It's About Time!

The time has finally come to once again pack a suitcase and fly northbound. The occasion? My sister Natalie will marry her Australian fiance of two and a half years, Joel Wickham!
So on this, the day before our departure to join them in their celebration, I post a tribute to them and their incredible long distance love story that has stood the test of time. I wish them success as they start their new life together far across the ocean in Melbourne. Here's to a life of commitment, joy, new experiences, and growing in the Lord through it all!

(I do have to mention how weird it is to have the actual wedding approaching so quickly--it's always been so far in the future that it seemed like it would never get here but now we're only two weeks away-! I'm so blessed to have these next couple of weeks to spend with Nat before she's "harder to come by" so to say. Australia's a bit farther than the typical hop, skip and a jump away-!)

And so I sign off until our return in a few weeks--bis dann!

A Little Squished Maybe?

Every week in this pregnancy e-newsletter I receive there's a picture of what the baby might look like now. This is 19 week-old baby...Ummm, is it as crazy looking to anyone else as it is to me??

I think the next 21 weeks are when the torso fills in a bit (since it seems to be non-existent here)... hang on in there little guy!

"It's a..."

The Story:

When the technician came to that part of the anatomy, she jokingly asked us, "Now looking at this picture, what would you guess you're having??" Let's just say it wasn't too subtle!

He moved around the whole time, making it hard for the tech to follow and measure the necessary organs, etc. After all was said and done we learned that he is right on track growth-wise and looking very good. Mama Allison is hoping he might settle down a bit as he keeps growing so that she doesn't suffer internal injury from all his energetic antics!

We are just thrilled to be adding testosterone to our family this time round--we'll soon be able to go head-to-head, girls against boys (but the girls will always win I'm sure ;).

A Peek Inside

Today we were blessed to get a glimpse of the new baby and it's just indescribable to be able to see such detail and really make it that much more real to us that another one is on the way! I was in awe as the technician pointed out every organ and body part (including the gender, which we will share with everyone soon!) but my favorite part was when she'd hold the "scope" (?) in one place so we could see the little one move around! Legs kicking, arms reaching, even mouth moving!! (I joked that Caitlin's, "Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba" is already being copied by the sibling!) What a miracle it all is and what a blessing to use technology to catch a glimpse of exactly what's going on in there!

Now that you've seen the pics do you want to take a stab at the gender? Leave us a comment!

Remembering My Labour Day on Labour Day

Well in honour of the holiday, I'll share a bit of my most literal labour story (as inspired by this blog).

How long was your labor?

Just under 16 hours.

How did you know you were in labor?

Kind of a sharp pang after having just gotten into bed at midnight prompted me to go to the bathroom to pee, only I couldn't hold in whatever was slowly dripping out--I stood up only to make a small puddle on the floor (I know I know, TMI!) and both Grady and I knelt down to smell if it smelled like "baby" (what they tell you amniotic fluid smells like)--which it kind of did--and we concluded my water had just broke. He promptly went to sleep for six hours (how nice that at least one of us could sleep-!) while my contractions started and I laboured at home throughout the night. My midwife arrived at 6:30am and around 8ish I decided it was time to go to the hospital, which we did.

Where did you deliver?

In Dresden, Germany at a hospital close to our apartment--so close in fact that when I was in active labour I had a contraction right before we loaded in the car and then just started another when I got out at the hospital. Not sad to have missed the contraction-in-the-car experience-!! Plus there was always the backup option of just walking to the hospital, and what woman wouldn't love to not have her husband worrying about parking when they get there?!? :)

Drugs?

Not of my choosing. Who knew after being fully dialated for two hours and not yet having given birth a slight panic would ensue in the surrounding medical professionals? (especially since the water had broken at the very beginning and poor Caitlin's head had been resting in my pelvis the whole time without that cushy water "pillow".) I was urged to start Pitocin because my contractions had kind of petered-out, to which I reluctantly agreed. And the irony is that after an otherwise drug-free (besides the Pitocin) labour my placenta didn't fully detach and I needed to be put completely under for them to perform a DNC. I couldn't even sit up for at least a day afterwards due to the dizziness caused by the strong medication wearing off-! (which equals peeing into a bedpan, having to have Caitlin handed to me and taken from me, etc etc...) Not the most dignified way to enter motherhood...

C-section?

Nope, thankfully.

Who delivered?

My midwife, Doreen, and a doc who stepped in at the very end. Midwives attend every birth in Germany and you either have one from the hospital (until she ends her shift when you'd get a new one) or in my case, a kind of "independent with contract" one who stays the whole time and also does prenatal/postpartum care. Anyway both Doreen and the doc insisted I lie on the bed but because of the excruciating, intensified (thanks to the Pitocin) contractions that radiated from my back, I just couldn't. They graciously sat on the floor behind me as I leaned on the bed (see, I used it) and ended up delivering on my hands and knees. Thank goodness they were so understanding about it!

I don't know that I've ever posted this picture before for obvious reasons (not-yet-cleaned-off Caitlin, my ridiculous expression--just to name a couple) but it just captures those first, magical moments together. Taken minutes after birth!