Asher's Birth Story

Well, after that long post about patience.  I got to wait a little longer.  I kept saying, "I never thought I'd make it to (insert any occasion or date)."  But I just kept chugging along, feeling (and looking) oh so pregnant.  I'll spare you all the whiny details, but let it suffice to say I really think if I had been pregnant one second longer, my hips would no longer be with us (may they rest in peace).  And then what would I have to waddle with next pregnancy?

Pretty pregnant!

Now for the birth story...

Once upon a time in a far away land: At 4:30 in the morning, a princess awoke.  Just kidding, I promise I'm done with the fairy tale.  I was woken up by a pretty strong contraction, right in the middle of a wonderful dream about garage sale-ing.  After a few contractions, I realized that this was the real thing, finally.  I'd been having false alarms for a couple of weeks, so by this time I was pretty skeptical.  I woke Joshua up pretty quickly, because I realized this one was going to be way faster (dream big!).  The contractions started out much harder this time than they did with Judah.  We didn't really have anything ready, so we spent the next hour or so getting things in order for my parents to watch Judah.  When my dad left for work at 5:30, I told him to keep his phone with him because today was the day.

First Snuggles, totally amazing!

I was going to wait awhile to wake my mom up because I'm a nice person, but this was happening way faster than I anticipated.  Joshua went over to their house at around 5:55 to wake her.  I knew that I wouldn't want to be giving instructions for watching Judah much later.  We finished getting ready until about 6:30, and then headed to town.  Our plan was to get a hotel room near the hospital to labor in.  We wanted to stay out of the hospital as long as possible, but knew I wouldn't want to be in the car towards the end.

Could not love this face any more, so sweet!

As soon as we got in the car, the contractions spread out and got less intense.  It felt wonderful.  I joked that I would stay in the car the whole labor.  When we left the house we were almost thinking we'd go straight to the hospital, but once in the car we decided we for sure would get a hotel room.  We headed to the Wildwood Lodge in West Des Moines.  Joshua called ahead, and they said they had a room with a Jacuzzi tub available (yes please!).  I'm sure they thought we were crazy getting a room at 7:00 in the morning... Oh well, just wait until they hear me moaning as we check in.

Loving the family time!

We pulled into the parking lot and started to walk into the hotel.  All of a sudden I had a whole bunch of really intense contractions.  Like, I couldn't make it inside the hotel.  There was a cab sitting outside the hotel, I'm pretty sure they thought we were some young couple crazy about each other (which we are, but aren't quite as PDAish as it seemed).  We would take a step, then I'd throw myself on Joshua and just hang there for the contraction.  Ahh, young love...  Anyway, we decided that this was happening fast as long as I stood up, so decided to go straight to the hospital.  We figured we'd save ourselves money and just labor in the hospital waiting room.  That way we wouldn't have to drive at all when it got really intense.

Look at those cheeks!

We got to Mercy Hospital at around 7:00.  We didn't want to check in right away (since then they strap you down and that would slow things down too much), so we labored on the second floor for a couple hours.  They have a nice waiting room there, and there wasn't too much traffic that early in the morning. The contractions with this labor were really intense and close together while I was standing, so I stood basically the whole time.  If it got to be too much to handle, I would sit down for a couple contractions, and that would space them out to give me a break.  It was like having my own pain control, it really helped me get through it.  It gave me a sense of control so that I could relax. I truly believe it was a gift from God to get me through it.

Our good sleeper, mostly...

Finally around 9:00, I could tell I was transitioning (the worst part of labor).  How could I tell?  I think I remember declaring that I was just giving up, walking out of the hospital, and going home.  I may have also mentioned something about jumping off the balcony when Joshua told me option A was not possible.  (I have a sick sense of humor when in pain.  A lot of pain.)  Did I mention birth hurts?  That's where the expression "hurts like a mother" comes from.  I was one hurtin' mama.  Anyway, where were we?  Oh yeah, at 9:30 point we decided we should get my lil' laboring booty up stairs.  Up we went, with lots of contractions on the way.  I could tell I was a lot further along than I was with Judah when I got to the check-in desk because they didn't really care about insurance, my name, or much else.  They were just pretty interested in getting me to my room.  I declined the wheel chair escort, because I wanted to keep the show rolling.  I think I really freaked the nurse out though, since I had about 5 contractions on our very short walk to the room.

Long skinny feet, just like mama!

When I got to my room they promptly made me lay down on the bed, ugh.  They hooked me up and checked me.  I was at an 8, woohoo!  I was actually at this point starting to feel a tiny bit "pushy," but I knew I wasn't ready to push quite yet.  The nurse was so-so.  She wasn't mean, but wasn't the happiest camper on the lot.  She asked me a million questions.  A million.  During contractions even.  Let me give you one little piece of advice.  Never ever ever ever ever ever never ever ever ask a woman questions during transition contractions.  It is mean, you will probably not get an answer, and did I mention it is mean?  Luckily Joshua fielded most of these for me, but oh man, it really made it hard to focus on relaxing during contractions.

Hungry already!

Once the nurse was done with the third degree, the doctor came in (around 10:00).  It was a substitute doctor, since the real on call doctor was doing a C-section.  I really like this doctor because she told me I could get out of bed and go to the potty (over share, I know.  But you ARE reading a birth story, that will always include over sharing,  and if you only knew the things I'm not sharing...).  While doing my thing I had a really strong contraction, that made my body push.  I told Joshua that and he told me to stop right then and then ran out of the room and tattled on me (I didn't mean to push, it just happened, honest (Joshua would like to note that "I told Joshua that" took the form of loudly screaming - "I'm pushing!" thereby slightly justifying the forementioned tattling)).  Nurses came spilling in, I was promptly ushered to bed.  People came a-runnin' in, like a little scrub army.  Then I yelled "just kidding!" No, just kidding.  My body really was pushing, but I could tell it wasn't doing it for reals, just kind of practice pushing.  They checked me again, and I wasn't completely dilated yet.  Everyone started breathing again.  People finished setting up for the exciting moment and then left the room.  It was really exciting when they put down the baby bed thing in the room, it made it feel more real.  That helped me get through this time.  I just kept saying that meant the baby was coming soon.

"Hey look!  He makes funny faces when I poke him!"

The real doctor got out of their C-section and came in. I was kind of bummed because she's not very gentle with anything.  When she would check me in visits it would hurt a lot and a lot of the other doctors weren't as rough.  Around 10:35 they checked me and I was a perfect 10 (go me!).  Our doctor broke my water with out telling me then actually lied about it when I asked her.  I wasn't very impressed with that.  I think I would have been okay with it, had she asked me first or at least been honest with me.  That coupled with some other issues made me really disappointed in her because we so appreciated her willingness to try birthing naturally with Judah.  Any way, I had a couple minute break in contractions which was nice before I started pushing.

So snuggly already, good for a mama's heart.

At around 10:39 I started pushing.  The nurse yelled at me to push harder and the doctor yelled at me to push slower. I didn't want to take sides, so I just pushed how I pushed and left them to duke it out.  It was fun this time because Joshua actually got to see him being born, it really encouraged me to hear that he was coming out and was so sweet.  At 10:45 Asher Avdon Stewardson was born.  Huzzah!  I felt so much better this time than after Judah was born so I was really able to enjoy holding him.  I was so excited because it just happened that everyone else was busy so I saw when they turned him to put him on my chest that he was a boy.  I never thought I'd get to be the first to find out.  I announced that he was a boy and was so excited to meet my little man!  They kept having to rub his back and pinch him because he just snuggled in right away and didn't want to cry a lot.  He's already living up to his name, it means "happy."

Our big boy: 13lbs 12.8oz (after pooping already...)

Poor little face was bruised because of how fast it went apparently. Still perfect though!

After he was born, the doctor stitched me up.  I only had a 2nd degree tear this time, so we were really grateful for that!  At this rate, hopefully next time will only be a 1st degree.  Woo to the hoo!

So happy to head home to see big brother!

So, that's how it all went down.  It was just one big blessing.  I had read on a blog about how labor can be a worship experience because you're so dependent on God to get you through it.  It's totally true.  It was an amazing time of relying on God and feeling his peace.  He is so glorious and has made labor and birth to be such a beautiful experience.  I feel really blessed to have gotten to experience it twice, and I hope to experience it again sometime.

Judah's such a good helper rocking Asher. If Asher survives... :)

Asher is such a blessed addition to our family.  We all love him so much already.  He is a really happy baby as long as he's not hungry (who could blame him...).  I'm loving the new born phase this time around, I could just snuggle him forever.  And don't get me started on how fun it is to see Judah interact with him. Judah is a great big brother.  Asher is really blessed to have such a wonderful big brother.  I think 15 months apart is the perfect gap.  Judah really hasn't experienced jealousy, there's always room for two on our laps and he likes snuggling with Asher.  All in all, we're just really enjoying our family of four and praising God for the gift of two beautiful boys.  We hope to raise them to glorify God in all they do.

Brother snuggles!

Daddy's lap is the shnizz!

Over and out!

Kendall

Patience

We're finally here.  The end of the road.  On Tuesday I will be 40 weeks.  This pregnancy started off going quickly.  Sometimes I even sort of forgot I was pregnant.  Not now.  Nope.  I am so completely and utterly pregnant.  I'm pretty sure I'm twice as wide now.  Sometimes it's hard to remember what a blessing it is.  I'm definitely all about the blessing of holding my little one.  I know that is a blessing.  I know the life inside me is nothing short of a gift from God.  But, oh man, the overly pregnant part of me is a whiner.  The last few days I've found myself short on patience and trust in God.

Thankfully there are people out there that have been down this road before and are not as grumpy as me.  I found a blog called Passionate Homemaking and she shared some Bible verses for preparing your heart for the new little one coming.  I was really convicted by a lot of them.  Especially: 

"So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord.  Remember the great reward it brings you!  Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will.  Then you will receive all that He has promised."  Hebrews 10: 35-36

This is totally where I'm at.  I was starting to throw away my trust in the Lord.  Questions like, "doesn't he love me?", "does he have a plan for this?", "is he good?" all flooded my brain.  Until yesterday they overtook me, consumed me.  Praise the Lord for godly women who focus on scripture.  This baby is a gift from the Lord and He will bring it in HIS timing.  I am so thankful that he is teaching me patient endurance.  It's hard, because I've heard of women surrendering and realizing this and then they go into labor that night.  I didn't, but then I would have missed out on this peace that comes from the Lord and his continually giving me patience.  

Do not get me wrong this doesn't mean that I don't pray for this little one to come as soon as possible.  Because I do. But I also am now more able to just enjoy the life God has for me right now and be excited for when he chooses to add to it. 

"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is set on you; because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3

While I'm uncomfortable right now, I pray that God will continue to develop patience and trust in me.  I'm thankful for what he has done so far.  I'm thankful for the peace that only he can give. 

And I'm so excited for when I get to kiss this new little member of our family.
Some things are worth waiting for.

Kendall

Christmas Highlights

We really enjoyed Christmas this year.  We didn't do much, but that was perfect for us.

Judah helped us get in the Christmas spirit.

He put on his Christmas Shoes...

 On Christmas Eve we spent time with family, and tried to get a picture with all 6 grandkids.  Yes, they're all boys.  It would be pretty radical for this family if this baby is a girl...

Grandma and Grandpa got all the kids matching jackets.  It was actually nice enough to play outside.

I love the age Judah is at.  It was so fun for Christmas.  He would very very very very slowly open each gift (mostly from the grandparents :) and look up at us with a huge smile.

 Judah loves his vacuum.  Loves it.

Then on Christmas day we went over to great grandma and grandpa's.  Judah loves playing with all the cousins

 Love the way Judah is sliding in this, cracks me up.

 Playing with Grandma and Grandpa

And lest we forget Baby #2.  (Like you can forget something this big...)  Baby had a good Christmas, but may have eaten a few too many Christmas treats.  Naughty, naughty... :)

Hope you had a good Christmas!

Kendall

Fun times

Judah is 13 and a half months now and just gets more fun everyday.

We do lots of reading.  Lots.  This kid could read all day.  Which is super fun, but I can't help myself looking forward to the day when his books have plots.

We've been enjoying the nice weather and try to get outside as much as possible.  We've really only had a couple of days where we've needed to bundle up.   

Making fun of the fact that Judah looks like a gangster.  We've finally got him a hat that doesn't look funny, no more having to borrow grandpa's.

We're having lots of fun chasing this little guy around.

He's really getting into talking now too, it's pretty cute.  He says lots of words, but sometimes they sound very similar to one another.  When he's tired, the words "daddy" and "potato" sound crazy alike.  A cow still says "boo," no matter how capable he is of making the "m" sound.  Tractor and Cracker are pretty close too.  But he's trying more and more and getting better at communicating with us which is really helpful and cute.

He loves drawing.  We can't color yet, because SOMEONE eats the crayons no matter how many times we try to stop him.  I'm not going to name any names.  I let him draw with pen though, because he really does a great job at staying on the paper.  He also knows how to click the pen on and off, which is not my favorite trick because there are definitely times for keeping pens closed.  Like when you're in close proximity to my skin...

 We also demand to feed ourself at most meals.  He does okay at getting the food in his mouth, but he's extremely messy still.  Extremely.  But, I guess it's how he learns and he is getting better, so we roll with it.

 Look how happy it makes him!

Oh, and he's finally learned to crawl.  After he learned to walk he found it necessary in case he fell to be able to crawl to something to pick himself up.  Yup, he totally missed the whole "you crawl before you walk" memo.  Apparently he's decided to be non-conventional. 

He's getting to be such a big boy.  He wants to help us do whatever we're doing.  Dusting and vacuuming are basically the coolest things ever.

Helping mommy cook is also pretty exciting.

Good thing he's such a good helper because he's going to be a big brother in 4 weeks!  

We're so excited and a little nervous about what that will look like, but very thankful to be blessed with this addition!

Putting the ghetto back in Halloween!

We went to Trunk or Treat at my parent's church.  We kind of decided last minute to go, so we had to scramble for a costume.  So, lest anyone think we are classy people, I decided to make my son a costume out of a plastic table cloth.  That's right, not even a nice table cloth.  The worst part?  It's probably not the worst last minute costume he'll have to endure.

So, without further ado, our little construction worker:

He's serious about construction...

 I'm pretty sure this is right after accidentally whacking daddy in the face with the hammer, oops...

 He loved going around with grandma to get his loot.  He'd grab one piece and then put it in his box.

 They actually had ducks and hens that he could pet there.  He was in heaven since he's learning what all the animals say right now! (Except that cows say "booo" apparently, who knew?)

In a slightly less fun update.  I'm going back to my no-sugar eating thing for the pregnancy.  They say it really does help reduce the baby's size.  Which, let's face it, I could use.  I did really well for the first 3 months of pregnancy and then after our Italian cruise I ate sugar with the vivacity of the cookie monster slid a little.  So, no more of this baby:

Not that we'd ever make monkey bread more unhealthy by putting left over cream cheese icing on it...

Nope, wouldn't do that.

Kendall

Who Needs Health Insurance When They're Pregnant?

So, we've been overseas for the last 6 months right?  For this we got an international health insurance plan that was great except it didn't cover one thing: pregnancy.  Yes, laugh, sick people.  As you all know, we became pregnant by nothing short of a miracle (just like everyone else, right...).  "Not a big deal" we thought, we'll just get a plan when we get back to the states that does cover pregnancy.  Yes, laugh again, you insurance knowledgeable sick, sick people.  Apparently insurance companies and states can and do discriminate against pregnancy.  If you are already pregnant, you cannot get health insurance to cover your pregnancy.  We found this out over a very long and stressful Monday this week.  Poor Joshua called 14 insurance companies, 6 hospitals, 3 state governments, 2 doctors offices, and a partridge in a pear tree.  At the end of the day (almost), we were told that we would have to pay it out of pocket.  Eeeek!  Emotional breakdown, panic!  I was uninsurable in Washington, Oregon, and Iowa.  We thought of moving to Canada, but even they wouldn't take me on such short notice.

Even wearing black isn't slimming enough to fool the insurance companies...

We went through a lot of emotions during this time.  We haven't been very wise financially (with gallivanting all over the world and all), so it even passed my mind that God was punishing us.  I know that God doesn't roll like that, but I'm going to pull the emotional/fearful pregnancy card.

In Joshua's last call to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines the lady said, "she qualifies for Medicaid."  Joshua hung up the phone, looked at me and said, "yeah, she doesn't know what she's talking about."  My husband has such faith in others, haha.  In his favor, he had talked to a million people that really didn't know what they were talking about.  And the DHS website had a calculator for eligibility that was wrong.  Apparently they raise the income amount for qualification with pregnancy (finally, something that actually makes sense).  So long story short, instead of being punished by God, we were being hugely blessed financially.  It is our only option, but it would be a really good one for our family.  We're really wanting to get out of student debt, so this would be huge.  So, now we're just waiting and praying for it to go through.  It's hard that it takes 6 weeks to find out, but we don't really have much else to pursue anyway...

The only thing with medicaid is that it's Iowa medicaid.  Sooooo....we are staying in Iowa!  Not moving to Vancouver (Portland) like we were planning.  We think that we will go there eventually, but are waiting for God's timing. We were praying that God would let us know his timing, and we really feel that this was God closing the door for now.  We have no idea what the plan is, so we're just going to enjoy where we are.  That's the new and exciting news in our lives.

Oh, and somebody is turning 1 on Wednesday.  :)

He loves showing you how old he is if you ask him, he even uses the right finger... :)

Kendall