Jericho's Dedication Take Two...

Okay, so sort of disregard the last post... Jericho will be dedicated this weekend at the church, but not until the 11 am service. I had some scheduling difficulties. Can you regular Saturday night people come Sunday at 11 to celebrate this event with us?

Jericho's Dedication

For any family members and friends in the area who read this blog of ours, Jericho will be getting dedicated at our church this Saturday, November 25th at the 6:30 pm service and you are all invited. My dad has pointed out to me that it's not J who is getting dedicated, but Nate and I who are dedicating ourselves to raise our little man the best way we know how - with the faith and values our parents imparted on us. And we pray he will come to love Jesus with all his heart.

Scary Dreams

Jericho generally wakes up twice per night. Usually around 2 and 5 am. I'm not finding it too hard, but the one thing that weirds me out is that every single night I have a dream just before he starts really crying where he's already in bed with me and I'm feeding him or cuddling him. At first it really creeped me out because I swear I could feel the blanket moving and I seriously believed as I was slowly waking that Jericho was in bed with me. We never bring him to bed. I never feed him in bed. But Nate sometimes finds himself trying to convince me that yes, my son is in the crib waiting for me to feed him and he's not my blanket. It's strange that it happens every night, but it's good because I'm getting less hysterical about it. At first I would sob in confusion, but now I just state the obvious to help myself get over it. Strange? I think so.

Cabbage Patch Anyone?

Let's just say Mom and Grandma were a little bored one day. Did I mention little Jericho will have a small role (very small role) in Alien vs. Predator II? I don't even like scary movies... but he can open his first bank account.

Jericho's First Walk

We went for our first walk yesterday. Thanks to Aunt Noelene's pretty white outfit it was plenty warm for baby.

Whew, Healthy Baby

Sometime late Thursyday night my little man took a turn for the better. We realized that he was starting to associate nursing with crying and getting upset... so I only tried to nurse when he was calm and it seems to have worked. We haven't used the syringe since 2 am Friday morning. My baby gained 5 oz. in 2 days! He's doing great now. Mommy is so proud.

Plus his yellow colouring has substantially subsided and he is a healthy shade of pink. Here are some pics we have taken in the last week - Happy one week bday Jericho!

Pictures

I can't take it anymore! I have pictures that need to be posted, I just don't think it's appropriate to post them on my blog when they are pictures of Sara's baby. So she was kind enough to give me the power to post on her blog.




I feel much better now. Hope you all enjoy the pictures. They were taken within an hour of his arrival.

Update

My little man is jaundiced. Actually, it was a horrible day yesterday. The midwife came over and noticed how yellow he was and that he was lethargic. He was just starting to not nurse as well and we were getting worried. Turns out he had lost 11% of his birth weight and was down to 7.5 lbs. I cried and cried. I went to the midwife office with Nate - my first outing since giving birth. Then they took me home with my mom while Nate took Jericho to the hospital for the bilirubin test. They also picked up a breast pump and some other stuff. They were gone for almost two hours and I was devasted. I missed the sound he makes when he breathes, I missed his little nose and kissing his face. I missed the little guy so much it physically hurt. When he came home I was good and ready to kiss him to death.

Today has been much better. I went to the hospital for the second test and we stopped by the church to introduce him to some of the staff. They all thought he was adorable - which is totally is. I'm just watching my mom burp him... You can all keep praying for him as I'm still a worried Mommy. He's not nursing well still - but we do have a syringe we're using and I am able to mostly feed him breast milk. It's just so devastating for a brand new mom to have something 'wrong' with her new little one.

But my energy is up and so is my baby's. I love him. I promise you all will too. I still don't have a pic, but you can check out 4ever29.blogspot.com and go down a bit and you'll see a little teaser.

My Son

I'm sorry I don't have pics yet as our internet is down, but we have a beautiful son. He was born Saturday, November 4th at 5:00 exactly. Just in time for dinner! His name is Jericho Edward Stephen and he weighed 8lbs, 8 oz. It was a natural birth, which was good... And I did need an epidural in the end as I needed to be induced as my water had been broken for 24 hours before I went into active labour. But I had plenty of contraction. In the end my midwives were very impressed with my labour and delivery - apparently I'm a natural. I'm so in love with my little man. Thanks for all your prayers. Pictures coming soon...

Busy Week.... NO BABY YET

So at my last post I talked about my dad's back. The real reason I wanted him to be able to leave with my mom is because we were planning a surprise 50th birthday party for her. Luckily he convinced he was well enough and they were able to get away together while my siblings and I cleaned my mom's house and decorated it for her party. I cleaned cupboards, organized bottles to be returned, and couldn't sleep that night because I was so sore. That night the baby dropped all the way. I couldn't believe the difference when I looked in the mirror Saturday morning. And the pressure!! Wow. Then Saturday I headed back to my parents for decorating and getting food ready.

The biggest surprise for my mom was this scrapbook we put together. It's over 50 pages of letters from friends and family letting her know how much they love and appreciate her. We also were able to get a lot of old pictures - some she had never seen put in it as well. Nina, Megan, Christa & I were able to put a lot of work into it and it turned out beautifully. Each of us kids did a page of our own - and we put a lot of work into our dad's page to make it extra special. But it was so awesome to read letters from so many people and to see how much love they have for my mom. It wasn't hard at all to get people to participate. A lot of the letters brought tears to my eyes... Not unusual.

So basically she was totally surprised and felt very blessed by the end. But she also got after me for what she thought was doing too much. But my blood pressure this week was only 122/66, so it couldn't have been that bad.

Sunday morning I woke up to having FOUR Avon boxes at my door. FOUR. Due to my awesome Open House I had a substantial amount of sales and a lot of merchandise to sort through. About 30 orders actually. Then my aforementioned wonderful mother took me out to deliver most of them on Monday. Fabulous.

Then Sunday night we went to the Cactus Club - my dad refers to it as the T&A Cafe - and celebrated with my mom again. The Saturday party was all her girlfriends so we felt we needed something for the guys in her life - ok only her hubby and sons. It was fun, but I started feeling sick again. It's likely just fatigue.

I haven't been able to check email or blog for a few days due to our laptop being out of wireless commission. Plus Nate takes it to work with him and works quite a few evenings. So I've been hanging out at my folks tonight catching up on internet news, applying for mat leave, and placing my next huge Avon order. Busy night for me for sure.

I think my mom would appreciate it if I get off her computer now... so hope you all enjoyed the update.

PS - I've been having a lot of contractions today... and I raked the leaves in my yard. I think Deanna would be proud.

My Dad

My dad has hurt his back, again. This time it's really bad. He's been to the chiropractor every single day this week and today he has two appointments. He picked me up from my house yesterday cause I was tired of having evenings by myself. He asked me to carry in his jacket and I promptly jumped out of his truck and went in my parents house. No one else was home. I was in the house for 3 minutes before I realized - no dad. So I opened the door to find him hobbling up the steps at the rate of about a 90 year old and he was grimacing bad. The next 10 minutes were spent grabbing him advil, and ice pack, and whatever else he needed to get comfortable. Now for someone who is 39 weeks pregnant it felt weird to NOT be the one being babied.

The best part is my dad wants to take my mom away Friday night because her birthday is on Sunday - she'll be 50! Now it's not looking good for him. Please pray that he'll feel better quickly and that I won't be comparing him to an old man anymore! People are always surprised when I tell them my dad is 51 because he does look very young for his age, but I'm realizing that he is actually mortal.

Home

My last day of work was last Friday.. I've had one full day at home and today the staff is taking me out for lunch. So far I like being home. I'm sleeping in, relaxing, making lists of what I want to get done before Murray comes, etc. Yesterday I even made a cheesecake.

My belly is HUGE. Like 42 cms huge. But the midwife says that the baby has moved positions a few times lately so chances are there's just a lot of fluid in there and babe isn't as huge as we think. Sounds promising.

I'm sleeping really well, last night was only up twice and promptly fell back to sleep. I think it's because I'm staying up later and sleeping in. By the time I go to bed I'm completely zonked. My mom has said several times to take it easy, she doesn't realize I spend a lot of time just laying in front of the TV watching TLC and the like.

Anyways, I gotta get going to my lunch date, talk to you all later...

Funny story

So I went to the midwife yesterday and as always, weighed myself first thing. I knew what I had weighed last week, so imagine my shock when I looked down and saw that I had gained 7 lbs in one week!!!! Then I came to my senses and took my purse off my shoulders and my shoes and sweater then it was a much more realistic 2 lbs that were gained.

No, I'm not blonde. Really.

Hospital Bag

So ladies, what are your suggestions for helpful things to pack for the hospital? My husband has given me a lovely allowance to spend for things I'll need to take when I have this baby.

Last week I got my housecoat which feels like a warm hug of hot cocoa and fireplaces on rainy days. I also have a little outfit for baby. That's about all I got right now. My mom bought Nate massage oil so he can use it on me - but I've had some people tell me that I may not like a massage in labour, so we'll see.

Are there any things you brought that were super helpful? Or anything you wish you took with you?

Baby Doesn't LIke It

My favorite restaurant has been this little pasta joint in town. I really love the bread, the caesar salad and especially the New Orleans Penne. So yum. Debbie called me last night and said she had a coupon and would I like to go - WOULD I EVER! It was great company and amazing food. Then I hurried home for sister night which has been moved to Monday due to Thursday night small group. Nina & Meg came over and we just hung out.

I sat and watched TV for awhile after they left and since my hubby was working late, decided not to wait up anymore and heading to bed... Then I started to feel REAL sick. I lost my dinner in the bathroom, then later in the kitchen. I was more devasted about the fact that I actually liked the meal I was losing than I was about throwing up. I called Nate and he was just finishing work so he said he was on his way.

So I had a bath and some tea to calm my tummy and went to bed to read until he arrived. Having him home makes things easier to deal with. Even though it was just vomit and I have dealt with that plenty in the last 8 months... he just knows how to make me feel better and it was nice of him to come home for me.

Today I'm still feeling a little woozy. Tummy's upset and there's not a lot I'm really wanting to eat - had cereal for breakfast and grapes all morning. *Sigh*

I am still alive

After a very long weekend of preparing for my open house, training Amber-Lee in doing PowerPoint at the church services, and having a young family of five stay with us for 4 nights....I am still on two feet. I would say that's relatively impressive for being 37 weeks pregnant. My mom would tell me that if I keep this pace up I'll end up in the hospital. She'll be happy to know I am doing NOTHING for the rest of this day.

Let the short work day and the days off begin...

From now on I will be working 10-3 and I don't think I could be more excited. Not only that, but I had yesterday off. I had another midwife appointment and it was a crowded room. Nate and my mom have both come before, but yesterday mom and I had gone for lunch and shopping with Nana, so I brought her into the room too. She couldn't believe how much labour and pregnancy has changed since she last gave birth about 40 years ago. We realized that between my mom and Nana they had 13 babies between them... so I think I have good genes for this.

The highlight of my day though was when my mom picked me up and we went to Jysk to look for crib bedding. Couldn't find any sheets, but we picked out this really cute and super soft blanket to match the room. Then mom mentioned she needed some new shampoo from this spa in the area she always goes to. So we pull up and I say that I would prefer to sit in the car for a bit. She turns to me and says quite emphatically "NO!". She tried to explain that she wanted me to come in and help her, but by then I knew something was up. We get in there and she explains that she has purchased me a facial as they won't give a massage to a really pregnant woman for some reason..lol..but it was amazing. When I came out the chick at the counter said that mom had also purchased massage oil and I could pick a scent. What fun!

The rest of the day was spent doing basically nothing but a bit of laundry, some more shopping at Zellers for a new housecoat and finally a crib sheet. So all in all it was a pretty awesome day off - THANKS MOMMY!!!

Midwife Appt Update

Yes I had an appointment yesterday and after much poking around it was decided that the baby's head is about 1/5 engaged..so Murray hasn't completely dropped yet, but it's getting close. Then we read the heartbeat and it was all over the place - which they say is good as it was responding to all the poking, etc. And the baby is in the perfect position and moving alot so it's all looking good. Yesterday was 8 months so only a month until the due date - wow! Time sure does fly when you're getting big for baby!

Bible help needed

I'm supposed to lead the devotional at staff tomorrow and I need suggestions for a Scripture passage. Last week we talked about Joshua crossing the Jordan and the week before that was Lamentations... Any suggestions? I was thinking something to encourage the staff - all pastors by the way.

I don't wanna work....

As of the end of today I have 13 days of work left. Thirteen days to finish training my replacement. I have a bit of a cold and tomorrow I'm 8 months preggers so this whole training/working thing is just not working out for me. How do you train someone when your brain is mush and you keep having annoying Braxton-Hicks contractions that are starting to get uncomfortable? I've started to make really detailed lists of what I do, then giving them to said trainee and letting her go at it until she gets stuck - then I rewrite the directions until they are crystal clear. Doesn't that sound fun?

Good news is that the baby has dropped, I haven't had that proven by a medical professional yet, but I can feel the difference. I'll go to the midwife tomorrow and see if I'm right. There was a couple in here a few minutes ago and they are swearing up and down that this baby will be born within two weeks. Hope not. I mean, I want it out so my swollen fingers and cankles will go back to normal and so I can meet the kid, but I'm not ready yet. I have to pick up a few more things before the baby is born and I don't think I'll get it done in 2 weeks. But what do they know?