Memory Monday - Caspian Luke

This time 3 years and 2 days ago we dropped our older two children off at trusted friend's houses and headed to the hospital in Longmont, Colorado. About 7 hours of labor and Caspian Luke was born at 12:53am on November 28th! I am forever grateful and indebted to the Nicholls, Forsgrens and Sanders for taking care of my children. They will always be our good friends.

Just after he was born:

3 years ago yesterday I gave birth to an amazing little boy. Caspian Luke has grown and developed so much. I can't believe how much time has passed and how very blessed I am. Happy birthday my toddler boy!

Now you are a big brother:
In the month of November, a month of thankfulness, I have now given birth twice. My month, heart and joy are full.

P.S. Aunt Carianne is visiting and taking good care of us. Her biggest obstacle seems to be the can opener. (Its not your average utensil. Trust me.) She is attempting to potty train the 3 year old. We will see who comes out victorious at the end of the week.

Mally Mo

Just because she is so cute and changing all the time I will post more pictures of my little Mallory.

So squashy:

She is wearing a dress I wore as a baby. I thought that there were photos of me in it, but I can't find them. So, there is no proof and I could be mistaken. In any case it is vintage. ;)
You can see the blood vessel in her eye here. Plus, I love her gray eyes right now. So cute!! (but I may be biased.)
Happy Thanksgiving! We are celebrating tonight because Andy has to work every day for the rest of the week.

Celebrating 3

Luke has the misfortune of having a birthday caught between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is hard to find a date to celebrate. We decided to invite his two best friends and their families last Saturday for pizza and cake. The kids played, the adults talked and it was an all around good time. Lukers decided his birthday theme was orange. I used food coloring for the cake and frosting. Nothing fancy. (Rosy even dressed her family in orange for the occasion. ;)

Singing Happy Birthday to my boy:

Enjoying the cupcakes sans ice cream:
Opening up his gifts with a very hands-on older sister:
He got some great gifts. He has been playing cars and doctor a lot since then. The remote control car he got even has a name, Frankie. We have watched Up and played finger puppets. When Aunt Cari comes on his actual birthday (this Sunday) we will celebrate again. Lucky boy!

I Am a Mother

I have pretty much stopped doing book reviews. However, I wanted to do one for book 97 on my list. My mom sent it to me for my birthday. It is called I am a Mother by Jane Clayson Johnson. It was a beautiful book about not viewing your job as "just" a mother. It talked about how the world demeans this sacred job. She used sources from all over. I loved her reference to Phyllis Diller especially. It touched me over and over. I cried, laughed, smiled and came away a happier mommy. It was just what I needed. (Thanks, Mom!) Anyway, I am going to make Carianne read it when she comes and would love to give a copy to my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. If you ever find a copy, I recommend picking it up and reading it. It is fast and lovely.

Weight Problems

We went to our 2nd doctors appointment today. Last week we found out that Mallory lost 1/2 a pound since birth. Not surprising, that is expected. Today, despite almost constant eating she has not gained anymore weight. She is 1 1/4 inches longer though. Basically 6 pounds 10 ounces and 20 1/4 inches long. So, instead of a 2 month appointment, we have a 1 month check up and then a 2 month. They are hoping she will have a growth spurt. Right now she is in the 25%. That is bizarre to me. My children usually have regained birth weight and an extra pound or two by now. She could very well be the small one. That will be an interesting and a welcome change.

2 Weeks from Today

Two weeks from today I turn the big 3-0. All I wanted was a healthy baby. This has been a frustration for people, my husband especially. I finally realized that for years I have wanted a decent Christmas tree. Andy and I bought ours when we were first married for about $10. The base broke last year, but we can balance it okay and make it work. Yesterday Andy took the children and bought me a 7 footer! They set it up while I was making dinner in the kitchen. Now, I have a Christmas tree in my front room, but no other decorations. We should remedy that, huh?

P.S. I am allergic to all conifer trees, so we can't have a real one.

Sleeping Beauty

I have been taking pictures of our new angel, but this is pretty much what she does all the time besides eat.

I managed to get this one...
But a couple of minutes later:

We are doing well and trying to adjust. She likes to be awake between 2am and 6am. I am pretty tired but can't seem to sleep during the day.

Catching up..Again

Rocking Luke to sleep a week before having the baby.

In our house we love the Bass Pro Shop. We went to Santa's Wonderland preview literally just a few hours before I went into labor with Mallory. I was going to post these, but I was in the hospital instead. It was a lot of fun and our last family outing as 5.

The Santa was so great and look at his beard!!

I was going to post this in conjunction with a new picture of my belly at 39 weeks pregnant. Here's the picture anyway. :)

Our daughter's name

My friend Stacie made the wall hanging for the baby shower.

Andy has chosen to name her Mallory, from a French word meaning beautiful, or mail (as in the armor), also the author Thomas Mallory a Frenchman who wrote a compilation of Arthurian legends. As I thought about a name I wanted to honor Popi. Pam wants to use May and that is the best I could come up with for Archie Maynard in the feminine. Then I realized that if you add some letters to May you can get Mallory. Hope would be because I was reading in Moroni and watching the April General Conference. That beautiful word kept coming up and then popping into my mind as a middle name for her. I have held onto it since. Plus, H for me (and Heather) and a P for Pam.

When people hear of it, they mention Family Ties. I did not remember that she was character on it. Babysitter's Club is also brought up. The literary link is actually The Spiderwick Chronicles and The Christmas Jar.

Just one moment

I have started the overly emotional postpartum stage. It all happened so fast I thought for sure I wouldn't have the baby until my due date or after. We were still planning and going about our lives. Now, we are marveling at our blessings. I am so overwhelmed with joy and surprise. I am so proud of me. This is my first completely natural birth. I don't count the others because of induction and stripping membranes. I prayed it would be this way. The Lord has answered my prayers so quickly and thoroughly with this pregnancy.

I want everyone to celebrate like I am in my heart all the time now. We are all together. We are healthy. My emotions are so close to the surface I cry about everything. I cry because Mallory is already getting bigger. I cry because I know I am going to mess up. I cry because I love her so much and enjoy just holding her. I cry because this is it. My family is complete. I will never experience pregnancy again or the joyous pain of giving birth. A stage of my life has ended. It is bittersweet. I am trying to articulate some of what has been running through my head since Sunday. I just sat and looked around me. I didn't turn on the TV or read or anything all day while I was in the hospital. I just sat and said "thank you" over and over to my Heavenly Father. I can now define "my joy is full". All I need it to find that joy in the journey.

Welcome Mallory Hope

At 6:50 am on Sunday November 7, 2010 Mallory Hope Bahlmann joined our family.

Here are some photos, followed by the labor story for all interested parties. ;)

This photo was taken about 1/2 an hour after she was born. Still swollen.

After her first bath.
The proud older sister got to hold her first.
Marcus was so excited. (Anneke would not leave the baby's side.)
Luke thinks his baby is "so cute".
I love this shot of Andy admiring his little girl.
Getting ready to go home. (Look at all that hair!)
The only shot of me with the baby thus far.
On Sunday morning at 1am I woke up uncomfortable. I timed my contractions and realized I had "bloody show" so while I looked up whether I should go to the hospital I called Andy (working a graveyard) at around 2am. He told me to let him know what I decided. So, since I could, I called Heather. She told me to go in to the hospital. I was still nervous about waking people up and having it be a false alarm. By the time Andy got his replacement and came home it was about 3:30am and I was getting more uncomfortable. After dropping our kids off we arrived at the hospital around 4am. I told them my contractions were 3-5 minutes apart. (She thought I said 35 minutes and was a bit confused.) I was dilated to a 7-8. They kept commenting that I was too calm to be that far. My favorite doctor was on call until 7am, but they had no beds. So, I would be delivering in the OR. Luckily a room was found and cleaned. I got in the room at 6:20am. They broke my water and discovered meconium. She had pooped inside the womb so we had to deliver fast. I had 2 very hard contractions where I was saying, "OW, OW, OW." At 6:40 the nurse checked me and said Dr. Skinner wouldn't be delivering me. I prayed she was wrong because I REALLY did not want the doctor replacing him. Literally right after she said that I said, "Then why do I feel like I need to push?" She began rushing around and calling respiratory for the baby. I had 3 contractions I had to breath through and try not to push. The baby could have been in real trouble if I had. Dr. Skinner came in at 6:45. (He got off at 7am.) They had me push 5 times without breaks and literally kinda pulled her out and rushed her to get respirated. (Andy didn't have to cut the cord, which he was happy about.) She looked awful to me. Her torso was so swollen and she was greenish. But, her APGAR was 7/9. For an hour she screamed. I kept having Andy check on her. She has 2 bruises, one on each check and a popped blood vessel in her left eye because of how quickly everything went. WOW! That is my story. LEss than 6 hours of labor, about 2 1/2 hours at the hospital. The moral is, listen to your older sisters.

Mallory is very vocal and we are very blessed. (We are already home. I could have stayed longer, but was tired of being woken up and wanted to get on with life. We'll see how this goes.)

Oh come on!

After a week of pretty consistent contractions I am (almost) at a 2 with very little more progress. When i didn't know I was in labor with Anneke I was at a 2 when they checked me. I am tired and trying to figure out what is going on with my body. I am seriously wondering if my body has to have pitocin to go into active labor. That kinda scares me. I really, strongly dislike being induced. I am losing weight and the baby's heart beat is down, but they say there is nothing to worry about. I feel like crying and have decided I need a pedicure. Now, just to find a time I can actually do it.

Chunky babies

People don't believe me when I say my babies are chunky. Unless you see them then it is hard to imagine the skinny things they are to look like this:

Marcus 4 months old (Summer 2002)

Anneke 4 months old (Fall 2004)

Caspian Luke (Spring 2008)

They really don't look a lot alike so I can't play that "Guess Which is which?" game. They hardly look like they do now, even. But, I wanted to share my babies since I am still waiting to see this one in person. Don't you just want to kiss those cheeks?

P.S. I am going to be taking a break from typing on the computer for a while. I have been sticking my foot in my cyber mouth a lot and think it best if I let my life calm down. I love you and will still read blogs and such.

RIP

A year ago today we lost a good family friend. Since finding out we are expecting our 4th child I have missed her everyday. Walking out the front door it was a surreal moment when I saw her identical twin parked across the street at the park. That reminded me of today's anniversary. Mimsy, thanks for the time we shared. Know that you are missed.

Harvest Holiday

For my 700th post I was hoping to introduce the newest member of our family. If for no other reason than I am sick of being up all night with contractions only to have them go away in the light of the day. Yesterday was especially bad and I was not in the mood for all the questions at church, but I went anyway. This child did not want to be an October OR Halloween baby. At least with Luke it was JUST waiting and not painful! Okay, anyway, my 700th post is about Halloween/Harvest day instead.

This is our ballerina. Beautiful!

This is Green Lantern not a bandit. He even has the ring to prove it.
Aquaman is easier to see with his glowstick trident. (In more ways than one.)
Drama is our daughter's middle name. So, this is the sibling picture 2010:
Last try? Close enough:
In case you need help I am "Bear feet and Prego":
I lost the costume contest to a Harry Potter. Mine was more creative. I only care because I wanted that IBC Root Beer. ;)

I hope everyone had a fun day. Marcus's orthodontist is giving him a $1 a pound for his candy, especially stuff he can't eat with braces. We went through it all and I think he will have at least 5 pounds to give him this week.

(We didn't manage to get a picture of Andy as an Indian. He was in his Order of the Arrow regalia. People kept asking what he was, so he started to get sarcastic and say, "A cowboy". You would think it pretty obvious.)