A few weeks of challenges and changes.

The last *almost* 4 weeks have been full of adjustments, challenges, and changes but it all works out for the best. I can now testify that life with 3 children (under the age of 8) can be a challenge at time and I have a new appreciation for parents of 3 or more who are much younger than my 3. There has been only one time (so far) that proved to be taxing for me. L woke up for a 4AM feeding and each feeding time usually takes about an hour to get him filled up, burped, and changed. Just when I was about to get him down, J wakes up crying due to a nightmare. Once I get J settled down and back in his bed, R wants to get up (and the sun isn't even up yet!). I pointed this useful information to R and she slowly went back to her own room (even though I'm sure she probably didn't go back to sleep). This gave me about an hour of sleep before getting R ready for school. Needless to say, I was almost in tears because of being so tired. If you were wondering where Jeff was during this whole time, he was asleep *and for good reason* on Sunday and Tuesday nights, he is at the county jail and doesn't get home until 10:30 or 11 PM and then has to take about an hour and a half or so just to unwind. Also, he has to put in a certain amount of hours at the prison and he goes on the first and third Thursday of each month in the evenings (which puts him getting in much later than 10:30 PM). I am thankful that Jeff is able to do what he loves doing. He is able to walk to school with R every morning (unless he's had a really long evening at the jail or prison and completely worn out). We've also worked it out that I tend to L at night and Jeff tends to him (and the other 2) in the afternoons so that I can try to get a little catch up on sleep. Speaking of sleep.... J has now been passy free for a solid two weeks now! :) The first 24 hours were tough! J wouldn't/couldn't sleep during naptime or at night so, while one of us was getting up and dealing with L, the other was getting up and dealing with J. I thought we would have more than just the first 24 hours to deal with in J's lack of sleep but, Jeff sat down with him and they talked about how baby's (like L) needed passy's sometimes but that J was a big boy and didn't need to suck on something all night/ every night. After that little talk, J didn't ask for a passy and there has been only one time that he tried to sneak one of L's passy's (conveniently) onto his bed for later use (but then brought it back when L started getting fussy and his bottle wasn't ready yet). And yes, I'm a proud momma! More to follow....

Welcoming a blessing and dealing with challenges.

As most of you already know, we now have a new addition to our little family. What you may not know is some details of before his arrival and some challenges that came up during labor and delivery. I have to start on Friday, August 31st because that's when things really got busy for us. At about 11:30 pm, we lost power in the house. Usually, we just have to wait a little while and then the power comes back. Not this time. Thankfully, the house retained most of the AC air for most of the night so it wasn't tooo uncomfortable. On Saturday, that was a different story. Gail was coming in and the heat kicked in as well.... A nice 105. Not very comfortable for this very prego momma! Needless to say, all of us ended up getting hotel rooms and G was brave enough to take BOTH R and J that night. By Sunday afternoon, we finally got power back on but had a hot house and ruined food in the fridge. Thankfully, we still had most of the meat in the freezer that was either partially thawing or still frozen.... Yippie!!! We had originally planned to have friends over for some grilled steaks but found that we had a lot more meat to grill so, why not have even more people over for Labor Day and not waste any meat?!?!? So, we were able to have Gail, the McDuffy's, and the Nunnally's over on Labor Day for some good food and fellowship. :) Tuesday, Sept. 4th started very, very early for Jeff and I. Managed to get over to White County Medical Center and start the inducing process a little after 5:30 AM. Things were going pretty good until about 8:30 or so... Lex started showing heart rate problems everytime I would have a contraction (which was every 3 - 4 minutes). His heart rate was typically around 130-140's but would suddenly drop down to 70... and then next contraction, heart rate dropped to 60 and then it would drop down to the 50's. MD and nurses stopped the PICT, had me sitting up, laying back down, turning one side and then the other to see if that would help Lex's heart rate to get normal and stay that way through a contraction... No dice. MD made the decision to do c-section since Lex's heart rate was soo unstable during contractions. Meanwhile, Jeff was pretty much doing a play-by-play via text and facebook of what was going on. When the order came to prep for c-section at 9:30, Jeff put the word out and the response was amazing! Everyone started commenting that prayers were being said for me and for Lex. 10:30 came and went and no open room in the OR. Lex's heart rate started to stabilize and not dip down in to the 50's. I was at a 10 and starting to throw up so, Dr. Citty gave the order to have me push up to when Lex was about to crown. Once we got to that stage, I had to wait until Dr. Citty got in the room. Funny thing is, just when he got there and was set up, I started throwing up again (at least I was able to warn them a little in advance)... Dr. Citty's nurse was telling me... "Wait! Wait! Don't throw up yet! Wait!" to which Dr. Citty (half chuckling) "Can't really tell her to wait..." This is one of the reasons why I like Dr. Kris Citty so much. He was very calm, almost laid back in amongst all the craziness. Once the throw up session was over, I had a couple of more pushes and Lex was born at 12:01 PM. I almost held my breath, waiting for that first cry. Scared that there had been some damage to his heart after being under so much stress during labor. Thankfully, the cry came and a collective sigh of relief from everyone in the room (I think). There was an older couple who stayed the whole duration. Mr. and Mrs. John Wilkins (Jeff worked with him at Mount Hutchison Church of Christ several years ago and fills him for him when they are out of town). So thankful that they were there as well as the Krehs at various times. Also sooo thankful for all the prayers that went up for me and for Lex (and for Jeff) when things got so crazy. Prayer is one of the strongest medicines that most people can't explain. I am also extremely thankful for Jeff. The last month of this pregnancy was tough (emotionally, mentally, and physically). I couldn't help but think about the differences between this time around and the situation I was forced to be in when James was born. MAJOR difference! With J's birth, I was thankful for the prayers of my spiritual family and thankful that K and G were able to be there when J was born but it still left a HUGE, gaping hole because Donovan wasn't there to see his son being born. Even now, it hurts that Donovan has missed soo much of J's development over the last 3 1/2 years and yet sooo thankful that Jeff has taken on fatherhood 100% in helping shape both R and J into the young people that they will become and that their Dad loves them just as much as he does his own flesh and blood. I'm also thankful for God granting us this little blessing. After Donovan died and J had outgrown all of his infant stuff, I just "knew" that it would be the 3 of us (R, J, and myself) from here on out. I gave all of R's and J's baby stuff away to other's who had little ones (even tho it kinda hurt to see them experience that joy and "know" that I would never have that chance again. Little did I know that God was going to be blessing me far above what I could dream up. Donovan and I had always planned to have at least 3 children. When he died, that dream got shattered. When Jeff and I were dating, the talk of children (of course) came up. We both realized that we both wanted more children (Lord willing) so, when we found out that we were expecting, both of us were on cloud 9. After nine long, mostly difficult months, Lex is finally here and we are blessed. R and J love and care (and in J's case), protective of their little brother.... Blessed! More to follow......