Up Once a Night!

I am very thankful that my three week old only gets up once a night.

I got him to sleep at 10:45 last night and I didn't see him again until 5 this morning. After I changed him and fed him, he went back to sleep until 8 am!! I will take it!!

Why do I still feel like I need a nap during the day??

Time for some structure!

We have not done much for three weeks, and I am glad. I needed time to recover and we all needed to get used to having a baby around. Babies also take a lot of work (when they are not sleeping), so I spent many hours rocking and feeding baby Micah.  The kids have been doing their own thing and occupying themselves for the last three weeks.

But now I think the kids are ready to get back to some structure.  Yesterday, we had quite the time with Christian. Between not listening very well, saying "no" to everything we say, lying, and just being disrespectful, I think he needs some time with just mom or dad by himself. He is always asking me to do something with him, but I just can't due to the baby.  Matt is usually on the computer, so Christian ends up watching him. Matt and I both think this has led to his behavior troubles.  When we force him to move away from the computer, he gets very angry and starts misbehaving.  Yesterday after Christian lied yet again, Matt took away the computer for two days, but guess what Christian was doing today? Watching Matt play Minecraft.  On one hand, I think Minecraft needs to go, but on the other hand, it has led to some creativity and some very interesting conversations around here.  I usually limit computer time to 45 minutes for the girls and 10 minutes for Christian and they can play a couple times a day. There are moments though when nobody is on the computer and they are all on the floor playing cars or Legos, so they are times when they are being creative on their own.

My goal for this coming week is to get back to math and some preschool for Christian.  Micah is usually awake more in the morning, so I don't think we will get much done then.  He usually sleeps most of the afternoon, so I think that is our best bet for getting back to school.  If I can get Math, English, and spelling going before Christmas, I think we are doing well! If we don't get back to any of our Sonlight curriculum until after Christmas, I am ok with it.  I think it will be a challenge to get back to everything! We may get to it, but it will take us awhile to get through the material. Again, I think it is fine. Our Sonlight material may just take us a couple of years to get through!

Thanksgiving Day!

Today is Thanksgiving Day and for the first time, we have NO plans for today!!

I guess it's a day of watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, cooking, and spending time with my precious family. :)

I kind of want to do something fun today, so we might make ham balls and cheesy potatoes for the occasion! But I need to get to the store before the ice starts! OR I could just have HyVee deliver!

Left or right handed?

Ever since Christian broke his arm, he has been using his right hand for everything.  He is left handed and he broke his left arm, so he didn't have a choice if he wanted to eat or color. He got his cast off almost 3 weeks ago and finally today, I saw him coloring with his left hand again! The only problem was that he kept giving the color to his right hand and I had to keep reminding him to use his left hand. He does so much better! It may take him awhile to get used to using that hand again!

Grocery Shopping

Today I ventured out again with all four children. Micah was refusing to take a nap and insisted on being nursed every hour. The other three kids kept migrating back to Minecraft.  We needed to go somewhere! (Now I remember why I went somewhere everyday when Megan was little!)

I made an executive decision that we were going to go get groceries! I haven't done this yet with the whole crew! I walked around Walmart last Sunday and was still a little weak, but I have been feeling even better these last three days.  We also needed quite a few groceries, and we have a family get-together this weekend that I need to make food for.  I got Micah fed and buckled him into his carseat, I was hoping he would go to sleep and stay asleep awhile! The kids kind of complained, but I made them go anyway.

Once we got to the store, I put Micah in one cart (since you are not supposed to put the baby carriers on top of the cart) and I had Megan push him around.  I took another cart for groceries.  It worked well! We got almost everything we needed and a few things we probably didn't (chocolate chips!).  I worked my way slowly through the store because I didn't want to overdo it.

We got checked out and came home. Success!! Luckily Matt was home already and he and the girls helped bring everything in.  Little by little, life is getting back to a new normal.

Post- Baby Blood Counts

At my two week checkup yesterday, I had my midwife draw my blood to see where my numbers were at now that I delivered Micah.

Platelets- 152,000!!! Wow! They have NEVER been this high. This is actually in the "normal" range!!!
(And steroids aren't even helping them go up because I have been weaning myself off of them.)

Hemoglobin- 13.3. normal

We were hoping these would go up after I delivered and they did! Now for them to stay up!

My midwife said, "Enjoy being normal for once!" I think I will!

Now I hope my thyroid doesn't go out around four months like the last two children...

Appointment Day!

Today I had three separate appointments in relation to the new baby in the house.

1. This morning, I had my two week post-partum checkup. I know not many providers do these at two weeks, but I am glad my midwife brings us back in.  I think one of the main reasons is to check for post-partum depression, which I don't have a problem with.  I actually had to fill out a questionnaire this morning about how I was feeling and how emotional I have been the last two weeks. I have been fine, so I marked everything accordingly. My midwife never said anything about it, so apparently I passed. :)

The first thing the nurse did today after she called me back was to have me step on the scale.  I have 12 pounds yet to lose. I gained 31, so I have lost most of it.  Ten pounds of it was my baby!! I am sure another five was all the water that broke the morning I had him. There was a lot of it! I wish I could just lose those last 12 so I can wear some pre-pregnancy clothes. I am still wearing my maternity jeans because they are loose around my tummy. I haven't lost my tummy all the way and I am sure that my hips have not gone back to where they were, so I am pretty sure my other jeans will not fit me yet.  I still cannot get back into my pre-pregnancy shirts either. They are too short! I know it will just take time, but I would really like to wear some different clothes!!

After my midwife came into the room, she sat down and talked to me about how everything was going, again, I think this is just to see if post partum depression is a problem. I told her things were going much better once I put him on a schedule and he's doing well! I told her our first week was kind of rough, but we are getting the hang of things now. 

She then wanted to check my stomach muscles and said they were still separated, so she gave me a few exercises to do to make those stronger. She said otherwise all looked good! I am glad!

I gave her a few pictures that I had developed for her and then she stuck her head into the waiting room to see Micah! Megan was taking very good care of him out there, for he was sound asleep in her arms. 

I will go back in four weeks for my six week post-partum checkup and then I will be done there for a year.

2.  This afternoon, I took Micah in for his two week checkup.  He weighed 9 lbs. 11 oz, which is not quite back to his birth weight of 10 lbs. 1 oz.  I thought my doctor would be a little worried, but she said, "Oh, sometimes these big babies don't get all the way back to their birth weight by two weeks, I am not worried." She does want me to stop in about once a week for the next six weeks to weigh him and make sure he is gaining. He is 22 inches long, which is a half inch longer than he was at birth, and his head is 15 inches, again, a half inch bigger than at birth. He is growing!

I told her that I would feed him more, but if he overeats, he just spits it up. She knew exactly what I was talking about.  She mentioned that if he doesn't start gaining, I might need to wake him up every four hours at night to eat. Honestly, I don't think I would do this!! Sleep is sooo precious!  She wants him to gain, but she doesn't want to get over-worried about it.

She said otherwise he looks good and told me not to get too caught up in his routine because it won't work in 2-3 months. We will see what happens! She also said that I need to give him vitamin D drops. We will see about that too. She listened to his heart, felt his stomach, checked out his belly button and circumcision and those were all fine.

3.  At the same time that I took Micah in, I also took Megan in for her 12 year checkup. I will probably do these two kids together for the next six years. :)  Megan has gained 20 pounds this last year and is now 5 ft. 3 inches. The doctor doesn't think she has hit her big growth spurt yet!! REALLY?  Megan has some red spots on her elbow, her face, and some on her ears that I thought were ring worm, but they are really eczema.  The doctor sent in a prescription for steroids to put on them, but I wonder if they are really allergy to something. I need to talk to my chiropractor about it. She gave me some suggestions on what she should use for lotion and soap during the dry winter months.

I also asked when Megan needed her shots and the doctor said usually around 7th grade. I think she said she needed two of them. She looked at Megan and said, "Do you want to go ahead and do them today?" Of course Megan replied, "No, let's do them next year!" We all laughed! I would have said the same thing! Our doctor also said that Gardasil is something she offers, but many moms refuse it.  I said I will absolutely refuse it too! I have not heard very many good things about that vaccine!

Tomorrow we head back to the chiropractor to get everybody adjusted, even the kids.

Sleep!!

After a pretty rough first week with Micah in regards to overnight sleeping, I think we have finally got it figured out!!

Last night, this boy slept 11-9 and was only up once at 5:30 to eat!! I LOVE IT!! The night before, he slept 11-6 and didn't wake up at all! I think we may be onto something.

What changed everything? I decided to put the boy on a schedule!!

The first week home, we just let him sleep whenever he wanted.  I would feed him and he would sleep the next three hours.  I would feed him again and he would sleep again.  By the time nighttime came around, we had a fussy baby and had to work 4-5 hours to get him back to sleep. He was finally settling down about 4 am and matt and I were running on 3-4 hours of sleep.

This obviously couldn't go on. I was super tired and was not healing. Matt had to go back to work and had to be there by 6 am on Monday, which meant he had to get up at 4:30 am.  I was therefore on my own overnight and I knew I couldn't pull these long nights anymore.

Last Monday, I started Micah on a schedule that involved WAKING HIM UP during the day.  Now, he eats, we wake him up for about an hour, then he naps for about an hour (or however long he wants.)  We rotate this schedule over and over during the day.

And guess what? He goes to bed at 11 and wakes up at 6! He is no longer awake during the night, but now more during the day. When it is time to go to bed, he is tired and goes to sleep!

This makes this mama happy! Plus we get to see his beautiful eyes during the day!!

Back to Reality!

I admit, this is probably one of the hardest recovery times I had when it comes to having babies.  I remember after I had Courtney, I was up and doing errands three days post-partum. There was no way that was happening this time!! I am ten days post-partum and finally feeling like myself again.  I definitely still have to be careful though and not overdo it yet!!

Today was the first time I took all four children out of the house by myself.  Today was also the first time I have driven since I had Micah!

Matt went back to work on Monday, but I knew after over-doing it last weekend, I needed to stay home on Monday and Tuesday and rest some more.  Today, the kids had their classes at the learning center and they really didn't want to miss them.   There are only two classes left for the semester, so  I thought it would be a good goal today to take them to their classes.

Courtney's class was at 10, so they gave us some time in the morning to get everybody up, get breakfast, and through the shower. I didn't get a shower in yesterday, so I definitely had to take one today! :)

We were all ready to go by 9:30!! I was amazed! Everybody cooperated and did what they had to do! Christian even got dressed and I only had to tell him once! I was impressed!

We made it to the learning center just in time. My goal was to deliver the kids to their classes and then hang out in the mom's room and lay low for the hour. I did exactly that! All the kids' teacher's wanted to see Micah, so that was fun! It was even fun running into people who didn't know I had a baby. I heard remarks such as, "Is he yours?" or "When did you have your baby?" or even "Wow, I can't believe you are here!"

After the kids' classes were over, we met Matt over at Pepperjax for lunch. I am still not up to cooking, so this was something pretty easy to do for lunch. We do have leftovers in the fridge, which we will eat in the next couple of days.  A few people have brought over meals, which have been WONDERFUL!! I will get back to cooking eventually.  I have another friend bringing over a meal this afternoon for us. :)

Tomorrow we are supposed to go on a fire station tour with our PE coop in the afternoon, so we will see what I decide to do with that outing.  If we go, we are supposed to take some baked goods, so Megan might be on duty to make some chocolate chip cookies.  I also would like to get adjusted again, so those might be some simple things to do tomorrow afternoon.

Friday we don't have any plans, so it might be a "hang around the house and do nothing" kind of day. And then there is the weekend again!!

We are also getting our Thanksgiving plans finalized, so I think we will be able to make those get-togethers. I am glad Micah came when he did! I can enjoy the holidays with family and a new baby! Quite a few of the family haven't met him yet, so this will be a great opportunity to meet him.

PS It was really weird not going to see my midwife today before we went to the learning center. I had went and saw her every Wednesday before the kids' classes for the last month. I go in next Monday for my two week post-partum checkup and then in another four weeks for my six week post-partum checkup and then we are done with checkups.  Hopefully everything is healing well!

I was right! Baby came earlier than I thought!

I had a feeling we were going to have this baby early and we did!!!

After three days of contractions, water breaking at 5 am, and finally having to get induced at 5 pm Sunday night, I am proud to announce that Micah Alexander Ruwe was born on Sunday, November 8th at 9:21 pm! He was 10 lbs. 1 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long! A very big baby!!

I would love to post pictures, but I cannot get them to load. :( 

We are home now and adjusting to a family of 6!

School Thoughts.

With this impending baby, I am in deliberation about what to do with school. I could have this baby today or I could have this baby two weeks from now!

My problem is:
1. Do I continue to go full force in all our subjects as if we were having school only to stop wherever we are when the baby comes?

2. Do I stop on certain subjects because we are at a good stopping point at the moment and then start again later?

For instance, I am tempted to not do spelling for both girls until after the baby arrives.  It takes us four days to get through a spelling lesson, so if I do the first lesson Monday and baby arrives Tuesday, I cannot get back to that lesson for a couple of weeks. I do spelling Monday through Thursday and it would be really hard to pick spelling up in the middle of a lesson! I really think we are going to shelve those books until later...

We are going to keep going full force on math and English. Those lessons are daily, so it doesn't matter where we stop, even though it would be nice to stop after a chapter test!

We are also set to start a new missionary book on Monday with Megan's history and again, I don't want to read the first chapter, have a baby, and then have to put it down for a month! We are also in the middle of some other books, but those we can keep going on and just set them aside when we need to.

I think all of us are ready for a break from school, but I don't want to shelve half of our subjects and sit around and twiddle our thumbs for two weeks! I think we will just keep moving forward and stop when we need to!

Thurday's adventure (a couple days late!)

I thought we were going to have this baby last Thursday, but no such luck! I was fine in the morning, I just had contractions here and there like usual, until I ate lunch.  We had chili for lunch, but it wasn't too spicy. As I was making lunch, I started to notice the contractions picking up and becoming a little bit more intense.  We were supposed to go to our PE coop at 1:30, so I contacted a few of my friends around 1 pm and said that I have been contracting pretty regularly, and I didn't think we should go to PE today. They understood! About 1:45, I started timing them. They were roughly 4-5 minutes apart.  I started writing them all down and without even looking at the clock, I could predict when the next one was coming for the entire afternoon. The girls were even involved in timing them. 

I had a chiropractic appointment scheduled for 3:45, so about 3:15, I called my chiropractor and asked him if I should come in or not. I told him my contractions were about four minutes apart for the last 2-3 hours and he told me to stay put! He immediately asked how far away my husband was and if he could get home quickly if I needed him too. I said yes! He told me to drink, drink, and drink and to eat incase I would end up having a baby that night. He again said that most moms in labor get dehydrated, so drink water like it was going out of style!  He also told me that we did not have a baby Thursday night, then I should come in Friday morning to get adjusted.

About this time too, I had the kids pack their bags and sleeping bags incase they had to go somewhere for the night. I didn't know what was going to happen.

I continued to have contractions all the way into the early evening.  I just felt like I wondered around the house all afternoon because there was really nothing I could do! I did play a couple games with the kids, like Scrabble, where Courtney insisted on putting letters together and looking them up on the computer to see if they were really words; half of the time they were some odd Greek or Hebrew word and because I didn't feel like fighting her, I let her use them! We had a good laugh!

By about 6 to 7 pm, the contractions started to slow down, which I was ok with. I do not want to have to head to the hospital at 8 or even 10 pm. I do not want a middle-of-the-night baby.  I want a good night's sleep and THEN we can have a baby.  The contractions were sporadic throughout the evening, but not worth timing.  By bedtime, they had settled down and I was able to go to bed. Maybe another day....

The cast is off!!

Christian was super excited for today! He got his cast off his arm, and he can now do things again!

He did a great job as the tech cut it off and his arm looked so tiny! The doctor said it will take him a couple of days to get some range of motion back, but it will come.  She told him not to move it too much.

We are definitely giving him a  shower tonight and cleaning that arm!

We also kept his cast. We will just add it to our collection. :)

Blood Count!

39 1/2 week blood count

Platelets- 117,000!!!!!!!! Can we be excited??? (Up from 98,000 last week and 78,000 the week before!)

Hemoglobin- 12.3  This is the highest it has EVER been!

Let's go have a baby while my numbers are so good!!!

39 1/2 week checkup!

I am almost there!! Just about four or five days to go until my due date!

Today I went in for my 39 1/2 week checkup. I feel like there is not much to talk about because we are just playing the waiting game.  I had my midwife check me again and I am still dilated to a 1, BUT I am 80% effaced!! She said she could touch the top of the baby's head. Last week, I was still real "thick" according to her words. I did this all in a week! She said once I get 100% effaced, I will start dilating some more. Yippee! Keep going body!!

As she was measuring my "basketball" of a stomach, I asked her what we were at this week. She said she was debating between a 38 1/2 and 39. I said, "I was 39 1/2 last week." She said that the baby had dropped further into my pelvis! Last week I was at a -3 stage and this week, the baby was at -1. I told her I can tell that he dropped! I can't even sit in a chair comfortably anymore! She said the baby's head is nice and tight!! Things are progressing!!! She said I probably won't go into labor in the next couple of days because my cervix is still posterior, but she didn't say anything about the day after that. :)

I gained one pound (up to 31 now), baby's heartbeat was great, movement was great, and I still "have so much water."  I told her that I have contractions all the time, and especially when I get dehydrated. I have learned that if they start, I just need to stop and  drink 8-12 ounces of water and they will stop. One of these times, they are not going to stop!! She said that this happens in labor sometimes. Once a mom gets to 7 or 8, her body gets dehydrated and slows things down.  I guess I just drink water, water, and more water!!

She also told me that she has a baby shower in Lincoln on Sunday for her daughter who is expecting and I am not to go into labor on Sunday! I told her if I went into labor and actually had this baby on my due date, it would be a miracle! She just laughed! We both know how late all my other three kids were!

I have my next appointment set for next Wednesday when I will be officially overdue.  People think I am crazy that I am willing to go overdue, but if I am already progressing on my own, why not let nature continue to take its course?? I think the more I get done before I actually go into labor, the better I will be!

Venting time: BEWARE!
I have already started getting random text messages from people saying, "Are you in labor?" or "Your house has been quiet all day, are you at the hospital??" or "When is your due date again?" These are all from people I USUALLY don't talk to on a daily basis, but want to know what is going on.  I hope people don't think that every time we pull out of our garage, we are heading to the hospital! Honestly, this is the part that drives me crazy about having a baby. People want to be the first to know that you are on the way and will ask you EVERY SINGLE DAY whether you are in labor or not! Just leave me alone, I will call you. :)
 
I try to take it in stride, but if I answer my phone, respond to a text, or you see me, I probably have not had the baby yet!! And honestly, you will probably NOT be the first to know when I have this baby.  My kids will be the first to know (and whoever is watching them) and family. I don't even think I am going to send any pictures out of this little guy until the kids have been up to the hospital to meet him. The kids are going to be my first priority this time around. Once the kids have seen him, then grandparents and family can come see him. And then I will let others know! And I really don't want anybody up at the hospital waiting for me to have this baby so they can be the first to see him. It's not a race.

Is this my fourth baby or what? I seem to know exactly what I want this time around. :)
Venting over.

But like Matt says, maybe people are just trying to be nice and show that they care, which may be true. Maybe I should not let these random remarks get to me, but maybe I just need to remember that they only ask because this is how they would want to be treated if they were in my situation.

Basketball Season!

There are a few things we need to take care of now before baby comes. One main thing is getting our kids signed up for basketball again!

Last year, Megan and Courtney played in a basketball league through an organization called Upward Bound. They played at a local church and the entire league was church-sponsored. They had devotions during every practice and game and kept it centered on the Bible. It not only developed them spiritually, but also challenged them physically.  They had practice one evening a week and played games every Saturday for eight weeks.

This year, Megan is too old to play again, but Courtney and Christian can play. They run the program for kindergarten through 5th grade and since Christian is technically of kindergarten age, we can sign him up! I signed Courtney up about a month ago, and since then, Matt and I decided to let Christian play too. It runs during the month of January and February, so it is a great time to get some exercise during those long cold winter months!

Getting out of School?

Courtney is super anxious for me to have this baby. Every couple of hours, she is asking me if I am having any contractions and when am I going to "pop" this baby out.  Yesterday, she started asking me when I was going to get induced. She actually said to me today, "Mom, can you get induced TODAY??"

I don't mind her asking me if I am having contractions, but today I had to put an end to the induction questions.  I told her that I will be induced when my midwife says I have to, other than that, we are going to wait patiently for baby boy to arrive. It's better for everyone. :)

Once I got thinking about all this, I finally realized her motive behind all of this. She cannot wait for a break from school! She is a kid who could probably sit on the living room floor all day and play Legos or be outside exploring and doing her own thing. She doesn't really love school and honestly, it is like pulling teeth sometimes to get her to the table to do her thirty minutes of math, spelling, and English lessons! (Yes, this sometimes takes us less than 30 minutes!)

Getting out of school is totally her motivation of why she wants me to have this baby soon!

I am not quite sure how we are going to deal with school once the baby comes, but I figure after 2-3 weeks, we should be able to get back to at least math and English.  I think it will be a gradual process to get back to everything and it may take awhile!

Awake at Night...

My sleep has been so messed up lately. My body must be getting me ready for a newborn. :)

I am usually not tired when it's time to go to bed.  Last week, I actually stayed up until midnight watching "Three's Company" reruns that we have recorded on our DVR! I haven't done that lately, but I am usually up until 11 or 11:30. This may be the steroids that I am still taking.

After I lay in bed and read a book for awhile, I can usually fall asleep by 11 or 12 pm.  By 3:30 or 4, I am awake again.  Contractions usually start around this time and make me quite uncomfortable. I flip from one side to the other multiple times, get up and go to the bathroom at least a couple of times, drink 1-2 cups of water, walk around a little bit and stretch, and then I can usually get back to sleep around 5-6 am.  Lately, I have been bringing my cell phone to bed. It's often interesting what is on Facebook at 4 am! The other night I was looking at my phone and Matt woke up and said, "What are you doing??" I said, "I am looking at Facebook and having contractions!" He just rolled over and went back to sleep.  Honestly, I think my body gets dehydrated by 3:30 and once I drink quite a bit of water, it is happy again to let me get back to sleep!

By about 5:30 am, Matt's alarm is going off and he is up for the day; this is about the same time that I am finally getting back to sleep.  By 7:30 am, my alarm is going off, and I am refreshed and ready to get up for the day.

This same schedule has been going on for at least a week. Maybe one of these times the contractions will keep going and we can make a short trip to the hospital to meet this little guy! Courtney and Christian's labors both began about 4 am! Why not this guy too? I would rather that happen than go at 10 pm!!!

(Honestly, getting up in the middle of the night is probably one of my favorite parts of having a newborn.  It is the only time when I get one-on-one time with the baby with no other interruptions from anybody else. I remember with Christian that I was often sad that I had to put him back to bed, I just wanted to sit and hold him without anyone else around!)