Monday, September 19, 2016

The First Weeks

Cuatro is one blessed babe to be born into such a community!  First off, he has rock-star Grandparents who lovingly stepped into our world and took over all of our driving duties so he didn't have to get carted about here and there with the older children.  BMa and Daddy-O came to stay while we were in the hospital and our first few days at home.  While they weren't driving the older children to their various activities, BMa was busy doting on the children and helping with their schoolwork and art projects, while Daddy-O went around fixing all of our broken things (mainly doors and tables).

BMa and Daddy-O left us on Thursday, and then my friend Amy came to swoop away the older children on Friday and take them to a special Homeschool Day at the History Museum.  This allowed Hubry and me to take Cuatro to his first doctor's appointment together without having to bring the other children along.  And, this allowed the older children to play with good friends and practice making new inventions (which they practiced for many days afterwards using all the contents from our recycling bin).

That first weekend home by ourselves the church provided several meals for us, which was a huge blessing, and then on Monday the children started their first day of Masters' Academy.  On Tuesday GranJan and Papa RJ came to dote on the children and take over all of our driving duties.  When they weren't driving the older children to activities, GranJan held the baby and read to the children, while Papa RJ mowed our grass and went around vacuuming up all of our messes.  Did I mention that Cuatro has rock-star grandparents? :)

We are still being provided meals from our church and help from our friends, and Hubry and I have taken many moments to reflect and marvel at the way God has specifically answered our prayers for community in this city.  When we moved to Kennesaw everything about it felt off - the University wasn't exactly the kind of place Hubry had pictured teaching, the suburban living with all of it's new cookie-cutter developments wasn't where we pictured living, and our church situation - though super encouraging - was disjointed at best as it required driving across town into the city every Sunday.   The Lord has either changed our hearts or changed our situation in each of the above complaints,  and He has provided generously for our wants as well as our needs.  Cuatro is testimony to this generosity, and we recognize fully that it is nothing short of gift!
I've got this big sister thing!

Shades of blue

Brotherly love

First day of Masters'Academy

Enjoying a soft changing pad from Lindsey

First bath, and no tears!

September 5th, 2016

The Birth Story of Cuatro
8:48 a.m., September 5, 2016

Wifey and I went to bed early on Sunday night, September 4. She had been tired and often nauseaus even in this third trimester of pregnancy, and we had hosted small group earlier that day. So I made some overnight waffle mix for our Labor Day breakfast, and we were in bed between 9 and 10 o'clock, which is early for us. At about 5 in the morning, Kelly woke me. "That was the fourth time that a hard contraction has woken me up tonight," she said. "I'm wondering if I should stay awake for a bit and time them." She went to the bathroom, and I thought, well, I might as well get ready, just in case it's time to go to the hospital. It's not that early. When she saw me getting ready, she thought, well, maybe I should start getting ready, too. This, it is good to say, was a direct answer to prayer: we had asked that God would let us know when it was time to go, that it wouldn't be too rushed. And he did!

About thirty minutes later, when our bags were pretty much packed, the contractions were literally stopping her in her tracks, and she was pretty confident that it was time. I started calling people to see who could come take care of the children. Wes had to stay with his children because his wife was going into work. Abe didn't answer his phone (we learned later he thought he'd forgotten to turn off his alarm for Labor Day). Nancy didn't answer her phone (we learned later she thought it was a telemarketer). Eric and Teresa didn't answer (we learned later they had been sick and were sleeping in for labor day.) Kelly had another very hard contraction, and we looked at each other. "We need to go," she said. She started writing a note for Songbird to read, and we left my phone by it so she could call us and us her. Some days before, Kelly had it on her heart to go over with the children what to do if they woke up and we were not there, and we had actually practiced using the phone. Another way in which the Lord prepared us for the unknown.

So by 5:45, we were on our way to the hospital, not sure who we could get to take care of the children. We checked in around 6am (another benefit to an early morning labor day delivery: no traffic), making sure that everyone knew just how fast Kelly's deliveries typically are. We got into triage and confirmed that, yes, Cuatro was definitely on his way, and they'd have us in a room shortly. 

When they entered information into the computer system in order to prepare Kelly's intravenous port, the nurse suddenly turned around. "You had an IV here a year ago today," she said. We looked at each other. What had she been in the hospital for? The dilation and curettage in the aftermath of miscarrying our fifth baby, exactly one year to the day that Cuatro would be born. We knew, of course, that Cuatro was a gracious answer to prayer after the sorrow and pain of losing that fifth child. But it seemed extravagant to have his life echo so precisely his little sibling's death. A kind of calendarial expression of Psalm 126, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." 

While we were waiting for a room, I finally got in touch with someone: Amy, who said she was on her way. Later, she told us that when she arrived at the house, Songbird and Bro were already up and had calmly started making waffles. Songbird, as is her custom, had arisen first and, finding no adults in the house, suspected a baby -- even before seeing the note we had left for her.

Things started to be pretty difficult for Kelly around 7:30 or so, and the approach of the midwife and nursing staff was to keep very quiet and let her labor -- presumably because she had done this a few times before. But to Kelly, it felt like the longest, hardest labor yet, although it was done in less than four hours from the time that hard contraction awoke her. After much pain and pushing and more than a little screaming and weeping -- Kelly was amazing! -- we saw his scuzzy little head, and then suddenly the rest of him. 

Our first impressions: Blue. Stout. Quiet. Indeed, he was coughing up stuff he had breathed or swallowed in that delivery for the next several days, and they had to do lots of vigorous rubbing to get him to cry. And he was here! And all was well. As he's gotten older, he's stretched out a bit, and now reminds us a little of Bro's head on Songbird's body. Nursing has been a little of a struggle at times, but all things considered he has been happy and healthy and Kelly is recovering well. 

Answers to months of the faithful prayers of all his older siblings.  What do you say at the birth of your fourth child? A superabundance of offspring, an embarrassment of progeny, a loud, chaotic lifetime of feeding and cleaning and teaching and worrying and praying and laughing. Little Cuatro has a lot of hands blessing him everyday, and we're overflowing with thanksgiving.