time to go home, Sam

These are from October 10, 2012 on the day we took Sam home from the hospital.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 We're home!

Sam's 1st Visitors

A little overdue but I wanted to take a moment to remember all of Sam's special hospital visitors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Zoey's been up to lately!

Learning to ride her bike without training wheels!!!

 

 

 Feeding her baby brother a bottle!!!

 

 

Zoey's 1st dance recital

(click on the link...it wouldn't let me add the video)

 

 

Maggie has A LOT to say!!!

 

A little bit of Ruby

Sam's Birth Story...one month ago today!

One of my favorite things to do is blog about each of our kiddo's birth story. It's mostly for me so I can go back and re-read about each special day but I also love for our friends and family to be able to read about it, too. It's never taken me this long to bust out the birth story. What's the deal? The poor kid is a month old today. Oh, I know what it is...I'm a mom of four kids and I have no extra time. I gave up a shower to write this. :)  So, here we go!

 

I woke up about 3:30am on Monday, October 8th with some contractions. I drank some water, walked around the house and started some laundry. I kept track of the contractions for a couple of hours but they weren't very strong...I was still able to talk through them. They got a bit stronger so I decided to wake up Dave about 5:30am and he started packing and getting ready for his day. Then the contractions spaced out and I laid down to rest for a while. They picked up again around 6:30am and that's when I gave my sister a call and asked her to come on over. If you recall from my last post, we had some fabulous friends come and stay with us over the weekend because my mom was out of town and I wanted some reinforcements in case I went into labor while she was away. The only tricky part was that they had to leave Sunday afternoon and my mom didn't fly home until Monday night. So, my sister was on call to watch our girls during that time. And, of course, it just so happened that this baby decided to come during that small window of time.

 

My wonderful sister, Erika, arrived around 7am and even though my contractions weren't super consistent we decided to head to the hospital just to be safe. My last labor went crazy fast and I didn't want to deliver this baby in the car.

 

We arrived at the hospital at 8am and I was trying to talk Dave into waiting a bit before we heading through the double doors to get checked in. By this point my contractions had slowed way down and I did NOT want to sit around in a hospital room all day waiting for labor to get going. So after stalling for half an hour, we decided to go in and at least see how far along I was.

 

At 8:30am they led me to an Observation Room. I was so disappointed. With my three previous babies, it had been so clear that I was in labor I went straight to a delivery room. I felt deflated and embarrassed that we had even shown up at the hospital. I felt a little better when the nurse checked me and I was 6cm dilated and 90% effaced. They moved me to a delivery room and got me all checked in.

 

And then we waited.

 

I should mention that we asked a great friend of ours, Sarah, to be with us during the delivery. She hung out with us, took pictures and videos and wrote down a detailed account of the entire process. It was such a joy to have her be a part of this amazing adventure and I love that I have the whole day documented.

 

For the next 3 hours, or so, I had mild contractions, walked the hallways and asked if I could leave and go labor at home. I'm sure the nurse thought I was a weirdo for wanting to go home. She just looked at me and said that there was no way my midwife, Heather, would let me leave the hospital at 6 cm. Bummer.

 

Heather came to visit me around noon and she offered me a couple of choices. She said she could break my water or give me a little pitocin to get the contractions going. I declined both. She checked me and I was at 8cm!!! Cool!

 

Around 1pm the contractions were becoming more intense and I had to concentrate more on my breathing. I walked around alot, tried different positions and even fell asleep in between contractions.

 

At 3:40pm, Sarah noted that I pulled my hair back into a pony tail. I guess I knew it was go time!!!

 

3:51pm  I yelled out, "I want Heather!!! I want to push!

3:58pm  I had a contraction and yelled, "I'm pushing! Heather, Heather, Heather!"

3:59pm  Heather arrived!!! Yay!!!

4:06pm  Samuel David Cribbs was born.

 

Heather laid our baby on my chest and I said to Dave, "Tell us what it is." He looked, he chuckled and he said, "It's a boy!"

 

 

getting ready to leave for the hospital

 

 

killing time in the hospital parking lot

 

 

that's a big belly

 

just hanging out waiting for things to get going

 

Sarah's perspective...taking great notes

 



he's here!!!

 

 

we have a boy :)

 

 

so in love

 

 

8lbs, 3oz...our second smallest baby

 

 

Samuel David Cribbs

 

 

Heather, you are amazing!!!

 

 

our precious friend, Sarah!!!

 

 

thank you soooo much for being with us

 

 

Dave and his boy

 

 

clean and sparkly

 

our sweet Sam

 

I am so thankful to have had another wonderful, natural delivery. Everything worked out so perfectly. Thank you to Blair and Peyton for staying with us over the weekend...just in case. Thank you to my seester for hanging out with Zoey, Ruby & Maggie all day. Thank you to my dad for killing all the ants. :) Thank you to Sarah for all the pictures, videos, and notes. Thank you to my mom who came straight from the airport to the hospital to meet Sam and then went to our house to take over watching the girls. We are so blessed to be surrounded by the most amazing friends and family.

 

More pictures and stories to come.

And the countdown begins!

I am 36 weeks, 3 days pregnant and I feel like I'm about to explode!!! You see, we had Zoey at 36 weeks, 1 day and I always feel like I'm overdue after that magic day. But the truth is, my babies tend to stay in longer and longer with each pregnancy...Ruby came at 38 weeks, 3 days and Maggie arrived at 38 weeks, 6 days. And they keep getting bigger and bigger. YIKES! Just in case you were wondering...here are some of the questions we get asked regularly.

* When are you due?  
Saturday, October 20th...but I sure hope this baby comes before then. My mom will be out of town October 5th-8th and we have some fabulous friends coming to stay with us during that time just in case. Thank you Blair & Peyton!!! Then I found out today that my midwife will be out of town October 11th-13th. WHAT?!?! I felt like I got the wind knocked out of me when she told me. This poor kid has so many date restrictions. I'm thankful I'm not the one who decides when labor begins. Please pray with us that the timing works out perfectly and no one misses the big day.

* Are you having a boy or girl? 
We don't know. We were surprised with our first three and decided to be surprised this time, too! We've packed take-me-home outfits for both.

* How the heck can you wait to find out? Don't you need to plan?
There are very few surprises left in life and driving to the hospital not knowing if you're bringing home a baby boy or girl is VERY exciting!!! Actually, I'm not a huge fan of surprises but not knowing has actually helped me not be so anxious. We just pull out the tub of newborn neutral clothes and we're set for the first three months!

* Do you think it's a boy or a girl?
I have no idea. I thought each one of my first three pregnancies were boys and I was always wrong. I really don't have a feeling either way. When I picture coming home with a baby I always picture a boy. But, this child is soooo incredibly active, it must be a girl. I can't wait for Dave to get to announce it in the delivery room one last time.

* Is Dave dying for a boy?
A boy would be super-fun but he will be thrilled with four girls. We're planning on four girls and we will truly be so excited with whatever the Lord chooses to bless us with. Dave is such an amazing dad to our girls. He is really good at playing dress-up and baby dolls with the girls but he also loves to build forts, set up tents and do not-so-girly activities with them. And, most importantly, all three girls love football and are already die-hard Steelers fans. :)

* Do you have names picked out?
Yes! We like to go to the hospital with several names for each gender. We're having a trickier time falling in love with a girls name this time around. It may take us a while for one to stick. We've always liked to meet our baby, hang out for a while and see if the name fits. Here are some of our faves...
BOYS: Sam, George, Gus...we like grandpa names
GIRLS: Andie, Charlie, Ellie, Gracie, Lainey, Lottie, Sally, Whitney
Dave's #1 choice is probably Ellie which I get nervous about being too popular. And my #1 choice is Lottie and Dave worries that it's too old fashion and weird. I guess, if it's a girl, we'll just have to see what she looks like. Any other suggestions???

* Are Zoey, Ruby and Maggie excited?
Yes! They are very excited to meet their new sibling. Zoey really wants a brother and Ruby says it's a girl. She's never said she wanted another sister, she just declared that it is a girl. Maggie just lifts up her shirt and points to her belly if you say anything about a new baby. We recently got out all our baby stuff and they were so excited to put together the activity mat and the bouncy seat. We also put the infant car seat in the car over the weekend. So exciting!

* Are you thinking about having more kiddos after this one?
We haven't made any permanent decisions but I think this will be our last one. We would be thrilled if the Lord surprised us with another but I think we are ready to move on to the next stage of life and say farewell to the baby stages. But I am sooooo excited to be able to have one last go around with all things baby. :)

We'll keep you posted. Until then, I leave you with the belly!

36 wks, 1 day