Just a Couple More Pix

Enjoying lazy time with our precious God given angel :)

Hospital Photos

 http://www.bellababyphotography.com/galleries/rcar0121cjdrmzq?as=slideshow 

More Pictures!

Driving home from the hospital, starting to snow again.

More Addison pictures

All bundled and ready to go home in the snow!

Oh and one other thing, I had gone to a teen/ladies dinner at church last weekend and got to hear my sweet friend Kim's testimony, which was encouraging.  However, I did feel the need to really seek God and ask Him if I was indeed saved because of her testimony.  I got a clear answer during our delivery day.  Praise be to God! 

Addison Marie is here!

While we were having a baby, the kiddos were making snow ice cream! :)

Wednesday morning, I woke up to a couple of signs of either labor or impending labor.  I had an OB appointment any way that afternoon, but the weather was to complicate things because we had  snow coming in.  The OB actually called me and asked if I could come in early and Sean and I agreed.  We decided to go ahead and ask for The Bates girls and Courtney Green to come over before the weather got bad to watch the kids, in case we stayed at the hospital.  So, we headed off to the OB going 25 mph the whole way there!  It took an hour.  Dr. Hayes checked me and I was dilated to 4 so because of yes you guessed it.....the weather......she decided to strip my membranes and send me over to L and D for observation.  We were there from about noon until 530, at which time I was admitted.  In that time span, we did a lot of walking and I would have contractions that were strong, but not consistent.  They put me on the monitors twice.  I think they would have let us stay overnight even though we weren't sure I'd be having a baby.  Well, then the nurse checked me at 530 and to all of our surprise I was dilated to an 8!!!!!!  And so that is when I wa admitted.  Dr. Metcalf decided to break my water, which we thought would really speed things up because my contractions still weren't consistent, but it didn't really change anything.  It sure did when they broke my water with Hailey!  And that's why every pregnancy story is different!  Any way, some time later, Dr Metcalf decided it was time to start Pitocin to try to regulate contractions.  I was feeling discouraged and defeated and he had already left the room and I think I said something along the lines of "I guess I don't have a choice".  I really didn't want Pitocin.  It makes trying to have a natural L and D a lot harder because the contractions are a lot stronger and it makes it harder to relax and just let my body take over.  Sean said, "Well of course you have a choice" and the nurses chimed in in agreement.  Only later did we find out that Dr. Metcalf thought we had been started on the Pitocin because the nurses didn't tell him that we hadn't.  They suggested we talk about it and then  they would come back.  Sean and I unbeknownst to one another just started fervently praying.  For about 45 mins.  I closed my eyes and just focused on meditating on 2 scriptures the Lord had brought to my mind: "I can do all things through Jesus Christ, which stengtheneth me" and "Without faith, it is impossible to please Him".  Any time I felt my mind going towards discouragement, I would repeat over and over "We can do this" and "My body was created to do this".  Through the power of God and His awesomeness, contractions started coming every 4 mins, and then every 2, and then it was time to call the nurses.  I did about 4 rounds of practice pushes and then they called Dr. Metcalf back in, and I did about 3 more rounds of pushes and then our precious, sweet, sweet Addison Marie was born at 849 pm January 20th weighing 8 lbs 4 oz and 21.5 in long.  She was and IS perfect.  God's perfect creation.  She has been doing very well.  She has a little jaundice and she likes to only pee like once or twice a day and she spits up a little, but she's just trying to figure all this new stuff out I suppose.  They sent us home yesterday right before the next round of snow.  I've been doing well, too!  I had a tear, but I don't really have much pain.  Just been resting a lot and letting Sean do more, which has stressed him out a little.  We have really purposed for me to rest more this time around instead of trying to be super woman.  The kiddos have been so excited to have their new sister and that's all they have been talking about and they have been really sweet with her.  We've got our snow baby!  It's snowing as I type.  :)  

I feel so reenergized and on fire for the Lord and more in love with Jesus!  He is amazing!  

A couple of other testimonies:  Addison had just gone over 24 hours without a wet diaper and they had paged the pediatrician.  The nurse had come in to give us our options and then left so we could talk about it.  Once again, we started praying separately, and she peed!  We also prayed for food that was taking over an hour to get to us and as soon as we prayed, it arrived....even with a 2nd tray for Sean for free.  :)  

We are really learning the power of prayer and the importance of going to the father for everything through prayer FIRST!  The funny thing is, we both had felt unable to pray all that day (Addison's birthday), so I'm so thankful that somehow that all changed.  

Lastly, on this forever long post, pray for Dr. Brown, who is the pediatrician at the hospital and for his salvation.  He was asking one of the nurses about us, asking why we seemed different.  She stated JESUS!  And he said he knew she was going to say that!  He said, they prayed and had a baby, then they prayed again and their baby had a wet diaper and then they prayed again and their baby passed the glucose test.  Again, all the glory to God and we are just thankful He used us and maybe a seed was planted for Dr. Brown.  

Wednesday Jan 20th Snow

Kids playing in the snow while Mommy and Daddy go to the OB

Driving to the OB on Wednesday morning

Made it safely to the hospital!

Kiddos in awesome hands with Courtney Green, Tori Bates, and Josie Bates!

Ryan on Violin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UpAbxVNsio

I forgot to ask what song he was playing!   I will try to get Hunter playing next time.  :)  Oh and today (the 17th) is my due date!  :)

Westgate Waterpark

Just watching a little Paw Patrol! 

Back in November, we had stayed a night at Westgate in Gatlinburg. They had an indoor waterpark that we had promised to take the kiddos to, but we ran out of time and weren't able to.  Well, we had free passes there and decided to use them last Thursday!  We surprised the kids, packed lunches, and headed up there for the day.  It was a blast.  Ryan was the only one tall enough to ride the big slides and he loved doing that with his Daddy!  The water was a bit too cold for me and the kids would start to look really cold, so then we would head over to the hot tub!  We enjoyed ourselves though. 

Sean has started to work as an Uber driver and is learning when and where to go to make money.  He also starts his first sub teaching job today for Anderson County Public Schools.  He's still working on trying to become an online tutor, as well. 

Ryan and Hunter lost their violin teacher (so sad!), but we are looking around for a new one, as well as a piano teacher for Ryan.  And a new swim teacher for all of them. 

As for me, yesterday was my last day at work and now I am on maternity leave.  I'm 39 weeks and carrying around a watermelon lol!  We are super excited to meet new baby!  Also, I found out yesterday that when I come back from maternity leave, I will get to start working from home.  We are feeling very grateful for that! 

We are just watching God work and we are enjoying seeing what He is doing.  It has been pretty exciting so far.  The focus for me for 2016 is being obedient to Him and giving up my so called control in life.  I have also made Galatians 5:22-23 my verse for the year, at the Lord's prompting.  ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Happy late New Year!