigail in Monterey
Abigail and Sam at the beach in Monterey
Abigail and Alora at the beach in Monterey
Matt also took Abigail and Sam to the Dixon May Fair this weekend. Their day consisted of visiting all the animals, eating fair food (yum!), riding kiddie rides, and playing kiddie games. Again I stayed home to rest and get stuff done (obviously not the nursery though!). They all came home dirty, happy, and exhausted. Again, Matt is s stud!
Other than that, work and life have been keeping us busy. Matt is continuing to enjoy the responsibility of his new job. I have still been teaching CPR classes at Methodist.
Matt and I have also continued to be involved in ministry with our church. Matt is leading a small group bible study which has been meeting steadily for about 2 1/2 years now. I led my first bible study for post abortive women at Impact. It is a study called Forgiven and Set Free and is a study for women who are wanting to heal from their past abortions. You can see a video that my pastor and I did for a sermon series at http://www.impactcommunity.com/video_archive.htm and clicking on the "Secret Shame" sermon. The sermon is about 20 minutes long and the video is about 1/2 way through.
Well, the next time you hear from us it will probably be to tell you about our newly born (yet unnamed) son!
I will leave you with two pictures of our cuties!!
(And YES, Sam does have a black eye in the picture-LONG story!)
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Happy Easter from Sunny California.
We had a wonderful Easter weekend.
It started with an Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Papa's house. The kids had a wonderful time hunting easter eggs in their particular "zone" of the backyard. They all found their allotted eggs and a good time was had by all. Then we all enjoyed a delicious brunch courtesy of Papa.
On Easter Sunday we went to church and the kids enjoyed another Easter egg hunt. We didnt' get a picture of it but the kids had chocolate all over themselves and their (new) carseats on the way home. We then spent the afternoon at "Grandpa Tom's" (Austin and Alora's grandfather). We feasted on a lovely Easter dinner and the kids played.
Life in general is also treating us very well.
Abigail, Sam and I spent 5 days in Colorado in the beginning of March to
visit cousins and Grammy and Abuelo. Matt stayed home working and also got a ton of stuff done around the house-stuff that just doesn't get done with 2 small kids running around. Matt is continuing to enjoy his new job as director. Although I am not working currently, I have been helping teach CPR classes at the hospital. It is a fun way to get out and use the medical part of my brain a few times a month.
We are starting to eagerly anticipate the arrival of our new little boy. His arrival date is scheduled for June 6th 2008. (Scheduled
c-section). We hope and pray he will be comfy cozy and stay in that long as Sam was 3 weeks early and had some breathing issues.
We hope life is treating everyone well. We also hope you had a wonderful Easter! I will leave you with some pictures of the kids Easter egg hunting.....
Abigail and her cousin Alora
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