Picture blog

Early morning on their birthday

Bridget may not have made it for the delivery but she was SO sweet and visited us in the hospital!  Best midwife ever!

Meeting her new sister!

Meeting Liliana!

"Mom does she look like me?"  Too cute!

Baby photo comparison 

I somehow never got a picture of Abby with Liliana, but she was there too!!!

Choosing her name

Liliana Serenity

Jarrod and I went back and forth with name ideas for a long time with this pregnancy.  We weren't getting anywhere.  No name was jumping out at us.
About 20 weeks into my pregnancy I woke up from a dream about giving birth to a baby girl.  In that dream, we had named our daughter Liliana.  Hmmm.....Liliana.  I kinda like that.  I never would have found it in the baby name book as it was under Lilian and I'm not in love with that name.  Interesting....a God thing?  I decided to see what Jarrod thought of the name.  He said it to himself a few times before nodding and saying he liked it too.
Over the course of the next 20 weeks we looked at a few more names before deciding we couldn't find any other name we agreed on and liked better than Liliana.  Our one stipulation....no nicknames!  He isn't fond of Lily, I'm not fond of Lil....
Serenity was a harder name to come up with.  I found it soon after finding Liliana and LOVED it.  Serenity means peace.  Ahhh, peace.  Something about it seemed to fit.  I really felt like this baby was going to be a peacemaker.
However, Jarrod was not convinced.  Anytime I would say "Liliana Serenity", he would shake his head no.  "I just don't love it."
"Okay, here's the name book.  What ones do you like?" (I was all out of ideas at this point!)
"I can't find any either!"
So we went back and forth with Serenity.  One night, out on our last date night before Liliana was born, I brought up names again.  I asked him to say the name like when he's calling one of the kids to come do something.  Then to say it in a sing song voice like he was talking to a baby.  Liliana Serenity.  Liliana Serenity.  After saying it a few times to himself and pretending to call a child, he decided he liked it and loved that it meant peace.  We finally had our girl name!

Liliana means lily and Serenity means peace.

Liliana Serenity

Liliana's Birth Story- Part 3

Jarrod said it was about right here when he realized what was going on.  When we walked in onto the labor and delivery floor, it seemed pretty quiet.  He assumed they assigned 3 nurses to us because they had nothing else to do.  Now he realized, they assigned 3 nurses to us because this was baby #4 and I was already at 7cm!  They weren't just asking questions about previous labor history, they were setting up a warmer and prepping things for labor!  The nurses were excellent and dimmed the lights, let us play music (we choose Casting Crowns as for whatever reason, I find it nice while laboring) and were quietly encouraging me as I hit contraction after contraction.  We couldn't reach my midwife and no one at the nurses station could either, so the on call doctor was in after delivering a baby to introduce herself and to check me.
I had met her during my pregnancy with Azelia and remembered that she was a very nice doctor and everyone at the practice couldn't say enough nice things about her.  As she was washing her hands she asked if I wanted her to break my water and I asked to be checked first.  If I was close, and I thought I was, I wanted to have them spontaneously break as opposed to have them be broken.  She went to check me and said, "Oh, your waters already broke!  You're at 8, almost 9 cm.  Sorry Dad, it doesn't look like a birthday baby for you."  I think we were a little past 11:00pm right now.  The big joke was if we could hold out till midnight for this baby to arrive.  I started having pushing urges that I tried to hold off for as I didn't want to push before I hit 10cm.  The nurse came in for something and told us that if I felt the urge to really push, to hit the nurse call button.  Otherwise, they'd leave us alone.  She went out to the desk which was right next to our room and it was just Jarrod and I.  In between contractions we had random conversations and shared how excited we were that the baby was almost here.  It was almost time to discover if our baby was a boy or girl!  Almost time to be snuggling a new little baby!
Megan texted and was getting through security when the next contraction hit.  This one was different and I could not hold back from pushing and in doing so, grunting while pushing, and trying to pant to hold off as Jarrod saw this was a real push and panicked a little because he was the only one in the room (don't let him fool you, he's a pro at this and could have delivered the baby!) and he told me, "Pant Kate, pant.  Try not to push."  After the contraction eased off he said, "I think we need to call the nurse back in now.  That was the real thing."  I said, "Yeah, I couldn't hold off anymore but I don't want to push till I reach 10cm."
The nurse had heard me and walked back in as I was pushing the nurse call button.  Jarrod looked up, relieved and told her that I was having real pushing urges and couldn't hold back anymore.  The doctor came in and told me that anytime I wanted to push, I could push.  The nurses continued to quietly get things ready as they knew this baby was coming SOON!  They all commented how we weren't going to make it to Jarrod's birthday.  Not when I was at 10cm, waiting for a contraction to push this baby out!
Megan walked in at this point.  It was 11:40pm.  She and Jarrod encouraged me through another contraction where I felt like I was fake pushing.  It wasn't a strong enough contraction that I felt overwhelmed to push.  I hadn't heard that I was 10cm yet, just was told I could push.  Jarrod told me that the doctor said I was 10cm but I had missed it so I asked her and she confirmed that I was 10cm and could push for the next contraction.  She laughed and told Jarrod, "Sorry again Dad.  There's no way this baby will wait till midnight."
This is where things got interesting.  All of a sudden, my contractions that had been 2ish minutes apart dropped to 8 minutes apart.  There we were, Jarrod holding my hand, anticipating another contraction, and with it, the baby; Megan standing ready to support my legs with me; the nurses standing there ready to throw blankets on the baby; the doctor sitting on the end of my bed; and me, waiting for that wave of a contraction to help move my baby down and out!  Jarrod started humming along to Casting Crowns and I started singing along as well and then rested as we waited for the contraction to hit as we had no idea at this point when it was going to happen!

Another contraction hit but again, not a strong one and not one with real pushing involved.  At this point we had less than 7 minutes till Jarrod's birthday and we were laughing about how absurd this was!  The whole time they were 2 minutes apart and now they spaced out to 8 minutes?! We sat and watched the clock.  Literally.  Tick tick tick......slowly that hand reached to 12:00am and the comment was made that "Now you can have the baby Kate!  You made it to Jarrod's birthday!"  We laughed again but in all seriousness, no one thought we'd make it to midnight!  The doctor had made a request when we were joking about having the baby at midnight, she asked for us to try a bit after as 00:00 is a hard time to put on for birth as it confuses everyone about which day the baby was born!  She was joking about it though!  

The clock hit 12:01 and I felt a strong contraction coming on.  "Ok.  This is it.  This is the one to get the baby out on", I thought as I felt the intense wave hit me.  I sat up and grabbed my legs as the doctor had told me to do, took a deep breath and pushed.  "It's burning.  Okay, baby's head is crowning.  Push.  Breathe.  Get the baby out."  Were my thoughts at this point.  I pulled in another deep breath and pushed as I heard Megan exclaim "I see the head Kate, you're doing great!" and heard Jarrod say, "Push Kate, Push!"  I thought I clearly heard Jarrod tell me to pant at this point but he says he didn't tell me that.  LOL.  So maybe God was telling me?  I panted and then gave a final push.  The doctor told me, "Mom, reach down and grab your baby!"  The baby was halfway out as I reached down and grasped underneath her arms and pulled her up as I pushed her out.  That was really special, I've never been able to do that before!  As I pulled the baby up, it was just Jarrod and I that could see what the gender was.  The doctor asked, "Is it a boy or girl?"  And Jarrod answered, "It's a girl!"  

First moments with our girl!

Liliana Serenity born at 12:02am on April 3rd.  (Another God thing-who would have thought she would have been born on Jarrod's birthday?!  We didn't when transition hit!)  She weighed 7 lbs 7 ozs and was 20 1/2 inches long.

Liz and Abby arrived shortly after Liliana was born and shared in our joy of another precious girl!  (my bad-  I didn't time their arrival correctly.  Of course they were just thrilled that the baby was here and healthy!)

Snuggling my new girl while we wait to move to a postpartum room

God's hand was all over this delivery.  When active labor started, to when Liliana was born was 4 hours 45 minutes.  I prayed for a quick and easy delivery along with a healthy baby.  God heard me.  He asked me to trust Him.  When I did, He came through, just like He always does!  Every detail that I had wanted in labor, He blessed me with.  I wanted to be able to be relaxed.  I wanted it to be peaceful with Jarrod and I.  I wanted someone there in time to take pictures directly after the baby was born.  I wanted enough time to get the antibiotics so the baby wasn't effected.  I wanted doctors and nurses I was comfortable with.  I wanted to labor at home and know when to go to the hospital.  We wanted (at that point in the evening) the baby to be born on Jarrod's birthday.

God did that.  All of it.   He didn't only give me my needs, he gave me my wants too.  I am blessed!  He is so good!  

Liliana's Birth Story- Part 2

I sat there, reading to Azelia and catching glimpses of the movie the kids were watching when 7:15pm hit and so did my contractions.  I had my first contraction that I had to breathe through.  "Okay...let's see where this leads to..."  Following that one I started having contractions every 6 minutes for the next 30 minutes, before Liz called me to wrap up some details as she, Abby and Megan were going to head out here for the delivery.  My mom graciously was staying behind to care for my Gram as she or Megan needed to be there, and she let Megan come be with us for the delivery of another sweet babe!
I folded laundry while chatting with Liz, stopping every 6-8 minutes to breathe through a contraction as we figured last minute things out.  The movie was over now and the kids were running around a bit like they had just been given candy.  (they hadn't lol!)  Or maybe it was the usual amount of energy but I felt like it was extra as my concentration wasn't on them.  I hadn't told Jarrod the contractions picked up and was just working through them, focusing on each wrap of pain around my back and abdomen, focusing on the fact it was moving my baby down and to work with the contraction instead of fighting it.
I sat on the birthing ball for awhile in the kitchen until Azelia found me in there and almost barreled me over in the middle of a contraction.  LOL!  Jarrod came to get her and found me working through a contraction and realized that labor had indeed, kicked in! Azelia was put to bed by Jarrod and I gave her a long hug before she was brought upstairs.  Contractions started in every 4-6 minutes now with the need to breathe intensely through them.  I changed rooms and sat in the living room on the birthing ball, working through contractions as Jarrod told the kids to kick into high gear and get the house cleaned up.  It suddenly hit him that these contractions were intense and we were having this baby that night! (we hoped ;)  ) Jadon and Kyla watched me through a contraction, unsure of what to do.  Jarrod came in and told them to encourage me, saying "Good job" or "you're doing great Mama" or to massage my back.  (Little backstory, up till now, the kids would climb up on the ball behind me and massage my neck or back as I'd sit on the ball during the many weeks leading up to labor. )  So another contraction starts in and Kyla tries to climb up behind me on the ball as I'm breathing through it to massage my back as she's been instructed.  I can feel the ball starting to tilt as I'm trying to wave her off (Jarrod was in the other room still) and managed to scare her in the process.   Jarrod comes back in the room to discover me on the tail end of a contraction and Kyla crying as Jadon is trying to explain it all to him.  Then we had to try to explain to Kyla what was going on and how she could just say good job or hold my hand but no climbing on the ball!
Trenton came downstairs and had been completely unaware of what was going on.  Last he knew, my contractions were 30 minutes apart and I didn't think they were heading anywhere fast!  He walked in and we told him what was going on as another contraction hit.  Jadon started in with a monolog of "gooood job, gooood job..." over and over for the minute my contractions were lasting for. It was so sweet and funny at the same time that I'd end a contraction with laughing.  Jarrod would stand behind me and rub my neck and encourage me then dart off to finish the dishes or gather up the toys on the floor.  Trenton watched through one and then got thrown into helping me focus through contractions LOL!  Poor guy had never seen anyone in labor-hope I didn't scare him too much!  The contraction would start and I'd grab his hand, that's all I needed right then.  Just knowing someone was there.
Jarrod got the other two kids ready for bed and they came to say goodnight and were told that we would be at the hospital when they woke up but Uncle T would be here with them.  Hugs and kisses and off they went.  Trenton graciously stayed downstairs with me and helped me through the contractions.
I decided to go shower as quickly as I could as the contractions were 4 minutes apart now.  We gathered up the remaining last minute items into our suitcase and Megan texted at 9 to see if she should head out here.  I told her yes and she started on her way!
This was the tricky part for me.  I told Jarrod that I really wanted most of the labor to be him and I.  I didn't want to feel like I had a room full of people watching me for the next contraction, but I did enjoy the first moment pictures that others were able to get and encouraging comments towards the end of labor.  So the plan was to have Megan, Liz and Abby head out here when I felt I was closer to the end instead of just starting the labor out.
We turned the tv on for some distraction in between contractions and I would stand as a contraction hit so Jarrod could support me by holding my arms/elbows as I sunk into a half squat.  This really was the most comfortable way to labor and I thought it should be helping the baby move down faster!  All the sudden it hit me that I was starting to feel nauseous and was shaking as a contraction came on.  The only other one I had that happen for was Jadon, and it hit around 7cm dilated.  I texted Liz and Abby and told them I didn't know when to tell them to come and explained how I was feeling during a contraction.  Liz responded with, "Hey it sounds like a baby is coming!"  I waited through one more contraction and felt like I could feel more pressure down there and told them they could head for the hospital as we'd be leaving for there soon.
Another tricky factor- I was strep b positive and the hospital wanted about 2 hours of me on antibiotics for it before the baby was born.  I, of course, wanted to go to the hospital as late as I could to avoid the monitors and IV.  Trying to time it, but not stress out over it.  We left for the hospital around 9:55pm.  (sign #3 as we got in just about 2 hours of the antibiotic and it was enough)
As we walked through the halls of the hospital it was calm.  Unhurried.  There were hardly any people around that time of night and it was a relief as contractions were hitting every 2-3 minutes by now.  Not that I cared what anyone else thought at that point!  I would just wave my hand at Jarrod and he'd grab my forearms and murmur encouragement to me as I breathed through a contraction.  We got up to the maternity ward and they asked for my name and what number baby this was as they got me into a room.  The nurse checked me at 10:30 and I was 7cm, 100% effaced!  (another answered prayer as Jarrod was fervently praying I wasn't at 4cm!) At this point they wanted me in the bed because they wanted to get a good strip on the baby's heartbeat and I had to have the IV in.  I wanted to keep working through the contractions while standing but found a way to relax through them while sitting upright in the bed.
I remembered in Ina May's book how she said to relax and keeping your mouth in an O shape can really help.  I sat there, clutching Jarrod's hand and tried to breathe or pant through the contractions.  Sometimes I'd moan a bit through them.  Jarrod would remind me to relax my mouth, my hand, my legs and I'd visualize the baby moving down.  I started thinking, "Ok baby, I'm doing my part.  You just keep moving down."  

to be continued...

Liliana's Birth Story-Part 1

I am still blown away by God's goodness and the signs that He was with me the entire way.  All of my labors have shown God clearly in them, but this one, this labor, was my favorite with all of the clear signs.

April 2nd dawned bright and early for me.  At 4am I was woken up by a contraction.  I could talk through it, but it was painful enough that I wondered if it was the start of labor or not.  They continued at a slow pace of about every 30 minutes.  Just enough time in between them, that I would just start drifting off to sleep and be woken up by the contraction.
The kids were up by 6:30 and we slowly started our day.  I let Jarrod know that I was having contractions but they hadn't moved from 30 minutes.  (He was a little bummed that he didn't need to stay home from work ;) )  He did feel free to comment that it was only 15 hours till his birthday, haha!
Around 9:30am he asked if there were any changes.  I responded with, the contractions were so scattered and not getting more intense, so it was probably more practice labor and he could stay at work all day.  I did the laundry, made Jarrod's birthday peanut butter pie and tried to keep the house in order...didn't really work that well as it seemed the kids were full of energy and imagination!
 Jarrod came home for lunch and contractions were still anywhere from 10-30 minutes apart.  Still lacking that extra intensity but uncomfortable enough that I didn't want to walk through them anymore.  He went back to work and I did odd things around the house till 2 when I laid the kids down for a nap.  I laid down too and tried to sleep but the contractions jumped to every 8-20 minutes making it so I couldn't fall asleep.  I take forever to fall asleep.
Around 4 I decided to just get up as I heard Jadon awake in the other room.

The girls soon joined us and we built Duplo houses and played.  My contractions all of a sudden went to 8-11 minute intervals but still lacking that extra intensity.  At this point I couldn't decide if I should go for a walk and try to pick things up or try to lay back down and rest in case this was indeed, just like Azelia's labor.  Jarrod came home and suggested a walk and if nothing picked up to try to sleep while he fed the kids dinner.  So off we went.  The wind was brisk but it felt good to be out in the sun and fresh air for a few minutes.  I texted my mom with an update and she excitedly told me that it was only 7 hours till Jarrod's birthday!   (funny thing is Jarrod was keeping track all day too!)  I responded with "I really don't mind waiting to have the baby.  Just wish these would stop so I could sleep a bit".  

I didn't want to go into labor exhausted as I've experienced that twice now and it is not easy to work through a contraction or find the motivation to walk around when I'm lacking sleep.  

 Over the course of our walk, I noted that I didn't have a single contraction.  Not even a contraction that was just tight feeling like I had been having every.single.time. we would go out for a walk during the previous few weeks.  Nothing.  And we walked for over 10 minutes.  So I texted my mom again...

"Have you been praying the cx wear off?"

"Yes so you could rest!"

"It's working!"  (sign #1.  Answered prayer)

The kids were being promised a picnic dinner in the living room and a special movie with Daddy as I walked up the stairs, hoping to be able to rest.  

As I laid down, the contractions started in again between 20-30 minutes.  I lay there, trying to shut off my thoughts as they were NOT helping me.  "this is going to be a long labor just like Azelia's"  "You're going to be so exhausted you'll end up a c-section cause you won't have the energy to push the baby out"  "You're going to have contractions all.night.long."  

I finally turned on classical music to try to tune out the thoughts but it didn't help.  Liz texted asking for an update and I let her and Abby know that I wasn't doing well thought wise and was panicking about labor and the thought of it being so long.  As Liz and Abby wrote back responses, I audibly heard God say...

"Do you trust Me?"

"God, if you would just let me know what's going on...."

"Do you trust Me?"

"I just wish I knew if this baby was coming soon God."

"Do you trust Me?"

"Yes.  I trust You."

Directly after that I received these encouraging messages from Abby and Liz.

"Try to NOT think big picture.  Think right now.  You CAN do this.  And so so soon.  Maybe tomorrow or maybe in a few days-you will be holding that babe in your arms!"

"Don't let fears creep in or anxieties that it's going to be just like some of your harder ones because it's following the same pattern.  Instead, put your trust in the Lord, knowing that HE knows how it will go and He wouldn't give you more than you can handle.  Focus on resting and relaxing through contractions.  Allow the contractions to do their job."  

Amazing right?  Right after God and I had that conversation, Liz reminded me to put my trust in Him.  (sign #2)

After wrapping up conversation with them, I headed back downstairs to join the family.  Being alone with my thoughts just wasn't working and the distraction of a movie and the kids would help me I thought.  It was 6:45pm at this point with contractions still 20-30 minutes apart. 

To be continued.....