Monday, March 28, 2011

Harper Laine

Harper Laine made her appearance into the world last week on March 19th at 7:08 in the morning! She weighed 6 pounds and 4 ounces, and everything about her birth was a testament to God's goodness and grace. We are in complete awe of how He worked out every little detail that we had been praying over...

The 19th was the date of the "super moon", and we had joked around how that would be what Harper to make her arrival. Well, I woke up about midnight and couldn't go back to sleep. At about 2:00 I felt a small pop and then my water broke. This was such a good sign because with a "false alarm" a few days earlier we were really hesitant to call our midwife and my parents and have everyone head this way yet again only to send them home. Water breaking was a pretty sure thing! Amazingly, after my water broke my contractions really didn't pick up for two hours. We were expecting fast and furious, but this was a blessing because it gave everyone time to get on the road, and it allowed me to get my head around what was happening. We pretty much took it easy until 4:00 and that's when it got fun. :)

My contractions really weren't horrible for the first hour or so. They came at about 10 minutes apart and lasted a minute and a half. About 5:30 I started getting weepy and I knew that we were entering "transition". I got into the tub shortly after that, and then my parents arrived shortly thereafter. I couldn't believe they made it...I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that they wouldn't be there, but God was good! I started pushing around 6:15, I think. It's the first time I didn't have doctors or nurses telling me I could/couldn't/when to push, and it was the best feeling to just allow my body to do the work when it was ready. The closer we got to 7:00, the more nervous I was that the boys were going to wake up and wonder what was going on. Owen consistently wakes up at 6:30, but this morning both boys didn't make a peep till 7:15. Seven minutes after Harper joined us. They were able to get out of bed, meet their new sister, and then go down stairs to my dad making them breakfast. Another "thank you, Lord!". When Harper did make her arrival, it was amazing seeing Jennifer catch her and then lay her in my arms. Once she got her first breath, I then allowed myself to make sure she was a girl, and that was a very cool moment. I have a daughter! Looking back, this was by far the best birthing experience I've had.

The after birth part was pretty crazy - in a good way. I was able to get into my own bed and let the midwives take care of me and Harper. I was really concerned about bleeding afterward b/c that would be the main reason we might need to transport to the hospital, but again, the Lord took care of that. My midwife said she'd never seen so little bleeding in the 350 babies she'd delivered. Craziness. Recovery this time around has been so easy, and I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I have been able to do it all in my own home.
Chris' dad was the first family to make it in to meet Harper, and I think she slept in his arms most of her first afternoon of life. Jon, Katie and kiddos showed up later that afternoon, and the boys were thrilled to have their cousins there to play with. Grandma Debbie wasn't able to come till a little later, but the boys hogged every minute of her time that she wasn't holding Harper!
With the first week under our belt, I fall a little more in love with my little lady every day. She's been SO easy. She is eating well, and sleeps well. When she gets hungry she starts grunting, which I prefer to crying, and her brothers adore her. They both have gotten really upset when she starts crying or seems to be in uncomfortable. I can only hope that this nurturing spirit continues!

Thank you to all who prayed with us. Seeing God answer our prayers even down to the little detail was so humbling. We feel so blessed to have this new little member in our family, and I look forward to posting many more entries about Harper Laine!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

It has to be a girl...

It's been an interesting week as we wait for the arrival of Harper. She woke me up Sunday morning with an hour and a half of contractions, but they then stopped. Owen did the same thing only to come two days later, so we assumed we had a little bit of time. My parents were driving back from St Louis on Sunday and decided to come here just in case. Of course nothing happen Sunday or Monday night. I had my weekly appointment with Jennifer, my midwife, last night and we decided to give it another night before my parents headed back home. Harper woke me up at midnight and I started having contraction that last two minutes long, and this went on for two and half hours. We called Jennifer, woke up my mom, and decided this was the morning we'd get to meet Harper. Owen's labor was only 4 hours long, so we've been expecting something fast. Wrong. Harper is apparently not done primping. My labor stopped about 3:30 this morning... I'm dilated to a 3 and 75% effaced but she's so low Jennifer said it would really only take a few good contractions and two good pushes for her to come out.

So we wait.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Happiness

I wasn't paying attention while cleaning up dinner last night, and this is what I found when I turned around...one happy, naked boy on his "way to WalMart". He wasn't sure what I found so funny.

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Home birth is a go...


We had our 36 week risk assessment appointment yesterday, and everything looks good for us to have Harper at home! The doctor said her head was so low that he couldn't really tell how dilated/effaced I was, but he didn't think it would be long before she made her arrival. He also mentioned being somewhat concerned that our midwife might not make it in time on several occasions. He told Chris to call him and he'd talk him through delivering the baby. Awesome. She's still "sunny side up", so we're praying that she flips before I go into labor... We set up the birthing tub last night, and while we were waiting for it to fill up, I decided to snap a few "belly shots". I can't believe I am posting them, but Leslie, I promised. :)

Saturday, March 05, 2011

I am finally starting to understand how to channel Owen's desire to be doing something productive... Ethan has always played well by himself, and I haven't known what to do with Owen never leaving my side. Well, I finally had the idea to have him set the table for me. He set it plate by plate, and fork by fork, and was SO proud of himself. Now I just need to teach him how to really cook, and then I can stay out of the kitchen...

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Let the coutdown begin...


Both boys have had their birthdays, and now it's time to think about Harper Laine Hoyle's birth day. If we are on the same delivery time frame as the boys were, we're looking at her coming around the 15th of this month. That's really soon... It seems like it's taken forever to get to this point, but now the time is flying by!

We had our home visit with our midwife last night. She came to see the house and where we're planning on doing most of the "work". We have all our birth supplies ready to go, and we will be picking up the birth tub this week... My "to do" list is virtually complete, and I all have yet to do is hang pictures on the nursery wall. This coming Monday is our 36 week risk assessment with my regular Doctor, and once he gives the "thumbs up", we're free to move forward with a home birth. It's still a little surreal to me that we're planning on having our baby at home, honestly. My biggest prayer right now is that the Lord will give Dr J discernment and wisdom to see if there any reason for us not to do this at home. But with his blessing (and lots of peace from the Lord), we feel really comfortable with our choice to have a home birth, and I am so incredibly excited to not have to drive to a hospital again in the middle of hard labor. We also adore our midwife, so that helps!

I am really curious to see how much I have progressed when I see Dr J next week. When our midwife palpated the baby last night, she said that Harper was verrrry low (I was not surprised) and probably at station zero. She also found it quite funny that the baby is measuring at about 5 pounds, but the head is measuring at the size of 7 pound baby. Awesome. The Dodson head prevails yet again... I guess it's a blessing that I go early b/c I cannot fathom delivering a big baby with a bigger head!