Family of Five!

We have been a family of five for a little over a week, and it's going very well. Moving to a new house at the same time as having a baby is something I would never recommend, and it has added significantly to our stress level. Nathan, on the other hand, is a very sweet, easy baby and has been a joy to add to our family. Watching his big brothers interact with him has been such a wonderful experience, they are so sweet with him and you can really see that they love him by the way the talk to, pat and hold him. They each want to hold him several times a day, and Levi will sit with him happily for quite a long time, however Joel usually only lasts 2 or 3 minutes tops.

Nate never cries unless he has a reason, which is usually if you are changing his diaper (the horror!). So far, he is my best sleeper yet! He has been giving me one 3-4 hour stretch of sleep in the middle of the night each night and last night he even slept from 12:15 to 5:45am! That was a good feeling! He also naps well, even sleeping when his brothers are being wild and noisy. He is a great nurser and usually eats about every 2-3 hours (sometimes in the evenings he will eat every hour, but if that means I get a longer stretch of sleep at night, I'll take it!).

So far Nathan seems to favor his middle brother, and looks a lot more like Joel and my baby pictures than Levi or his Dad's. He has very fine, fluffy straight hair that is dark brown, almost black. He is long and lean with skinny feet, gappy toes and long fingers and nails. His skin is olive with ruddy undertones and if he is crying or hot he can get very red, very quickly (just like his Momma). His eye brows and lashes are the lightest of all our boys, which makes me think he may eventually have lighter hair as well. He spends alot of time calm and awake and his big bright eyes are a slate blue color for now. My other favorite part of his physical features are his tiny ears and pink pouty mouth.

 

A lot of our family has been able to come meet the newest member of the clan, and he has had lots of sweet snuggles as a result. I'll say it again, he is such a sweet happy baby and is peacful and calm almost all of the time! Such a little angel.

I could snuggle with my littlest love for hours, and he would let me if I could, he just loves to be held and rest on your chest! He is my most easy going, laid back baby so far and I am really enjoying his newborn days, and trying to soak it all in because I know he will be rolling, crawling and walking in a flash. I can't wait to see what his personality will be like and how God will work to fit him perfectly into our family. What a special blessing Nate is! Philip and I are both in awe of the beauty of God's creation in our little guy and are amazed and thankful that God used us to make this remarkable little boy! He's perfection!

Grand Entrance!

Well, Nathan wanted to make sure that his birth was memorable and arrived in a manner I never could have imagined. He was born at home and delivered by his daddy (with some help from my midwife via speaker phone). How, you might ask, does a labor and delivery nurse with over 9 years experience, who's had 3 babies herself, end up with an unexpected, unattended home birth? I'll start at the beginning...

From about 36 weeks on in my pregnancy I had contractions on a daily basis, often as close in time as every 5 - 10 minutes. They were usually uncomfortable, and rarely painful. I believe my body and mind had gotten so used to these contractions that on the night I went into labor I slept through most of my early labor.

So, just after 2am on October 19th I woke up to a fairly painful contraction. I tossed and turned in bed for about 30 minutes counting the minutes between my contractions to make sure that I was really in labor. The contractions were coming every 2 to 6 minutes, and strong enough that I needed to get up and walk in order to tolerate them. At that point I was fairly certain that I was finally in labor, so I texted my midwife and called my dad to head to the house and be with the boys who were sleeping.

While we waited on my dad we got dressed, added the extra things we needed to our bags and loaded the car. At about 3:10am the contractions started getting stronger, and I was glad I had called my dad at what I had originally thought might be a little too early. 

Soon after that the contractions were starting to get really painful. I went to the bathroom one last time so we could just leave as soon as my dad arrived.  As I sat down my water broke. Like a good labor nurse I checked myself and noticed that I was completely dilated. Instinct kicked in and I quickly called my midwife, told her what was happening, and put her on speaker phone. Then stripped down to just my bra, and got into our tub. Meanwhile Philip told me multiple times to stop what I was doing and go get in the car. But I knew there was no time for getting in the car or to the hospital. One contraction later Nathan was crowning and my midwife was taking Philip through his delivery. The next contraction he was born and Philip did an amazing job. He placed him on my chest, with one towel, he then ran for more towels and the emergency delivery kit I had in my car (I was prepared at least a little bit, like a good labor nurse, and had kitchen shears clean from the dishwasher, cord clamps and a bulb syringe in a bag in my console, ha! I never thought I'd actually use it! ).  

Thankfully, Nate was born very vigorous, screaming and quickly pinked up. I noticed he was out littlest guy, and I think that also contributed to his rapid descent and delivery!  Once the cord stopped pulsing Philip clamped and cut it while I dried Nate and looked him over. He looked great! Praise God!

We called my parents and let them know that the baby was here (he didn't actually have a name at this point) and that dad didn't need to rush any more.  Dad arrived about 10 minutes after baby's birth. I nursed the him for about 15 minutes, still in shock that he was born!   My placenta did not want to release, so my dad held Nathan while at my midwife's direction we tried different maneuvers and positions to get it to detatch. Unfortunately it would not let go, so I got dressed, we dressed baby, loaded up in the car and headed to the hospital. It was so strange to put my 1 hour old baby in his car seat! On the way to the hospital I had very strong, painful contractions about every 5 minutes. My body was trying to get the stubborn placenta out!

Once we arrived, my dear friend and coworker met me at the valet drive and wheeled baby and I up to labor and delivery. My midwife joined us in the room and assessed my placenta. It was still firmly attached, so she knew it would need to be manually removed. They got everything set up, then took Nate to the warmer to be weighed, measured, foot printed etc. Meanwhile, my midwife had to extract my placenta by hand in multiple pieces. This was very uncomfortable and painful, but I'm still glad I declined medication, because I avoided feeling drugged and groggy. I am so thankful that my nurse and Philip were with me, they were just the support I needed!  My stubborn placenta wasn't completely out until over 2 hours after baby was born! Ugh!

After that my wonderful coworkers got our room all set up, helped me clean up and get a few layers of clean warm blankets on and let us nap and snuggle Nathan (who we named on the way to the hospital). Thankfully, the postpartum unit was full, so I was able to stay with my friends in labor and delivery until Nathan was about 12 hours old. It was so nice to be spoiled and cared for by my friends. I was able to visit with my family, nap, take an herbal bath with Nathan and rest in the larger labor room for an extended time.

So, that's Nathan's birth story! It was crazy, fast and unbelievable. It's still surreal and I can't really wrap my mind around everything that happened. I truly feel that God was with us the whole time and really blessed us with a safe arrival of our son. So many things could have gone wrong, but God protected us and turned what could have been very scary into a good, wild memory and a story that will be told for years to come. Thank you Lord for watching over me, Nathan and everyone who was there to help us. What a blessing!

He's Here!

Introducing...

NATHAN SETH BOYER

October 19, 2014 at 3:28 am

Our little love made a very dramatic entrance into this world in the wee hours of Sunday morning (more on that later). He is our smallest, yet longest baby at-

7 pounds 15 ounces & 21.75 inches

We are all in love with our precious Nate, and are enjoying lots of snuggles, taking turns holding this easy going guy.

We have been finishing our move, so things are still extra crazy. Coming soon to the blog; Nathan's birth story, our first week as a family of 5, moving from our first home, and a tribute to my dear Gran.

Busy Busy Day (and Still No Baby)

Today we all woke up bright and early at 6am to start a very busy day. I was secretly hoping that our schedule would be interrupted by the arrival of a new baby, but no such luck. We got Levi all geared up and headed to Keller for his 2nd Monster Kids Triathlon. He had a blast and did a great job too, improving his time by several minutes (even though the actual event isn't timed Philip keeps track). I love how much he enjoys this great sport! Watching him complete the race is so fun because he has a huge grin on his face the whole time!

 

After the race Levi changed and we headed to his soccer game. His team has really found their rhythm and is starting to show some understanding of the game. It is so cute to watch them start to practice the rules and teamwork better and see them succeed. They won for the third time and had a blast together. This was also Levi's first time to try goalie and he really enjoyed it!

After a quick sandwich lunch at home Levi, Joel and I headed to the Bedford Height's school fall carnival for an afternoon of fun while Philip got some much needed work done finishing up packing at the old house. Levi and Joel both had a blast playing the carnival games and chose some prizes that were "just what they had always wanted!"

We got back home, Joel took a nap and Levi and I took a little rest on the couch for tv/kindle time and then we loaded the car up for one last trip of the day. My Dad/Pop tuned the big 60 on Friday, and we had a casual get together at a park near my parents to celebrate. The whole family was able to be there (minus Ryan and Molly...for the LAST time) and we had a nice time enjoying the beautiful day, yummy meal, and celebrating a great man by showering him with lots of cards and a carved wood sign for the ranch house. My Dad is such a respectable, warm and hard working man and I feel so very blessed to call him mine! I'm so glad he is still so young and heart and fit as he enters his 6th decade and look forward to many years of love between not only he and I but also my three boys. I hope some of his traits rub off on them as they spend time together!

Well...after a day like that we came home, put the boys to bed and put our feet up. At least, I did. Philip didn't stop moving and continues to work on house stuff as I type. I've had a lot of contractions today and am hopeful that means this little one will be making his appearance soon....no more blogging until then!

Crazy Life

Soooo.... it's been a while since I lasted posted. Things have been a bit busy to say the least. We have been trying to squeeze in as much as we can before baby without loosing too much sleep or our minds! So, what have we done the past 3 weeks?

Sell our first house (we close October 29th), some minor remodeling of our new house, move (partially) to our new house, spend lots of family time getting treats, going to mini golf and go carts, taking lunch to Levi at school, visiting Gran who is spending her last days on hospice at my parents house with an impressive amount of joy and dignity (more on that in another post later), lots of meals out and on the go, enjoying our new bigger space and empty rooms as well as managing a few chilly swims while it was still warm enough, watching Levi play soccer, packing, organizing, installing lighting and then finally enjoying some fall weather.

The past few days I have been "nesting" like crazy and now have the house somewhat baby ready...so he can go ahead and come, nameless as he is :-) Here are a few phone pictures of the chaos. I'm hoping my next post will be soon, and all about a new baby Boyer!