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Sunday, June 29, 2008

We did it!

Ezekiel is here!  Here's a summary of his birth story.  :)

Tuesday night I woke up several times with back pain and then had it pretty constantly through Wednesday.  I had a prenatal massage Wednesday afternoon and after that I was able to distinguish a pattern with the back pain and realized that they were contractions.  I started timing them around 3:30 and found that they were pretty consistently 4 minutes apart lasting about a minute long!  I called our midwife and she asked me to call if they get closer or stronger.  Nate got home from work at 5:15 and by then they were getting to about 3 minutes apart.  Nate called our Doula to see if she could come to help him know what to do and then he called our Midwife who said that she was going to an appointment, but would call back around 6:30 to see how things were progressing.   At 6:30 they had slowed down to 5 minutes apart and were consistently lasting 1+ minutes long.  The midwife said to call back if it picks up again.  So at about 8 it was suddenly pretty intense.  I was having contractions 2 minutes apart lasting 1 or more minutes long.  Nate called our Midwife and Doula back and they both were there by 9pm.  It just progressed from there getting more and more intense.  I labored on the bed, in the bathroom, in the birth tub and on a birthing stool.   Once I hit "transition" everyone told me it would be soon (it wasn't) and the midwife called her assistant to come and help her.   Unfortunately, the assistant got here and then it took forever for me to progress.  I think I was in transition for at least a couple of hours.   I remember thinking that I now understand why people opt for an epidural and thanking God that I decided to give birth at home because I was so free to labor and deliver anywhere that felt best.   At the end, I was on the birth stool pushing, which took forever! She kept using the doppler to check Zeke's heart rate which was awesome because he was so strong all the way through it. I kept thinking that if he could do it, then I could do it too! The head came out, but no one told me!  I asked the midwife what she was doing and she said "nothing, you are!  Push the shoulders out!"  So I did and it hurt a lot.  This kid has broad shoulders!   Out he came at 4:21 am and they pushed him into my arms.  It was so amazing to see this beautiful new baby who has been inside me for so long.  Then he was finally in my arms.  They moved us to the bed so they could stitch me up while he nursed.   Everyone was gone by 6:45 after cleaning things up a bit.  Then we called immediate family and took a nap. 
 
What an amazing morning!

Friday, June 27, 2008

It's a Boy!!






Ezekiel Manuia Allen was born on June 26th 2008 at 4:21 am!  He's 7 lbs 15 oz and 20.5 inches long.  We'll post more later about the birth, but for now, please enjoy the pictures!  Thanks so much for all your prayers and well wishes!  We love you all!  

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Midwife appointment

We just had our last midwife appointment before the due date!  YIKES!  I'm dilated to 1.5 cm and 50% effaced.  The most encouraging news of all to me is that I've dropped completely!  The baby is engaged!  Apparently it happened a while ago, I just didn't know it because it doesn't look like anything changed, but it did!  Yay!   

The sad news is my blood pressure is high again so I have to sit with my feet up.  I think I'm going to go crazy... 

Please keep us in your prayers!   

Joe & Jolene's wedding invites




Last night Jem, Keturah and I helped our future sister-in-law build her wedding invitations! It was pretty fun... and we finished almost all of them!  Those girls got me laughing harder than I've laughed in a while.  It was quite the ab workout. :)   During our dinner break, I discovered that my belly is more useful than previously noted...  Then Jem got jealous.  ha!  

Monday, June 23, 2008

Waiting and resting

Nothing has happened yet.  The baby hasn't dropped and we all continue on as though the baby has no intention of leaving his/her comfortable home inside my belly.  Crazy kid! This is one of those times when you know its inevitable and you know people go through it all the time, but it seriously feels like this kid is nestling in for another year or so of residence inside me.  Somehow, I don't think that's going to work out, but only time will tell when this kid is finally going to become curious enough to venture out. :)  Hopefully soon...

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Midwife appointment

We have 9 days until the due date! Our weekly prenatal appointment was yesterday evening and everything is going well.  My blood pressure is under control and the baby's heart rate is strong so it's just a waiting game now.  Both my mom and my sister were 10 days late with their first so I'm trying to look at it like it won't happen for 19 days, but it's hard.  I can't wait to meet him/her!

Friday, June 13, 2008

38 Weeks today!


Well, I'm 38 weeks today.  It's been pretty surreal lately, trying to get all the last minute details done before the baby arrives...  Unfortunately, we don't know when the exact arrival date is.  I guess that's how it goes though.  Just a waiting game...  For now, I'm at peace with becoming more and more uncomfortable each day and spending extra time with my husband before we are both extremely distracted by this amazing new addition to our family.  God has been so good to us and we both feel extremely blessed with the timing of this baby and with the the ease (for the most part) of the pregnancy.   I'm looking forward to spending the summer getting to know him/her. :)

Thursday, June 12, 2008

The Baby's Room


I finally have been able to start working on the baby's room. I have 15 days before the due date and the room is finally painted, we're washing the bedding to get it ready to put in the crib and now we must find a dresser and a book shelf! This is the new room color. Soon there will be a photo of the finished room! yay!