Gone Fishing!

They have a little fishing day for kids here in Yakima. It costs five dollars and they give the kids fishing poles (to keep) and T-shirts and they get to catch 2 fish from the pond that is stocked a few days before. Eric took the three older kids and they had a great time. They also have all these volunteers there to gut the fish. When Isaac was getting his fish gutted the guy removed the heart and it was still beating!! They all thought that was really cool--especially Isaac!

When they got home we cooked their fish and steamed some asparagus and heated up some left over rice for a full yummy lunch. The fish was good but we all ate slowly (except for Isaac) trying to avoid the bones.

Bringing Meg Home

We went home the day after Meg was born. Just over 24 hours in the hospital. That was my shortest stay. I could have stayed another night but that hospital bed was really uncomfortable. I was almost going to have to stay another night because of little Meg's absolute non interest in eating. She nursed really well about an hour after she was born. 10-15 min. on both sides but then she utterly refused to eat until about 14 hours later. The nurse insisted I just wasn't getting her awake enough and tried to give her formula and she was shut down as well. Meg just blocked anything being put in her mouth with her tongue. But then she ate well a few times the next day and I felt fine about going home so at about 6 pm Eric came to pick me up with our little Lij. I don't think he knows quite what to think about everything.

Our First Visitors

Meg was just hours old and we knew visiting hours would be ending soon so Eric left to go gather the kids from their various locations so they could all meet her.

Eric went to get the boys from their baseball game first (Danette had picked them up from the Hales). He grabbed Emma and Elijah who were still at the Hales and then he came to the hospital and they were all able to see our new little addition.

Isaac LOVES babies. He is always the first one to wash his hands and want to hold the baby. It is so funny that our crazy little Isaac has such a sweet, cuddly disposition.

Our cute little girls. Emma was really excited to be getting a sister!

Gabe loves his sister, but I think he is looking forward to her walking and not being so "newborn".

Elijah isn't really into babies and I think he is wondering when she is going to be gone. He has been a little more fussy than normal, but I think he will be back to his normal happy-go-lucky self once he gets used to the idea of another baby being around.

Our five kids what a good lookin' bunch!!

Thanks for the visit guys. Short but very sweet!

What a happy day!

Check you out!

Here is Meg getting inspected...

she had a perfect Apgar score, such an over achiever

She is my smallest baby.

The nurse was concerned about the postion of her right foot. It bends at the ankle in a awkard angle. Her pediatrician looked at it and said that we will keep an eye on it. He said that he would be more worried about it if it was stiff or hard to move, but the joint and tendons are really flexible so that is a good sign. It could be that she was just postioned that way before she was born. It might mean that there is a problem with her hips. She will have an X-ray when she is about 4 months to check out her hips.

Meg nursed really well at 5pm about an hour after she was born for 20 min on one side and 10 min on the other. But then she was absolutely not interested in eating for the next 14 hours. She would even be awake and I would try to feed her and she just stuck her tongue out to stop any attempt. She ate again at 7am the next morning. Since she was so young the doctors were not that worried, I guess it is not too uncommon. I don't remember any of my other kids not wanting to eat for so long.

Meg getting the scrub down.

Whew...time for a nap!

Welcome to the World

Meg Elizabeth

May 6th 2008

3:55 pm

6 pounds 9 ounces

I really wanted this baby to come on her due date...and that she did!! I woke up May 6th having a contraction that was definitely painful. I continued having very sporadic contractions all morning. They varied between 15 min to an hour apart. I didn't think that there was much going on because they were not getting closer or regular. So I took Emma to dance class, and then got her ready for preschool and then went to my regularly scheduled prenatal visit. They asked if I had any contractions I said that I had a few but not anything regular. She checked me and said that I was dilated to a 4-5 and that I should go to the hospital. She said that as soon as she breaks my water I would have the baby. As I was leaving she said she would call the hospital and tell them that I was on my way. I said great, I'll see you soon.

Unfortunately I forgot my cell phone. So I called Eric at 2:00 from the doctor's office waiting room on my way out. Eric told his patient that he had to go and we met at our house. I packed a bag while Eric dropped Elijah off at Tara and Mickey Hale's and we were off to the hospital.

We got to the hospital at about 3pm. Eric took this picture of me when we were checking in. At 3:10 they still hadn't admitted us we were in one of those monitoring rooms where they make sure you are actually in labor. As soon as someone came in I asked for my epidural and they said that they had to check me and monitor contractions and yada yada...I told them that I had just come from my OB and that I was dilated to at least a 4-5 and she was the one that sent me here (my Dr. hadn't called ahead to let them know I was on my way which is kind of par for the course with her). So they went ahead and skipped the monitoring room and admitted me. I told them I really wanted an epidural so the nurse tried to get blood and the IV as quickly as she could...I guess they have to do some tests on the blood before they can give you an epidural. Once the IV was in the contractions were every 5 min. and very intense. The nurse checked me and shook her head, and told me that I am at an 8. I can feel my eyes bulging as I ask "what does that mean?" She says that she'll try to get the epidural but we might not make it. I was freaking out.

I just kept thinking I don't want to do this without an epidural...I don't want to do this without an epidural! I had about 3 contractions and my water broke. Eric ran to tell the nurse and they grabbed a resident in family practice that was in the hallway to come and catch the baby. The resident barely had time to put on gloves (literally, her gown wasn't tied and the head was halfway out by the time she had the gloves on) Meg came soooo fast. She weighed a whopping 6 pounds 9 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long.

Meg is a perfect, beautiful little girl. We feel so blessed to have her in our family.

No Baby Yet

My due date is just around the corner. I am glad that she hasn't come yet because I had a bunch of things that I didn't want to miss, and I also had a long "to do" list. Luckily I haven't been too uncomfortable either. But now I am mostly caught up on life and church today is the last thing I don't want to miss. Eric left 2 days open in his schedule this week so if the baby doesn't come by Wednesday he will just be twiddling his thumbs at home. So now I am feeling like she will come late. It would be perfect if she came on her due date...in the evening...after Eric was done with patients for the day. Is that too much to ask?

These pics were taken Friday night after our date night. (Our last friday date for a while--that was definately on the "I don't want to miss this" list!)