Go Time

Ugh. Two o'clock in the morning. Ever the cuddler, Bode climbed into bed between Steve and I in the wee hours of November 7th. I rearranged my 40 weeks and 8 days pregnancy bulk on my small sliver of bed and just started to doze off again when I felt it.  The first contraction.

Used to feeling the regular tightening of Braxton-Hicks by then, I knew the ache of this particular contraction was different.  Could I finally be in labor? I rolled over to grab my phone from the bedside table and opened the Contraction Timer app that I had optimistically downloaded approximately three weeks prior.  Four minutes, four minutes, three minutes, three minutes, three minutes. After confirming a regular pattern, I gently poked roughly shook Steve awake to alert him of my progress.

Around 3:30 am, I decided to get out of bed, shower, and finish packing Maggie's and Bode's suitcases to bring to our friends' when the time finally arrived. Considering the regularity of the contractions at that time, I debated waking the children but opted to let them continue sleeping while I labored at home. By the time 5:30 rolled around, contractions were starting to slow, and I thought maybe I could get a little more sleep before they picked up again. Yeah. That didn't work. After about an hour, despite my weariness, I got up again and left Steve and the children watching cartoons while I took a brisk walk with Asia.

Seven minutes, eight minutes, ten minutes. The frequency diminished, though the intensity stayed consistent. I assured Steve he could go into work for a bit while I took Maggie and Bode to Caribou. The treat took my mind off things for awhile, and when we got home I settled on to the couch and turned on the TV again for the kids. Things started picking up again around 10:30 and though she and Bode didn't quite understand why I had to pause our conversation at regular intervals, Maggie was her normal helpful self as she fetched me water and tended to Bode's needs.

Steve brought home Subway for lunch and I then put the kids down for a nap while I again tried to relax and finished packing. By the time they awoke around 3:00 pm, I knew for sure it was time to make our way to the hospital.

After dropping Maggie and Bode off at our friends' house and swinging by Fareway to pick up energy in the form of Clif bars, we arrived at Olmsted Medical Center at around 3:45 pm.

At the entrance of the hospital, the security guard who had, the day before, assured me I was the largest girl he had ever seen, asked if it was go time.  Yep!  We checked in at the Birth Center and I was soon hooked up to monitor contractions and baby's heartbeat. When the doctor came in to talk to me, he didn't seem convinced that I was in active labor. He encouraged Steve and I to walk the halls and he would see how far I was dilated after about 40 minutes.

As we walked, I became discouraged thinking that I still had several hours to go. Nevertheless contractions were now increasing in intensity and were occurring less than two minutes apart.  When it was finally time to see how far I had dilated, the doctor seemed surprised and leaned over to ask Steve if I have a high pain tolerance. I was dilated to 7 centimeters! I was so surprised and happy that I teared up.  The rest of labor is a bit of a blur as things got more and more intense and finally it was time to push around 6:45.

Brooks William Gibbs arrived at 6:54 pm, measuring 21 inches and weighing in at 9 pounds, 11 ounces.  A hefty boy, he had to be on formula the first night to regulate his blood sugar, but was doing just fine by the time morning came around.

Maggie and Bode were thrilled to meet their new little brother on Saturday morning, and they haven't stopped doting on him since.  We finally arrived home on November 9th and I can't imagine our life now without our new sweet guy.

Photos below are from Brooks' newborn photo shoot with Studio 4 Photography on November 15th.

Big Sister

Maggie to Bode: I'm the big sister, so I get to tell you what to do.

Me:  No, that's not how it works.

Maggie, indignantly: Then what are big sisters for???

...And a Happy New Year

With the start of the New Year has come my return to work after the birth of our God's latest masterpiece, Brooks William.  I hope to post more about his arrival later.  This has been a bit of a hectic week just trying to get back into the routine of everything and balancing work with three young children.  Thankfully I have two good older helpers in the form of Maggie and Bode, a helpful young nanny that comes a few mornings a week and the sweetest little baby face to remind me of my priorities.

We were at home for New Year's Eve, but started a new tradition (maybe?) with countdown envelopes.  Inside each one was a fun activity for the evening....Make brownies, eat popcorn, have a pillow fight, make snow angels, dance party, etc.  We welcomed in the New Year at 8:00 pm with a very helpful Netflix countdown hosted by King Julien from the movie, Madagascar.

And here are a few videos Steve made of our holiday season:

Our family Christmas:

The Gibbs family Christmas:


The Evelsizer family Christmas, which had to be postponed due to our kids' sicknesses:



And a video of some sledding fun that Maggie, Steve, and Bode enjoyed while my sister, Brooks, and I went to a movie:

The Wait

It's on.  Now that my official due date has come and gone, the contentment I felt a week ago has been replaced by annoyance that I'm "still" pregnant and uncomfortable.

As we've been waiting, we've tried to fill our time with memory-making activities as a family of four.

Steve and I were able to go on our first date in two months thanks to Steve's parents being in town last weekend.  His love affair with sushi started last spring when we went out with some friends, and now that he has brought me on board, I was more than happy to accompany him to Ichi Tokyo in Rochester.  California rolls - yum!  We finished our date with Caribou Coffee.  I have treated myself to a mocha more often these past two weeks than I care to admit...

Steve took this super flattering photo of me using baby as a drink holder.

Later in the week we went to Applebee's on a family date, knowing that we might not be going out for a leisurely dinner for a while.

My girl.  We've had our share of confrontations recently, but she's still my sweet princess.

They wait so patiently at restaurants now.  Bode brought cars to play with on this occasion.

Cubbies  Bible character night.  We realized this was the dress up theme at the last minute, so quickly tried to put together an Egyptian princess costume, per Maggie's request.  That's Moses in the basket.  Oh, and Moses is her newest idea for a baby name.

 And then came Halloween.  Steve was helping to coach the Stewartville Tigers to a Section Championship victory, so I loaded Maggie and Bode in the minivan to go trick-or-treating at just a few friends' houses.  We came back home to watch It's a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters that came to our door.

Ariel and puppy.

And on Halloween, as I put this shirt on, I realized I looked like a snake that just ate a very large rodent.  So there - I dressed up, too. 

Today while I was at a baby shower, Steve took Maggie and Bode to a volleyball game.  Maggie was asked when she thought baby would arrive.  And apparently this is what she said, "Well, I was thinking Halloween, but now I'm thinking Valentine's Day."  Thankfully, I KNOW that will not be the case.  He'll be here soon.  :)

Saturday School

Stewartville finally got some good press after a couple gun scares this school year.

Steve was interviewed by a local news station about their plan for Saturday School, and is optimistic it will be a good intervention for students!

http://www.kaaltv.com/article/stories/s3598471.shtml

Happy Birthday, Dear Bode

Bode is three!  Can't believe my little guy is no longer a baby and is no longer going to be THE baby of the family.  He has grown so much this past year, and continues to provide us all with laughter and hugs.

I tried to ask him the same interview questions as I did with Maggie, but most of his answers were, "I dunno."  Here's what I got:

The best show on TV is... Go, Diego, Go!
My favorite color is... blue.
My favorite toy is...(holds up new truck).
I like to take these things to bed with me at night...balloony (the balloons he found in his room this morning) and puppy.
My favorite movie is... Cars
My favorite animals are... cows.
My favorite sport is...football.
My best friend is.. Eli.

Other things that currently make Bode, Bode:
The way he still calls his sister, "Dee Dee," even though he can now say Maggie.
How everything somehow gets turned into a weapon in his hands.
His insistence on giving everyone "Hug, kiss" when saying good-bye or good night.
His flexibility in playing princesses, dolls, and dress-up with his sister even though he also has interests that are very stereotypically "boy."

Love this guy!  And because my posts have been very dominated by Maggie recently, here are lots of Bode pictures from today:

We started off the day with some balloon fun in the kids' room.

Breakfast was chocolate doughnuts, which Bode selected yesterday at Target.

Our first Kiwi Crate arrived a couple days ago, so we had fun crafting hobby horses after breakfast.

I tried to get a nice posed picture, but as soon as the horses were finished, they were OFF!

They both insisted on wearing hats (we don't have cowboy hats) and boots.  Bode settled for Maggie's pink snow boots.

Bode had to show off his muscles, with coaxing, to match the card from Unky and Aunt Kate.

Before lunch, the kids and Steve accompanied me to my 38 week OB appointment, complete with a tour of the BirthCenter. 

After lunch it was naptime.  But first, Bode insisted on gathering all of his balloons in bed.

"Take a picture of me, too!"

 Then presents...

And cake.

Bode woke up singing this song this morning and kept repeating it throughout the day.

Then it was time for Bounce World!

We finished our day with Bode's choice of dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings.  

On to year four!

Baby Names

Yesterday morning before I dragged my large and weary self out of bed, Maggie was asking me about the names of the bones in our bodies.  As I gave her the rundown of bones in her leg, she paused when we got to the kneecap.

"Patella," she mused. "That's a pretty name. If the baby was a girl, I'd name it Patella."

Where is the third one going to fit during cuddle time?