Calvin Jacob

 Here's our little guy!  Now that he's 2 weeks old we better write some stuff down before we forget :)

Birth Story: On Tuesday, May 15th I woke up at 2 a.m. having some painful contractions.  They were coming every 3-4 minutes and I knew for sure that I was in labor.  I got up, packed up the last of my stuff and watched "Dancing with the Stars" off the DVR.  At 2:30 I woke Sam up and told him it was time to go.  I called the hospital, then Oma, who came right over.  We arrived at the hospital at 2:45 and were checked into the room by 3:00.  I was having contractions, but they were bearable.  I had tested positive for Group B strep, which is a common thing, but it meant I needed an IV with antibiotics during labor.  The nurse asked me if I wanted an epidural--I said "yes" and she put in the call to the anesthesiologist.  To quote her, "As soon as I get the IV in, he can come do the epidural."  She proceeded to try to put the IV in my right arm--no vein.  Left arm--no vein.  Right hand--blown vein.  Left hand--success!  My water broke at some point during this saga and I was getting impatient for the drugs!  It was about 3:40 at this point (I think).  Pain was getting intense, contractions were every 2 minutes or so, and in between each one I was shaking like crazy.  Trying to remain calm, controlled, and polite (!), I asked, "When is he coming?", meaning the anesthesiologist, and the nurse said, "He's in the hall, getting things ready"  I tried to be patient, but it was getting difficult!  Then the nurse reminded me, "If you feel like you want to push, tell me, because we need to call the doctor"  It seems stupid, but that was the reminder I needed--"Oh yeah, we're gonna have to push!"  And then I knew it was imminent.  At 4:00 the epidural showed up and the doctor began his little speech: "I'm Dr. So-and-So, I'm here to do blah-blah-blah"  It was all I could do to not tell him to shut it and shoot me up!  He said, "Between contractions, turn on your side and I will do this."  I said, "Okay" and did just that.  However, when I turned, it was clear that it was time to push, not time to get a shot.  I think I just kind of shook my head, turned back to my back, and there was Cal!  One push, and the doctor who came up from the emergency room caught the baby at 4:11.  I still don't really know who he is--we never introduced ourselves.  My real doctor showed up about 15 minutes later, as did our pediatrician.  Both had been called out of bed and didn't quite make it for the big show.

Calvin Jacob weighed in at 9 lbs, 11 oz and was 21 1/4 inches long.  He's our biggest baby.  He has a nice head of brown hair and his eyes appear to be steely-blue.  His feet were not quite as big as predicted, but they are pretty big!

Following in his siblings' footsteps, he found his thumb!

 This is "Westphall Hat Syndrome"  The hat creeps up and up until it falls off.

 Meeting his big sister.  Reports from home told me that Anne was pretty sad that she did not have a baby sister.  :(  Two weeks later, I think she's finally getting over it....

 THREE!  Yikes!  That's a lot of kids.

 Brothers.  Sambo has been so sweet to Cal.  He likes to hold him and kiss him and says, "Look at his tiny hands!"

 We were ready to head home on Thursday morning.  Two long days in the hospital get a little boring!  While I'm not sure I'd recommend a non-medicated "rocket birth" to anyone, I did feel pretty good when it was all over!

 Deceitful baby--he screamed like crazy when we put him in the carseat for the first time.  Here he looks calm, but that is rarely the case when he's strapped in.

These first 2 weeks have been interesting for all of us.  A family of five has a lot of adjusting to do as we try to figure out a new routine.  I try to tell myself "Each day gets a little easier"  Cal is a good eater and occasionally sleeps for 4-5 hours at night.  His check-up today was good; he's not quite back up to his birthweight, so we need to feed him a bit more often.  He also appears to have a plugged tear duct like Sammy had, so we'll be doing the eye drops and massaging his eye to help that clear out.

That's where we're at right now.  More pictures and stories to come, I'm sure!

I've Never Claimed to be Patient

Still here.  No baby.  Nothing new to report from the doctor today, though baby's heart rate was a robust 138, which was good to hear.

Friday was my last day of work, so it was a long, boring day at home.  Any ideas to pass the time?  I'm caught up on cleaning, laundry, food prep, bill-paying...planning to grocery shop tomorrow...

Baby Update

Still here....2 hours left of my entire school year...trying to fill the time....

I ended up having a long doctor's appointment on Wednesday.  Let's see if Nana and Dr. Robyn can decode the acronyms:

FHT low 90/100
NST
BPP

I love when they leave the medical info visible on the computer.  I do a lot of reading about myself :)

Doctor listened to the baby's heartbeat (FHT=fetal heart tones) and thought it was a little low (between 95 and 110 beats per minute).  He then ordered a non-stress test (NST) which involves 2 fetal monitors to track heartbeat and contractions.  After 20 minutes the heartbeat was still low, but consistent.  I then trotted over to Radiology for the Biophysical Profile (BPP).  This is done via ultrasound and is a timed test for baby.  He/She had 30 minutes to have a certain number of large body movements, small body movements, and demonstrate 30 seconds of "practice breathing"  We passed the test just fine.  The technician also measured fluid levels, which are fine.

During the ultrasound I got to see baby a bit.  He/She had her hands up next to her face and was moving her lips and tongue--another thumb-sucker in the making?  Also, the doctor found a foot and measured it.  She said, "Hmmm...that foot measures 8 centimeters....that's about 3 and a half inches.  That seems kind of big, doesn't it?  Did you have big babies before?"  Um, yes, but that is ridiculous!  As I texted to my mom and sister: Get out a ruler and tell me this baby is not a Sasquatch!  I've gained 20 lbs. with this pregnancy--it will be easy to lose if 10 of it is pure baby.

Venturing into the "too much information" category, there is "progress" being made, as checked by the doctor.  He actually asked me, "Are you sure you aren't having contractions?  I'm really surprised you aren't having contractions."  Buddy, if I could make them happen, I would!  The whole thing reminded me of my 40-week appointment with Sammy, when the doctor said, "I don't know why you aren't in labor."  So helpful.  So we wait--back to the doctor on Monday if nothing happens this weekend.

Waiting....do-do-do....

I realize this baby is not actually due until next week, but we are growing impatient!  And in a typical display of human-ness, we are wishing for an arrival this weekend so that next week's schedule is not disrupted too much.  We have softball, Anne's end-of-school party, and a family picture to take care of. (sidenote: our church is taking family pictures for a new directory next week.  I signed us up for the last day--Saturday the 19th.  We'll see if we show up and who we show up with!)

In the meantime, please vote in the poll to your right.  Will #3 be a boy or a girl?  I have many thoughts on this, but I will keep them to myself.  My "girl" hunches probably equal my "boy" hunches, so it all comes out evenly.

In other news, it is Sam's 28th birthday today!  A few weeks ago he said, "It would be kind of fun to share a birthday with the baby" and I replied, "We already named one after you!  What else do you want to share?"  Things better get started if we are going to meet this baby in the next twelve hours!

Uncle Todd had a dream a few weeks ago that our baby was a boy and we named it "Other Sam"  Perhaps if it is a boy we should name it Aaron to further add to the family confusion....(we totally do NOT have a boy name picked out; suggestions welcome in the comments)

Hockey in his undies

Here's Sammy, playing hockey in the basement.  He uses our alphabet blocks as a pile of pucks and shoots them.  He misses all his shots in this video, which is shocking because he's usually pretty accurate!

This was also his first day of potty training and I had to capture him in his cute little undies!

Cute kids!

 April brought the end of AWANA on Wednesday nights for Annie.  She did a great job in her first year of Cubbies--she memorized 22 different Bible verses and earned all the patches for her vest.

 This is her "Cubbie Bear", which she earned by completing all her assignments for the year.  Hopefully by next October I'll find 5 minutes to sew it on the vest where it belongs.

 Anne was decked out on Sunday to sing in church with the kids' choir.  She actually smiled and posed for me!

 Sambo was there, too.  (In the background you can see our coffee table and curtains--admire them!)

 Ready for church, Mom!

Pretty typical playtime at the Westphall house: one with a hockey stick and one with a Barbie.  Gender preferences are inborn, people!  You cannot combat nature!

This concludes my blogging to-do list before baby arrives.  I wanted to photograph the baby's room for you, but it is not yet ready to go (can you believe it?)  It is looking more and more like you will get pictures of a nursery with a baby already in it.  Keep checking back for updates!

Enter: The Toys

 The whole purpose of finishing our basement was to create a place for our kids to play.  Despite knowing this, we were a little sad to fill our brand-new space with kid junk!

In the picture above, just imagine some curtains over those windows and a coffee table in the middle of the rug....

 You've got your princess castle, play kitchen, stuffed animals, and assorted baskets of balls, trains, tools, cars, and blocks.

Books, baby dolls, more trucks, and a basket for the dress-up clothes.

Anne and Sammy love to play down there, and we can all be more relaxed about playtime.  I used to remind them often to "keep your toys in the toy room" and now we don't have to do that so much.  We have room for everyone to spread out and play different things, which is nice when your kids are not the same gender and don't often want to do the same thing at the same time.

The office is not quite done yet--Sam needs to finish up some trim work before it really looks done.  With 95% of the work done it is hard to finish that last little bit!  Maybe some time before the end of the year... :)

Finishing the Job

 Would you like to know how many gallons of paint it takes to cover fresh drywall in a family room and office?  The answer is 11!  Primer, ceiling paint, and wall paint (Escape Gray by Sherwin Williams) totaled 11 gallons with very little left over.  And I've burned through a quart of trim paint already with work still left to do....

 Despite the frustrations and aches of painting a ceiling while pregnant, the space is looking good!  We laid vinyl plank flooring (Allure brand from Home Depot) right over the cement and it is working out great.  We didn't want carpet in case of water (it IS a basement) and this was a good solution for us.

 Don't mind my paint on the stairs--I'm still trying to figure out how to paint the stringers without ruining the carpet.  Suggestions welcome!

Basement Drywall and Such

 I was thinking back on the timeline of this project.  Framing was done about this time last year.  After it was finished we had the HVAC done and the electrical.  That took quite a bit of time, deciding how many lights, how many outlets, where they should be, etc.  I do know the guys came and did the duct work and installed our central air last July!  Once that was done we were at a standstill for a few months.  When we got our second wind, Sam and Karl started hanging drywall.  They did all the work--hanging, trimming, cutting the holes for lights and outlets, taping, mudding, and sanding.  I'm pretty sure such a project will never be undertaken again :)  We did hire-out 2 retired gentlemen to do spray texture on the walls.  It helped cover a few uneven spots and made it all consistent with the rest of our house (our main floor has textured plaster walls)

It was a crazy mess for a long time, and drywall dust goes EVERYWHERE, especially when it gets sucked up into your furnace.  All the white stuff on the cement floor is dust and splotches of mud, all of which I scrubbed off on my hands and knees before the floor was laid.

Sam stayed motivated to finish the drywall because he knew he would have more of my help after that was done.  Next up, paint, floor, doors, and trim!

This lady gets me...

I love my husband, but sometimes I wonder how different his life would be without the cell phone.  The man loves to call/text/"check-in" any time he goes anywhere.  This blog post illustrates a common problem we have.  I'm glad to know I'm not alone.

http://www.semidomesticatedmama.com/2009/03/man-list-and-grocery-store-comedymaybe.html

"Blog" is on my to-do list, so stay tuned.  I will reveal the basement in its completion, show you the baby's room, and a pile of miscellaneous pictures of Anne and Sam (since "clean up/charge the camera" is also on the to-do list)

Two weeks and counting on baby #3!