2017-2018 Homeschool Curriculum Choices

I started sharing our homeschool curriculum choices last year, and I think I like the "record" of where we are and where we're going. So here I am again posting our curriculum for my many (ok, very few) readers.

Nora | First Grade (age 6)
Nora just finished three subjects: spelling, phonics, and handwriting. She was doing all of these at a first grade level, because I thought she was capable, and she proved me right. She did very well. We're still working through her first grade math curriculum, as planned. But, it's not her favorite, and since she's already working ahead of her brick-and-mortar-schooled peers, I'm not pushing her. I don't want her to come out hating math. Though, she did get really into some of the units, like the one on time, so we moved a little quicker with that unit. Once she finishes the first grade level, we'll move onto second grade right away.

This year we're continuing on with the same spelling and phonics programs, but we're dropping a formal handwriting program. She does fairly well with handwriting, so I don't feel like she needs much more instruction. However, we're going to take another area, which I'll discuss more in a minute, and focus on handwriting.

We're adding history this year, and after much research, I chose Connecting with History (RC History). We started a couple weeks ago, and since it involves a fair amount independent reading (though at her level it's suggested that the parents read to the child, but since she's completely capable of doing it on her own, I'm letting her), she's loving it. Another part of it is either copy work or memorization of a poem or verse that fits the time era we're studying. At her age, I'm having her do copy work, and we're using that as her handwriting. There's also projects to do, which I'm excited about starting with all the kids. It incorporates many different books for reading, fictional and non-fictional, which I think will make history a much more interesting subject. (It's my least favorite, so I had to find something that, at the very least, made me excited to teach it.) On our way up north to go camping, we listened to C. S. Lewis's "The Magician's Nephew," a story about the creation of Narnia.

She also went to a free soccer camp this summer with her cousins and some friends. She seemed to enjoy the games they played.

Phonics: MCP Plaid Phonics Level B
Spelling: MCP Spelling Workout Level B
Math: Math Mammoth (finish Grade 1 as planned, then move onto Grade 2)

History: Connecting with History (RC History) Volume 1 Beginner Level
Science: Elemental Science Biology for the Grammar Stage

Nate | Preschool (age 4-5)

Nate is really starting to like reading. He's teaching himself a little, but phonics are tricky in English. We started working through the McGuffey Primer from All in One Homeschool and we're not quite halfway though it. Considering a little over a year ago when I posted, he wasn't even grasping letter sounds, but is now on Lesson 24, and reading many easy readers on his own, I'd say he's come a long way! Once he had an interest in it, he wanted to learn it! 

I think math will be a strong point with him. If he's sitting at the table when Nora is working on her math, he is often answering the questions with her. I don't plan on starting anything formal with him at this point, mostly because I haven't found anything I like for his level. If I run across something I think would fit him, I might start him on it.

I think I would also like to start working on handwriting with him. I'm sure at some point I'll order him the one of the Handwriting Without Tears workbooks. I think it worked really well with Nora, and I'm sure Nate will do well with it also. 

He still has some speech issues, but I think he's pretty close to other kids his age. The /th/ and /r/ sounds still seems to be tough for him, but given that he couldn't touch the tip of his tongue to the roof of his mouth when he was 2 years old in speech therapy, he's doing okay. We still remind him often of how to properly make the /th/ sound, but he can't seem to make the /r/ sound yet. Reading has helped with it a little as we're properly sounding out words.

One of the highlights of Nate's summer was being on a soccer team: Green Monsters. They had a 3-game season, and Grandpa Jack took him to most of his practices and games. 

Sam | Preschool (age 3)

I intended on working through Year 2 of ABC Jesus Loves Me with him this past year, but I other than making the creation story book with him, we didn't do much. Even without using a formal curriculum though, he now knows all his colors (his favorite is orange) and can recognize most of the letters of the alphabet, and most numbers. He doesn't know most of his shapes though (star and heart are pretty easy!). He knows the names of the different Magna Tile shapes just by playing with Nora and Nate, but hasn't translated that to other objects yet. He does know circle and line though, because he can write the "a" in his name (a circle with a line next to it).

Lily | Toddler (age 1)

She's already been learning a lot through playing with her siblings. I have found that with both her and Sam, I haven't read to them as often as I did with the other two. I feel bad about this and hope it doesn't affect their passion for reading as they grow. Lily seems to be really interested in books, and will often bring a book to someone expecting him/her to read it. I am very thankful that Nora reads to her sometimes. She is also a talker like Nora was (okay, still is!). She has so many words: ba-be (baby), mama-me (mama milk), pa (up), da (down), wawa (water), mak (milk), Ra-ra (Nora), Nee (Nate), and Me-me (Sammy). I think she tries to say sentences too, but most of the words we don't understand. However, with her inflections, we can sometimes figure it out. (There it is and Where is s/he? are two that we know she's trying to say.)

2016-2017 Homeschool Curriculum Choices

I've seen some people posting their curriculum choices each year to share their favorites, so I figured, what the heck, I'll do it too! Plus, I'm super excited that I just clicked that "buy" button and our books will be arriving next week! So without further ado, here's what I've picked for our kids this year.

Nora, Kindergarten
Nora is a veracious reader (she's probably at a second grade reading level, but she doesn't like to read in front of me, so it's hard to know for sure), has been able to write all of her letters and numbers for a while, but doesn't have much interest in math, much to our dismay! Since I don't think she knows all of the phonics behind reading, I wanted a phonics program for her. Along with that, I know she can sound out and spell many words, so I thought I'd try a spelling program with her, but if I'm finding it's too challenging for her, I won't sweat it. Then, of course, I wanted a good, solid math program for her. For faith formation, Nora will continue in our church's faith formation program at the kindergarten level. I also picked out a saint or feast day for each week of the year that the whole family will learn about. Then at the MN Catholic Homeschool Conference I won the Family Formation's Little Lambs Home Lessons, so we will be doing that with Nora, Nate, and Sam. Nora is also signed up for swimming lessons over the summer and has moved up to the "Bobbers" class.

Phonics: MCP Plaid Phonics Level A
Spelling: MCP Spelling Workout Level A
Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears My Printing Book - Grade 1
Math: Math Mammoth Grade 1 (we will likely work through this very slowly and take 2 years to do it)

Nate, Preschool
Nate hasn't had much interest in "doing school," and I haven't pushed it with him. He's a little over halfway through Year 3 of ABC Jesus Loves Me, and so we will continue on with Year 3 then start Year 4 when he is through it. While we have talked about the sounds that different letters make from "A" through "P," it hasn't yet clicked with him. Year 4 of the curriculum goes through the letter sounds again, so I'm hoping maybe the second time through it will click with him. I am continuing to work with Nate on some speech issues (currently the "th" sound and the "l" sound, as he calls his baby sister, "Willy"). This will be Nate's first year in faith formation at church with me as his teacher, and he will also be doing the Little Lambs program. Nate is signed up for swimming lessons as well, and even though he's not quite old enough, his teacher was okay with him moving onto the "Turtles" class, so he will be in the water without a parent!

Sam, Pre-Preschool
So far I have been coming up with color and shape activities for Sam to do while the other two are doing school, because he wants to do everything that they are doing. He knows a couple shapes that we talked about, but I'm not sure colors has clicked with him yet. I think I will really see him blossom while working through Year 2 of ABC Jesus Loves Me. He's eager to learn, and is always saying new words.

Lily, Baby
She'll just be hanging out with us while we're having all the fun. I'm sure she'll be busy learning to sit, crawl, and maybe even walk (God help me!) while I'm working with her older siblings.

Our First Year of "Homeschool"

Well, we are just about done with our first year of unofficial homeschool with Nora. She has been doing the 2 Year Curriculum at ABCJesusLovesMe.com, and I think we've both been having a great time with it. With Nate (and Nora too), I've been using a book called Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready by June R. Oberlander, which has activities for each week that are developmentally appropriate for the child's age.

Let's start with Nora.

While she loved to listen to the ABC song on several of her toys that played it, she couldn't sing it herself. Part of that was language development, and part of it was just learning the song, I think. Fast forward to now: She not only sings the whole song by herself, but she recognizes over half of the capital letters, and several lower case letters. She can also write the letter "O."

I think she was beginning to grasp counting, as she would say "one, two, wee!" when grandma would play with her), but I don't think she understood the concept of what numbers represented. Now, she can count to 11 most days, and point and count to at least 7, but sometimes more. She recognizes 2 items right away without counting, but will often count them just because she can. She also knows her age and Nate's age.

She didn't know any colors or shapes before we started, but now knows all her colors (though she confuses pink and purple sometimes), and all her shapes.

Since we pray before our meals, she could kind of make the sign of the cross, but now she can make the sign correctly and say the whole prayer by herself. She has also learned several other prayers before bedtime. The Our Father, Hail Mary, Memorare, Angel of God, Come Lord Jesus, St. Michael the Archangel, and many others! She also knows the creation story, the Christmas story, and is learning about the Palm Sunday, and Jesus' Death and Resurrection. She also knows some memory versus to different tunes.

She has picked up quickly on lots of songs and finger plays, like "Red Light, Green Light," "The Itsy Bitsy Spider," and many more. Adam has also taught her a tap dance move that his mother taught them when they were kids called "Tick, Tock, Stomp."

When we started she called herself "No-wa" or "I-nor," but can now tell you her name is Eleanor Elisabeth. She can sometimes tell you what city she's from, but often gets that mixed up with her last name. She also knows the first names of her siblings and her parents.

About half way through the curriculum, I bought a large map for our office. This isn't part of the curriculum, but it's fun for her to "explore the world" from our office. I made magnets to go with one of their books called "Furry Friends." She can usually correctly place all the animals on the countries (or state) which they are from in the book (Alaska, Brazil, Scotland, South Africa, Russia, India, and Australia). I also made magnets with pictures of our family members that live out of state, so she can usually tell me what state they are in and put them there (Washington, Oregon, Texas, Georgia, Florida, and Minnesota).

While kids are always trying to be more independent and do things for themselves, here are things that we have specifically worked on getting Nora to do by herself: undress herself and put her dirty clothes down the chute, then dress herself (though sometimes articles of clothing end up backwards), pick up toys (with help and direction), wash her hands (especially now that Grandpa Jack made her a step stool, so she can reach!), and help set the table. We have always been working on manners as well, so Nora knows to say please, thank you, you're welcome, and excuse me, though she doesn't always remember. We are always working on improving these skills, but before we started she couldn't really do most of these things. A few things we haven't worked on are brushing her hair and her teeth, washing herself in the bathtub, helping to make her bed, and helping to clear the table after meals. She can kind of do some of these things, but since we haven't had her do it much, she hasn't gotten really good at any of them (expect maybe clearing the table when we ask, but it's pretty much like setting the table in reverse).

Of course all these things don't even put a dent in the list of things she's learned I'm sure (like being completely day time potty trained and almost night time potty trained)! But it's been so fun watching her grow and develop new skills and knowledge!

So, onto my little guy Nate...

We haven't really started any homeschooling with him, but have just been playing with him and teaching him all the things you teach a 1-year-old. He's learned to crawl, walk, climb, & scare Momma with new stunts while trying to follow his big sister or explore on his own. He wants to use a fork or spoon, and has actually been getting okay at using it, but he still prefers using his hands (it's much quicker and easier to stuff his mouth full that way!).

He has really started to develop his language skills more, which excites me! He signs more, eat, thirsty, please, and poop (toilet). He also says "ma" which can mean more or mine depending on what he's doing. He says "ma ma," "da da," and "ra ra" (Nora). One word he uses a lot that I'm not as much a fan of is "dis" (this) while pointing to something. I am trying to work on the actual words for the objects with him, but I'll take that he's communicating what he wants with me. And one of his new favorites is "ba" (ball), since he just got a couple wiffle balls for Easter. He can also tell you what a puppy (va va), sheep (baa), bear/ dinosaur (raa) say.

He may (or may not!) also have some understanding of the color blue. Though, whenever you ask him what color something is he says, "bue." But sometimes I will catch him pointing at something and saying "bue" and more often than not it's actually blue.

Talented Kids!

So a while ago I wrote a post about what Nora could do at 13 1/2 months, and even then I wanted to keep posting every once in a while about the new things she has learned and can do. But, I think what made me actually sit down and write this post, was after reading some articles about homeschooling on the National Home Education Network about getting started homeschooling (I know I'm probably a little a head, but I know I won't always have time to learn about it, so I'll be behind later I'm sure!). A couple of them mentioned about keeping track of what your child knows, just to show yourself that you are helping your child learn. Then on days when you doubt what you're doing is actually working, you can come back and reassure yourself. So, while we aren't officially homeschooling right now, I still wanted to write down what my kids can do. I know it's not good to compare kids, but sometimes you see other kids your child's age and think, "Oh! My child is so much smarter than him/her!" and other times when you see another child (or maybe a different child doing something your kid can't) and think, "Oh, no! That kid is so much smarter than my kid!" But really, especially at this young age, kids are developing at different rates, and in the areas that interest them most. Even with my own two kids, I can see the differences. While Nora was very strong with her large motor skills (crawling at 6 months and walking at 9 months), Nate doesn't seem as interested, but I think he prefers fine motor skills. Nora still isn't really interested in using a fork or spoon at meal time, and I'm guessing Nate will have it mastered by the time he's her age. Alright, without further a due  here's what I came on here to post...

(Oh, and if you're wondering, yes, at this point we are planning on homeschooling our kids.) :)

Nora's List at 20 Months
-say so many words that it's hard to keep a list at this point (it seems like she adds another word or two each day!)
-has such a larger vocabulary that sometimes I surprise myself when I ask her to do something, thinking that she won't know what I'm asking of her, and then she goes and does it
-say several two-word sentences (up peas, down peas, hi bebe -or Dora, or Elmo, but never momma or dada-)
-say a couple three-word sentences (I see ya)
-do simple puzzles
-"help" clean the house or dishes, and cook (she says "ha-p, ha-p" when she wants to help)
-jump and get her feet off the ground
-walks up the stairs like an adult, holding onto the wall, since she can't reach the banister rail
-clip together the many safety buckels in the house (car seats, the swing, high chair, etc.)
-identify several body parts on herself and others (nose -noe-, eyes -aye-, ears, hair, mouth, tongue, teeth -teet-, hands/ fingers, arms -aarm-, legs, toes -wee wee-, feet, tummy, belly button)
-identify people by name in person and in pictures (Nora -raw raw- or Eleanor -i no-, mama or ma me, dada, Nate -nee-, grandma -mama-, grandpa -ga pa-, Addy -ad de-, Linda -da da-)
-identify characters by name (Elmo, Dora, Abby, The Count -ha ha ha-)
-greet people (hi-e, bye bye) sometimes by name (dolly -dol de-, Nate -nee-, etc., but not Momma or Dada)
-knows to stop at the end of the driveway and not go into the street (we're working on the yard & street boundary)
-follow one step, specific directions (Can you put your toothbrush to go upstairs?)
-use manners (please -peas or the sign-, excuse me -me me-)
-identify when Nate is happy (hap pe)
-parts of the sign of the cross (Father & Holy -ho e-, sometimes Son and Spirit, but not necessarily in the right order) using her proper hand
-put her arms in the arm holes of clothes, and put some pairs of socks and her shoes on her feet

Nate's List at 3 1/2 Months
-"stand" with us making sure he doesn't tip over
-hold his head upright
-get his hands into his mouth to suck on
-smile (with dimples!)
-"talk" with ahh's and coo's

Look What Nora Can Do!

I kind of wanted to make a list of things that Nora has learned how to do so that when she's older and has kids of her own she can see how much trouble sweet she was. I wanted to do it at a year, but never got around to it... So at 13 1/2 months, Nora can...

- point at a puppy/ dog and say "PU-pe"
- say "be-be" when she sees a baby (she has been very gentle and nice to babies thus far, and I'm hoping it continues when her little brother arrives)
- say "mama," "dada," "gmpa," "abby" (or "addy," we're not really sure which) and babble ALOT
- makes a new noise that I can't even replicate (no idea where or how she came up with it, but she really thinks its fun to make!)
- walk
- climb upstairs and she's starting to walk downstairs (like an adult!) when she's holding onto something or someone
- climb from the kneeler in church onto the pew
- bring you the stuffed Tigger grandma bought her, when you ask "Where's Tigger?"
- "bounce" by bending her knees when asked "What does Tigger do?" or "Can you bounce?"
- dance by stomping her feet to any one of her toys that makes music
- give dolly or Momma (or anyone/ thing) a hug or kiss when asked (and sometime when not asked) :)
- point to her nose when asked "Where's Nora's nose?"
- point to someone else's nose when asked
- point to your eyes and say "hi-e"
- point to her eyes when asked
- show the sign for eat when asked if she wants to eat
- go to her highchair when asked "Where do we go to eat?"
- go to the gate going upstairs for bedtime or naps, diaper changes, or just when told "Let's go upstairs"
- go to the gate going to the main floor when told "We're going downstairs"
- say "hi" and wave
- wave bye-bye
- wave bye-bye to Daddy when we I tell her we are leaving (making sure he sees her and waves back), then goes to the gate to go to the basement
- point to things she wants when asked, "What do you want?" (mostly food, but sometimes other things)
- try to put lids on containers (never the right ones though!)
- run to the garage door from the car, walk over the door threshold (with a hand from Momma), and run over to the stairs to climb up before I can even put down the diaper bag
- walk backwards until she feels a "chair" (like grandma's front step) and sits down
- shut drawers or cabinets when told to "shut" (then claps because she did a good job)
- put things "in" or "on" other things when asked to (drawers, shelves, etc.)
- pulls things our then *sometimes* puts them away again
- use a spoon to put things in her mouth (but someone has to put something on the spoon for her)

Nora's Thank You Notes

Almost a month after her party, I finally made Nora's thank you notes and had my little one-year-old sit down and write them. ;) I couldn't decide how I liked them best, so I made a couple variations. Since the gifts were for Nora (not me), I wrote them as if she were writing them. I thought it might be fun for her family to see what she thought of the toys and money that she got. I think next year I will try to have her write an "N" or her name, depending on what she can do at the time. But at this point, if she's holding a crayon, she thinks it looks tasty, and it ends up in her mouth. :-/

Nora's Rainbow Birthday

Well, today is our little Rainbow Baby's first birthday! It's hard to believe how little and helpless she was and how big and not-quite-so-helpless she is now!

I spent a lot of time planning her birthday party. I decided I wanted to do a rainbow themed party when I saw a friend from Faith's Lodge pinning rainbow things for her Rainbow Baby's first birthday. Most of it was fairly easy, but the cake is what took the most time and effort!

Another thing that took a while was making some decorations. I took 8 1/2 x 11 inch colored card stock that my mom had and cut it into 1 inch strips, then sewed them all together down the middle, leaving about an inch space between each so that they could spin in the breeze. Super easy!

For the birthday girl, I wanted her outfit to match the theme. I have seen tutus for little girls' birthdays, and kind of liked the idea, but thought of ribbon instead. My mom suggested adding tule to give it more "volume,"
so she put it together for me. She also found a pretty white onesie with rainbow colors at the top. Then I had to paint her toe nails to match! :)

I pulled out any rainbow bowls or serving ware I had and used it (easy-peasy!), printed some labels for the fruit & veggie dips, and put colored paper in the mason jars that held the "plasticware."

Made a fruit tray and a veggie tray in rainbow color order (that took a little though and planning trying to find cheap fruit and veggies in the right color, plus some of them fell through when I couldn't find good produce!).

My mom made rainbow jello cookies, and rainbow layered jello (and helped with a lot of other stuff!). She also found little cupcake cups that were kind of rainbow-ish, so we put Chex Mix in them on the tables.

The weather turned out perfect (we usually host parties in our garage and yard), so the kids were able to play outside. I had chalk out for them, along with bubbles (in rainbow colored little bottle, no less), and a coloring sheet I had made with a rainbow.

 I think everyone had a great time, and I know I enjoyed planning it all, putting it together, and watching my Rainbow Baby grow to be ONE!

Making Nora's Rainbow Cake

I knew I wanted to do a rainbow themed party for our Rainbow Baby, and the cake was no less a part of the theme. I had seem lots of rainbow layer cakes pinned on Pinterest, and read a few of their ideas and such, then went to making my own! I will warn anyone wanting to do this, that it takes quite a lot of time. I started at 1pm and didn't finish until 7pm. (Granted we had some down time when it was baking, and we ate dinner in there somewhere too, but it's still time-consuming.)

Don't look in the background, you'll see my secret recipe!

 I read that weighting the cake batter was a good way to split it up evenly into 6 parts for coloring. So I borrowed my mom's scale, and weighted it out. If I remember it was close to 12 ounces for 2 boxes of cake mix. (I mixed them together even though they were slightly different.)

I wasn't exact with the weighting, but got fairly close. Here are five of the six bowls of batter. (One was getting dyed red.)

Pretty rainbow batter! It took a while trying to get the right colors and getting the red dark enough not to be too pastel-y pink. I think it's still kind of pink-ish, but the red food coloring I had was getting a little dried out and was hard to mix in, so I settled for this, and I thought it still looked nice.

I baked the cake kind of according to package directions. (It said for two 9-inch rounds, but did't say for three, so I baked them for slightly less time). My mom had borrowed me her layer cake pans, but it turned out hers were 8-inch, and mine were 9-inch. Since I didn't want the cake to be super tall, so I went for the 9-inch and had to put three batches in the oven. (It took quite a while!)

Once the cakes were baked, I sliced off the tops for two reasons: I wanted to make a miniature cake for Nora to smash, and I wanted my layers to sit more flat. The tops weren't perfectly flat like the bottoms, but they weren't very uneven either.

I took the parts that I had sliced off, and took an old can to cut them in circles to layer them (they're upside down right now, but it made it easier to stack them as I frosted them.

I put a crumb coat of frosting (see below) between each layer for Nora's cake. I didn't add extra frosting, because I didn't think she needed the extra sugar (and I was right... she didn't need the sugar she did get!).

For the crumb coating, I just thinned down some of my mom's homemade frosting with milk so it would spread more easily, and not catch the crumbs and make it look all icky. For Nora's cake, I also did the side, since it was all scrap bits of cake, but for the big cake, I just did the top. I probably could have done the sides, but when I went to frost it, it wasn't too crumby. 

The crumb coating on the tops of the big cake layers. Make sure to refrigerate them to let the frosting set and get hard.

For the big cake, I put frosting between each layer (it helped to make the layers more even). And then frosted the whole thing with white. I was going to decorate it and write "Happy Birthday, Nora" on it, but ran out of homemade frosting. I had a jar of store bought that I thought about using, but ran out of time. I think it looked just fine without though.

Nora enjoyed her smash cake.

And the layers looked just about as pretty as the big cake.

The finished product!
(My sister-in-law is cutting into the cake for me.)

Pretty layers!

Pretty cake!

Big Sister Moments

We are watching my niece, Addy, tonight. We took her to church with us, and she was sitting in her car seat next to Nora in her car set. Since Addy is forward-facing, and Nora is rear-facing, they can see each other quite easily. Addy was smiling at Nora, and Nora smiled back, and Addy started giggling and told us that Nora likes her. Which got me thinking about the interactions that Danielle and Eleanor would have...

I often wonder what interactions Danielle and Eleanor would have had, how much Danni would smile & giggle with her little sister. Would she share her toys with Nora, or would she take toys away from her (like I did to my brother!)? Would she clamor for attention while I was trying to feed her sister? When Nora was a little older, would they sit together, tell silly stories, and giggle & laugh? Would she give her little sister kisses? Would she try to comfort her when she cried?

I guess I will never know...

Beautiful Eyes

We were at church on Saturday, and Adam was trying to get Nora packed up in her car seat, when the older couple in front of us turned around and commented on our daughter. They said she had beautiful eyes. I really wanted to say, "Just like her big sister," but didn't. I don't think they wanted to get into much of a conversation or know our story, but I wanted to tell it. When I turned around, another little old lady came over and made a comment about Nora as well. Of course, again, I wanted to say something about Danielle, but didn't. She said she'd been seeing us in church since we got pregnant with her and just wanted to come over and say hi.

On our way home I was talking to Adam about how, if we had stayed at Holy Trinity, the little old ladies and the people that sat around us would probably know our story. They saw me pregnant with Danielle, they may or may not have seen the funeral announcement in the bulletin and figured out it was our daughter, they would have seen us show up for mass week after week without a baby. Some would have asked, some wouldn't have. Then they would have seen me pregnant again, and us showing up with a baby. The people at St. Pat's don't know (sans the one couple that mom, Jeff, and I talked to at Sunday donuts when we first joined). I guess I just figured that everyone that would be in our lives for the rest of our lives would know about Danielle, but as we start meeting new people and going new places, they don't. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet.

Nora's 4-month Check-up

So now that Nora is 5 1/2 months old, I'm finally writing about her 4-month check up. I don't remember a ton at this point, but she's still tall & skinny on the growth charts. Dr. Cady also said that she is the strongest 4-month old she has ever seen, as Nora was kicking her in the chest with her non-stop legs.

Now, Nora is starting to crawl, kind of... she gets up on all fours and rocks. At first she would get frustrated because she couldn't move forward to her toys, she could only move backwards by pushing on her hands. Though, now she's figured out how to get up on all fours, then to slide her arms forward and kind of lunge towards her toys. Sadly, though, she hasn't gotten much practice today, because she's wanted to be held all day. Poor little girl has a cold with a nasty cough. But, I'm sure she'll be fine in a few days a back to working on crawling!

Daddy Tells Nora's Birth Story

We were up late the night before. We had been at a friend's house playing a game that went on for a few too many hours. By the time we finally got home and I fell into bed, it was probably around 11:45pm. I was woken up by Sarah's pained contraction groans around 12:30am. As I had been trained, I immediately started timing both their duration and their frequency. After a few had come and gone, I informed Sarah that they we longer and coming more frequently than the guideline for going to the hospital (5-1-1; 5 minutes apart, 1 minute long, lasting for 1 hour). Her's were on the order of 2 minutes long, 30 seconds apart, and I didn't wait for an hour, I decided that we were going. I called the hospital's line for incoming pregnant women and told them to expect us soon. Then I grabbed our previously packed bags and helped Sarah to the car.

I don't remember much of the drive. It is about 15 minutes from our house to the hospital. I can't imagine what the bumps and turns were doing to Sarah, but she made it through alright. We got to the ER and I dropped her off at the door into the care of the waiting nurse. I then parked the car and grabbed our cell phone chargers (we generally charge them overnight, and since we hadn't really had a night they were both almost dead). I met up with Sarah and the nurse inside and we went up to the maternity ward and got a room. They left us sitting in the room alone for a bit. I used that time to plug in my phone and use Sarah's to call Ashley, her doula, waking her up and getting her assurance she was on her way.

After a short wait a nurse came in and hooked Sarah up to the machine that monitored her contractions. They had to monitor her for an hour to be sure she was really in labor and deserving of a room. A little bit after that Ashley arrived and talked us through what in her experience we could expect. While we were waiting for the hour to pass, a nurse from the lab came in to draw Sarah's blood. She was probably the worst nurse ever; she didn't wait for Sarah's contraction to pass before trying to stick her with the needle. Consequently, it was a very painful experience for Sarah. Shortly after that a nurse came in and confirmed that Sarah was indeed in labor, so we could stay.

The next several hours passed in a blur. When you are in labor, but not fully dilated, they come in to check up on you, but nothing more than that. If they come in to check and you are fully dilated, then they call the doctor and the pushing commences. Otherwise they leave you to labor the way you want to, and offer suggestions if asked. Sarah preferred that I put counter-pressure on her back during a contraction, but other than that, she really didn't care what we did. We sat, laid down, walked the halls, used the labor ball, etc. Anything we could think of to break up the monotony, we did. And whenever Sarah had a contraction, I would immediately rush over and apply counter-pressure.

Around 7am or so (still no sleep for either Sarah or I), Ashley said she could handle things if I wanted to go eat. I was hungry so I went down to the cafeteria to grab a quick meal. On the way I grabbed my phone so I could call Sarah's mom, Denise. I had left her a text but she hadn't responded so I wanted to make sure she got it. She wanted to be there for the whole thing, and would probably have killed me if I hadn't informed her what was going on (for real, no exaggeration). I did wait til breakfast time, however, because I figured that someone should get some sleep, and it didn't look like Sarah was progressing very fast, so Denise wasn't in danger of missing anything.

The next few hours were a blur again, between putting pressure on Sarah's back, helping her walk or change positions or whatever, and keeping Denise informed (she waited in a nearby lounge). We noticed that as time went by Sarah became less responsive to suggestions to change position or try something else. Near the end she refused to do anything but sit in bed and rub her belly, right above her hips. She would talk, but it was an incoherent mumble. We knew she was exhausted, but she wanted to try without pain meds, so there was nothing we could do. We finally asked a nurse her opinion and she told us that she had never seen a patient as exhausted as Sarah was. She recommended that we try a painkiller that was like an epidural, which would allow Sarah to get some rest and be able to push when the time came. After taking it over with Sarah, I took her incoherent mumbled response as a “yes” and let the nurse drug her.

I didn't want to be in the room distracting Sarah from resting, so I went to the lounge and spent time with Denise. We decided to give the drugs 2 hours to work their magic, after which we would see how Sarah was feeling and either give her an epidural or give her more of the other drug depending on how she was doing. Denise and I had lunch and then I called my dad and sent out a mass text message letting people know that every thing was okay and that the baby would probably be born soon.

After the 2 hour time limit, we decided to go ahead with the epidural. The other drug wasn't quite enough for Sarah. Even though she looked and sounded a lot better, she wasn't ready to push out a baby. The anesthesiologist came up and put in the epidural, and then we played the waiting game. We were waiting to see if Sarah's water would break by itself or not. The doctor said that if it didn't break by 1:30pm, she would come in and pop it. It didn't break by the specified time and so the doc came in the make it happen. When she went in to pop it, she discovered that it had broken, it just hadn't leaked out very much. She then informed Sarah that it was time to push.

The epidural had worked a little too well on Sarah. She couldn't feel when she was contracting, and so had to rely on us to tell her. I, having spent the whole pregnancy declaring my intent to be by Sarah's head and not see any of the bloody mess below, found myself holding her leg and watching everything happen in real time (and even taking a few pictures). The baby was sitting very low. Sarah didn't have to push hardly at all and I could see a mess of hair. Because Sarah couldn't feel a thing, the doctor took Sarah's hand and guided it so she could feel the hair. After that it was about half an hour of us telling Sarah when to push until that screaming, slimy, gray baby was out and on her mom's chest.

Welcome to the world, Eleanor!

2-Month Check-Up

Nora had her 2-month check-up today... that means shots. I was curious to see if she'd be like her Daddy & big sister, Danni, and not care, or if she'd be a big baby about it, (yes, I'll admit it!) like her Momma. Turns out she's a big baby (more than me even!). Adam held her leg while the nurse gave her her shots. I tried to distract her, but it didn't work. Now, I can listen to her cry at home for no apparent reason, but it broke my heart to see her cry, or maybe I should say scream, when she got her shots. Maybe, because I feel her pain!

Another note about her doctor visit... she's at the 88th percentile for height, and the 40th percentile for weight for her age. Which for height versus weight, puts her at the 0.9th percentile. So she's tall like her Daddy, but skinny like her Momma!

After her appointment, Momma & Daddy got their turn with the needles... we got our flu shots!

Matching Band-Aides!

On a final note (a Momma's gotta brag!), Dr. Cady said she's one of the cutest babies she's seen (and she has her own kids)!

Eleanor's Baptism

I've been meaning to do this post for a while, but I wanted to wait until we got her pictures from my brother. I think they're on Adam's computer, but I haven't checked... anyway, I'm write the post with or without the photos!

After we lost Danni, I could hold it together in most public settings. There was one that I couldn't, and I lost it several times: Baptisms. I don't know why it was this event that always set me off, but it seemed that right after we lost her, we always ended up at the mass & church with one or more babies being Baptized. (We were trying to find a new church, so we kind of hopped from church to church each weekend.) Most of the time I could hold it together enough to sit in the pew and (somewhat) inconspicuously wipe my tears away. (Of course, Adam always noticed). But I remember once at St. John Neumann, Adam taking me out of church and sitting in the lobby on a couch crying for most of the rest of mass.

With Eleanor's Baptism approaching, I wasn't sure how I would handle it. We had been to a couple Baptisms (for family & for stangers), and I was just fine. But when it's your Rainbow Baby, it's a little different. I wasn't sure if I'd cry for the joy of being able to Baptize her normally, or sadness because we didn't get to have a normal Baptism for Danielle. Surprisingly, I didn't cry at all. I had a huge smile on my face and was so happy to be able to celebrate this sacrament with Eleanor, but no tears!

Eleanor's Birth Story

After I wrote the post about what I thought might be the beginning of Eleanor's birth story, and, at the time, I figured it probably wasn't. But, looking back, that's when my early labor started...

************* the continuation *************

Trying to write times in the dark

I can't remember now if it was Sunday night or Monday night, but either way, I woke up feeling some contractions. They weren't that bad, and I was able to fall asleep right away after each one. But after I felt a couple, I thought I better start timing them. So I grabbed a little piece of paper from my dresser and a pencil from Adam's, and set them on the bed next to me with my cell phone. I wasn't really timing how long each one lasted, but I was timing how long between each one. Times varied, but they were between 10 and 15 minutes apart. I was getting excited, as I thought that we might be heading to the hospital later that day. But I knew that I should try to sleep, as I would need the energy later to push her out of me. 

Eventually, we got up for the day and I told Adam I was having contractions throughout the night. As we got up and started the day, my contractions pretty well stopped. Our bags were still in the car (sans a couple things that we needed back in the house), but when we had gone in, we thought of a couple more things to add to it, so we threw them in as well. I told Adam that I didn't think it was going to be today, but I wished it would be.

We went to bed that night, and sure enough, I was woken up by contractions again. They still weren't that bad, and I was able to just breath through them. I decided not to time them this time though, because I found I got less sleep when I was worrying about watching the clock. When we got up for the day again, my contractions slowed and stopped. Again, I knew that it wasn't going to be today. This happened a couple more nights. 

Adam's recording sheet

Thursday morning though, they didn't slow and actually got a little closer together. Some were even lasting more than a minute. My doula, Ashley, had left her birth ball for me to use at home. I made myself comfortable on the birth ball bouncing or rocking/rolling on it and set my laptop on one of our bar stools and messed around on the computer between and often during contractions. At this point I was very excited thinking that today might be the day. I would tell Adam when I felt one starting and he would write down the time and I would watch the second hand on the mantel clock (we got it from my Aunt Carla as a wedding gift) and let him know how long it lasted. They ranged from 5 minutes to 12 minutes apart. 

After an hour of timing, we took a break. I texted Ashley and told her the timing and how I was doing. She told me to start timing again if I felt they were getting "longer, stronger, & closer together." Around 3pm I told Adam that they seemed to be going away again, so he timed a couple, and sure enough they were about 20 minutes apart.

At some point during the day, we were invited over to Joshua & Macey's for dinner and a game of Catan with them, Matt, Dave, & Theresa. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go if I was still having contractions, as they were getting stronger than the ones I was having in the middle of the night. I eventually decided we could go, because I figured it wouldn't be tomorrow either, and that my body would just keep playing mean tricks on me. 

Matt of course wanted to squeeze her out of me, and everyone was hoping I would have her soon. I told them I was having contractions during the day for a change, but they weren't getting "longer, stronger, and closer together." Adam had brought the birth ball with, because it was more comfortable for me to sit on, so we ate dinner (me on the birth ball, rolled up to the table) and played Catan. Every once in a while I would have a contraction. Some were worse than others. I remember at one point, asking Dave a question about some rule of the game or something, and he answered me. I had no idea what he said because a contraction had started, but I looked at him the whole time nodding my head like I understood.

The game went way later than any of us had expected and we ended up leaving at 11pm. We quickly crawled in bed and went to sleep when we got home. Of course, I was woken up with contractions again. This time I would rub my belly and breath through them. They were starting to feel like the really bad period cramps I would get once in a while in middle school and high school (when I would have to get sent home, because they were so bad). 

Just before 1am, my contractions woke Adam up. I hadn't been paying attention to the clock at all still, thinking that they weren't that close together or anything. But, Adam started timing them, and pushing on my lower back when I was having one. After about an hour of timing, Adam told me that we should go in, they were 5 minutes apart, and some were even 3 minutes apart. Having not really slept much yet, I was hesitant to get out of bed, but I knew he was right in saying that it was time to go in. Adam put in his contacts and got dressed. I grabbed my contacts, but wore my glasses and got dressed. 

The car ride there wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, it wasn't comfortable sitting strapped into the seat, but it was manageable. I texted Ashley and told her we were heading in, she said that she would meet us there. We got to the emergency room door and the nurse offered me a wheelchair, and I declined, I felt better standing. We waited for Adam to park the car and she brought us up the elevator, telling me, "Oh hunny, we'll get you that epidural, and you'll be fine!" (I'm glad she didn't work on the maternity floor!) We officially signed into the hospital at 1:45am and were brought to our room. I will say that I had absolutely no concept of time at all until they told me what time she was born. Ashley arrived shortly after we got there, and then Adam went out to get our bags and stuff.

I gave the nurse my birth plan, and was hooked up to the IV (I needed an antibiotic since I tested positive for Group B Strep) and monitors. Originally, I was told they would do an initial hour of monitoring, and then do it periodically throughout labor. Apparently, they needed my doctor to sign off on that, so I was hooked up to the monitors the whole time. 

When the nurse put the IV in, before she started the saline, she drew some blood so that I wouldn't have to get stuck again later. Well, that didn't work out as planned, because later a lab tech came in and said she needed to draw my blood. I told her the nurse did it when she put in the IV, but she said she needed more for  blood typing or something. I told her only my left arm (the veins in my right suck). So she came around to my left side, and tried to grab my arm in the middle of a contraction. I said wait, but she wrapped the rubber band around without waiting. Once the contraction was over I grabbed a pillow to prop up my arm, and she got more impatient, after wiping my arm with the alcohol wipe for the second time. Then another contraction started and she tried to take my blood during it, but I pulled away, and she got kind of pissed. Finally, she took it and wiggled the needle around to find a vein. This is the only time during labor that I started crying. Not only did she leave a bruise on my arm, but there was a welt as well. I wish we remembered her name, as when I told a couple of the nurses about it later, they wanted to know who. They said most lab techs are smart enough to not draw blood during a contraction. 

Later, they did hook me up to the portable monitors, so I was able to move around more. Adam and Ashley helped me labor in different positions. We went for a short walk around the hallways, I sat on the birth ball, leaned over the ball on the bed, and other positions. At every contraction Adam and sometimes Ashley would push on my back (I was having some back labor and it felt amazing!). 

At one point, I decided that I just needed to sit on the bed. So I made myself comfortable, and closed my eyes. I rubbed my belly pretty much the whole time and Adam or Ashley would push on my back. I would point "up/ down/ left/ right" for Adam to move his hand. Eventually, I started rocking front to back, still rubbing my belly with my eyes closed. I was completely aware of what was going on around me. The pain was still manageable using the coping techniques we had learned. But I was exhausted. I would mumble things that Adam would mostly understand, but Ashley and any docs or nurses had no idea what I was saying. 

Side story: For whatever reason, when we are getting ready for bed at night, Adam or I always end up asking each other a question when the other has a toothbrush or mouth wash in his/her mouth. The other always tries to answer with mumbles and hand gestures, while the other usually figures it out pretty quickly. I think this might have helped Adam understand me.

Adam later told me that they all thought I was delirious, and that one of the nurses commented that she "does this 5 days a week, but has never seen anyone this exhausted." 

Ashley and Adam had been trying to get me into another position to help labor progress, but I wasn't having it. They suggested laying down, but the contractions hurt more if I was laying down or even leaning back. So I continued to rock and rub my belly with my eyes still closed. Eventually, a nurse (I believe Jessica, but really have no idea) got me to change positions. She moved the head of the bed so it was almost straight up and had me kneel and lean over it. Adam kneeled behind me and would continue pushing on my back during contractions. I used him as support to keep me from crumpling down, as I could barely muster the energy to hold myself up on the edge of the bed. 

I told Adam after a little bit in this new position (in what I thought was a perfectly clear sentence, but was apparently more mumbles that he managed to understand) that I didn't think I would have the energy to push her out and that I thought I should have an epidural. Adam talked to the nurse for me and told her what I had said. She said that we would try Fentenol (which is one of the drugs in an epidural) in my IV first. It would relieve some of the pain for a little bit and let me get some rest, but they would only give me two doses, because it would loose its effectiveness. We agreed to try that out and try to avoid the epidural. 

Once it went into my IV, I almost immediately felt relaxed. We got the bed almost completely flat and I laid on my side to rest. I could still feel the contractions, but they felt like they did the first night I started early labor, so I was easily able to rest my body. I didn't fall asleep, and could hear everything going on around me, but had no ambition to participate. When Adam would walk in the room, I would open my eyes to find him, so he decided to spend most of his time in the waiting room with my mom, in hopes of letting me get more rest.

She gave me the second dose, and when I could feel that start to wear off, I asked if I could have another dose. She said she had already given me the second. So I asked for the epidural. I don't know how long I had rested for, but I knew I still had so little energy. Apparently, Adam had already filled out all the paperwork (sans my signature) for the epidural while I was still on the first dose of Fentenol. I remember that I was sitting when I signed the papers, but I don't remember sitting up at all. (Maybe this part is a little fuzzy.) But I remember them telling me that they needed me to sign the papers, and I didn't respond the first time, because I knew that Adam would sign them for me. They asked me again, and I was kind of cranky about it and snatched the pen and signed my initials (it was quicker than my whole name). I didn't realize at that time that Adam couldn't actually sign my name for me, but he could fill out all the rest.

Once I had signed the paper, the nurse said she could call down to have an anesthesiologist to come up and give me the epidural. But she said I needed to sit up on the edge of the bed before she called. Well sitting was great before, but now that the Fentenol was in my system, I was relaxed and so tired from my lack of sleep. I said that I would sit up as soon as he/she got there to give me the epidural. But she told me they liked me to be ready before the come up, because they are very busy down there. Well, after a couple minutes, I won that argument. She called down, and said that I lucked out, because the anesthesiologist that was coming up was one of the few that liked his patients laying down when he gave the epidural. So they had me scoot as close to the edge of the bed as I could and curl up in the fetal position as best I could around my pregnant belly.

When he got there I was all set. He gave me two shots to numb the area. I kind of felt one, but it wasn't that bad. I think the Fentenol was still working a little, but I could feel my contractions. (He was smart enough to do it between contractions, unlike that overnight lab tech!) I didn't feel him put the epidural in my back at all, but soon felt almost no contractions at all. The epidural worked on everything but my left hip area. I was laying on my right side at that point, and wondered if it was because the drug just wasn't flowing up far enough.

Getting rest after the epidural

Eventually, I rolled over and slowly started to feel the "nothing" feeling go down through my hip, but then the contractions feeling started to grow in my right hip. Though, it wasn't quite as bad as it had been in my left hip. The nurse did a cervical check in the middle of my roll. I was at 9 cm and my water hadn't broken yet. She said by the time Dr. Mahan got there I should be ready to push, and they would break my water then if it hadn't already broken. When they had me roll over again later I had the "nothing" feeling everywhere from my ribs down. Other than the two times I rolled over and the cervical check, it was pretty uneventful until it was time to push, as I dozed through most of it getting rest, so I could push out our baby.

Eventually, Dr. Mahan arrived and was ready to break my water, but it had already broken on it's own. She also found meconium in the fluid, so they were ready to suction her out if she didn't start breathing right away (meaning her lungs were clear, and none had gotten in there). Somewhere along the lines, my mother found her way into the room, but was in the way near the door, so the "baby nurses" asked her to move to another corner of the room.

They got the bed all set up (more like taken apart, actually) and wanted me to move my legs to the sides. I could move them, but had no control over where they went (it was kind of like how a newborn flails his arms and legs, but really has no control over precise movement). Ashley helped me on the left, and Adam on the right. They held my legs, and I grabbed my "knee pits" to help pull myself to curl around my tummy to push. Then we waited for a contraction. If I hadn't had been hooked up to the monitors, we may still be waiting.

The nurse, Jessica, asked, "Do you feel the urge to push?"

I responded, "No, am I having a contraction? Should I start pushing?"

There was a resounding yes, and both Dr. Mahan and Jessica were impressed that I felt absolutely nothing. So between Dr. Mahan watching the baby's head, and Jessica watching the monitors, I was told when I was having a contraction and started pushing each time. For the first push, I wasn't really sure how I could do it, since I didn't have much control over the lower part of my body, but somehow you just know what to do. I grabbed my knees and curled around my pregnant belly and "pushed like I was pooping" (that's how the nurse that taught our labor class with Danni described it and she was right on!)

I don't remember how many times I pushed, but I remember asking Adam how much of her head he could see. Most of the time the answer was just hair on the top of her head, so I started asking if he could see her ears yet. At one point Dr. Mahan asked if I wanted to reach down and touch her head. I knew that this was an option during birth ahead of time, but I really had no desire to, so it wasn't in my birth plan. But when you've been in labor and you're so anxious to meet your baby, you'll take what you can get! So I reached down and touched her head. I could feel a ridge, which was the plates of her skull, and made a joke about her being a Klingon baby, not Adam's.

I pushed, I don't know how many more times, but at 2:39pm Eleanor Elisabeth was born! With my last push her head came all the way out, and her shoulders and the rest of her body slide out without an extra push. She cried right away, so I took the gown that I had draped over my chest off and they placed her on my bare chest. (Adam and I talked later about how we didn't cry this time when she was born. With Danni, we both teared up when we heard her cry, and Adam stood up to see his first-born daughter over the drape. We both agreed that we were both so worried about her well-being and health that it was such a relief to hear her cry. With Eleanor, we weren't as worried, so it wasn't quite as emotional.)

The nurse came and put a blanket over her and I, and later put a hat on her head. I let her kick/crawl around on my chest, and she found my breast and latched on. It was slightly painful, as she didn't have a proper latch, but such a wonderful feeling to hold my second little baby girl!

Once the cord stopped pulsating, Dr. Mahan asked if Adam wanted to cut the cord. She clamped it on either side of where he was to cut and he cut it.

I kept holding her and adoring her the whole time with not a care in the world. Of course, I still couldn't feel anything, like the contractions that were still coming to expel the placenta. Though, I did feel something kind of strange in my tummy, but I had my healthy daughter on my chest to adore and love, so I didn't care what it was that I was feeling.

I later found out that the weird feeling in my tummy was actually Dr. Mahan's hand inside my uterus. Apparently, my placenta wasn't detaching, and I was loosing more blood than she liked. So Dr. Mahan reached inside and took the placenta out herself. The next day I had a blood draw to check my iron levels, since I had lost a lot of blood. It was low, but not low enough to need a transfusion. So they put me on an iron supplement.

Weighing in at 7 lbs, 5.8 oz

Eventually, Erin (the nurse we met the first time we went into the hospital), took her to do check on her and make sure she was doing okay. Before she weighted her, she asked if there were any guesses as to her weight. I guessed that she weighted less than Danni, because she was skinnier. Danni weighted 6 pounds, 13 ounces, but as you can see, I was wrong. Eleanor kicked me a lot harder, and didn't look to have much body fat on her, so I figured since muscle weights more than fat, that's why she out-weighted her big sister.

Then Adam got a chance to hold his newest daughter. The nurse asked him if he wanted to hold her skin-to-skin and he was a little hesitant, but I encouraged him and told him I wanted to see him without his shirt on! ;)

Soon Ashley left, and let us bond with our daughter, but before she did, we snapped a quick picture of us both looking great after not sleeping much that night! (Alright, so Ashley looks way better than me, but I just gave birth!) :)

Eventually, Adam let my mom hold her. Of course, Grandma Denise was more than thrilled to hold her second little granddaughter for the first time! She just kept talking to her and pointing out little features about her. (Like her wrinkled little hands, that looked like Great-Grandma Eleanor's!)

While she held her, I closed my eyes and tried to get some rest (not that I was able to fall asleep, but I was very relaxed). I enjoyed listening to my mom talking to Eleanor, and couldn't stop smiling that our little girl was finally here and healthy!


My mom didn't hold her for too long, because it was time to give her a bath. Adam and mom stood right next to her watching and taking pictures the whole time, but Adam didn't want to give her a bath (he still hasn't given her a bath, but he does get her dried off and dressed after I take a bath with her!) She did not like her first bath until the nurse swaddled her in a towel. Then she was a much happier newborn.

I don't remember at what point my epidural came out, but it did. And, like with the spinal from the c-section with Danni, it took a little longer than usual to wear off. Two nurses tried to help me to the bathroom, but decided to wait until I had more feeling in my legs. But they helped me move me to a wheel chair, and had us switch rooms to a quieter area, so that I could get some much needed rest.

Later that evening, we had several visitors. The first of which was Auntie Jacque, Uncle Corey, and Cousin Addy. Auntie Jacque and Addy sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to Eleanor.


A little while later, Grandpa Mike and Great-Aunt Melodie came to visit. Eleanor Elisabeth was named after my Grandma Eleanor, and Adam's mom, Elisabeth, who died not quite a month before she was born. Grandpa Mike got teary-eyed when he met his newest little granddaughter.

While Grandpa Mike was still here, Grandma Denise came back and brought Grandpa Jack to meet Eleanor. He was already picking on her, and she wasn't even a day old! But, she didn't seem to mind, she just kept sleeping away.

The Richter cousins & Eleanor

Last, but not least, that day, the Richter clan came to meet Eleanor. Auntie Becky went to pick up Eleanor, and almost threw her up in the air. She wasn't use to holding such a small baby, since Cousin Spencer was two months old and out-weighted her at birth..

It was a long day for all three of us, and we were all very tired. The plan was for Adam to stay both nights in the hospital with us. (After Adam almost went home the night before Danni died, we had decided that with our next child Adam would stay the whole time.) But, he told me that he was very tired, and wanted to go home to get a decent night's sleep, since he wouldn't really be able to now that the baby was here. I told him he could do what he wanted, but expressed my desire for him to stay with us, and reminded him how much less sleep I'd gotten in the past week than he had. He went home for the night promising to get up with the baby every time the next night.

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These are the notes that my doula, Ashley, took for us while we were there. Since I have absolutely no concept of time at all that day, it's nice to look and see the actual timing of everything.

2 am call from Adam stating at hospital
2:10 - I arrived
2:35- cervical check 2.5cm
3:25- IV placed
4:15 monitors moved to telemetry unit
4:30 bathroom
5:25- bathroom
6:30- vomiting
6:40- cervical check 80% more toward front and 3-4cm
7:00- bathroom
7:50- starting to show some signs of exhaustion, nurse change, changed positions to hands and knees over top of bed
8:40- phentenol administered
9:00- dr checked in, epidural discusssion
10:30- cervical check, 6-7cm, epidural requested
10:50- epidural placed
11:00- foley catheder placed
11:50 switched side, 9cm, just a little cervix left
12:45- switched side
2pm- dr arrived, was going to break water but bag had already broken on it's own, complete, +3 station
2:39- baby born
2:59- placenta removed with dr assistance