Eight is Great!!

DSC_0175, originally uploaded by cgclan2003.

Patience is almost three weeks old now and we're settling into a nice routine. She's such a sweet and even tempered baby. She's awake a lot more now and usually just sits there looking around peacefully. The kids love her! Gracie, Noah, and Knox can't get enough snuggle time. Molly cracks us all up trying to tickle her. Mercy giggles with delight when she sees her and keeps trying to kiss her head. Sorry no pictures. Colin is in Scotland for two weeks and took the camera. Not that I'd know how to use it if I did have it! We've survived so far thanks to a really amazing Aunt Amanda. I could NOT have made it so far without her.

A poam by Gracie

Yipee Patiense is here!
i like to hold her a lot!
Her face is all red!
And so is her body!
Patiense is cuter then cute!
i love Patiense

Birth Story...

If you remember my horror birth experience with Mercy, then you will understand all my fears and trepidation at my impending birth of Patience. I just could not bear the thought of going through that torture again. However, this experience was amazingly calm, peaceful, and joyful - exactly what I'd prayed for. God was so kind to show his graciousness and love to me through her birth. I have been so blessed in so many ways.

Sunday morning, two days after my due date:
6am Water breaks. I wake up to a weird feeling and run to the bathroom and there is a huge gush of water. I immediately start shaking as I think things are about to get rough really fast. I call the midwife and decide to wait until the first contraction comes along before I head to the hospital. I take a shower to try and calm down.
6:55am First contraction. After waiting nearly an hour I finally have a contraction but it is so mild I know this isn't really the beginning. I have a couple of sporadic and mild ones so I decide to lie down and rest.
7:30 am First "real" contraction. This one is intense and feels much more like my beginning labor contractions. I call the midwife and decide to head on into the hospital while there's still plenty of time. I want to get settled in early so I can have time to relax before the end. I have 3-4 more intense contractions on the way to the hospital. I have two more as I walk from the car to the entrance and my midwife Christy meets us outside during the second one.
8am Arrive up to my floor and tell Christy and Colin that I want an epidural. I'm not in pain but the memories are flooding back just from being up at the labor and delivery ward and I'm anxious to avoid my previous experience. Christy looks at Colin who shakes his head then she says, "Hmm.. do you always feel that way at the end?" I say, "No you don't understand!" She says, "Well, let's get to the room and see where we are." I'm thinking I don't care I just want out of this deal now!
8:20am Get checked. 8cm. Now I'm still doing great. The contractions are far apart and fairly easy. The nurses and Christy are fantastic and back off quietly during contractions. Super understanding and helpful. I'm even able to make a joke or two between contractions. I am amazed at how God is caring for me through this and making it a truly easy and wonderful time. Things are feeling "pushy."
8:45am I think Lord, this is great, but could you please get this over with in the next contraction?
8:46 am Overwhelming push and there is Patience Olivia!

She's beautiful, wonderful, sweet, and precious. I am so thankful to God for all He has done for me and for blessing me with another amazing daughter.

ETA: 8lb 10 oz. :D

Biggest and Littlest

DSC_0897, originally uploaded by cgclan2003.

Home

DSC_0876, originally uploaded by cgclan2003.

She's Here! Patience Olivia Gunn!

First contraction

6:55 am
Fairly mild... Let you know more soon. Please pray

Water Broke!

Around 6am - still waiting for some strong contractions.

Loved this...

DSC_0378, originally uploaded by cgclan2003.

Okay, so I still don't know how to upload photos and Colin has been too busy to do more, so these may seem a bit repetitive. Anyway, I just loved this pic of Gracie. It is SO her!! Full of fun and spirit :)

In other news... due date is a couple more days away and I go back and forth between utter exhaustion and huge energy spurts. I also go back and forth between slight discomfort and not being able to walk at all. Good times... I got a birth ball to try to get labor going, but I end up letting the kids play with it more than I end up sittiing on it :) We are all very excited about getting to meet little Patience, let's hope she really is little ;)

Look what we got!!

DSC_0363, originally uploaded by cgclan2003.

No, the kid isn't new, but the camera sure is! Just in time for the imminent arrival of Patience too. That may have had something to do with the death threat I gave if there were no camera to capture the baby's first few days and moments, but maybe it was just coincidence ;)

Look for more pictures to come soon and pray I can figure out how to use this thing!

BTW - Mercy at the splash park. Notice the pink nails. She brought me the paint and insisted I do her nails. Then she walked around with a big grin like she knew how beautiful she looked :)

Perspective

I'm at the stage where I'm so uncomfortable that I'm forgetting the reason for my discomfort. There is actually a baby in that big ball in my tummy! Oh, yeah! The pictures from this video helped me to remember that after a really long week:


HT: HeartsforFamily.blogspot.com

Unofficially...

...we will name the baby Patience Olivia. We hope others like this name too, but if not please keep it to yourself as it could make things awkward for you and her, oh... say... the rest of her life! :)

Thanks to Kristi for reminding me to tell y'all!

Okay, I really am trying to update this thing more than once a year :)

So... I had my midwife appt. on Thursday and she said she thought the baby was about 6lbs. That got me really excited because it just made the birth seem all that closer. She is no longer a little itty bitty thing, but the size of a lot of newborns out there - maybe not my newborns necessarily, but still...! I'm hoping for another 8 pounder instead of over 9 like Mercy and Molly were.

The midwife is really great and she has been trying to reassure me that this birth experience and the hospital nurses are going to be much better than the last. Yay!! I am really praying that this birth will be calm, easy, and most importantly joyful as opposed to crazy, chaotic, and stressful like last time. I can't remember if I ever posted that birth story on here or not. Long story short... really mean, rude doctors and nurses calling me racist, telling me I don't love my baby, and that I should just go home because I was "uncompliant." Basically, I came in at full blown labor and transition, tried to decline the i.v. and couldn't answer some questions because I was too busy moaning through contractions and they couldn't see that I was in labor and not just rude. That all happened within twenty minutes of giving birth, by the way.

Anywho... onward and upward, right? :)

Happy Birthday!

Knox turns five today! What an amazing, smart, sweet, funny, and loving kid I have there. I am so blessed! May he be a strong God-fearing man one day.

Sorry...

....for not posting in sooo long! Our camera broke and I hate posting without pictures - I'm afraid I'll bore everyone to tears ;) Anyway, we're still here. I'm 32 weeks, about to pop, and would do just about anything to be able to bend over without having to grunt to breathe.
I'm thinking about live blogging the birth - wouldn't that be fun :)

Turning a corner

Yesterday marks a new era in the Gunn household. Gracie learned how to put sheets on a bed all by herself! She worked so hard for an hour and then called me in to surprise me. I was so thrilled to see her try so hard. The girls beds are particularly difficult because you can't pull them out from the wall. Even I have a hard time getting the corners all the way down. She is becoming such a wonderful helper and companion to me.

In other news, we are thrilled to announce that we expecting a new little one sometime next June! So far so good with the morning sickness, but I'm losing my taste for chocolate :(

BTW- my other computer had a nasty virus on it, so I've switched to another one for awhile. This unfortunately makes me lose access to my pictures so none to post right now. I will try to figure out how to do them on this machine soon.

New

I've updated my profile pic!  

Sabbath rest

21 But there the majestic LORD will be for us
A place of broad rivers and streams,
In which no galley with oars will sail,
Nor majestic ships pass by
22 (For the LORD is our Judge,
The LORD is our Lawgiver,
The LORD is our King;
He will save us);

Isaiah 33

Dresses, movies, and new friends

I promised a while back to post some pics of Gracie in her party dress, but one of her brothers decided to erase them so that he could take pictures of his Spiderman shoes. We finally got some more pictures, and although these didn't turn out as good as the first ones, she still looks beautiful. :)
Last night, we drove to Dallas to a movie premiere! It was a wonderful Christian movie done by the Heumoore team. We really loved this film and can't wait to get our own copy. These are the same men who made the famous Bubble Trouble movie which is one of my kids' favorites. The boys got to meet their hero Gator and Gracie got to meet Reagan. They were beyond thrilled. Noah kept saying, "Mom, I didn't know the people in the movie were REAL!" The viewing was held at the Faith Prebyterian Church where we got to fellowship with some wonderful new friends. Colin made his rounds with the men and I met in particular a couple of beautiful sisters that were so sweet. They are stay-at-home-daughters and are becoming so skilled in the arts of homemaking. They are where I wish I was when I got married. No - they are where I wish I would be now! The Heumoore boys and the Reins sisters are such inspirations to me as I seek to raise my children to be godly men and women. They are proof that with God's grace, it can be done!