Too Cute for 2!!

Okay - not really... he's just the right amount of cute for being two years old!! Happy Birthday to The Destroyer! (also known as Evan) He's got a reputation for bringing mayhem with him wherever he goes, but he does it with a cheesy grin and a smile that lights up his whole face. This is probably the only reason that he's still allowed in the house. He's a classic example of a child being "too smart for their own good." But that's okay - we love him for ALL that he brings to the household.

Evan is 36 1/4 inches tall (~86th%), weighs 27 pounds (~38th%) and wears 2T clothing. He's got sandy blonde hair and deep blue eyes and despite being the odd man out in resembling his siblings, he looks just like his daddy did at his age!

Just one example of Evan-induced mayhem

Evan is definitely left-handed. The kid prefers the left for just about every activity. He can use a tripod grasp when using a writing tool, but will occasionally grip it in his fist if it suits him. He's a super-active kiddo who wants to be outside all the time and loves to climb and run and operate all the tools/equipment he comes across (doors, locks, pencils, etc...) He only slows down for a little while if he's watching one of his beloved DVDs. He learned all his letters, numbers, colors and shapes by watching videos from a Preschool Prep collection. Once he soaked up all of that, he pursued the 3 Sight Words videos that came with the set. I couldn't have cared less if he got interested in learning to read yet - after all he was only one. But his older siblings wanted to watch and so he did too. And the next thing I know, he's reading the words he learned on the flashcards that came with the set. Then he would ask to watch the DVDs and he learned ALL the words in the set. I'm still impressed with that.

Once he exhausted that source of information, I started giving him DVDs from another early-reading set we had looked into. He's fascinated and I suppose I'll no longer be surprised if he's suddenly reading those "harder" words sometime in the near future.

He has recently become a pacifier addict. In the last few weeks, he went from sleeping with a single pacifier to having one in his mouth and another in each hand for a total of three! I'm not sure when he realized this was a possibility ~ probably sometime when he was sick and I encouraged him to use a pacifier outside of naptime to keep him from putting every toy he encountered into his mouth. At least he's relearning that the paci's are for sleeping only and doesn't scream at me all day to give them to him.

Speaking of screaming - his stubborn side has certainly been showing lately. He refuses to eat most of the food we offer. He will stand at the back door and petition to be taken out to play (loudly and often). Hopefully at some point in the not-too-distant future, this will turn into determination and persistence in a positive way. Until then, I'm covering my ears and waiting it out!

He loves books and is labeling things like crazy. His speech has come such a long, long way since beginning therapy six months ago. His therapist is really great (yes, I adore her) and I will miss our weekly "playdates" to help Evan further his skills ~ but the reality is that he's doing SO well, there's no way I see him qualifying for services when he's reassessed in another six months. In the meantime, his therapy is shifting from weekly appointments to bi-weekly visits to free up the therapists schedule to help other kids and because we'll likely be much busier with all our other playdates and activities through the spring and summer. If he doesn't need to be seen every week, so much the better!

He is a clown to the core, but also, Evan loves to love on everyone lately. He shows affection to Mom, Dad, the cats and his siblings... This is my absolute favorite though. It makes my heart melt!

I am so excited to see what this next year has in store for Evan. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I've never met a Pisces I didn't like... Evan is proving my rule to be true. Despite our disagreements on diaper changes and eating and the like, we're buddies through and through. He is still my pookie-bear!

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

Can't believe this guy's last day of being one is tomorrow...

So Proud

I don't often write about Evan. Being your typical "boring" kid with nothing "unusual" going on, he doesn't get a lot of the spotlight on here. So tonight, I wanted to celebrate a great accomplishment for him. He has literally stunned me in that he's 23 months old and virtually taught himself to sight-read over 30 words (to date).

I had purchased a Preschool Prep learning DVD set. It included videos for letters, numbers, colors and shapes, which I thought would be a fun way to enhance Evan's learning of these subjects. My older kids wanted to watch the sight words videos which were also included. Evan, of course, was hanging around during these viewings over the last few weeks.

Last week, it came to my attention that he is recognizing some of these words. (in addition to having already learned all the letters, numbers, colors and shapes) So I sat down with him and recorded going through the flashcards. At the time, he was reading over 17 of the words on the cards. I checked again today and he's up to over 30 of the 45 provided words. I'm amazed.

Sure, I know there are kids out there who can read many more and more complicated words at Evan's age (or maybe a bit younger), but I haven't worked with him at all on this. And 6 months ago, he needed Early Intervention therapy to get his language skills up to par; I never would have guessed he would have come so far so easily. I guess all he needed was a nudge in the right direction.

I am SO thrilled that this little smarty-pants is going to be Levi's primary peer role model as he grows. Between his winning personality and tenderness towards others (except the occasional transgression) and his exceptional use of his talent, this little guy is quite the package!

What a Month This Has Been!

My little pumpkin is a whole eight months old!! And what a month it's been... It seems like every other day, Levi was making some new achievement, reaching some new milestone.

He can sit up independently now! He falls over some, but he can totally sit up by himself without any support for several minutes at a time as long as he doesn't get too enthusiastic about waving his arms all around while he's playing. At the suggestion of his PT, I've been stretching his hamstrings frequently so he's more comfortable with the long-sit and less likely to flex his legs into a ring-sit. That definitely helped his balance.

He's also been practicing his 90/90 sit on the stool. It helps to have a little support behind him, but his endurance and balance is better every day! Today he managed to stay on for about 3 minutes without any issues.

Watch out, World! He's beginning to army crawl! He started off on the inclined crawling track, but just 2 nights ago, he found motivation in a badmiton birdie which was rolling around on the floor and he pursued it to the best of his ability. He managed to move himself forward about 4-5 feet in the span of a minute or two. Not too shabby! Once he perfects his technique, I imagine there will be no stopping him as this kid LOVES to move!

Working on his modeling career instead of using the crawling track for it's intended purpose...

His vocalization is still increasing and I'm starting to hear an occasional "gee" or "ya" sound in there. That's awesome. Perhaps the "ma", "da", "ba" sounds are not too far behind. One can hope! Also, when I'm feeding him lunch, I'm frequently signing "eat" and "more" and when I do, he seems to understand some part of what I mean as he'll yank his fingers out of his mouth (he's always sucking on his fingers in between bites) and open up for the next bite.

Did someone mentioned something about a "ham?"

His bottom front teeth are still teasing us. I can see them - they're there... but they're still somehow under the gums. I don't know if the gums have swelled up around the top edges or what, but holy crow, they're slow....Despite a lack of teeth, he's been doing really well with eating. He has been eating the dissolvable baby puffs and does a fine job of gumming them to bits. He's moving his tongue laterally really well also and so I think that he'll soon be ready to move on to soft cubes of food. He loves to grab the puffs and try to get them into his mouth - though they often end up stuck to his face instead! Oh yeah - when I'm feeding him, if he's really into it, he'll grab the spoon and help guide it into his mouth. And then of course, he expects that I locate another spoon to continue the meal as he's loathe to give up his stolen one! Then I'm fighting both the fingers and the spoon as I try to get more food into his mouth.

His sleeping has improved a little, at least in the of where he's sleeping... The swing gets used infrequently and I don't have to hold him until he's soundly asleep before I can lay him down. He falls asleep on his own without much fuss most of the time. I can see the difference in the back of his head already - his hear was all worn out from rubbing his head back and forth in the swing when what he really wanted to do was roll around. His hair (in the back) is finally playing catch-up with the stuff on top and on the sides.

Enjoying the Jumper



He just had a sleep study done and the unfortunate side effect of testing is that you sometimes get bad news. In this case, I found out that Levi is having some episodes of apnea while he's sleeping. We won't have the detailed report of the study for another week or two, so until then, I don't know what the source of the problem is. On one hand, it would be nice if it was an obstructive apnea issue because the treatment plan is fairly easy: remove whatever is blocking the airway (if it's bad enough). The downside is obviously the surgery. Trevor had his adenoids and tonsils removed before he was three, but his first surgery was after he was 18 months old. It's even more scary to me to think about sending an infant into surgery. On the other hand, if it's a central apnea, then the issue is more likely related to his GERD. The solution for that problem is less clear as it's more of a positioning kind of thing that usually requires trial and error. It might be an issue that has to be "waited out" if that's the case, which I don't like because now I'm worried about his safety while sleeping. The one thing I can say about it is that I'm glad I followed through with getting the study done sooner rather than later.



Despite being forced to stay up two hours past his bedtime and then having his head wrapped like a mummy, he slept great ~ until Mr. MeanJeans came and added a nasal cannula halfway through. Then it was all screaming and not-sleeping for far too long. Mommy managed to get about 5 hours of sleep altogether.



He's been doing PT for 6 months now and so he was due for his Early Intervention review to update his IFSP. He has an OT (occupational therapist), whom we were meeting once per month for feeding advice, but we're going to start seeing her biweekly to work on developmental play as well as any feeding concerns and improving oral motor skills. PT will also continue weekly.

His growth has slowed down considerably since hitting 6 months of age, but he is still growing, so I believe there's no cause for concern. I spoke with his doctor about my concern that his thyroid might be functionally low, despite normal lab results. She insists that there's no evidence of cause for concern at this time and that we'll recheck around 10 months rather than a year since I previously checked at 4 months. He seems to be growing more in spurts than just a constant kind of rate. In fact, he's tall enough now that he can play in his jumper without anything under his feet except the carpet. That's a great advancement as Evan often came by and stole the little foam mats we stored under there. It was a pain to keep track of them.

He got his second flu vaccine with no apparent reaction - yay! And so now he's all done with shots until his nine month appointment, I believe - double yay!!

That's it for now except for the standard measurements and of course, photos, photos, photos!!

Height: 27 1/2 inches - approximately 40th percentile
Weight: 19 pounds (this is down a few ounces from last weeks measurements - he must be burning LOTS of calories!!) - approximately 40th percentile
Head Circumference: 17.2 inches - approximately 20th percentile

On the Down syndrome chart (which most physicians don't use any longer unless the child is too small for the typical charts), Levi is at about 85th percentile for length and about 90th percentile for weight.



Evan



No it's not Halloween, but I did this same picture with Evan and I LOVED it!

Lots of News

It's been a busy couple of weeks. There was so much to do in preparation for Christmas and now it's all over. Well sort of - half of us ended up with a nasty virus so we cancelled plans with all of our Christmas visitors, which means that we still have Christmas get-togethers and gift-unwrapping to partake in once everyone is feeling better.

Christmas Eve 2011

Levi turned 6 months old on Christmas eve and is now closer to age one than not! That's so weird to think about, but it's true! He's had so many changes and experiences in the last 2 weeks that I feel overwhelmed trying to write about them in a nice way. I'll do my best considering that I'm one of the ill today and I feel like the unwrapping, the cleaning and the living was just too exhausting today.

2 weeks ago, Levi participated in a swallow study to see if he was aspirating anything while eating. He was referred for this study because he sometimes would choke while taking a bottle or breastfeeding and would frequently become "junky" sounding in his throat after swallowing purees. The swallow study turned out just fine but with a recommendation from the speech pathologist to start OT or speech therapy to address the low muscle tone in the mouth. Otherwise, his structures are normal in his mouth and his swallow is safe.

I began trying purees again after we got the "all clear" and to my surprise, he didn't see to have the swallowing issues that were evident prior to the referral for the swallow study. But I'd made some changes per the recommendation of the OT who evaluated him. She suggested that I offer him a dry-spoon between bites to essentially give him two swallows per bite of food. She also suggested that I recline him more than what he was so he didn't have to work so hard on trunk control while eating. Those two changes seemed to have made the major difference for him.

So we started with bananas since he seemed to prefer foods with less flavor impact. He did fine with eating them, but became constipated quickly. Then I tried peaches to alleviate the constipation, but he didn't seem to enjoy eating them because the flavor was so strong. Also, with both of the fruits, he developed a rash again up around his temples while eating. I moved on to sweet potatoes and the rash didn't appear, but he again seemed to behave like the flavor might have been too strong. So finally I got some baby oatmeal cereal and some prune purees. Mixing the two together diminished the flavor of the fruit, and he really seemed to enjoy it! Plus, no rash... success!! Now I have to experiment with the other fruits mixed into the oatmeal to see how he responds. But I'm kind of waiting to see the effect that the current concoction has on his digestion. I need to know if it's slowing things down too much or if he'll be fine.

25 weeks old

He's been refusing to take a bottle for a while and so it's been a challenge to get his vitamins and supplements into him. Now that he's taking some solids, I can mix in about half his vitamin and all of his zinc supplement on a daily basis, so I'm glad we've made that progress.

We're back into cloth diapers again. We took a break from their bulkiness (compared to disposables) in an effort to reduce the challenge level of reaching several gross motor milestones. Now that Levi can roll pretty well, I think any extra bulk from the diaper won't hinder his progress. Of course, this is always up for further evaluation. I ended up replacing all of the inserts for the medium sized diapers as the originals are over a year old and just weren't absorbing as much as they should have. Thankfully, this was only a $25 expense. That left enough money in the budget to splurge on a new diaper - a one-size elite with minky inserts from Fuzzibunz. Love it!!

Levi has made a lot of progress in learning to fall asleep with less help.  His pediatrician recommended waiting until he is six months old before trying to enforce any kind of sleep schedule on him. Well, he's there and so I guess it's time to provide a little assistance. I'm not looking forward to this, but I'm hoping that over the next week, I can help him learn to fall back asleep when he wakes too early. Once this skill is learned, I'm hoping he can extend his morning nap to a full two hours and then work on his afternoon naps soon. As of right now, he's sleeping through the night consistently, going to bed around 6:30 or 7:00 pm and not waking up until maybe 6:00 am.

When he's on the floor, Levi is pivoting while on his tummy and moving all around by rolling side-to-back-to-side repeatedly! He can lie on his tummy and reach out with his hands to grab a toy and bring it to his mouth. His sitting is really good - with nearly a straight back. And if he's on a slightly soft surface, he can sit independently for just a few seconds. With his back to me or the couch, he can sit much longer with only the tiniest bit of support, like a tiny bit of his head touching. He can also stand in front of the sofa with only the sofa at his back for support. I believe his longest demonstration of this skill is about 8 seconds. Just gotta capture it on film!

His language hasn't developed much in the last month or two. It seems to me that he's still making mostly the same noises. I haven't given much thought as to whether that's good, bad or indifferent. I suppose I'll be inquiring about that at his six-month checkup next week. He does still smile a lot and although many of his laughs are silent, occasionally, we get a really good giggle out of him!

At this point in time, I would describe Levi as being serious, stubborn, observant, easy-going (when not being pushed to do thing he doesn't want to do!), funny and active. He's really starting to resemble Katelyn and Trevor in his appearance. If I had to make a prediction, I'd say he'll end up with hair somewhat close in color to Katelyn's. 

Chillin' in a Cloth Dipe

His first Christmas was eventful in the sense that we ended up cancelling all of our visitors because Katelyn and Evan (and possibly Levi) were in the throes of some awful stomach bug. Additionally, all 6 of us are in various stages of fighting off a cold virus. We did not want to give THAT gift to anyone else. As for the actual day at home with all of our gifts to open, it went rather smoothly. Trevor was up at 6:30 am and managed to wait patiently for about 90 minutes before pestering about getting down to business. That required going upstairs to awaken Katelyn and Evan, who came downstairs with some protest. Katelyn managed to lie on the couch while we got started. Eventually, she worked up the energy to open her presents and then went back to the floor for further rest. Not too long after, she was carried upstairs for a nap. She woke up about 3 hours later, feeling much improved, though still sickly. Evan lasted all morning but was definitely ready for a nap when the time came. That age is definitely an enjoyable one - he opened 2 or 3 presents and wanted to play with them and had no interest in opening the rest. So, he's the only one with several presents still in their paper, waiting to be opened!

Levi enjoyed rolling around in the fallout from the unwrapping and even got to watch as Mom and Dad helped him unwrap his gifts. He received a little less than his siblings (though Mom purchased many of Evan's gifts with Levi in mind as well) but I'm sure he wasn't bothered by it. He got some small wooden toys and a plush toy for tummy time fun. He also got some big-boy pacifiers in bigger size than the ones he had (plus they have surfaces for teething). He received a growth chart to hang in his room and a birth-cerficate pillow. All his siblings have one and so he was happy to be included in the club! He received a bunch of snazzy new babylegs (cause he's sooo stylish!) and a drum to bang on when he's sitting up.

Removing the illness factor, it was a very pleasant Christmas day and in a way, it was nice not having to worry about getting ready to host guests. I seriously hope tomorrow holds great improvement for all of us, healthwise. And Levi has an appointment for his six-month pictures tomorrow, so fingers-crossed he cooperates with that. With the other kids, I have professional pictures of them lying on their backs in just a diaper, playing with their toes. Levi can do this, but doesn't hold on as long, so it may be tricky catching this shot. I think I'll be thrilled if I can just get a picture with him smiling - that's the one thing he doesn't seem to want to do often in front of a camera.

His Stats:
Weight: 18 pounds, 8 ounces (approx 68th percentile)
Length: 26.25 inches (approx 43rd percentile)
Head Circumference: 16.75 inches (approx 18th percentile)

Here's our slideshow from Christmas Day... just plain ol' having fun. Enjoy!

Christmas Day Slideshow

A Random Heartwarming Thought

I had about half an hour to spend with just Evan this evening as I was putting him to bed. After the obligatory diaper change and some silliness while reading the bedtime story, it suddenly hit me ~ life will be like this with Levi too. Someday he will be walking and laughing and rolling around on the floor. He'll even be talking as well as Evan (who understands everything you say but doesn't articulate as well as some other kids his age). That thought instantly brought a smile to my face. It was the difference between knowing this (because I've read it somewhere or have been told this by experts or other parents) and really truly feeling it in my heart. It was a good moment for me. I hope I'm able to hold on that in the coming months as we work on overcoming whatever challenges may lie in store for us.

Milestone Musings

Evan: 1 day old

In March 2010, I gave birth to what I thought was going to be my last baby. He was handsome right from the start and I told many people that we were going to be best buddies. My words exactly, "I've never met a Pisces I didn't like!"

And how true it has turned out to be. Evan Jacob was my calm after the storm. With his older siblings being quite high-needs infants and toddlers, he was, by contrast, just as relaxed and laid back as a baby could be. He fit right in and made it seem like no big thing to expand our family from 2 kids to 3.  He was a champ at being a baby and then becoming a toddler. He was about 8 months old when I found out that I was pregnant again. We'd survived having two kids very close in age before, but not quite this close. One of our biggest concerns was how Evan would be affected. It seemed unfair to push him out of babyhood and into big-brotherhood so quickly, but...life is often not fair, right?

So here we are 18 months after Evan's arrival and has my prediction proved true? Yup - we're BFF's for sure! And, the kicker ~ the icing on the cake.... I'm 99% sure he's going to be left-handed too (just like his mommy). See, it was fate which brought us together...

After being around for a full year and a half, Evan has certainly come into his own in many ways. First of all, I'm certain the boy is part ape (he must get it from his dad's side of the family)! He can climb and hang from just about anything he can reach; the backyard, with all it's fun equipment is now danger zone #1...

Speaking of danger, and catastrophe, he has certainly earned his nickname: "Evan the Destroyer." Just about anything you can put away, he can get out. If you treasure it, he'll break it. It's his specialty!! And here's the evidence of some of his early work...

Evan the Destroyer: he can dish it out as often as you can clean it up!

 He's cultivating that sensitive side by blowing kisses on demand. Occasionally, I get the random kiss without even having to ask. He's the easiest kid ever as far as bedtime goes. Read him a book, turn out the light and he points to the crib as if to say, "I don't need that extra cuddle - just put me in there..." But on the rare occasion where I do get to be the one to put him to bed, I tell him that Mommy needs an extra snuggle and he's happy to oblige. Bonus: he sleeps 12 hours at night and another 3 hours at naptime!

He'll eat just about anything we feed him. I was concerned when he mostly gave up on breastfeeding around 7 months or so...I thought we might end up with another picky eater. My fears were unfounded, however. Apparently breastmilk became yesterday's news when he decided that table food was all he was interested in. There were so many days when I'd make myself lunch and he'd "steal" it from me by refusing to eat his own and gobbling up the nibbles I would give to him off my plate. It warms my heart to see him scarf down his broccoli before anything else. He can use a fork really well. And a spoon?...well, he's got lots of time to practice before kindergarten! Oh - and he loves ketchup! He really is his father's son.

Did I get into the sticker book? What stickers?

He is TOTALLY enamored with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He typically refuses to sit and instead stands directly in front of the TV, eyes glued to the screen and participating in the show as much as he can. Despite being a very good listener (generally speaking) and understanding most of what we say to him, his motivation to use spoken words seems to be low. He's been very good at communicating what he wants with signing or pointing or bringing objects to us and so it hasn't been too problematic. Recently, we've been working a lot harder to make him try to use the actual words and so he's made a bit of progress in the last few weeks. He's always said, "more" but now he's adding in word-approximations for many different things on a weekly basis. Today, I swear he said, "purple" while watching Mickey. Well, maybe it was more like, "urple" but I knew what he meant!

Just how does Evan feel about being a big brother now? I'd have to say that 12 weeks into the experience, he's doing better than he did initially! At first, it was a big adjustment because he was used to Mommy being his almost-sole-caretaker. Once Mommy was busy with the new baby, Daddy's role became more significant and he wasn't a big fan of this. There have been many occasions where Levi was on my lap while I was feeding him and Evan would come over and "shoo" the baby with his hand wave. It was adorable, but I felt bad because I know he wanted Mommy's lap and attention to himself.

In the last few weeks, the older kids have started school and so our days have slowed down a bit. I've been able to focus more attention on Evan while Levi is napping or just hanging out. We're coloring and blowing bubbles and experimenting with Play Doh. We don't get outside as much as I'd like, but we'll get there...even if it's not until mid-Fall. I'm very excited to see how he likes winter and snow on the ground since he wasn't able to experience much this past year!

MwaHaHa! I've got you now, little brother...

He's started to interact with Levi a bit more than before. Unfortunately those interactions tend to go something like this:

Evan: (points at Levi)
Me: Baby. Baby Levi
Evan: (points at Levi's ear)
Me: Ear. Baby Levi's ear. Do you have ears, Evan? Where are your ears?
Evan: (points to his own ear) "Eh!"
Me: (starts to get excited about our little group activity)
Evan: Bam! (pokes Levi in the eye)
Me: Ack! (shushing and attempting to calm Levi). We have to be careful, Evan. We don't want to hurt the baby...
Evan: (thinking: that's right kid ~ I'm in charge here)(Wanders away to find the remote so he can put in his 30 millionth request of the morning for Mickey.)

Okay, maybe he's not directly thinking those older brother thoughts yet. But I'm sure they're coming... and you can insert any number of devious, but seemingly innocent activities into this category. In fact I've got some great material for another blog post: sibling rivalry. Watch out for it!

Back to Evan: I have to say I'm very proud of him. He seems to be a naturally bright child, but also has a high level of determination. He was my first child to become a walker without reverting back to crawling for a period of time. Katelyn and Trevor seemed more hesistant to launch themselves into the vertical world, but Evan, in an effort to "run with the big dogs" never looked back despite the huge number of falls in those early days of walking. I hope his determination continues to push his desire for learning; I think he'll do great things!

And a blog post from me wouldn't be complete without stats. Love crunching those numbers!

Weight: 24.5 lbs (approximately 30th%)
Length: 33.75 inches (approximately 82nd%)
Head Circumference: 19 inches (approximately 65th%)

In the end, everytime I look back when my kids hit a milestone age, I'm always overwhelmed by how quickly the time has gone by. Like probably every parent before me, the days seem unending and yet the years pass far too soon. It was just a few weeks ago I put my second child on the bus for kindergarten and I'm sure that before I know it, Evan will be walking up those steps on the big yellow bus. Until then, I'm going to hold on tight and not let the rest of his toddlerhood get away from me. Oh yeah - and prepare for those terrible two's; I have a feeling I ain't seen nothin' yet!

Have a Good Laugh!

Wordless Wednesday...well, almost! there is audio - but it's good for a laugh or two!

A New Decade Brings Great Change and Another Prince

As I approach my 30th birthday, I know that something must change. I'm a stay-at-home mom trying to balance being a student in nursing school with working part-time in the evenings and making sure I'm really there for my kids during my "on" hours at home. It's hard because I feel like I'm having issues with side effects from some medications I've been using for a long time. I'm frustrated because it seems like I'm taking meds to deal with the side effects of other meds and I'm just sick of it. I announce to my husband that I'm done with it all. I stop taking everything except my required thyroid medicine and I feel super! It was a great change for me and I feel like I'm finally more aligned with the me I'm meant to be.

A little more than two months later and I start feeling ill. At first, I'm not sure what's going on because I've been feeling so good emotionally and physically since my big pharmaceutical change up. Then it occurs to me that a pregnancy test might be in order. Lo and behold it's a big, fat positive and next thing I know, we're gearing up to welcome baby number three at the same time that I'm beginning my clinicals for nursing school. Oy!

Thankfully the morning sickness abates within a week of the beginning of the semester. If you're going to pick a time during pregnancy to be putting in 40 hours a week for school, I'm going to say that the second trimester is the time for it. I can't imagine dragging myself through all of that during the first or third trimesters when I was truly exhausted! I finish up in December and get to enjoy a relaxing last three months before things get hectic again.

One thing we choose to do differently this time around is NOT finding out the sex of the baby. We reason that because we already have a boy and a girl, this is a prime opportunity to be surprised. We have a girl name prepared (well, sort of...) and a boy name that we agree on. We are all set, except that we still have to wait for baby to make it's appearance. Something I forget every time is how hard it is to wait through those last few weeks when every twinge or flicker of pain makes you wonder if labor is just around the corner!

Katelyn was born at 39 weeks and Trevor at 38 weeks, so by the time I get to 37 weeks, which is medically considered full-term, I am convinced that baby is coming any day. Starting at around 36 weeks, I get to track contractions for about six hours on most days and still no baby! Friends and family are on pins and needles, waiting for news but I've got nothing to share... Finally I make it to 39 weeks and I'm wondering if this baby is going to share it's birthday with someone we already know. From the 13th of March to the 18th, every day (except one) is claimed as a birthday by someone dear to us. 

I know that I'm already dilated to 4 cm and so I'm considering things like castor oil or bumpy car rides to try to move things along. I told myself that if I made it to my due date, I'd have to take matters into my own hands! As luck would have it, March 15th rolls around and labor starts on it's own at 1:00 in the afternoon. By 7:00, the contractions are substantially worse, but I'm still not in horrible pain. We leave at 10:00 pm and for the first time, it's a calm ride to the hospital. We snag the last spot in the parking lot for the emergency room and we walk up to labor and delivery. (no wheelchair for me this time!)

I get checked in and when I find out that I'm still only at about 5 cm, I start walking the halls. I have hubby sneak a chocolate milk for me out of the pantry and by midnight, I'm still not in nearly as much pain as I was the last time I did this and so I begin to worry that I might be up all night, running out of energy just as it's time to deliver...

I ask my nurse if the doctor might consider breaking my water for me so we can just go ahead and check this little task off my to-do list. The doctor comes to the room and takes care of this item for me and when the flood ends, I can tell that things are going to ramp up quite quickly. I try to get in the tub, but the heat is too much and I start to feel like I'm hyperventilating. So I head back out to the room and I decide to finish laboring standing up.

Oddly, it feels like just five, but I'm told it's about 30 minutes of swaying through contractions before this baby is ready to make it's appearance. I tell the nurse I must push and she has me lie down and she calls for the doctor, who is sleeping in the on-call room at the other end of the hall. I can't wait and I tell her as much. She tells my hubby to open the door and call for help from the nurses at the desk. They rush into the room to provide assistance and I hear my nurse say something about only having one glove on! The next thing I know, my body takes over and my third child comes into this world and I hear hubby say, "It's a boy!" Evan Jacob is born on March 16th at 2:13 am. He weighs 7 lbs, 13 oz and is 20 inches long. It's the one day of the week for which we don't already have a known birthday ~ hooray! Unlike his siblings, this little guy has a head of thick, dark brown hair ~ what a surprise!

This time around, I'm bored in the hospital. Hubby is home the majority of the time with the other kids and it's kind of lonely with no visitors... Thankfully, we're discharged in two days and our family is all together again. This time, instead of hiding inside and waiting to adapt to this new version of parenthood, we head to the playground the next day and enjoy watching our kids run around and have fun. What a great start to this fourth decade of my life!