And then there were 5

Alright people: here's the birth story!!

***if you do not want the details just skip below the green text :)***

On Sunday afternoon, April 7th, my contractions were sporadically coming 6-10 minutes apart. I was frustrated. I'd been in early labor for days and it seemed like this baby just wouldn't come! Out of pure desperation, we decided to try Castor oil. I only did half the usual suggested dose, thinking it might just speed things up a little. Well... it did. Gabriel James was born 3 1/2 hours later. :) I wanted to make sure my contractions were really going somewhere before I called the midwife, and before I knew it things were speeding up so quickly I almost didn't make it to the birth center! 

Things went rather well during the car ride over to Nativiti, but as soon as I stepped foot out of the car, something changed. I could tell I had entered transition. Sure enough, when they finally got me in the building to check me, I was dilated 8 centimeters. The midwife told me though he was not face up- his head was turned slightly. "Aw man..." I thought, remembering how difficult my labor with Ben was when I had a similar problem. But, the midwife assured me he was coming so fast it probably wasn't going to matter. 

She was right. We were only at the center an hour and a half before Gabe made his appearance. Pushing was pretty difficult with Gabe, but at least it didn't last long: 10 minutes. And no tear!!! (Yay for that!) Nick is actually to thank for that. He was an amazing assistant to my midwife and even helped get the umbilical cord untangled from around the baby's neck. Gabriel was 9 lbs 3 oz, 22 inches long. (My largest, longest baby thus far :) Looking back, I think my labor was slow to get going because Gabe's head needed to turn. I rushed things along with the Castor oil and I sort of regret doing so, because I probably could have put the baby in distress with the whole cord issue. But, I'm just thanking God for being so merciful and allowing Gabe and I to have a safe delivery.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Baby Gabe has been here for over 5 weeks now, and things are just about back to "normal". Oh, who am I kidding? Not really. But there is a new normal for us with his arrival and we've settled into that. We've even been to the mall twice (just me and the 3 kiddos)... so I'm pretty proud of myself ;-) I've really enjoyed getting out of the house lately.

To be honest, it's not as hard of a transition for me as the other 2 were. Things do take a little more planning though.

When the kids wanted to ride the carousel at the mall I put the baby in the sling, grabbed my diaper bag and marched the kids through line with their tokens. When we got on, Ben wanted to ride the cat which was too high for me to lift him onto with baby in tow (I tried and failed), so the man in front of us offered to help. "Sure! Thanks so much!" I told him. But, as soon as the gentleman tried to lift him, Benjamin fell to the ground, did an army crawl through the man's legs and leaped a "safe" distance away from the stranger. Chuckling, the man tried to convince Ben he was harmless and even though I explained what we were trying to do, Benjamin continued to shake his head with a frightened look in his eyes & dart away from the guy when he approached. I was laughing so hard I gave up, told the man thank you and ushered Ben to a different animal. "At least you know if anyone tries to kidnap him, he's gonna put up quite a fight!" the man shouted in my direction. I just rolled my eyes and laughed at how helpless I must have looked up there all by myself with the 3 kids. That's okay though. It's a bit of a challenge- but very rewarding :)

Here's one of the changes we've made to make life easier with our new addition:

When we moved Ben's car seat to the back row of our Suburban to make room for the baby, we found we were having a difficult time leaning over Addy to buckle Ben in. It was crowded, so we decided to remove one of our middle seats.

It's 100% better! Now, the kids and I (with baby carrier in hand) can all enter one side together. (Much safer when Nick's not with us.) And I have room to do diaper changes... etc. right on the floor. It has delayed my "ich" to go trade in for a van.... for now :) I know that vehicle will be inevitable for us one day! 

Here are a few pictures of what else we've done since Gabriel's birth:

Chip and Dale birthday party for Ben and Addy at my parent's house...

we had a hay ride...

The kids got bikes as their presents from us...

And everybody surprised me by bringing diapers and gifts for the new baby at the birthday party :-)

THEN... later in the month we had a BEACH DAY in Galveston

(and had lunch at Mosquito cafe- a must try if you are looking for a non-seafood place to eat down there!! I found it on some top 10 lists and decided to try it. DON'T leave without trying their famous "Lemonade Cake"!!!)

As you can see, we've just been enjoying life lately. I of course have no projects to show you... I'm not THAT back to normal yet- ha!

Here's the fam on Mother's Day

(first picture of all of us together)

Well, that's about it for now! Hope you enjoyed!