Jake's Birthday Party

Yesterday we loaded up the Explorer and headed to Topeka for my cousin Julie's son's first birthday party.  Baby Jake (as Dan and Ben call him) is now Big Boy Jake!  My parents and sister Layne drove up from Wichita, so Layne got to meet Hannah for the first time.  

The party was at the Goodyear Shelter House, a nice place with a playground that's available to Goodyear employees (my uncle Anthony and my cousin David work at the plant).  Dan and Ben loved the playground and the giant field out back.  They had a great time running around like maniacs with their second cousins, Taryn and Baylee and Jake.  Hannah also had a great time being passed around from relative to relative.  The weather was a little cool and overcast, but the rain held off so we were able to be outside a lot.  

After the party, we switched cars with my parents and they took the boys back to Wichita for a couple of days.  It's amazing how quiet it is at our house with just the baby.  (And why did I ever think that newborns were difficult?  She eats, sleeps, and poops; she can't go anywhere if I set her down; she doesn't make a mess of toys and puzzles and books; she's easily portable.  Easiest baby ever!)  

A big thanks to Layne for taking such great pictures of Dan and Ben and Hannah at the party!

Welcome, Baby Hannah!

Finally, baby Rashman decided to make an appearance, eight days late!  On Thursday afternoon, Zach and I went down to Overland Park for an ultrasound and a regular appointment with the midwives.  The ultrasound showed that everything was still normal--amniotic levels, baby positioning, heartbeat, respiration, etc., so the midwives weren't too concerned that I was now at 41 weeks.  They did give me castor oil and instructions on how to use it if I wanted to.  Fortunately, we never got to that point because contractions started Thursday evening and progressed quickly!

At about 1:15 in the morning on Friday, I felt that things were moving along enough to give the midwife on call a heads-up that we were going to come in.  The birthing center, New Birth Company, is about 45 minutes away and the last thing I wanted was to have a baby on the side of the highway in the middle of the night, but we made it there a little after 2 am.  The midwife and nurse greeted Zach and me at the door and let us get settled while they made berry smoothies for us.  I was dilated to 5 cm and contractions were pretty regular at 4 minutes apart.  I was still walking around through them while Zach surfed the iPad in the birthing room.  At about 3 am, we decided to lay on the bed and just rest for a bit.  Whitney, the midwife, told me I could lay down for 20 minutes or so, but after that it was time to walk more to keep things moving.

Laying down wasn't too comfortable so I got up to walk at about 3:15.  At this point, the contractions were very intense, but I could still stand up and brace myself against the wall during them.  I asked for the bath to be prepared so I could get in the water if I wanted.  The nurse, Becky, offered me the choice of lavender or peppermint for my bath aromatherapy and I chose lavender.  Love the birthing center!  It was probably about 3:35 at this point and I was sweating pretty good from all the work involved in labor.  The water was about 100 degrees because it has to be kept warm for the baby.  But it was way too warm for me since I was already sweating.  So I lasted about one contraction in the water before I had an overwhelming urge to push.

Whitney, Becky, and Zach helped me over to the bed, where I pushed for one contraction cycle.  At 3:54 in the morning, Hannah Miriam Rashman entered the world!  Whitney put her up on my stomach and turned her over so Zach and I could see together if we had a boy or a girl.  To our shock, she was a she!  And she was perfect--round head like her brothers, long fingers and toes, pink little body.  She weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 18 inches long.

After cleaning Hannah and me up, Whitney and Becky left us alone and we just relaxed and got to know our daughter.  A little while later, I was served a pancake breakfast and Becky ran an herbal bath for me.  It was heaven to soak in a warm tub with Hannah on my chest.  She really enjoyed her first bath and smelled delicious afterwards!

Zach filled out birth certificate paperwork and watched the baby while I took a quick shower to wash my hair and feel normal again.  When everything was done, we were released at about 8:30 am and started on our way home.  So from leaving our house at 1:15 to getting home at 9:30, the whole having-a-baby process took just over 8 hours.  Much different than my previous experiences of two nights in the hospital!

We're settling in nicely as a family of five.  Well, six, if you count my mom who has been such an amazing help these last two weeks.  Hannah is nursing like a champ and even starting to get into a regular sleep schedule.  Dan and Ben are very gentle with her and Dan even acts a little bit like a proud papa when he talks about her.  She is a lucky little lady to have such wonderful big brothers.  If I get my way, our family is now complete but Zach is still holding out hope for one more.  Too soon, buddy, too soon....

Still waiting....

I apologize for my extended absence!  April has been kind of a funny month--just waiting for the new baby to get here (one week overdue today) and trying to hold out for some kind of spring-like weather. We are all tired of 45-degree, overcast, windy days, so we haven't been doing too much fun stuff outdoors.

Yesterday afternoon, the boys headed up to the 3rd floor to release some energy.  The third floor of this old house has two bedrooms, one of which we use for storage and the other we use as a last-resort play area.  Dan and Ben like to go up there and slide on an old box, play in a tent, and throw balls at each other.  Like I said, desperate times call for desperate measures!  Since I hadn't taken any pictures in a while, I took the camera to document the fun.

Easter weekend

On Saturday morning, we headed onto base for an Easter Bunny brunch at the Frontier Conference Center.  Zach and I were not shocked to see that Ben is a real buffet fan.  He easily transitioned from roast beef to French toast to mac and cheese to donuts.  Dan attacked the buffet in a more traditional manner, basically eating lunch and then washing it down with a donut.  When we finished eating, a little egg hunt was set up near the golf course so we headed there next.  The eggs were filled with things besides candy (stamps, stickers, bouncy balls), which was a nice change of pace.

Easter Sunday meant church for everyone, even Zach (with a lot of whining and wailing).  All three boys looked very handsome and I looked like I was smuggling a watermelon under my dress.  Standard these days.  After church, the boys found their Easter baskets hidden in the closet.  They each got a new train, a dinosaur, a chocolate bunny, a little Toy Store figurine, and some crazy straws.  Then I hid some eggs in the backyard and they ran around like maniacs trying to find them.  Happy Easter, everyone!