Asher: One Week Old

We sure love our little guy!  Who knew that baby boys were every bit as sweet and wonderful as baby girls?

At one week old, Asher is nursing well and sleeping like a champ during the day (we'll take it!  It's better than not sleeping at all).   He does not like diaper changes.

Asher is adored by his big sisters.

Asher loves the extra attention and snuggles from visitors (me too!).  Since we've lived in different places for each child's birth, we don't get many repeat visitors (except Grandma).  These two lovely aunties are the only two people who've met more than one of our newborns.  I'm so glad they could come visit!  They spoiled me even bearing gifts from Singapore.

 Asher loves being swaddled!  This is what we call a "swaddle soiree".

Welcome Asher!

We are thrilled to announce baby Asher's birth.  He was born on February 19, weighing 7 lb 12 oz.  He was 19.5 inches long and is cute as a button.  I think he looks just like Ben.  He looks more like Lizzie as a baby than Samara, but definitely looks like a boy.  Asher means "fortunate, blessed, and happy" in Hebrew.  Ben and all his brothers have bible names so we wanted to keep with that tradition.  In the Old Testament, Asher was the 8th son of Jacob and the second son of Zilpa and the founder of the tribe of Asher.  Our Asher's middle name is Kenneth, after my dad.  We hope he'll have a sense of humor and work ethic like his grandpa. 

A few minutes after he was born.   

Everyone in the delivery room was rooting along with us for a redhead.  His hair did look very orange in the delivery room and still does in the sunlight.  We'd love a redhead, but we'll take him whatever color his hair ends up being.

Asher struggled a little with his breathing and needed a CPAP treatment.  Babies delivered via c-section commonly have this because the fluid isn't squeezed out of their lungs since they don't go through the birth canal.  He was quite gassy and tired the first 24 hours after the treatment.  Thankfully, he just needed one treatment and his oxygen levels were fine after that.

I love when babies start to open their eyes!   

He had his first date in the hospital with sweet baby H.  She is about a month older than him.  He's already charming older women. 

After a game of peak-a-boo and

a very thorough inspection, Asher was deemed ready to be discharged.  He made it home just in time for his first family movie night.

Now for the birth story.  I want to record my thoughts before I begin to suffer from sleep deprivation. :)  I'm fascinated by birth stories but posted pictures first so skip this part if it doesn't interest you.  I'd been debating for a couple months whether or not I wanted to attempt a vbac with two previous c-sections.  I switched to a new doctor in January, who is extremely experienced (he's delivered over 7,500 babies) and thought I was a good candidate for a vbac.  There were precautions to consider, but I loved having the option of a vbac.

Samara's labor was long and brutal and ended in a c-section.  I stalled at 8/9 cm, when they determined a c-section was necessary.  By the time it came to a c-section, I begged the doctor to just put me out.  I would have gladly been knocked out for a week or two.  My arms were strapped down during the surgery and I was so physically and emotionally exhausted that Samara's birth wasn't really a joyful experience.  Of course, I was thrilled to have her, but the experience of getting her here was less than ideal.  The "failure to progress" diagnosis has haunted me ever since.

Lizzie was breech, so her birth was a scheduled c-section.  My doctor and anesthesiologist were great, but they were just more reserved and serious.  After the delivery, they let me hold Lizzie, which was really neat.  But then I had to recover in a big room with all the other patients out of surgery.  I felt like a person buried alive in a morgue.  I couldn't move, the recovery bed was cold, and there were people moaning all around me.  Part of me actually worried that I may be left there forever.  After that, I had a bad reaction to anesthesia and again those first 24-hours were less than ideal--not the joyful experience I hoped her birth would be.

My hope this time around was to have a better delivery experience.  Like I said, I'd been debating which mode of delivery would be best for Asher.   I thought it would be wonderful to avoid another surgery, but I didn't want to labor and have a c-section or put him at risk.

I had some contractions during the night of the 18th, but nothing too regular.  I woke up at 1 AM on the 19th with pretty regular contractions that lasted until 5 AM.  The 19th is both my sister and my niece's birthday and I was pretty sure (one way or another) that Asher would share a birthday with the two of them (thankfully, they don't mind sharing their day:)).  Side note:  My niece with whom he shares a birthday was delivered by the same doctor and nurse exactly 6 years before.  Asher also shares the days with the twins of the friend who set Ben and I up.

The contractions continued throughout the day fairly regularly--sometimes as close together as 3 min.  By the time I got to my appointment at 5:30 that night, I was exhausted and ready and anxious to have him.  I was only dilated to 1.5 cm.  Seriously?!  I knew I wasn't in advanced labor, but I thought I would have progressed more than that.   The doctor said my options were to get a shot of morphine so I could go home and rest or check into the hospital to have my water broken to get things moving along.  Though I'd been prayerful about Asher's delivery, I had been waffling about how he should be delivered and could never fully commit or feel right about either.  I was excited at the possibility of a successful vbac but did not want a repeat Samara experience.  On the way to the hospital, we stopped at the temple where we were married and talked about it.  By the time we got to the hospital, I knew a c-section was the best choice.

My doctor had called ahead to tell them I was coming and when I got to the nurse's station, I was so happy to find out the charge nurse was one of my sister's childhood best friends.  She's wonderful and I was thrilled to have her.  She'd been told someone was coming for a vbac so when I told her I was going to do a c-section, she was surprised and took me into my room to talk about it and make sure that was what I wanted.  When the doctor got to the hospital, he spent a while in my room trying to convince me into trying the vbac and basically just making sure I was positive about my decision (after all, I'd sought him out to do a vbac).  His efforts to try to convince me helped make me all the more confident in my decision.  It took me a long time to get an answer to my prayer, but once I did, I was sure of what was best.

The delivery was wonderful.  I felt more connected to the medical staff as we all joked and laughed while they prepped me for the c-section.  I felt much more a part of the delivery than with either of the girls' births.  I am thrilled with Asher's birth experience.  The doctor was great to remember what I'd told him about the adverse reaction to the anesthesia and things I'd asked him to look for in the event I had a c-section.  He found an adhesion of my uterus and ovary, which causes me pain every month, and fixed that.  My stomach muscles separated with Lizzie's pregnancy and he was able to stitch one part of that.  He also found my uterus was quite thin on one side because of the other c-sections.  This information further confirmed my delivery decision.  I'm grateful for a wonderful medical staff, for prayer, the option to chose, and that his birth was such a good experience.  And more than anything,  I'm so grateful Asher is here safely and for the miracle of life.

Potty Treats

With every c-section, I've learned something that helps things go more smoothly the next time with the recovery, etc.   I look forward to each step in the recovery process and getting the IV and catheter out is always so nice.

This is the story of my catheter...  The adult bladder can hold roughly 500 ml.  The day after the delivery, I told the nurse that even though I had a catheter in, I still felt like I REALLY had to go.  She checked things out and found a kink or some problem with the catheter draining.  She fixed the problem and out came 1000 ml--a fuller liter--twice the normal amount.  Not long after that, they took out my catheter.  Because my bladder was so distended from holding that liter, I could not go all afternoon.  I still had the IV in and was drinking, so we knew there was a lot of fluid stuck in me.  I felt like I was going to explode.  I told the nurse and asked her to take the IV out and just leave the IV access in (no need for IV fluids because I was holding food/water down just fine).   She suggested doing a straight cath but needed to confirm both were OK with the doctor.  I was so miserable by the time she came back to take out the IV fluids and put in a new catheter.  I literally felt like every cell was swollen with fluid.  My face and limbs were so tight and swollen.  I'd tried to pinch the IV but a little alarm went off.  Normally, having a catheter put in, especially when you aren't numb, isn't that appealing.  But I've never felt so much relief in my entire life!  Out came 1500 ml--1.5 times the amount of water in this mug and 3 times what your bladder is supposed to hold.  Apparently, once your bladder is that full you can't go because there is too much pressure.

They left the catheter in overnight to give my bladder a rest and allow it to return to normal.  Thankfully, no kinks this time.  When they took it out they told me to go often.  No problem!  Especially when I rewarded myself with a few mini eggs each time.  :) You are never too old for "potty treats".

Lesson learned.  If you feel like you gotta go...go!  Or tell someone even if you have a catheter in.  You really do have to be your own advocate and be insistent when there is a problem.  I'm glad my discomfort was easily solved.

A Shower a Belly Full of Baby

All our kids have been born in a different place.  I've been blessed with each pregnancy/birth to be supported by thoughtful, wonderful, and generous friends and family.  My friends recently threw a shower for baby Asher and me and it was perfect! 

 The food was delicious and the decorations were darling.

I loved visiting with everyone.  I am so grateful for all the wonderful people in my life and for their support, advice, and examples!

If you were to ask me what adjustment I am most worried about after the baby arrives, it would be the loss of my belly.  I'm sure that sounds so odd!  Don't get me wrong.  I am very much looking forward to holding the baby in my arms and being done with the incubation period.

However, Lizzie is OBSESSED with my belly.  She has been ever since I weaned her.  Her fascination has grown right along with my belly.  My belly provides endless hours of entertainment for her.  She talks to it, drives her car on it, and snuggles it.  She 'doctors' it with toilet paper and bandaids.  Since I most often just wear a hoodie and fall asleep after sitting for more than a few minutes, I'll later find very random things inside my hoodie.  One day she put one of those little circle banaids over my belly button.  I didn't notice until the next morning when I was rubbing my stomach.  It scared the daylights out of me.  I thought my belly button had sealed closed!

She sings to it, "holy night and sleep tight and lullaby.  I love you belly."

When she expresses love it goes something like this, "I love you daddy!  I love you jei-jei.  And I love YOU belly."  If we are going somewhere she'll ask, "Can I come?  And can your belly come with us?"

I really don't love having my pictures taken, but I'm glad I did.  Jeanne always does a great job and it helps that I feel super comfortable with her.

Some of the funny things I want to remember Lizzie saying:

"Your belly is my best friend."  

"Your belly is my little pet."

"I want to wish your belly a Merry Christmas!"

"Your belly is amazing!"

"You have a sweet little belly, mama."

She thinks the mole below my belly button is "your baby son" and that you can drink "belly water" from my belly button.

Pictures.  Check.  Blue toenails.  Check.  Hospital bag packed.  Check.  Baby clothes washed and baby bed set up. Check.  Regular contractions since 1 AM.  Check.  Headed to a doctor's appointment now and one way or another this baby better be born by tomorrow morning!!

Happy Heart Day!

We've had fun counting down to Valentine's day with our little advent calendar.  Each envelope has something simple in it for the day, such as "on the 2nd day of Valentines, be a love bug and give someone a hug" and "On the 8th day of Valentines, think of someone on your street and take them a special treat."

It's also our countdown to baby Asher.  Originally, the c-section was scheduled for tomorrow, but will be next Friday instead.  If I go into labor on my own before that, the doctor will let me try a vbac.

We wrote these to each other one night as part of our advent.  

 And Samara has been making Valentine cards for us all month.

We put new labels on hand sanitizer for our teacher gifts.  Labels found here.   They are super cute and simple to make.  However, next time I'll make sure not to get the bottles with the orange spouts. 

I  got the fishbowl printable and matching game from that site as well.   I heart free printables!!

Does staying up late with a blog-stalking addiction qualify as creative talent?  Perfect.  I will keep working on growing my talent.

My brilliantly creative friend Malia designed this template and let me alter the colors and backgrounds to create the girls' valentine cards.  I'm really happy with how they turned out!



Once the card was printed, we used "scratch off" heart stickers to hide the words.

Lizzie kept asking to hold her "valen card".  One day I found her on the island putting stickers on herself.  I yelled at her to stop and really startled her.  I really need to be less uptight and let them help with the the projects that I do "for them".  I felt so sheepish when I saw how well she put the stickers on and realized all along she'd been asking for her card because she wanted to put the stickers on.


Samara was very happy when she came home with a mailbox full of valentines.  I loved seeing all the kids' collection boxes when I dropped her off at school.  They were so creative and fun!   The red chevron-striped fry box with licorice was my favorite.  It has red vines in it and says, "I only have fries for you."  I'm saving that idea for next year.  

After watching the Peanuts valentine special, Samara wanted to find "heart-shaped shaving lotion" for Ben.  In that episode, Violet wants to buy some for her male teacher.  Samara settled on shaving cream but insisted it be a valentine-eve present because "we give presents on Christmas Eve so why can't we give presents on Valentine's eve?"

We had a nice family dinner and these baked pink donuts for dessert.  I sure love my sweet valentines.

Ben has a contact in the nutrition department who was able to "can" his valentines treats for us.  We all loved them!  All he had to ask was "can?  can?"  Such a clever husband I have. :)

I may have a new favorite holiday.

The Year of the Snake

Since Asher will be born in the year of the snake, we had to have a proper celebration.  I have to admit that I'm disappointed he'll miss being a dragon baby by just over a week.  If he's not as successful in life as we think he should be, we'll know why. :)

The girls were THRILLED to get new undies and $1 in their hongbao envelopes.  I will miss this season when they are young and so easy to please.  But maybe when they are older they will sleep in later and then there will be enough light outside to get decent pictures.

We had a snowy first day of the lunar new year.  The girls were excited to dress up for church.

A few simple crafts

One of the highlights of the day was a short visit from some friends who brought hongbao for the girls and pan-fried wontons from their Chinese restaurant.  The wontons were so good!

We had some over for dinner and it was really fun to celebrate with them.  They brought yummy red velvet cupcakes and snake mud pie for dessert. 

I found pomelos at the grocery store and had to get them for our Singapore friends.  Mandarin oranges are also a traditional gift/treat so we stocked up on those as well.

We hope the year of Snake is prosperous and finds you all well and happy!

Two and a Half

I've had this in my drafts for ages and want to get some things recorded about our little 2-yr old because she is now 2.5!  Our baby Lizzie won't be the baby come next month.

Second Birthday

Elizabeth is at such a fun age.   I love two-year olds and I wish I could bottle her up so I could always have my two-year old buddy around...minus the outbursts. :)  She is a delightful little tease.  We never would have imagined she'd grow up to be such a ham/character/cheeky little girl because she was such a serious and somber baby. 

Here are some things I want to record.   This is really for own journaling and I'm sure there are a lot of typos (in addition to the ones that are on purpose to show how Lizzie's speaks) but now it's at least written for me/her to remember.

You love your daddy.  Some of your first 'sentences' were "Daddy come home!" and "Daddy hold YOU!"  You get so excited when Daddy comes home and are so affectionate and sweet to all of us.  Though sometimes your affections can be a little rough.

You love to eat but can be picky about what you will eat.  If I'm not prompt with getting food, you take matters into your own hands.   Some of your first words were, "I do it."

As a matter of fact, you take a lot of things into your own hands.  You put on 3-4 pair of shoes by yourself while we wait for your sister to get on one pair for school.

You adore Samara and your cousins and love playing with older kids.  But you don't like when I call you Samara.  The other day when I called you Samara and you said, "Don't call me dat.  I'm not Samara.  My name is Elizabet!"  You know your whole name and it's so cute when you say it.

When you are excited, you can barely contain it.  You crinkle your nose and squeeze your fists together and say "Otay!  leeeet's do it".  It makes my day every time.

You love poo-poo and potty talk, tell knock-knock jokes, "read" and tell stories.  It's adorable when you say, "once upon a time" then proceed to tell a story and finish with "dee end!"

You are polite and are good at remembering your "please and thank yous" without being prompted.  You mostly repeat only nice things.  When we went to the store a while back and Samara wanted something you calmly told her, "not today darling."

You'll often tell us, "oh dats nice.  Good job."  You went through a phase where you told me repeatedly about anything new, "I'm not afraid to try."

Your imagination is growing all the time.  You had the following conversation with yourself after ringing the doorbell on the play house, "ding dong.  tome in.  how are you?  I'm fine.  My friends are toming over tonight.  Oh, dats fun."

You readily agree to things but then are quick and have a very rational reason for not doing it when the time comes.  When we went to take these pictures (soon after you turned two) we talked the whole way about how you were going to cooperate and let me take your picture.  You did not cooperate at all and when I asked why your reply: "betause I wanted to det in the water."

When I asked asked why you threw your banana off your tray and made a big mess, your reply: "Betause I don't want to eat a banana, mama."

When we were at the store and you started throwing oranges from the cart and I asked why on earth you'd do that, your reply: "Betause they look like balls."

When asked to sing a song in the car, your reply: "no, I'm too tired to sing today."

You don't say your k's and g's and I think it's darling.  We thought only buckwheat from the little rascals said, "otay".  You often add in words like probably and anyway when explaining something. 

You have so many expressions!

You went through a little "owie" phase, where you always wanted a band-aid and thought you were hurt when we took it off of you.  You were always asking for "new owies" if your band-aid fell off.

Last week you had a bad ear infection and kept asking for a band-aid for your ear.  You did not want to go to the doctor and when I told you we were going so she could look in your ear, you said, "I'm all better.  My ear don't hurt no more." (even though it had ruptured that morning)

Your baby goes EVERYwhere with you.  You love babies--both pretend and real.  You tell me about your baby, "This is my favorite baby.  She loves me so much."  And you tell her, "c'mon darlin" when you want to go somewhere.  Our friends were kind enough to let you hold their new baby a couple weeks ago and you didn't want to stop holding her.  You kept saying, "she's a sweet baby."  Then you asked, "can we take it home with us?"

You also love your dreamlite and the little butterfly goes almost as many places as your doll does.  The other night I came up to check on you and found you asleep with your dreamlite on and your baby resting on your chest.  So sweet.

You don't like time outs but are getting better at understanding why you are having one.

You are not afraid to let us or anyone else know when you don't like something.  When we went to the doctor you kept saying, "I don't like it here.  Go away.  I'm all better so we can go home."

You love going to the "moo-z-em" and make the cutest super hero.

And last but not least, you almost have enough hair for pigtails, which are adorable but you won't keep in.