Fall Highlights 2018

This year was a fun year to go to the pumpkin patch because it seemed like the first year that the boys were able to do a lot on their own and the older boys were able to help with the littles more than it was s necessity for Sam or I to be with them the whole time. This was one of the first moments that I was realizing that things were starting to feel "easier" and also the realization that we were going to be starting over very soon. Pregnant and with 4 boys at these kind of things always gets some attention. Or perhaps I was just feeling a little self conscious.

Whether in my imagination or not it is odd to have a more than 2 kids in Bend. It is pretty standard to have 2 and the ideal family is to have a boy and a girl. People have never been mean- they just comment.

 I love this time of year. I have said it before so  I  don't have to go through all the reasons why yet again. I also love experiencing it all with my family. I love how each year my boys have grown and I can see more of who they are becoming and I still like them. I like being able to have conversations with them and actually share different thoughts, opinions, and feelings. It can be hard early on in motherhood because that aspect really isn't there and it difficult to see a time that it would happen. It does.

I sure do have some handsome boys.

Lily Mariana Jo

 I still have a lot of blogging to catch up and I do plan to fill in the gaps, but a good birth story has details so before I go forgetting those details
(which... 5 kids I think could happen easily) I wanted to get this down.

We had our baby girl, baby sister, baby Lily on Feb 5th, 2019
Weight: 7lbs 11oz
Height: 21 inches
Time: 8:33 pm

My sister Meg had come into town almost a full weed prior to having her. I, wanting to replicate almost everything from Jonah experience, wanted some time hanging out with her and the boys and after a few days went by would then have the baby. It took longer, but loved hanging out with Meg, and the boys loved it too. We reminisced about when she came into town for Jonah and remembered how WE-Megan and I had essentially picked out Jonah's name together and we laughed and we laughed.
         I have to admit- as days passed I was not so certain it was going to happen while Megan was in town. I'd had some mild contractions but nothing that lasted or got worse. We went on plenty of walks and ran the boys every which way and it seemed like between all of that I should have gone into labor. Megan came in on a Wednesday and so on the Monday the week she was leaving I woke up having contractions around 3am. They did wake me up so they were painful enough to do that and I was timing them. By the morning they were still happening but not getting worse. So Megan and I did exercises to try and keep them going. We did this all morning. Now, the nitty gritty, I needed to have some prune juice, it helped a little. I then announced to Megan I would have a second glass. 😳 That was an interesting choice and I literally spent the rest of the morning and day taking trips to the bathroom every few minutes. Yeah...
When the day began I wasn't so sure I was going to be making it to my doctor's appointment set for that day but as the hours went and it wasn't dire that I would be going to the hospital it was good to go my appointment to see if anything was happening. I was a 3.5 at my appointment he was pretty certain that things were moving along from the day. He also said he would be "dumbfounded" if "I made it another week. He also said if I had been a 4 he would have sent me over the birthing center. All of these things made me feel confident that it could happen that day. I called Sam to let him know the updates and told him I was pretty sure it would happen that day, especially with him scheduled to go into work in Portland the next day the sooner he could make the judgement call the better.

 After arriving home things picked up. My friend Kimberly- who had been updated throughout the day came over to be with Jonah. My friend Heather picked up the older boys from school and Sam was picking up Rowan. We left the house around 4:15 was checked around 5 at the hospital and was a 4.5 and I was then admitted to stay. I know this wasn't my first rodeo but it is still so odd to know that before the day would be done I would have extra person in my life.

Sam arrived around 6 o clock and by then was in a lot of pain and things were moving very quickly. Megan, was, once again, wonderful to have there. She is amazingly calm and considerate of all my needs, and its also very good to talk to her during the whole process. I labored till around 7:00 and a 6.5. Sam suggested to get going with the epidural and because it seemed like it was moving really quickly, I agreed. I didn't want to miss the window to get one. I had my epidural around 7:30 but after I felt like it was working I began feeling very weird. I felt like things were really slow and that I wasn't really in the room and I was telling Sam and Megan that I was feeling "foggy" and that is about when about 6 nurses ran into the room and started to push me on to one side and putting an oxygen mask on me because apparently my blood pressure had gone way down and so did baby Lily's. This had never happened before and it was a bit scary. They gave that a few minutes and then turned me on the other side. That time it worked and I could definitely tell the difference. After things had stabilized Sam went home to check on the boys. We decided that  we would just wait to break my water until he came back. Soon after Sam had left I start shaking uncontrollably and became 🤢 and of course Megan taking good care of me all the while. It was then that I felt my water break on it's own. So Megan called Sam to let him know and it turns out he was just leaving the house to come back. When he came back the nurse checked me, I was at a 10, she called the doctor in, and got everything situated.

The doctor said she could feel another bag of water and she said it would like break on it's own. She advised "just give a little push." So, I gave the smallest push and in that second it was as if someone on a water balloon rampage had just charged in the room and thrown the money shot in middle of the room. It literally splashed everywhere. Sam seemed grossed out 😂 but everyone was laughing. Then  after everyone had collected themselves the doctor said, "Ok, this will probably just 1 or 2 pushes and we'll be done." I looked at her like don't say that unless that's actually true. But, it was true.

She was here, and I loved her immediately. 

While Kimberly was with the boys they made this cute poster

😍💕

loved immediately

smirks and dimples