It's Me

Still here... Steven's mom's surgery was a success and it seems as though there will be no further treatments for now. Definitely the best news we could hope for. And that was a groundhog in our backyard. Good guesses--I think someone even got it right?!

We are hanging in there. Having three is a little overwhelming for me. I'm not sure I have even brushed my teeth today. Hopefully my personal hygiene will not suffer much longer. Reese has had three consecutive nights of only one feeding, going 5-6 hours between. And he's smiling now! The big kids aren't sleeping together any more. That whole situation did not go as planned. Not sure what we are going to do permanently but for now, Elle has moved upstairs to the playroom for sleeping (on an air mattress). Any thoughts?

Samuel

Some of you may remember when the triplets were born back in January. The smallest of the three, Samuel, has been in the hospital since birth. The family recently found out some pretty devastating news. Please pray for this family and for little Samuel's miraculous healing.

Put your Reading Glasses on... it's LONG!

Oh my! Two whole weeks have passed since I last posted. I'm sure you faithful readers out there can understand why I haven't been able to post. There have been quite a few happenings going on around here. Here is a highlighted list of our life over the past two weeks (in semi-reverse order):

1. Today is my husband's 32nd birthday. He is enjoying a rare day of playing golf with some friends at his favorite course, Farmlinks. I am so thankful for him and his life. He loves the Lord, is an extremely hard worker and faithful employee, a wonderful husband and friend and an incredible father. I could not ask for a better partner in life and in parenting. Here's to 32+ more years! (*Steven and his sister have the same birthday, four years apart. Happy Day to you too Rhonda!)

2. I am recovering from a brief bout with mastitis. For those who have experienced this, you know it is miserable. I felt like I had the flu accompanied by an extremely sore, swollen, painful boob. Thankfully, I got an antibiotic fairly quickly and the fever broke after about a day. Now I just have a slightly painful boob without any flu symptoms.

3. Elle has been with my mom and sister since last Sunday. This is the longest she has ever been away from us and the first time staying somewhere else without us. She has done wonderfully, much better than me. They have done tons of fun things and she is being thoroughly spoiled. She comes home tomorrow and I cannot wait to see that beautiful face and squeeze that little neck.

4. Since Elle's been away, Grady has officially moved in to "their" room. He has slept in the big bed every night and for naps each day. He has done awesome solo. It will be interesting to see how it goes when big sister returns. If his sleeping positions are any indication, there might be some problems as Elle joins him.

5. Since Grady has moved out, I've been able to get Reese's room ready for him to move in. I just need to get some things up on the walls and it will be done. I am already enjoying putting most of his "stuff" in his room and not in our bedroom. If you remember, we just turned our room in to our beach oasis. However, our new roommate has turned it in to a bit of a tsunami.

6. Speaking of Reese, his umbilical stump finally fell off today. It looks like he might be our only child with an "innie" belly button. I have no doubt that Steven will take full credit for this, since Reese's cord is the only one he cut.

7. I turned 31 this past Monday (6th). Birthdays just don't seem quite as fun as they used to. I did get lots of nice presents, well wishes on Facebook and a fat Dairy Queen ice cream cake from Steven. I also got a new cell phone that I can text on (whew-hew!), a stunning necklace with my children's initials from Lisa Leonard (and my mom really!), and some good ole cash for much needed clothes. I always thought I would be done having kids by the time I reached 30. I barely made it in under that goal.

8. Over the past month, I kept seeing this creature in our backyard. I couldn't quite figure out what it was and it kept running away before any one else could see it. I'm certain my family and neighbors thought I had some severe form of post partum depression with hallucinations. Finally, last Sunday that all changed when Steven spotted it, and I was able to get him on camera. Would you care to guess what our backyard pet is?

9. My MIL found out she has breast cancer. They found it early and it is a relatively small tumor. She has surgery on the 21st to remove it. She'll meet with an oncologist after that to determine what, if any, further treatments are required. We're hopeful the surgery will remove all the cancer from her body and little other treatment will be necessary. We'd love your prayers for her surgery and complete healing.

I'm looking forward to next week. Elle will be home. Mom will be here for a little over a week while my sister is at camp. And there are a few fun things on the agenda. I hope to be back before another two weeks. Happy Weekend!

No more belly

Just so you can see the difference in an 8 pound baby and a 9 pound 9 ouncer. Below was the morning we went to the hospital to have Grady.

And this is the morning we left for the hospital to have Reese.

I was not lying when I said my stomach could not possibly stretch any more.

The Story

This will be the abridged version of Reese's birth. Please remember I am a nurse, so I like to use the correct words for things {read on at your own risk}. I went in last Tuesday morning at 6 AM to be induced. My neighbor came to the house at 5:30 AM to be with the kids until Steven's parents could get here. All went well in the early hours. They started pitocin around 7-ish and my doctor was in to break my water around 7:45. I have to say that this was the most painful "break" I've had. Maybe it had to do with the little room my 9-pounder left in there. After breaking my water, my doctor said, "I would choose for you to have an epidural as soon as you're ready." I said okay:). I labored through two hours and felt really good. Around 10, I choose for myself to have the epidural. It worked wonderfully--with Grady only one side went numb and they had to kind of redo the epidural. After that, things were great. I was resting through it all. Around 12, my nurse checked me and said I was complete. I was so happy. This had been so easy and now I was going to push a few times, as I did with the other two, and little Reese would be here. I push through a contraction with my nurse and she says that I'm not actually complete. There was a "piece" of cervix still in the way. You can't push through that or it will swell and then you have to wait and things could get ugly. She decides we need to wait a little bit longer. She had to call the doctor back because she had already called him to tell him I was complete. She would check me every 30 minutes or so, and that stinking piece of cervix was still there. Around 2:30, the doctor came in with a scary, determined look on his face. Mind you, I have been at 9 1/2 centimeters for 2 1/2 hours. He lays my head all the way back and begins to manually try to get the piece of cervix out of the way. If I had not had an epidural, I feel pretty certain I would have died right then and there. I couldn't see his arm from the elbow down and his facial expressions were just as telling. I begin throwing up. My sweet husband was right there with the barf bag. The doctor also tells me the baby is "sunny side up" which means he was face up. Not the worst thing in the world, but not ideal either. When babies are like this, their heads are extended rather than flexed with their chins on their chests. It can make for a difficult delivery. He leaves with instructions on how to position me in order to try to make this piece go away. Steven and my nurse are rolling me back and forth in to all kinds of positions. She checks me again at 3 PM and says it's still there. She starts asking if I want to have my tubes tied if I have a c-section. She leaves the room so Steven and I can talk about it. I lose it at this point because this was my biggest fear going in to this labor. I knew this baby was big and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to deliver him and I really did not want a c-section. (I know all you moms who've had sections are thinking I'm crazy and it's not so bad, but I didn't want it. That's all I can say.) I'm crying and Steven is trying to encourage me. Then he gets on Facebook and Twitter {ah, the technology age} and in just a few minutes, about 35 responses came in and people were praying. I laid there crying and begging God to GET THIS PIECE OF CERVIX out of the way and turn the baby around. My doctor came back at 3:30 with the intent of doing his whole "manual" thing again. As I began to push through a contraction, he said, "Wait, wait, you're complete!" They quickly got everything ready to push. As I began to push, Reese turned around the right way. And then my doctor said, "He's going to be big." Then there he was at 4:05 PM. All 9 pounds and 9 ounces of him. All 22 1/2 inches of him. And he was beautiful. And perfect. And the Lord answered my cries for grace and mercy.

My doctor said I was a "phenomenal pusher". I have paid for that phenomenon for 8 days now. But it was all so worth it. Reese is doing so well. Nursing is going well. He is sleeping well. The kids are doing great with him and with not having Mommy quite at their beck and call. I have had help for all but a few hours here and there and I have been so thankful for that. Next week starts my time all alone, but I have faith we will be fine. I just can't say how much I love my family or how thankful I am to have an awesome husband and three amazing kids. I am blessed.

My sweet friend brought us dinner tonight and it was delicious! The kids enjoyed it too.

My husband's Father's Day present from my mom. Who doesn't want a straw that doubles as glasses. He did say it made his face feel cold. When Mom asked me what I was getting Steven for Father's Day, I said, "I'm making him a father again. I don't think I can top that." And what an incredible one he is.

Reese McNeal Salter

Here he is! Reese McNeal Salter was born June 16, 2009 at 4:05 PM. He was a whopping 9 pounds 9 ounces and 22 1/2 inches long. Elle was this size as a 2 month old?! Thanks to all for praying for us. It was by far the longest and hardest of the three but God was so gracious and he is another beautiful miracle. I am already in love again... with Reese and my other two. Hope to post the story soon for those who care. And hoping to have a photo shoot over the weekend.

How about that for a first kiss?

Still Here

This will be a random blog of stuff. Just bear with me if you so desire. I woke up yesterday morning with an awesome break out of a fever blister on my lip. That should make for some great labor day/new baby pictures. Maybe I'll just hold the baby up on one side of my face in every picture. I was able to get some medicine called in only in hopes that it will clear up faster. So far, it's getting worse.

My friend, Hillary at the Other Mama, is doing a giveaway over the weekend. Go on over and sign up. And if you win, you could give me a nice new baby present since the drawing is Tuesday. I'm just saying...

Another blog I've been following lately is Annie. She was a classmate at Troy, although I didn't have the chance of getting to know her well. I started following her blog 1) because she is hilarious and 2) she was due with her 3rd baby tomorrow. I just read last night that she had her precious baby girl yesterday but I can't wait to hear the full story. Go on over and you'll see what I'm talking about.

My sister stayed behind this week to help me out while my mom went back for her first week of summer school. She has been a big help with the small exception of bath time Wednesday night when she was "watching" the kids while I was on the computer. She "watched" Grady poop a lot in the tub. At least she scrubbed the tub after I had gotten all the poop out.

I walked over 3 miles (uphill all ways:) yesterday in hopes of getting this baby out. Instead all I managed to do was make my whole body very sore. Still no major contractions. Looks like it will be Tuesday. The skin on my stomach is stretched so far I can see every vein and artery in there, not to mention the stretch marks. I fear if I go past Tuesday, my stomach just might rip open.

Steven was off yesterday and we made our second trip to the pool. I have to say it is exciting to see Elle becoming more comfortable in the water. Not too mention that it makes it a little easier to only have to watch the every move of one child instead of two. We have YMCA lifeguards at our pool so the only "approved" safety device for the kids is a life jacket they provide. With Elle enjoying herself now, I can actually envision a pool trip with all three kids this summer. Maybe.

Elle and I were reading in Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein before her nap and I came across this gem:

Oh the thumb-sucker's thumb

May look wrinkled and wet

And withered, and white as the snow,

But the taste of a thumb

Is the sweetest taste yet

(As only we thumb-suckers know).

We tried and tried and even tried harder when we had the tooth scare (which, PTL, I think is healed and healthy), but it's just not happening. I've tried limiting it to her room and/or nap time and the child sticks it in there no matter what... even with band-aids on. I really felt like I was saying, "Get your thumb out of your mouth" every minute. I decided not to push it anymore and that she will give it up when she's ready (like she potty-trained in a breeze because she was ready). And braces and orthodontist bills are not the worst things in the world.

Hope everyone enjoys the weekend. Steven is working tomorrow (Boo!), but Mom will be here and I just might treat myself to a pedicure. Hoping the next post brings pictures of the baby!