I guess first off is to introduce our newest family member, Rebekah Elisabeth Lotz. That's her own name, our joint commonest (probably) female family name, and our last name. She was Rebekah before she was born, she was the only one to have a name before she was born or even conceived. I had been waiting for her since I was pregnant with Zachary. And here she is.
Labor was stressful, we ended up in the OR for over an hour as her heart rate would suddenly, and for no apparent reason, plummet to the 70's and stay there for 4-5 minutes. This is huge considering that a fetus' heart rate is usually in the 120's and 130's. It will often dip (though not that low) during contractions, but it wasn't during contractions when the decels (that's what they are called) were occurring. After the third time I was gowned up and taken to the OR. Her heart rate was back to normal when we got in there and so we waited to see if she would tolerate further contractions and allow my body to get to 7 cm and hopefully on to a vaginal delivery. The doctor gave us the choice to wait and see or do the c-section, but warned that if her heart rate dropped again, the choice was gone and it would be an immediate c-section. We were in there over an hour and it was not comfy. I was in a bad position for me but a good one for her, so I just dealt with it. When we got back to the room, because I did start progressing again it was a relief. But then I had a big contraction and her heart rate dropped to 46, I am not exaggerating. I squirmed and moved around to shift her and get it up. It did come up just as the nurse was coming in. I looked at the nurse, who was AMAZING the whole time, and said "She did not like that, did she?" The nurse agreed and I told her about the big contraction, she checked me and I was at a 10!!! Nurse hugged me and said get ready to push. Everyone rushed in and got the room set up and I started pushing as they set up. I pushed through about 10 contractions and out she came. She was face up and had the cord around her neck and leg, which probably accounted for the slow progression and the heart rate drops. She was perfect. But a little bluish. But she pinked right up and was great.
She's an amazing sleeper and a super chill baby. It has been such a blessing to have such a tempered baby. She'll be up 1.5-2 hours at a time during the day and, now, takes 2-3 hour naps (they used to be 4 hours long, sigh). She sleeps for 10-12 hours at night and never woke more than once a night. I couldn't ask for a more incredible sleeper. Nursing didn't work as my milk, I now know, just didn't have enough calories, but being on a bottle and being able to control those calories meant I could let her sleep as long as she would go. It has been a life saver as it allows me to focus on the older kids during the day, and sleep at night. When she's awake she is almost always in a good mood, only when she is ready to sleep or eat does she really get cranky. Oh and she can get really mad if she is kept up too long, like at church. She is a dream. A sixth child needs to be that way.
We are still homeschooling, and now it's Cassidy, Molly, Julia, and Sean. It's a constant day, but I wouldn't change it for almost anything. I don't like when they start fighting, but I love that they are around and I get to see so much of the progress they are making. I love it. There is never enough time in the day to get everything done, but in 10 years I will look back and not wish I had spent more time cleaning the house, I will be glad for all the time we had together.
I have discovered InstaCart. Oh boy. That an Amazon are my favorite websites currently. So Instacart will deliver groceries from my favorite store four times a month for, get this $149 a year.!!!!! Agh!!! No more having to drag everyone to and through the store. I can go online and it is brought to my door. Oh I love freeing up those hours for something I need more, like going to the gym two nights a week. That has also been huge. My body was so spent and drained after six births in eight years. I need to strengthen it and get it moving well again. Even in the past month I have seen a HUGE difference in how much I want to move (and what I eat which is a great side benefit) and how I feel about myself. I want to loose this baby weight that has not wanted to come off since the birth but it's so much more. It's about getting strong and healthier again. And not being tempted in the grocery store by all the yummy yummy stuff is another big bonus with delivered groceries. I HIGHLY recommend it. 149 divided by 48 deliveries a year = $3.10 a delivery. That is so worth the saving in gas, time, hassle, sanity, everything. Totally worth it. Check it out. They do a 2 week free trial. See if they have it in your area.
Here is a referral link, you get $10, I get $10, win-win.
https://inst.cr/t/7zM2hodTf
What else? Can't think anymore. I will write again and put up pictures next week.
Oh yeah, bell choir started up!!!! Gotta love bells.
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