New beginnings

Happy to say that Mason Graham has finally arrived! After 15 weeks of bed rest and FOUR days past his due date and a 15 hour long labor he was born the afternoon of August 17. Mason weighed a whopping 8 pounds 5 ounces! Hard to believe looking at him that whole baby bundle ever fit inside me! He is long-limbed, -toed and -fingered. Also very content so far. His brothers seem to want to keep him. Trevor keeps asking, "Shall we take him to convention next year?"

So in the midst of adjusting to life as a family of 6, Trevor turned three and Carson and Wyatt went back to school (5th and 3rd grade this year). Greg continues to recover from back surgery easing back into work and walking a bit more. Mason loves sleeping on his Dad's chest!

These photos are all jumbled up...

21 days

I remember sometime at the end of June being so excited that baby was only 21 days from being considered full term. Well today my countdown tells me that baby is 21 days PAST full term. Today is my due date. None of
our babies have ever made it this far!

My OB believes that the stitch did such a good job and left behind some scar tissue preventing baby from joining us just yet. This is another unintended blessing as Greg went for a sudden micro discectomy on his bulging disc (L4-L5) last Thursday. Now it is his turn to be on bedrest and my turn to wait on him.

5 days post-op greg is doing great with very little pain and he's fairly mobile though he can't do much beyond small walks and reclining throughout the day for the next few weeks. We are thinking our little guy will get spoiled by doing lots of sleeping on daddy's chest.

36 Weeks and Counting

Here it is, we have reached the often dreamed of and never thought it would get here 36th week of gestation.  Since we have spent the previous 15 weeks on bed rest, we are really excited that the bed rest will be over and life will return to normal.  As normal as having 4 boys can be with one of them fresh out of the oven.   I am really looking forward to getting my wife back since prior to bed rest she was on leg rest with a cast on her foot for two months.  It has made me more domesticated for sure though I am still not that excited about cooking (or laundry).   Our boys have been extremely helpful, so that I dont even have to do their laundry!!  Also, the use of vegetables is still not top on my priority list so we are extremely grateful for our wonderful friends who took pity on us and brought us prepared food that involved more than hot dogs and hamburgers.   Greg

Whoooo's eight?

Luckily Greg has always been the cake decorator extraordinaire for the kids' birthdays. This year Wyatt requested a realistic owl cake and pizza party. I was able to assemble an owl costume/printout masks and party favors couch-side and family and friends contributed food to go with the pizza. It was fun for me to be in a social setting again! A lunar eclipse was the evening entertainment.

Good help these days

Just a small sampling of those who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to help us out. Meals, laundry, shopping, cleaning, child care-all the things I can't do right now. Bed rest would be impossible without our amazing friends and family!! Greg thinks we should take everyone's first initial and craft a name for #4 out of them but it would take the poor kid till he was 18 years old to learn to write it :)

Moms day

I snuck outside for a quick photo with my boys.

This year my mom and I got to spend Mothers Day together and we treated her just like a mother! She cooked and cleaned and spoiled us for a week and hardly sat down once! Later I realized we didn't even have a photo of the two of us! We loved having her here and hope we didn't wear her out too much!

We're so lucky to have Greg's mom home from international travels for awhile. She's been spending one entire day a week helping us out. Trevor loves to have Sue climb into the most ridiculous tight spots with him to play McDonalds drive through. and we all love her Jello creations :)

Old bedrest news

This is a month old and I KNOW I'm just laying around all the time but I seem to stay busy anyway!

Here I am with a 28 week baby bump-so happy I got to this point! With strict bed rest, the cerclage and weekly progesterone injections, my cervix is remaining strong and long! I have the handsomest nurse administering said injections and he's awesome. Did you know there is a tutorial on YouTube for how to z-track intramuscular injections thereby avoiding nasty lumps and itching at the injection site? Seriously. What did we do before YouTube? At 28 weeks I graduated from the care of my perinatologist and just see my regular OB now-still weekly which does get me out of the house. I had a bit of a scare with low amniotic fluids but that seems to be resolved. It involves drinking 3-4 liters of water a day and lots of excuses to leave the couch for bathroom breaks!

7 weeks down and 8 to go!

Lessons learned

Four long months since I last posted?! Not for lack of events that's for sure! Let's see...best way to sum up recent events...we feel like we are living in our own made-for-TV medical drama. I'll spare you all the details but I thought I'd share some lessons I hope I've learned.

*To never take my health for granted and the little things my body can do without me even thinking about it. How about swallowing your own saliva? We never think about tiny things like that until you see someone you love lose their ability to do this!!

*It may just be a little pain, easily ignored, but if it doesn't go away after weeks, don't keep ignoring it!

*If you are wearing a cast and you're desperate for a shower: wrap it up with heavy duty bags. Do NOT use the cheapskate store brand garbage bags!

*If you do get your cast wet, get it removed ASAP. Even if you only had it put on a day ago and you're embarrassed :)

*Our family and friends have pitched in and supported us so many times the last few months. We are so lucky and I feel like I can never thank them adequately. I hope at least I can be the same kind of friend in return.

*Once again my hubby proves his love by the way he handles all the bumps in our lives. He is so capable and willing to rise to the occasion without complaint! I need to let him know more often how much I appreciate him.

*If you have all the usual pregnancy symptoms, don't assume you're experiencing early menopause. There, I told on myself-go ahead and have your laugh at my expense. :)

*Doctors are not magicians, they do their best, and they pray for you.

At this point I am humbled and in God's hands and sure I have more to learn!





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