March 25, 2011

Wednesday, the 23rd, we all went to town to do some shopping. I had hopes that getting out and walking a ton would move things along with the pregnancy a bit...this is a pic of me that night (just for you Lacy!).


Thursday, the 24th, I had a doctors appointment. Much to my dismay, I was told the same thing I was told at the previous 2 visits; 1 centimeter, 75% effaced. No progress. Grrr! So, once again, they visited the possibility of induction (BOOO! NOT the way I wanted things to go). I was scheduled for my next appointment on the projected due date, March 29th, and if, by then, I had not made any more progress they wanted to induce labor. Needless to say, I left the office that day feeling a bit discouraged and like I was going to be forever prego! I was beyond impatient and anxious at that point.

Friday, March 25th, I woke up at 8:00 (sleeping in thanks to Eli being on spring break (: ) and noticed some fairly consistent contractions, timed them, and was pleased to be getting them every 5-7 minutes. I called Sandy and told him he should probably come home, then called him back and told him never mind; I couldn't make up my mind if this was it or not! He decided to come home either way. I called my doctor's office and, since my last delivery was so fast, they wanted me to come in to be checked. We left the girls with a friend, just in case. At this point I was still feeling contractions fairly consistently but they were by no means getting worse; I honestly felt pretty good! The doctor gave us the great news of hospital admission! I was 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced, and by 10:30 we were in our labor and delivery room.

When approached with the question of pain management I somehow got the idea that natural was the way to go this time. I still can't explain why, exactly. Maybe it's just how the effect of time can soften a memory so that you don't remember things like pain as much...Sandy tried to gently prod me into an epidural; I learned later that he thought I was nuts and thought I would have a more pleasant experience with some good medication. I stuck to my seemingly coherent thoughts and opted for no medical intrusion. When it came time to push I questioned myself-WHY DID I SAY NO EPIDURAL?! But I was passed the point of no return and in a matter of minutes and with just a few pushes we had our baby. Since we wanted the baby's gender a surprise the doctor kept telling Sandy as he was helping deliver that he wasn't going to announce the gender, that was Sandy's job. It took a few times being told that and Sandy looking, looking again, and then looking one more time to finally get out, "It's a BOY!!!"

Shadrik Sandy Lilya was joyfully welcomed into our family on the 25th of March, 2011, at 1:54 pm measuring 21 1/4 inches and weighed in at 7 pounds 11 ounces on his official records. I word it that way since we initially announced him as 7 pounds 12 ounces; at first that's what everyone was telling us, it turns out he weighed 7 pounds 11.5 ounces (Sandy got that in a photo) so some were rounding up, others rounding down, but "officially" he ended up being an ounce less than we first said.

We keep getting asked where we came up with his name. We've had it ready and waiting since before we had Eliana. Sandy had a mission companion by the name of Shad, we both liked the name and somehow came up with Shadrik, as opposed to the biblical spelling Shadrach, and fell in love with it. It worked well since Sandy had hopes of giving his first boy his initials, S.S.L., and his name as the middle name. Thus came about Shadrik Sandy Lilya.

Grandpa and Grandma Moser picked up the girls and brought them to the hospital; they could hardly wait to meet their baby brother! Here's a few captured moments of that:



Both girls LOVE him and are always asking to hold him. At first, we really had to watch Livi. She has never really been around babies, and being a second child is a bit rough and tough, plus she's just Livi haha! But she's getting much better now and always has a kiss for "baby brudder". Eliana is a little mommy. She already wants to help change diapers (I appease this with the promise of "when he's older...") and is always asking to hold Shad. He's one lucky little man to have such good big sisters who love him SO MUCH!


Sandy is one proud daddy. We were both convinced that girls were it for us so when he saw this one was a boy, well, he could hardly believe it! I asked him if he wished he would have known sooner now, knowing that it was a boy, and he said absolutely not! He said that was one of the best surprises of his life, only tying with his two other surprises. Shadrik has a lot of his features as well, so he just might have a "mini me" on his hands. We're hoping Shad keeps his gorgeous dark head of hair and the adorable little streak of blonde you can see in these pictures (it almost looks like a bald spot or light reflection in the first pic, the second one shows him mad about being on his tummy)-



I have been in absolute heaven! It's still a bit of a surprise for me every time I change his diaper, I'm simply used to girls haha! But this lil man has brought nothing but joy. Balancing time between 3 kids is taking some getting used to, especially with how time consuming babies can be, but we're slowly getting the hang of things and finding a routine that works for us. I find myself doing a lot of nothing, simply sitting with my girls and snuggling or holdin' and lovin' on my lil guy; it's been wonderful and I'm loving every minute!