Baby #4

5 weeks ago, I was REALLY pregnant and wondering if I was ever going to have this baby. I was wondering if he would come before my scheduled inducement that Saturday. I was wondering if I would have time for an epidural during labor, unlike last time. I was wondering how long my labor would take, and if it would go smoothly. And I was wondering what my baby would be like, and who he would resemble.

Now I know the answers to all of those questions!

Turns out I DID have that baby. Turns out he had to be induced, though only half-way – they gave me progesterone to efface my cervix, and that started my natural labor, so I never needed an IV pitocin drip. Turns out I had plenty of time for an epidural, but that my actual labor (from when I started having real contractions 5 minutes apart) only took about 5 hours – during most of which time I lay in warm drowsy comfort waiting for the exciting part: pushing (which only lasted about 10 minutes – 4 pushes, max.)

Turns out little Phinehas is a medium baby: medium size, medium temperment, somewhere inbetween all of my other kids. He looks like Monica to me – somwhere between Judah and Ezra, with Judah’s smaller features, but Ezra’s coloring. More boyish than Monica, though, and with a larger nose. His two distinctives are that he only recently started trying to stand up, when I hold him upright on a surface (the other children all started that immediately), and that he will take a pacifier, which is a totally new arrangement for me! He sleeps a lot, like most newborns, but I’m having trouble getting his long stretch (4-5 hours) to take place at night when I’m sleeping. Unlike Monica and Ezra, it can take a long time to get him down for a nap, but like both of them, he nurses very quickly, when he’s hungry. And unlike my other kids, he seems quite capable of waiting a whole 3 hours between most meals, which is very nice for me! (I think the others were all more like 2 hours, which makes it difficult to get anything done!)

So now I know! Turns out I didn’t need to know the answers to all of my questions 5 weeks ago – God answered them all in His good time, and here we are today!

Best baby and me picture I can do for now...