She's Here!

  Ah, yes. The post I'm sure you've all been waiting for...for almost 7 weeks now.

The shortened long version...because I want to remember.

Well, let's start the story way back during the summer when I had my ultrasound at around 20ish weeks pregnant. We found out we were going to have a girl, which had me super excited. That meant that we would end up with 2 boys followed by 3 girls. The perfect combination. I really liked that the genders were separated and not mixed between each other. Once all the baby measuring was finished, the technician gave me my estimated due date.  Two weeks later than I thought. Not possible. I knew my due date was correct. There was absolutely no way I could be off by an entire 2 weeks. I had even had 2 early ultrasounds confirming my original due date. Oh, well. I'll just talk to the doctor about it at my next appointment.

At home, I had a message to call the doctor office for the results of my quad panel test I had blood drawn for previously. I might have waited a few days to call them back. When I did, the nurse told me that the test was showing an abnormal result for Down Syndrome, meaning that there was an elevated chance that my baby could have Down Syndrome. I was a little nervous, but not overly so. At my next appointment I talked to the doctor about the due date and the abnormal test result. We decided to do another, more detailed, ultrasound to determine if she did have Down Syndrome.

After lots of scanning and measuring, the geneticist determined that she was not as likely to have Down Syndrome as the quad screen suggested. Still, I could have an amniocentesis to find out if she had it for sure and whether I wanted to abort or I could do a different blood test to be pretty sure if she had it. I chose the less invasive blood test and it came back negative. Now there was only a 1% chance that she could have Down Syndrome. From this point on, I prepared myself for her to have Down Syndrome, just in case, so I wouldn't have any surprises on her birth day.

So, if she didn't have Down Syndrome, according to all the recent tests, then what was causing her to measure a full 2 weeks behind schedule. The doctor suggested maybe there was a problem with the placenta not supporting her. Once she reached a viable age, the doctor decided I needed to go in for testing twice weekly. We would do non-stress tests and biophysical profiles. It was fun being subjected to testing twice weekly for 2 months. 

Anyway, closer to my due date, at about 38 weeks, she didn't score high enough on her tests. She wouldn't do her practice breathing. She only scored 6 out of 8. I had to retest the next day to make sure everything was okay. She scored 6 again. This time was because my fluid level dropped drastically. It went from an average of 12-16 down to 6. I would find out the next day that everyone was flipping out over it. So, she failed her tests two days in a row. The doctor scheduled the induction for the next day and also ordered more tests because there was a backlog of women being induced that day. They wanted to make sure they didn't have to have an emergency induction or c-section. At home, I consulted with Dr. Google and tried a few things to help my fluid level. So, back to the hospital for more testing, for the third day in a row. This time she had a perfect score. My fluid levels were perfect and baby performed perfectly. We were still on the induction list for that day, but not anything that was time critical.

I went home and started making dinner for the family and right as we were sitting down to eat we got the call from the hospital telling us it was my turn. So, we made a few phone calls and dropped the kids off at my sister's house for the night and headed to the hospital.

It was right around 8pm when I finally got checked in and put in a labor room. My mom came, but I don't remember if it was before or after the doctor came. The nurse was still inputting information when the doctor came in to break my water and get me started on pitocin. The anesthesiologist came in and talked to me. The contractions started fast and hard. I didn't last long without an epidural. We called him back to give me the drugs so I could actually enjoy the evening. A few hours pass. I knew I was contracting, but it wasn't painful. I love epidurals during childbirth. Baby's heart rate was acting up. Showing signs of stress. They lowered the pitocin and gave me oxygen. We watched for a while more. For a few moments during a particularly long contraction, there was a very long silence where we could not hear any heartbeat. I was scared to death. Finally, the contraction eased up and we heard that wonderful clopping sound again. Relief! This happened a several more times, but the nurse assured me that there was still a heartbeat. The nurse checked me and said I was a 9 and that it would be soon. She would go call the doctor to warn him. She wasn't even to the door and I started to feel the baby move down. I thought I was imagining it and let it happen a couple more times. I had the nurse check me again and I was ready. She still hadn't called the doctor. Now they did. They told me to not push. I crossed my legs and panted into the oxygen mask. I watched the clock. I panted. I asked how long the doctor would be. I panted. I watched the clock more. I panted. I crossed my legs tighter. I panted. Fifteen minutes later the doctor finally gets there. The doctor gets all suited and gloved up. My legs go in the stirrups and she immediately crowns. I wait for the next contraction and (barely) push. Her head is out. The doctor had to move a bit of cord out of the way. I push a little bit more and she is completely out. She was wrapped all over with her cord. It was around her neck, arm, and leg. 

They untangled her and handed her to me. I checked her eyes. I checked her hands. I checked her feet. I checked her ears. No sign of Down Syndrome. Relief! At that moment she was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. I was so in love. 

(Check out her belly button. She DEFINITELY has an outie!)

They took her away, got her all checked out, and cleaned her up.  Ryan looked over to tell me she was 6lbs 12.6oz (he had to add in the .6oz part) and 19.75 inches. She was my teeny tiny. Her official time of birth was 12:25am on December 14th. 

The birth was the easy part, now we had to officially decide on a name. We had the first name picked out three years before, but we were stuck on a middle name. 

The entire pregnancy I was positive we'd name her Vevith Anne, after my grandmother, but a few weeks before delivery I had mentioned to Ryan that I had loved the name Adelle ever since I first saw the movie The Legend of Bagger Vance. He suddenly liked it and then we had a decision to make. Would we give her great-grandma's name or would we give her the name I really loved. 

(She always sticks out her tongue!)

After weeks of going back and forth, and almost not being discharged from the hospital on time because we hadn't filled out the paperwork, we finally ended up having the other kids choose between our two options. 

 They decided that their baby sister should be named Vevith Adelle Taylor. It fit perfectly. 

Welcome to the family, my teeny tiny.

Gingerbread Houses

This holiday season was a little different from others. Mostly because I was ready to pop at any moment and partly because I had no energy left. I felt really guilty for not wanting to do much with such low energy levels. 
I decided that we would do gingerbread houses for the first time, just to make this year a little more memorable. I had never attempted them before because all the recipes for gingerbread houses had egg in the dough AND egg in the frosting. I had never wanted to search out a replacement for two major components before, but figured this year was a good year to try. I wondered why I could not use my regular gingerbread cookie recipe in place of a gingerbread house recipe. Well it worked. Now we just had to find a replacement for the egg in the frosting. The meringue is usually vital in this situation since it sets up so fast and hard. After a little searching, Ryan found this recipe. It was a little sticky to work with, but it definitely did the job! The kids ended up having a blast and they all, unfortunately, got sugar hang-overs. 

Hard at work.

 Finished product.

Time for sugar!

I thought it was quite cute how the kids were so proud of their house designs. Some of them were so proud that they made me take pictures of all four sides of their houses. They all agreed, though, that the cookie and frosting were not worth eating. They definitely want regular gingerbread cookies that won't break their teeth instead of the rock-hard gingerbread houses.

Baby chicks!

This Thanksgiving, my parents gave us several baby chicks for the kids to raise. The kids were thrilled! When the chicks were little, the kids would go out to the coop and just play with the little featherballs. They were so dang cute. The kids were told not to name the chicks, unless they wanted to call them "stew", "KFC", "pot pie", "wings" or "sunday dinner". Of course, they did not listen and named a few of them. "Biggie" was the biggest one, of course. "Sophia" was one of the smallest. A few others received names that were the same as some of the kids' school-mates. Now that the chicks have all grown up, the kids can't tell one from another, thank goodness. Aimee quite frequently likes to talk about us eating her chicks for dinner. :-)

Even now, I often find the kids inside the coop just holding the chickens or even just sitting outside the wire watching them. The boys mostly like to try tricking them by throwing a little stick or rock through the wire and watching to see if the chickens will chase after it. The funniest thing to watch is when someone throws a bug to the chickens. They run around playing "keep away" until one of them finally digests it and all the others are out of luck.

Just because

Ethan turns 8

Ethan just turned 8 a couple weeks ago, so I headed to the park with my boy and my camera on a nice cloudy day. It was a welcome change from our normal blazing hot sun. We had plenty of beautiful light, lots of green grass, and sweat dripping from both us of from all the humidity in the air. These are our favorite images from his birthday session.

And from those images, he chose these to go on his baptism invitation. They were different from the ones that I would have chosen, but he assured me these are the ones that he wanted. Because of that, I think his invitation turned out perfect!

Happy birthday Ethan!

Totally worth it

Earlier this month, we had the "joy" of taking family portraits. Our session was full of exciting moments of grass cuts on fingers, bored kids, moody girls, dancers too tired of looking at a camera's flashing red lights, close calls with PILES of dog poo, closed eyes, smile fatigue....

Yep, even some user errors like over/under exposing, and improper focus. :-)

 And finally, we were able to get one like this, only after replacing a head in photoshop. It was the absolute best we could get, as bad as it is. I must say that paying a professional photographer to take our family portraits would have been worth every penny after all we went through to get ONE mediocre portrait using a tripod. Lesson learned.

 

White Coat Ceremony

First, I have to apologize for the horrible pictures in this post. They are some of the worst I've ever taken, thank goodness. The room was dark, the lens too small, the subjects too far away, and the heads-in-my-way too many. Despite the horrible pictures, it was a fantastic day. 
Ryan had just finished his first day of dental school. He was excited, the kids were excited, and I was quite proud of my hunny. For those of you that have never been to a white coat ceremony, it is like a graduation, except it is at the beginning of school rather than at the end. It still comes with all the excitement, tears, speeches, and "fluff" that comes with a graduation. 
When all the students came in, they were divided between the two opposite aisles of the auditorium. We were so lucky to have Ryan come down the aisle right next to us. I was looking for him but did not see him until someone else called out that they saw him. 

 Here is Ryan waving to the kids as he walked by.

 Ryan is patting one of the boys on the head.

After the students found their seats, all the formalities started: people on stage introduced, speeches, pep talks, etc., all the fun stuff that goes with ceremonies of this type. 
Finally, the students were ready to go on stage, have their name read, get a white coat in the wrong size, shake hands, hug, find their seat on stage, and wait. 
If they were lucky, they had cute 3 year olds pointing and exclaiming, "There's Dad! That's my Dad!" Cutest thing ever. She was so proud of her daddy. 

If they were even luckier, they had two cute kids (Jayke then Aimee) yell out, "I love you, Dad" when their name was read. And everyone in the audience around those cute kids say, "Awe" at those two adorable children.

Ryan trying to fit in the too-small-coat.

The handshake.

The hug.

The proud parents and grandparents.

The picture with Mom and Dad after the ceremony, showing off his new white coat and name badge.

The picture with proud wife and kids after the ceremony.  Finally getting a decent picture after 4 tries to make the 3 year old not grumpy. I might be wrong, but I think the smile had something to do with a bribe.

I don't remember much else of anything that happened that day. I was just so excited and proud of Ryan for finally making it to this point in his life. I'm sure I was bawling for joy most of the day, mostly because I was so happy and partly because the pregnancy hormones would not let me control the flow of water from my eyes. This day could possibly have been one of the best days of our lives.

Banana Bread

 

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
3 1/8 cups mashed bananas (about 6 medium)
1-2 cups buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda mixed with 2 tsp water (I usually use a small cup to mix them.)
Variation: May substitute plain yogurt for the buttermilk. If doing this, add 2 TBSP vinegar with the yogurt. 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease bottoms only of four 8 or 9 inch loaf pans with shortening.
In a large bowl, stir sugar and butter until well mixed. Stir in bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed and smooth.
Stir in flour and salt, until completely moistened. Add baking soda and water mixture until thoroughly mixed throughout. Divide batter evenly between pans. Smooth out top of batter, if needed.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until tops are browned and toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks. Once cooled, you may wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 1 month.
Note on buttermilk: If your buttermilk is on the thinner side, use 1 cup. If your buttermilk is quite thick, use 2 cups. The resulting batter should be thin enough to mix easily, but not too thin as to be runny. If you find that your batter is too thick after adding the flour, you can always add a little more buttermilk until the batter looks nice.