Scruffy hippie gets a trim

Aha!  Finally found the camera so I can upload more pictures.

Daniel just got his first barber shop haircut.  I was getting pretty adept with a pair of scissors, but I could never get it as short as I wanted.  So Mr. Pickles took him to the haircut store (as Joseph calls it) for a trim.

Before:

he had needed a haircut for WEEKS

Aaaand... after:

he wasn't happy about having his picture taken -- I had to chase him to get this blurry shot

We're all slightly in shock -- he looks soooo different!  But I love fuzzing his head all day long. :)

My baby boys

Daniel's first time holding Andrew

baby brothers are okay, but flying firetrucks are more fun

oh, wait, he's looking at me!  that's pretty cool

*smooch*

MY hold baby!

I have to share a story about the last shot -- I so wish I had caught it on video!  Katie kept offering to take the baby from Daniel, and he kept saying, "No!  Hode beebee!" until finally to make his point he pointed his finger at her and made a shooting noise!  We all fell over laughing.  Ahh, siblings!

One week old!

Despite the best intentions of his siblings (especially his older brothers), Andrew survived his first week!  And the blessings keep coming.

All my babies have had jaundice, to one degree or another. They never needed hospitalizing, or even phototherapy, but we did usually spend the baby's first week of life in the car, driving back and forth to the pediatrician's office and the hospital lab for blood draws.  Not very conducive to sitting and nursing frequently, which is the best treatment for jaundice.  It's so ironic.

Joseph is just fascinated with his new brother.

Well!  Andrew is my first baby not to experience that tortuous first week.  Despite his "precipitous" birth, his bilirubin levels remained within normal range at the hospital.  And we snuggled and nursed so much the first two days that my milk came in the day after we arrived home.

"He's just so cute!" *kiss kiss*

Plus, he's had a good latch from the very beginning -- he opens his mouth nice and wide.  So I've hardly been sore at all, which is a big deal in the beginning!  And despite how much he eats, he has only spit up twice in his first week, and then only a little bit.  He is a good burper. This makes for a happy tummy.

this kid has AWESOME post-bath hair

We also figured out how to nurse lying down the first night home.  That has been a true godsend -- I actually feel rested in the mornings, even though I'm waking up every couple hours to nurse him.  Not having to spend 30 minutes sitting up in the cold and dark several times a night is wonderful! 

My two brunettes!

Considering his activity level in utero, I was concerned that he would come out with his days and nights mixed up, like so many babies.  But Andrew is a good sleeper at night -- he just conks out in between feedings.  And he has some nice wide-awake alert times during the day.  The kids were so excited the first time they saw his eyes. (He was totally asleep for their first visit.) :)

little smooshy squish-face

So far he is a very "good" baby.  He is very patient and seldom cries.  He doesn't appreciate having his diaper changed, he doesn't like getting baths, and he does not love his bouncer.  He seems to have two philosophies about life: when he is awake, he should be eating.  And when he is asleep, he should be held.  So long as those two things happen, all is right with the universe. 

he will accept being swaddled and tucked into his carseat, so long as he is already asleep!

He is a real snuggle bug.  I don't mind -- it gives me a good excuse to sit and cuddle with him allllll day long. :)

who wouldn't want to spend all day cuddling with this little bundle of scrumptiousness?

I'm wondering now if we should have named him "Benedict" (one of the runners-up) -- he is so blessed! 

...Nahhh, he looks like an Andrew.

Halloween with Hurricane Andrew

We had a themed Halloween this year.  Katie received a bag of hand-me-downs containing a pair of shoes which provided the inspiration: 

Despite my best intentions NOT to wait until the last second to make costumes, this was taken the day before Andrew was born. :)

The girls both wanted curly hair, so earlier in the day we put it up in rag curls.  Two thoughts: Miriam's hair is lo-o-o-ong, and Katie just has lots of it.

making scary pictures for the front door

 Because of the storm, we couldn't get pumpkins until that morning.  But at least we got them!

So, the costumes!  The girls' were finished before Andrew, the boys' after.  I was still finishing things up Halloween morning -- you can't expect to get much done in 20-minute intervals between feedings! :)  They were very homemade, but I think you get the gist:

L-R: Glinda the Good Witch of the North, the Wicked Witch of the West, Dorothy, a flying monkey, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion.  Oz the Great and Powerful was too tired to get dressed up for trick or treating. :)

 Despite the time crunch, I had fun making them, and the kids offered a lot of input.  They were very happy with their costumes, too -- the Tin Man in particular LOVED his ax.   The costumes were a huge hit in the neighborhood, too.

I'm especially proud of the flying monkey.

note the tail.

Mr. Pickles took the kids out trick-or-treating while I stayed home and -- what else -- nursed the baby.  They collected an obscene amount of candy, especially Daniel, who repeatedly went for the bowl filled with candy, rather than accepting the offered one or two pieces -- and because he was so cute he got away with it!  Little monkey.

the Wicked Witch and Dorothy enjoying the spoils of cuteness.  Poor Miriam had to pick through her loot and remove everything with soy, which ended up being more than half.  no worries, though, she still has more than enough gummies and skittles to rot her teeth respectably!

 Of course, Mr. Pickles couldn't have ANYthing, so he made his own Reese's -- peanut butter and soy-free chocolate chips.

Daniel's favorite candy is lollipops.  He insists the word for lollipop is "candy" -- there is no other candy worthy of the name.  He did not like it when we cut him off and told him it was time for bed.

I'm not tired!

Another successful Halloween!  I was thoroughly worn out afterwards, but I love the opportunity to be so creative.  It's nice having appreciative recipients, too. :)

Happy All Hallow's Eve!

aren't you impressed with Miriam's cat?

 

And the winner is...

Dave and Katie B!

Final stats for Andrew:

gestational age: 39 weeks, 4 days
weight: 7 lbs., 10 oz.
time to spare: almost exactly 3 hrs.

Dave gets points for guessing the closest gestational age (39 weeks, 6 days, which would have been Saturday), plus extra nerd points for his equation.  But Katie was spot-on for both the birth weight and the time at the hospital!  Way to go!  Your imaginary bags of marshmallows are in the mail. :)

Andrew's Story

So when I was sitting around at the hospital, waiting for something to happen, I was thinking somewhat dejectedly, "Each of my other kids has a unique birth story with something funny or interesting or remarkable about it. But this one is going to be so boring, probably: 'Mom labored and then he was born. The End.'" I'm happy to say I was wrong. And anyway, I was in the throes of laborland and feeling generally PO'd at everyone and everything at that point, so my feelings of dejection were totally baseless. Every birth story is unique and interesting, at least to other moms. :) (All you non-parents can feel free to just skip the text and look at the pretty pictures.)
So the biggest news is, we made it to the hospital!! Yay!! I knew that Andrew was much smaller than Daniel was, so I figured my labor with him would take a more normal amount of time. Still, there was always the underlying current of mild panic about when exactly we should leave for the hospital, and whether he would be born in the car on the way. This was a neverending source of anxiety for me for weeks leading up to his birth. Thursday morning I woke up feeling... different. I had been woken up a couple times early in the morning by some contractions that felt... different. Very low and tight, and wrapping around to the sides. Not painful yet, but just... different. Thankfully Mr. Pickles was already working from home that day. He had also been leaving for work an hour later each morning that week, just to see how I was feeling before he took off. I was grateful he was already home that day, though. I also felt different that morning. A little more irritable than usual. I finished packing up my suitcase and called a friend (who answered the phone with, "Are you in labor?!?") to see if she would be available to watch the kids in case we had to leave during the day. You see, I expected this labor to go like all my other labors which started in the middle of the night. So I had plans for night time and the early morning, but nothing during the middle of the day! Thankfully my friend was available in the afternoon so we were covered. I had hoped to avoid packing up the kids and dragging them with us on the way to the hospital, but oh well.
We managed to get a little school work done that morning. I did some laundry.  I think I even vacuumed and tidied up. Or maybe that was Wednesday. At any rate, I only had a couple more strong contractions, nothing even timeable. So after lunch I decided to go for a walk to see if I could get things going. I was only out for about 20 minutes, during which I had a couple strong contractions that made me stop and catch my breath. So yeah, that worked. I alerted Mr. Pickles (who was deep in Work Mode) and called my friend to give her a heads-up. The babysitting situation became ridiculously complicated -- we ended up having to drop the kids off at another friend's house b/c the first friend had to be present at a school function until 4:30, but then she picked up the kids and brought them back to her house for dinner, then drove them back to our house where ANOTHER friend would get them ready for bed and stay at the house that night. But she had to leave super-early for work, so yet ANOTHER friend agreed to drive over to our house first thing in the morning to relieve her! My friends are all awesome, to pull together like that last-minute.
Anyway, back to Laborland. I was trying to get the kids packed up and ready to go in between contractions while Mr. Pickles finished working. I even tried to start washing a load of dishes, but after filling up the sink, I realized, "We've got to go. NOW." Earlier that day I had begged my guardian angel to let me know without a doubt when we should leave, and that was my cue. We finally left the house around 3, and at that point my contractions sped up to about every 5-10 minutes. Thankfully there wasn't too much traffic on the roads, so we made good time. When we got to the first sitter's house, we had to remove some carseats and get the kids in the house. Joseph had to be dragged up the steps because he chose that moment to be extra clingy and stubborn. But we finally left and got to the hospital around 4. They showed us into a double room and left us there for what seemed like forever. My contractions didn't stop, for which I was grateful. But that's when I began thinking that this was going to be simply a boring, painful labor with no real Story. Finally a nurse came in and asked us a million questions -- exactly the same ones I had answered less than a week ago (why couldn't they just have kept my file?? no one had developed any major health issues in that time!). When she checked me I was so relieved to learn I was 4cm dilated and completely effaced -- whew! I just wanted to get it over with.
After that they showed us into our actual Labor & Delivery room. It was right next to the nurses' station. They were very noisy. It was good noise though -- lots of laughter and chatter. The nurse started Doing Stuff to me -- I got hooked up to the monitor (how I hate that thing), and then began the Quest for a Vein. Apparently I have very small veins. It took several tries and two nurses before they finally found one they could put an IV in. I felt like a pincushion, but I had to have the IV to get antibiotics since I was GBS+ again. Meanwhile the baby inside was going NUTS in between contractions. He was rolling over and trying to punch his way out sideways, I think. That was encouraging for me though -- I knew he was doing alright during the labor if he could be that active.
Then nothing exciting happened for a while -- just contractions every 4 minutes. I was so grateful for Mr. Pickles at that point -- he faithfully rubbed my lower back with every contraction, which helped ease some of the pressure. By this point it was dinnertime, so Mr. Pickles went down to the cafeteria to grab a bite so he wouldn't pass out. My OB came in and checked me and said things were progressing nicely -- so much so that he said he wouldn't want to break my water at this point for fear of speeding things along too quickly. He gave me permission to get up and walk around -- but I had to stay in the room in case my water broke while I was out of my room and they had to deliver the baby in the hallway. :) So I paced for a while, then Mr. Pickles returned from dinner. And THEN things started getting intense. The contractions got reeeeeally strong and owchie. There's no beating about the bush -- labor just hurts. And transition really sucks. I have no idea how I was able to stay standing while I was going through transition with Daniel -- maybe Andrew was another back labor and that's why it hurt so much. I was curled up on my side, because that's what felt the best, so at least I wasn't on my back. I told Greg that when the time came I wanted to try to deliver on my side -- I had done that with Joseph and hadn't torn. I was really trying to avoid stitches again!
The contractions began double-peaking and I started feeling a mild urge to push. Greg alerted the nurse, who called in the doctor, who checked me and said I was about 8-9 cm dilated with a bulging bag of waters, hence the feeling of wanting to push. He and the nurse took off again, admonishing us to call them when my water broke. Turns out we should have told them to stick around for another 20 minutes! I was now totally in The Zone, curled up, eyes closed, just trying to stay alive pretty much. I began vocalizing because it felt good. Then I got really noisy while the nurse was in the room, but she was totally nonchalant about it. Greg was trying to hint that I was starting to push, so she hurried over and asked if she could reattach the ruddy monitors. I snorted, "Heh, you can TRY," and then attempted to comply while she got maybe one strapped on. Then I rolled back to my side and began pushing in earnest. The rest of the labor was a haze -- I dimly remember someone trying to tell me to lie on my back and Mr. Pickles advocating for me that I wanted to stay on my side. I remember him checking me and calling out, "I see the baby's head!" I remember the nurse paging someone urgently, "I need the doctor and people in here NOW!!" I remember a crowd of people surrounding me, telling me to breathe, and I remember thinking, I AM breathing, go to h-e-double-hockey-sticks! The pushing was really intense. Usually with pushing the contractions slow down and you get to catch your breath in between them, but with Andrew, once I started pushing it was a non-stop roller coaster. I had just enough time to inhale in between each push.  I have no sense of time, but I'm going to hazard a guess that I pushed for probably less than a minute. It might have been longer, but it certainly didn't feel like it.
And then, ah, blessed relief as his head came out! The nurses had to coax me one more time to push the rest of him out onto the bed -- and then, there he was.

dried off, cord cut, and brand spankin' new!

The rest is hazy.  I wish they had let me hold him longer instead of whisking him away so quickly -- the doctor (who finally made it to the room shortly after Andrew delivered himself!) was pushing really hard on my belly afterward to get the placenta to come out right away.  That hurt worse than the actual labor -- I was yelling for that.  He and then the nurse had to do it a few times -- I guess I was bleeding a lot.  They had reattached the IV and were giving me a small dose of pitocin to cramp the uterus back down.  It didn't take long, but I was really annoyed and felt manhandled.  I could have used holding my new baby to distract me.  I wondered if I had been at home what the midwives would have done.

BUT!  I didn't tear!  Hooray, no stitches!

Mommy's little pug dog!

Finally, FINALLY they finished harassing Andrew and me and let us snuggle.  Andrew had THE most amazing pouty face.

Mommy: Oh, thank goodness it's all over!  Andrew: Why are you not feeding me NOW??

 

We got to nurse a couple times -- Andrew figured out the whole eating thing immediately, good man.  Then everyone left us alone for a while to enjoy some peaceful family time, before they moved us into the recovery room.  After Andrew and I were settled, Mr. Pickles headed home for some well-earned rest.

The funniest thing about the whole story is that this is the SECOND time this particular doctor has missed catching one of my babies!  The nurses never listen to Mr. Pickles when he tells them that I'm getting ready to push.  The doctor missed catching Joseph by 10 minutes, because he was still driving to the hospital.  This time he was just down the hallway, and he STILL missed the birth!  Note to hospital staff: listen to the husband, especially if this is their fifth baby!!

Since Andrew was born in the evening, I stayed the full two days, mostly b/c he needed another blood draw 24 hrs. after his birth.  I didn't mind.  I was looking forward to being home, but I enjoyed the peace and the room service and the free movies while I could. :)

I didn't sleep much that first night, even though I was worn out -- we just snuggled and nursed all night long.  It was heavenly.  There is nothing like snuzzling a fuzzy baby head to your cheek in the quiet and the dark, and knowing that he is all yours.

The next morning I felt AWESOME.  I think that's the biggest perk of a natural delivery.  I'm so grateful to have been able to experience that with each of my babies so far.  Yeah, the labor sucks big-time, but it's short (hopefully!) and the recovery is swift.  It felt good to be up and moving.  I changed out of the hospital gown and into a cute new nursing nighty I had found a couple weeks ago.  I showered and pulled my hair back and put on dangly earrings.  When you know you look good (even though you gave birth 12 hrs. previously), you feel good. :)  Daniel got his bath that morning too.

all fresh and fluffy!

Then the rest of the family came!  The hospital staff knew that we had a large family, so they put me in a HUGE recovery room.

The Big Sister Laureate

I LOVE this look on Jojo's face:

AWEsome!  Another player for the boys' team!!

We didn't get a shot of Daniel with the baby -- but I think his first words when he came in the room were, "Baby come out?"  He was happy to see the new baby too, although looking out the window was just as fascinating. :)

We came home Saturday.

I got him a new coming-home outfit -- it is so cozy and cute!

Let the fun begin!

The Blessing of Andrew

So this is what being "open to life" really means.

It means trying to be joyful about a surprise pregnancy, coming much earlier than you were planning.  It means being pregnant during a Virginia summer.  It means still trying to be excited when the sonogram doesn't show the gender you were hoping for.  It means spending hours and hours on lesson plans ahead of time so you can still homeschool with a newborn.  It means giving up your dreams of the birth you wanted, and still trying to look forward to it.

Basically, being open to life means not being in control.  And accepting that you're never really in control.

It also means experiencing your best pregnancy ever.  It means having little nausea (but still lots of tiredness).  It means enjoying the mildest summer in recent memory.  It means feeling great and full of energy right up until the very end.  It means being blessed with a good chiropractor, under whose hands you enjoy good posture and balance. (and lung capacity)  It means seeing the unfettered joy of the siblings as they anticipate the arrival of another playmate and rival. (heaven help us)  It means experiencing a reasonable weight gain, and not needing the size L maternity clothes until the last month, and not even needing the size XL at all. (huzzah!)  It means having a baby born during the most beautiful time of the year.  It means watching your generous friends drop everything and come together last-minute to make sure your children are taken care of during the birth.

Being open to life means being blessed with unexpected joys.  God is never outdone in generosity.

Andrew Karol

born October 25, 2012 at 6:51 pm

7 lbs, 10 oz.

20 ins. long

Modern Miracles of Technology

Exhibit A for why I love my new washer:

Before washing:

note the clearly visible black footprint on base of sock

After washing:

ta da!

Any device that can take a disgusting, stinky toddler boy sock and turn it into a respectable member of the clean clothes drawer is a device worthy of admiration.

Place ye bets!

Today marks 36 weeks!  Which means that if I go into labor tomorrow, they wouldn't try to stop it.  So this year's new Pickles model provides some extra betting categories: in addition to the date, you also have a chance to bet on weight AND location of birth!

Here are all the previous stats:

Miriam:
born at 37 weeks, 5 days (on a Tuesday)
weight: 7 lbs. 12 oz.
location: hospital, with 3 hrs. to spare


Katie
born at 39 weeks, 5 days (on a Friday)
weight: 7 lbs. 5 oz.
location: hospital, with 5 hrs. to spare


Joseph
born at 39 weeks exactly (on a Friday)
weight: 7 lbs. 10 oz.
location: hospital, with 4 hrs. to spare


Daniel
born at 40 weeks, 4 days (on a Tuesday)
weight: 10 LBS. 7 OZ.
location: home, total labor 1.5 hrs.


The official due date is either Oct. 27 or 28, depending upon whom you ask, which are a Saturday and Sunday.  Note that all the others were born on either a Tuesday or Friday.  Will this one fit the pattern?  I also checked phases of the moon for the other births, but there were no patterns.

My personal prediction is that the baby will be born either right in the middle of me working on the last Halloween costume, or on Halloween itself.  Actually, I take that back.  This pregnancy has been so unobtrusive in general that I have a feeling the birth will be the same.  (please, God!)  It would be awesome if he were born on the weekend so that the sitter wouldn't have to show up at work the next day bleary-eyed from driving to our house at 2 am.

Speaking of the sitter, we actually have a Battle Plan for this birth.  Since we can't afford the home birth I was hoping for, we need to get to the hospital 30+ minutes away, ideally BEFORE the baby comes out.  As soon as I start feeling restless and more cranky than usual, we'll call the sitter and ask her to come over that evening, Just In Case.  Then at the first pair of contractions that are 5 minutes apart (which usually comes around midnight -- why is that?) we'll jump in the car and call the doctor on the way.  The worst thing that can happen is that the hospital would send me back home for a false alarm.

I will still pack a plastic tub and towels in the car.  You know, just in case. :)

The hardest part about waiting for labor is... well, the waiting.  Not knowing when or where.  A homebirth would have removed all the anxiety of Getting There In Time.  Even so, I do have a lot of peace about this birth.  This pregnancy has been such a blessing already (except for the occasional painful jab right in the liver), that I trust the birth will happen exactly the way it's meant to.  God will never be outdone in generosity -- we said yes to Him when we chose to accept this baby with joy, as much of a surprise as he was, and already He's blessed us in little ways that strengthen our trust in Him.  A father of a large family confided to Mr. Pickles once that it's the "unplanned" children that end up bringing the most joy to a family.  So far that's true for us as well!  I look forward to watching this child grow, and seeing what unique gifts he brings to our family.

And I sincerely hope that he's on the smaller side when he's born -- I've got some darling newborn size outfits that I want him to fit into!

Off to make lists of names....

Big News!

We're pregnant!

Oh, wait, you already knew that.  Although an announcement at 7 1/2 months isn't entirely out of character for this blog, considering my usual timeliness in reporting family happenings.

My latest excuse for not blogging is twofold:
a) we've been spending lots of time in doctor's offices lately.  chiropractor, OB, eye doctor, dentist, pediatrician, pediatric orthopedic (say that five times real fast)... umm, did I forget anyone?  oh yeah, we also need to find a good orthodontist (and by "good" I mean "covered by our insurance") as well as periodontist. And,
b) we started school last week.  That means I had to archive last year's school work, clear out some shelves, order books, and lesson plan.
A secondary bullet point to b) is prep work for the homeschool groups we belong to.  I manage the roster for one group, and the finances and some lesson planning for another.

All that stuff takes time and energy, both of which are in short supply these days.

whew!  homeschooling is hard work!

Plus it's all on top of all the regular stuff I do, like keeping 6 1/2 people (Thumper counts!) fed, clothed, and relatively happy.  I wasn't quite mentally prepared for how much time taking care of a large family requires -- I mean, I knew in theory that it would require more juggling of time.  But I wasn't aware that I would never be able to read one whole sentence without being interrupted, at least while the children were awake.  I don't feel frantic, or even overwhelmed, just... full.  My days are full, my weeks are full, my time is full, my house is full!  I'm sort of wondering what adding another small person to the mix will do.

ANYWAY, the whole point of this post in the first place was to show off how simultaneously cute and more grown up Miriam looks today!

yes, they are hot pink.  not visible in this shot are the little hearts along the sides. please note the jungle print glasses case.

So far only her left eye needs the correction -- so it looks like she's destined to have her mother's wacky vision. I told her to blame Grampa Mike's genes. :)

Oh, and teeth are falling out of Katie's head!

Also, we just replaced our fourth and a half major appliance this summer -- the oven (and hood).  Next up: dishwasher!

So that's the news from Die Gurkehaus!