First Meetings.

Since baby "Teddy" came late at night, the children didn't get to meet him right away.  As you can imagine, they were at the hospital first thing next morning.  They were all very giddy and excited to see and hold their new baby brother.  And Papa was of course excited to meet grandbaby #11.

It seemed diplomatic to go in birth order. 

So, first Nathan got to hold him,

then Ella,

Adeline,

and Evelyn.

Evelyn looooves babies.  She felt pretty special to get to hold "her" baby all by herself.

Finally, they even let Papa have a turn...kind of. :)

Matt likes to make sure I get in at least one photo, so here's me with all the kids.  My new brood of five (though Caleb's hard to see).  After the baby, the kids considered my bed the second most exciting thing.

The weekend coincided with our nephew's birthday party, so my sister Brenda and her family also got to meet him in the hospital.  As a bonus, Matt and the kids got spend a few hours at Chuck-E-Cheese.

We also were pleasantly surprised that some friends from church also stopped by for a visit.

With their four kids and our five, it was a full room!

Since the kids were always with us, Matt and I didn't have a lot of time to discuss a name.  Matt took the kids home that night as well and stayed with them.  We had a list of five names we were choosing from and had to speak in code.  For example, "I'm leaning towards C, but how do you feel about S"?  It could have been fun to include the kids in the conversation, but I knew they would have opinions and would likely just end up upset their choice didn't win.

We had the middle named settled.  We had chosen Louis, after my mother Lois. 

For first names we considered:  Caleb, Harmon, Henry, Silas, and Theodore.

As you know, we choose Caleb Louis. 

Caleb seemed the most "Thompson-like".  The other boys in the family, Matthew and Nathan, are Biblical names that start with a consonant (if you're curious all the girls are non-Biblical names that start with a vowel).

We also loved the character of Caleb from the Bible.  Joshua 14:14 states that Caleb "followed the Lord, the God of Israel, whole heartedly".  My soul would desire nothing greater than to see all of my children follow the Lord whole heartedly...and so it was the chosen name.

Side note: you may have been thrown by the name Harmon...I was too.  Matt really liked it though, and it is kind of cute. 

The rest of the hospital stay was spent snuggling baby and of course enjoying all of our provided, prepared meals...my personal favorite! 

I like this photo of Evelyn.  I imagine it's the moment where she realized she's not the baby anymore and everything is about to change!

 The boys. 

Nathan is so happy to have a brother! 

Next adventure: Home!

Introducing Baby "Teddy": A Birth Story

This is the story of the day we got to meet sweet Caleb Louis Thompson.

Like many birth stories, this really starts the day before...My children were convinced we needed to check out the new space exhibit at the local science center.  So, knowing our days were numbered I agreed we should go.  I got my 37 week pregnant, puffy self out and we spent an afternoon walking around the air conditioned (a must in August), three-story tall museum.  Later once we were home I finished up our laundry-which requires multiple trip from the basement to the second story.  By the end of the day I had done a lot of steps (too bad I don't have a fitbit) and was exhausted!

After the kids went to bed, I remember looking up what vegetable our baby was comparable to and reading an article on the benefits for baby of going to 39 weeks. I even told Matt my goal was to make it 39 weeks (I hadn't 3 out of 4 previous pregnancies), and we went to bed.

The next morning was a Saturday.  I woke up earlier than usual for a weekend, because my water had broke!  So much for my plan! From experience, we knew a few things: 1.  Once you go to the hospital, they don't let you leave  2.  I wasn't going to start contractions for a while, and likely not without "help" 3.  The baby was coming this weekend!

We milled around the house and Matt spent the morning getting work done in the basement, (which we've been working on finishing for about 1 1/2 years, sigh). I purposely ate something, because I was also aware that I wouldn't get to eat once I went in!

The kids found this massive caterpillar, so that added to the excitement!

(We did keep it, and it is currently wintering on our back deck...we'll see if we get a giant moth this Spring.  Gross or cool, I'm not sure yet).

After lunch I decided to go for a walk.  Fittingly Evelyn came with me and  I got to take a lovely summer walk with my "baby" for the last time.  It was perfect.  We played eye-spy and she told silly stories and I soaked up every minute knowing our lives were about to drastically change.

I finally decided around 2:00 to call the midwife, and she of course told me to come in.  At that point I told Matt is was "time" and we made the kids aware of what was about to happen.  They were over the moon excited!  Everyone all of sudden was filled with giddy.  Nathan was concerned about how I was feeling, but mainly they were ready to meet their brother!

Here's a belly shot before we left.  Since this was baby #5, I didn't get any before this!

The whole way to the hospital, a quick 10 minute drive, the kids say, "Happy Possible Birthday" to the baby, nicknamed Teddy.

We walked into the hospital as a family, and were given another sweet moment.  As we passed by, we were able to see my mom's photo.  I didn't even know it was still up, but they have a running video of photos of organ donors.  We were just in time to see her photo.  It was a special blessing since I'd cried many tears over not having my mom here to meet this baby.  Our God is good.

By God's perfect provision we already had arrangements for our kids to go to a friends' house that evening.  We were suppose to go on a date, but we figured this was kind of like that.  Matt dropped them off at 5:30, and we continued to wait around to see if something would happen.  We tried different natural stimuli, and in the end I opted for Pitocin, a drug that starts contractions.  Many women are scared of it.  I however am not, since I've now had it with every.single.labor.

My dad graciously picked up the kids at our friends' house, they came to say good night, and then I wanted to be alone since the contractions were getting more intense. 

My goal was to have this baby by midnight (Evelyn was born at 3:40 a.m. and the whole experience scarred me).  Labor progressed slower than I expected, but then in a matter of about two contractions I went from 6 cm to ready to push.

Two (maybe three) contractions after this, baby boy Thompson arrived!

It was the most precious moment. I soaked up every second of him laying softly against my chest.  I hope I never forgot his squinty eyes searching around, and his squished little head.  He had a prominent cone head and a swollen chubby face.  He was so dear, and so completely ours.  Matt and I laughed and cried over how precious and wonderful this little baby was that was given to us.

As a bonus, he was born before midnight, 11:46 pm!

He weighed 7 lbs 3 oz. and was 21 1/2 inches long.

Perfect.

This baby didn't have a name yet, but that would come later. 

We were so glad for the quiet time we had with him.  The next day with be full of family and visitors. 

After a room transfer we all went to sleep around 3:00 a.m. completely exhausted. 

(Unfortunately I was up at 4:30 a.m. so famished I couldn't sleep...)

I am so thankful to God. 

I do not take this life for granted, but may I try to live with my hands open to His plan for baby boy.