How Far We've Come

Back on Oct. 6, 2008, I wrote a post about "dysgraphia", which is something that Nathan struggled with when he was younger.  He had such a hard time getting onto paper any thoughts he had in his head.  In fact, one reason I did not end up putting him in the co-op that is associated with our elementary co-op is because I was really afraid he wouldn't be able to do well there.  I knew I wouldn't put him in the 7th grade composition class, for sure.  That year, instead, we ended up doing Classical Conversations, which led to Christine and me getting the idea to start Rivendell, and the rest is history.

But Nathan did struggle for awhile, and I really was worried about how he would do in high school and college.  But the Lord is good.  Nathan has excelled in high school classes, even AP ones, where he had to write essays for the big test!  And we just got back Nathan's scores from the last SAT he will ever have to take, and he got an 800 on the critical reading part--and a 700 on the writing section!   Back in 2008, I would never have dreamed that even possible!  I'm so proud of him!  I was just thinking back, and I thought I should update here, in case it might encourage others who are struggling with things with their younger kids.  Sometimes time really does help work out problems.  I am so thankful we were able to homeschool, because I am sure that being able to do things our own way, instead of being tied to how one teacher wanted or expected things to be done, was really helpful.  We could do a lot orally, for example.  Most of all, I am thankful that the Lord is faithful, and we are excited to see what plans he has for Nathan, and where he leads him next year.  

Lessons to Learn

Well, things are finally looking up in the nursing department.  Verity is still a slow eater, but she's gotten tons better at nursing, and from our scale at home it looks like she is all the way up to 9 pounds.  Yay!  I would say she is about 2 weeks behind where my other babies have been at this point, so she's taking as long as a 2 week old instead of a 4 week old.  But things are getting better!  She is a good sleeper, especially at night.  I've been feeding her around 11:00 (so putting her down about midnight because she takes so long!), and then she hasn't been waking up until 7:00 or even 7:30.  So I personally am feeling much better and less foggy-brained, giving me hope that I will be able to get back into teaching and everything else!

But it has overall been a more difficult post-partum month.  A lot of that was because of my expectations.  I fully expected to recover quickly and get right back into our routine, and really, I *did* recover quickly!  I didn't have an infection like I had with Drew or anything like that.  But I completely failed to even consider the possibility that my baby would not cooperate with this plan, so it was hard for me to let go of my expectations, especially as far as school went for the younger kids, and just relax.  I started reading Unglued by Lisa TerKeurst, and the book has been helpful for me right now.  I love her sort of "theme" in the opening chapter--"I can face things that are out of my control and not act out of control."  Because I know that God is in fact in control, and I can trust his plan.

God has given me several little reminders of his sovereignty over the past few weeks.  One is regarding our Rivendell schedule.  When I wrote up the syllabi for anatomy and for life science, I planned on starting teaching again on Oct. 28, figuring that would be plenty of time.  I did not plan on teaching on Dec. 9, because the elementary co-op was supposed to be performing a play that day, and I wanted to see it, as well as have the older boys go and support their younger siblings.  But at our kick-off meeting in September, we got the surprising news that the lady who was going to be in charge of the play had decided to drop out (we miss you, Michelle!), so now Dec. 9 was just going to be a regular day of co-op.  Now I didn't need that extra day--but I really could use another day on this end.  So I am going to take one more week of break, going back to teaching on Nov. 4 instead.  What a blessing!  I really want to take some time to just enjoy this last newborn stage.  I think it will be easier to do that, now that nursing isn't quite the battle every time!  I always tell new moms that even thought it *seems* like this phase takes forever, it really is over so very quickly.  So now I need to follow my own advice!

Another little sign was that I found my exact same nursing pump (well, quite a bit newer and less used, LOL) on craigslist for $10!  From a person who lived about 5 minutes away!  (Remember, my pump had no tubing or anything--all parts are dishwasher safe, so it's really not yucky or weird.  Plus, all I really needed was the motor.  I can just use my own bottle and the part that goes on the nipple!)  So that was a real blessing as well.  Hopefully this one will be able to make it for a year or so.

The people from our church have been such a blessing too.  When Jacob emailed me after Verity was born to set up the takethemameal schedule, I almost told him to just not worry about it.  We were fine!  And I didn't want anyone to feel like they had to cook up a ton of food to feed our crowd.  But I didn't say that, and it has been so wonderful to have meals from friends these past 4 weeks.  SO much good food!  Enough for leftovers!  And how lovely to not have to worry about cooking.  That probably would have sent me over the edge, LOL.

Also, one of my friends from church, Holly, gave me a bag of adorable newborn girl clothes right before Verity's birth, passing them down from her daughter.  I was so thankful, because I really didn't have very many newborn outfits at all, but I did think, "Well, it's so sad that these will hardly get any use at all, since my babies are all so big . . ."  Ha!  Verity will be 4 weeks old tomorrow, and we are still wearing the newborn clothes from Holly!  Maybe next week we'll be into 0-3 month clothes.  So what a blessing that bag of clothes has been!

It will be interesting to see what lessons are in store for the next few weeks!

Some Good News!

Verity had another weight check this morning, and she was up to 8 pounds, 6 ounces--a gain of 5 ounces since Friday!  Yay!  And while we were there (it wasn't an actual appointment, but just a weight check with the lactation consultant), I nursed her on one side only, and she weighed 2 ounces more afterward, so she is definitely transferring more efficiently.  The lactation consultant was very happy with it all, so I think that will get them off our backs for awhile.  I'll keep weighing her on our scale here at home, though, just to make sure.  I do think Verity is going to be skinny though, like Grace.  Grace weighed herself today, and she is all of 46 pounds at almost 7 1/2 years of age, putting her at the 5th percentile for weight.  Verity is just not going to be a chunky monkey, gaining weight rapidly, no matter how much she eats!  She'll be happy with that metabolism when she gets older though, LOL.

I was glad to have some good news because my morning did not start off on a good note.  My faithful Medela Mini Electric breast pump died a sad death!  It still makes noise, but it no longer actually provides any suction.  I loved that pump!  I said on facebook that it was almost 13 years old but as I think about it, it's actually just 11 years old.  I used Amy's pump after Caleb was born, and I liked it so much that I bought the exact same kind for myself when she and I were both pregnant at the same time in 2003!  I really don't want to spend $150 to replace it for the 10th baby, but for anyone looking to buy a breast pump just for casual pumping (not because you are returning to work and will need to pump all the time or anything), then I highly recommend this little pump.  It has worked so well for so many years, and it is really easy to clean (dishwasher-safe, no nasty tubing or anything) as well as being really portable.  So there is my recommendation, for what it's worth!

Still Small

I'm sure everyone is waiting with bated breath to hear how Verity's eating has gone this past week.  By last Sunday night she was really fighting the nipple shield, so I stopped using that, and she was fine.  By Monday night, I noticed that she was knocking the supplemental feeding tube out of her mouth with her tongue, so that the extra milk was dripping slowly down her neck, instead of to her tummy.  But she was sucking so well that I decided we could try nursing without anything.  So that was Tuesday and Wednesday.  Verity nursed well, slept well, was happy, and even pooped more.  Yay!  I weighed her on our bathroom scale Wednesday night and Thursday by weighing myself with her and without her--and discovered that she was about 8.2 pounds with her clothes and diaper on.  Hmmm.  That really wasn't much of a gain, considering she was 7# 15 ounces stark naked last Friday.  Christine re-suggested syringe feeding after nursing, so I started doing that again Friday morning.

She had her 2 week well-baby appointment Friday afternoon, and sure enough, she was 8 pounds, 1/2 ounce.  That was after I gave her a bottle of 2 ounces of pumped milk in the car when we got there (and of course she promptly had a huge poopy diaper, of all the times to poop, grrr).  The doctor wasn't too terribly concerned, since she looks and seems so healthy, but I have to go back in Wednesday for another weight check at the lactation clinic.  I've continued with the syringe after nursing, but she will only take about 1/2 ounce.  She really isn't hungry anymore after she finishes nursing, and it seems like she is getting good feeds from me.  I can tell her latch is good and her suck is strong, and she is swallowing the way it is supposed to be.  I easily pump about 5 ounces in 15 or 20 minutes, so I know I have enough milk.  Weird.  So it's still taking forever to feed her.  I need to weigh her again tonight to see if there's been any improvement since yesterday.

I also had my follow-up appointment yesterday afternoon.  Bethesda is trying a new thing--instead of a 6 week post-partum check, they are doing one at 2 weeks, in conjunction with the 2 week well-baby appointment.  So Verity got examined first, then a tech took her to do her 2 week metabolic screening, and I went across the hall where an OB doctor was.  Since I didn't tear or anything, there was really nothing to examine or even talk about, but I think it is a really good idea to combine appointments like that!  As the doctor said, they found that most women, if they were going to have questions or problems, had them in the first 2 weeks, and by 6 weeks were pretty much over all that.  And I am all about not having to make extra trips to Bethesda!  (Although apparently Verity didn't get that memo, LOL)

In the meantime, everyone else is keeping busy!  Bob's sister Ann drove up from Richmond yesterday afternoon, braving the crazy Friday afternoon Beltway traffic.  Bob, Ann, and the 3 girls drove up to PA today to celebrate their mom's 88th birthday.  Ann made lots of good Polish food, plus a cake--sounds like a party!

Nathan was also off early this morning, on his way to take the SAT for the last time.  Unfortunately, there was no Polish food, no cake, and definitely no festive party atmosphere there at the high school.  But now it's done!  Yay!

My dad took Luke and Caleb McC to their cross-country meet, also this morning.  It was cold and rainy, and everyone got very muddy.  Thankfully, Christine was able to go watch the race and bring the boys home.  I wish we could all have watched the race, but it was not a good day for babies to be out!  So instead I spent the morning nursing and syringe-feeding, which is actually how I have been spending most of my time, LOL.  Maybe next weekend!

Nathan

Verity has had a lot of attention lately; let's talk about Nathan now!

A week before Verity was born, Bianca, a friend of the McC's, took some pictures of Nathan at a local park!  This was one of those last-minute brilliant ideas I had, ever since I saw some of her pictures on Christine's newsfeed.  Nathan was not very excited about the prospect, but he dutifully went as a gift to his poor, pregnant mom.

But it was actually fun!  Bianca is an absolutely amazing person, beautiful inside and out.  She taught herself English as well as photography, and she has buckets of courage and interesting stories!  She was very easy to talk to, and even Nathan admitted it was better than he thought it would be.

And I was thrilled to have some pictures of Nathan!  My hope is to have family pictures taken in the spring, when Verity is old enough to smile and pose, but before Nathan leaves for college.  However, I am terrible about getting things like that done, especially since I never can figure out what to dress everyone in that looks nice and reasonably coordinated.  So now at least we have some great pictures of Nathan!

Bianca even took some pictures of me, even though I kept telling her I did not particularly want my heavily pregnant stage memorialized!  But I'm glad she did--I've never had pictures taken when I was pregnant before, so it will be good to look back on!

And she took a picture of Nathan and me too.  I love it!

So what has Nathan been up to lately?

• He took his "candidate fitness assessment" on Sunday, Sept. 21.  We finally found a middle school that had all the facilities needed--a basketball court, pull-up bars, and a track, all in close proximity.  Thankfully Nathan is not even an inch taller though, or the pull-bars would have been too small for him to dead-hang without his feet touching the ground.  The CFA consists of 6 events, done in order, with specified start, stop, and rest times.  It is designed so that you have finished the first 5 events and started on the run within 30 minutes.  First is the basketball throw, which is weird (you kneel and hurl a basketball with one hand as far as possible), but Nathan read some good posts about how to improve this event by using physics and your core.  Second is pull-ups, then the shuttle run, and then sit-ups.  Next is push-ups, and last is the mile run.  Nathan had taken a practice CFA at the USAFA Summer Seminar, and he did pretty much the same here as he had done there, except that one was not run as an official one, so there was more rest time in between events.   He did well, and yay--that was the last big thing to finish for his USAFA application!
• He got word that he is "qualified" from the DoDMERB board, which means he passed all his medical stuff.  They ask a ton of questions on all the paperwork you have to fill out before the actual appointments, so you have to dredge up stuff from long ago.  In Nathan's case, it was a contact allergy to metal he had when he was really little.  I had to sew material over the snaps on his onesies so he wouldn't break out in a little rash, but we never saw a doctor for it or anything.  And more recently, he had a rash when wearing a cheap watch from Walmart.  So DoDMERB wanted clarification on that.  Fortunately, he didn't have to see a doctor or anything, just write about that in the follow-up paperwork they sent.  We were glad that they didn't have any further questions, and that he is medically cleared now!  That qualification is good for 2 years, and it is good for all the service academies, as well as ROTC.
• He interviewed with our congressman's nomination panel Wednesday night.  He thought it went well.  He felt prepared for the questions, and he felt he was able to get across the points he was trying to make.  I think he is becoming more comfortable interviewing, what with all this practice he's getting!  He has an interview with a senator coming up as well.  I thought they had to interview everyone who put in an application, but that doesn't seem to be the case for the senators, only the House of Representatives member.  So it seems like this interview is definitely one of those "It's an honor to have made it this far" deals, since there were over 700 applicants, and possibly as few as 45 interviewees.  We haven't heard from the other senator, but actually, it doesn't sound like the VA senators give nominations to people who already have Presidential nominations, so it is probably a moot point anyway.  But more good interview practice, for sure!
• He's taking his very last SAT on Saturday, missing a cross-country meet to do so, which does not make him happy.  But then he's done with high school standardized tests, except for APs in May!  Yay! 

Baby Progress

Verity had another weight check yesterday, and I am very pleased to report that she has gained all of 4 ounces, bringing her all the way up to 7 pounds, 15 ounces!  Yay!  That is the good news.  The bad news is that giving her supplemental bottles Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday pretty much killed her desire to nurse, so that was very discouraging.  Thursday I purposed that we were *not* going to stop nursing, and that she would drink some from each breast before getting the bottle, but it was a slow go.  Each feeding was taking about 2 hours, with the first hour being her crying with the nipple in her mouth, but never sucking.  Even when she would finally give up and latch on, she would suck a few times, come off, cry pitifully like, "WHY are you torturing me with this thing??", shudder and make sour faces like I was actually making her suck on a sour lemon, and then suck a few more times.  Obviously she was not really getting anything from me, LOL, and didn't matter if I pumped before she tried (so that she would theoretically get more hindmilk) or after, because the problem was that she just didn't want to suck from me.  At all.  Of course, as soon as I brought out the bottle, she latched right on and drank that steadily with no complaints.  Sigh.  I was really feeling pretty rejected!  (Me:  "These nipples were plenty good for 9 other people!!  Why won't you take them?!?")  I went to WalMart and got some low-flow nipples, since the only ones I had on hand from the other kids were older-baby ones, and I knew she wasn't having to work hard at all for milk out of those.  Even with the low-flow nipples, she still didn't have any objections to the bottle.

I did mention to the lactation consultant that Verity's poor nursing habits had started in the hospital, where she would take the nipple, then gag, cough, and spit up mucus.  We asked people about it, and no one really had any ideas or thought too much of it.  The lactation consultant said Verity most likely had an overly sensitive gag reflex, and so she just sort of gave up on nursing in the beginning because she didn't like all the gagging.  Makes sense!  The lactation consultant said fortunately babies have very short memories, though, LOL.

I really was surprised at how very quickly Verity rejected the breast.  If I had known that, I probably would have just syringe-fed, like my friend Siri had to do to supplement.  But I was mainly concerned with stopping the weight loss, and a bottle was a faster, more efficient way to get the most milk into Verity. Oh well.  We have our work cut out for us!

So I was pretty discouraged when I got to Bethesda yesterday morning.  My appointment was actually with the lactation consultant, so after we weighed Verity, I showed the LC how Verity just fussed around at the breast.  She checked Verity's mouth again and said again that she really had a fine latch/suck--Verity just didn't want to work hard.  So we tried a nipple shield.  I always thought those were mainly for poor latches, where the babies were really making the breast hurt, but no, it turns out that nipple shields can also make babies who only want bottles think they are getting a bottle, LOL.  So she wasn't crying the whole time, but she still wasn't all that enthusiastic about nursing, so we added on the supplemental nursing system, where you put breast milk in a bottle-thing, hook that to your bra, tape some tubing to your nipple, and let the baby suck, so she gets some milk from the breast, but also from the tube, so she is rewarded more.  That combined with the nipple shield was a winning, albeit complicated, set-up, and Verity drank an ounce of pumped breast milk I had brought on the spur of the moment (SO glad I did though!).  So I got sent home with all those supplies, and things have been going fairly well since then, although feedings are still taking about an hour.  Less crying though.

I decided that I was not going to use all the SNS stuff in the middle of the night, so last night I tried nursing with just the nursing shield.  Verity actually fussed around with that, knocking it off eventually, and then I tried her with nothing.  She actually did okay--not great, but better--so maybe we are on the right road.  The nice thing about her gaining some yesterday is that we don't have to go back until Friday, for her normal 2 week well-baby appointment.  So hopefully she will continue gaining weight, and maybe after that appointment we can play around more with not using all the extra stuff.  I'm still not planning on using it at night though.

Having all this hassle with feeding has certainly put a crimp on my social life!  I missed most of Bible study last night because I was feeding.  There is a Civil Air Patrol family cookout tonight that only Nathan, Luke, and Caleb are going to, because again, it is just too hard to drag all that stuff out and nurse somewhere in public!  I really want to go to church tomorrow because a possible new assistant pastor is preaching, but again--that probably isn't going to happen.  I really DON'T want to just bring a bottle to give her, thereby setting us back to the beginning again!

I can honestly say that having a baby with nursing issues is simply not something I ever really thought would happen, once I got Nathan nursing successfully over 17 years ago!  So once again I am learning all sorts of new things, and and gaining all sorts of new useful experience, even though I am doing it reluctantly, LOL.  It has been such a tremendous blessing to have friends bring us meals this week.  I am sure that worrying about making dinners would have put me over the edge!  All my time is spent either nursing or pumping, it seems.  On the positive side, I am certainly going to have a milk supply to feed a small nation, since I usually have tons of milk even without pumping a zillion times a day.  And another thing to be thankful for is that I am a good pumper.  I remember when Nathan was a baby struggling with nursing, and pumping was definitely not so easy for me then.  I guess there is still some benefit to this being my 10th kid!

Speaking of the 10th kid, Bob and I had a "deja vu" moment when we left the hospital on Monday after Verity's appointment.  We were getting in the elevator in the parking garage and 2 chatty older ladies came in with us.  They were oohing over the baby, and commenting on how she should be more covered up and wearing a hat (even though it was a very pleasant day and she was wearing a sleeper with a blanket) . . . then they asked if this was our first.  We said, "No, number 10", and they were literally sputtering, LOL.  "WHAT???  Number 10??  You birthed all of them??  None adopted???  Wow!  Well . . . good luck . . .Wow!! . . . "  It was funny.

One Week

So Verity has been here for one week.  How's she doing?  Well, that's hard to answer.  She is sleeping well and is pretty alert and happy when she's awake, gazing around at all the faces of her adoring fans that constantly surround her.  But she is not a wonderful nurser, and while I thought she was doing better, she instead is dropping weight like a rock.  Also, she hasn't pooped since Friday (not that it seems to be bothering her at all).

She was 9 pounds, 6 ounces at birth, and when we left the hospital last Thursday, she was down to 8 pounds, 12 ounces.  Saturday we went back for a weight check, and she was down to 8 pounds, 1 ounce.  My milk came in Saturday night, so I thought things would turn around.  We went back for another weight check on Monday, and she was down to 8 pounds, 0 ounces.  The doctor couldn't see any issues and felt like it would be temporary, especially since it seemed like she was nursing better now that my milk was fully in.  But when we went back again today, she was all the way down to 7 ponds, 11 ounces.  That's not too far off from losing 2 pounds in one week, which is huge for a newborn!  The lactation consultant at the weight check today also couldn't see anything really wrong--she has a good latch, she just doesn't want to suck long enough to get to the good hindmilk. So she's lazy!

The plan is that I will nurse, then pump and give her that milk as well.  I've done that today several times, so hopefully it will help.  It takes forever, though, and giving her a bottle after nursing doesn't do anything to help her nurse better.  If anything, it should make her lazier, since she'll expect that after nursing a bit, she gets the bottle, which is easier to drink from!  But I don't know that I can deal with using a supplemental nursing system, with the tube attached to my nipple and all that.  I just don't know that it is worth the hassle at this point.  Sigh.  Who would ever have thought that baby #10 would be so much trouble??  If I had any doubts that this should be the last one, they are banished now, LOL.  I seriously do not have the time or mental energy to deal with this!  I really thought that after the baby came, we would be able to get back into a good routine, especially with school, since I wouldn't be going to Bethesda twice a week for appointments and non-stress tests.  Now I'm going 3 times a week!  A good routine?  Ha!  Things are falling apart all over the place!  I don't know what I'll do if we can't get this resolved before it's time for me to start teaching again.  I still haven't even finished writing the anatomy exam the kids are supposed to be taking over the first 4 chapters!  I started that last Tuesday night before I went into labor, but I just couldn't concentrate, so I only got the first 11 or so questions written.  And now I am tired and foggy-brained, so . . .

We're praying that Verity will start gaining weight, as well as start nursing more diligently.  And also that I would know the best course of action.  We go back again Friday for another weight check, but that is also just with the lactation consultant, not with a doctor.  We're supposed to have her 2 week well-baby appointment next Friday, but I would say if she keeps dropping weight like this, we'll have to see a doctor before then.  If only I was dropping weight like that!  Instead, I am enjoying the carbs I have had to avoid the past 12 weeks, and all this stress is not making me think favorably about cutting back--bring on the ice cream and chocolate, LOL.

Cloning

Our babies all come out looking the same, with the same chubby cheeks and shape of head.  Evidence:

 Verity

 Faith (Look--same outfit!)

 Grace

 Anna

And even the boys:

 Micah

Drew

Anna is as far back as pictures on the computer go, and I am too lazy to hunt up baby pictures of the older 4 boys from the basement and scan them in, so you'll just have to take my word for it--they looked the same too!  Bob and I have a strong stamp for our babies!

A Few Last Pregnancy Thoughts

• Usually I drink raspberry tea, or as in the past few pregnancies, took red raspberry leaf capsules, to promote uterine toning and effective contractions.  This time, however, I tried something new after someone left a comment on my blog recommending it.  I tried a tincture of herbs called "Gentle Birth Formula" by Mountain Meadow Herbs, although I bought mine from amazon.  I started drinking 1/4 tsp. in a little bit of water at 35 weeks. For the first week, I only drank it before breakfast, but for the other weeks, I drank it before all 3 meals.  I would say it was at least as effective as the raspberry leaf (which is one of the herbs it does contain), and I did go into labor myself, so that was huge, although I know that was also a direct answer to lots of prayer!  I kind of think the end contractions were easier to deal with after I drank the really, really strong raspberry tea that I used to brew when I went into labor, though.  I wished I could have done that before driving to the hospital this time, but alas, I never got any raspberry tea bags for this pregnancy.  Still, I would recommend trying the tincture.  It was somewhat expensive--4 ounces for $30.00 plus $6.40 shipping--but it did last the whole 5 weeks.  
• The past few pregnancies I have had a terrible time with my arms falling sleep at night, no matter how I slept.  It was so annoying!  But sometime earlier this year (I can't even remember exactly when!), Bob and I were out, and I bought a new pillow at Bed, Bath, and Beyond--one of those fancy "side-sleeping with special gussets" pillows.  It has been WONDERFUL!  And my arms did not fall asleep once this pregnancy.  I should totally have spent actual money on an actual nice pillow years ago!  I was honestly surprised at how big a difference it made, although I shouldn't have been.
• Back in June, when I reviewed all the various pregnancy workout DVDs I used, the last one I reviewed, "Fit Mommy-to-Be Prenatal Yoga with Hilaria Baldwin" was definitely the dvd I used least often, except when I was having back or hip problems.  I liked it, but it just didn't feel like it was a very good workout.  Well, fast forward to the last few weeks of pregnancy--I started doing it a lot more often because I was uncomfortable, and the stretching felt soooo good.  Also, I knew from all my previous pregnancy research on places like spinningbabies.com how important it is to move your hips asymmetrically to get your baby into a good position, and the hip-opening segment is FULL of asymmetric stretches, which felt absolutely wonderful.  I did that workout last Wednesday--and lost my mucous plug Wednesday night.  I did it again on Saturday--and had made progress by the time I had my appointment Monday. So I definitely recommend this workout dvd, even if just for the last few weeks of pregnancy, to get the baby into a good position and help your hips/pelvis open up!  Also, I really kept up with chiropractor appointments towards the end of this pregnancy, and I think that did help as well.  
• I still think it is funny what doctors for each pregnancy have really emphasized.  With Drew, there was such focus on my blood clots, which happened 20 years ago, and I had to wear those horrid self-inflating ted hose during labor.  I hated those things with a fiery passion!  This time?  No one mentioned blood clots at all.  Ever.  The whole pregnancy.  No ted hose during labor, either!  
• I am so thrilled to not be pregnant now!  I feel so much better now, 2 days after delivery, than I did the whole month before.  My hips and pelvis feel great!  The place I am sorest is my left lower forearm, where my IV port was--it's so swollen and painful, and I have to guard it from Micah and Drew hitting my forearm and jumping on it.  Otherwise, I'm good!  The last few weeks of pregnancy were rough, and I'd be glad to not do it again.  In fact, I think I am just running out of gas for all things pregnancy related.  Towards the end of labor, I kept thinking about how done I am.  I thought, I could do this for someone else, like as a doula--I know what to suggest!  But for me--I'm done doing it!  Like Elizabeth L. said, this is a younger woman's game, LOL!  One of the hardest parts, I think, was the mental stretching the whole time of dealing with high school/college stuff at the same time as dealing with pregnancy stuff.  And how things just keep going, now that we've had the baby--there's not a real time of rest, where we all just stay home or anything.   I am really enjoying being able to sleep on my back though! 
• Funny story--Nathan had his interview with his USNA blue/gold officer Wednesday night.  It was rainy, and he had a bit of trouble finding the guy's house, so he was about 15 minutes late and felt under the gun a bit when he went in.  The guy asked how many siblings he had, so Nathan told him he was the oldest of 10.  The guy then asked how old his youngest sibling was, so Nathan said she had just been born that morning . . . the guy had definitely never had that answer before!  LOL!  The interview went really well after that.  Nathan said it was more like a conversation than an interview, and the guy even had played rugby at USNA!  Too funny though.  

Verity is Here!

Verity Christine was born at 6:33 AM on Sept. 24!  She was 9 pounds, 6 ounces, and 22 inches long.  "Verity" comes from the Latin word for "truth", so it's another virtue name, but we thought it was a good one, especially in a year where I'm teaching a Latin course!  May she stand up for truth in this world.  We always name middle names after family and friends, and in this case, Christine is both for my good friend Christine, who has been such a blessing on this homeschooling journey, but also for my sister-in-law Melinda, whose middle name is Christine, as is her daughter, Elia's.  Elia has a September birthday as well, so we told her this summer that this baby would be her special "birthday buddy".  How special that they can share a middle name too!

So, now for the birth story . . . Tuesday was a pretty normal day.  I dropped the kids off at their elementary co-op, then taught life science, anatomy, and then memory work at Rivendell.  I had contemplated not having my classes that day, but the life science kids were studying cellular respiration and photosynthesis, and I really thought they would benefit by having me go through the chapter with them, as opposed to just reading it, so I was glad I could do that.  The anatomy chapter was a short one on the integumentary system, and they probably could have done that on their own, but oh well.  Nathan asked if I went in to labor during class, could they all go along to the hospital for a field trip, LOL.

Through the day I had some bloody show, and contractions every so often, but nothing worth taking note of.  As the evening wore on, I felt more and more uncomfortable.  Bob and I took our usual walk, and I was just so achy, especially in my pelvis, definitely feeling "done" with the whole pregnancy thing.  Before I went to bed, I went in and talked to Nathan and Luke about the next day's plans, in case I wasn't there in the morning, since I was just feeling so weird.

Of course, the basement shower picked that night for a part to stop working so the thing wouldn't really turn off, so Bob had to fix that before we could go to bed!  So we got to bed late, around 11:30.  At 1:00 I woke up, went to the bathroom, and realized I was having contractions every 5 minutes, although they didn't seem especially strong.  But I was just feeling weird, and after my experience with Faith, where I didn't realize I was in labor until I was in transition, I was not really sure about my ability to always tell when things were actually happening.  So I woke Bob up from a sound sleep and told him I thought we should go in.  We got all our stuff together and drove to Bethesda, getting there a little after 2:00.  It was a good thing I wasn't showing up 9 1/2 cm dilated, like I did with Faith, because they were really full!  Bob and I sat in the hallway for awhile, waiting for a bed in labor triage to open up.  Eventually they got me in there, where they examined me and found that I was 5 cm dilated, 75% effaced, and confirmed with a monitor strip that I was having contractions every 5 minutes, so they admitted me.

When we got to the room, I read for a little while, but I was pretty tired.  It didn't really seem like the contractions were doing too much to move her down any further, so I was expecting they would have to start pitocin at some point.  Eventually the doctor came at 4:30 to examine me, and I was still all of 5 cm, so that was discouraging, albeit not shocking.  So they broke my water (which had some meconium), and I started laying on my left side, trying to get some rest.  The contractions got more painful, but at 6:00 I texted my mom to tell her that I still wasn't feeling much pressure or feeling that I was in transition.  The nice thing about not being on pitocin was being a lot more free to move around.  I realized that lying on my side wasn't helping her move down, so I got up and rocked on the birthing ball for a little while.  Sometimes I stood up and leaned over the bed, rocking my pelvis, trying to get my pelvis to open up, and her to move down.  The contractions got a lot more painful, and I did start feeling shaky and in transition.

At 6:25 I texted my mom to say that the doctor had just checked me again, and that I was now 7 cm dilated, 100% effaced, and the baby was at +1 station, so clearly being upright was helping.  I had a short conversation with the doctor and nurse about how they were going off-duty, so I would be delivering with the day staff.  I told them I didn't think it wouldn't be too long--"only a few more contractions" until I was ready to push.  I was standing by the bed, and I had another contraction and sure enough, felt like pushing.  The nurse took me at my word and called everyone in, including a pediatrician because of the meconium.  I awkwardly lay down on the bed, pushing while they checked me again (complete) and tried to break down the bed.  I pushed twice, and the head was out, and once more to deliver her.  She was born at 6:33, just 8 minutes after I had texted my mom!

After Verity was born, it looked like my uterus was firming up nicely, but after while, there were more clots that the nurse and doctor were comfortable with, so I did have to have an internal uterine sweep, as well as many very painful fundal massages.  They did give me a precautionary bag of IV antibiotics, though, so hopefully no infections this time!  They also gave me the lovely cytotec suppositories, and the methergine shot in the thigh, followed by the methergine series of pills for 24 hours.  I guess they should have just gone ahead and started all that right after I gave birth, assuming that my poor, tired uterus was not going to do its job and stop bleeding well, even without pitocin during labor (they did start a bag of pit right after delivery to help stop bleeding)!  Speaking of pit, it was so much nicer to have a pitocin-free labor.  The contractions were much easier to deal with--no huge, double-peaked contractions that last forever.  I am so thankful that the Lord answered that prayer.  I really just didn't feel like I had it in me to deal with a long pitocin labor, especially after a long, busy day at Rivendell.

After all the bleeding settled down, I ordered breakfast and scarfed that down while we waited to get into a post-partum room.  Once we moved over, we all rested for awhile.  My parents brought out everyone at lunchtime to visit, except poor Nathan, who had an orthodontist appointment at 11:00, followed by his calculus class at 12:30.  It was so sad and weird to not have him be there!  As I said in one of my last posts, none of our kids had been born on the same day of the month--but now Verity was born on the 24th--which is the same as Nathan, who was born on June 24th!  So things have come full circle . . .

Verity was super alert in the morning, and she nursed okay, but by the afternoon, all she wanted to do was sleep (hey, me too!).  I kept trying to get her to nurse, but she had no interest.  Because she was big (and because of my gestational diabetes), she had to have 4 heel sticks to measure her glucose levels, and I was so concerned that she was going to be low, which had happened with Faith and was a total pain to deal with.  But praise the Lord, she was able to keep her levels stable, even without much nursing!

Elizabeth L. stopped by in the afternoon, and we had a fun visit.  I told her I thought Verity would be wide awake all night long, since that was what she did while in the womb.  Sure, enough, starting about 9:00 PM, Verity was so awake and alert.  She nursed much better, but she definitely was not interested in sleeping!  Finally around 5:00 in the morning, she went back off to sleep, so I could really get some sleep too.  I hope it doesn't take too long to get her days and nights switched back around!

This morning, Verity was down to 8 pounds, 12 ounces.  They let us go home this afternoon, but we do have to bring her back in Saturday for a weight check.  Hopefully she'll continue to do better at nursing, so my milk will come in soon, and she'll start gaining again.  It is so nice to be home again--and not pregnant anymore!  Yay!!  Not surprisingly, everyone here adores Verity, and clamors to hold her whenever possible. She does not lack for attention!  Drew is no sure exactly what to think about her, but he is glad to have me back home, LOL.  I am enjoying snuggling with one last newborn, rubbing that soft, fuzzy head (which actually has a surprising amount of hair for one of our babies, especially in the back)!  She is a sweetie! 

Last OB Appointment

Hey, I made it into the "twenties" part of the month, so I should be able to have this baby any day now!  I had my last OB appointment AND last non-stress test this morning.  Yay!  I'm 4 cm dilated, and the baby is definitely lower than she was last week, so that is good.  Maybe the exam will start something, but I doubt it.  Nothing so far, as far as contractions go!  But hopefully the induction Thursday evening will go better than the one with Drew, where he was so high and wouldn't move down.  The doctor said maybe they wouldn't even give me pitocin, but just break my water.  That would be nice, but I doubt that too!  I was 5 cm when I went in with Micah, and I still was put on pitocin before they broke my water.  And I was 6 cm dilated with Anna, and still, pitocin!

So we're just waiting around in the meantime.  I'll go ahead and teach my Rivendell classes tomorrow, but I did decide not to have the Latin class meet on Wednesday.  Nathan has an interview with his blue and gold officer (that's what UNSA calls their admissions liaison officers) Wednesday evening, but he should be able to drive himself to that.  Everything else just pretty much goes on as always!

Poor Grace

Sometimes I think I blog because I no longer have time to scrapbook, but I really need to remember things.  This is the only way!  Grace has been feeling fine, continuing to take her antibiotics.  Tuesday when she came in from the morning co-op, she showed me some "bug bites" on her arms.  I glanced at them and clucked sympathetically, but didn't pay too much attention because she ran right out the door to play on the trampoline with her Rivendell friends, and I was getting ready for memory work.  But when we actually we doing memory work about an hour later, she was really scratching her arms.  I looked more closely, and there were really a lot of bumps.  On both arms.  And then I pulled up her shirt, and there were bumps all over her torso!  And legs!  Ack!  She definitely looked like she had the chicken pox or something (although I knew that wasn't it, since she's been vaccinated).

One of the other Rivendell moms, Michele, and I quizzed Grace about anything new she might have eaten, and so on, but there didn't seem to be any red flags.  I went upstairs to get a bottle of liquid children's benedryl, and as I was coming back down, it hit me--this looked very much like Drew's dreadful rash last summer . . . after he had been on amoxicillin for almost 10 days, while we were at White Sulphur Springs.  Hmmm . . .  So of course I stopped giving Grace her last 3 doses on medicine, and by tonight, the rash is going away.  I guess she is also allergic to amoxicillin, and I really need to remember to mention these reactions to a doctor whenever it looks like someone else might need antibiotics.

Nathan and Luke are better too--no more fevers--although they are still coughing a lot.  Everyone else seems to be just fine.

And just to see who actually reads these things, I lost my mucous plug tonight, so hopefully that means things will start on their own this time, and sooner rather than later!

The Last Days

 . . . of pregnancy, that is.  None of my clothes fit, I've eaten my weight in protein bars, hard-boiled eggs, cheese sticks, almonds, peanut butter, and other protein snacks, I'm uncomfortable no matter what position I'm in, I have used every public restroom within 10 miles multiple times, and I'm irritable!  We're in the home stretch though--my due date (and induction date) is 10 days away.

I had another OB appointment this morning.  As soon as the doctor walked in, I realized I was seeing the one who beats the "shoulder dystocia" drum.  He's really nice--I've seen him before in a few different pregnancies--but that is his big issue, and he didn't disappoint!  He asked if I'd had an ultrasound to see how big the baby was, and then he recommended I get one.  If it showed the baby was running 10 or 11 pounds, then I could get a c-section, since as he likes to say, the only way to guarantee you won't have shoulder dystoia is to have a section.  I said I really didn't feel like this was a 10 pound baby--probably another 9 pounder, but that will make my 4th 9 pounder, and I haven't ever had any problems delivering them.  I didn't really even have any problems delivering Micah at 10 pounds, 8 ounces, other than really having to push hard, which you don't really expect with #8!  Anyhow, I had an ultrasound like that with Anna, and it was off by like 2 pounds, so I am in no hurry to speculate this time!  I told him I was going to just try to go ahead and deliver vaginally.  I mean, I've got all this other homeschooling/college stuff going on, and I am hoping to bounce back quickly, so I don't think signing up for elective major abdominal surgery really fits with that plan, LOL.  I mean, if it happens, it happens, but I'm not planning on signing myself up for it!

I asked the doctor if he would try to strip my membranes, in hopes that maybe I would dilate a little more and avoid a super-long induction, even though I could tell the baby was still up fairly high.  I was right in that she is still high, but he was able to get a finger in and do a very thorough job of stripping the membranes, not that it seems to have done a single thing, as far as any meaningful contractions go.  Ah well.  I have another appointment next Monday, so that will be one more chance to try membrane stripping.  I definitely prefer to be induced when I'm already 5-6 cm, so I'm hoping that will happen, unlike with Drew, where I never really dilated more than 2-3 cm before starting the pitocin.

After the appointment, I headed upstairs for another non-stress test.  The baby surprised me by having moved over to lie on my left side, instead of my right, like most of my last babies have been.  She was again cooperative, so it didn't take too long.  Yay!

So now we wait.  While waiting, I ponder number patterns.  This baby is already being different by being born in September, when we haven't had anyone born from July-October before.  Also, all 9 of my babies have been born on different days of the month--but only in the beginning and the end of the month.  No baby has been born in the teens!  I have kids born on the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 9th, and then also on the 24th, 27th, 28th, and 30th, but no one in the middle.  Isn't it funny how they are clustered at the beginning and the end?!  So if I get induced on Sept. 25, I would most realistically deliver on Sept. 26--but regardless, both of those days are open and fit in my birthing day scheme at the end of the month!  But maybe this baby will break with tradition a second way, and be born early--on a day in the teens!  That would be really different!  I can hope anyway, LOL.

Weird Week of Sickness

Last Saturday Grace started running a fever of about 101.7.  It kept coming right back up as soon as the Motrin wore off, and Sunday she started complaining about her throat hurting, so I started thinking strep.  She basically just laid around Saturday and Sunday, taking a bunch of naps and generally looking dull and sick.  I made an appointment for her Monday for right after my non-stress test, so we hung out at Bethesda together for the morning.  The tech did a rapid throat culture, although I'm not really sure how thorough of a job she did on the swab itself.  The doctor saw how red her throat was, with little white spots on it which even I had been able to see on Sunday, and she agreed it definitely looked like strep.  But the rapid test came back negative.  So the doctor did her own swab (much more thorough), and we waited for the rapid test for that one too--also negative.  They were going to culture the first swab for 24 hours, but the doctor did something practically unheard of in military medicine--she started Grace on antibiotics anyway!  She looked back at her records and saw that the last time Grace had actually been on antibiotics was when she was 20 months old and had an ear infection, where her eardrum ruptured, while we were at my parents' house for Christmas.  So yeah, she's not really in danger of having too much unnecessary antibiotics or anything.  Still, I was so surprised!  So we got the meds and started her on them right away, and by Tuesday morning, she was feeling tons better, and her throat wasn't hurting anymore.  She still had to miss co-op, but hey, she was at least feeling better!  Oh, the 24 hour culture was negative too--so who knows if it was actually strep?  She certainly responded to the medicine though, so I'm not sorry about giving it to her.

I was definitely concerned when Faith, Micah, and Drew all started running fevers Tuesday afternoon as Rivendell was winding down.  Ummm . . . how was I going to get all of them in for appointments??  My week was pretty packed!  But then I realized that they were all just sick in a different way than Grace was.  Drew definitely had some kind of head cold thing, with a runny nose.  I wasn't concerned about that, although it did make him exceptionally crabby.  Faith and Micah didn't really have that, but their fevers weren't as high, and they just didn't act as sick as Grace did.  So I decided to just wait it out, and I was glad.  They were both fine by Thursday, which was good, since Faith had her first little art/science co-op that afternoon.  She definitely didn't want to miss that, and I didn't want to either, since I was teaching the science part that day.  We walked around the church, identifying the different trees and talking about leaves and so on.  It was fun, although very hot and humid.  I was melting!

Nathan started running a fever Wednesday night, which really worried me, since he took the ACT for the last time this morning.  But he went to bed early that night, slept for 12 hours, and was much better Thursday.  He was able to go to calculus as well as cross-country practice.  Bob, Luke, Caleb, and Anna have also been dealing with the head cold thing/allergy thing, with lots of sniffles and sneezing.  No fever though, and Caleb and Anna were well enough to come with me to the commissary on Friday, and Luke ran in a cross-country meet this morning.  I guess Jonathan is the one completely healthy kid!

So far the Lord has protected me--may He continue to do so!  I've actually been knocking things off my to-do-before-baby-comes list, and I hope I can stay healthy!  Today was a surprisingly productive day.  I (and Anna, my helper who loves to organize) put away all the groceries from the commissary (no small feat--$800 worth!), cut up several cuts of meat to freeze to use in various recipes, made a much wider and cleaner path through the garage (did not "clean the garage", however, lol--that was a bridge too far), cleaned out the big van (which hadn't been cleaned since before out big trip to Boston the end of July, and I was worried people were going to start sticking to the floor or something since it was so dirty and crumbly), washed all the newborn girl laundry including carseat covers, cleaned Bruno's cage, and got the guest bedroom and bathroom in the basement in order, in preparation for my parents, who are coming on Thursday!  Yay!  Of course the main floor looks like a tornado ran through it . . . I can't get all 3 floors looking nice at the same time, due to the concentrated efforts of the girls, Micah, and Drew.  That can be tomorrow's list, along with all my Rivendell prep for Tuesday!

No Rest For the Pregnant!

I remember when I was pregnant with Nathan, back in Colorado.  He was due on July 2.  I had been tutoring my neighbor in chemistry and college algebra, but I was done with that.  I had also been volunteering with "Right to Read", an adult literacy program, but I had stopped tutoring there as well.  My weeks during my last trimester centered around my wonderful moms walking group, which met Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings.  That left Tuesday and Thursday mornings for doctor appointments and trips to the library and commissary.  I also had to cook (measly amounts of) food for Bob and me, and do our (measly amount of) laundry.  Afternoons I spent down in our basement, eating Dole Fruit N Juice bars, since it was warm in Colorado in June (although not humid!), and we of course didn't have air conditioning.  I played with our big dogs, read books, and did the crossword puzzles my mother-in-law would send me.  What a life!

My last few weeks of pregnancy no longer look like that ideal, especially this pregnancy, LOL.  Right now I have a to-do list a mile long, and I am desperately trying to get everything done before this baby comes!  Thursday, after some school with the girls, my morning exercise, and a quick, early (low-carb, of course) lunch, I took the girls to get haircuts at Great Clips.  Anna started mentioning wanting a haircut after Lily C. got 27 inches (!!) cut a few weeks ago, and now she looks adorable with a little bob.  After we received our elementary yearbooks from last year on Tuesday, Anna fixated on a little girl in Jonathan's class, who also had a cute little bob, and from then on she mentioned haircuts approximately once an hour.  The girls all did need at least trims, but hadn't wanted any for awhile, so I figured I needed to strike while the iron was hot.

After haircuts all around, we had to stop at both Target and Office Depot, since I failed to get enough dividers and 1 1/2" binders for the 4 boys when I was getting school supplies at Walmart a few weeks ago.  And now Walmart looks like a plague of school-supply-eating locusts went through that section, so all you can get is spiral notebooks with weird covers and folders.  Target was the same, but fortunately Office Depot came through.  I bought 7 packages of dividers, so hopefully that will do, LOL.

We went rushing home because Luke and I needed to sign on to a virtual class orientation for a writing class we signed him up for back in March, when it sounded like a good idea.  Now he is just auditing it, since he has so much on his plate, but we needed to know how to access the recorded lectures, since the live class meeting is during his Spanish class.  While coming home, Luke called to ask if we were in fact going to be home to log on, and also to let me know that the USAFA admissions department had called with a "question about Nathan's transcript".  This led to much slightly panicked wondering on my part, as I tried to figure out what they could possibly be questioning, and if I would even be able to answer their question, whatever it might be.  I hope and pray they won't blame Nathan if I totally screwed something up!  Yeah--that was stressful.

After getting onto the orientation, I called the admissions department.  The question was where we took the classes we had listed as "AP" on our syllabus--at a school?  I was able to tell them that the classes were taken at Rivendell, and that all the teachers had approved syllabi with the College Board, and that I had listed each teacher in my course descriptions, so they could search the teacher's names to make sure they were listed as approved AP teachers (because you can't call a class "AP" unless you have the official College Board approval for your syllabus).  So that was actually an easy question to answer, but I was SOOO glad that I had gone back and listed every teacher and where the course was taken on the course description document for Nathan.  I need to go back and do that on the official Rivendell document too.  USAFA admissions is apparently on the ball with this stuff.  Whew!

Then Anna and I had to leap off again, this time to an eye doctor appointment for her.  I thought she had last been seen a year ago in April, but (whoops!) it turns out it was 2 years ago!  Her farsightedness is all gone, but she does have some astigmatism, so she is getting a different pair of glasses.  She has been complaining of some letters blurring together when she reads, especially small print, so hopefully the new glasses will be just the ticket to help her be able to spent more time reading.  The eye doctor did say something interesting.  She said that kids who play outside a lot tend to have less decline in their vision, maybe because they are focusing far away more, or maybe because of the effect of the sun's rays on their optic nerve.  So she recommended lots of outside play time for Anna.  Sounds good to me!

After we were done picking out new glasses at Walmart, we rushed home again.  I grabbed a quick bite of left-overs, and then Nathan and I drove off to first drop Luke off at cross-country practice, and then to continue on to Ft. Myer, where there was a West Point admissions briefing at the Officers Club.  That turned out to be interesting.  The briefer was an Army major assigned to West Point, but in charge of admissions for the southeast region.  He was a really good speaker--funny, self-deprecating, had good stories, etc.--so he was very easy to listen to.  Plus, he looked a lot like my cousin Pilot!  We knew a lot of what he had to say, but he did bring out some interesting differences.  West Point mainly bases their decisions on essays and ACT/SAT scores, even for public school students.   We went up and talked with him afterward to ask him a question about letters of recommendation, and I told him about how USAFA wanted the course descriptions, called me this afternoon, etc.  He laughed and said that USAFA had 6 people doing his job, and he didn't really look at any of that extra stuff.  We were also able to talk to someone who works with our Congressional representative on his nomination committee, and he had some good info about that process.  Nathan also got to meet his military admissions liaison officer, and it was good to put a face to that name/voice.  He was very nice and helpful.  So just meeting and talking with these men was very useful, so we were glad we went.  I will say that I stuck out (ha!  I'm so punny!) like a sore thumb as I waddled around, getting up to pee several times.  Definitely no other pregnant moms were there!  Nathan and I didn't get back home until around 10:15, and then we worked on some stuff for his nomination packages.  He's getting ready to send all that in on Monday, so we are coming down to the wire!

Friday morning I had to drive to Bethesda for both an OB appointment and a non-stress test.  On Wednesday it took me 1 hour and 10 minutes to get there at 10:00, so this time I left a little before 8:00 for a 9:20 appointment--and of course there was very little unusual traffic, so I was there in plenty of time.  You just can't predict!  The appointment went fine.  The doctor scheduled me for an induction starting Thursday night, Sept. 25, although she did say that if my glucose numbers weren't "tightly controlled", then they would still induce me a week early.  She checked my cervix, but I'm just 1 cm and still high, which is probably how I've been the whole time, LOL.  I couldn't get another appointment next week, so I won't see someone until next Monday, Sept. 15.  Hopefully my numbers will stay fine.  They've been good ever since we got back from White Sulphur Springs.

Then I headed up to the prenatal assessment clinic for the non-stress test.  Baby was not quite as cooperative as she was on Wednesday, but it didn't take too terribly long.  She is hard to keep on the monitor , though, as it seems all of mine are.  That alone makes me dread an induction, where there has to be continuous monitoring.  I have hold the sensor thing at a certain angle to keep her on, and whenever she moves around, it's all lost.  So the tests are not all that relaxing for me!

I had to go up to the pharmacy then and pick up more glucose test strips.  I ended up waiting over an hour before I went up and asked a tech who had a minute before he called the next person to his window.  It turned out they had totally skipped over my number, so I waited way longer than I should have had to!  I did finish my book though.  I didn't get home until after 1:00 (and I was STARVING), so it was a long morning.   And I still had a chiropractor appointment at 2:45, so I wasn't even home very long, just long enough to eat lunch and do memory work with Jonathan and the girls!  After my chiro appointment, I stopped by the library to pick up some more books for me to read during the non-stress tests.  I got some murder mysteries, which hopefully won't take up too much of my ever-diminishing brain power.  Then it was home for a quick dinner, then off to Bible study, where Nathan picked up the last of his letters of recommendation (thanks, Tim!).  Afterwards, we came home and worked on the last of his essays and got him ready for this morning, where CAP had set up a time to practice interviewing and to give feedback on essays for cadets applying to academies or ROTC.

So finally I fell into bed around 11:30.  This is definitely not the relaxing time of my first pregnancy!  No fruit n juice bars either, which is a bummer.  Those are really good!

New School Year

So most things have started up now, so I thought it would be good to document what we're doing for school this year.

• Nathan is taking calculus at the community college.  It seems that he has a good teacher, so hopefully that will continue going well.  His class is the same time and days, and is right next door, to Isaac's math class, so that has been really nice.  They can even carpool and only get one parking pass!  Nathan is taking AP literature, AP world history, and AP macroeconomics at Rivendell, as well as anatomy & physiology.  He's doing an Intro to Java course through homeschoolprogramming.com, and he is really enjoying that so far.  He is also going to take physics from derekowens.com, so we'll see how that goes.  All he has to do now is actually start the course!  Right now he is pushing to get everything all together to mail in all the nomination packages next Monday.  He also is hoping to take the CFA (fitness test for the academies) next Sunday, which is the last big thing for his academy application.  Then it will be on to ROTC applications . . .  Hopefully he will be less busy after Christmas!
• Luke has an incredibly busy year for a sophomore.  He'll be taking the 3 AP courses at Rivendell like Nathan, and he's also taking AP Spanish through pottersschool.org.  That was not something we were really planning on at all, but then Christine found out about the "AP International Diploma program", where you have to take AP classes from all these different areas and score a 3 or higher on all of them.  By taking AP Spanish this year, he'll only lack AP biology, which he should be taking next year.  So that is going to be crazy, because the AP language tests are really weird.  Luke is also taking A & P from me, as well as an Intro to Computing class at Potters, and Algebra 2 at home (although Christine is going to help keep accountable by giving him dates to turn in tests!).  He's not looking forward to this year!
• Caleb has hit the big time--he is now at Rivendell on Tuesdays as well!  He has life science with me, as well as logic, literature, and history.  He'll also take Latin with me on Wednesdays, and he's doing Algebra 1 with Christine and Daniel McC.  This year will be a lot busier for Caleb than ever before, but I know he can do it!  
• Jonathan has one more year left at TNT, but he is also taking lit and history at Rivendell on Tuesday afternoons. Since we're restarting the 4 year cycle with the ancients this year, it made sense to go ahead and include him and Lily C., both of whom are 6th graders.  He'll also be in the Latin class on Wednesdays.  He's doing CLE math, language arts, and science this year, so we'll see how that goes.  So far I like it, and it's nice to have the smaller "light units" to work through, instead of a bunch of big texts.  He and Caleb are both going to take an art class over at Christine's house this semester once a week, and they both are really looking forward to that starting up.  I'm so glad we live close together!
• Anna and Grace are also using CLE this year, but just for math and language arts.  I started them back in July, which turned out to be good, since we're not getting much formal stuff done together during the week, with all my appointments.  They can both work independently, though, and they are zipping right along through the light units.  We haven't done much memory work, character stuff, or even Story of the World, like we usually do during our school days so far though.  That should get better after the baby comes. Three more weeks . . . They are starting up gymnastics again on Monday, which makes them both very happy!
• Faith is definitely getting the short end of the stick, as far as dedicated school time, right now before the baby comes.  She needs the most hand-holding, since she isn't reading incredibly fluently or anything, and I just haven't had the time.  She's got a good head for math and phonics, so I am sure she will leap ahead once I have the baby and don't have to spend so much time exercising and driving to and from Bethesda.  In the meantime, she helps keep Micah and Drew occupied, as they fuss over duplos or whatever the other person is playing with, LOL.  She is going to do a special little co-op Thursday afternoons with some other 4 and 5 year olds, focusing on science and art.  I'm leading the first science lesson next Thursday afternoon, on trees.  I think she is really going to enjoy the time socializing--she is such a little social butterfly! 

So that's an overview of school for us this year.  It definitely gets busier and busier as the kids get older!  We'll see how the juggling goes, especially once I add a nursing newborn to the mix.  That's the thing about having a baby in September--you have the baby, and you still have practically the whole school year starting down at you!  What terrible timing!  Thankfully I don't have to do it on my own--the Lord is my strength, and he has also provided wonderful friends to walk this path alongside us!

Weekend Retreat

We spent the weekend at White Sulphur Springs.  My parents' OCF/chapel group had their annual retreat, so we joined them.  It was a lovely weekend, as usual.

Saturday was a beautiful day, weather-wise, and the kids ran around all over the place.  The girls and little boys did some bowling, and then Anna, Micah, and I had to use the bathroom, so we headed over to the old hotel.  Afterward, Anna and Micah were playing on the wagon in front, and I got to thinking how we always used to get a family picture taken on the wagon.  I think the last one we have is when Grace was a baby.  At that point, I was determined to get a family wagon picture this year.

Of course, the weather was not so cooperative on Sunday.  It rained right after lunch, and then Drew was really crabby, so I put him down for a nap.  Then I walked the girls and Micah down to the rock-climbing wall in the barn.  Eventually all the other boys showed up at the climbing wall, so after the rock-climbing was over, I hiked back up to the new hotel to wake up Drew and track down Bob.  We drove back down because I was dripping with sweat, lol.  It was still humid up in the mountains!  I was very happy to get my family wagon picture.

After the picture, we poked around the old hotel some.  The boys remember staying there, but the girls don't really remember it much.  I of course have fantastic memories from my summers working up there, so it has a very special place in my heart!

One of the other couples from the retreat was looking around too, and the husband was flipping through an old scrapbook out on the coffee table.  On the very first page, he was surprised to recognize Bob!  And then we were both surprised to see that a picture of me was right below it, from a different year!  So fun!  My friend Emily (the one on the left in the picture) said she put the scrapbook together, so we'll just say she was inspired to include our pictures like that!

When we got done, Nathan and Luke were involved in a game of horseshoes, but during a break, I was able to take a picture of all the boys (not that I could get them all to look at the same time).  I have to treasure times when everyone is all together, because I know those times are going to be rarer and rarer!

So we had a wonderful weekend, which made it all the harder to come back today and jump right back into our 2 co-ops, which kicked off today.  I'm sure heaven will be like White Sulphur Springs, just with no looming threat of school!

Week of Appointments and a Ceremony

I had the best of intentions of taking some pictures to put in this post . . . but it didn't happen.

• Monday Micah and Drew had well-baby appointments.  Technically Micah turned 3 on April 9, and Drew turned 18 months on May 30, so let's just say I wasn't early with these, LOL.  They were another thing I had all summer to do, just like the tea party!  Fortunately I was able to get 2 appointments together before September.  It was very good to get that out of the way!  Both boys are healthy.  Micah is really big for someone in our family--84th percentile for height and weight.  We NEVER see those numbers!  Micah is also still remarkably uncooperative.  He started fussing as soon as we went back to get weighed and whatnot.  The tech said, "I haven't even done anything yet!"  Yes, well . . . that's our charming Micah.  He did NOT get a lollipop at the end, LOL.  Drew was in contrast very cooperative, so that was good.  He's also bigger than average for us--the 44th percentile.  Fortunately, Drew was the only one who needed shots.  He wasn't happy about getting them, but it was a lot less stressful than if it had been Micah, I'm sure.  Grace tagged along as the designated big person helper, and she did a great job.
• Wednesday I had another OB appointment, followed by my first non-stress test.  The appointment went well.  I saw yet a different doctor, and this one was quite unconcerned about how my fasting numbers are once again hovering right over the cut-off of 95.  It just underscores how different each doctor's assessment of "reasonable risk" is, because I think the doctor I saw last week would have already put me on pills at night.  I'm expecting that at next week's appointment, though.  The non-stress test was fine, although it took longer than it could have, since the baby always sleeps in the morning (after being wide awake all night long, dancing on my bladder).  Finally it was time for my mid-morning snack, and she eventually woke up enough for her to move and have her heartrate go up and do what it needed to do.  The only bad thing is that I have to go back not once, but TWICE a week for these crazy things.  I do not envision having a very productive month of schooling with the girls, with all these trips to Bethesda looming each week.  Less than 4 weeks to go . . .
• Yesterday I had another chiropractor appointment, and then Nathan and I drove out to a centrally-located high school for our county for his driver's licensing ceremony.  Virginia is apparently the only state which does not just give the teens their actual driver's licence once they finish all the requirements.  Instead, they get a piece of paper saying they can drive, which is valid along with their learner's permit, until they go to this ceremony and get their actual license.  Nathan got the letter back in the end of May, but he was scheduled for a ceremony in June, while he was at PJOC.  So I had to call to get him a different date.  We had sort of assumed there would maybe be 50 people there or something, but when we drove up to the high school, the parking lot was full like there was a home football game or something, and there was a solid mass of people lined up starting at the door and wrapping around the building.  We joined the throng of teens and parents, and waited outside for 15 minutes to file inside.  I was melting, but really it could have been hotter.  Thankfully I didn't have to desperately pee or anything!  Inside the auditorium, a judge talked for a bit, and then the county prosecutor, and then the judge came back up for awhile.  What they said was actually quite good and sobering, about the privilege of driving, and how devastating it is if you are the one who harms or kills someone else because of bad decisions.  It was more than just the standard "you're going to die because you are a risky teenage driver" spiel.  Also the judge really stressed how the parent is the one who determines who can drive, and if they ever feel like the teen is not living up to whatever standards they have decided on, even attitude-wise or chore-wise, then it is the responsibility of the parents to take away the license.  After about 45 minutes of talking, the deputies started dismissing the auditorium 2 rows at a time to go to the back, where there were 4 tables set up, divided alphabetically.  There you waited in line, and eventually the clerk handed the parent the license after the teen turned in their learner's permit and piece of paper.  It all took approximately forever, and then we had to wait for awhile to be able to get out of the parking lot!  It was good and all, but the thought of having to do that 9 more times is rather unsettling.  We saw several families we knew, and we sat behind one lady.  Her youngest (out of 8, I believe)  is the same age as Nathan, and he and Jake were in TNT together.  So now she is all done, whereas I am just starting . . .
• And speaking of starting, this morning, Bob took Luke to the DMV at the Pentagon to take his learner's permit test, which he passed with flying colors, not missing any questions.  So it all begins again--first the parking lot, then the neighborhood, then the rest of D.C.! 

Tea Party!

Anna, Grace, and Faith hosted a tea party this afternoon for 9 of their friends!  They have been wanting to do this for approximately forever.  Two summers ago during Grandma/Grandpa camp, Anna, Grace, and their cousin Emily had a tea party at a little tea room in Ohio with Grandma and Aunt Claire.  They had an absolutely wonderful time, but I think the place closed, since they haven't been back.

Well, sometime this winter, Anna and Grace started talking about having a tea party here.  I told them we'd have plenty of time to do it during the summer.  The girls made the guest list and planned various food delicacies to make, while I kept waiting for all the time we'd have in the summer.

About 2 weeks ago I realized that the summer was almost over, I'd be having the baby soon, and if we didn't get this tea party going, it would be hanging over my head for another year!  So I sent out invitations right then to make sure it actually happened, LOL.

The girls were over-the-moon excited!  We made a trip to Party City to buy plates, napkins, cups, and decorations!  I glanced at a few pinterest-inspired blogs, but I was simply not up to trawling thrift stores to buy real tea cups and saucers for each girl, making my own decorations, figuring out elaborate crafts and creative games, etc.

We did, however, make all of our own food!  Anna really wanted strawberry tarts, so I found a recipe on Taste of Home that sounded good.  It was for one big tart, but I knew we wanted individual ones.  It also used a pie crust, but I found these little phyllo cups in the frozen section at Wegmans, and hey, that was just a lot easier than me making a ton of little pie crust tarts.  I made a test batch of 12 on Sunday, and they were a big hit, so I made 36 for the party (and for the boys to have some down in the basement, where they were banished).  There is a thin layer of chocolate on the crust, then a custard-y layer, then the strawberries, which are brushed with current jelly.  Delicious!

I also made little turkey/cheese sandwiches, in an attempt to have a tiny bit of protein in the middle of all these carbs.  You can't see very well, but they are in the shapes of crowns and castles.  I had these cookie cutters in those shapes that I had bought several years ago because I was going to do something with them for one of the girl's birthdays.  I never used them then, but they were perfect for the sandwiches today!

We also made chocolate-covered strawberries, and chocolate-covered pretzels (to use up the remaining chocolate after we finished with the strawberries).  Those were very popular!  I dipped 2 pounds of strawberries, and we only had a few left.  And therein lies the difference between boy parties and girl parties--a boy party would have most certainly had no chocolate-covered strawberries left!  Probably nothing else either, LOL.

I also made some little loaves of banana bread, and lemon bars.  I overcooked the lemon bars a bit--I totally didn't trust the recipe when it said they would firm up after cooling!

We bought little tiara combs for all the girls, as well as rings and lip gloss.  When the girls came, they decorated these door hangers with stickers and foam markers because, well, it was a non-messy craft that didn't require any help or prep from me.  What can I say?  I am not crafty on a good day, much less at 35 weeks pregnant!

The girls also decorated their plastic "tea" cups with stickers and sharpies.  Then they ate.  We had a choice of raspberry iced tea or lemonade--I just couldn't stomach the thought of a hot beverage the end of August!  Everyone was so polite and quiet--another difference between a boy and girl party.  Then they went off and played.  I got Bruno the Bunny out so everyone could see and pet him (consensus:  softest bunny ever!).  Some girls played in the playroom with the dollhouse.  Others dressed up.  Some went outside. Eventually everyone ended up outside bouncing on the trampoline.  I had told the boys beforehand, "Oh, no one will go on the trampoline because they'll all be in their pretty party dresses", but that didn't stop anyone!

And all-too-soon, the parents were coming back.  The girls had a good time, and it was not too hard of a party, so I'm sure we'll have another one sometime!  We don't do individual birthday parties because we would just have too many.  A few years ago, we used to have one big non-birthday party a year in the summer for all our friends.  We had a medieval feast, a Revolutionary War party, and an Olympic party.  But then . . . we just had too many little kids, and I couldn't do it anymore.  Now we still have a ton of littles, but maybe we'll start up the yearly tradition again for the girls.  We'll see how I feel next summer . . . LOL.