april 28, 2013

Before church today I was determined to take some pictures of my darling newborn and her siblings.  Before she gets one day older.
Of course it was madness.  What made me think I could get FOUR kids to copperate and sit at the same time?  You have to be really good at kids bribing, or really good and swapping out whole bodies in editing to get a picture of four kids this young I've decided..... and neither of these are skills I posses.  But Baby Bethany was sweet as can be and let me shoot pictures of her in the open sunlight on my bed long after I sent the kids away and to church without us.  She was sure to make lots of cross eyed and grumpy man faces lest i forget what she actually looks like most the time.  And then all tired out we cozy-ed up together and took a nap for the next two hours.   It took me four kids, but I think I can finally take a decent newborn picture.  Hooray.


Some notes about Bethany's first week.

Bethany has been our healthiest newborn yet.  With Kate we dealt with bowel and urine issues, thrush, and her not wanting to eat or sleep.  With Sam we dealt with thrush and a horrible diaper rash.  With Marianne we dealt with jaundice, blood sugar issues, thrush, diaper rash, strep, and hearing problems.  All of these resulted in me taking my newborn babies back to the hospital or doctors several times before they had even been home a week.  Not Bethany.  She has none of these problems thankfully and we dont look like we will be at the doc's until the normal two week check up.  Hooray!  All of this has meant more cuddling time and a lot less worry from Mom.  She started to look really yellow/ orange for a day or two but it quickly went away.

Bethany is sleeping and eating great now.  She has periods of awake time which we don't mind.  Usually they are in the early morning hours from 2-4 am but I don't really mind this.  She sleeps most the day while I take care of other things, and work and even usually get a nap.  We've been able to get her to take a bottle too and hopefully she can keep it up.  She is kind of a slow nurser, compared to Sam and Marianne at least and takes at least 30 minutes usually, then drifts off to sleep usually.  Then wakes 3 hours later ready to repeat.  She will sleep in your arms, on your shoulder, by your side in bed, in her pod chair and in the boppy pillow.  She will sleep swaddled or unswaddled.  She is pretty unbias when it comes to sleeping.
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Bethany is noisy.  In a very sweet way.  She grunts and coos and hums all day while she sleeps.  She even seems to call back to us.  Mary was crying earlier and she seemed to call back at each cry.  She has done it  a time or two with me as well it seems She makes a lot of silly faces.  And sleeps despite chaos around her some how.  She is sometimes left awake in bed for a while when I am in the middle of caring for other kids but doesn't seem to mind too much.



Everyone has lots to say about her beautiful red hair.
We've seen a small few smiles from her and love it.
On Friday I went with the three olders to the grocery store.  Bethany stayed home with Dad watching over.  It was the first time we'd been more than a few feet apart


So far she is being called Bethany and Beth.  Baby Bethany, Baby Bethy, Bethy and My Darling.

April 23, 2013

Poor Marianne has been sick now with the flu.  As if her week was not weird enough.  As if I didn't feel bad about not being able to give her the same amount of attention.  We found her two nights ago asleep in her own puke.  If that doesn't make you feel like a horrible mom I'm not sure what does.
The kids are all so great with the baby, but mostly Marianne.  She seems to love it like one of her baby dolls. She is always bringing it blankets and toys, and patting its head and saying "soft"  and kissing it.  She grew up of course this week as my babies always do the week I bring home a new baby.  I knew it would happen. Which is why the week before the baby came I tried with all my might to get Marianne to take a nap and cuddle with me.  But of course she wouldn't go for it.  That is all.  Marianne is now a well talking giant saying whole sentences like this mornings "Mama where are you?".

Bethany thankfully doesn't seem to have grown to much yet.  Still so little.  We rarely see her eyes, even when she is awake.  She is bit different than some babies we've had.  She nurses for over an hour at at time, acts like she is always starving and then will finally fall asleep after being awake for a few hours.  And sleep for four.  We got her to take a bottle last night for the first time which was a relief.  Seeing as how like I said she will nurse for up to an hour or more every time she eats.  This morning I woke up after noon.  Good thing my husband is home.  Marianne was taking a nap and the kids were playing in the basement an hour before.  I got stuck in my room nursing baby Bethany for a good hour and feel asleep.  When I awoke Kate had been taking to the bus and the children given lunch.  Well what do you expect, when I am exhausted and I am laying in my bed cuddled up with a sweet baby in the warm blankets for an hour.  I'm sure I was out in ten minutes or less.

April 18, 19, 20, 2013

Our beautiful Baby Bethany is Born.

On Thursday April 18, 2013.
7:58 pm
7 lbs 15 oz
19 iinches

Bethany Dorothy Freeman

She arrived healthy and adorable and we feel so blessed.

Enjoy the pictures.  My husband who is not normally the family photographer did a pretty excellent job documenting this birth.

The whole story.

I had asked that if there was room for us to be induced on Thursday the 18th, that we we be put on the schedule.  I had been feeling ill and didn't know how much longer my body could take being pregnant for.  Being one day over due was enough to decide to be induced.  The night before they called to say that it was very full and they were not sure there would be room for us.  Thursday morning they called to say that it was very busy and that if they had a spot they would call.  I was so anxious the night before that I hadn't slept, and so I went to take a nap, with my phone by my side in case I got a call.  Around 11 the phone rang.  I answered it groggy from sleep to a woman saying "GET READY!"  In a very excited way.  I thought it was a super crazy nurse. It was actually an ad for a Vegas vacation in the end.  But it woke me up and I was ready.  I decided to call the hospital again, they had said I could call to check and when I did they told me to come on in.  So we called my mom and had her come over to be with the kids and Jake and I loaded the car.  It is a bit strange to not have any urgency at all going to the hospital to have a baby.  I was mostly grateful for the almost two hour nap I had gotten.  I would need it of course.  We got me a giant cup of ice for the drive down and talked about names most the way.

We checked into the hospital and they showed us our room. I changed into a gown and then we waited.  And waited and waited. We put up some guessed on the white board. We pulled into the hospital around 12:30.  And around 2 they started my IV.  But with only the saline, no antibiotics that I needed and no pitocin.  I think it was almost three before they did that.  I spent a lot of time complaining about my iv.  It was making my arm numb.  And getting up to use the bathroom because of the giant cup of ice I ate.  Finally they started the antibiotics for Strep B and the pitocin.  But things were still moving slow.  I relayed the story of our last birth and how I was sure I would go really fast to all the nurses and doc just so we all could know what to expect.  So when I had been on the pitocin for a couple of hours and they checked me and I was only at a 4 I felt a little foolish and I think they all thought I didn't know what I was talking about either.    I decided to have my epidural, again sure things would be moving fast and not wanting to almost miss it like with Marianne.  It was a poor job and crooked and shot down one of my legs and not the other and so I got to lay on my side for the rest of labor.  With one leg completely numb and the other not numb at all.... just like with Kate.  I think it was the same anethesiologist too.  I was feeling sick and clutching a blue throw up bag.  And feeling light headed.  And was not sure why.  My contractions got too close and strong every 1 min so they took me mostly off the pitocin and put my on oxygen.  I had never had to do that before either. We waited and waited and finally the doc came and broke my water.  But things still were moving slowly.  Our main nurse was helping deliver another baby and was gone for a long time.  And we were mostly just left alone in our room.  Eventually somebody came to check on me, and when they checked me I was sure they were going to be surprised by the fact I was ready to have a baby.  But nope.  I was only at a 6 he said.  About ten minutes later I decided to ask for the upped epidural.  I had never had it before, but the crooked epidrual made me feel most everything on one side and I didn't want to be afraid to push like with Marianne. So I had the nurse call for him.  She also checked me per my insistance even though it had only been maybe 20 minutes and I was at an 8.  The epidural came and made me completely numb like I have never been before.  Finally the doc came to check on us.  When he checked me he said "how long ago were you at an 8"  I thought it had been 15 minutes.  He checked the chart, saw it had been 30 minutes and then checked me.  Had I known it had been thirty minutes I would have been begging for the doc to come knowing I was ready.  When he checked me he said "this baby is half way out"  I thought I was ready but like I said- I kept telling the nurses that and they kept telling me I was wrong.  In a minute a team of nurses were in our room.  I was getting Jake to bet on how long it would take for her to be born, the doc and nurses joined in.  It took about five pushes and she was out.  The minute we saw her we thought she looked just like Sam when Sam was born.  I talked a lot, and was shaking out of control.  My body was in shock.  Similar to when I delivered Kate.
Doctor Aagard cut the cord and she was placed on my chest.
I don't know if it was revelation, but when she was given to me to hold the name Bethany came to my mind.  Not from no where- it was a front runner already, but it did come to my mind and I held my healthy sweet baby.  Who cried only for a minute or so.
She was cleaned up a bit, weighed, given a score of 8-9 and all those things they do for a few minutes before she was given back to me.
And then we just hung out together for a while. Jake held her.  Then I held her again.  Then we wrapped her up and let her nurse which she did perfectly on her first try for 40 minutes.  Then Jake held her again while I ate a sandwich.  It was 9 at night and I hadn't got to eat all day.  And it was delicious.  I continued to shake uncontrollably.  Then when I could stand- we all went down to the recovery area together.  Before the baby had her bath or anything.   They put me in my room, then Jake took the baby to the nursery for shots and baths.  I was left in my room and in serious pain.  My nurse was locked out of the computer where she could get perscriptions for some reason, and later we discovered that on top of normal wounds and pain from delivery, I had a bruised uterus from the delivery of my placenta, and a bruised tail bone.  Like I said.  I was in serious pain with the epidural gone and no access to pain meds.  Part of it was expectation I guess, because my last two recoveries haven't been so painful. They ask you about the pain scale 1-10 and I kept saying an 8.  I am sure I was being dramatic.  Put I couldn't sit or lay down, standing seemed to hurt less.  So I was just standing in my recovery room alone for a long time.  Finally a nurse came in and said if I was going to stand I was welcome to stand in the nursery and watch by baby get her bath.  And so I did.  I walked down to the nursery and picked out the blue bow for my daughters hair.  Eventually I felt sick again and was walked back to my room.  And finally they got me some pain meds.  Which didn't seem to do much.  It was a long night.  Bethany didn't want to sleep, but at least she was happy eating.  She likes to suck her thumb too already.  I was up all night in pain, and also thinking about what to name our girl, and of course being woken up by nurses for vitals and things, and still starving.  I slept part of the night with the baby in my arms.  She kept gagging and choking and was very uncomfortable - on fluid in her stomach from delivery.  I asked if they would take her to the nursery and suck it out... they can do that. They took her observed her and said they didn't need to.  And our next day started.
We spent a lot of this day trying to sleep still, but the baby still was gagging and choking.  And was now refusing to eat because of it.  A different nurse now on suggested they help her by sucking all the fluid out. Yes I agreed.  Baby Beth has been a different baby ever since.  First she slept like 5 hours after that and has been a pro eater and sleeper mostly ever since.  I spent the day feeling light headed and throwing up. I have never had that be a part of recovery.  I thought it might be because of the pain meds so I stopped taking them.  I would learn later, that really I had the flu the last few days and that is why   I felt so bad.  Amy stopped by to say hello.  My mom dropped the kids off and all of them came running down the hall even Mary with a present in hand.  Sweet Mary is very anxious/ excited about that baby, and of course seems to old. We had some cake and sang the new baby Happy Birthday.  Right before the kids arrived Jake and I decided that indeed her name would be Bethany.  We just had to choose a middle name.  Some visiting with the kids and I was exhausted.  I was actually in pain and exhuasted the entire day to the point of almost falling asleep mid sentence when my sister had been to visit earlier.  Jake took the kids home. And me and baby Bethany were left on our own for the next little while.  I had never had a pediatrican stick so close to the 48 hour rule, and he was telling us that he didn't want us to leave for 48 hours.  It was a long day and a long stay at the hospital.  In the past I have really liked our little quiet days in the hospital but not this time.   I was anxious to get home, or to at least not be alone with the baby any more so I was thrilled when Jake came back around 1pm to get us.  When he arrived we had to pick a middle name for our Bethany.  We chose Dorothy after his paternal grandmother.   We packed up and were finally released.  We dressed Bethany to come home.  She got some new duds to come home in and is super stylish, plus we had to buy a new car seat because our other one expired so he is riding pretty pretty.  Home we headed with baby Bethany.
And that is a quick summary of how Bethany was born.  We are home now and recovering well.  Especially after Sunday where Jake took the kids downstairs to the basement all day and I took three naps next to my precious new girl.  She continues to eat really well and sleep fairly well too.
And she is completely adorable, purring and cooing at us all the time.
Lots more Baby Bethy coming up I'm sure.

At home the night of our arrival Sam started throwing up.  I tried to clean and lysol and santize the entire house while taking care of myself and a two day old baby while Jake cleaned up Sam a million times and puke.  I thought it might have been food related sickness, but also possible he had what I had had and that we had the flu.  Last night confirmed that it is indeed the flu.  Jake and I were up with Marianne all night, cleaning up puke and trying to get her to sleep.  Really.  As if taking care of a newborn i not enough laundry and lack of sleep, now we are all getting through the flu.  What a welcome wagon.

April 17 2013

5.4.3.2......

I'm due today with a baby. Or the 19th by another measure.
But still I feel like  ticking time bomb.
Yesterday I spoke with my doctor's office and I was just asking what the induction schedule looked like for Thursday and Friday instead of the Monday we have scheduled if this baby girl refuses to be born like her sisters before her.
When the office called me back she had changed by date to Thursday- a bit of a misunderstanding.  I could have corrected her, but I didn't.  Perhaps we will just go ahead.  My morning sickness has returned with a sincere mission to destroy me, and I can't imagine it is healthy for either her or I to be throwing up and loosing weight for too much longer.  I don't feel as ready as I do just done.

I'm going to do my best to put myself into labor I think today.  Think lots of laundry and cleaning, maybe some shopping too.

Her room is ready  any way.  
And possibly the most put together room any kid has had, at least since Kate.  Maybe because the room was painted a specially chosen color.  We made the bed this morning.  So now I'm calling it good.

Crib is ready.   All set with a special quilt made by a dear friend.  The same kind of quilt she gave Marianne who is completely attached and sleeps like an angel as long as it is with her.  I have put two bins next to the crib too.  One of those first two weeks clothes and one of blankets.  This is not where the bins go, but I am hoping having them here with make it so the older kids can run and get me the things I need faster.

A shelf with some art and a keepsake box.

 This is Marianne's side of the room.  Same crib, Same shelf.  Plus her pile of babies.

 The bookshelf, mirror, closet and bulitien board

 The closet.  It is literally overflowing with girly clothes and blankets and baby gear.

Without a doubt the next post should be a picture of a new born baby.  Hooray!

April 4, 2013

Somebody special turned 6 at our house today.
Well technically she doesn't for a few more days, but out of worry that I would be having a baby we didn't want to wait one more week so we did it a few days early.
Of course, like always she has been planning her birthday party for months, maybe even a whole year since her last birthday.  This year was the first year we let the kids have real birthday parties.  I think we are going to do birthday parties on even years and family outings on odd years.  So we started this year with friend birthday parties.
She decided on a party based around her two favorite things to do.  Jump Rope and Hula Hoop.  Seriously I haven't even seen Kate get out any other toy really in weeks.  So it seemed perfect.   Especially since she  had a few boys she wanted to invite and her original idea was a nail polish party.  I didn't think that was going to work well.  We added a few more activities and made it a Spring fun party.  About two weeks ago we delivered invitations.

 \
Then we got to work with the planning and preparations.  I was really nervous that I might not be at her big day in the hospital having a baby or something.  Which I would be sad for because her birthday is one of my favorite days of the whole year.  There is nothing like celebrating somebody you love so much.  We came up with these cupcakes that we thought looked like potted plants.  The tops are just hostess cupcakes we found at the store in Spring colors and tulip shape.  We stuck them on green cupcakes and thought they were awesome.

 We made banners and hung up all the spring things  we could find.  Lucky for us after Easter all the Spring stuff in stores goes on sale.   We got butterflies, pinwheels,   flowers, and everything in Kate's favorite colors of light pink and turquoise and we added some more spring green and yellow too.

I learned how to make these balloon flowers online.  Kate told me I must be a balloon clown now and started requesting other animals.  Nope just the flowers.

 We served cupcakes at the kids party, but had cake with just our family and grandma and grandpa later at night.  Kate picked to have a white cake with sprinkles and specially requested that it had a number 6 on the cake not just 6 candles.

 More party set up.  Lots of fun colors and butterflies and flowers.

 Waiting for  the party guests near the pinwheels.

We  let Kate open the gifts from us before the party and craziness began  Sam got her an art kit he was so excited to give her.  He and I spent at least 30 minutes at the craft store picking things out and then he was so good about keeping it a secret for a week.  He kept reminding me we still needed to wrap it all week.  She loved it.  She also got a soccer ball and a razor scooter from us.  The scooter was put to practice right before party time. The best part..  For weeks Kate has been thinking about telling me what she wants for her birthday.  It was more trivial things like more lalaloopys, makeup, or something I didn't want to buy like a Leap Pad.  I have seen her borrowing the neighbors scooters so we decided to get her that.  And just yesterday she came to me and said "Mom I changed my mind, I want a scooter for my birthday"  Well good thing Mom had figured out that that is what you would want weeks ago and already has it wrapped in my closet I thought to myself :)

 She also had a chance to try out the art kit too.  She loved it and Sam was so proud.

 Party time.
Activity One was making bubble wands.  Out of beads and pipe cleaners.  Something else I saw online. The idea did not work perfectly but it kept kids busy while we waited for all the guests to come.  Then it was jump rope practice and contest.  Next it was hula hoop practice and contest and some trampoline jumping.  The last three birthdays of Kate's,,,,, or every one that she has really had some say in has had some kind of jumping thing to it.  The girl knows what she likes I guess.

   The party crew.  Yes.  Jake and I alone just wrangled this crowd for two plus hours.  And I didn't go into labor.   When Kate was making her list of people to invite it was getting long but I figured it was Spring Break and if she invited 14 people- that only half would likely make it because of the holiday.  And at first several people said they couldn't come.  Kate was very upset actually several times this week that so many people were not going to be able to come.  It made me sad for her, and I kept trying to encourage her reminding her about the friends that had said they could come- which as of two days previous was only 4 people.  Well I guess I have one lucky girl, because not only did almost all the rest of the guests rsvp or just come in the end, even some that said they might not make it called the day of to say they could make it after all.  Soon our guest list was overflowing.  I mean  we basically had an entire kindergarten class on our hands.  Good think she has such sweet friends who were all great at sharing and listening and we had a great time.

 Here is Kate thinking of her wish for her cupcake with her friends.  She honestly thought about what she wanted for a wish for several minutes.  Eyes closed, frustrated, friends waiting.  Then she decided and told us all out loud that she wished for more pink and purple butterflies in the world.   Here is the girls table eating cupcakes.

 Present time.  People are so thoughtful and generous.  Kate got so many kind gifts. A lot of the boys got her some kind of art or craft thing.  They know her well, or must pay attention to what she likes to do in class.  Her brother also picked out art stuff.  Jake and I realized that maybe boys are uncomfortable picking out barbies and makeup already so they stick with something that doesn't seem so girly.  It works since she does want to be an artist when she grows up now.... yep no more astronaut after like 4 years of that.  Others remembered her favorite candy, something I had written in this blog she liked, something she had seen on the bus with a friend and liked  The kids (and their moms really) were so kind and thoughtful  .  Kids are so well behaved too to sit and watch another kid open presents for 20 minutes.

 Marianne had to be detailed holding a balloon flower on Jake's shoulders for all of presents because she couldn't keep out.

 Then we headed outside to do bubbles.  We got an awesome bubble maker at the store that makes bubbles 6 feet long or more.  It is so fun.   We did it on the back patio to try to hide from the wind.  I think we will likely play with the bubble stick several times a week in the summer.  Best $7 we ever spent. We tried out our bubble wands we had made too.

Then we did chalk art in the front yard until parents came.  Each kid was sent home with a goodie bag of jump ropes, bubbles, chalk and candy.
Wow what fun.  Kate was in her zone too.  She love friends and being the leader with her friends.  I think the party turned out exactly how she had planned it in her mind.  That planning girl of mine can sometimes be hard to please perfectly, but I think we pulled it off.  It was a fun party too, I can only hope she might pick the same thing in two years again and we can have a lawn in to do some of the fun on instead of just a driveway and patio.

 After the party Kate picked to go to Chinese Food for dinner.  No surprise at all. And then we came back home.  Grandma and Grandpa Anderson stopped by with presents and shared some cake too.  What a long fun party day.

 My Kate is so special. She is great at making friends, being a friend so it is no surprise to me that so many people came to make her day so special.  Lots more about Kate coming with her 6 year old picture hopefully soon.