Typical night for me

Ever wonder what other people do every day? Wish you could be a fly on the wall? Well now's your chance! This is a typical night at our house.....

(FYI - I don't list hubby here because nothing's typical with him. Some nights he's in bed -or at least asleep on a chair shortly after putting the kids to bed... some nights he isn't home - at a client's office working.... other nights he's in his home office working on the computer all night. I just chose to leave him out since I never know where he's going to be)

Our kids are supposed to go to bed around 8pm.. HA! It's typically closer to 9pm.
(Please tell me I'm not the only one slacking in bedtime strictness)

(Almost) everyone FINALLY gets to sleep so I can have some "ME time". There is one "little" problem and she can be quite random.







Yes! When the older kids go to sleep Peanut decides it's "me time" for HER and she gains her second wind.

She will try to trick me by pretending to sleep for an hour. Then she wakes up and is ready to go agin for several hours.

At some point... between 3am and 4:30am she finally runs out of steam.

I check on the rest of the kids...

Tinkerbell decides to sleep with Jabberbox for the night. (Weekends mean we get to play musical beds.... never know who will be in who's bed).



One of our kitties (Appa) keeps a nightly vigil with Power Ranger. He may appear asleep but he perks up at the slightest noise of someone entering the room. Good watch cat.



Dragon Girl has been sick all week. Fevers around 104. She's finally better and sleeping peacefully.



After a full tummy, a good several hours of "bat the toy" and checking in on everyone, Peanut falls asleep and I take her upstairs (I had to turn around on the stairs so we weren't backlit - I'm really heading UP the stairs).



I stop off to close windows around the house and pass by our "grandpa" kitty Narcissus. He's curled up on one of our sofas.



FINALLY I get to our bedroom. Lay Peanut in her bed and head for my current read...
(The book lives between the burprags and wipies)



EARLY the next morning I get to wake up to this beautiful face...



.... and do it all over again.

I LOVE being a MOM!!!!

SHE'S HERE!!!

Ok... I don't have a nickname for our little bundle yet... so.. "Peanut" is here!!!



I have to laugh... The morning after my last post my contractions started (again)... well, you can see the results. LOL!!

THE STORY:
I went to my regular 37 week visit at my midwives office. I was contracting and feeling less chipper than my regular self. Did all the usual check-up stuff. When the midwife checked to see how dilated I was her face changed. Her eyes bugged out a bit and she said "Oh, BOY!! You're 7cm with a bulging bag". So off we went to the hospital (only a couple of minutes up the road from the office).

They were expecting me and rushed me to my L&D room. Got there around 11:45am. 30 min later I got my epidural (yay!!! I did not have one for the last 2 pregnancies and have some long term damage from things going so fast). I was hoping the epidural would slow down my labor (it did by about 30 minutes).

The midwife had 4 other ladies in labor at the time. It was a very busy day. Apparently the weather was playing into the day's events. It had been sunny and a BEAUTIFUL day until after Peanut was born. Within 20 min of her birth this is what it looked like outside:



The midwife came in a little before 1 and asked when I wanted her to break my water... I said.. whenever you have some time and want to deliver this babe (I don't stay pregnant for very long after my water breaks. With Tinkerbell - she was born about 30 min later).

That epidural was AMAZING!!!! I didn't feel much. I got to watch the monitor tell me I was having contractions. They started coming so fast one couldn't end completely before the next one would be going full force. Then her heart rate dropped to about 100BPM (should be in the 140's). They put an oxygen mask on me and turned me onto my right side. Well.... they did tell me that the epidural works by gravity... My right side went totally numb while my left side started to wake up. Then I started to FEEL the pain during transition. I rotated back to my back - slightly tipped to my left trying to convince the meds to move over (YES, I pushed the button for more drugs ha ha). It didn't have really a chance to do it's thing before the nurse came in to confirm that Peanut was "right there".

Wall buttons get pushed... midwife and nurses come rushing in. Everyone is moving in such a swift and smooth pattern it looked rehersed. For the first time ever (Peanut is my 5th child) I got to SEE one of my babies get born. I also was given the opportunity to help pull her out. WOW was NOT expecting that one.

I can honestly say that this was the easiest and literally most FUN birth I've ever experienced. I never knew that it could be so awesome... and controlled. I'm use to TONS of pain and my brain being Liquified GOO from all the chemicals and pain surging through my system. Rather than being in chaos I was in AWE.

Here's Peanut being held by daddy right after birth:



I got to enjoy some time with just the youngest 2 girls:



Here is the family... READY to visit the new baby:



Our Greeting when we got home: