A Glimpse into my Life.

On Thursday, August 5, I was having lunch with my friend, Sarah, and from about noon onward I'd felt a few random contractions. They weren't consistent or of much duration so I didn't really pay attention to them since between noon and 5pm there were maybe four and I wasn't due for another twelve days. Around 5pm though, I had three contractions and they were fairly close together. I decided I should probably pack the bag for the kidlets and start timing them to see if they were a random anomaly. By shortly after 5:00, I realized they were three minutes apart so I called Hubby and told him not to dawdle on his way home from work and we called his parents since they were going to take the kids. His parents were in Salt Lake with Tyler, and wouldn't be here for a while so we called my friend Melanie and she came over to sit with the kids until Hubby's parents could get here. By 6:00, Hubby was home and Melanie was at our house, so we got everything squared away and left for the hospital.

We got to the hospital, and they set everything up to monitor me and Little Dutch. About fifteen to twenty minutes after we arrived, the L&D nurse came in to check how things were progressing. I was already at a seven and since she'd just had me explain how things had gone so far, she had the other nurses page Dr. N with a *1. Evidently that means drop everything and come now. They'd asked if I wanted an epidural and I said sure because Little Dutch had been pinching a nerve in my hip for the past almost month and I was tired of dealing with it so they paged the anesthesiologist.

Since it was right around shift change, I had twice the nurses setting everything up. The L&D nurse told me that if I felt anything change I needed to let her know immediately, then she went and scrubbed up. About 2 minutes later *something* was different so I told her and she came back to check me visually (this was about 15 minutes after the first time she'd checked) and everything was ready to go. We were just waiting on my water to break. She told them to call Dr. N and he wasn't answering so they figured he was scrubbing up. The L&D nurse told me to just do whatever my body felt like doing and just go with it. She said that she was ready and if we needed to we'd just get going without the doctor. That was a bit of an interesting thought.

Dr. N walked in the door, broke my water, and immediately there was another contraction. He told me to push and Little Dutch's head was out. He told me to stop pushing and I informed him that it wasn't happening so he told me to keep pushing then. Then he told me to open my eyes and Little Dutch was here. Needless to say, the anesthesiologist never made it. I think we all realized that idea flew out the window about 2 minutes after they paged him. The upside though, as soon as Little Dutch got here, the pinched nerve stopped being pinched. Hallelujah!



Trying to catch a sneak peak of Little Dutch at bathtime. Hubby is inside the nursery with Little Dutch.

Little Dutch's first bath. Not a lot phases this little man. He sleeps through the noise of his older siblings very well.

Honey helping Rynie hold Little Dutch for the first time. He is already plotting the good times and imaginary things they will do together.

Little Miss wanted to show Little Dutch her hair flowers. She was really interested in finally meeting her baby. Rynie just about wiggled out of his skin because he was so excited to see and hold Little Dutch.

Little Miss wanted to share her dolly with her baby! The sharing didn't last for long, but she was excited to share for a few moments.

Jake and Shannon came to visit the next morning. I think Jake has another little buddy. Look out Shannon, you're next!

We are very thankful Little Dutch arrived safely and it has been wonderful to watch the kidlets interact with him. And no, Dutch isn't really his name, but it's a nickname he has already aquired from his Bumpa Black Cow. Hubby doesn't want real names used in public places on the internet. If you want to know his name, feel free to contact me through my email on my profile!

So, some days I wonder if I am a crazy mom or not. Not in the sense that anything remotely bad happens, but we'll get something for the kids that in hindsight seems a bit odd and after they've used it for a while I wonder what I've committed myself to. Also, I seem to be the only 'adult girl' I know who chases after livestock and wildlife in skirts and dresses.

Case in point #1:

Rynie worked very hard to keep his fingers out of his mouth and it took him almost 2 months, but he earned himself a mini set of bagpipes! Now most people might find that a bit odd, but it was something he's wanted since he found out that Scotland existed and they had bagpipes, so I thought it would be a good incentive for him to break a habit that I'm not particularly fond of. Now, he knows how to fill up the bladder on it, and use his mouth and arm to make noise, but he can't get notes done yet. It sure makes a lot of noise! We've had to put the rule of not playing it while anyone is asleep, because he wants to play through naptime for Little Miss! Little Miss wanted in on the action, so she picks up the bagpipes any which way, and then she hums to try and make the right sound. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of him playing yet, nor of Little Miss playing, but soon!

Case in point #2:
Brownie points to anyone who knows what this little guy is! We came home from Church a few weeks ago and this guy was holed up under our back steps!

Here is Dad trying to get the marmot out from under the back steps and the grill so we could use it!
Rynie and I made up part of the guard detail to try and 'herd' it in the right direction.

The marmot sure scared the bunny though. Since it was running everywhere, the bunny didn't know where to hide so she just held completely still and hoped for the best!

Finally! It is heading for freedom!

Thankfully, he hasn't been back to visit. Spitfire was outside while this was going on and was very vocal in her displeasure over the uninvited houseguest!

In other news, we found out that Baby #3 is a little boy! Rynie is so excited to have a little brother to play with. He has been making plans for them to play Army guys, trucks, robots, fire-guys, you name it, they are going to do it. I've been trying to explain that this little man won't be up for doing rough and tumble for a little while and I hope that theory is sinking in. Little Miss on the other hand, was in denial for a bit. She thought we were getting another kitty for some reason. Lately though, she's warming up to the idea, but I think it'll still be an adjustment for her more so than Rynie.