Welcome, baby Shedd #3!

 I have severely neglected my blog, and keep having so much to write that it overwhelms me so that I don't take the time to make a post.  

Well, I have no excuses today because it is only 5AM, and the thunderstorms outside are so intense that there's no way I'll be going back to sleep.  May as well catch you all up on my life happenings!

First and foremost, a sweet little girl joined our family May 21st at 11:35PM.  Eliza Beth came roughly two weeks before her due date, and the birth went smoothly with no complications.  I was able to again, do a water birth, at home, and that was very nice.  

The friday that she was born, I mowed the lawn, shoveled and spread mulch for the church flower beds, and then prepared that afternoon for a visit from our friends who live in VT.  Made some peach cobbler, cleaned the house quickly, and made the meal, and then our friends arrived.  As soon as we sat down to eat at 7PM (we were running a little behind schedule), I began having contractions.  Thinking they were just the normal braxton hicks, I just kept eating.  When we finished eating around 7:45, Dan suggested we take a walk down the road to the waterfall which is roughly a 2 mile walk.  I suggested to him that we rather drive.  We got in the truck and our friends rode in the truck bed, so I called the midwife on the way there and let her know I might be in labor and we made plans for me to call her back after the girls were in bed at 9.  

When we hiked down to the waterfall, I knew these contractions were real, and not going away.  We enjoyed the water for a few minutes.  I didn't want to tell our friends since they were our guests and plus I thought it'd be odd.  When we all got back to the truck, we piled in, and then I called the midwife back on our way home and told her that I thought she'd better come right away.  

When we got home, we ate some peach cobbler and ice cream and then I broke the news to our friends that I was likely going to have the baby in a few hours.  They were already planning to leave soon by then, but they said quick goodbyes and left for home.  I read the girls their nighttime stories and then helped them brush their teeth before bedtime.  By the time the midwife and assistants arrived, the girls were in bed, dishes were washed, and it was just sitting around for what felt like forever, waiting for things to really really intensify.  They did, fairly quickly, and Eliza was born at 11:35pm.  My wish was that she'd come before midnight because I was hoping to not have to labor into what would feel like the "next day".  

She was our littlest baby at 6 lbs 13 oz.

The girls were very excited the following morning to wake up and meet their little sister.  

Right now, life seems to revolve around changing diapers and feeding the baby.  Eliza does quite well at nights, for which I'm very grateful.  

So that is my biggest news piece.  I'm very thankful that she came early, and didn't make us wait until June.  

I'll probably split the rest of my "news" up into a separate post so that this one isn't so much like a book to read.   

As always, I hope you all are doing well and I hope you enjoyed reading about our newest little Shedd!

A new Shedd Addition.

When I ended my last post on this blog, I genuinely thought I would be posting more about the garden, our life here in NY and not focusing on the baby. 

Time sort of got away from me though and I never had a chance to post about the garden. 

Our baby arrived on May 15th, 2018 at 8:29am. 

 

I really was starting to think that I would go past my due date, so I was trying quite hard to not focus on the pregnancy anymore.  One of the staff ladies at the nursing home ministry we lead each week predicted that the baby would arrive on Mothers Day, so part of me was ready just in case.  But the day came and went. 

Monday I decided that I was going to get a lot done.  I cleaned the entire house and helped Dan plant out in the garden.  We also went out to eat that day at Golden Corral.  My mother had given us a gift card to GC for our anniversary, and so we were using it before the baby came.  While I was sitting there enjoying their fried chicken and mashed potatoes (which I could eat all day), I remembered that an old wives tale I've heard said that eating pineapple brings on labor.  So for dessert, instead of getting a huge ice cream cone with all the toppings, I got a big plate of pineapple chunks and ate them.  That evening after getting home, we cleaned out the garage (quite a task, to say the least). 

 

That night at 10:30, I felt my first contraction (though I didn't really know what a contraction felt like, so it was a guess).  I waited for about 45 minutes and called my midwife.  She suggested I try to get some sleep and call her back if they didn't subside but got more intense.  I finally called her back at 2:30am to let her know that they had intensified and that I couldn't sleep through them or between them.  She and the other midwife headed to our house at that time.  By the time they arrived, Dan had the pool blown up, the bed made, and coffee brewing :) 

 

The next three hours I just slept between contractions, and was in the birth pool most of the time. 

 

 The labor got intense at about 7am.  I have never been one who is very tolerant of pain, so the pain level was what I worried about the most throughout my pregnancy. 

When my contractions began at 10:30pm, I told Dan "If this is what giving birth is, I don't know why women complain.  It doesn't feel all that bad; only slightly uncomfortable." 

 

By 7am, I retracted that statement.  :)

Giving birth was by far the most pain I've ever experienced in my life.  Finally, after what felt like days, little Gwendolyn Jayne was born at 8:29. 

I mostly was in a hazy state of mind, but I remember Dan "catching" her and saying "It's a GIRL!"

 

And I remember my midwives putting her up on my chest and myself saying "She's so slimy!"

It wasn't quite how I expected it.   

 

Gwendolyn weighed in at 8 lbs exactly and was 21 inches long. 

 

 

After resting for about two hours, my midwife escorted us to the hospital, where I had to go to have stitches.  I've never been admitted into a hospital except for when I was born, so I was quite nervous.  We weren't expecting to have to go to the hospital, but because my tears were so severe, my midwife thought it best. 

I have to say though, I had such a positive experience at this particular hospital.  The nurses and doctor were SO kind and friendly and funny.  They were talkative and kept my mind off of the stitches. 

Dan took this photo while he and Gwendolyn were waiting for the procedure to be done. 

 

After it was done, we started driving home and actually got stopped by the police on the northway.  We were informed that Dan was following the Ford Focus in front of us too closely.  The police officer saw me sitting in the backseat with Gwen and said "Ahh, a new baby.  How old?" 

Dan explained that Gwen was just five hours old and that we were just coming back from the hospital.  After checking Dan's license, the officer came back and said that he just couldn't stand to give a new mother and baby a ticket so he warned us to not follow cars closely (we really weren't even that close) and wished us good luck. 

Of course we were very grateful to not get a ticket.  The whole situation was sort of embarrassing though since two cars actually pulled us over. 

 

As you can see, Gwendolyn was not amused.

 

Life with a new baby has been interesting.  We are all adjusting to the newborn schedule. 

 

Dan enjoys being a father.  :)

 

And of course, we are just completely in love with our little Gwendolyn Jayne. 

 

 

I promise, the next post WILL be about other things than just the baby.  Although...I'm sure it might have SOME pictures of her in it.  Forgive me if I overdo on the pictures.  Being my first baby, I've been going a little crazy with snapping photos.  She's too cute and will only be an infant once.