Jane Has Arrived!

Jane Susan Ezell made her way into the world on December 30, 2011 at 12:46 in the afternoon. She is 6lbs 15oz and 19.5 inches long! Now here is how I imagined our new baby girl~

As of last night, this is our new reality~

Jane has been in the NICU since late last night for repeatedly turning the color of a blueberry, along with a few other minor irregularities. The Neonatologist discussed with us last night all of the different possibilities for why she might be having these issues and there were quite a few scary possibilities. After a night full of x-rays, blood tests and even a spinal tap (poor baby!) we are waiting on results but it is looking optimistic that her main issue is that she has swallowed a ton of fluid and wasn't in the birth canal long enough to squeeze it all out.

We are hoping and praying that this is the extent of her issues, but she will be here under observation likely until at least Monday. It is definitely not fun to see your new baby with an IV, tons of wires and a tube to her stomach. Poor thing isn't allowed to eat anything right now and even when she is, it will be a few days before she's allowed to nurse.

Anyway, enough scary and serious stuff for you? Well, here is the brief story of Janie's birth for those of you who are interested! I started having contractions at 4:45 in the afternoon on the 29th and after they hung around for an hour I called my OB's after hours line where they suggested that due to my history of fast labors I should head to the hospital immediately.. Woo Hoo!

We arrived here and were set up in a triage room on the L&D floor where I found out that I was only 3cm dilated..... weird for me. I had a lesson in faith here as each contraction was a result of prayer. I knew I needed to be admitted but I also knew that I was borderline from their perspective. Every 5 minutes I prayed that God would grant another contraction strong enough to convince them to admit me. If I didn't pray, I didn't contract. It reminded me of the power of prayer and of my complete dependence on God for every aspect of my life. The doctor decided to admit me after all because of my previous fast labors and because I was group B Strep positive and it takes a minimum of 4 hours to get the antibiotics into my system to protect Jane from the strep (which is nasty stuff.... Google it if you never want to sleep again :P)

In a very un-Abby-in-labor move, I continued to not progress and by the morning I was...... 3 freaking centimeters. ARG. The L&D floor at the hospital where I delivered had every single room full by this time (I had gotten the second to last one) and they were talking about sending me home since I hadn't progressed. Which begged the question, with contractions every 3-5 minutes, when do I come back? Oh, and will there be a room for me then? Well, when the doctor busted in around 8 am (she is another doctor from the practice I go to and she is a force of nature.... kind of overgrown kid mixed with stand up comedian mixed with Tasmanian devil and yet she knows exactly what she's doing and you can tell... make sense? ;-) and the first words out of her mouth were, "Do you want the baby in or out?". The answer was a resounding OUT!

Despite my aversion to interventions, she was breaking my water within about 5.2 seconds of my answer (Tasmanian devil... remember?) and finally we started to get somewhere. I dilated 2 more cm within an hour and 15 minutes or so and continued to make decent (albeit SLOW for me) progress after that. The nurse started me on a small amount of pitocin to get my contractions closer together and at first I was anxious about how it might affect the pain level I was experiencing, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the contractions still very much bearable and really not that bad.

Jane continued to take her time even after water breaking and pitocin (two things I was very opposed to previously because of increased c-section rates, but I felt that the water at the very least was necessary in my situation) and I wasn't ready to push until 4.5 hours after my initial intervention. Now, transition contractions (8cm to 10 cm) have always hurt like the dickens in each of my labors, but usually I have 3-4 before I'm ready to push (I was SO spoiled) instead of an hour and a half of them like I had this time.... yowsers. Anyhoo, when it was time to push, Jane finally did one thing typical to my labors and came out FAST! She actually beat her sibs by coming out on the first big push and I was grateful that 20 hours of labor wasn't followed by a long time pushing too!

Wow, did I say brief? Sorry, I've never had this much happen in a labor so it took more than usual to detail it :) We feel incredibly blessed that God allowed me another safe delivery with no c-section and no pain meds. It is only by his grace that these things are possible. Anyhoo, I'm going to cut it off here and just say that we are thrilled with our new little girl and are looking forward to taking her home soon!

Oh yeah, Jane's random holiday was VERY random.... National Bicarbonate of Soda Day. BUT Jane was born on Nate's birthday and our wedding anniversary so it's a pretty special day to us already :)

Failure

I was hoping by not scheduling a blog for this morning that I could somehow increase my overnight labor chances... Shockingly, this was ineffective... I know, you have no idea how that could NOT work, right?

Anyhoo, today is Pepper Pot Day which, if you are like me and had no idea, is a type of soup :) Not my first choice of holiday, but it is also Nate's grandma's birthday which would be cool! Tomorrow is Nate's birthday AND our anniversary so Janie has the potential to hit on some big days coming up!

Progress

As of yesterday, I was 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced. This of course means NADA... gotta love childbirth, you can go into labor without being dilated at all or you can be 3 cm for weeks. Anyhoo, If Jane comes today then she will have her birthday on the very desirable Card Playing Day... Ooh, Ahh ;-)

Micah's Day at Work

Last Friday, Nate took Micah to work with him.... a nearly empty office + a predictable early quitting time = perfect opportunity for a bring your toddler to work day! Micah was very excited to go with Daddy to the "work office".

His day began with checking in at the visitor's desk and making some new friends~


Micah got his laptop set up and his morning coffee (or maybe it was a sippy cup of juice :)~

A giant white board is VERY handy when trying to entertain a 3 yr old in an office setting~

Nate decided to have some fun and take pictures of Micah to use in a security presentation. Here our young hero is telling you that you are definitely NOT supposed to share passwords~

Of course, Nate's coworkers got in on the action as well~

Micah is ready to take the corporate world by storm!

Safety first!

I believe Nate committed a serious security infraction~

Even with work ending at 1:30, Micah was pooped! This is what happens when an overly tired 3 yr old is given chocolate just before getting in the car.... love it~

Well, you've probably figured out by now that Jane has yet to make her appearance. Despite periods of regular contractions (up to 1.5 hours long) ever since the morning of the 24th and random contractions all throughout the day filling in the gaps, she has yet to start the labor. This is the most contractions I've had with any of the kids (by far) and I have no idea if they are doing anything or not. I go to the doctor this afternoon, so we'll see! For now I'm just along for the ride, but it is getting uncomfortable so I'm hoping Jane is coming sooner rather than later.

If she comes today, Jane would share her birthday with Make Cut Out Snowflakes Day and National Fruitcake Day. These are the best random holidays until the 31st... so let's get this done today!

Full Term!

Today, Jane is officially full term! She is 37 weeks along so she is now welcome (VERY welcome) to come any time she pleases :) If her ultrasound was accurate last week, she should now be somewhere around 6lb 12oz. She is staying fairly active, considering how cramped she is getting in there, and she is staying low.... you can tell if you compare this picture to one a month ago that she has dropped dramatically. So now we sit, and wait. The home stretch can be difficult, but at least I have Christmas and New Years to distract me and make time go by faster! If she makes it to January, I'm going to get restless :)

Anyhoo, if Jane were to come today she would share a birthday with Festivus (SO FUN!). Saturday is National Chocolate Day and National Egg Nog Day. Sunday is CHRISTMAS (in case you've been living under a rock) and National Pumpkin Pie Day.

New Additions

One of my favorite decorations at Christmas are the felt stockings that my mom has made for each member of our family. My mom had her hands full this year! Not only was Jane in need of a stocking, but she made me a new one as well. In picking Jane's stocking to coordinate with Lizzie's, I inadvertently chose the most intricate design my mom has ever done... oops!


Can you see all that crazy detail??

Here is the finished product! You can see the front of the heart name tag on a later picture~

When searching for Jane's stocking, I came across one that was so me that it finally made me thing about replacing my childhood one that I had been using~

I love it!~

My girls' stockings side by side. Both had Holly Hobby designs~

The whole family of 5!

Thanks Mom, they are perfect!

If Jane was born today, she would share her day with National Date Nut Bread Day... the December holidays are interesting :P

Micah's Christmas Party

** There is a poll for when you think Jane will be born... check it out -->

Micah's Preschool Christmas Party was last Thursday and he was very excited about it! Mostly about his juice, seeing Mama there, the balloon tied to his chair and the book exchange. If you asked him what the party was for, he would would proudly (and loudly) proclaim that it was Jesus' birthday party!


Abby and Megan were striking the kind of pose that makes a mother proud... I think it's adorable~

The table setup~

I have learned to appreciate the toddler "CHEESE!" face~

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Today is my OB's birthday and if Jane decides to make it hers as well, then she will be celebrating Humbug Day, National Flashlight Day, and Look on the Bright Side Day!

Teacher Gifts

I had grand aspirations this year for teacher and nursery worker Christmas gifts that involved over 5 different types of homemade candy and countless hours slaving in the kitchen. Well, the bed rest incident put an end to my lofty goals for this year and I can't say that I'm entirely disappointed about it either :) When I recalibrated my expectations, I came up with a much more reasonable alternative~


You're probably thinking, "Great! What are those?". Well, I took canned peaches and removed the bottom of the cans with a can opener. I emptied and washed them out then filled them with (store bought) candy and resealed the bottom with the help of my trusty glue gun. Add some cute scrapbook paper, a funny label and some ribbon and the gifts are ready. The cans are pull tab style, so all they have to do it pop the top and enjoy!

Micah's teachers and both kids' nursery workers got these cans and the teachers got these cute apple ornaments that I found as well. Thank you Jane for saving me time and sparing me countless hours on my feet!

Anyhoo, today is Go Caroling Day :)

I like small bags (and I cannot lie)

As soon as I found out the Jane was a girl, I was instantly on the hunt for a diaper bag for her. Lizzie's still goes to the nursery with her, so I needed a new one. I checked all of the big retailers and discovered that it is very difficult to find a diaper bag smaller than a baby elephant. I seriously felt dwarfed as I picked up bag after bag that Micah could easily fit in... maybe even with Lizzie. I switched to Etsy and found that it was still really difficult to find smallish bags and the ones I did find suffered from a major case of boutique pricing.

What's a girl to do? I decided to swallow my fear and make my first real bag~


So pretty, so cost me less than $15. I wish I could have used the pink fabric on the outside of the bag, but it is woven and would snag and stain too easily if it was on the outside of the bag. Still, I thought that it was a super fun surprise on the inside of a tame brown bag~

It isn't without flaws (not even close!) but I'm pretty happy with it as my first structured bag!

Today is Look for an Evergreen Day and Oatmeal Muffin Day.

36 Weeks

That I would post this very unflattering picture shows my unwavering dedication to keeping y'all updated with belly pics no matter the personal shame involved ;-) Anyhoo, Jane is a whopping 36 weeks along today! That puts us only a week away from full term! In the past week, Jane has dropped considerably and I have been feeling the effects of having a low riding baby. My OB said she was at -1 station yesterday, so she's pretty dang low for a 36 weeker. According to the tracker, Jane should be about 19 inches long and between 5.5 and 6 pounds. According to my ultrasound yesterday, Jane is measuring 6lbs 4oz.. although those estimates can be unreliable. At this point she is just sitting pretty and packing on the fat. I am helping her in this pursuit by being unable to resist any and all holiday goodies set before me :P I was checked yesterday and I am 2cm dilated and 80% effaced... the same as Micah and Lizzie at 36 weeks.... maybe I will have a January baby after all.... I guess we'll see :)

Here are your random holidays for this weekend :)

Today- National Chocolate Covered Anything Day (what a great day!)
Saturday- National Maple Syrup Day
Sunday- Bake Cookies Day & National Roast Suckling Pig Day

O Christmas Tree

This may just look like a Christmas tree with a crooked star ( I tried everything and it stayed crooked!) but when I look at it, I see something more along the lines of this-

This is a Christmas tree as seen by a parent of young children.

~Zone A is comprised of non-breakable ornaments. To place an ornament in this zone, you must first think through every single possible thing that could happen to it including it being pulled on, sucked on, etc and feel comfortable putting it within the reach of your lovely littles.

~Zone B is comprised of slightly more fragile ornaments/ ornaments if ripped from the tree might damage the wood floor :P Take care when choosing these ornaments that you do not choose anything too shiny that may tempt your littles to make the effort to acquire something out of their reach.

~Zone C has breakable ornaments and/or ornaments with significant sentimental value. I am pretty darn attached to the majority of my ornaments, so the non-breakables that make this level are sacred.

~The golden circle is for the handful of ornaments that I would shed significant tears over should they meet their demise at the hands of a hyper toddler... two of them are from Delft :)

And there it is... our tree through mom-colored glasses :)

Today is Bill of Rights Day and National Lemon Cupcake Day... mmmmm, cupcakes..... must go to Ooh La La soon.

9 days until full term!

Today is National Bouillabaisse Day... Umm, ok.

Up All Night

Total exhaustion all day yesterday has led into insomnia tonight... Fun stuff, right? In order to pass some time, I thought I'd pull up an old Annalee favorite-

Tonight was Micah's Christmas program at school and I was SO excited about it... I planned on blogging about it right afterward, but life got in the way....

-I did not wait until the last minute to pull Micah's costume together for the program. Nope, not me.
-I certainly had no doubts about whether or not Micah would be compliant for the program.
-When we got to the room and I dressed Micah, I certainly did not stay longer than I should have.
-When it came time to take his picture with his buddies, Micah definitely didn't throw a completely irrational fit, not my child.
-He absolutely would never refuse to wear his sheep ears or start taking off his costume on his own.
-When witnessing this and hearing him say he didn't want to do it, I would never feel like I had no choice but to just take him home right then and there.
-No matter what, I certainly would not start crying as we left the room from disappointment, frustration and probably pregnancy hormones.
-And in all of this, I definitely would not forget to get one single picture of Micah in his costume.
-Lastly, I certainly would never take this situation as a demonstration that I am a terrible mother who will never be able to handle three kids (stupid hormones again)... Nope, not me.

Speaking of three kids, it's too late to do much about that, so let's just talk holidays, shall we? Today is Ice Cream Day and Violin Day.

Almost Here!

This is the last full day before my parents get back from France!! For those unaware, they've been there since September :P Can't wait to see you guys!!

Today is National Ding-a-Ling Day (as in a ding bat, not... Well.... Something else) and Poinsettia Day.

A Weekend of Holidays

Here are the random holidays for this weekend... Although I think I am doing them more for Jana (who is overdue.. See the Mattern's blog to the right) at this point than I am for myself :)

Today- Christmas Card Day & National Pastry Day
Saturday- Human Rights Day
Sunday- International Children's Day & National Noodle Ring Day

Native Texan

You know that moment when you are driving and your car starts making a dinging noise and you are instantly dreading what might be wrong? Now imagine you are driving your mother's very nice, 6 month old car... Yeah.

So anyhoo, I was driving her car two nights ago when the dreaded sound met my ears. I looked down with trepidation and saw something flashing... Oh great, I broke the car. Well, that's what flashed through my mind :) Turns out that what was flashing was the outside temperature. I could almost hear the car screaming at me, "It's 37 degrees outside!! What the heck are you doing dragging me and yourself out here!!" Well, the car did have a point.

I've decided that she may be a German car, but she's a thin blooded (or oiled?) Texan at heart.. I think I love her even more now :)

Oh, and today is National Brownie Day :)

Prayer Requests

Hey guys :) When I got late into my pregnancy with Lizzie, I posted a list of prayer requests for the labor, for Lizzie and for myself. It was such a blessing to have y'all pray for me and it reminded me of what I should be praying for myself. So here is a similar list for Jane :)

~ We pray for clarity in knowing for sure that I am in labor. With the speed of Lizzie's labor, we want to be able to book it to the hospital as soon as possible after labor begins. I pray that labor would occur at a time that Nate is at home as well.

~ We are praying for a labor free from complications. We pray that God's hand would allow the labor to occur naturally without interventions or c-section.

~ We are praying for a negative on the Group B Strep test that will be administered at my next appointment. With a potentially fast labor, I will likely not have time to get antibiotics during labor should I test positive. We pray for protection for Jane against Group B Strep should I test positive.

~ We pray that Jane would be born healthy with every system functioning properly.

~ We are praying that the third time's the charm and Jane will learn how to nurse correctly almost immediately.

~ We pray for my previous issues with severe baby blues. They were terrible with Micah and after a ton of prayer from great friends and family, they came and went in less than 2 hours with Lizzie... praise the Lord! We pray that the depression, loss of appetite, negativity, and anxiety would not gain a foothold after Jane is born.

I really cherish your prayers and would love to surround this time in our lives with excessive intercession :)

Side note~ today is Pearl Harbor Day and National Cotton Candy Day

If you like it, then you should have put a wreath on it...

Wreaths, wreaths and more wreaths..... which is funny because I've never made one before this year. I just remembered I have another one I haven't even showed you guys yet, but alas... no pics. Oh well, here is one I showed you last week, I just thought I'd show it in situ....


and because I NEVER remember to take pictures until after I've lost the natural light, here is the same pic without the flash. Makes a big difference, doesn't it?

I also wanted to make a wreath for Jane... My first idea was to have it made for the door of the hospital room after she is born, but I think I'm just going to have it waiting in her room for when she comes home instead :)

and today is St. Nicholas Day, Mitten Tree Day and Put on Your Own Shoes Day.. yee haw.

34 Weeks

Yup, as of Friday I was 34 weeks! Every day brings us closer and closer to full term and I feel truly blessed in that :) Jane is still chilling out head down and continues to reassure me that she's ok by moving around A LOT. A baby at Jane's age would be around 17 inches long and 5 lbs! We are getting really close to newborn numbers now! As of today, I am 39 days from my due date and only 18 days from full term.. WOW.

Today is Bathtub Party Day... just in case you were curious :)