It's a Boy!

My water broke at 4:30 am. I figured that I would labor really fast due to my other pregnancies. I quickly woke Mike up and finished packing my hospital bag. My brother-in-law, Steve, was on stand-by so we called him to come over and watch our other kids.

Mike took his sweet time and took a shower. I was urging him to hurry up in case I went fast. I didn't even shower or put makeup on. I looked pretty rough, but Mike looked and smelled good. We finally took off to the hospital. I was contracting every 3-4 minutes in the car but they slowed down once we arrived at the hospital.

The nurse checked me when I got to triage and I was still a 3. I couldn't believe I wasn't further along. The nurse told me that you labor more slow if your water breaks first.

They kept me since my water broke and we settled into the labor and delivery room. They offered me an epidural once I was settled in my room but I decided to hold off for awhile. The contractions weren't too painful and I wanted to walk around to get things going. I walked the halls for quite awhile and the nurse checked me around 9 am and I was dilated to a 5. They didn't want to start pitocin on me at that time because they were having some icky situations on labor and delivery. I saw the neonatologist walking around and people running in the hallways. Those are never good signs on labor and delivery. I was thanking God that it was nice and calm in my room!

They offered to start pitocin to get things moving around 11am. I was still a 5 and decided to get things moving faster.  The contractions were coming closer and I decided I wanted the epidural before it was too late, so I had that done at noon.

Once I had my epidural, they really started upping the pitocin. I was complete around 3:30pm but the doctor was finishing up in the clinic and they let me labor down. They didn't want me to start pushing until he arrived.

The doctor arrived about 4:15pm and I got ready to start pushing. It didn't take long at all and Oliver Henry Schmidt was born at 4:37pm. He weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches long. We couldn't be more in love with him.

 He came out with light hair! I couldn't believe we had another blond baby. That makes 3 out of the 4. He has Mike's nose and doesn't resemble me one bit.

 He weighed 7 pounds 14 ounces at 37 weeks and 5 days. This was the longest I'd ever stayed pregnant. Thank you Dr. McNamara!

 The kids were so excited to meet him. We didn't find out the gender beforehand, but I thought it was a boy. We all would have been shocked if Oliver came out a girl!

 Ethan dressed up in his church clothes to come meet his little brother. They couldn't get enough of him. We were all fighting over holding him!

 Grandma Joanne with Ollie. He was such a calm baby. He barely cried after he was born.

 Our first picture as a family of 6.

 Cousin Jude holding Oliver.

 My sister, Sarah, brother-in-law, Steve, and nephew, Abe. They brought me those lovely white roses in the background.

We are so thankful and blessed to have a healthy baby boy!

Cerclage

The cerclage is out! It was a very simple procedure and was very similar to getting stitches out. He checked me after it was out, and I'm dilated to 3 cm. I won't be long!

I'm going to take it easy this weekend because I don't want cuatro coming quite yet. I'd like to make it to 38 weeks if I can!

Almost 37 Weeks Pregnant

 I'm 36 weeks 3 days pregnant. I'm almost there! I get my cerclage out on November 14th and will be exactly 37 weeks pregnant. Dr. McNamara said I could get it out at 36 weeks, but I talked him into letting me wait until 37 weeks. I'd keep it in longer if he'd let me. But he won't. I all ready checked.

 I had Mia take these pictures. I love her point of view.

 I went into triage with blurry vision a week ago, but it turned out to be nothing. They drew tons of labs and my blood pressure was fine. I saw an eye specialist and my eye lens are swollen and that's why my vision is blurry. It should go away after delivery.

 I've always liked being pregnant. It's amazing when the baby moves and kicks. I also love having a big belly. But, my back is killing me, my feet are swollen, and I have cankles. This pregnancy has also made me so lazy! It takes so much effort to walk across the house. I'd prefer to lay on the couch all day.

 This pregnancy has gone very fast. I can't believe I'll be holding my baby soon. I still think it's a boy. The kids are convinced as well. We will all be very surprised if baby comes out a girl! I like the name Oliver and the kids do as well. In order to convince Mike to have another baby, I gave him naming rights. Am I crazy or what???? We don't agree on names at all so I'm pretty nervous about him naming this little one. I keep telling him that I am the one that signs the birth certificate so I will not let him name this baby a weird name.

Christmas Card Pictures

 I had been putting off taking Christmas card pictures for awhile. This baby is making me so tired and just thinking about going out and taking pictures made me exhausted. I finally made myself go and do it. I drug Mike with me so he could help me out.

 It was quite cold that day. I'd snap some pictures and then we'd all sit in the van and warm up. Poor kids. Their noses were red by the time we were done. I did get some good pictures.

 Ethan has the girls in a choke-hold. They're trying to smile through it.

 We went to Falls park. It's such a pretty place. You can get some scenic photos there. The poor kids were freezing by this point so I had to make it quick.

 I really like this picture. My loves.

I do have a lot of fun taking the pictures and doing the card. Ethan behaved himself this year. He listened pretty well. The girls are always good with pictures. Ethan is my wild card. I told him before we started that if he goofs off and doesn't listen, I was going to make him take pictures of all day long.

Happy Halloween

 Happy Halloween! This is one of my favorite holidays! It's so fun getting the kids dressed up and figuring out what Mike and I should be. The morning of Halloween, I was still unsure last to what we should go as. I figured I shouldn't let me 35 week big pregnant belly go to waste. I went as a hillbilly with a big beer-belly and Mike was my wench. The kids giggled non-stop as Mike was getting ready. It was funny. He makes one ugly woman!

The kids had fun choosing their outfits. Ethan was wolverine, Riley was a unicorn, and Mia was a vampire.

 We go over to my sister's house every year to go trick-or-treating. She lives in a development with tons of houses that are really close together. It's easy for us to walk down a street and the kids'  buckets are mostly full.

 My  nephew, Abe. He went as a dragon.

 I drew hair on my belly so that's what those squiggle lines are. :)

 My brother-in-law, Steve, took the pictures. He had his hand over the flash. Oh well.

The kids got so much candy that night! I'll be stealing all of the Reese's peanut butter cups and snickers.