Bethany Lyneve Lillard

July 2009 takes the cake for the hardest month of my life, thus far.

On July 8th I went into spontaneous premature labor. I spent the day in the hospital being monitored and medicated to stop the labor since I was only 34 weeks along. I left the hospital with strict orders to stay in bed for the next two weeks; I also had to keep taking medication to keep contractions at a minimum.

I was anxious, not only for the precious little one that I carried, but also for my two precious little boys and my husband whose worlds would be put into total disarray with me on bed rest. Thank God for my sister Jenny, her husband Ryan, and my brother Jamison! They laid down their lives for me and my family over those two weeks, spending countless hours at my house caring for my children during the day, dealing with boys who could not understand why Mommy could not get out of bed. Thank God for my husband who worked two full time jobs over those two weeks - one away from home and the other in our home. He cooked, cleaned, and did everything the boys required without any help. Tears come to my eyes as I think about the sacrifice everyone made for me and our little girl. I hope that when the opportunity comes to me to serve in a selfless way I will take hold of it with the same heart that Bram, Jenny, Ryan and Jamison displayed!

Midnight of July 20th marked the end of bed rest. Over the next 6 days my contractions increased and we prepared for an imminent birth. Sunday, the 26th, I awoke at 2:30 am and could not go back to sleep. I prayed that God would give me the strength to deal with increasing contractions and fatigue and that I would have faith for His timing for the arrival of our third child.

3:00 am brought the first big contraction.

I did not get back to sleep. Contractions came and went all morning - never seeming to become regular. We took a walk after lunch and when we got back the contractions were strong and about 7 minutes apart for almost an hour. Then they stopped! I was getting frustrated, so I took a short nap. Nothing changed after I got up, so I was pretty sure I wasn't in labor. Jenny and Jamison had come over to hang out in case we needed to get to the hospital. At around 4:30 they went back home and we decided to get some Chinese food. When I got in the car the contractions came back and were immediately 3 minutes apart. We eat dinner and called the midwife. We were set to meet her at 7:30 at the hospital! I had to go in early because I was GBS positive and needed antibiotics for a few hours before giving birth.

I was 3 centimeters dialated and 90% effaced when we arrived. She was at zero station. Two hours went by and things continued to progress. I was very tired, so I laid down on my side to get a little rest. Rest eluded me, for the contractions got more intense and closer together when I laid down! (The opposite of what usually happens in labor!) The midwife broke my bag of waters at 11:00 pm. I was 5 centimeters and completely effaced. I could feel her move down with each contraction. At midnight my midwife came to say congratulations on being officially full term - we had made it to 37 weeks! She checked me again and I was 9 centimeters dialated. I rolled back onto my side and she left the room to tell the nurses that it would not be long before I started to push. I had a contraction and before it was over I felt like the baby was coming out! I yelled for Bram to get the midwife back in the room. He didn't believe me that I was ready to push, but after I yelled "She's coming out!" He ran to the hall and got everyone moving.

I panicked for the next 5 minutes while everyone got things set up. I was still on my side and thought I would have to move - not something I wanted to do. The midwife assured us that I could push the baby out exactly where I was! The first two pushing contractions I had I have no idea what I was doing. I remember pushing, but I wasn't being efficient. The next contraction, I got ahold of myself and really paid attention to what I was doing. I got about 3 or 4 pushes in with each contraction. On the third contraction our daughter was born.

Those were the longest 6 minutes of my life, but as they midwife placed Bethany Lyneve (her middle name was Bram's mother's name!) on my stomach and I looked into her beautiful face for the first time, I knew everything had been worth it. My daughter was worth it!

Two weeks have passed since that wonderful night. It feels like it's been much longer than just 15 days. My beautiful girl has grown significantly in those 15 days, but I have grown in another way. Being the mother of a daughter has changed me for the better. I am reminded more often to pray for all my children's future spouses. I am more dependent on the Lord for help to control my emotions in order to be a good example for my girl. I am convicted anew to grow in my role as wife and mother, as I now have someone who will learn directly from me what it means to serve God in this way. I am so thankful that God has blessed our family with another child. She is precious to us, just as Benjamin and Christopher are precious to us!

Birth stats:

Weight: 6 lbs. 14 oz.

Height: 19.25 inches

Head: 13 inches

2 week stats:

Weight: 7 lbs. 12 oz.

Height: 20.25 inches

Head: 13.5 inches

(Photo: Jenny James http://www.jennyjamesphotography.com/blog/2009/08/05/a-little-preview-bethany-lyneve/)

Christopher's 1-year-old stats

Our little Gus-Gus turned 1 yesterday!

He is growing and changing everyday, but one thing remains constant:

He is a joy to be with and we could not imagine life without him!

His stats are as follows:

Head: 18.4 inches (50th-75th percentile)

Height: 30.75 inches (75th-90th percentile)

Weight: 24 lbs. 13 0z. (75th-90th percentile)

He has been walking for a month and loves to make dog and car sounds! He is a very good eater (when he's not teething) and loves chicken, hotdogs, peas, green beans, and mac & cheese. He loves to read books and play with balls and trucks. He loves to be outside. He is a music lover and will dance to anything that even resembles music :) His laugh is so contagious and his smile melts my heart. I think he will be a very caring and attentive big brother, as well!

Happy Birthday, Christopher Abraham! You are loved more than you can imagine!

I file this one under "What the?"

This morning Benjamin and I watched as our neighbor's tree was cut down. I was a little put out because they were using a chain saw under the window where Christopher was napping. After saying a prayer that he would be able to sleep through it, we watched until they were finished...just about half an hour.

The livingroom was a mess with toys and couch pillows strewn all over, so I went about tidying up, not paying attention to the fact that the chain saw had started up again. At that very moment Benjamin, who was still looking out the front window, exclaimed "Man cutting down our tree!" I looked up in horror to find the two men who had been next door using the chain saw on our front tree! I rushed to the door (quite a feat for a 34 week pregnant woman!) and ran out to get someone's attention. They stopped and I asked, "Excuse me; what are you doing to my tree?"

One of the men came over to me and said, "Oh, we were just cutting some branches to open up the view of your house."

"Well, my husband takes care of trimming this tree."

"Oh."

"I would have appreciated you asking my permission before cutting whole branches off!"

"Well, I'm sorry."

"I would would like you to stop now."

At that he turned around with a slightly bewildered look on his face and told his buddy to stop. I stood there to make sure they left.

They were actually surprised that I was unhappy with them! They didn't stop to think that I like the fact that the tree branches block some of the view into my house from the street! So reader, be warned that if two guys show up in an unmarked white van with an orange light on top, they might just try to do some home "improvements" on your property without you knowing.

Long over-due update :)

The past few months have been filled with many challenges, but they have also held many joys for our growing family! Between sickness for me and the boys, general third-trimester discomfort, and two very busy toddlers, blogging has been the last thing on my mind :) Here is a run-down of the most exciting developments of the last 3 months:

Benjamin: Today, Benjamin is 28-months-old! He has had a language explosion and talks in complete sentences non-stop! It has been so much fun to communicate with him on this new level. His conversations center around trucks or trains, bugs and animals, or playing at the park with his friends. He never meets a stranger these days. He greets just about anyone who walks within 10-feet of him, whether they acknowledge him or not :) One of my favorite phrases he uses is, "Hi! How you doin'? I good!" (Good is pronounced "dood"...just so you know!) There is never a pause for you to answer the question :) He is still our little daddy's boy. His favorite part of the day is when Bram gets home from work. He loves to play with and talk to Bram about his day. He loves to "dress up" in Bram's shoes, tie, belt and badges and say he is going to work with Daddy (pronounced "Dah-ee!") He is a joy to be around and brings laughter into our day at just the right moment! We love our little Bubba!

Christopher: Gus-Gus (as I call him) has made the most outwardly noticeable changes over the last few months. He started walking about a month ago (that is, at 11-months-old!) He is now almost able to keep up with his big brother. He loves Benjamin and follows him around and pesters him to no end :) He has started saying a few "words" over the last few weeks. He now says "Bah" for ball and "MMM" for more. He barks like a dog whenever he hears our neighbors dog and makes the sound of a car when he plays with any kind of vehicle! Of course he says "mama" and "dada" a lot, though I'm not sure he totally understands that those sounds represent our names :) His current favorites are books (which he will sit and look at by himself for long periods), going outside, music, and anything Benjamin is playing with...haha! His first birthday is less than a week away (July 6!) He will make a very good big brother come August!

Baby #3: We found out at the end of April that we will be welcoming our daughter sometime in the first few weeks of August! We had a hard time coming up with her name, but Benjamin helped us out. I guess he heard us discussing names because at one point Bram jokingly asked him "Benjamin, what is "Sissy's" name?" To which Benjamin replied "Bethany!" Well, we couldn't go back on that! So, our little girl will have the name:

Bethany Lyneve

Lyneve was Bram's mother's name, so we are continuing the tradition of giving our children middle names that honor members of our family. We are getting anxious for her to come. Both the boys were born at around 38 weeks, so I'm anticipating that I have a month left to get everything ready before she arrives!

We will be busy until she comes and even more busy after she makes her way into our home! Here's a little picture of what life is like for us these days:

Dinnertime conversation

Let me know if you need further translation :)

What Benjamin thinks the baby will look like

We were reading a book that had a picture of an eye on one page. Benjamin pointed to it and said, "Mama's eye!" I told him that it couldn't be my eye since the eye was blue and my eyes are green. We started talking about different eye colors; how Christopher's and Daddy's eyes are blue and how Benjamin's and Mama's eyes are green. I then asked him, "What color eyes will the new baby have?" He shrugged, then said, "Baby have elephant ears!" Oh, how I love this age!

The joys of being mobile

Now all we have to do is keep an eye on him 24 hours of the day.