beating the heat

a few students came over this morning to swim in our community pool. it felt great! the t.v. show/movie initial game...tom was horrible at it. snack time for forrest the only part of me that you will see at the pool! kacey, a.k.a. k k a little football action snack time asher enjoying himself poolside

a picture is worth a thousand words...

john piper and starbuck's...enough said.

brotherly love

i have to admit that i was a teeny bit worried about how caleb would react to having a new sibling around the house. while he is a very loving little boy most of the time, there are limits to what a 2 year old can take...and i wasn't sure if asher was going to be that limit. i am so very thankful that God granted my request to make caleb's heart tender towards his brother. from the first time caleb saw asher in the hospital, he has wanted to hold him, kiss him, and tell him, "it all right asher," or "asher need his my," when he's crying. i hope that God continues to be gracious to me and allow caleb and asher to grow in love one for another each and every day.

asher trent agnew

so i've finally gotten around to uploading pictures on the computer and figured it would be a good time to post about asher's birth...especially since he will be 2 months old this upcoming wednesday! mother of the year i am not. on friday, may 1st, tom and i arrived at williamson county medical center at 5:00 A.M. (i still can't believe that i had to be there that early) to begin my induction. after the check-in, hooking up iv process, talk with the doctor, etc., the pitocin wasn't started until approximately 6:30 and i felt my first contraction around 6:45. they continued to up my pitocin intake by 2 units every 30 minutes until my contractions were 7-8 minutes apart. after that, i labored at the same pitocin level until fully dilated. i also had to have a large dose of penicillin through the iv because i was group b strep positive. to be honest, i don't know exactly when they stopped increasing the pitocin level because i was w-o-r-k-i-n-g. the only similarity to caleb's birth was the fact that i was laboring without an epidural, or other pain-blocking drugs. i had no idea how differently labor felt when artificially induced. don't get me wrong, labor is painful no matter how it starts, but the pitocin amplified the intensity of the contractions to a level much higher than i remember with caleb. at 12:45 p.m. i was ready to push. up to this point, i had been mentally complaining about the external monitors on my belly. i wanted this birth to be minimally invasive, and those two monitors (which were irritating my skin) were invasive. however, i should have kept my (mental) mouth shut because those monitors proved invaluable during the next 30 minutes. asher was progressing out the birth canal slowly, but steadily with every contraction/push and receding back into the birth canal (a little less than before) when i was not contracting/pushing. the old saying "two steps forward, one step back" really is true when it comes to birthing a baby. dr. scott and the nurses wanted me to turn on my side to see if that would help speed the process along. however, the longer i pushed, the lower asher's heart rate dropped. it fell to 68 at one point and prompted dr. scott to order a room ready for an emergency c-section. since i had had no drugs, i would have had to been completely knocked out for that procedure. thankfully, that didn't happen because i just kept pushing. every time i felt a contraction, i pushed. at one point nurses were rushing around getting ready to move rooms and didn't notice that i was pushing until tom said, "uh...she's still pushing!!!" my stubborness really paid off because with a few final pushes the amazing dr. scott was able to help me birth a healthy 7 pound 14 ounce baby asher at 1:18 p.m. asher was a full 1 pound 3 ounces bigger than caleb at birth. after delivery, dr. scott told me that his umbilical cord had been wrapped around his neck causing his heart rate to drop when i pushed...poor thing! thankfully, he had absolutely no ill-effects from the dramatic labor and delivery. later that evening, big brother caleb came to visit with gran and grandad. caleb was soooooo excited to see baby asher. he asked to hold him as soon as he got there. in fact, he held him almost the entire time he visited. tom and i were, and continue to be, extremely humble and thankful to be the parents of two sweet boys.

time goes by soooooooo slowly

had my final pre-natal visit this afternoon. still no asher, but at least there has been some progress. i have dilated 2 cm. and effaced 50%. my ob/gyn was very pleased, so i have decided to be encouraged also. while that doesn't mean that i will go into full-blown labor on my own prior to friday, it does mean that there will be less work to do once i get there. my induction is scheduled for this friday at 5:00 A.M...that's right, A.M. feel free to insert your own sarcastic comment here. while dreading the early wake-up call, tom and i will be ready to get to work.

just waitin'

well, my due date (4/25) came and went without asher making an appearance. however, we do know that we will not be waiting past this friday (5/1). if asher still hasn't come by wednesday when i go back to the ob/gyn, then i will be scheduled to be induced on friday. induction is not my first method of choice to have this kid, but i do realize that it would not be healthy (for mom or baby) to wait longer than 41 weeks. i'm just praying that i will go into labor on my own prior to friday because i don't think that i will be a very good patient if i have to have an iv, lie in a bed, and just wait. some may call that being a control freak, but i prefer to think of it as knowing one's limitations. the passing of my due date has served a very useful purpose. during this past week, i have begun to realize that tom and i will now be responsible for raising 2 little boys into godly young men. i know, i know, amazing that it only took 40 weeks to figure out, right? just the differences in pregnancies clues me in that these boys are going to be different. caleb was 2 days early, asher is "late"; caleb weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz., asher was estimated at 7 lbs. 4 oz. at 38 wk. ultrasound; caleb displays several type a personality traits (mommy), and it appears that asher could be more laid back (daddy) since he's not really concerned about time constraints like due dates. the possibilities for differences, similarities, and yes, even oddities, blow my mind and asher isn't even (fully) here yet. it is amazing how fearfully and wonderfully we are made. **disclaimer** yes, i realize that the above picture is not recent, nor of asher, but i lost my usb cable and can't find an universal one to fit my camera. caleb is shaving in the picture.

an update

just in case some people still check the blog, i've got a few updates. first (and this is a big one), we moved!!! that's right, we officially are home owners...again. and with that home ownership comes, the internet. alas, i will be able to blog and further waste time on the internet until my heart is content, or caleb wakes up from his nap, which ever comes first. second, i'm still pregnant, all of 33 weeks. it is insane how quickly this pregnancy has passed compared to caleb's third, jack (our beloved bulldog) is coming home to stay tomorrow. we are super excited, but jack probably won't be. he's been living the good life while at nana's house and that will come to a screeching halt once i get a hold of him :) i've got to compose a list before i even attempt to make some posts. i have severe episodes of pregnancy brain these days!