Gideon's Birth Story

Well..... Maybe I can get the whole story written out.
So.... Let me go to a week before Gideon was born.
At my 39-week check up (on a Wednesday), my doctor did the invasive check, and pronounced me 2-3 cm dilated.  She knew how quickly my labor went the last two times, and told me she would probably see me in the hospital by Friday.
Of course this brought on a frenzy of oh-crap-I'm-not-ready cleaning and organizing. Friday came and went.  I felt like things were ready.  Saturday came and went.  And Sunday.....
Saturday night we were supposed to get a snow storm.  Originally they were predicting 1-2 inches.  We went ahead and sent the kids to Paul's parents' house for the night.  We didn't want to have to deal with them trying to come in on slick roads in the middle of the night when we were needing to get to the hospital in a hurry.  It turns out we barely even got dusted, but at least we had thought about it.
Then Sunday night we got ice.  We didn't even know it was supposed to do anything, until Paul went out to start his truck to go to Bible study, and nearly busted his backside on the deck.  So we figured we'd definitely have to go to the hospital that night.
I had been having contractions all weekend, but nothing hard, and nothing consistent.  In fact, the only what I would call "real" getting-down-to-business contraction was one in the middle of the night on Sunday night.  Still, we had Paul's parents keep the kids, just in case.
But Monday came, and still nothing.  We had a checkup that morning, and when my doctor checked me, she said I was almost 5 cm.  (That's halfway to fully dilated, for those of you unfamiliar with the birthing technicalities.)  She had been so sure she'd see me over the weekend, that she'd called the hospital on Friday to have my file ready. She offered to have me come in that night and break my waters to get things started.  I could tell she was very uneasy sending me home.  She asked me how far away from the hospital we live, and she even gave Paul tips if he had to deliver a baby!  She said, "I don't want to push you into anything, but I just don't want you to not make it in!"
So this was decision time for Paul and I.  I did not want to be induced again.  Granted, Nathan was my first, but I felt like his labor was my hardest and most uncomfortable.  Simply breaking the waters should be all it took, but if it didn't, they would have to use drugs, and that's what I was wanting to avoid.  We told her we'd talk about it and call her that afternoon.  (I didn't want to have the discussion in front of her in her office.)
Since we didn't have kids for two days, we had actively engaged in the fun ways you can naturally induce labor, several times.  (Google it if you can't figure it out.)  And when Dr. Sinclair sent us out, that's exactly what she suggested we go home and do.  (Again.)  In fact, she even (jokingly) offered to send everyone to lunch so Paul could "administer prostaglandins" there in the exam room.  We didn't follow her advice, but instead went to WalMart to walk around.  It was 20 degrees and windy, and I felt like if I could go for a brisk walk (which I wasn't going to do outside), it might stimulate something.
So we walked around WalMart and Orscheln and picked up a few Christmas gifts.  I definitely had several contractions, so we went home about 3 o'clock and I sat on the couch to monitor things while Paul went outside to hang Christmas lights.
Within the first half hour, I'd had 4 contractions.  I went outisde to tell Paul that as soon as he was done, we'd probably be heading to the hospital.  The contractions were definitely regular, but not take-my-breath-away strong, but I figured things were starting, so we might well head in.  We had nothing better to do.
We got to the hospital about 4, and the nurses pronounced me at a 6, and that Dr. Sinclair would be coming in as soon as she finished with her patients.  She got there about 5:15 and did go ahead and break my waters.  (With the other 3, they did't do that until the final stages, just as I was about to push.)  Once she did that, the contractions definitely got super hard and close together.  My doctor knew it wouldn't take long.  She said all she did was go put on her boots and then she sat at the nurses station doing paperwork until they told her I was ready.
I kept feeling like I had to pee, so the nurse helped me go to the bathroom.  After I got back to the bed, it was only like 3 more contractions.  During a really hard one, I told the nurse, "I can feel the head coming down!"  You should have seen them scurry!
My contractions by this time were so close and hard that I couldn't get into position on the bed.  (I had to scoot down and put my feet up.)  Paul and the nurse finally got me into place, I had the doctor remind me of how to push (you'd think by the fourth time around, I'd kind of know the routine...)  So the next contraction, I kind of half-heartedly, I'm-not-sure-I-can-do-this pushed.....  And - WHAT WAS THAT????
"Is that the baby??"  I asked Paul.
He looked down with surprise.  "That's the baby!"
I heard Dr. Sinclair suctioning out the nose, and then she told me to push again.  I gave another wimpy push and Paul said, "It's another boy!"
A nurse had come in to ask the doctor a question, and I heard her from the doorway, "No way!"  She couldn't believe how quickly it had gone, and neither could I!  I guess when your body is ready, whether you are mentally ready or not, your body will do it anyways.  This was the only baby I hadn't broken blood vessels in my face from the strain of pushing.  I told people, "He pretty much just fell out."  And it's practically true!  I really feel like I didn't do anything to bring him into the world.
So the name.....
We had a time with choosing a name for this one.  I'd suggest something, and Paul would be like, "Meh."  Or he'd suggest something, and I'd say, "Meh."  We kind of had settled on a girl's name, but then I realized we had an acquaintance with a daughter of the same name (not a huge deal, but I like unique girl's names).  Then I remembered another one, that had been my second choice to Zadie.  But Paul wasn't hot on it.  Boys names were all over the place.  We knew we wanted to use the middle name Robert, after my dad, and found a name we both liked.  But when paired with Robert, was the first and last name of someone neither of us cared to name a kid after.  (Someone we grew up with.)
Then.... The boys started studying Gideon in Sunday school.  It wasn't a name I had really considered before.  I kind of liked it.  It sounded good with Robert.  Paul and I finally had a sit down to talk about names.  He started out, "What about Gideon?"  Ding!  Gideon it was.
Until the day before he was born, and Paul throws out, "What about Joel?"  I really liked Joel, too.  GAH!  But I already interchange Nathan and Jacob, because of the long a sound, I was worried about Jacob and Joel.  We had the laptop out in the delivery room while I was laboring, looking up name meanings and trying to decide.  Finally, I told Paul, "Let's wait to see if it's a boy or girl, and that will narrow our choices by 50%."
Then comes the moment of truth.  The nurses asked, "What's his name?"
Paul looked at me.  I paused, and then pronounced:  "It's Gideon."

And as it turns out, I interchange Zadie and Gideon.  They share a d.  Multiple times I have already have used the name "Zideon."
Gideon has given us the hardest time of the four when it comes to night times.  The first several nights Paul and I had to take shifts.  Gideon would sleep - only if he was in someone's arms.  And he also would not nurse at night.  I can not figure that one out.  He would take a pacifier, but even though I could hear his little tummy growling, he would refuse to latch on.  So he got a bottle during the night for the first week.  (Formula the first two nights til my milk came in and I could pump.)
The nursing is going better the last week. Night time seems to be better.  He's been sleeping a stretch in his bassinet, long enough for me to get some sleep in bed, and where I don't need Paul to get up and take over.  I'm looking forward to establishing an actual schedule.
The kids are totally in love with their brother - even Zadie!  We were definitely worried about her princess complex.  But she wants to hold him all the time and is constantly petting on him.  In fact, all the kids want to hold him at least once a day.  Nathan is already planning all the things he is going to teach him to do.
Paul has been awesome.  Not that he hasn't been for the other 3, but I really have noticed and appreciated all his help.  I didn't clean the kitchen once in the two weeks he was off.  He went back to work last weekend, and things went pretty well.  I think we're settling in to our new normal.
There are probably details that I have left out, but considering I started this post 10 days ago, I really should get it put up.  It's not like there won't be other chances to write.......

Gideon Robert Rhodes

We have another boy!
Gideon Robert was born last Monday, December 9, at 5:43 PM.  7 lbs 5 oz, and 20.5 inches of perfection.  We're all quite in love with him.

I'll post later with all the lovely details that I'm sure you're all dying to know.  But for now, I figured, he's almost a week old - I need to put something up!

Yes, I'm Nesting.

But does nesting apply to blogging?  What is this - the 6th entry tonight?
The nesting started with clearing out the card table full of boxes photographs that's been in the corner of our bedroom for two years - yes, TWO YEARS - with the intent that I would sort the photos before Zadie arrived.  We see how that went.  But I found some to share with you all!
So that's gone.  The photos are in a tote in the attic closet.  That type of project is for someday when I don't have children of the leg-climbing age.  And it's amazing how big our bedroom looks now.....
But in general, I'm trying to stay on top of the housework.  Two and a half weeks left!  Oh my goodness.  I have been keeping the kitchen pretty good this week.  Laundry is almost caught up (minus the baby items I have yet to dig out).  But I still haven't quite found the motivation to pull all the chairs out from the table and sweep every day.  It needs it 3 times a day.  How long til the boys can do that?
I have, however, taught them to do this:

 It's pretty nice to sit on the couch and merely dictate the entire cleaning of the living room.

And then there's this one from September:

Welcome to Rachel's sweat shop.  

There were 10 gallons of plums to pit.  They wanted to help!

We still haven't decided on names.  I had some that I liked, but they weren't doing anything for Paul.  We sat on the couch last night and talked about it.  We may have a boy's name!  We'll see.  As always, it's subject to change when it involves me. :)   Or when it involves Jacob.  His latest suggestions have been "Noodle" and "Muffler."
I had my first end-of-term "invasive" check up this week.  Not close in that area.  Although that can change quickly, as anyone knows.  I don't really feel that close, so I'm thinking my due date is right.  I did, however, get the new phone extensions for Paul's work, just in case I have to call him home from work.  As it stands now, he starts vacation two days before my due date.  That's been fine for the other 3, but I'm half expecting this one to do something completely unexpected.
Well, I really should get to bed.  Blogging is such a time suck!  But, unlike Facebook, at least there's something for you all to enjoy for my time spent on here. :)

The Wonderful Zadie of Oz

My sister-in-law found the "ruby slippers" when Zadie was tiny.  So I had to have a Dorothy dress to go with them!  My sister made this dress for her younger daughter, and I was thrilled that both the shoes and the dress fit at the same time!
So of course, we had to take professional pictures......

With the "Cowardly Lion."

Classic Zadie face.

My personal favorite.

Back to this one.... Does anyone else see a bit of Eichenberger here?  Like JC or Carlsie's baby pictures?

Photos by my sister, Lurenda Walter.

http://www.lurendawalterphotography.blogspot.com/

Homeschooling Brilliance: Teaching the Alphabet

Sometimes I have moments of sheer genius.
Actually, I should probably give credit to a friend from church, who forwarded me an email about how to encourage a reluctant learner.  The email was meant for me in dealing with Nathan, but one idea, playing games, actually got applied to Jacob.
Nathan and Jacob have different learning styles.  Nathan is pretty factual, but Jacob enjoys the creative side.  Nathan seemed to pick up on the alphabet pretty easy, whereas Jacob was getting confused with all the different letters I was presenting him.  (We're on week 6 of school, and the letter "K" if that gives you an idea of how quickly this curriculum introduces them.)  Then again, I had a lot more time to focus on making sure Nathan got to go over it several times and several ways each day.
Our curriculum, Answers for Preschoolers, comes with flashcards templates.  I already had them made from going through it with Nathan.  When we had about 5 letters, I played a type of memory game, where I turned them all face down and asked Jacob to find random letters.  He loved it.  Then I realized I could copy off the back of the templates and play memory for real.  This was okay to do when you had 5 letters.  However, full-size flashcards when you have 10 pairs takes up a bit of table space.  So we kind of quit playing that game, and started playing Go Fish with the flashcards.

This is supposed to be the front and back of a single flashcard, but I copied them separately onto the card stock, so we have "pairs" for each letter.

 Then I got the genius idea to make memory cards.  Actually, it was quite simple - even for me! - to set it up on Excel.  I expanded the cell height and width, formatted it to print the grid lines, and then typed out a capital and lowercase letter of each.  Print it out on card stock, cut them out on the lines, and - voila!

There is a slight problem, as d, b, p, and q all look very similar if you don't know which side is up or down. I had to put lines under the letters to distinguish.  Also a problem I didn't think about was that in this font, some letters (like a and g) aren't manuscript style, and he gets confused. 

Jacob loves playing games, and he went from obvious guessing on the flashcards, to confidently calling out the names of letters as he turns them over or draws them.  (I make him tell me the letters in his hand during Go Fish. If Nathan plays with us, I make him tell me the sounds the letters make.)  Using the games is great motivator to get him to the table, or to get him to finish his workbook quickly.  And I enjoy him being excited about doing school and learning!

Blast From the Past

Aren't they cute?  

(I forgot to check the date on the back.... I'm guessing around 1990?)

I've always thought Jacob looks like me.  Or more accurately, like my Dad.  But then I ran across this picture.  Paul's smile looks exactly like Jacob's!

Blast From the Past

Tuffy.

What a dog.