First off, Happy Halloween! I hope everyone had a really fun day. The boys couldn’t even wear anything festive because they had picture retakes at school. Did I talk about that? The picture company lost our entire school’s pictures! I made Matt wait to cut (I mean butcher)the boy’s hair until after picture day. That night he shaved their heads, and then two days later I found out that they all had to have re-takes on Halloween – go figure! So they all have short hair in their pics. Hey, at least I have a girl now – I’m pretty sure he won’t be giving her buzz cuts. (At least he better not!)

So we took all FOUR kids out shopping last night. We needed a few things at Sam’s Club, and decided to do some returns at Target from the baby shower and take a quick trip to the mall as well. Now that we have 4 kids, we have to have the back seat up all the time which means – no room in the back and kids climbing over seats to get to the back. We loaded up our stroller only to discover it only fits in diagonally – and barely – there is no room for anything else! So…. all it took was one shopping trip out with the family and today, we went and bought a new car. A Suburban. It is white and NICE! Those things are a pretty penny – ouch, but we now have room and double seats in the middle so the kids don’t have to climb over seats to get seated. They are getting their 2009’s in 4 days, so we ended up at $1000 below invoice and 0% financing for 72 months and we figured that was about as good as we were going o get. So we traded in the Sequoia and came home with a Suburban. I’m not looking forward to the car payments again, after not having them for several years, but the space will be nice! It has MANY bells and whistles. My favorite is the back liftgate that lifts with the touch of a button on my key fob. The boys favorite – the DVD player in the backseat of course.

So that’s the big news around here. Annika is crying, so gotta run!
C-

Here is a short video of Annika’s first bath at home and a bit of swinging time.

I have a lot to say tonight, but I have to start it off with my evening conversation with Dane. Me: “Dane you have to finish your dinner if you want a snack tonight.” Dane: (sits down in front of his plate, takes a bite and says) “This is ridiculous!” I about died laughing. I don’t really use the word “ridiculous” but Matt does once in awhile – guess he picked it up. Too funny! I was impressed he used it in the correct manner. He’s going to be like Christian maybe with a big vocabulary.

Anyway… we are continuing to enjoy Annika’s sweetness. I can just hold her in my arms for hours and soak her in. The smell, the softness, the little coos. AWWWW….. She is just priceless.

My soreness is getting closer to being gone – still there at times, but much better. I can go without Ibuprofen most days now. The emotional stuff still catches up with me periodically, but I am finding myself feeling “normal” more often each day it seems, so that is good! Things just catch me by surprise – all of the sudden I am sad that she is going to grow up so quickly, or a fear that something might happen to Matt and I would have these 4 kids etc. which leads to a big crying episode. Of course these are all things I can’t control and need to just turn over to God. I don’t remember having the emotional side of things so much with the boys, but I’m hoping that this too will pass – they say to give it 6 weeks, so we’ll see! We went to the Dr. Thursday and she asked how are you both doing and Matt responded “They cry a lot – both of them!” LOL

Speaking of the Doctor – Annika checked out good. She weighed in at 7lb 15oz, so she has lost a bit, but the Dr. didn’t seem too concerned as she was alert and happy and she said she wouldn’t be like that if she was starving. She did give me a prescription for Reglan, which is actually a gastro-intestinal drug, but it has the added side effect of helping people produce more breastmilk. You take it for about 2 weeks in hopes that it will help your body get a jump start and then take over by itself in the milk production department. We’ll see how it goes. We have been supplementing with about 3-4 oz. of formula a day, but the goal is to not have to supplement at all. We had asked with the boys everytime if there was a drug to help with milk production and the midwives always said no – just herbs – which we tried to no avail, so we were shocked (and grateful) to hear that there is actually something available to try. We love this Dr.! Annika goes back on the 5th for another check-up.

I still sleep on the couch with her most nights, but one night she did make it all night in our bed. She slept in 3 hour shifts, ate and went back to sleep – that was awesome! The last few nights she has slept even longer like 4-5 hour shifts, but on top of me in the couch. She does seem to be getting less gassy at night, so that is good. The Dr. said often times they will get over that in a couple weeks – YEA! I’m hoping that is the case. She is also starting to have more awake time – staying awake for about an hour a couple times a day – that is fun!

I took her to pick up the boys from school for the first time today. Matt was out doing errands, so I didn’t have a choice. It went fine though, she slept through the whole thing and all my friends at school were so excited to see her!

We pulled out the Halloween costumes after school – the boys were so excited! We have Trunk-O-Treat at church on Sunday evening, so we had to make sure we had everything ready to go. I got a cute little caterpillar costume for Annika, which I’m guessing she’ll wear for about 1/2 an hour and then I’ll have to bring her in. It is supposed to be cold and windy, and then we will have a bonfire and I don’t want her out there breathing in all that smoke. But it is always a fun time for everyone who comes!

We had a big thunderstorm here tonight. The poor farmers have had too much rain the last couple days. They are trying to harvest, so that hasn’t been the best for them.

Ryan had an all-day field trip to a state park today. It sounds like he had a great time – the hiked, went to a conservatory etc. He also was able to take care of a boy-scout badge by asking questions to the conservationist.

My good friend, Holly, has set-up meals for us from Mom’s Bible Study / School friends for 2 1/2 weeks – M, W, F – so that has been awesome! So far we have had Chicken Enchilladas, Green Bean Tator Tot Casserole, and tonight – Chicken Pot Pie, Homemade Applesauce, French Bread, and Choc. Chip/PB Muffins – YUM!

C-

Here you go! http://www.pastorsfamily.com/AnnikaRose/

Most of you have probably heard that our little blessing was welcomed into the world a week ago today. (Wow, how the week has flown!)

Annika Rose (Pronounced like Monica without the M) was born on Oct. 14th at 8:10 p.m. weighing 8 pounds 10 ounces (so same size as Ryan) and was 20″ long. She is healthy and doing well. We are so incredibly blessed to have 4 healthy children! I am in awe God has chosen us for this special task.

Wow, it was about this time last week that labor was starting to get interesting!
Here is the recount of the day via Matt and www.twitter.com It is backwards timewise…

she’s crying 8:10 PM Oct 14th from web

its a girl 8:10 PM Oct 14th from web

“next push the head will come out” 8:08 PM Oct 14th from web

Pushing 8:08 PM Oct 14th from web

dr’s here 8:06 PM Oct 14th from web

they checked her again, and did not say a number… I’m guessing that means she is ready and they are waiting for the dr 8:00 PM Oct 14th from web

Hee Hee Who, Hee Hee Who 7:51 PM Oct 14th from web

“She’s a good 8, and zero station wanting to push, call the dr” 7:50 PM Oct 14th from web 7:38 PM Oct 14th from web

Me: do you have any words you would like to tell your daughter right now? Christine: Get out. 7:26 PM Oct 14th from web

Shift change for the nurses was at 7, were getting to know new ones now that the contractions are getting more interesting. Whipmper 7:17 PM Oct 14th from web

After 3 nurses failed at finding the baby’s heart beat, they left. it took me 10 minutes to get the monitor positioned where it picked it up 7:17 PM Oct 14th from web

on a scale of 1 to 10 where are you at? “I don’t know, 8, 9… turn the pitosin off. 7:05 PM Oct 14th from web

officially… “4″. they added 2 units to her already maxed out pitosin drip. 6:30 PM Oct 14th from web

She is actually having to think about her contractions now. I caught her breathing through a couple of them 5:54 PM Oct 14th from web

Went to McDonalds to get dinner, and when I got back, still no baby. she says the contractions are 2 Min Apart now. 5:53 PM Oct 14th from web

waiting… taking naps between contractions… pain is at 4 on scale of 0-10. predicting around 7 maybe. 4:44 PM Oct 14th from web

P.S. I am officially driving her nuts now. 2:41 PM Oct 14th from web

she just said, “OOOoh, Feels Good, Yeah!” does that mark the official start of labor? 2:40 PM Oct 14th from web

they just broke her water… she’s at a “full” 2 which is progress… and she is not going home without a baby. she is still smiling. 1:59 PM Oct 14th from web

We got moved to the bigger Delivery room with Windows, She’s sitting on the “birthing Ball,” they keep upping pitosin with little results. 11:47 AM Oct 14th from web

there are now 3 nurses trying to take her Blood Pressure… No one can get the new cuff to work, and they are resorting to Old School. 9:27 AM Oct 14th from web

The Nurse got the IV in on the first try and is instantly on my wife’s good side as that is a very rare occurrence for her. 9:13 AM Oct 14th from web

Dr. came in to check on us.. she’s playing with monitors finding heart beats and, she just predicted that this is going ot be one onrey kid 9:05 AM Oct 14th from web

Wife’s Contractions are 3 min apart and small… they have not started the iv to induce yet. 8:51 AM Oct 14th from web

moved into delivery room with no windows, and a promise to upgrade rooms when screaming lady next door gets done with hers. 8:50 AM Oct 14th from web

Okay, so that is the gist of the labor story. She didn’t really want to come out. They really had to turn that pitocin up, but notice time of Dr. arrival until she cries – 4 minutes. It was a long hard day. With Ryan and Christian when I had pitocin, they were born at 1:30 and 2:30 – not so lucky wth Miss Annika, but she is soooo worth it!

A few things I remember from labor:
- The day nurse was AWESOME, the night nurses – not so much…
- They left my IV in after delivery until the next morning – what a pain to unplug and go to the bathroom 10 times during the night -because of course they were pumping me with fluids
- We had to share a bathroom with the next door room – blech One of those lock their door while you go, then unlock it, and right after having a baby, it’s just kinda gross.
- I don’t think I have ever been that verbal during labor, usually I am very quiet and totally focussed within myself. I always said I’m not a screamer but…. Matt said I didn’t scream, just yelled – more words – owww, nooo, awwww, not straight out screaming Either way, I was loud this time LOL

I wouldn’t neccesarily recommend pitocin with no pain meds…. I had IV meds with both Ryan and Christian and I REALLY wanted something at 5cm but Matt said – the rest will go fast and I took his word for it – he was right it was only about another 1/2 an hour (which felt like eternity) and she was out. She and I probably would have been groggy if I had meds so I guess in that respect it was good.

Recovery has been a bit harder than with Dane. I know it was hard with Ryan and it seems like it was easier with Christian and super easy with Dane. I’m not sure if it is the pitocin – making my muscles work harder than normal, or my age or what.. but I’m still on the sore side and emotionally it seems like it has been a lot harder too, but maybe I just forget…

The first couple nights home she had good 2-3 hour screaming awake times. That was rough. Two nights ago she slept 5 hours straight (on top of me on the couch mind you) but I’ll take it. Last night she slept in our bed (first time I didn’t have to hold her all night) and she ate like clockwork every three hours and went right back to sleep. Perfect!

I haven’t put her down much. (and I have no apologies) She likes to be held and I am savoring every single moment. I just want to push the pause button and bottle up this newborn sweetness. It goes soooo fast. I can hardly handle the thought of it.

She sleeps quite a bit so far and seems to have a little bit of gassy issues. She is starting to get nursing down quite well, but has had a couple bottles here and there to top her off. I was a little concerned about her getting enough at first since she wasn’t having a lot of wet diapers, but it seems she is getting enough now. We’ll see!

Ryan adores the baby and always wants to hold her. Christian sometimes wants to hold her, sometimes can care less, and Dane likes to help with Diaper changes – he opens the diaper pail and closes it – his favorite part, (he mentioned today that her pee pee is missing LOL) and holds her briefly once in awhile.

Christian took a big fall Sat. and could have probably gone in for stitches on his forehead, but Matt just butterflied him up and he seems to be doing okay. Then today he scraped his hand up good – for some reson he is accident prone this week.

Matt has been incredible – I couldn’t ask for more! He has been an incredible emotional support, has helped with the boys a ton, and I’m pretty sure Annika has already captured his heart. I couldn’t do it without him and am incredibly thankful for him.

Anyway, here is her hospital picture and I will try to get more up soon: http://www.gibsonhospital.org/babycentral/ViewBaby.aspx?BabyID=432&babysex=F
Well, I guess I better warm up some leftovers for dinner!
C-

All right, if all goes well, we will be welcoming our sweet little girl into the world tomorrow – Oct 14th! We’re scheduled for induction. I have to take a Cytotec pill at 6 a.m. and then be at the hospital at 8 a.m. I just got the boys all packed and out the door. Dane is already where he is staying and the boys are at Boy Scouts and then will be heading there as well. They will probably stay there until Thur. or Fri. Although… I think I might miss them a lot by then! I’m sure I’ll see them at some point during the week. That means she’ll have 5 boys to get to school in the morning! That’s a big job! Hopefully they are on their best behavior. We are certainly blessed to have such a great friend willing to take them for so long. They live right by the school and her boys go there too, so it works out good.

So any guesses on the time or weight? I am guessing around 2:00 p.m. (that might be wishful thinking…) and 8 lb 12 oz. Matt won’t guess – or hasn’t yet anyway. Ryan says 8lb 15 oz. We had the boys guessing on her name this evening as well, that was a hoot.

I’m off to pack my bag and try to relax (Probably easier said than done…) I’m hoping for at least a little sleep tonight! I didn’t sleep real well last night and probably won’t sleep again for….weeks, months, years? Well, we won’t talk about that. My Bible Study group meets tonight – they are all just pulling in, but I think I’m going to skip that and just have some “me” time.

We’ll keep you posted – PROMISE! I think both Matt and I are planning on bringing our laptops, and hopefully they will work up there on the 2nd floor…

Allright, last video, probably until baby videos! Dane got his new bike today, so here he is trying it out. It is a bit larger than the one he learned on, so he still needs a bit of help to get going, but once he’s going he’s good. His friend Carter was here when it arrived, so they helped daddy put it together – he was sooo excited!