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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

42 weeks!

I cannot believe we've made it this long pregnant!  This pregnancy has been full of ups and downs and unexpected things.  
  • At 8 weeks, I started bleeding heavily and we thought we'd lost our baby.  We were so thankful to see the little heartbeat pumping away on the ultrasound.  
  • We really wanted to have a homebirth this time, but we found out baby is breech at about 34 weeks and it did NOT want to turn (despite many, many efforts).  Midwives aren't allowed to attend breech births at home, but thankfully we found a doctor in Oklahoma City who was willing and eager even to help us have a natural breech delivery (in the hospital).  Yay!
  • I've had lots of contractions and even thought I was in labor around 40 weeks, but they've always gone away.  The doctor said he would let us go to 42 weeks, so we've been patiently waiting and hoping labor would start on its own!  I tried to do lots of walking activities at the zoo and places with the kids, bounced on my birth ball, jumped on the trampoline, rode a camel, etc.  I haven't been too uncomfortable, thankfully, except for this last week, when I've just been so tired and ready to have some energy back!  And we are sooo ready to meet this little baby!
  • July 30th, James and I drove to Okla City for an appointment with the doctor.  They did a sonogram and the baby is measuring 39/40 weeks and fluid levels are good.  The doctor really advocated for me to wait as long as I could to go into labor on my own, since I can't have an epidural and pitocin is no fun without it (I did that with Lilah).  He doesn't want me to have an epidural so I can push most effectively since baby is breech.  So he scheduled our induction for Aug 1 at 6 am!
  • We had prayed with the kids and with each other and James had given me a blessing the night before our appointment, and both of us felt that this was a good decision.  We are ready to meet our baby and I trust the doctor that he will help us do what he feels is best.  So tomorrow morning, we are headed to the hospital!  We feel so blessed to have this little one coming into our family and we are so excited to finally be able to meet it and hold it and have it with us!!!  The kids are acting like it's Christmas Eve :)
Some final pregnancy pictures...




We spent this last day without baby at the pool!


We are really thankful for all the thoughts and prayers that we have felt throughout this pregnancy.  We feel that we have been guided in our decisions and even though things haven't gone the way we hoped or planned, we feel peaceful about whatever we need to do to get this baby here safely.  I can't believe how much I already love this little person and I can't wait to meet it tomorrow!!!


Friends!

My best friend from Georgia, Amber Melville and her family, came to visit us last week!  They were driving back from Colorado and we're right in the middle, yay!  She has been such a wonderful friend to me and I just love her and her sweet family.  I miss her a lot and even though it made it harder to see them leave again, it was so nice to get to spend a couple of days with them!
We went to the amazing Discovery Lab in Tulsa and had a blast!





The giant packing tape slide!

Mom even did it :)


















































The big huge lady even did it!
And the bed of nails!  I couldn't believe Lilah liked it :)

I was really hoping this would put me into labor, but no such luck.  I am huge!!!

We went to the Tulsa Zoo the next day and had lots of fun, even in the rain!


This was so much fun to do with my sweet kids!


I love this cute picture!

That night we went to a Drillers game (minor league baseball)!

















We ended the visit at Spaghetti Warehouse.  The kids had so much fun!!! 
Balloon animals!


I love this woman.

So thankful for friends!!!

I can't believe we have an 8-year-old!

Ethan turned 8 on July 22nd!  It was a little hard to plan anything this year, since we didn't know when baby would come, but we're planning a big celebration when he gets baptized at the end of August!  He's been so excited to turn 8 and even though he didn't get to share his birthday with this new baby (he really wanted to!), he is happy to still have the earliest birthday of the year in our family :)

James took Ethan to LaserQuest with Ethie's friend and his dad the Saturday before his birthday.  Ethan had been talking about it for a long time and they had a blast!  That night Ethan, Mom, and I went to a mother/son luau at the water park.  He went down the slide at least 20 times and I had fun watching him :)

Haha, I feel the love!



















On his actual birthday, I made him crepes for dinner at his request (complete with chocolate chips and chocolate syrup)!  Then he got to open his presents and I think he liked them!


Sweet boy let Lilah help him open presents :)

He really wanted an umbrella and Grandma got him one!

Haha, happy dance








































Then we took Ethie outside so he could find his and Lilah's big birthday gift... a trampoline!
It was still in the box in the car, but he figured it out :)



Of course, James made Ethie the most awesome cake ever!!!  Ethie requested a spiderman mint chocolate ice cream cake and James happily obliged!





















We love you, sweet 8-year-old!  So glad you're in our family!!!

Grandma is here!

My (Lisa's) mom got here on July 15th and we are soooo happy to have her here!  My "due date" came and went on July 17, so we've had lots of fun time to just spend together, keeping the kiddos busy and happy.  She has been so fun and helpful with cooking yummy meals, reading lots of library books, playing games, cleaning, and just keeping me company.  I love her!  

We went to the zoo with some friends the day after we got here.  It was actually not too hot and very fun!
Ethie tiger


Lilah though this sheep was hilArious!



Cute!


Flamingos are cool

On the train!


His faces make me laugh!


























More fun times with Grandma...

Eating LOTS of ice cream!  Haha, Ethie's face cracks me up!

Playing "party" in the kitchen.


Blue Bell factory tour, complete with ice cream!

"Dirt Day" at the library.  Worm races!

I think Mom was mediating the fossil dig.

Grass head

Krispy Kreme donuts!
We love having Grandma here!!! :)