Posting for Ellie

Ellie wants to share a recent video of her and Nava practicing. There's definite improvement from the last video we posted. She has her first competition this weekend, so please keep her in your prayers. She's pretty nervous.

A Recent Addition

Dear Family,

I'm staring at a round alarm clock. The display reads 11:14, and directly below are the words "Dream Machine." I'm not sure why it's called that. It started beeping incessantly at 7:00 this morning, effectively dispelling any chance I had to dream. Elizabeth told me to turn it off, so I unceremoniously yanked the cord out of the wall.

But the alarm, and the several hours of sleep that preceded it (for me, anyway =) ), weren't all that bad. Nor was our time here in our hospital room last night. A nurse kept popping in to check vitals, bathe the baby, check vitals, take careful notes of income and expenditure, etc. The baby was kind of fussy, but he nursed and would quiet down.

Before that, Elizabeth's labor went quite well--"as I have been informed and believe." Her water broke around 7:35 in the morning, but not in a big rush like I had seen in the movies. Maybe I'll return the four dollar plastic sheet we got from Wal-Mart. We got ready without a rush, and came out to the hospital, arriving around 9:00. Things went pretty slowly, some pitocin was started, after a while some heavy contractions came, and an epidural was administered shortly thereafter. The nurse, or anesthesiologist, or whatever, who gave the drugs to Elizabeth, worked with the skill of an artist. Elizabeth was able to maintain control of her legs throughout labor, but complained of no pain throughout her "transition" (which happened surreptitiously) nor during pushing. We had a great doctor, and several fantastic nurses. The second fantastic nurse, Mary, was coaching Elizabeth through pushing. She would feel around for contractions in Elizabeth's stomach--looking from time to time at a graph the displayed pressure measurements from her tumtum--and then tell her it was time to push. I would hold Elizabeth's neck in one hand, and push on her foot to get her knee near her chest, while she grabbed her other knee. She would take a deep breath, push for ten seconds, then repeat 2-4 times for each contraction. In between the contractions, we were able to talk about the experience, and she was doing great. She did not scream. She got a tad moist from sweat. She took about 1.5 hours to push him out. She was a champ!

That's pretty much all I feel like writing at the moment. He was 20 inches long, 7lb, 5oz. His hair color is hard to tell. It's curlyish-straightish, blondish-brownish-reddish color.

Daddy's Shoes, Mommy's Shoes

Hello!

Dear Family,

Here is an old old photo, 4 years to be exact. Little D was such a cute little baldy.

As I sit here and nurse Edward while typing with one hand, I am thinking about how I can make time for each of my children today and everyday. Any good ideas, please share!

Love, Heather

Haven't Posted in a While

So I thought I would share a cute picture of Andre:




Paul is at the pool right now with the big boys and Andre just woke up from his nap and is having a snack of honey dew melon.

How are all you guys doing? Please feel free to share what is going on in your lives, even if you think it's not that exciting. But actually, I know there is a lot of exciting things going on with all of you. It was really cool to see the 3D sonogram of Elizabeth and Tristan's baby, and to hear that he might be here sooner than later. By the way Tristan, make sure you read Husband Coached Childbirth by Dr. Bradley before that baby comes!

We are all excited and gearing up for a visit from Mom, Mary & Anna next week. They are arriving late Thursday evening, July 21st and will leave on Sunday, July 31st. We are SO excited to see them. Mary will be attending a Pure Fashion camp during the following week and Dominic will also be attending a camp Monday through Wednesday, so we will be doing a lot of driving. But it will be tons of fun to just have them here. They don't know but we have lots on the schedule - going to Washington DC to ride the paddle boats by the Jefferson Memorial, driving west to see Luray Caverns, and much more (as long as they are up for it). If not, we spend all our time at the community pool. I will make sure to take Mom to Macy's and have her buy a new bathing suit - like a tankini with a skirt that she feels comfortable in. It's much more fun at the pool when you are excited about your bathing suit!

Anyway, please let everyone know your latest news or thoughts!

Here are some images of you-know-who. The word on the street is that he might be released before the end of the month.

Marian update

Hello everyone, we wanted to post a picture of Maria having fun on her retreat. The retreat is not over, but they posted these as a midweek update. Keep her in your prayers that the rest of the retreat will go well.