Let's Make a Deal

Aliza: When are you going to buy me 6 new blue jean skirts?
Me: I don't think I will buy you 6 blue jean skirts.
Aliza: 7?
Me: Maybe 2.
Aliza: 3?

She knows more about wheeling and dealing at 6, than I did at 20 when we bought our first new car.

Teen "idols"

Yesterday someone asked Abigail who her favorite singer was. Anna answered for her, "Hannah Montana".
So, later while in the van on our way home after the play date with our new friends, I brought that convo up. Abigail reminded Anna that was "a long time ago" that she liked Hannah Montana. She added that she heard she wasn't doing nice things now so she didn't really follow her. I agreed. So then Aliza asked about Justin Beiber. A teenager friend from church had a poster of him in her room when we were visiting there about a year ago....and my girls never forgot about him. I added that even he wasn't really that great to follow.

Adalyn piped up, "what about Daniel Tiger?"

Yeah, that's a good one to follow!

I guess they need to learn who sings our favorite songs on k-love.

Alivia's Birth Day

The day before:
Louis drove us to our homeschool co-op then he went to Cookeville with Adalyn to run some errands.  All were surprised to see us and me still pregnant.  They were so sweet saying things like, "You don't look overdue" and "You're still so small".  They are all moms, and sure know what pregnant women like to hear.  I just love them!  I got to eat some great food, including my favorite Frito Bean salad a friend makes, and I didn't feel bad for finishing the rest of the bowl my second time around.  A friend of mine gave me a box of clothes to go through for Alivia.  I also saw this same friend of mine at a consignment sale the night we had Adalyn...so there must be something to seeing her and me going into labor, hehe.  A few hours later, Louis and Adalyn came to pick us up and he had gotten me a new exercise ball.  We got home, and I started using it right away along with some stretches and exercises to hopefully get things moving.   

41 weeks. 1 day: Friday, September 14, 2012
The day began with a couple of contractions before getting on the road to Cookeville for another doctor's appointment.  First we had an ultrasound because when you're overdue, you are checked every few days and the baby is rated out of 8 for things like movement, heartbeat, amniotic fluid, etc.  Alivia scored 8/8.

We have taken our enitre crew to nearly every appointment.  I think the staff there just got used to our train through the hallway to get to a room.  We always played, "I Spy" once we got to a room to be seen.  Our crew could get pretty noisy in those little rooms...we tried awfully hard to be quiet...but it was inevitable that bursts of laughter would errupt, or a toddler fit would be had by Adalyn who insisted on opening drawers of medical supplies!  The staff at Ob-Gyn Associates in Cookeville are awesome and have always been sweet to us and patient with us.  Our nurses/practitioners/doctor have let the girls help in many ways...from taking measurements to finding the heartbeat.

Our doctor, bubbly as always, came in and said the ultrasound looked good, and assured us that I would either just pop into some good contraction patterns and go into labor, or my water would break.  She checked me and I was a good 3, even 4 cm dilated, she said.  She laughed with us as we just couldn't believe I was still pregnant.  Instead of going until the following Thursday (42 weeks) to induce me, she said, "How about you just come in Monday and I can break your water and see how you progress from there?"  I have to admit, I wasn't at all happy.  I wanted to go on my own, and I felt that God must have a reason that I was still pregnant.  I didn't want intervention and then risk Alivia's health if she wasn't ready to be born.  Our doctor gave us some instructions and sent us on our way.  We went out to the scheduler and scheduled my 6 week post-partum visit.  I was in some sort of daze, just feeling mixed with emotions.  We got out to the van and I just cried and cried.  I really wanted to try to go natural and (if I knew it could be fast) with no epidural.  Louis calmed me down and was just so supportive.  The Lord truly knows who is perfect for you, and it's times like these I realize that more than ever!!! 

We decided to take the girls to Burger King to play.  While there, I had a couple of contractions, then Louis got a phone call from Daniel 1 reminding us to register.  So we all ate, then headed over to Daniel 1 to register.  I had a small contraction there and as a result ended up filling the $$ amounts wrong...which we didn't realize until the check cleared.  Oops.  Then we went over to Wal-Mart so I could pick up a new lullaby CD with Abigail.  She had been reminding me that they needed a new one and I thought, we needed to do that before we went in to have a baby!  A trip to Wal-Mart is always worth a mile in a walk!  We then headed home. 

About 3:00, Louis left to do some things at church.  I brought out the ball to the front porch and bounced around a bit while the girls played in the yard.  It was a beautiful day!  Then once Adalyn got a hold of the ball and rolled it down the hill, it was no longer useful...the quick jaunt down into the barbed wire fence poked a hole in the side.  SO it wouldn't stay inflated.

I came inside, the girls helped me pick up a bit and I vacuumed the main rooms.  I started noticing contractions picking up by 4:30.  Louis returned and I told him about them and we agreed to start recording them.  I called a friend of mine and was going over some info about Alivia's position in that morning's ultrasound.  One of her's were positioned "sunny side up" and she ended up having to have a c-section.  I was just so uneasy about that and was bound to do whatever I could to get her positioned right. 

While on the phone, I got winded a couple times and she ended up telling me to call her back if we needed her to come.  Our friend "on call" was out to dinner with a group from church because it was her birthday, and we knew that!  SO we told my phone friend, we may have to call on her. 

Louis decided to make some chocolate chip cookies...ya know for if we went to the hospital..they'd be a good snack for the girls and who stayed with them.  So Louis started mixing.  He's adding the ingredients, I'm pausing from loading the dishwasher from time to time to record contractions.  He got everything mixed up, stuck the bowl in the freezer to chill, and hit pre-heat on the oven.    Then he went back to our bed to lay down for a bit (dads have to be rested up too if you're planning on having a helpful companion while you're in labor).  So I got to it, buttered bread and started making grilled cheese sandwiches.  It's quite a process looking back.  I buttered one or two.  Then I stopped.  Gripped the countertop, breathed.  Wrote down the time.  Then washed my hands.  Then began buttering again.  Went after the cheese.  Stopped.  Breathed.  Wrote.  Washed hands.  Got back to the sandwich making.  As I was doing so, the girls started into the kitchen where I was working.

Anna: "I'm hungry" 

Me: "I'm making grilled cheese sandwiches".

One said she didn't want grilled cheese.  Abigail said she'd take two.  Contraction.  Aliza said she wanted a jelly sandwich.  I flipped the sandwich over in the skillet.  Contraction.  I told Aliza to make it herself.  So she's working now.  Contraction.  I burned the sandwiches.  I threw them away.  Anna decides she'd make a sandwich too.  Contraction.  I'm eating my sandwich now because I figure I might be pushing myself too long since lunch.  It is 6ish by now!!  Contraction.  Then Anna changed her mind and wanted a grilled cheese.    I start yelling at them and slamming things down as I'm working.  Slammed the fridge shut as I was fixing a sippy cup for Adalyn.  I go back to our room and bark at Louis saying "I can't handle this.  You're gonna have to come here and help".  I think he was on the phone with his brother.  They really had not been that close when he was out there with me and while he was making cookies.  So he comes out and asked me how many contractions I had had.  I show him the list of recorded times.  He freaks out!!  He figures up that these things are coming at me 5 and 4 and 3 minutes apart.  Noticing it hadn't been an hour, and they had progressed so quickly, we called my phone friend and said, "Come when you can" (GET HERE NOW!)

She said she'd pack a few things for herself and her boys and they'd be right over.  So, we are kinda talking to the girls telling them that we are going to be going to the hospital.  They heard theirfriends were coming over and were pretty happy.  I think they were also looking forward to the basket of food they'd been waiting to dive into (while we were at the hospital) also.  Ya know, Chef Boyardee has a way of putting a red saucy smile on any kids' face!

So we are doing last minute things.  Grabbing chargers, camera bag, getting a quick last time belly picture in the foyer.  Louis has me take my notepad and head out to the van.  I really think writing them down was a good distraction!  Around 8, Our friend arrived and walked over her baby gift...an adorable little crocheted baby hat.  Then we were on our way. 

I think I had 3 contractions in the time it took to get to the bridge over Dale Hollow Lake.  That's just a 6-minute drive from our house!  Anyhow, Louis did a great job getting to the hospital in record time (50 minutes).  Pot holes are not fun things, but it seems the little side streets surrounding the hospital are loaded with them. 

We had a moment of confusion about which entrance to go in.  They tell you this stuff while your pregnant, but when you're in pain and anxious...you can't think of any details like that. 

Anyhow, the entrance we needed to get in closed at 9 p.m. and we had less than 10 minutes to spare.  So in we walked, got checked in at the ER, then walked over to Labor & Delivery. 

Got into our room right at 9 p.m. and they were doing sort of an evaluation to see if I was in labor or not.  Asked some questions.  Found out this was our 5th rodeo.  They check me.  I'm barely 4.  4??????????????????   Are YOU KIDDING????  I was nearly 4 at the doctor's office this morning.  Can I not have gotten ANY FURTHER THAN THAT????  I burned grilled cheese sandwiches due to the pain, for crying out loud!! 

She called a nurse and said she felt like I was in labor and would need to start the admitting papers.  She had me get changed.  Then she started asking questions WHILE I'm having contractions that I "can't talk or walk through".  I'm sitting there thinking, Why in the world do they make you pre-register to the hospital in your 7th month if they are going to verbally ask you all these questions you filled in on your paperwork 2 months ago.  The grandma who had emphysema and died years and years ago, is still gone.  Nothing has changed in 2 months!  Contraction. No. No. Contraction.  Yes.  No.  No.  No.  Contraction. 
  
 I asked for some water to sip on.  They asked if I wanted an epidural.  It's just WATER!  I said I didn't want to get an epidural.  I was in a good deal of discomfort.  I said, "Ok, what was the other option? The lighter version before the full epidural?" The nurse is explaining a couple pain meds.  I'm losing her.  I just need a sip of water.  They called the doctor for permission. The verdict is if I promise I won't get an epidural, they'll let me have a drink.

That was a tough decision.  I really wanted to go without an epidural.  But I wasn't sure I could promise.  I thought to myself- if it could go fast, I might could promise. 

I got to sip water.  SO, the pressure was then on.  I was in a lot of discomfort and had a lot of back labor, which is something I didn't have with the others.  Alivia had been in the "sunny-side-up" position which basically meant she was in the unfavorable way for delivery.  She'd have to turn as she descended.  That was a bit worrisome for me.  I had taken the water.  Which meant no epidural.  I was worried she could get stuck if she didn't turn.  Stuck= pain.  What if I'd have to have a C-section?  All these panic moments were hitting me. 

I requested the birthing ball, and they said they'd get one.  Louis was doing some good things like squeezing my hand, whispering the breathe comments, and also rubbing my back or neck...wherever I'd asked him.  My back was just killing me.  The older nurse came over and whispered, "Just get the epidural, honey".  Thanks. But no. 

The nurse offered to page the doctor to come break my water if I wanted.  I was almost at a 5. That'd speed things up, most likely.  So I agreed.  The doctor came to break my water roughly at 10pm.  He said he thought I'd be having a baby by midnight.  That was just the glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel we needed to hear.  Definitely gave me some umph to endure! 

 I needed a change of pace.  My back was killing me and moving over to my side just didn't seem to relieve it.  I thought I'd get up and try the birthing ball or walk around a bit. 

WHAT???  I didn't know that once my water was broken I wasn't allowed to get up and walk or do the birthing ball.  I felt a little stuck.  Even the 5th time around, I was learning.  The nurses were busy bringing in things and opening cabinets that hold ALL kinds of gadgets and tools.  Louis was right there beside me, offering help as needed.  I think one of his favorite things to do is to watch the contraction paper come out of the printer.  He'd say, that was a big one, huh? He's so amazing as the labor coach.  It's one of my favorite of the hats he has worn since we've been married.  I definitely couldn't get through it without him. 

So I felt like we are slowly making progress.  I kinda wish it was like the innings in a baseball game...you know up on a scoreboard- so you can visually know how much longer til the game ends.  I told her I felt like I had to go to the bathroom.  She checked me and I was nearly a 10.  She made a call.  Two nurses came in and things got quite a bit noisier.  The sound of metal clanging made me realize they weren't quite prepared yet.  The ceiling above me opened and lights came down.  That DID make it feel like I was on the baseball field.   The doctor came in and checked me, pushing down on my stomach a little.  He waited through another couple contractions for a hairline of thinning to continue and then had me start pushing with contractions.  I pushed once and ta-da.  Nah- just kidding. 

As I pushed, I ran out of breath a couple times.  I did the half pushes, ran out of breath.  Head.  Then got in a really good deep breath, pushed really long.  Burning.  Shoulders.  That part just seemed to take forever.  She was born at 10:46 p.m. and he was proud I was over an hour ahead of when he predicted.  Later he said the words he'd use to describe that delivery was hot, fast, and furious. 

Alivia was pretty banged up from the delivery.  I think it might have been the way she had been turned and then had to turn the right way to exit.  The doctor did say she came out belly down which is the way they are supposed to.  The next shift's nurses and pediatrician asked if they used the vacuum on her.  She bruised quite a bit, but when she had her cap on it was less noticeable. 

Reality check

In a perfect world things on a "To Do List" get accomplished.
To do list:
Get laundry completely done
Pack suitcases
Wash van
Pack van
Pick up a few ingredients to make dessert
Make pies for dinner at friends' home

In our world:
Do enough laundry to make outfits for everyone then stop.
Pack suitcases then recheck them because kids are taking outfits out to get dressed for the day.
Wash van
Agree to let everyone wear swimsuits to make it "fun" and get some help out of them.
Wash the van. Play in the water. Kids get covered with mud on arms and legs while you're detailing road grime off hubcaps.
Send kids in to get showers.
Move the van out of the yard to go and supervise showers.
Get the van stuck in the yard. Spin out in reverse and forward.
Continue gunning it to try to get the van unstuck.
Sink the tire down to the rim.
Attempt to jack up the tire only to have the jack dig further into the soft ground.
Retrieve some scrap wood to put the jack on.
Watch the jack dig a hole into the wood as we crank it.
Shove some twigs and a 2x4 down in the hole to hopefully get some traction.
Attempt to get out of the hole. Throw out the 2x4 in the process.
Retrieve a piece of paneling to stick up next to the tire for traction. Fail again.
Drive to high school to recruit the coach and borrow his truck. Get a couple from the team out of school to come help pull the van out.
Success! Thank the coach and guys who came to the rescue.
Rewash van from muddy spin outs.
Ruin a bottle brush breaking up mud from tire.
Wash tire again. And again. And again.
Run in and shower off the mud from the day.
Run to store for ingredients.
Start to prep pies, realize the butter box in the fridge doesn't actually have any butter in it.
Realize pies need to bake 30 minutes longer than I have before we need to be leaving the house to arrive on time.
Pick up an ice cream cake at Dairy Queen instead.

You might live in a small town if:

You call up to the Chamber of Commerce to reserve a ticket for the current play and after being asked the name to hold the ticket for, the lady says,  "Isn't he in the play?"

You run into people in the community while your husband is gone in Israel and they ask me how I'm making it while he's gone.  Then they offer to help with anything if I need it.

You feel safe taking your 10-year-old up on her offer to go into the Family Dollar to buy toilet paper by herself.

While at the grocery store, you always run into at least a couple of people you know and then hang around to catch up.

Your pharmacist knows you by name.  (I'm trusting this is a wonderful quality on their part and not that we have 5 kids and have a need for medicines often in the winter months.)

The teller at the bank drive-thru asks how your husband's trip was when you are there cashing a check.

You get a Christmas card signed by all the bank tellers at your bank.

Your husband walks into Subway to order subs and the person behind the counter hands him a hairbow left the last time your family was there.

The pizza you get when you do "carry out" comes from a gas station.  And it's awesome!

You've had a tab at the Shell Station, and at the Country Kitchen. And the library.

Your husband makes the announcement from the pulpit that baby #4 is on the way and by the time you go out to lunch following the service, your waitress is congratulating you.

You feel safe at the 4th of July festivities on the square because everyone knows who the redheads belong to if they wander off.

You can put a stamped envelope in your mailbox with only the name of who is to receive it and the postman will get it there.

You call in to your doctor's office during the lunch hour expecting to leave a message on the nurse's line and your doctor answers in person.

You can check out books at the library and you don't even need to pull out your library card.

The guy at Dairy Queen takes the time to make you a Cherry Coke even though they don't technically have it on the menu.

It's a nice little town with super nice folks and we enjoy living among them!

Davises do drill

The calm before in the storm:
We had spent 2 hours at play practice Thursday night.  We left the theater at 8:15 and bee lined for DQ to get me a coke and some chicken quesadillas because I knew it was probably going to be a long night.  I promised the girls I'd make them cheese roll-ups once we got home.  I learned something very important.  DQ guy will MAKE you a Cherry Coke if you ask if they have it.  I felt very special.

So, I sip it down in disbelief I am actually drinking a Cherry Coke from the drive-thru in Byrdstown!!!!  I mean...only the big wigs in Livingston serve Cherry Coke!

Anyhow, we get home and get busy making cheese roll-ups individually in the microwave.  Anna figures out the process and says she'll take over, so I run downstairs to toss the load of clothes washed that morning into the dryer then start another load.   And these are the days of our lives.

I head back upstairs.  A couple girls are eating, Adalyn has a Netflix movie on too loud d/s, Alivia is scooting her baby doll stroller across the tile floor and it's just overall a pretty chaotic scene.

I take a quick moment to download the News 5 app on my phone so I can be tuned in like Louis is (but since he's in Isreal he's not tuned in and won't be keeping us informed of the weather, either).

That was easy enough.  I get on Facebook for the the first time in a few hours just thinking I'd leisurely scroll down the news feed to see how everyone's day was going and immediately see a friend's post: "Byrdstown friends, be careful. Tornado warning right now"....or something heart-stopping like that.

Immediately I start yelling for everyone to head to the basement.  I keep yelling out names of girls
hoping they're hearing me from wherever they are in the house.  Like a mad woman, I'm grabbing pillows off our bed.  Then I rip off our comforter too (it somewhat resembled the way a magician would do a tablecloth during his act- only the other junk on top of it just fell to the floor instead of staying put.) Oh well.

Our home phone rings. I run after the cordless.  The caller I.D. reads, "Methodist Parsonage".  My thoughts were: we are the Methodist parsonage.  Why is our house calling itself?  Confused, I answer the phone as I'm walking into the middle basement room to where I have all the girls corralled.  It's a pastor friend from Celina checking in on us and saying the storm is heading our way.  As a reply, I'm saying, " I just saw the tornado warning on Facebook".

Upon hearing me say that, our girls start crying.  So I'm on the phone trying to express my genuine appreciation for my friend's concern for us in between a chorus of crying.  As if that wasn't a good enough dose of crazy, my cell phone (that I'm holding with my other hand) starts blaring out as if it's counting down the detonation to a bomb.  Oh.  It's none other than the stinkin' News 5 app giving me the alert that we were under a Tornado Warning.  Girls are crying loudly.  I'm assuring my friend we are in the basement and that we'll call if we need anything.  As soon as I end the call, the cordless phone rings again but I ignore it this time and let it ring as I try to console the girls assuring them it's gonna be okay. Then the answering machine picks up and it's an automated recording from the National Weather Service: "Attention.  Your county may be in the path of a tornado.  Please seek shelter immediately". Girls hear it, and start crying again.  They don't call it  "screaming like a little girl" for nothin'.

When the crying is under control, I point out that we can't even hear the thunder.  (Due to the washer and dryer running) How great!  Almost simultaneously after I said that though,  the washer and dryer
cycles end and it's completely silent.  I'm holding my breath and stuck in a moment of : do I run over 
and restart them? But then the silence is broken by the thunder.  Then they're afraid all over again.

So, I thought we needed a crash-course in a tornado drill.  As I'm demonstrating how to crouch down with your head down and covered by pillows and arms, Anna grows more frightful and is almost shaking at this point.  She is complaining, "It's not comfortable." and "How long do we need to stay like this?" In my less-than-glorious-mom-moment, I'm saying, "Do you wanna be comfortable or do you wanna be alive?"

After I realized the crash course was only making things worse , I just started praying out loud over our huddle and rebuking the storm.  We then settled in to reading Dr. Seuss books and looking at Louis' pictures of Israel in the Dropbox of the tablet.  It's amazing how useful the thunder became when you're fitting words into a chanted rhyme!

And that's how we found the calm in the storm.