Hoping...and Wishing...and Dreaming...and Deserving

Like some of you, I have a dear, dear friend, and her awesome husband who would love love love to be parents.  And they will be pretty darn amazing ones, if I do say so.  So, if you know anyone who may be wanting to find some fan-tas-tic parents for their baby, please send them Holly & Kumen's profile.  And, did I mention they're awesome??!

Click here for their profile and information

Aren't they cute?!  Good luck, you two!

Baby S is Born

I realized the other day that I have not recorded Baby S's birth story.  It's nothing too outrageously fantastic, but I like it just the same.

I was originally due on 08/09/10.  How cool of a birthday would that have been?  But, then I went to the 12-week ultrasound and was told that it looked more like 08/01/10  (I had NO idea for the dr's on possible conception date - don't ask).  I have delivered my other 2 kids 6 and 5 days early, respectively, so I had to wonder with this one.

Fast forward to Saturday, July 24th.  DH had been gone on a week-long trip and was due home that evening.  He called me around 3 pm, though, and said he didn't think he would make it home because there was weather in some city that would prevent him from making it back to Chicago in time to catch the last flight to Philly.  At 3 pm that was no big deal.

At 2-ish I had gone with my friend, Sarah, to her parents' home about an hour away to swim with the kids, have pizza, and drink root beer and eat ice cream.  It was hot and we thought it would be fun.  And it was!  My 2 kids could not stop jumping off the diving board.  I had to be there to catch Miss M so I spent a lot of time treading water.  At about 4-ish, I started feeling a few contractions (I had had some the night before, but drank a bottle of water and laid on my side and they went away) again.  Didn't think much of it.  Until another one came a few minutes later.  And then another.  And another.  I finally grabbed Sarah's phone and started timing them.  9 minutes.  8 minutes.  8 minutes, 30 seconds.  Hmm.  I was sensing a bit of a pattern.  They were pretty uncomfortable, but I could still talk through them.

At 5 I called DH -
Me: "Where are you?"
DH: "Leaving Dallas on my way to Atlanta, why?"
Me: "I'm having contractions that are about 9 minutes apart and I'm not sure that it's anything, but if it IS something, I would hate for you to miss it.  Can you fly home from Atlanta?"
DH: "Yep.  I'll be there."

By 7 we were on the road back to home.  I got home, put the kids to bed, drank a big bottle of water and laid down on my left side willing my contractions to go away.

By 11 DH was calling me again.  He had missed the last flight out of Atlanta to Philly (it was full and he couldn't get a seat on it).  He told me the earliest he could get there in the morning was 9 AM, by the time he got to the hospital, it would be 10-ish.  Alright. I'll cross my fingers.

11:30 - DH calls again - "Can you get me a rental car in Allentown?  I can get in there tonight."

You bet.  Rental car booked and he's on his way.  Allentown's an hour away, and he gets home at 2:30 AM.  I'm awake because I only slept from 1:30-2:15.  Contractions were 5 to 6 minutes apart at this point and I was not comfortable.  By 4:30 AM I was in the shower and getting ready to call the dr. But first I blow dried my hair.  Priorities.

5:10 - I call the dr and leave a message with the answering service.  Go downstairs to eat breakfast.
6:00 - Come back upstairs and sit on the exercise ball waiting for the call back.
7:00 - Still nothing, but the contractions have gone back to being closer to 7-8 minutes apart, but they're harder.
7:30 - Call the dr again and tell the answering service (it's Sunday, remember) that I did not get a call back the first time I called.
7:35 - Dr. calls me back.  "So sorry - they told me you were 29 weeks, not 39 weeks."  Still.  She leaves it up to me.  I can come in or I can wait a little bit more.  I tell her I'll get my kids off to church, go walk some curbs, and then come in.  Sounds like a plan.
9:00 - Kids leave and DH and I start walking the curbs in 90+ degree heat
9:30 - Contractions are now 2-3 minutes apart.
9:45 - We leave for the hospital.
10:10 - Check-in to the maternity unit
10:45 - I'm at a 4 and they're keeping me (really??? only a 4??? after all that laboring ALL.NIGHT.LONG????)
11:00 - I tell the nurse that I'd like to have this baby with no epidural
11:30 - They break my water.
11:45 - These are very painful contractions
12:10 - My DH has no blood left in his wrist because I've squeezed it all out.  MERCY!!!  The thunder and lightning of a quick summer thunderstorm have begun.  I feel the same way. 
12:20 - My epidural comes - I'm at a 7 - so much for that resolve!
12:45 - It finally kicks in 100% and I snooze for a bit
2:10 - Nurse comes to check on me.  "Oh wow!!  You're ready to have a baby!"
2:30 - The Dr. comes in and gets situated.
2:33 - Start pushing
2:36 - I get to pull sweet, screaming Baby S on to my chest and be the first to cuddle her and cry and be so thrilled that all went well, that my DH made it in time, and that we all get to sleep that night.

The end. :)  But, really, only the beginning.  Love you, Baby S.

Merry Christmas from the Seamons Clan

Home for Christmas

We had an unusual first in our 10 1/2 yrs of marriage this year - we stayed home for the holidays.  All of them.  Hard to believe, but we have never once been in our home for Christmas.  We have always been able to celebrate with family, but this year we had decided to stay close to home when DH tore his Achilles, and it ended up being absolutely delightful! 

A few things we enjoyed:

• A visit from Nancy, Clint, and "Baby DAbid" as Miss M likes to call him for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
• A visit from Santa Claus - he got a bit carried away, we think, but I've heard he's apt to do that
• A visit from the cold/cough fairies - they enjoyed time with Miss M and Baby S and now the rest of us are hoping they stay far far away
• A yummy Christmas dinner with fun family and close friends - 28 people at ONE dining room table!  Go Sarah!
• A trip to the Crayola Factory and Canal Museum
• A New Year's Eve celebration with super great friends playing Reverse Charades (I'll never talk about the Ten Commandments again without thinking of Rob's flubbing of it) and Dance Central on the Kinect, and eating eating eating!
• Miss M's renewed passion to say all of the prayers - which she starts by saying "Dear Harry Potter" - because that's how she says "Heavenly Father."  I smile every time.
• Our "live" Christmas Eve nativity - complete with a great Joseph (Mr. A), a large Baby Jesus (Baby S), a heavenly angel (Baby David), and a standing Mary (Miss M) because, just as she entered "Bethlehem" and was instructed to sit down, "Got poop" - all caught on video camera.
• Miss M's explanations for why she does something - "Pa-cuz" instead of because.
• Taking Mr. A to black-light mini-golf and the arcade (thanks, Groupon) as entertainment one afternoon
• Making homemade cinnamon rolls 
• After-Christmas decoration bargain hunting/shopping
• Watching the Rose Parade on tv and eating our donuts (even if we couldn't be there in person)
• Spending time together as a family

In 2011 we have much to look forward to - a healed Achilles tendon, a newborn becoming a toddler, my first "baby" becoming a Kindergartner, Miss M starting preschool, many fun memories to be made, visits with family, my baby brother's wedding, and figuring out what life as we know it should really be!  It'll be a great one. 

Goodbye, 2010.  You brought us our sweet Baby S, our Mr. A's tubes in his ears, a wonderful 10 yr anniversary trip to Hawaii, a fantastic 2 weeks at the beautiful S. Carolina coast, 2 crutches, a cast, some reminders that we're not as young as we think we are, and developed patience and growth.  Thanks a bunch!