I just still really enjoy saying “my kids.” As in, I have more than one of them. That’s fun!

Speaking of having more than one…Kara is still adjusting to that. She’s doing a lot better, but it’s been a hard transition for her. Please pray for us as we deal with this. She definitely loves her little brother though, and will kiss him over and over again any time of the day! She loves to play in his car seat, which used to be hers. It cracks me up how huge she looks in the seat- here’s a picture.

 

She is a full fledged toddler and little girl, for sure. Running around, jumping up and down, talking up a storm, coloring pictures, counting to 10- these are some of the things she does every day. She also loves playing with puzzles, her baby dolls, and her toy kitchen. Her hair is always a mess, as is our house. When she eats in her high chair, she always sits on one of her feet and it always falls asleep and it always hurts but she always does it again the next time. She would eat fruit all day long if we let her, and often that’s all she eats at a meal, despite our attempts to get more food in her! 

So, I’ve heard that you tend to take less pictures of your second child. So true! Sadly, we probably have hundreds more pictures of Kara’s first few weeks than of Sam’s!

So we’ll just have to remember how fast he’s growing, aside from pictures! He’s gaining about an ounce a day in weight, after his initial weight loss. As of Monday (June 1st) he was 8 lb. 8 oz!! He definitely enjoys nursing, and so far spits up less than Kara did as a newborn, although he is starting to more now.

Sam is still pretty easy going, but definitely wants to be held more than he did at the beginning. He sleeps pretty well. At night he will wake up  2 or 3 times to nurse, but goes right back to sleep after eating, and sleeps for a few hours. We feel pretty rested in the morning, so that is nice. 

Here is a picture of Sam with his namesake. 

Haha, definitely kidding about the namesake thing! But, I do enjoy reading this book to Kara, and she points to her brother and reminds us that his name is Sam too. 

As far as mom, I’m still adjusting too. It’s hard to be a mommy of 2!! Trying to make sure I’m paying attention to both of them, so neither gets upset. This is especially hard when I’m nursing Sam all the time! Trying to keep them both fed, changed, dressed, and happy all the time. Trying to find time to brush my teeth and eat! Trying to just be consistent. It seems like I had just started to figure out one kid, and now I have two! But I love it. The sweet moments really do overshadow the hard ones. I am so blessed to have these two beautiful children!

Ed took off a few days of work when Sam was born, and right when he went back, his boss asked them to start coming in at 6:30 am! They do that every summer. So…he’s been really tired, mainly because of work, and not so much because of the baby. But regardless, he comes home and immediately starts helping me, which is such a blessing. People from our Sunday School class have been bringing us dinner 3 times a week, and there have been plenty of leftovers, so I still haven’t cooked anything (except the occasional hot dog…) since he was born. That has been so helpful, and it gives me a lot more time to focus on the kids and resting. It’ll definitely be a shock in a few weeks when I have to start cooking again! But Ed has been really good about doing the dishes (or holding the baby while I do the dishes!), and taking Kara with him to run errands for me, and changing diapers, etc. 

Ok, this turned into a long update! I’ll leave you with links to some more photos, slowly being updated.

Summer pictures (mostly Kara)

Sam pictures

This is long…

 

Samuel’s due date was May 6th, and I was definitely ready for him to be born by then. I started getting antsy around the beginning of that week (the 6th was a Wednesday, and Ed’s birthday). I had a lot of contractions during pregnancy, starting at 33 weeks, so we didn’t expect me to even get to my due date. But the 6th rolled around, and no signs of baby. We were doing a lot of walking to try to encourage labor to begin, but mainly it just made me tired! We were hoping maybe he’d show up on Mother’s Day (the 10th), but no. Tuesday the 12th finally things started happening. Early in the afternoon amniotic fluid started leaking while I was in the shower. I tried not to get too excited, but then about an hour later after I laid down to rest, then stood up, my water broke with a big gush! I called Erin, our midwife, and Ed to let them know. Erin said she’d be there to check on me that evening, and that we probably needed to have the baby that night, since there is an increased risk of infection after your water breaks. She had me take my temperature often to watch for infection and check to make sure the umbilical cord hadn’t come down when my water broke. Everything was fine. I worked on cleaning up around the house, got some dinner ready for Ed and Kara (figuring I’d be in labor by dinner time!), and called my mom to come in town to help with Kara. Then I sat down to rest and eat some crackers. Labor still hadn’t started. I decided to eat dinner with the family, and right after we ate, Erin (midwife), my mom and my sister (surprise!) arrived. They were all surprised to see me up and about and not in labor, since my water had broken 5 hours earlier!

 

Mommy and Kara cuddling and waiting for labor to begin (after my water broke the first time)

 

 

We talked about our options with Erin and decided that Ed and I would go for a walk and she would go buy some herbs that are known to help get contractions started. I had some minor contractions while we were walking but definitely nothing big. At 9pm I started taking the herbs every 15 minutes for 3 hours. During that time I also ate a whole fresh pineapple (I know I’m crazy, but it was yummy and it’s supposed to help! Honestly all it did was make my potty smell like pineapple for the next day or so!) We also took another walk, and I seemed to be having more contractions during the walk, but nothing came of it. We decided to get some rest, so I went to bed around 11:45, hoping I’d wake up in labor.

 

We woke up a little before 7am, and went on another walk. After breakfast and a nap, Erin came over and we talked about our options again. We decided that we would eat a big lunch and walk some more. We live pretty close to McAlisters (yummy!) so Ed, my sister, Kara and I walked there (about 15 minutes) to meet Ed’s parents who had just gotten in town. We walked back and I showered and then started another round of herbs every 15 minutes, also interspersed with 10 minute intervals of using the breast pump, which should bring on contractions. About 45 minutes into that 3 hour cycle, my water broke AGAIN, with another big gush. We called Erin and she said she’d be over in a few hours, and would check to make sure it was definitely amniotic fluid. We all thought surely labor would start any minute! I finished the herbs/pumping routine about 7pm and ate dinner. Erin came over after that and we talked about our options. I couldn’t take the herbs any more because obviously they weren’t working. I was exhausted and didn’t want to do any more walking. Pretty much the last “natural induction method” left was to take castor oil, and I just really didn’t want to do that. Gross. Especially because if I did and it didn’t work, we’d probably definitely have to go to the hospital to either get induced with Pitocin or have a c-section. We really wanted to have this baby at home without drugs or medical interventions, and we still felt comfortable waiting. Erin had been monitoring the baby’s heartbeat with the doppler and checking my blood pressure, and we were both fine. Erin agreed we could wait, and she, Ed and I decided to pray over the situation. Mainly we just prayed for labor to start soon. It was really sweet, but honestly I was still kinda discouraged, feeling like our chance at this birth being the way we planned was slipping away. That was about 8:30 pm and we all decided I should just get some rest. 

 

Erin left and I got ready for bed and laid down a little after 9. Ed was on the computer and I laid there awake for awhile, and at 9:30 I started having strong, regular contractions for the first time since my water had broken! They were 7 minutes apart and about 45 seconds long, and quickly went down to 6, then 5 minutes apart. We were so excited! They lasted like that for a couple hours, but then I fell asleep. I got about 3 hours of sleep and then around 2:30 woke back up with contractions still 4-5 minutes apart and 45 seconds to a minute long. We called Erin after we felt sure this was real, and she and her assistant Stacy arrived around 4 am. 

 

I had been struggling with what Erin called “performance anxiety” the whole 2 days since my water first broke. Most of our progress was happening when just Ed and I were alone and no one was watching my every contraction! So when Erin and Stacy arrived things pretty much stayed the same for a few hours, and I was sleeping between contractions. Ed was pretty much asleep and Erin and Stacy were resting on our floor, poor things! I was able to relax through the contractions, and I can’t remember if Ed was having to rub my back through them yet or not. We read two books during pregnancy about the Bradley method of natural childbirth, which teaches about relaxing your entire body during a contraction in order to let the uterus (just a big muscle) do it’s work to get the baby out. Deep breathing is also a big part of the relaxation, so I focused on doing that during each contraction. I was also using a warm herbal compress thing on my belly during contractions, which felt awesome, and smelled really good! Erin regularly monitored baby’s heartbeat throughout labor, and he sounded great the whole time.

 

Erin and Stacy left around 7 am to go get coffee and give us some more time alone. We ate breakfast and took off for another walk, and I was still having pretty regular contractions. I had one pretty bad contraction during our walk where I had to lean on Ed. Definitely realized that standing is not my labor position of choice. Exhausted, we came home and I labored some more in bed, still with regular contractions. I was able to eat a whole lunch (Rosa’s chicken taco’s- YUM!) which really helped keep my energy up for the rest of labor. I didn’t eat enough during my labor with Kara, and now I know it really makes a difference. 

 

After lunch is when labor started to get really intense. I was tired of laying on my side so we tried some different positions, and my favorite was sitting indian style on the bed leaning forward on a big pile of pillows, with the herbal warm compress on my belly and Ed rubbing my back. I was falling asleep between contractions after awhile, and Erin encouraged me that sleepiness like that is often a sign of transition so we were getting close. She checked my dilation mid-afternoon and I was at a 5, which was good to hear, but we still had a lot of work to do. And to everyone’s surprise, when she was checking me she found a “bulging bag of waters”! Which means that my water would break yet AGAIN sometime. We couldn’t believe it, this was getting crazy. Around this time, Ed texted his dad to let him know it wouldn’t be long now. It was about 4 pm I think.  

 

I started feeling a slight urge to push a little while later so Erin said I could try pushing a little with the contractions to help him move down and to make me feel better. But he still wasn’t moving down much and the contractions were getting really intense. Erin suggested getting on the floor on my knees and leaning on the bed. Then, with each contraction I would sway my hips side to side to help wiggle the baby down. It was hard work and my legs were really tired. Ed was rubbing my hips through each contraction (I had bruises later on my hips and back from how hard he was rubbing- but at the time it was exactly what I needed!). I was still able to talk a little between contractions, and it was during that time that Ed suggested Patrick as the middle name for the baby (we hadn’t even decided on his first name!). I kinda nodded but wasn’t really able to process the idea. I don’t know how long I was in that position, Ed says an hour or two maybe, but it felt like forever. I told them I didn’t think I could do it anymore and I wanted to get back on the bed. I remember feeling kind of bad after saying that, like I was giving up, because right then that was the position I needed to be in to get him out, and I needed to just keep working hard, not complain. I also remembered from our childbirth books that “self-doubt” is the emotion the laboring woman starts showing when the birth is very imminent, so I knew he was coming soon. Erin said to stay there for 10 more minutes and then I could get back on the bed. That was a relief, and soon I really felt like pushing! My last contraction on the floor I couldn’t help but push with, and apparently it was obvious by my face or the sound I made or something, because Erin said “was that the baby?” I think meaning, is he about to come out?!

 

I quickly climbed on the bed and got in position to push, leaning back on a bunch of pillows with my legs pulled back and apart. Erin listened to the baby and he was still doing great. She also checked to make sure I was fully dilated and noticed that there was still an “anterior lip” of the cervix, which means the cervix was still not all the way behind his head. As I pushed with the next few contractions, she pushed back on that lip to move it out of the way. She kept monitoring his heartbeat often throughout pushing and kept saying he was a trooper and was still doing fine. My water broke for the third time sometime during pushing, which was a little amusing. Ed and Stacy were helping me hold my legs back when I pushed, and everyone was being really encouraging. Erin kept saying “that’s it that’s it!” and so I kept thinking he was about to pop out, haha. She had to remind me after the first push to keep my chin down against my chest when I pushed, which helped a lot. Erin would count to 10 each time I started pushing, and I did two or three pushes per contraction. It was hard work! Between contractions I would get a little worried about the next one, because they were so hard, but then I remembered that I needed the next contraction in order to meet my baby, and that this was the fun part, where I could actually do something (push) instead of just relaxing and letting my body work. The time between contractions was much needed rest, when I could just lay back on the pillows and sip water, and Erin would check on the baby’s heartbeat.

 

Finally, at 8:22 pm and after about 23 hours of active labor, with an hour of pushing, his head came out, and then his body in the next push, during the same contraction. He had been moving around a ton, even during the very last minutes of labor, so when his head came out, facing down, he started spinning around to face up while his body came out, which we all thought was pretty funny! I’ve been trying to describe to Ed what it feels like for a 7 lb. 10 oz. thing to just slide out of your body. I can’t really find the right words, it’s amazing and crazy! He was immediately placed on my belly and covered with a towel. I got to hold him next to my skin and try to nurse him, which he wasn’t really interested in yet, but I got to keep him warm!  Erin had also turned up the thermostat so he could be warm. We snuggled for quite awhile, and we decided for good that his name would be Samuel, a name we had been considering for several months. I pushed out the placenta and awhile later Ed cut the cord (which was very long apparently). Ed said he was really worried cutting the cord that he would cut off something else important, haha.  I didn’t have a bad tear like I did during Kara’s birth, because Erin held a warm compress on the perineum during my pushes. I just had a small split on the scar tissue from my previous tear, which she didn’t even have to put stitches in, and I am thankful! Ed held Samuel for awhile and got the first poop all over his arm, lucky daddy! We enjoyed a yummy spaghetti dinner in bed, and after an hour or two, I don’t really know, Erin weighed and measured Samuel and did all the little newborn reflex tests and stuff, right there on the bed, which was awesome. He was 7 pounds, 10 ounces and 21 inches long, with a full head of dark hair, just like his sister had when she was born!

 

Mom and Dad enjoying spaghetti after the birth

Kara seeing brother for the first time

Sam waiting to get weighed

 

If any of you saw me at the end of pregnancy you are probably just as surprised as I was about his weight. He was a really good average size. My belly only measured 35 centimeters for several weeks at the end, when it should usually measure the number of centimeters for how many weeks along you are (so 40 cm at 40 weeks). I never got above 35 cm, and we were thinking he would be small and that I might not have a ton of amniotic fluid (haha we were wrong on that!). Our other guess had been that he was just positioned really low in my pelvis and that made me smaller than if he was up higher. I guess that was it.

 

Oh, and Erin looked at the placenta after I delivered it, and checked out the ruptured membranes to see why my water broke 3 times. She said it looked like there had been a large bubble between the membranes. They should be stuck together, like when you double-bag the ground beef at the store (Ed added this lovely analogy by the way…). The outer membrane broke once, sealed up and then broke again. Then the inner one broke during pushing. I think the Lord was really protecting me and the baby through all of that. In the hospital, they would have probably done some major interventions starting 12 hours after my water broke, to get labor started, because of the risk of infection. Erin just minimized internal exams, really only doing a couple while I was in active labor, and none before that, which is a really good way to minimize the risk of infection. But, when we found out that I still had that bulging bag of waters late in labor, it was a relief because that means there wasn’t really a huge risk of infection anyways, since one membrane was still there and intact.

Daddy and Sam

 

 

Our families all arrived at the house (they were already in town, at a hotel, because my water had broken 2 days prior, so they were all just waiting!) at 9 something. Ed brought Kara in to meet her brother, and then our parents and my sister cycled through to meet him. 

 

I was really glad to be able to stay in bed for several hours before needing to get up, and that I got to eat a whole meal to get my energy and blood sugar back up. I did feel a little weak after finally getting up to go to the bathroom, but then I had some orange juice, changed clothes, and joined my family in the living room to ooo and ahhh over baby Sam. Erin left a few hours after the birth and would come back the next day, and several more times, to check on us.

 

We loved everything about homebirth and will definitely do it again if we can! We are thankful that at home we were able to just wait and give my body a chance to do what it needed to do to get the baby out, instead of having lots of medical interventions and possible surgery at the hospital to get him out. We are thankful for the immediate bonding we got to do with our son, since at the hospital they usually take the baby away pretty quickly after birth, and it can be hours until you see him again. We loved the prenatal care that comes with using a midwife, and the natural approach to everything. And I loved being at home after he was born, not in an unfamiliar, uncomfortable place. I got to sleep in my bed, right where he was born (yeah they got everything cleaned up pretty quickly, it wasn’t even that much of a mess actually!) the first night with him. No nurses were coming in to poke me and squeeze my arm every hour (IVs and blood pressure) and I really got to rest. My family was so good to me-  I pretty much didn’t do anything but take care of my sweet baby for a week after he was born. My body is healing well, and Sam is such a joy. More updates on him to come soon!

 

Our sweet son finally joined us on May 14th! We are so thankful to have him out of the belly and in our arms. He is such a wonderful baby and we’re enjoying getting to know him more each day. He was born at 8:22 pm, was 7 lb. 10 oz. and 21 inches long. And he was born at home, which was more amazing than we could have even hoped for!

As I write this, Sam is doing one of his two favorite things- taking a long nap on his tummy. Sometimes he likes being swaddled to sleep, but mostly just loves being curled up with his legs and arms under him snoozing away wherever I put him down. I am amazed how content he is not being held all the time- I guess he’s kinda independent already! Oh, his other favorite thing would be nursing. It took him a couple days to get the hang of it, but now he is a pro and eats ALL the time!

I’m working on writing our complete birth story, but in a few words my water broke Tuesday, and labor didn’t start. It broke again (yes that can happen!!) Wednesday and labor didn’t start until about 5 hours later. I was in active labor for about 23 hours (with a random 3 hour break in the middle when I slept and didn’t have hard contractions- I am thankful for that time!). He was born at 8:22 pm, after yet another water break during pushing!

Here is a link to more photos of him- you don’t have to have facebook to see them: Sam Pictures 

I’ll post again with more details of his birth, and of course as he grows and changes!

Ed and Kara are some awesome gardeners…Jaclyn not so much, but I’m learning!

Ed brought home some winter annuals last week to plant at our apartment (yes, winter’s over but they’ll stick around a few weeks). We don’t have a lot of very sunny areas in our “yard,” but we found a good place right by our air conditioner unit, haha.

Kara and Daddy went to work getting them in the ground while I took pictures.

Just being cute.

Helping dad.

Organizing…

Diggin….

Arranging…

Brush that dirt off…

So the day after they planted the annuals, I was so excited that I remembered to go water them. I didn’t really pay attention to correct watering techniques when Ed showed me, so I pretty much blasted them way to hard with water and some of the roots (ok most of them!) got exposed. So Ed had to do some fixing up when he got home, and a new lesson in watering for Jaclyn. But now they’re doing well and some are actually getting flowers!!

We love our little garden!

em-en-nem-en-nem-en-nem?

This is what Kara calls M&Ms; it’s really cute. She doens’t have them that often, just when she successfully potties or poo-poos on the toilet. We’re working on that right now.

She learned quickly where I keep the em-en-nem-en-nem-en-nems though. She knows they are in the drawer in the bathroom, for quick access after she does her business. And they are in the cabinet on the end in the kitchen. Sometimes she just stands there and points, saying, “em-en-nem-en-nem-en-nem? em-en-nem-en-nem-en-nem?” Way cute, like I said. But she only gets one for potty or poo-poo on the toilet.

So this morning when she first woke up we put her on the toilet, since she usually wakes up with a completely dry diaper (tangent: we are using cloth diapers now and really liking that! More on that in another post maybe). A few times this week she has pottied on the toilet in the morning, so she’s doing well. So she was sitting there, still with a full bladder, and pointing at the special drawer where the em-en-nem-en-nem-en-nems are, asking in her sweet way for one. I said “Kara, how do you you get an M&M?” Expecting her to say “potty” or “poo-poo” or “stinky” or “man-doo” (which is what she calls water for some reason, and sometimes how she refers to potty).

Completely seriously, she just said “peeeease?” (please)

At least she has good manners, right?!

We thought it was really cute and funny, one of those things to remember, and since I’m better at updating this than her baby book (I know, what does that say about her baby book…pretty empty!), we’re remembering it here, for you to giggle at too.

Oh, and she did get an em-en-nem-en-nem-en-nem pretty soon after that, because she pottied. Our little girl is growing up!

Here are 3 cute little things from this week!

Check out this tiny apple. That’s a little lego man next to it! It’s like 2 inches tall.

Doesn’t she look grown up?

Little baby boy at 30 weeks gestation! Sorry my head is cut off…

Oklahoma: July-November 2008
Training at Heart of God Ministries at Beautiful Feet Boot Camp. Preparing to go overseas in August 2009 to SE Asia. Finding out we’re expecting baby #2!

Mexico: October- November 2008
Part of our training time was spent in Mexico, learning about language learning by learning Spanish. Learning about living in another culture. Learning about surviving in another language! Learning about traveling long distances under various circumstances. Learning a lot about ourselves.

Kansas: November 2008
Visiting Jaclyn’s extended family.

Dallas: December 2008
Staying with Jaclyn’s parents, resting and relaxing after boot camp. Went to have a sonogram in Dallas and found out our baby due in May is a boy!

Lake Jackson, TX: December 2008
Staying with Ed’s parents, resting and relaxing some more. Enjoying Christmas with the Nace family!

College Station: December 2008- present
Settling in for 7 months here. Working for Lightscapes (Ed). Staying at home with Kara (Jaclyn). Preparing for the birth of our son in early May. Enjoying receiving prenatal care from a midwife. Attending Central Baptist Church, and participating in “Parents of Preschoolers” Sunday School class, and a home group Bible study. Learning how to live frugally and use coupons (check out http://survivingthestores.blogspot.com/ , my friend Rachel’s awesome blog). Putting together a team of financial and prayer supporters for when we head out in August to SE Asia. Watching Kara grow like a weed!

Oh, and here’s one of Kara wearing Daddy’s work boots.

Sorry for the lack of posting lately- I have a baby who walks, life is crazy!!

I wanted to let y’all in on some good deals I’ve found lately here in College Station.

1. Buying produce at the Farm Patch market on South College (okay so I’ve been doing this for probably 6 months and I love it!) Most stuff is cheaper there, it’s a great atmosphere, and their fruits and veggies are way more fresh than at HEB or somewhere. The only thing I don’t buy there is bananas- I don’t like the variety they have, I like the Dole brand and I just get them at HEB. They DO take credit and debit cards if you were wondering, and I’m not sure about checks, but probably. And cash of course. Go check it out!

2. On Tuesday nights the new Chick-fil-a (at Texas & Harvey, in front of Kohl’s) has free kids meals!!

So this is a little late, but Kara had her first birthday on April 4th! We can’t believe our little girl is a year old already- wow, how quickly time flies!

At her 1 year doctor check up she was 19 lb. 8 oz. and 30 1/4 inches long. It is crazy how much bigger she is than when we was born (7 lb. 14 oz., 20 3/4 inches). I remember bringing home that tiny bundle of baby a year ago from the hospital, a helpless little girl who just ate and slept…and now look at her! She can walk! She makes sounds that are almost like words (bye-bye is her current favorite- pronounced “bah bah”). She brings so much joy to our lives- anyone who sees her sweet smile will agree!

Kara had lots of fun at her birthday party. Here are some pictures.

Here she is eating her special b-day breakfast of scrambled eggs and chocolate chip pancakes

Opening presents after dinner on her actual birthday. She had on pajamas (the yellow shirt) and then we put her new pretty dress on her…hence the un-matching-ness.

Kara having her first bite of ice cream (homemade by Pops- Jaclyn’s Dad).

The birthday girl enjoying her strawberry cupcake.

She actually didn’t eat much of it.

Here are all the McEntires and Naces who were at the party.

Kara and her friends opening birthday presents.

I think they were more excited than she was, haha. But she loves all her new toys and clothes!

I tried to upload a video of her walking- she’s getting so fast- but that isn’t working. So I’ll keep trying. Check back soon.

I’ll end with one more picture of Kara and her sweet friend Abyela Patterson. She and her mommy and daddy (some of our best friends/roommates from college) came to visit this weekend and it was great to spend time with them!

I’m not sure why Kara is making this face, but it’s cute anyways!

And it looks like she’s handing her binky to Abyela, which is also funny.