Tomorrow is the day!

These are my last few hours pregnant...its always a weird feeling. I think its almost better to just go into labor on your own - because then its there, its time, no going back. However, having this day set in mind makes the waiting harder and plays on the nerves.

I don't know when I'll get to start the induction tomorrow, but I'll post an update after the little miss comes. :)

Now, I just need to try and get some sort of sleep tonight! This is my last night of uninterrupted sleep for a great while. :)

New Year's Baby...Maybe?

So I haven't updated since 2.5 weeks ago...
After my last post, things were going pretty well. In fact I got to go home for a week (still on bedrest ) and we were pretty optimistic. Slowly the boys starting trickling back home from grandparents' houses.  However then Christmas Eve I noticed some suspicious "leaking". Although it was so sporadic and minimal that it could have been anything. My midwife told me to watch and see, so I just kept note of things and laid low.

Christmas Eve night I got to spend a glorious night in my own bed, snuggling with my boys. Christmas morning we had a nice time opening presents and having family time. However, the suspicious leaking was increasing so we decided it was time to get it checked out.

I hoped to be proven wrong.

But instead it was confirmed that my water was leaking...

In my town hospital, they can't take care of babies younger then 34 weeks. Since I was 33 weeks, that meant I had to be transported to a bigger city hospital 3 hours away. I got an ambulance ride to the jet (lights, sirens and all...but that was to not make the jet wait too long). Then the jet ride was only about 15 minutes!

The doctors here are great - so calm and reassuring. After all, they are used to much more serious cases and much more premature babies.

The plan is to wait here, let baby keep growing, until 34 weeks. Then I will be induced (yikes! Never been induced!). We're hoping to avoid a c-section, which should be a do-able. *crossing fingers*

We've been blessed to have so much great help with the boys these past 2.5 weeks. Although the boys are starting to tire of this and just want their normal back. :( Its hard for the younger ones to understand. In good news - Grandma potty trained the 2 yr old while she had him for the week! Yay!

I will be 34 weeks on Saturday, New Year's Eve...so I will either have a New Year's Eve baby or maybe even New Years! I'm nervous but hoping for a quick and relatively easy birth. I'm really nervous for afterwards and how baby will do. She could be here a few days or a few weeks...chances are she'll do great though. Apparently preemie girls do better then boys!

So that's my update for now..little miss attention getter keeps changing the plans though, so really its day by day.

I hope to have a great update with adorable pictures in a few days!

Little Miss Drama Queen

So...I post this blog update sitting from the hospital. Not where I expected to be during my finals week for school, and not at 31 weeks pregnant!
But, I'm where I need to be for now, so that's all that matters.

Long story short - I woke up Saturday morning with unexpected bleeding issues and some minor contractions. We went to the hospital and was soon diagnosed with some sort of partial placental abruption. I was put on a variety of meds to stop the contractions, however they didn't seem to be working. We were told they were sending me to a bigger city hospital via helicopter (!) because the hospital here doesn't deliver babies/keep them here until 34 weeks. I was given steroids to mature baby girl's lungs and the OB tried one more thing, some lovely magnesium sulfate (sp?). It worked and I didn't have to go anywhere!

Today is day three...I was set to go home, but after a trial run last night of allowing me bathroom priveledges (uggh!) I had some more contrax this morning and a little bleeding. So back on some meds I go, and not going home today.

Baby has been doing great throughout...loving the attention. ;) But she is giving the nurses a workout-she moves so much that they have a heck of a time chasing her around with the heartbeat monitors!

So that's my update for today. I hope to have great news next time I update, and I hope to have a January/February baby still!!

30 weeks down...10 weeks (or less!) to go!

Its hard to believe that I'm in the final few weeks of my pregnancy now. The time has gone really fast. Of course, now, the next 8-10 weeks will crawwwwwwl by.

Everyone is getting very excited. Thankfully we have the holidays to keep us entertained for now. However, once January 1st hits...its going to be all baby baby baby talk.  I could have the baby as early as the last week of January. SO...I *could* say that I "may" have the baby next month! Wohoo!
Alex was born 2 weeks before his due date and Gabe was born 1.5 weeks before his due date. The other three boys were either on or within a few days after their due date. So...who knows?!

In other exciting news, we DO have a name! AND we were going to keep it secret, but the boys knew and they started spilling the beans. To keep it fair we announced it to everyone. Little sister's name will be.....Abigail! Nickname Abi is possible, but I also love Abigail just as it is. The middle name is up in the air, however we'd really like to honor Billy's grandmother Bonnie.

That's about it for exciting news right now. We've been busy with preparing for the holidays and me finishing up my classes (which end the week after next, wohoo!!!!).  I have some cute pictures of the boys decorating the Christmas tree, which I'll post later when I'm not hiding from my homework (as I am presently...haha).

Happy Holidays!

October Catch-Up

 Wow what a month!

I can't believe how fast October has gone by.

First to start the month I had a birthday. It was a big one. I said goodbye to my 20's. *sniff* Now I'm officially starting my 30's!  Honestly, it wasn't that big of a deal. I still feel 29 at heart. ;)

Then the rest of the month was spent finishing up soccer. With Billy coaching two teams this year it was a bit crazy! We were happy to have our final games and trophy parties to wrap things up.

I have also been busy with my classes I'm taking. Pregnancy does NOT do good things to my brain. I feel the most stupid I've ever been! I can't concentrate and I just don't have any motivation to actually do my homework either. Needless to say, its been quite a struggle this month. I hope next month will be better, and then my classes will end the first week of December. YAY!

For Halloween we got pumpkins for each of the boys to carve themselves this year.  Tonight we had an epic pumpkin carving session complete with junk food. We didn't finish until 10:00pm! Gabe, 2 yrs old, was begging to go to bed poor thing.
At least the boys are getting older so I didn't have to help as much with de-gutting and carving of the pumpkins. I only  had to "de-gut" two pumpkins and help with a third.

I look forward to November, the holidays and spending time with family. The next two months will go by very fast I'm sure. Before I know it, it will be January and we'll be preparing the final WEEKS before the little princess comes. It seems unreal!

Okay...now on to the pictures:

Alex's end of year soccer party, this is the "trophy" this year...a personalized sweatshirt. The boys love it!

Gabe enjoying a dandelion at Alex's trophy party:




Or is he eating it?!

Playing in the leaves at Brayden's soccer party:



Billy Jr making a leaf-angel



Gabe and Billy's close-ups (I love Fall photos!)





Brayden getting his sweatshirt:



The whole team (minus one)



Pumpkin carving time!  A full kitchen...

Finished products...



All a-glow!

What's in a name?

Naming a person is hard.

I think that some parents don't realize this or don't put as much thought into it. That's where you get names such as Envy Burger, Bread White, I.P. Freely, Jus-N-Tyme, Violence, Holly Wood...the list goes on. (Taken from http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/23631411/ns/today-parenting/t/harry-pitts-worst-baby-names-all-time/ )

However I like to consider all aspects when I choose a name - possible tease-worthy names, correct spelling, and how does the name sound on a sophisticated adult? For example, you probably won't see the next president of the United States named Talula Does the Hula from Hawaii (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2452593/Talula-Does-The-Hula-From-Hawaii-not-a-girls-name-New-Zealand-court-rules.html) .

Then you've got TWO people trying to agree on names they like...even more added to the baby naming equation.

I don't know if we'll ever come up with a baby name, honestly. Maybe on her birth certificate it will just say "Baby Girl".

So...any ideas or suggestions? We are open to them!

And Baby #6 is.......

A GIRL!!!

 Bunches O' Boys will now have a little sister. :)

Its still all hard to believe right now, I was so convinced the baby was another HE. I am so not used to saying SHE and HER yet.

The boys are so very excited and happy. I got a video of their reaction to share with family and friends:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHYYn893qRA

Also I have some first pictures to share of HER:

One of the PROOF shots...see the arrow. :) She was being very immodest. Daddy said it was okay only this once...



Another proof shot:



A baby profile with yawning mouth



A head profile shot:



Daddy and the youngest two got to come along. Before the ultrasound tech. shared the news, I thought I saw what looked like girl parts but didn't want to get too excited. So as soon as she said, "well guys...it looks like a GIRL!" I lost it! I said, "WHAT?!" and immediately was bawling. I even made daddy cry a little!  It was so unbelievable!

Then afterwards we started making the speaker phone calls to the grandparents.  Everyone was so excited! Beyond excited....

Now I just can't wait to meet her. February can't come fast enough! I can't imagine a little girl in this house O' boys.  Our life will be forever changed!

Well Loved Toys - UPDATE!

So....after I told Billy about Gabe's poor old Woody doll he said we should just go out and get him a new one. :)

I had to take pictures for the blog of course!

Gabe was SO happy! He was shocked at first and just kept saying "Woody?" over and over. Finally when Woody was out of his box and had his hat on, Gabe did a little dance and squealed with delight. :)

Here are the new and improved Woody pix...

Surprise!!!

So happy!

Giving Woody doll some love...

Well Loved Toys...

So Gabe LOVES Toy Story, both Buzz and Woody pretty equally. But he LOVES his Woody doll. Sadly, it wasn't made for 2 year olds. Woody has lost his voice, lost his head, and now both of his hands. :( Gabe still loves him though and takes him everywhere, even swinging with him. :)
I think its time to find a new Woody on Ebay. I'll just tell him I fixed Woody. ;)

Baby #6 Update

I'm now officially in the 2nd trimester now! But that doesn't mean I've been feeling much better, in fact probably worse. blah.

Its hard right now to wait 4 weeks in between appointments and not know/worry if the baby is still okay in there. Last I saw "him" was at 9 weeks along and I didn't get to hear his heartbeat yet, just saw it on the ultrasound screen.

So I had a gracious friend offer to let me borrow her doppler (to listen to heartbeats). I waited until I was 12 weeks to try. It took awhile to find, but I was pretty sure I found it! Today I tried again to be sure, at 13 weeks and sure enough there it was. "His" heartbeat is much faster then mine and measuring around 160 bpm. He was moving around and hard to pin down in one spot though!

It was so amazing, and reassuring to  hear. The miracle of life never ceases to amaze me!
I just can't wait until February. Pregnancy is a time full of worries for me, not being able to see the baby every day and know "he" is okay.

In other news, we've been keeping busy with summer and lots of activities. We went to the coast to visit the Seattle temple and then visited my sister afterwards. The boys had a lot of fun. It was a lonnnng car ride for me across the passes both ways though. uggh

School starts in a few weeks! aack More updates to come....

One in the oven

So its official! Baby #6 will be here around the first or second week of February. Hopefully not the third week of February, because I already have three of my boys' birthdays that week! BUT if this one is anything like his brothers then it probably will be!

We told the boys almost right away. Its hard to keep secrets in this house anyway. ;) Very few people knew because of our previous loss before this pregnancy (and two before Gabe and Billy Jr's pregnancies as well).  But we were waiting until my first appointment and ultrasound to share with the world. ;)

So all is well and baby appears to be growing healthy and strong. I still worry, always, so continue to keep baby in your prayers for an uneventful remaining 7 months please!

What's the guesses on boy or girl? Sixth boy? Or finally a little girl to finish off the family? :) Regardless, I don't know how many more children we'll have, as Billy wants this to be our last. An even number is a nice number to stop with. :)

As with Gabe's pregnancy, I'll keep a pregnancy blog so that if you want to read about all the details you can. I'll be making that blog public here soon.

Thanks all and until next time....

Summer fun picture overload!

Its been awhile since I updated! We've been busy this summer so far.  Its been a fun summer!

So here is my update, in pictures....

First we had the end of school year picnic for the boys' homeschool "school". Here is Gabe pretending to sleep on the playground.

There was a watermelon eating contest too. Here is Owen with his best bud.

Alex got to set off his rocket he made during rocket class as well.

3...2...1....

Lift off!

But I actually missed Alex's launch so here is another kid's rocket launch. Pretty cool!

Next we went camping! Fun times!

Gabe giving grandma a flower. :)

Gabe standing on the same rock his grandma got a picture of his daddy doing at two also.

The roaring creek!

Not Alex's catch, but he was still proud of it!

No more pictures please!!

A pan full of creek fish and blue gill.

The big fish daddy caught with two little creek fish.

Gabe LOVED the spicy Dorrito chips with Tapatio! Crazy kid. lol

As we were leaving, I caught this great photo of a momma deer and her baby.

Next we had some fun in Cashmere at their annual ping pong ball drop. You catch these ping pong balls from the sky and win prizes. fun fun!

Billy Jr. waiting for the helicopter with his basket on his head!

Nana's idea to catch more ping pong balls!

Here they come!

And more!

Finally we spent a fun afternoon playing in the water this week.