Merry Christmas!

As I sit here writing this it is 7:30pm on Christmas Eve.  I just put my boys to bed and prayed for their salvation through Christ Jesus.  Kyle and I usually read The Gospel Story Bible by Marty Machowski to Ethan before bed.  We will eventually read it to both boys but Jaron is a little too young to sit still for very long and Ethan would get way too distracted with his brother in the room.  My point is that I want my focus for Christmas (and everyday) to be on Christ's birth and what he came to do on this earth.  So I read to him from this book and tonight we went directly to the birth of Jesus.  Even though its a children's bible, it is always good to hear the gospel!  The end of the sections in the book always has a way to pull everything into perspective.  Here it is:

"Did you know God planned the exact moment when Jesus would come into the world to save us from our sins? Paul tells us that "when the fullness of time had come," God sent his Son to redeem us so we could be brought into God's family (Galations 4:4). God had our salvation all planned out even before he made the world (Ephesians 1:4). So it was easy for God to tell Joseph that Jesus was the one to "save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).  Did you know that Mary's son Jesus was both man and God at the same time?  That is very important.  As a man, Jesus carried our sins for us on the cross and took our punishment.  And because he was God, he grew up to heal the sick and raise the dead.  Death could not win over him!  Jesus came back to life on the third day so that some day we can rise and be with him in heaven."

It was so nice to read that tonight.  God plans every detail and I know that He is sovereign and gracious!  I thank the Lord for my salvation through Christ and pray that my children will have the same salvation and eternal life.  I have been overwhelmed with my little Jaron being sick for almost a week and I have been sad to see him sick.  But I know God has planned this part out in my life just as Romans 8:28 says "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." God has me in this trial to make me more like Christ and to trust him more fully with every aspect in my life and my kids lives!  On the back of our Christmas card this year we wrote "God's love through Christ's sacrifice gives believers joy and peace everyday!  We celebrate and remember Christ's birth because he came humbly to this earth to save us from our sins. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!"  He deserves all praise and glory for ever and ever.  Even in the midst of my child being sick and the unknown for tomorrow, I can always trust Him fully and have peace and joy because of Christ's work! 

Jaron’s Birth-day 2012

What another blessing to find out we were pregnant again for the second time!  We went to each grandparent's house and shared the news by having Ethan wear a shirt that had "Big Brother Dec. 2012" written on it! It was another smooth pregnancy, thank the Lord. It is always so neat when you feel a baby moving in your tummy! It is also amazing to see the detailed workings of the human body that the Lord has created in little baby form!

I wrote this on Feb. 2nd 2013; Jaron was 6 ½ weeks old.


I was thinking Jaron was coming on time because I felt like my body was more prepared.  But God had a different idea. And I had another opportunity to trust Him in the unknown of the situation.  Jaron’s due date was December 9th, three days before his cousin’s due date but his cousin was born on the 6th of December.  I again had to schedule an induction.  (December 18th)

When we first got to the hospital and last belly pic.

This time my cervix was dilated to 2 ½ cm and 50% effaced.  We went into the hospital at 8:00 am.  I was started on pitocin at 10am.  I wanted to go and walk around to help the pitocin work.  We walked back and forth twice and I was having pretty good contractions at that point so I decided to go in the room and sit on a birth/exercise ball.  At this point, I was unsure if I was going to get the epidural or not. Kyle and I were playing scramble (a game on the iPhone) in between contractions. During contractions, I would sit and sway on the ball trying to relax and take deep abdominal breaths.  Kyle was a great support and was massaging and pressing on my lower back during contractions.  My mom was a great support to Kyle, giving him what he needed to help me.  I asked for a popsicle at around 12 pm and finished half of it because the intensity of the contractions was increasing significantly.  The nurse checked me and I was at a 5!  I wasn't expecting that at all!  I was even telling Kyle… “Don’t feel bad if I am just at a 3.”  I was progressing pretty quickly and the doctor asked if I wanted my water broken and we said no.  Dr. Kim was our doctor and he was very understanding and cooperative with our wishes for our birth.  I think by this point they said that since I was in pretty active labor that they wouldn't turn up my pitocin and I was able to get through the contractions and breathe through them. I think at that point I told myself this pain is only temporary and I can do this with God’s strength.  I also think if my water had broken I may have gone with an epidural(because of my previous experience with Ethan) but I decided not to.  I stayed in bed after they checked me because after that my contractions got much stronger. I could tell I was in transition because I felt like I could just start balling, but I kept it in. I layed down and Kyle held my hand and told me encouraging things.

 After a little while, I was feeling “pushy” and they decided to check me. At which point I was dilated to 8 cm.   I remember once in-between contractions I sang “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I tried to focus on the Lord and that this was a temporary pain and I would have my baby soon. It went pretty quick and they checked me after about 2-3 contractions and I was at a 9. My water broke on its own. The nurse called to the doctor and said to get in the room “we are going to have a baby and we are going to have it now.” Once I was ready to push, the doctor had not yet come in the room.  The nurse asked me to push once and said to stop right away.  Jaron was coming!  The doctor came into the room and barely had time to get his gown on and the bed wasn't broken down either (which was fine with me).  The doctor had me push once during a contraction and had me breath the rest of the time after that because our new baby boy was coming without really pushing.  Jaron was born at 2:41pm on December 18th.
It was a challenging and great experience and I was so happy to see and hold Jaron for the first time. I am so thankful to the Lord for the experience of having and raising children!

Daddy and Jaron

First family picture!

Going home!

Ethan's arrival (aka birth story) 2011

It has been a while since we posted any thing on this blog.  It is coming up on Ethan's 2nd birthday and I wanted to share how he arrived into this world.  There isn't any graphic details just birth/labor language.  We are thankful to the Lord for the miracle of life.

Ethan’s Birth Story (written when Ethan was almost 17 months)

I wanted to write a little about Ethan’s birth story.  As much as I can remember because it is almost 17 months ago.
I will start at the beginning.
We found out we were pregnant with Ethan one day before we were supposed to go to an informational meeting for domestic infant adoption.  We were so excited. And you can read more about that here.  I had a very fun and healthy pregnancy.  It was a hot summer and I was at the end of my pregnancy through all of it.  I was trying to be very patient but I was excited to see his little face and be able to hold him in my arms. (Instead of holding him in my belly).  

40 weeks

41 weeks, 5 days

Forty weeks (August 15th), his due date, came and went and we scheduled the induction for August 25th.  We had been going through a Bradley method class to inform us on different options in birth and using more natural methods.  My blood platelets had been dropping through out the pregnancy but never had symptoms of bleeding too much.
We went in to the hospital at 6pm on August 25th for the induction.  The hospital was pretty busy with deliveries.  And we weren’t induced until 11pm that night.  They said I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced.  So they started me first on a cervical softener.  We had a difficult time sleeping because the nurses had to come in about every 2 hours and get my vital signs. Also,  Ethan was being monitored through the night and machines were noisy.  We woke up around 7am and they checked me in the morning and I had dilated to a 2 and 70% effaced.  They started me on pitocin.  I was doing fairly well and was in and out of the tub.  I am a little fuzzy on times now and will do my best with details at this point.  At one point, they checked me and said I was at 3cm and they wanted to break my water.  After much thought we decided to have my water broken.  They broke my water and I had two very painful contractions back to back.  It was an eye opener!
At that point, I decided to get into the tub and try and relax.  When I was in the tub, the next contraction came and I felt my body/belly drop and try to bear down/push.  I told Kyle I think I had the urge to push.  The nurse was called in and I got out of the tub and she checked me at which I was only at a 4.  A little too early for pushing.  Every contraction after that I was fighting the urge to push and involuntarily pushing.
I am not sure how long that lasted but everyone was getting concerned that my cervix would swell and tear if I continued.  Actually, my cervix had started to swell at some point.  I decided I needed an epidural to try to continue with a normal delivery and to avoid a c-section.
God is faithful and I know he was there helping.  When I decided to get the epidural they needed to check my platelets again before I got it because they were pretty low when they took them when I first got there the day before.  My platelets went up and I was able to have an epidural.  The anesthesiologist was able to place the epidural in between contractions.  Praise the Lord! After the epidural, they checked me and I was at a 7.  Maybe an hour later I was at 9cm.  And then it was almost time to push. My mom got a call from my sister that she had made it to the hospital (She lives out of town).  Before I started pushing my sister and my dad came in to say hello.  Kyle and my mom stayed in the room when I started pushing.  I pushed for an hour and Ethan was born at 12:09 am on August 27th!  Just barely adding to many birthdays in our family that land on the 27th day of the month.  We were so thankful that Ethan was here and healthy.  God is so gracious; we feel very blessed to have children.