Welcome Harrison Michael Dea!!!!

He's finally here...our little Harrison! After being over due 8 days our little guy decided it was time to come into the world and I guess when he made up his mind he didn't waste any time. Friday night brought on some contractions, but like before nothing came of it. All of a sudden at 4AM on Saturday I started getting "real" contractions.  I was so excited and so I started writing down the times and all morning we anticipated heading to the hospital.  We decided to go on a walk to really help get things going. To our surprise it actually it did the opposite...they stopped again. I took a nap to rest up and got pretty depressed thinking that we stalled out again.  Happily enough they started up again about 4 hours later...just in time for the BBQ we were supposed to go at Danny and Min's to welcome the Dobberfuhl family to Glinton. I ended up staying at home because my contractions were getting pretty strong by this time.   I first called in to the hospital around 5:30 and told them they were about 7-8 minutes apart. They recommended I wait until they really got 4-5 minutes apart. We called again around 6:30 saying they were getting stronger but still 7-8 minutes apart, they still insisted on waiting a while.  The next couple of contractions after I got off the phone were bad enough that Kevin and friend, Sarah, talked me into heading to the hospital anyway. Addison was off playing with all the kids at the BBQ and didn't even realize we were leaving. Kevin and I hopped in the car around 7:00 and drove off to the hospital while my contractions now started coming about every 4-5 minutes. We didn't have to worry about parking spaces because it was the weekend and the construction workers were not around. As we got into the hospital, they had us walk upstairs to the delivery suite...yes, WALK up a flight of stairs...that kicked in the rate of my contractions. We checked in with the mid-wife desk and they got me in a room to get hooked up to the monitors. Lindsay, our on-call mid-wife, asked if I was interested in the Mid-Wife led care unit...she warned though that if I wanted to go that way I wouldn't be able to get an epidural. I said I really wanted an epidural and I was fine to stay in the delivery ward.  She did tell us that she would stay with me unless she got pulled away to the MW unit because that is her first priority.  We were fine with that.   At first she seemed convinced that I wouldn't be very far along and shouldn't be upset if they have to send me back home, but after 20 minutes my contractions went to 2 minutes apart and very intense.   She got me hooked up with the gas/air to help take the edge off the contractions, but they got me pretty loopy the first time so Kevin warned that I needed to try and control it a little better...I think it freaked him out when I started spacing out the first time. Lindsay came back to exam me about 20 minutes later and had a look of despair as told me that I wasn't going to be able to have my epidural. I instantly started to cry as she told me that I was fully dialated and the only thing holding my baby in was my waters. This baby was going to be here in an hour's time. Kevin instantly starting supporting me by saying it would be okay and I could do this.   By now I was practically squeezing his hand off and trying to jump out of the bed to deal with the pain. The midwife said I could start pushing whenever I felt like it...."What, push, I'm not ready for this."  I was just in shock because this was not what I planned on at all.  After that moment everything went so quickly there wasn't time to worry or get upset. It was in God's hands and after the next 20 minutes that it took to push little Harrison out, I understood the joys and pains of natural childbirth. Harrison was born at 8:51 PM. Lindsay was an amazing midwife...she did everything that three nurses and an OB doctor had to do when I had Addison. It was great just having a quiet and calm environment and not a lot of people tripping over each other. With both Kevin and I being pretty skeptical on how things were going to all work out with the hospital, we couldn't have asked for anything else. Kevin asked if I could it all over again would I have wanted the epidural, because to him it looked like I was in just as much pain this time as with the epidural. I really couldn't answer because it was either way it takes a lot of work to push, but this time around I knew what I was pushing for because I could feel it all and because it hurt I was more motivated to get if over faster. After it was all done, the three of us were left alone to just be together. In the States, they rushed Addie away from me and did all the shots, eye smear stuff and give her a bath in the nursery. I liked it here so much better...I really got some time to bond even though I was in shock on how fast everything went.  After a while they helped me over to the shower room which was just next door to my delivery room. Kevin got some nice bonding time while I got cleaned up. It was now 11:30PM and they were working on getting me a bed ready on the maternity ward, but I really just wanted to go home. I was feeling pretty good and I just wanted to be with Kevin and sleep in my own bed. We did get released to head home at midnight, but had to call the next morning to line up a time to come back to the hospital to get Harrison's pediatrician exam and hearing test. By 12:30AM, 5 hours after we arrived at the hospital, Kevin, Harrison and I arrived home. We hopped on Skype and called our families so they could see the newest addition to the family and since they were 6-8 hours later than us it was about dinner time for them. Addison ended up spending the night at Danny and Min's house (her first sleep over), and that was a blessing so we didn't have to worry about disturbing her if the baby would wake up in the night. It wasn't the most restful night of sleep because I was running everything over and over again in my head, but it had to be a million times better than being stuck in a hospital by myself with baby. 

The next morning, Min brought Addie back over around 7:45 along with breakfast tray for Kevin and I. Addison loved meeting her new baby brother and gave him lots of kisses. Min also brought us an amazing lunch of sweet and sour pork, sweet corn soup, homemade spring rolls and fried rice. It's been like having my very own personal chef...Min you are AMAZING!!!! Emily our babysitter has also been AMAZING as well...girly, you did an amazing job helping with Addison, you are so special to us. Sarah, thanks for coaching me through contractions and getting us off to the hospital when we did otherwise you may have been helping deliver the little guy. Thank you to everyone for everything so far. We love all and can't wait for the rest of you to meet our little man.

Addison's New Bed

With a new little one coming Kevin and I were trying to figure out how to create a new room for Addison. Instead of buying and "English" toddler bed we thought it would be fun to build Addison a toddler bed that would fit her American crib mattress. We were very blessed to get to know the Dobberfuhl's before they moved over to the UK and they graciously agreed to bring over a new crib mattress for our little guy so we could use Addie's in her new bed. We looked online for plans but nothing that really tripped our triggers, so we decided to design our own. Kevin found the style of one he liked at Kiddiecare (a local baby superstore) and I went and took measurements and drew out a plan that would fit the dimensions of the crib mattress. Kevin worked out with a work colleauge to borrow some of the tools we had left in the States like a table saw, mortiser (I think that's what you call it), and router. We went to a "timber merchant" (lumber yard) and picked up the wood. Then Kevin went to work cutting everything while I sanded all the pieces and Addison would sit out on her little camping chair watching us while she ate snacks.

Kevin did an amazing job of cutting and piecing together the bed. I was so proud of him during the whole process except for the few times he got a bit impatient...but it was because he didn't read on the paint can that it would take up to 16 hours for the paint to dry between coats. We ended up buying a really nice Bosch paint sprayer which we justified buying because we think we'll bring back to the States with us and use with a converter. We'll see... The sprayer did leave a much better finish than us trying to brush paint it. We also transformed an old dresser type thing I found in college and had been using as a TV stand for a little dresser for Addison. We painted it white and accented it with the pink and green colors I used to paint the letters of her name. I also found some really cute white wicker baskets with pink gingham at a hardware store in Stamford (thanks Cathy Duffy for the recommendation). I also found an old mirror at a sale that we painted white as well and hung above the dresser. Kevin thought I was a bit crazy when it came to hanging Addie's letters on the wall because I staggered them and he being the engineer wanted to hang them straight and equally spaced. I told him that I was the creative one and he was the sensible one so trust me on this move. As soon as we got the bed moved into Addie's room she was sooooo excited and tried laying down in the middle of the frame without the mattress on it. So we pulled the mattress out of the crib quick to see how it would fit and she hopped right in and said "nigh nigh." We have a few other bits we want to get like a lamp, rug and I'm redoing Kevin's little rocking chair so that we can put that in her room as well. It was a really fun project to work on together and I think everything turned out perfect and Addison really likes her new room. It will be a while before she actually sleeps in it since we have to find a way to transition her into actually staying on a bed.

Patience is a Virtue

It's Monday morning and I am still pregnant...this means I am officially 3 days over due. I took some time to reflect on this after doing some reading through all my pregnancy books as I worry about how big this child might be getting. Addison was 8 lb 9 oz and due I guess what would be considered 2 days late. I've been doing everything they say to do to "get labor going" - eating fresh pineapple, I got my foot rub, we've been going on walks everyday and I stay active, but only a couple contractions a day. Kevin and I keep asking each other each morning, "Is today the day?" and then when I head to bed at night I say "Better luck tomorrow I guess" But as we come to our last day of this Bank Holiday weekend, I started to feel guilty and I opened another book. My recent book club selection called "Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets them Free" because I remembered one of the Truths that I needed to review - It's not about me, it's about Him. God's eternal purposes and plans are far more important than the things that fill our vision and consume our thinking (p. 265) I have to remember that this baby will come on God's time and I need to enjoy each day that I have as it come, no matter what comes with it. We have had a great weekend so far with some lovely weather. We got Addison's new room put together pretty well, just waiting on her new mattress that is coming in Dobberfuhl's sea shipment. We got to go up to city centre on Saturday morning and get a hot roll and people watch...something we haven't done as a family for a very long time. Today we plan to have a picnic at Burghley House or something else that sparks our interest...whatever it is, it will be fun and we'll enjoy the last few times we have just the "three" of us. I need to "let go and let God" determine when this trio will finally become a quartet.

Still Waiting...

Today has been an emotional roller coaster. I woke up in a really cross mood after dealing with Addison not wanting to sleep through the night. After Kevin left for work I headed up for my regular morning shower and I just broke down crying for no reason. It was really weird. I haven't had an emotional breakdown during this pregnancy since my first trimester and up to this point everything has been pretty good. All of a sudden though I really wanted my mom to be here and at my house like when I got home from the hospital with Addison. I felt completely overwhelmed and when Addie finally woke up I made her give me lots of hugs. I emailed Kevin and he told me everything would be fine and suggested we do lunch today which we did and it was lovely. Min came over and got Addie to play for a while so I could go to my "final" midwife appointment this morning...she is such a saint!!! My midwife was coming out of her office as I walked up and she said "I was wondering if I was going to see you today." I told her about my emotional breakdown and she said that was actually a good thing. She said most women will have their hormones shift dramatically just before they go into labor, so I was a bit encouraged by my sadness. Ann (my midwife) was very encouraging and said my little guy would come soon and she was looking forward to seeing me this weekend at my house to check in on me after I get home from the hospital. I did have to ask about how long they wait to induce if he doesn't come and standard practice is 10 days after your due date. So she lined up another appointment for me in a week, but she said she doubted that I would need it. I also asked about ways to help get things going along and she suggested fresh pineapple...there is documentation supporting that an enzyme in fresh pineapple can help start labor. I told this to Min when I got home and she went and bought me a fresh pineapple at the market. Also Ann suggested reflexology so I am going to work on Kevin to give me a really nice foot rub tonight.

T Minus 5 days to Due Date

Well it's Monday morning and I am wondering if this little guy is ever going to want to come out. I think I jinxed myself last Tuesday by taking it easy once I started getting a steady flow of contractions, because I haven't had anything like that happen since that night. Kevin did remind me that it was about 5 days before I had Addie that we did go into the hospital for a "false alarm." That got me excited to think that the weekend would bring us a new baby, but no such luck. What the weekend did bring us was our wonderful friends and neighbors (Danny & Min and babysitter, Emily) back home from holiday. This truly eases my mind with where Addison will go when we really do actually get to go to the hospital. Granted I am not technically due until Friday and Addison came right on time, so I don't have anything to be complaining about, but I am so excited to have my little boy come into the world. It's been such a fast 39 weeks of anticipation and I love him so much already that I am dying to see his face and kiss his cheeks and hold his tiny little fingers. Addison has been getting ready too. She has learned to say "baby" now and loves carrying around her little baby dolls, feeding them bottles and changing "nappies" (diapers). I'm hoping she'll be as excited when little brother gets here.

I've been reviewing my "literature" about signs of labor and ways to relieve pain and breathing and all that to satisfy this weird anxiety that I have about going back through this process. Even though it should be pretty much the same, I feel like it's going to be completely foreign once we get to the hospital...of course I'm in a foreign country so this feeling should be natural, right?

Hopefully we have news for you soon!

False Alarm

Well I was sure we were going to have a baby last night. All signs pointed go when I started with "real" contractions around 7PM. Kevin wanted me to sit down and relax but the "nester" in me had to have the laundry folded and the dishes cleaned up first. Once I sat down the contractions slowed down but as soon as I stood up and walked around they came right back. After a couple of hours they started coming between 5-10 minutes and then by 10PM they were coming every 4-5 minutes but weren't strong enough to cause a lot of problems. Kevin was running around the house making sure we had our bags by the doors and we thought if things were going to happen we better let our neighbors know that we may be calling in the middle of the night. Simon and Sarah came over to see where all of Addie's things were at and we laid out her morning breakfast.

I called the hospital around 11PM to check if I should come in. She essentially told me to hold off until the contractions were more consistent and bad enough that I needed pain relief. Well about midnight I was still having contractions but they seem to be weakening in strength and by now I didn't want to fall asleep in the recliner so I went to bed. I figured if they were going to get stronger that I would get woken up. Well needless to say I ended up sleeping pretty well and as the sun shone in our room I wondered if this little guy was ever going to come.

This morning I was feeling pretty good, but figured I better stay close to home today. Addie and I are going to go on a couple of walks to see if I can get anything going.

Less than Two Weeks to Go...Hopefully!!!

On Thursday I wen to what I am hoping is my last midwife appointment at the Deepings office. Again it was pretty routine - test the pee, take my blood pressure and lay down so she can feel my tummy with the option to listen to the heartbeat. Everything was normal, but good news came when she said that the baby's head had dropped down which explains why by back has been hurting more lately. In the States about this time the doctor's would actually start checking to see if your cervix had opened but no such thing here so we'll have to wait. Funny thing was that my midwife scheduled me for another appointment in two weeks...the day before my due date. She said she would either see me in the office or she'll be visiting me at home. That is the nice thing about the UK...your midwife actually comes to your house to visit you after having the baby. I don't know what she'll actually do but at least you don't have to leave the house.

I've been having so many contractions over the past week and by the end of each night I just wonder if anything will progress into anything. My nesting phase has slowed down a bit, but I do feel that every night everything has to be picked up and in its place just in case. I had a lady come in this last Wednesday to do some cleaning and she was absolutely amazing. In two hours she was able to make things in my house cleaner than they were when we moved it...such a wonderful feeling. I figured I better get a picture of my belly and how big I've actually gotten. Now that the baby has dropped my tummy went from 44 inches down to 42 1/2 inches, but I still feel like a house. I've also had really bad dreams over the past few nights which hasn't been so pleasant, but Kevin reminded me this morning that I started having really weird dreams just before Addie arrived so this could be encouraging. Just getting really antzy now....we'll keep you updated!

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Kevin's 29th birthday was on Sunday but we celebrated all weekend. Last year we didn't get to do too much for Kev's birthday because we had just moved to the UK and were living in our little apartment and didn't really know anyone yet to celebrate with them. So this year I wanted to make it special also because it was his last 20's birthday. 

On Saturday morning Addie and I gave Kevin his birthday present which was a water skiing lesson out at Tallington Lakes.  We really happen to have a water skiing lake only 10 minutes away from our house and one of the top slalom skiers in the world actually skis out at this lake sometimes. Kevin and I both were getting up pretty good on our new slalom ski, but our fun got cut short with our move over here and since Kevin has been dying to get out on the water all summer I thought this would be a great gift. He was pretty excited eventhough he wishes we would be able to go out on our own boat for an all day boating excursion, but this was the best alternative. Now we just have to find a warm day to head out to the lake.

Saturday night we got together with some friends to bid Dave and Tara Rossman farewell as the make their move back to the US. Both of them were ISEs in the UK and funny enough for us they were both from Iowa. Kevin and I will miss them especially since Dave was a fellow Iowa Stater and Tara we'll forgive you for being a Hawkeye because you are such a sweet person...Good luck you guys! I worked with Jenny to surprise Kevin with some balloons and a cake I decorated with a little water skier on it. He was pretty surprised!

On Sunday we got to sleep in and I made Kevin and Addie a big pancake breakfast. We headed out to Stamford for lunch at Pizza Express where Kevin and Addie had fun covering each other with pizza ingredient stickers.
On Sunday night, we had our neighbors over for a BBQ and they gave Kevin a personalized England "football shirt" (which in American is soccer jersey). They had the number 30 put on it because they wanted to remind Kevin that he was almost 30. Kevin was really hoping that the baby would have wanted to come on his birthday but by 10PM Sunday night I told him I didn't think the little guy would make it. We've got Uncle Casey's birthday coming up on Friday so we'll shoot to hold out for that day...maybe.

Oh, The Things You Can Do With Your Credit Cards

Well this morning I had one of those moments that we've all experienced.  You are getting ready to head out the door or get out of your car and as you lock the door and close it you realize in that last moment that you just locked yourself out with your keys inside.   Yes, I locked Addison and I out of the house this morning on our way to pick up some odds and ends at Sainsbury's.  First of all you are probably thinking, hey, I thought she was doing the online shopping thing, why is she going to the store.  Well there are just a few little bits that Sainsbury's has that Tesco doesn't sell so I thought I would go and stock up a couple of them so I didn't have to explain where they were in the store when I wanted them.  Anyway, back to my story...my first reaction was to call Kevin eventhough I didn't want to make him come all the way home to unlock the door, but I didn't know what else to do.  He didn't answer so I left a crazy, frantic message.  Then I went over to Min's house to hang out until Kevin called back.  When Min opened the door and saw me with my shopping bags and Addie's diaper bag she thought I was leaving her so I could go to the hospital.  But then I explained what was going on and she said she could help me out.  Apparently since only the upper key hole was locked on the door, you can jimmie it open with a credit card.  I said, "Are you serious?"  She grabbed a card and we walked back over to my house and sure enough in about 10 seconds she was able to get my door open.  Two things from this...it's neat to know that if I lock myself out again like this that I can really get back in, secondly, this is really, really bad because anyone could literally get in my house.   I usually deadbolt the lock when we leave the neighborhood, but it truly is amazing what you can do with a credit card these days.

Three Weeks to Go...Can you say "Nesting?"

Oh my, the boy must soon be on his way because I can't keep myself from trying to clean every inch of the house.  I get burst of energy now and again and I find myself down on my hands and knees cleaning behind the toilets, scrubbing inside the microwave, moving furniture in the conservatory to sweep.  Then Addison follows behind me and wants to dump her blocks on the floor, starts drawing on the dining room table with her crayons and then she goes out and gets in her sand box then walks in the house with sandy shoes.

I had a false alarm last night when I woke up at 3 AM with really bad pain in the lower left side of my tummy.  It would get really intense and then die back down after about a minute.  This went on for about a half hour as I lie there in bed thinking of everything I didn't have ready in order to go to the hospital in case I was really in labor.  Thankfully I fell asleep and woke up about 2 hours later feeling just fine.

Today I've been getting some back pains and some tightening in my tummy so I can only assume that these are some type of contractions.  I have a strong feeling that my child could be coming this week, but who knows.  Last night we Skyped my parents and the baby was moving so much that they could actually see him doing summer saults in my tummy.  Kevin has a tough time watching because he just can't image what is going on in there.

We'll keep you all posted!!!