The Story of Mary Jo

DISCLAIMER: This is a birth story, so read at your own risk! I'll try not to get too graphic. This little girl has been stressing me out this last month or so of pregnancy - and unfortunately her birth was no different. The plan was for me to be induced at 39 weeks, so my parents came up on Sunday night, the 10th. I already mentioned this but it was nice to have things in order before the big day. We even made a reservation at The Melting Pot and took my parents out to celebrate my Dad's retirement (back in November) - we didn't eat until 8 so I could tuck my kids in bed first. It was a sweet time and I enjoyed my last pregnant meal to the max. Thanks Benne for watching the kids!! 

Congratulations Daddy on your retirement! I hope we look that good when we retire! 

The next morning Steven and I were up and out early, arriving to the hospital at 6:30am. An IV, labwork, Pitocin, Dr. came in and broke my water....finally my contractions got going around 9am. Mom stayed home to get Sadie and Eli off to school, then came to the hospital around 9:30, Daddy stayed home with David and took care of the household the rest of the day. Like all my labors, I progressed slowly. I got my epidural around  1:45pm and it was a good one. I tried to rest some. Mary Jo did great with labor initially, but around 5pm she started having trouble. Like Sadie during labor, her heart rate would decelerate every time I had a contraction. We tried different positions and oxygen. Dr. Richardson came in and determined that her head wasn't positioned right, which is probably why I hadn't fully dilated yet. She stayed with me for the next hour or so (don't think I would have gotten that with any other OB!) and made sure her heart rate stayed up during the contractions. I flipped every which way trying to get her to turn (which is pretty interesting with an epidural dead leg). I was getting pretty anxious and hurting worse and worse but all the sudden it was time to try and push. I've never had to push for long with my other babies but this time I felt like it was important to get her out fast. Thankfully, I did! She was born at 8:18pm, a little blue but she cried right away. Her little cord was short which may have been the problem with her growth and with labor. I was never so thankful to have labor over with! 

  She is my smallest baby by far - 5 pounds, 7 ounces, 18 1/2 inches long. But perfect in every other way! I was smitten immediately. 

Unfortunately, our first night in the hospital had a little more excitement than I would have liked. Mary Jo's blood sugar dropped so I made the emotional decision to give her some formula, feeling pretty sure she would be admitted to the NICU if I didn't. Simultaneously I was having a post-partum hemorrhage, I passed  out in the bathroom about 2am and got another visit from my doctor a couple hours later. After some more IV fluids and meds for me to stop the bleeding, and 2 small bottles of formula for Mary Jo - I was able to get up without passing out and Mary Jo's blood sugar was up. 

Sadie came that morning with my parents (we let her go to school a little late) and she was so excited to meet her. She brought her a homemade card and a couple of her toys. 

 With our rough night I hadn't done much to myself - thankfully Sadie wasn't put off by the IV and pale puffy Mama.  

 Eli and David went to BSF that morning with my mother-in-law, so thankfully I had time to get a shower and look a little more "normal" before the boys came. Eli climbed up on the bed, looked at her, and said "we need to take her home and put her in her crib." After that he didn't pay her much attention. We couldn't even get David to sit for a picture with her, he looked at her in my Mom's arms one time and said "Ew...trash." 

Here we are on Thursday after coming home - this is a good reflection of D's feelings. 

 I can not believe I have 4 children! 

 I am in love with my little sweetness. 

And so is her big sister! She loves to hold her. She's gotten to feed her a bottle, help with bath and diaper changes, and has been pretty helpful. Unfortunately Mary Jo hasn't taken off with the nursing like my other babies did. Her mouth, like the rest of her, is tiny. She was also tongue tied, which I decided to have it clipped. It was much rougher on me than her, I think, and thankfully it has helped with nursing. She's still preferring the bottle but is doing more and more nursing every day - hopefully we'll transition to all nursing in the next few weeks. Right now I'm pumping 3-4 times a day, plus nursing, plus supplementing, so it's pretty exhausting. My Mom stayed with me until yesterday, which was a huge help, by kid # 4 I have learned to accept help in pretty much any form. 

As for the boys they are adjusting fairly well. I can't trust D for a second with her - he isn't mean but his fine motor skills are lacking and he can be pretty rough. He is a little rascal, too, one of his favorite activities is to find her paci and run away with it in his mouth. Eli seems a little indifferent, which is probably typical for a 3 year old boy. He has been a little weepy lately (not as much as me) so I think he is struggling a little more than we realized. Steven took the big 2 kids to Richmond, VA, on Saturday for a trip - he was speaking the next morning at a church there. They ate a ridiculous amount of candy, saw a movie, and had a blast. It was good for Eli to spend that time with his Daddy, and I've tried to squeeze in some 1 on 1 time with him (near impossible). 

I think Mary Jo is going to be the perfect little caboose for this Harrell train. She might be the runt, but she's a sweet little thing. The Lord is so good, and I am beyond blessed to hold these 4 sweet babies in my arms every day. 

Ugly ankles

Pregnancies are so different, it seems. When I was expecting Sadie, my first, I felt great. I remember going to work when I was 40+ weeks (I worked a full 40 hours that week, climbing stairs whenever I had down time), and one of the doctors asked me if I was "showing off" my ankles. I was wearing some closed toe heels to go with my skirt, and I didn't really get it, but obviously I had no swelling. It just took one more baby for me to understand the swelling thing. I was showing Sadie tonight that disgusting "sock dent" that I have at the end of every day, and I said "Sadie, look at Mommy's ankles!" She answered "I can't see them!" She does offer to massage my hands and legs, which is so sweet, and tries to help me up, which is a joke since I weigh probably 5 times what she does. The good news is I think I've at least peaked with my weight - it hasn't changed in the last 3 weeks - and hopefully I will never be that high again!  I have continued to go in to the doctor's office at least twice a week for monitoring since she's supposedly small - and the plan is to be induced next Tuesday, the 12th, unless I go into labor before then. I am having some contractions, but nothing that is going anywhere. I've needed Pitocin with every baby, even my first two who I waited over a week to go into natural labor with, so while I would love to just go into labor and have this little girl a few hours later, it probably would never happen. And there are definite advantages to planning the date - I can get my house clean, do the laundry, plan meals for the week, and make sure my parents are here, etc. Plus, I'm really trying to enjoy my kiddos before chaos begins, Sadie has been doing better this week with her behavior but I'm fully expecing a relapse when the baby comes. And poor D, he is clueless as to how his little world is getting ready to change. Thankfully, he wont remember it. Eli seems ok, pretty excited that his Charlotte grandparents and maybe even cousins might come up when she gets here. I really can't complain, I've figured out how to sleep without making my hands ache too bad, and I can tell she's not huge as I've just started to waddle. Thankfully it's winter so I don't have to actually show my fat ankles to anyone. I will try to be grateful that I have now experienced most of the "joys" of pregnancy, and truly I am thankful. Lord willing I will be holding my sweet girl in my arms in just a few short days, with 3 other little rascals that call me Mommy, and a sweet guy who has made it all possible. The Lord is good!

Hard Mommy Week

This has not been one of my favorite weeks of motherhood, I have to admit. I've had sick, whiny, boys and Sadie has not dealt very well with the attention that has been taken from her...so much so that she has I think willed herself to also be sick. We had to have a parent-teacher conference for Sadie today at the end of the 2nd quarter, apparently she has lost the desire to please her teachers a little and her behavior has been less than par for about a month now. It is humbling to hear her shortcomings and realize they sound a lot like Steven and I's, combined. I am hoping with the knowledge that we are going to hear about her day, every day, from her teacher's perspective, will be enough to encourage better behavior. She was certainly threatened with plenty of consequences by her daddy (I don't know how people raise strong willed children without fathers, I pray I never have to). When Steven was in Kindergarten or 1st grade he had a lot of problems at school - enough so that his parents took ALL of his toys away at one point. Unfortunately, we both have strong wills so she has gotten a double dose of "I'm going to do what I want to do." Pray for us. I don't think I realized how hard this Mom job would be, I don't mean cleaning up vomit or picking up an entire bowl of macaroni and cheese off the floor - but dealing with these heart issues gets me. You have this baby who is just perfect, they turn into an adorable toddler, then a few years later they're being defiant at school?? I know all my children are just normal kids, sinners at best, but what appears to be a digression of character is hard to watch. I start wondering what I'm missing, what I'm doing wrong, will she ever recover from me having another baby? My dad is the oldest of 4 and he turned out pretty great, didn't seem to resent his parents, so hopefully Sadie has a chance. For now, my only answer is to go snuggle with her in our bed, where I let her fall asleep since she's now "sick".

Health scares...Grandma and the womb

This will have to be quick because my hands are already tingly (is that a word?) from wishing a friend happy birthday on Facebook, I can't do much fine motor things these days without my hands going numb. Oh the joys of pregnancy! I was going to name this post "Heart attack and another squirt" but re-read it and realized that it didn't sound quite right, so Steven helped me re-name it. I was killing time at Target last Thursday after D's 18 month check up when Steven's dad called me and asked me what hospital the EMS should take Steven's grandma to for a probable heart attack. We left immediately to meet Steven's parents at the hospital - between the 2 of us this is our only grandparent left - his Mom's mother. She is 83, but not your ordinary 83. She still snow-skis and water skis, does her own yard work, plus other people's if needed (not gardening, either, I'm talking power tools here). She had actually been painting the inside of a garage until 1 am the night before. So obviously, we were quite shocked with this turn of events. I have to say I was proud of Cone Health - from the paramedics to the quick intervention through the Cardiac Cath Lab - I of course give total credit and praise to the Lord but I know He used these professionals to save her life. After a couple hours we realized she was going to pull through and from that point on the news just kept getting better and better. She was irritated the next morning because she couldn't find anywhere to plug in her curling iron. The nurse answered "Well, most ICU patients aren't too concerned with their hair and make-up." She came home 48 hours after a "massive heart attack" and seems to be doing great now. We are so thankful that it wasn't her time, and I wouldn't be surprised if she hit the slopes again sometime this winter - she's just that tough.
While Steven's grandma was in the cath lab Steven convinced me to keep my ultrasound appointment to check the placenta, and while there the doctors got worried that she isn't growing as well as she should be. At 33 1/2 weeks they estimated she was about 3 1/2 pounds. Thankfully, everything else is checking out ok but they do want to monitor me more frequently to check her well-being. I took all 3 kids yesterday for a "non-stress test", where basically they hook you up and watch the baby's heart rate compared to the movement. I was thinking "what an ironic name, this is actually pretty stressful to manage 3 kids in this little room when I can't get off the chair." Next time I'll have to bring more candy. My sweet Sadie was only 6'14 and she was 9 days late so I think I'm probably just growing another petite little girl. I am certainly eating PLENTY, I am planning on this being my last pregnancy so I'm livin' it up. I try to ignore the numbers when I get on the scale. Steven's actually been on a no-coke diet so our weights might actually meet up this time - which he will never let me live down. Hopefully not. OK, thanks to swelling and carpal tunnel I need to sign off - I'll talk about my other 3 next time - they are making me laugh a lot these days. Which is good, since I feel extra hormonal. Goodnight!!

Christmas in pictures...and a few captions.

We started off our Christmas celebrations in Charlotte with the Nash side - Byron and his family came over as well as one of my uncles and his family. My parents bought a swingset off Craigslist for the grandkids to play on at their house and needless to say it was a big hit. Eli simultaneously learned to pump his legs so that was like a Christmas present to me!

 

Mom asked Byron to bring his woodburner and he spent a good bit of the afternoon working on the names of all the grandkids. Steven was just an onlooker. :)

 Here is the finished job!

 He is one happy camper around grandparents/cousins/swingsets.

 All the festivities wore them out! Sadie was soon to follow.

We came home after church with my parents and celebrated Christmas Eve and morning at our house. D was the first one up and he was so excited about his cereal that we couldn't get him to come open presents when Sadie and Eli got started.

 

 However, he did figure out that Christmas is pretty cool.

 Christmas pjs! And Sadie's new Dream Lights pillow pet.

 The only downside of Santa is that I didn't get any thank-you hugs like this one. Next year I might take a little more credit. :)

 Eli's new obsession is Toy Story - these are his Buzz Lightyear sunglasses.

I gave Steven a digital coin bank and a little Bible to carry with him. Saving money and Scripture - 2 of his absolute favorite things!

 We enjoyed a lazy day of playing with toys, the kids got to be with both sets of grandparents and their great-grandma for most of the day, and we finished off the evening by watching the animated version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

 Mom and Dad had never seen this movie, either, so it was a treat for all.

The next day we went over to Steven's parent's house for the Harrell Christmas - unfortunately I don't think anyone took any pictures! The pictures above are all from my Dad's camera - I am in desperate need of a new camera and hoping to just kill 2 birds with 1 stone when I get a new phone in a couple weeks. Anyways, we had a great Harrell Christmas as well, the kids were thrilled with their presents (Carolyn always does a great job with gift-giving!) and an afternoon of playing with cousins after a good meal. I had to work that night but the kids got to continue the celebration by spending the night at Grandma's.

I am so thankful that our kids get to grow up and enjoy both sets of grandparents and cousins, especially during times like these. We have enjoyed being out of school, last weekend Steven was speaking at a little church in Laurinburg so we got a hotel room the night before... which is like taking the kids to Disney - from riding the cart to the sugar cereal in the morning the kids just love every minute of it. We spent New Year's Eve at a friend's house with a bunch of kids and pizza, then Steven and the big 2 stayed up to watch the old animated Robinhood - Eli's new favorite movie. This morning he told us he had special powers in his belly that only comes out at night - like Robinhood. Tomorrow school starts back which means it is now past my bedtime. Back to reality! And the many nesting projects that are calling my name! Already I have organized and labeled the linen closet, cleaned and organized the laundry room, and started on the kid's closets. I love it! 

My Modern Day Good Samaritan

I had intended to blog about this story since it happened a couple weeks ago but never got around to it, however, it's too good not to share so here goes:
A couple weekends ago the kids and I went to Charlotte to see my parents and for me to work a shift at the hospital We did some fun Christmasy things including a horse and carriage ride around the Billy Graham library and making Christmas cookies. I had to work Saturday night and was supposed to get off at 9am, then drive to Winston-Salem to Parkway Chapel where Steven was preaching at 11. My parents got the kids ready in their Sunday clothes and Mom met me at work so we could switch cars and get on the road. We squeezed into Steven's car since my van was getting fixed (we hit a deer a couple weeks before that), 2 car seats and a booster in between is pretty tight in a compact car, however, I thought we were doing good as we cleared Charlotte without any traffic or kid fights. My phone rang about Concord and it was my boss from the hospital - she said "Good news, Sallie, we found your wallet!" Until that time I didn't even know I had lost it. I looked at my gas gauge and realized I wasn't going to make it to Winston, so I had to think of someone to call that wasn't already in church to get their credit card number. If I had only taken my late Grandaddy's advice and kept my "emergency $20" that he used to make sure all of his grandchildren had, I wouldn't have been in my predicament - but unfortunately there was no source of money in the car. Thankfully I reached my mother-in-law who texted me her card numbers, and the kids and I piled out of the car around Kannapolis at a gas station. I took my name badge with me as "identification" and thought for sure they would let me use the card number to put some gas in. The man at the counter, however, said no and wouldn't budge on the policy. I'm not sure if it was the situation itself, the recent school tragedy that had just happened in Conneticut, or being pregnant, but I just stood in the gas station with my kids and completely lost it. This kind man came up to me and asked me what was wrong - unfortunately I can hardly talk when I cry like that so it took me awhile to explain my situation. As soon as he realized I just needed gas he gave the man at the counter a 20 and proceeded to fill up my car. He talked to me about the Lord and knew we were headed to church - I told him I shared his faith and knew the Lord had provided through him. He wouldn't give me a phone number or address so I could re-imburse him but I do have his name so I'm going to try and look him up anyways. I loaded the kids up and cried about 20 more minutes on the road. Poor Sadie, she had tried to give me money for gas (she had about $1.50 in change in her little purse) and she started crying when I melted down. Through my tears I tried to explain how the Lord had provided for us in our need, and that my tears were happy tears, but it still took her some time to calm down. We made it to church with a few extra minutes and Steven opened his message with my story.
As I reflected on the day, the man did not have to come over and talk to me, much less give me 20 dollars of his hard earned money, and it spoke volumes to me about how we should help each other out in times of need. I hope I make the most of the opportunities that I am given to help others out the way he helped me, strangers or friends (maybe it's easier to help those people we don't know - but I'm pretty sure we're supposed to help both). I'm sorry this turned into a long story - but I wanted to write it down so I wouldn't forget it. We had a wonderful Christmas, I'll post about it soon with some pictures. Goodnight!

You know you have a kindergartener when....

Tonight Sadie gave me a message from the bathtub, it was "Hey, M-O-M, I'm going to tell you something...I, finger space, L-O-V-E, finger space, Y-O-U." For those of you aren't familiar with finger spacing it is apparently the current method of teaching writing, Sadie very carefully puts her finger at the end of the word before starting writing the next one (or in this case, spelling out the message for me). She brought her first progress report home the other day and it appears she is perfectly average for her grade-level, which I am happy with. Truly, she is learning a lot and seems to love it, for me that's more important than what reading group she is in. My mom likes to read the John Roseman (not sure if I spelled that right) column in the newspaper and she cut out an article for me to read. He spoke of a school advertising the high grades of their students and also the colleges their students were accepted into, never mentioning anything about their character development focus. I know that the majority of character training is to happen at home but I think that education in general is losing the "well-rounded" emphasis it used to carry. Truthfully I think education is slightly over-rated, I don't intend to send my children off to a 4 year school for the experience of it. I pray that by that time we have helped guide them into decisions for actual careers, unfortunately a college degree alone will not get you a job anymore. I feel like we are just getting our feet wet with this whole school thing, as our first-born is just a couple months into school, so by no means have I figured this thing out. I often wonder, "should I be homeschooling? Should they be in private school?"  But for now my goals for Sadie, and hopefully the rest, are to learn how to learn, to enjoy the process, to be a good friend, to learn to respect authorities besides her parents, and (like I tell her everyday) to "shine as a light for the Lord."
As for my boys, they are finally starting to bond a little better. When David was born Sadie and Eli played so well together, but their personalities are night and day from each other. Sadie was bossy and Eli allowed her (and still does) to direct all play, so it worked well. Eli's favorite activity with David is still to touch his face, which now just irritates the fire out of David, so we have daily talks about "all having fun" and Eli has found a few other little games that make them both laugh. Steven apparently has said one too many times that Eli needs to get tough because tonight he was crying after getting hurt and I said "Eli, you're ok, you need to get tough," then Sadie replied with "Yeah, Eli, if you don't get tougher Daddy is going to sell you or something." Poor little guy. At this point it appears that David is plenty tough, too rough to be exact. Thankfully he redeems himself with sweet snuggles and his vocabulary is really growing, but man is he intense. It's amazing how different kids can be, I'm so thankful for the little boogers. I don't think I'll let Steven sell any. :)
Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you can count your blessings this week and enjoy the family and food! I know I will try to keep a thankful, joyful heart, remembering most of all my salvation. "Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift," (we read that today in church but I can't remember the reference). Goodnight!