Christopher's birthday

The Story:

Sunday morning came like every other morning of the last three weeks. I hadn't slept very well and the tiredness was still lingering as I made my way downstairs to eat breakfast. This morning Bram was scheduled to serve at church - he needed to leave no later than 7 am. After I eat and helped get him ready to leave, he made me promise I would go back to sleep, for I was having contractions again. As he left I told him that I wasn't sure if I would be able to get Benjamin ready to come and church later on if the contractions persisted. He assured me that whatever I felt was necessary would be okay - I didn't need to push myself. I went back to bed and awoke to Benjamin singing in his crib at 8:15 - we wouldn't make it to first service after all. Benjamin was in good sorts for breakfast and played happily as my contractions got more intense. I began to suspect that these contractions were actually working...maybe this was early labor. I called Bram at church in between services to let him know that contractions were getting strong. He said to me, "Maybe we will have a baby later today." I couldn't bring myself to hope that this was the real thing. But by the time Bram got home from church I was more comfortable saying I was in labor. Bram said, "Of course you are!" There was no going back from there.

After eating lunch I laid down for an hour and slept between contractions to gather my strength for the work ahead. When I finally got up, there was no doubt in my mind I was in labor, but I was not so confident that I would have the baby before the night was through. I continued to labor at home and when contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart I called the midwife. We were to meet her at the hospital at around 6:30 pm. I ate a little dinner and made sure everything we needed was in the bag. Jenny and Ryan arrived to care for Benjamin at 6:00 pm, and with hugs and kisses for our first born we were out the door to return the parents of two! We made it to Shady Grove Hospital in a matter of minutes and got lost on the way to the new maternity wing! With the help of some kind strangers we finally found the right elevator and made it to where I would be admitted. We got into the room and the midwife checked to see how far I had progressed. I was already 7 centimeters dilated and 90% effaced! I was so surprised to be so far along. The next couple of hours held very hard work for both Bram and I. I never felt the need to have pain killers and was able to stay on my feet for a good amount of time before pushing. By around 9:30 pm I was completely dilated and now only needed to wait for the urge to push. At 10:00 pm I started pushing and an hour and a half later my new baby was laid across my stomach! The midwife let Bram "catch" the baby and announce to the room who's birthday it was. Bram, with wonder in his voice I can still hear, said, "We have a little boy!" Our little Christopher Abraham was born at 11:26 pm on Sunday, July 6th, 2008!

His birth has blessed us in so many ways. One way we are blessed is to be entrusted with such a precious little life to raise - this alone is more than we deserve. Another way we are blessed is the fact that he was born naturally, without the need for any intervention. This met a deep desire in our hearts, for after Benjamin was born by c-section we were glad to have a healthy baby, but disappointed that I had to have surgery after 16 hours of labor and almost 3 hours of pushing! We are so in love with our two little boys - born just over 16 months apart! We are so looking forward to life as a family of four (for now!)


The Pictures:

I know all of you are anxiously waiting for some pictures. So here they are!

Here's our little boy about 20 minutes old (he had only just stopped crying from all the poking and prodding from the nurses.)

A happy and relieved mom.

Everyone is all tuckered out - it's been a very long day (well mostly night).

He absolutely loves mom's striped shirt; he couldn't stop staring!

And here is a short little video -- not much action, but Christopher sure is one of the cutest little guys ever!




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Benjamin has not been too sure of this new little person. Here's Jenny holding him, with Benjamin looking on. Notice he's holding a little baby doll -- up until today, "baby" has always referred to the little doll that Benjamin sometimes carries around. Now "baby" means this other little thing??!


"Dad, this baby doll is moving on its own! I'm not so sure about this...."


This is a handsome bunch. Sarah is outnumbered!

Back home - family update

We made it back to Maryland in one piece, thankfully! After so many full days in Cincinnati, the quiet around here has been both a blessing and a bit unnerving. Thankfully Ryan and Jenny are here to help break up the silence at times - though they are very quiet compared to the Lyman household :) Benjamin adjusted to being home right away - was back into old habits immediately. I am very glad he is getting better at adjusting to "new" environments. He was confident and comfortable more quickly than I had prepared myself for! It is nice to be able to sleep in our own beds - Benjamin has definitely been enjoying it most - averaging 14 hours of sleep each night since we returned! It's nice to have a rested boy on my hands each day.

And the extra hours alone are welcomed by me, as I am definitely in nesting mode! I have found myself occupied with many little projects and the planning of other little projects for when Bram returns...no heavy lifting or painting for "the preggy" (as Bram affectionately calls me.) I reach the 8 month mark this coming Saturday, and boy do I feel it! At my last midwife check-up they informed me that I gained 8 pounds in the course of 3 weeks - par for the course with my pregnancies. At this point in my pregnancy with Benjamin I actually gained 10 pounds in about 2 weeks! But after that the weight gain plateaued as I was losing weight and he was gaining it. So if I do the same thing this time I will have gained 28 pounds. Not too bad in my estimation :) The baby turned head down over the weekend (both a blessing and a curse, as you other Mommies are well aware!) and despite the cramped quarters, he or she has not settled down in the activity department. It feels as though I have two little feet constantly kicking the upper part of my belly. Ruthie Hempel told me that if it's a girl, she's a dancer, and if it's a boy, he's a soccer player. I guess we will just have to wait and see!

Bram will return a week from today! It has been such a strange trip for him. We had prepared ourselves for 4 weeks of intermittent email contact, but instead, for the past 2 weeks we spoke on the phone everyday and even got to be together in Cincinnati for 4 days! The sub needed some major repairs and all the testers (of which, Bram is one) had nothing to do but sit and wait for the repairs to be completed. For the last week it was always, "We will leave sometime tomorrow" which didn't turn out to be the case until Wednesday morning. We said our goodbyes for the week and praised God for the blessing he had given us in the time we did have together. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us over this time...your faithfulness to us has been a huge blessing! We have been granted such undeserved gifts over the past 2 weeks and we know it is attributable to your prayers for us - thanks again!

The next post will have pictures and videos of our time with Lymans, so stay tuned!

Mother of a toddler

So, I guess it's safe to say I have officially reached "mother of a toddler" status. Yesterday was the first day that Benjamin walked on his own for significant stretches of the day. I realize that there are still days of crawling and carrying ahead, but I am very encouraged that he has made the mental leap necessary to walk. He is constantly changing and learning from Bram and I, Jenny and Ryan and anyone else he interacts with.

Jenny and I were talking this morning about the time that he couldn't do anything - not even roll over. He was completely dependent on someone to do everything for him - I thought that was a busy time in my life. Now that he has many skills to accomplish his own ends, this is the truly busy time! I have to watch and listen every moment he is awake. Even as I write this he is getting into the basket by the door that holds all the car keys and trying to use them on the front door lock.

That makes me realize that he really watches what the adult around him do. I really have to carefully consider my actions before I even attempt them because this little one imitates everything I do. What am I modeling for him in my daily life, my interactions, my priorities, and my routine? Am I truly exhibiting for him the things of first importance - my daily devotion to growing in godliness, the priority of my role as wife, mother, homemaker? All these thoughts are borne out of my son learning to walk. It just proves that God can use the smallest things to change our perspective and challenge us to change. I guess the catch is that we have to be paying attention. I pray today that God uses the seemingly routine or insignificant things that happen to us to open our eyes to His truth and give us hearts of obedience to follow Him - just as my little boy follows me around today!