On the Quilt

This baby is just the sweetest thing!  She is such a good nurser and I have to wake her at night for her feedings because I'M getting uncomfortable.  My milk has come in now and it is a big relief to me.  Supplementing really is a pain and pumping is ok, but time consuming.  I love that newborns force me to slow way down and come face to face with a miracle.  She's just so small and sweet!

Special Delivery

Romy Georgia Barreth was born on September 6 weighing 8lb 3oz and measuring 19 1/2 inches. We named her Romy because we knew a little girl in Miami by that name and we always liked her name.  It is also our 10th wedding anniversary this year and we went to Rome on our honeymoon.  Georgia is Ben's Grandmother and we both love her very much.  Ben chose the name this time around. 

This was by far my easiest birth.  I decided to get induced this time around.  I have a theory that there is something connected with my body not wanting to go into labor and my milk being slow to come in.  I was also concerned about the size of this baby since I had gestational diabetes (even though I controlled it well with diet).  

I went in Thursday evening for a cervical softener gel to be applied.  I convinced en to sleep at home that night and thought I would have a peaceful night by myself watching cable before the delivery the next day.  Well, think again.  I forgot they'd have to monitor the baby and contractions and Romy did not like the pushing in on her little house.  She kicked and moved all night which resulted in the nurses having to come in and adjust the monitors frequently not to mention the three attempts at an IV in my hand. (ouch!)

The next day they started the pitocin and it was slow going.  Around lunch they broke my water and it was still slow.  They put an internal monitor inside of me to measure the strength of my contractions and they upped my dose of pitocin.  Then I started to make progress.  Once I got my epidural I felt much better!  I held off pushing until I could no longer wait and 15 minutes of pushing and she was here.  No stitches and very quickly.  I didn't know labor could be that way.  They put her right on my belly when she came out and she immediately opened her eyes and looked at me.  I said to her, "we did it!"

By the way she moved in the womb we thought we were going to get a real firecracker.  It turns out so far that she is very pleasant and has a great latch.  My milk is slow coming in so we are pumping after feedings and also giving her a little supplementation through a little tube while she is latched on and nursing.  It is very time consuming, but at least I get to look at her all night when I am up.  Here are some photos.

wink!  My mom was there for the birth.

Aunt Beki came to visit!

Getting to know one another.

This is the face I get to look at all night.  Think she got my nose?

Going home

A rose Ben bought for me

Home!

I have forgotten what a joy newborns are!  She smells so good!

Picture Day

Gwen had picture day at school yesterday and I got some pictures of her before she left.  My neighbor has such beautiful roses and they smell fantastic!

Waiting

Less than a week from my due date and I am waiting.  This was yesterday at 39 weeks.  Gwen wanted in on the action of taking a photo. :)

I'm mighty uncomfortable at this point.  At 5am this morning I was in the shower trying to soothe my back with the warm water.  This Psalm has sustained me in the past week.  I like the truth that the Lord doesn't slumber and when I wake in the night He is there with me.  When I am discouraged He is there with me, and finally, whenever this baby decides to come, He'll be there too.  I've been singing this song a lot in the shower.

38 Weeks

My mom recovered the cushions to this glider I got second hand.  I think it turned out just great and fits in with the nursery decor really nicely.  I'll have to take pictures soon of the nursery.  It's gray walls and pink accents.  I must admit that it's fun being able to pick out pink stuff before the baby arrives. 

I'm 38 weeks today.  I started having some contractions last night, but they went away.  It is at this point in pregnancy that you always hope upon hope that the baby decides to come early... but mine never do.  I can walk around a grand total of 30 minutes before my back starts to really bother me.  Gwen took this photo for me.  We don't have a name and I have not a thing packed, but I'm ready for this baby to come!

Zeke's First Day of Preschool

Zeke wanted to wear this headband to school.  Gotta pick your battles with a three year old!

He does this posing of his own accord.

Baby Quilt

My mom made a baby quilt for this new baby on the way.  It's so different than Zeke's was and I really love it.  It's so bright and vivacious... just like this baby (at least from what I can tell).  

Mom told me over the phone it had a "fat baby with wings on it".  I asked her if she meant a cherub... it made me laugh.

Since we still don't have a name for sure she just put Barreth.

The back side.

Gwen's First Day of Kindergarten

August Happenings

Gwen holding "chickens" at the Johnson County Museum we visited recently.

My neighbors that just moved gave me this changing table.  I painted it and painted the hardware.  Not bad for free. :)

Hope

It has been a whirlwind lately in the Barreth home.  Gwen got a little sick.  I got sick and it stuck around long enough to drive me crazy.  It was a fever only, but along with being 8 months pregnant it was a doozy.  Then last Monday Ben lost his job.  Let me back up.  We had prayed specifically recently that God would show Ben if he was to move on from this job or to stay.  Well, God answered that prayer in a definite and sudden way... but that's ok, cause we serve a BIG GOD!

You know what's crazy about it all?  Ben and I are at peace about it.  If we can trust God with our afterlife, then we can trust Him with taking care of our needs.  Ben has been interviewing and we are trusting.  Trusting in God's timing for a job, trusting in God's timing for this baby, trusting in God's provision... isn't so much of our lives out of our control?  And the parts that seem in our control... well, most of those aren't in our control either.  So, as I enter my 9th month tomorrow I'd like to just raise my hand and thank God that I have hope.  I have hope in someone greater than me and greater than is in the world.

When You're Home Sick

I am reading a book called "The Circle Maker" about prayer.  It speaks about really being specific in prayer and praying big prayers to a big God.  It has been a really good challenge and reminder for me to pray in a different way.

Today I came across this story and it was so interesting.  I've tried to validate this story on line, but while I can't find anything exactly like this story in "The Circle Maker", I have found lots of interesting facts about Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Hattie was born into the most distinguished family of clergymen in America.  She was the seventh of 13 children.  Her father, Lyman Beecher, was considered the greatest orator in America.  That mantle was passed down to her brother, Henry Ward Beecher.  But it was Hattie who would change the course of American history.

One Sunday morning in 1851, during a Communion service, Harriet fell into a trance not unlike the trance that Peter had on the rooftop of Simon the tanner's house.  In her trance, Hattie saw an old slave being beaten to death.  The vision left her so shaken that she could hardly keep from weeping.  She walked her children home from church and skipped lunch.  She immediately started writing down the vision God had given her as words poured from her pen.  When she ran out of paper, she found brown grocery paper and continued to write.  When she finally stopped, and read what she wrote, she could hardly believe she had written it.  It was nothing short of divine inspiration.  Hattie said that God wrote the book; she just put the words on paper.

Before she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, in 1849, her sixth child (they had seven total), Samuel Charles, died in a cholera epidemic in Cincinnati.  There was no medical intervention available at the time, and all Harriet could do was watch helplessly while her eighteen-month-old child was wracked by convulsions and lost all the fluids in his body. She later wrote that there were circumstances of such bitterness in the manner of Charley's death that she didn't think she could ever be reconciled for it unless his death allowed her to do some great good to others. She also wrote that losing Charley made her understand what a slave woman felt when her child was taken away at the auction block.

Isn't it amazing how I can feel a connection with a mom so long ago and ache with her over losing a child?  Maybe I need to read Uncle Tom's Cabin.


Samuel Charles

Harriet Beecher Stowe

34 weeks and 2 days

Baby Update

Yesterday I went to see the doctor and I took the kids.  It's a miracle I remember anything that was said even though the kids did really well.  I am 33 weeks now and this baby girl moves a lot and is very strong.  She is head down now and my doctor thinks she will stay that way!  Last time I went to the doctor I was measuring 4 weeks ahead by the measuring tape, but now I'm only measuring 2 weeks ahead.  My doctor thinks that she is dropping down which is good.  I had an ultrasound last week and they estimated that she was 4 lb 8 oz.  My doctor said that was a little over average, but fine.  In two weeks I will start having weekly ultrasounds and non stress tests to check everything out because of the gestational diabetes.  I am excited to see her so much.  The other two I hardly got to see before birth.
I am at the stage now where I wake every 2 hours or so in the night and my back feels stretched.  Hot showers seem to help and I am trying my best to position pillows to support me, but that is a challenge. I am ready to see this new person inside of me.

His Promises

Where would we be without God's promises?  Reminded this morning.

32 weeks

Large and in charge at 32 Weeks!

Freeze Frame

I love it when you experience moments that are just so perfect you'd like to freeze frame.  They don't happen every day, but I had one today.  We were at a local pond and the weather was warm and I was in the shade and the kids were fishing and riding bikes with their Grandpa and Daddy.  I took a little stroll and breathed in the warm air and looked at the lily pads... just beautiful.

Someone talked daddy into a slushy!

Fishing.  Yesterday he caught his first fish.

Riding bikes

Zeke and Paw Paw

Gwen and Daddy

Lily pads and ripples and a cool breeze.  My kind of beauty.

Being Goofy

Turtle

We found a turtle in the field behind the house.  The kids were very excited.

Zeke and a friend at small group.

Mothers Make a Difference

These two stories came from a devotional book that I borrowed from my mom's house when I went there the last time.

*A partially deaf boy came home from school one day carrying a note from officials at the school.  The note suggested that the parents take the boy out of school, claiming that he was "too stupid to learn."
The boy's mother read the note and said, "My son Tom isn't 'too stupid to learn.' I'll teach him myself."  And so she did.
When Tom died many years later, the people of the United States of America paid tribute to him by turning off the nation's lights for one full minute.  You see, this Tom had invented the light bulb-- and not only that, but motion pictures and the record player.  In all, he had more than one thousand patents to his credit.  

** The name Albert Einstein is synonymous with that of "genius."  Many don't know, however, that Einstein was a late talker.  His parents grew quite worried about this.  Then, at supper one night, he broke his silence with a full sentence, saying, "The soup is too hot."  Overjoyed, his greatly relieved parents asked him why he hadn't spoken before.  He said, "Because up to now everything was in order."