Abigail's Birth Story
For quite a while ahead of time, we knew this was one big baby. As we got closer, dr was at first worried about it, then one week felt my belly and said she was more confident baby would be in the 9lb range instead of 10- thus no need for induction (yay!). As we got closer and got another scan, the ultrasound showed anywhere from 9lb8oz to 11lbs something but the tech was pretty confident with the 10lb1oz guess. The problem was that the shoulders were measuring bigger than the head, which means that the shoulders could get stuck, which could cause severe issues, worst case scenario would be needing to break the baby's clavical bone to get her out (as she's too far out to push back in for csection) and you won't know if it'll get stuck until we're there... That meant Tyler and I had some big decisions to make. Wait it out and risk it? Try to induce the earlier the better? Go for an elective csection? After some prayer, we decided to give this to God. He knows this baby better than any of us so we prayed that if she wouldn't get stuck, for her to come on her own. If she Would get stuck, for labor NOT to start at all on it's own and we would do an elective csection on that Monday. A song that really came to mind was "Joy" by Rend Collective:
Choosing celebration - not allowing fear to come over this joyous event
We're dancing to the rhythym of your heart - allowing God's timing to reign
The whole song stood out to me, but especially the lyrics above. Trust. Complete trust.
Sure enough, that night, I awoke to much pressure and painless contractions throughout the night. At 6am as I woke up, they were about 10 minutes apart and starting to hurt a little. I wasn't convinced but called in as I'd rather not go into labor at work! I called for coverage and once that was sorted out, contractions had changed to 4 minutes apart. BUT here's what was getting me, every tine I had a contraction, I was convinced I was in labor- no doubt. But then between contractions, I felt 100% normal- no pain, no pressure, nothing. So then I'd doubt I was in labor. Still not sure how fast this was going to kick into gear we called for childcare for the toddlers and got ready to go. Headed into the hospital and it was SO weird! I could talk between contractions, I felt like I was just waiting around for the next one and got bored! Ended up taking a shower at the hospital, still more waiting. I would go from REALLY intense contractions to almost nothing in between and more waiting. By the time I was a 7, I felt the need to lay down between contractions. Then it hit me, I was about to be in active labor. Dr wanted to break my water to help things get moving, but fear set in. I suddenly was terrified that baby girl would get stuck. So scared that my perfectly healthy baby girl was about to go into distress and have issues. Tyler prayed over me and I listened to "joy" again and God filled me with peace again. Called the dr in, let's do this. I don't know how long it was from breaking water to pushing but it wasn't too long. From there it was only 10 minutes total until she was out completely but her shoulders did get a little stuck. With a little change in position and maneuvering by the dr, we got her out safe and sound. All 10 lbs 4 oz of her! And amazingly, the recovery has been the fastest because she did no damage to my body during delivery whereas the others... weren't horrible but it wasn't as pleasant as Abigail.
I cannot tell you the incredible joy I felt to have her in my arms in that moment! Obviously the normal "she's here" but even more so of thanking Jesus for His help and providence through the labor and really the entire pregnancy. And a little bit of "it's over!" too. This labor also made me realize how easy my other labors were. Honestly, I understand the epidural thing after that labor. No, I didn't use it because by the time I would've gotten it, it was practically over but gosh, if you just got the epidural early and laid around watching TV or something... Let's just say I will never judge a woman for choosing that path. Not that I would have judged before, but now I'm almost jealous of it;) My body was completely shot- abs especially- after she was born. Tyler had to push me up/out of bed the first day every time I tried to get up.
Stats: 10 lbs. 4 oz. 21" long. Head and Shoulders both 14"
Will post more pictures on facebook when I get them all together.
Name: Abigail Marie Abigail means "Father's Joy" and although I had been set on another name for quite a while, after a dream one night, I had no doubt in my mind that Abigail (a name we both liked, but I found another I liked more) was it. I felt like she wasn't to have a name that made her have to feel like she had to live up to anything specific, but instead just know how much she's treasured and loved. And boy is she ever! Marie is a family name on the Vanderpan side that many have so we thought it would be nice to keep it going.
Some things we've learned about Abigail:
-she is a snugglebug. There have been several times where I think she needs to sleep so I wrap her up and hold her and she just snuggles in and looks up with those big blue eyes, content.
-she sometimes sleeps 4 hrs at a time in the rock n play!! Trying to decide how important it is to me to have her in her crib.... I've never had to deal with transition to the crib but man... 4 hrs is nice! And I don't have to worry about her choking on reflux.
-The car doesn't put her to sleep unless she would normally fall asleep. EVEN freeways! She'll stay wide awake just looking at the world around her
-She sometimes purrs like Luke used to
-She often snorts!
Siblings:Katelyn: loves her sister. "She's so cuuuute" and asks many questions. When she was asking about "mommy's milk" she asked me what color it is. I asked her what she thought. "Brown". So according to Katelyn, mommy's make chocolate milk! Kate loves to admire her sister and keeps calling her her "newborn baby sister"
Lucas: protective older brother already "where baby go?" And will go check on her every so often.
The way Lucas says her name kills me it's so cute. Video attached
Both have gotten a bit out of hand in the days since we brought her home. Partially because we're holed up inside, partially because it's hard to stay consistent on discipline. Partially, I'm sure, just because it's an adjustment.
Kate's birthday
We celebrated with a last minute combined party that Tyler and Grandma and Krystle did ALL the planning and decorating for in September. (Mommy was still struggling with sickness in pregnancy at the time and wasn't sure what each day would bring and what she'd be up for). We had a bouncy slide, a playground, cakes, and pizza. Lots of fun! 
Then on Kate's actual birthday we woke up to decorations and balloons and waffle cereal (her favorite). We had pancakes for supper (Minnie Mouse pancakes. Note to self, don't use chocolate cake icing on pancakes... nasty!) Katelyn opened presents including an Ariel shirt, princess high heels, and some dollar store frozen puzzles (which I think so far are her favorite!)
Kate: LOVES puzzles and is becoming increasingly fast at them!
loves to "delegate" how people should play with her.... aka finding her inner older sibling
Favorite color: pink
Favorite food: pb&j
Favorite toy: Ariel
Favorite tv show: Dora the Explorer
Luke's birthday
Is TODAY! We're celebrating with presents (a small train set!) and probably pizza and cupcakes tonight! Grammy and Pop pop are coming today, too which will be a huge celebration as is!Luke: Loves anything his sister does
Why walk/run when you can hop wherever you need to go?
Still wakes up at 6am playing in his room until we let him out an hour later
Plays chase anytime we ask him to "come here"
Loves to be tickled! get some good harty laughs when he does that!
