Pipers arrival

So it has been a rough road from having Piper:

We went into Delnor at 6am to be induced. We started pitocin at about 7:30 and they double the dose every 15 to 30 minutes. Needless to say I was getting really uncomfortable FAST.

I was at 3cm coming into the hospital and by 8am I was four. The doctor broke my water (which was surprisingly relieving...go figure). Then I had to stay in bed for one hour to avoid cord prolaps. The contractions went from a five to a ten within an hour. The nurse kept pushing me to get an epidural, but I put it off because I was handling it well and getting that epidural thing hurts a lot, so until the pain matched the pain of the contractions I was going to hold out. BIG FRIGGIN MISTAKE. (FYI to other potential mothers, get the epidural BEFORE you enter transition, it'll work WAY better!)

So my contractions started getting to be every 60 seconds and I was not able to relax at all so i asked for the epidural. I was still four, by the time the finished giving me the epidural I was a 6-7. That was within 20 minutes people! After the epidural I started getting sweaty and wanted to throw up, which means transition...fun. I kept feeling the pain thogh and was hitting the stupid button for the epidural sauce like every two seconds...it works much better when you get it earlier! So I was really dissappointed in THAT aspect.

Within twenty minutes I was at 8-9 and had to call my sisters back from their jog to Meijer to tell them that I would be pushing within ten minutes. Ask them about that later, funny.

I went from 4 to ten within an hour people, it isn't so much fun, and she was a big girl! I started pushing at 12:45 and Piper was born at exactly 1:00.

She did get stuck with shoulder distocia wherein they had two other nurses come in and one was pounding on my stomach while they held my legs back as far as they could go, the doctor pulled and I pushed. All GREAT fun, NOT. She finally came out and they rushed her away to the other side of the room to check her shoulder to make sure it wasn't dislocated. She was fine.

Then I heard her cry. A strong beautiful cry! They wrapped her up and finally gave her to me after over 15 minutes of stiching me up, it was a rough ride...but we made it.

Piper was born at 1pm sharp weighing 9lbs 10oz, and at 20inches long. She was a biggin, and I felt every extra ounce! Major differnce from a seven pound son to a nine pound girl. BIG DIFFERENCE. Plus match that with an epidural that sucked, it was a rough time.

But she is here and beautiful. We came home on the first and have been recovering since. Here are some pictures of Piper:




Sorry if the story was bland but I am sleep deprived and not nearly as elloquent as my better half!

Coming Contractions

Well, we went to the hospital on Wednesday night. I was having steady contractions from 1:30 in the afternoon and they were lasting two minutes and coming between 4-10 mintues apart, mostly 6 minutes apart. By 5:30 I thought going to the hospital might be a good idea.

So we went, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited... you get the idea.

I was having steady contractions, but nothing else. They sent me home. I wasn't dissappointed or anything. I just found out that I am a luck y girl that contracts.. ALL THE TIME.

The nurse said I'd probably be in and out of the hospital until the baby arrives. I'm the type that, "Comes in dilated to 1, is sent home, then comes back dilated to 10 an hour later ready to push." I am going to be like this until she arrives, so we can't plan on going to the hospital with timed contractions. I have to wait it out until I am in a lot of pain.

So I just gotta hang in there. Because I am 36 1/2 weeks they won't induce me because I am still a little early, but too far along to give me anything to stop the contractions. Everyone is fine though and we are really okay with God's timing. It can still be a matter of weeks so don't get too excited or start rushing to hospital if we post this type of news again. It can still be awhile.

My theory is that I talked with God earlier, and we discussed having to have a c-section. I don't want one. I think this is God preparing my body for a larger baby to avoid c-section. So if that's the case I am totally okay with contractions every 15-30 minutes. She'll be worth every bit of it!

Jordan's Demo Reel!

Check out this site to view Jordan's newest completed demo reel!

http://vimeo.com/6407250

If it skips turn off the HD. The vimeo website makes things fun with their weird HD button. Jordan has been working on this for more than a month now and I am so excited to see what you all think. Months of work, time away form family and fun, and multiple migranes later he's finally finished, sorta. He wants to post more projects but the reel is finsihed.

Check it out!

Piper's New Arrival

We went to our doctor yesterday and spoke about the problem that Piper is so big. And that last time we met the doctor mentioned doing a c-section, which we do NOT want. So I asked about being induced. She was more than willing to do that instead to try to avoid a c-section.

We are scheduled to be induced September 29th at 7am!!!

We are so excited and hopeful that she is small enough still for me to deliver her normally. Please pray to that effect! But since we are being induced we will need to keep the revolving door of visitors closed for a bit until we get things under control and get a handle on how the doctor views a lot of visitors.

So as of right now, unless we go into labor sooner, we are asking that immediate family only visit us in the hospital while we are in labor. However feel free to call Jordan's cell to check in and see if we can have more visitors as we progress. We need to get a feel for how well (or poorly) the medication works for us to see what we can handle as far as visitors goes.

We, as always, will keep you posted!

When Piper comes

People have been asking me what we are wanting when we actually go into labor. Who can come, what time, etc.

We are more than okay with people coming while we are in labor. Jordan and Talitha are going to be the only ones in the room with me though while I actually deliver. T is being amazing and taking all the labor pictures. Just like last time as far as that goes. We just need to be curteous of others delivering in the same area and of the nurses, they were overwhelmed last time, so maybe not too many people in all at once. But there is a waiting area that is plush and inviting a few yards away from the labor and delivery rooms.

We can have visitors immediately after she is born, but the following days we will have to be more strict on who and when we can see people. We found that we had a ton of visitors at all times of the day and perhaps this time we can schedule visitors. We had a hard time breast feeding Noah and we needed to rest more last time. We also had a hard time with children visiting. Well, I did. Nothing against the little tykes, they for some reason overwhelmed me really easily last time. So we are asking no kids for a while until we can get Noah adjusted and us adjusted to Piper.

I guess all this is to say, we'll determine as we are in labor when we can get visitors since she could be born in the middle of the night and the next day could be interesting....

And as always, just call before you come. We need the heads up and we might have to tell some people that now's not a good time. The hospital has a "nap time" of 1-3pm that is enforced, so regardless during those times of day we cannot have visitors, even if they let us, we have to say no just for peace of other recovering mothers around us.

We learned a lot from last time, and hopefully Piper doesn't have the feeding problems we had with Noah. If she doesn't, we might be very open to having many visitors, but we'll play it by ear until then.

Lastly, if we have to have a c-section or are induced early, we ask that we have only immediate family as visitors then. We will need to focus on recovery for me and extra hurdles that these situations bring forth.

We love you all and just like last time Jordan will keep you all posted here and on Facebook once we go into labor in case you want to know but can't come!

The Latest Piper pictures

That's our girl! Sweet smile and all =)

We went to the ultrasound today to get her measured. Since I have a thyroid problem the doctors were concerned. YEAH, LOTTA GOOD THAT WAS! You know that your kid is huge when the sonogram tech proclaims, "Wow, she um....she has a rather large head. And a large torso. But hey! Her legs are normal!" She is supposed to weight at the large end 4 and a half pounds right now. SHE WEIGHS 5 1/2 POUNDS! Two weeks ahead of schedule! The doctor was like, "I love delivering chunky babies!" I was like, "I DON'T!"

The sonogram tech said she is very very large for her age, hhmmmm, remind you of anyone else as a baby? Maybe...JORDAN! The measurements added up to two weeks ahead of normal. That doesn't mean anything besides the fact that she is big, so don't necessarily bank on an early arrival.

Then the doctor said something no pregnant woman wants to hear, "Well, the worst case scenario is that she is 11 pounds and we do a C-Section."

YEAH! THAT IS THE WORST CASE! I don't want to get cut open! Please pray that she comes early so that doesn't happen!

I thought to myself, well they said the same thing about Noah and he was totally normal. Then she measured my belly. I am 32 weeks along. I measured 35 to 36. There is no mistake....she is huge.

So yes everyone, I look big because my child is huge! And the doctor mentioned c-section, and I have to go in every week sooner than 36 weeks because she is so big. Little freaked. And also really excited that Piper could very well get here sooner since she is so far along. Pray that is the case instead of humongo baby. The doctor said to not get my hopes up, but it is a possibility since Noah came early too and she is so big.

But freak out aside, isn't she cute? Well, what you can see of her that is. Cute button nose and sweet sweet smile. She kept rooting at the placenta whenever it came near, so hopefully that means good eating habits early, since Noah really struggled with latching on and eating. That smile made the whole fat baby issue non existent. I forgot how much I love her for a second there, then she goes and melts my heart with that smile!

Or maybe she is smirking...in that case she is much more evil than I thought.....

Prayers Needed

So we have been hearing for along time now that Jordan's office is dealing with hard times. The two bosses have cut hours on occasion and told Jordan that he is very useful and they want him to stay.

However this last week they let go of two employees higher up on the rungs to make it easier. They held a meeting this afternoon with the whole office saying that they had to lay off the two men and if they don't get more work within two weeks they will have to either lay off more or cut back hours again.

They are also moving offices next month into a smaller place. Now that could mean that they keep Jordan on until then to help move since he is the youngest and most able to help them move. We think that might be the situation, and if that's the case we have another month at least.

The biggest problem we are concerned about is trying to find a job right now. This is not an easy time to find a job, especially in the field that Jordan has expertise in, Animation and Media Design. He has beefed up his resume with After Effects and video production. If you all hear of anything in these areas that is open, please think of Jordan.

We feel like the next two weeks will determine a lot for our family. Being laid off is a very real possibility, so is a cut back in hours. Both mean hard hard times for us. Especially with Piper on her way within seven weeks... not a great time to be searching for a job or to have to take time off to stay home with a new baby.

So all your prayers are very very much appreciated. We also feel like this is a new chapter in Jordan's life. We knew this job was a band aid for a while, but nothing we wanted to make a life long career out of. Perhaps times are changing faster than we anticipated, it's all in God's hands and time.

Thanks everyone for their prayers and support! We love you all and look forward to what God does in our lives...well, for the most part = )

Happenings

What's been happening lately:

Hhhmmmm.... Well my awesome husband has taken to running every day to train for the Chicago Marathon (26 miles!). He and dad every Friday take a "cross training" day and bike. They had gotten so addicted to it that they decided to do the L.A.T.E. night bike hike through downtown Chicago and along the lake front. They had a blast, I'm only sad that I am all preggers and couldn't go with :( they looked like they had tons of fun. But they could still use encouragement because Jordan doesn't think he can do the marathon, psyching himself out prematurely I think. But anyone care to chime in and encourage, I am sure he'll appreciate your thoughts!

We had our 3 year anniversary and went to the Science and Industry Museum. He had fun, I had fun watching him be a little kid! Sadly we didn't get to see the Harry Potter exhibit, but we did get to race milking a cow! I won. Obviously. And we had a yummy lunch at Bennihana's, which I am so sad to say was way more authentic than JuRin is and I am TOTALLY going back! I used to go to Japanese restaurants with my parents way back in the day and since then they have "Americanized" the flavors. Three years, it's still hard to believe!

Piper is doing great, we have our last ultrasound scheduled for August 10th (I think). So hopefully here soon you guys can glimpse at her cuteness again before she is born. I think we have something like 70ish or so days left until she is due! When did I pass up the 100 day mark?! Well nesting has kicked in and I have pretty much turned our apartment inside out rearranging and cleaning in preparation for her arrival.

Speaking of rearranging...we also found Noah a......(drum roll please).............BIG BOY BED!!!!!!!!

We were so appreciative to get one from our friends the Thompsons and lucky for us it is just perfect! Noah was so excited he took all his covers off his crib and murmured to himself, "nonononono, on the big boy bed now..." as he proceeded to place all sleeping paraphernalia on the new BIG BOY BED. I guess he was more ready than we gave him credit for. We laid him down last night for the first time in his big boy bed and didn't hear one peep until early this morning (6:30!) when he woke up freaking out...but once he was in mommy's arms and I reassured him how "cool" the big boy bed was, he got happy fast and excited all over again. We'll see how naptime goes...

So there's our life in a nutshell for the last few weeks. Lots of fun and OH YAH, Congrats to Jordan and Jana Huff on the arrival of their new little daughter!!!!! Lydia Shalom Huff was born July 22 at 1:03 weighing a whopping 6 pounds! She is so cute! They are recouping and I hear the Jana was a rock star! You go guys! Many blessings on the new parents!

We're still hanging in there

I have been busy preparing for father's day recently as well as getting ready for summer camp and a family trip to be had within the next few weeks so nothing much different has been going on except that.

I have been trying to get into the "girl" frame of mind with washing and preparing baby girl clothes for Piper's arrival, and since I haven't the first clue about baby girl stuff I went to Moriah for help.

Oh My Goodness! She gave me what can only be described to as an avalanche of baby girl clothes and suddenly I was in a sea of pink and purple ruffles. Which is so beyond my general frame of mind for clothes that I gotta admit I was overwhelmed. But a few days later, a few hundred loads of laundry later, and massive organization of Noah and Piper's closet later I think I can do this. Forgive me Piper if by chance you are accidentally dressed in boyish clothing from time to time, but I will try my hardest to think girlier than I have the past year and a half.

Speaking of Moriah, if you read this, thank you again for loaning me all those woderful girl clothes! I got to sit and really get excited for this little one coming and truly appreciate how different having a girl is gonna be, plus you inspired a whole room makeover for Noah and Piper's room which will be a huge help in the long run. Once I am HUGE lifting bags of clothes will NOT be an option.

Lastly, please pray for our family for this summer. It looks like Jordan has four extra side jobs to get done by AUGUST, summer camp this next week, an anniversary to have fun with, Moriah's birthday, and a family trip to Arkansas. We need time together desperately and this is a huge summer for us. By the time it's over we'll have just enough time to catch our breath before Piper's arrival is to happen... so prayers for happy hearts and family time toghether are appreciated.

And lastly, some pictures of Noah and me (featurnig Piper in da womb).

It's a........

GIRL!!!

Piper Shea Ferrell

Next Ultrasound and Names

The next ultrasound is this tuesday, the day after memorial day. We will hopefully find out if we're having a boy or a girl! We don't mind either way.

We also have a few names picked out for the little ones, now everyone gets to vote:

Boy = Miles/Milo
Girl = Parker, Piper, or Tatum

We like Parker and Piper the best. I like Piper, Jordan is pulling for Parker.

So which is your favorite? We also need a middle name for Miles if its a boy....any suggestions?

The names, by the by, are non negotiable. If you don't like em please don't poop all over them since we do like em. But we do need help with middle names...... so your skills will be best placed there! Your turn : )

Impressive....

We recently started teaching Noah "School" in the mornings. We review numbers 1-10, letters, and Colors. Colors are his favorite. Jordan sat down with Noah today to go through them for fun since our cable is out and Noah loves his "school". Here was the result!

I was amazed at how much Noah knew! I had to get it on camera. When we do school in the mornings he MAYBE maybe can get two colors without help, but today he got a lot more! It was more or less to impress Daddy. He loves Daddy praises. Which altogether made me very happy that he is learning fast and that he is such a smart little cookie. God gave me a gifted little boy!

What's new?

'Cause not much is going on here...

Jordan and I have discovered the early signs of gray hair...on JORDAN! I think having this surprise child with all it has to offer in the financial department has finally gotten to Jordan. He has a patch of gray hair in his eye brows. Only one though and if you didn't know it you'd think it was a scar that didn't grow hair, so not terribly noticeable. But nevertheless it's there and I for one am so EXCITED!

Why you ask? because ever since I have known Jordan I have said that he will look stunning with salt and pepper hair, and that I will totally find him even more sexy with it. I'm glad that i was right! I really can't wait until he gets more. It makes his demeanor and stature seem more graceful and worldly. I just like it on him.

As for me, I am getting no new hair. In fact pregnancy forces me to lose my hair rather than gain it, or get thicker hair, or shinier, or healthier... but I get a kid at the end so it's worth it. Plus not shaving for a while is a plus.

We are 13 weeks now and it astounds me when someone tells me, "I had no idea that you were expecting again! Congratulations!" I swear we told everyone twice! Not to mention I have a bump the size of a grapefruit under my shirt.

That's about all that has been happening round here. Not a lot to show for all the weeks gone by and whatnot. Maybe something new will happen and I'll be more interesting later.

Nobo doing fun things

Noah is very interesting these days. I thought I'd share a few things with you.

First, he likes to dance and sing when we are singing or playing music. He's a really talented dancer! He gets that from Jordan.


He has suddenly grown an attachment to his cuddly blanket we use to put him to sleep with. We don't encourage this behavior but somehow it snuck up on us and he FREAKS witnessing it being washed. FREAKS. This video was only after he saw the blanket make it safely into the dryer after the horribleness that is the washing machine. He knew it was only a matter of a few more minutes at that point. You'd have sworn I was suffocating his best friend or something.

A belly shot of me. Jordan is insisting we take photos every day to watch the bump rise. At this point I am in maternity clothes because a rubber band isn't the most comfortable clasp for my pre-maternity pants. But alas, I am showing... a little : )

And lastly, i have been working all day with Noah to respond when someone asks, "What's your name." He points to himself and says, "Nono." Close enough for one days work. But he still points to himself and also says, "Mama" or "Dada" So it's a 1 in 3 chance you get the right answer.

I think it's a girl

We went to the doctor's yesterday for our first ultrasound of the newest edition to our family. We were able to talk to the doctor afterward and I got a picture of our little plum sized miracle!

I have to admit, the nausea and tiredness haven't been enough to really convince me about this new creature in our lives, it wasn't until I heard her heartbeat! I had my own reservations about what today could have held for us, but God is true to us and we got to see our little angel is safe and snug as a bug in a rug. The heartbeat was about 167 per minute which is in the girl range. i know, I know, that's a wives tale, but think about this. Noah's heart rate was never above 156. His was in the 130 range most of the pregnancy. Charis and Selah's were also high....

So I think we're having a girl. Which is fine by me cause I want to finally be able to put pigtails and barrettes in SOMEONES hair! And Noah doesn't appreciate being dressed as a girl (ask Moriah).

Well, here it (she) is!

Why Morning Sickness is a Ministry

I have been talking this over with God lately and I think I have decided that morning sickness is my ministry right now. As a woman bearing children is our goal in being fruitful Christians, bearing the next generation and bringing them up in the word to make more disciples. I would not be as Godly of a woman if it weren't for my husband and child(ren). They are my refiner's fire. They teach me what it is to be selfless, truly selfless. What it means to set and example with a good foot forward. What it means to be humble, and more importantly what it means to show Christ's love through my actions daily.

If I were single (this is just me know folks) I would be a much more selfish and greedy human being if not for my family. I have learned how to love unconditionally and thoroughly through them. This next child will be no different. What I haven't yet learned I know this next child will endear me to it. With Noah I learned self control and patience. I learned the true meaning of the timing of God. I learned how to put myself last (that was the hardest lesson for me). Moreover I learned how much God is in my life and in control of it. Noah was conceived the month Jordan lost his job, and we had absolutely no health insurance. We lived in a one bedroom apartment above a very noisy and smokey neighbor. And yet God changed all that into good. God proved to me the words for the good of those who he has called according to his will.

So why should I doubt this morning sickness is any different? Through my newest child this morning sickness has already proven to me my perseverance is more than I thought possible. I CAN eat food I don't want to. I CAN get up and take care of my house while I am ill. I can love this child with every fiber of my being while afflicted with nausea. If I can love my children and accomplish all this through my suffering how much more so then can Jesus for me? Morning sickness isn't my affliction. It's my first step onto the new path God has for me. It's the first indicator that things are changing and this new change brings with it new challenges and new lessons to be learned. Much like graduating to the next grade, it has new and different and harder problems to be solved.

Morning Sickness is not only my ministry to the world for bring forth (hopefully) another believer in Christ, but it is MY ministry. How God is shaping me and preparing me for His will and purpose. So I should embrace it. I WILL embrace it! I will wake up each morning and say, "Praise God for this nauseousness for without it I would not know you Lord!"

I hope. Or at least I'll think a little more positively about it. Speaking so early in the morning makes ma gag a little.... But I'll try!

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!

So, it all started with me thinking I was pregnant because of my charting and talking to the doctor at my yearly exam. She said that I was showing some basic signs of being pregnant, and I was like, "Nuh uh!"

So, I spoke with Jordan and told him the doctor's findings and we started the waiting game. I took a test at the 5 day marker before my period, and it was negative. Three tests laster over the course of a week and i thought, "Whew, that was a close call!"

I was getting sick and tired of the, "Am, am I not?" game that I decided to call the doctor and be put on the pill. It wasn't worth the roller coaster ride of "what if" each month only using a diaphragm. I thought to myself that they'd take a pregnancy test before they issue the medication and I don't have maternity insurance to cover that cost, so what if I just bring in a pregnancy test taken that morning and use that as proof so as to not incure the costs of the doctor's test. Well, I didn't have to pee.

So i drank water, and waited, and waited. Finally a small trickle happened, I quickly grabbed the test and got a few drops on the test before I dried up again. DANG IT! So I put the test down and waited a little while longer until I had another urg to pee. 30 seconds later I grab it up again to pee on it only to see not one, but TWO LINES!

My initial reaction was, "Well that's new." Just like Rachel on Friends dreaming of kissing Joey.
I literally said it out loud. I didn't think I had enough pee on the test to even get it wet let alone to turn it positive! So I immediately call Jordan and tell him at work. He was happy, But had to stifle it cause we weren't telling anyone just yet, it was only one test after all.

Then I called my mom. She shreiked the news to her entire office!

Then I raced to the corner walgreens and bought a package containing three more tests. Came home (by that time all the water kicked in) and took two more tests. PREGNANT! POSITIVE!

Then I waited with tthe three tests on the counter for Jordan to come home.

Three days later I took the last test just for grins and, what do you know, POSITIVE.

Needless to say, we are PREGNANT!And by the way, for those of you wondering, First Response is the best test out there. It never gives false positives and was the most clear and correst test we've taken.

Lastly, we are due early October. We aren't sure of the exact date yet but we'll get there soon enough. We'll keep you posted. Please pray in the meantime for a healthy baby and that health care costs are overseen by God. We have done a lot of research and we have found so much that God is already helping with, but a little more would be great!

P.S. Anyone needing help with the financials in the area I have a wealth of knowledge to impart! You'd be surprised how much money is out there and help!

Thanks! and God bless!

While You're Gone

Jordan, Moriah and Josh these are a few videos for your enjoyment while you are away. The girls are great and loving Nana and Opu's house to run around in. And Charis has made it her personal mission to exhaust Nana to no end. Mission well accomplished I might add. Selah has also taken to spitting up orange goo at the most inopportune times, mostly while Nana's in the way. Here you are!

Also, Moriah I have seen that you are buying Meijer brand formula, please let , me get you the stuff from Costco the next time I'm there! It's so much cheaper and better!

While I was Vacuuming

While I was dutifully doing housework I let Noah have a spoonful of chocolate pudding. A spoonful. The rest of the pudding was on the kitchen table aprox. three steps away from Noah's reaching arms. Somehow when I returned to vacuuming Noah went into super stretch mode and retrieved the cup of pudding this was the result. I was astonished. I couldn't have reached the cup how the heck did he reach it?!