4-Years-Old

In years past I wrote several blog posts in anticipation of Alexis, Jack, and Faith's upcoming birthday, including posts about each child as an individual. Although this year I often thought about their birthday and how much they've changed in the last year, I have been busy with baby Graham so I haven't been able to put in the time writing blog posts like I have in years past. Also, their 4th birthday was three weeks ago already, and I have been working on this post on and off for those three weeks! Writing Graham's 2-month blog post made me realize how much more difficult it is to write a post about three kids at once as you don't want to miss anything, and then the post gets ridiculously long. I could go on forever writing about Alexis, Jack, and Faith and adding pictures to the blog post, but since my time is extremely limited I'm just going to post this "good enough" update on our now 4-year-olds as I have to give myself a little extra grace at this stage of life.

Height and Weight...
Alexis: 39.5 inches, 30+ lbs (grew 2.25 inches and gained 4 lbs in the last year)
Jack: 38.25 inches, 27+ lbs (grew 3.25 inches and gained 2.5 lbs in the last year)
Faith: 40.75 inches, 30+ lbs (grew 3.25 inches and gained 4 lbs in the last year)


Alexis At Age 4...

• Snoopy: She continues to love her stuffed Snoopy and she sleeps with him every night. He comes along on most car rides as well. Last year we gave her a Snoopy shirt for her birthday, which quickly became her favorite shirt. Since she is now outgrowing that shirt, and it is very worn, we got her a new Snoopy shirt for her 4th birthday.
• School: She was the slowest to warm up to being dropped off at preschool twice a week, but after Christmas she seemed to become much more comfortable with it. According to her teacher, she mostly played with Jack and she loved looking at books during playtime. Alexis knows how to spell and write her name and she can count to 29. She learned so many things in school this year and we are constantly amazed by how much she knows.

• Less dominant: Although Alexis has strong opinions, when it comes to her relationship with Faith she is the submissive one. We often hear the girls arguing about something and then Alexis saying, "Okay Faith" with a tone of defeat. We are trying to teach Alexis that although she loves her sister, she does not always have to do what her sister wants her to do. 
• Book Lover: Alexis could sit and look at a book for an hour, and somedays she does this. Usually Faith and / or Jack join in and look at the book with her or they follow her lead and pick up their own book. She loves looking at all of the pictures and she knows immediately if you accidentally miss a page when reading (or if you purposefully skip some words in a book). 

Alexis and Faith looking at a book before bed

Alexis, Faith, and Jack looking at their Bibles in the morning before breakfast

• Wants to drive an ambulance or be a car mechanic: I'm not sure where these ideas came from, but every time we see an ambulance Alexis says that's what she wants to do. Lately, though, she has also been pointing to a picture in a Richard Scarry book of a car on a lift and saying that's what she wants to do. 
• Terrified of dogs and our cat: Alexis freaks out whenever a dog is near and she will not go upstairs alone since that is where our cat spends most of her time. We aren't sure what triggered the fear of dogs, but one time she got too close to our ornery cat and she got a tiny scratch so she no longer wants to be near her at all.

Faith at Age 4...

• Husky doggie: She loves her stuffed Husky and, like Alexis with her Snoopy, she sleeps with it every night and it comes along on most car rides. 

Faith cuddling with her doggie during the night

• School: Faith was happy to be dropped off at preschool from Day 1. She is the most outgoing of the three (although she is still reserved in many ways). She usually played with the only other girl, besides Alexis, in the kids' preschool class (there were seven boys and three girls in the class). She also knows how to spell and write her name, and she can count into the 20's. She continues to amaze us by how much she knows as well. And just tonight she suddenly could skip like a pro! 

• Generally the Dominant Triplet: Faith likes to be in control, and when things aren't going her way she gets quite frustrated. Most of the time Alexis and Jack follow her lead, but when they express their opinions and ideas things get tense. For awhile she was insistent that she was first for everything, but in April we started having days that each child was the "Line Leader." This is the title they had at school when it was their day to not only lead the class to music or chapel, but also to bring a snack and share something with the class. Having set days that each child is the leader has been great as not only do they get to go first for fun things, but they also are first to get their teethed brushed and use the bathroom before we leave the house. It has solved so many issues!
• Everything Pink (or Red): Before our trio was born I randomly decided that Faith would wear the pink clothes and Alexis would wear the other color, which usually ended up being purple or yellow. I was afraid that we wouldn't be able to tell the girls apart, so this arbitrary designation reassured me that we wouldn't mix them up and it helped others know who was who. I think this still helps family and friends, but I'm afraid we have our own "Pinkalicious" on our hands (this is a book series about a girl that loves pink) as Faith is a bit pink obsessed now. All three kids know what "their colors" are when it comes to dishes and clothes, but sometimes this creates a problem if someone else is getting them a dish since the whole world doesn't have the color scheme memorized like the kids and I do. 😬
• Wants to be a ballerina: Like Alexis' dream of being an ambulance driver or car mechanic, I don't know where Faith got the idea that she wants to be a ballerina. The funny part is, whenever I ask her if she wants to do a dance class she says no, and that she'd rather just dance at home. 4-year-olds definitely have their own ideas!

Jack at Age 4...

• Tigers or Stuffed Doggie: Jack isn't attached to a particular stuffed animal like the girls are, but when he gets really upset he does like to cuddle his stuffed doggie or one of his Beanie Baby tigers.
• School: Jack was somewhere in between Faith and Alexis when it came to adjusting to school. It took him a few weeks to warm up to going, but once he did he didn't have a problem when I dropped him off. Not surprisingly, Jack was the quietest student in the class and he never wanted to eat the snack at school. (The apple doesn't fall far from the tree as I know I was a very shy child and I never wanted to eat at school or at friend's houses, so I can't fault him for that). Although Jack was a quiet student at school, he learned so much during the school year. He was the first of our three to be able to spell and write his name. He can count to 20, although I think he still misses 15 sometimes. He is super observant and we are always amazed by how much he knows!

• Most Reserved: For the most part, Jack hangs back and lets the girls decide what to play and how to play it. But sometimes he does have an opinion, and he can get quite frustrated when the girls don't listen to him. I always say that someday he'll make a great husband as he learned early on to let the girls run the show, unless it's something that's truly important to him. 😂
• All boy: For awhile I didn't feel like Jack had a typical boy temperament, but that has changed in the last year. He is suddenly obsessed with "bad guys," guns, swords, Jeeps, ATVs, golf carts, climbing, hiking, driving, and all things boy. All three kids have tons of energy, but there is something different about Jack's (sometimes out of control) energy. Although it surprises me at times since the change seemed sudden, I'm glad to see him become his own person since he is so strongly influenced by his sisters.
• Still likes music, but not like when younger: We aren't sure where Jack's love of music came from, but it was super cute to see him strum his guitar and sing when he was younger. In the past year some of this passion seems to have faded away, despite the fact that we were part of a music class on Saturday mornings. He still enjoys music and often asks me to turn on "fast music" so he can dance, but he probably won't be the next musical prodigy 😉. This is fine with us as we believe it's good to be well-rounded, plus Micah and I don't know much about music ourselves! 
• Wants to be a nurse or a doctor: Ever since he was diagnosed with low platelets two years ago, Jack has said he wants to be a nurse (and sometimes he says doctor). He has a strange obsession with needles, probably because he's been poked so many times already in his young life. He doesn't play 'nurse/doctor' as much as he used to, but all three kids still like to play with their medical toys on occasion. Thankfully, Jack has only had his blood drawn twice in the last six months, and this last time the doctor told us he seemed better and that we didn't have to continue to have his blood drawn to check his count! We are so thankful that his platelets have been in the normal range for the last year, and that he seems completely better!
• Pickiest/ most reluctant eater: Jack is tiny, which is stressful for us. He is not a very good eater and he always has more important things to do. We go back and forth between feeding him ourselves at each meal and trying to make him feed himself. At this point in time, though, we need to do whatever it takes to get him to eat and grow since he is starting to fall off the growth curve, so I've been trying to feed him as much as I can (which isn't easy with a newborn!). 
• Sweetheart: Many people comment on Jack's sweetness, and it's true. Although he can be a wild and crazy boy at times, he is also a complete sweetheart. He often gives hugs and kisses to his sisters, his baby brother, his grandparents, and us. He also is quick to help me with stuff, whether it be killing bugs in the house or getting a blanket for Graham.

All Three at Age 4...

• Love trucks and cars: One thing about having girl and boy triplets is that they have access to toys that are considered to be 'boy toys' and 'girl toys.' In the last year all three have really enjoyed playing with trucks and cars, so much so that this was the theme of their 4th birthday party. I have noticed, though, that they play with the vehicles as if they were playing "house" as they assign them roles such as papa, mommy, grandpa, and baby. 
• Love their grandparents: Our kids are fortunate to have two great sets of grandparents. They get really excited when grandparents come to visit, they love going to Colorado to visit Daddy's parents, and they talk daily about going to Michigan to visit my parents (which we are doing in a few weeks). I love watching our kids with their grandparents as their relationships are really special despite the distance.

With my parents when they came to help out before Graham was born

With Micah's mom

• Balance Bikes: All three have become proficient on their bikes and they love to ride them in the backyard, at parks, and around the neighborhood.

• Pretend Play: Daily I am blown away by the extent of their pretend play. All three seem to know their roles and they can play well together for hours! (Although there are also hours where they can't seem to get along for three minutes). In general, Faith is the mommy, Jack is the papa, and Alexis is the baby or the doggie. They play many variations of this game, and it's so cute to listen to and watch (when I have a moment). 

• Always Play Together: Although once in awhile one child will play separately from the others, for the most part they are always playing together, or they are at least all doing the same thing such as reading or coloring. This is good when they are getting along, but this is frustrating when they are annoying each other. I also worry that they don't know how to play alone since they have had built-in playmates since birth. When we do separate them for errands and such, they seem to enjoy the one-on-one time but they also miss their siblings. We have found, though, that if one child is gone the other two at home play great together as there is less to argue about. 

This is how close they sit when they watch tv shows. They love each other so much.

• Help Each Other: When one child is upset or hurt, when someone doesn't dare to go upstairs alone, or when someone needs help with something, all three are usually quick to help each other out. This has been especially great since Graham was born since I am less available to help at times. I hope this never changes!
• Gaining Independence: At the end of March I moved all of the kid dishes from a high cupboard to a low cupboard so the kids could get them when they needed (I also thought this would help visiting grandparents since the kids could pick out their own color dishes instead of getting upset with whoever didn't have the color scheme memorized). I also moved some snacks to a lower spot in the kitchen. We worked really hard in the months leading up to Graham's birth to encourage the kids to dress themselves and put their own shoes on. They still need reminders to find their own dishes, grab their own snacks, and get dressed, but they CAN do it which is a quite helpful for me now that I'm focused on feeding and taking care of a baby. They are also becoming independent in other ways as just the other day Alexis figured out how to unbuckle her own car seat, and she can help Faith unbuckle hers (they know not to do it until we are parked). And the last couple of days Faith picked out all three kids' outfits by herself, and she did a great job coordinating the clothes! I have a feeling the kids will become very independent in the next year.
• Clothes and Hair: I'm excited that the kids are becoming more independent, but with independence comes opinions. I can get the girls to wear dresses and have their hair in ponytails for church, but as soon as we are home from church they change into t-shirts and the ponytails come out. They have so many cute dresses and I wish they would wear them more often, but I know that I was very particular about clothes as a kid (and I still prefer comfy clothes when I'm at home), so I can't blame them. As far as the hair goes, I wish they would let me do more with it but I'm not very good at doing hair, so it does take some of the pressure off of me. Maybe they'll learn how to do each other's hair in the next couple of years and I'll never have to learn! Jack is more easy going with his clothes. His main preference is that his pants or shorts have pockets.

This was St. Patrick's Day and Alexis refused to wear the green shirt I had picked out for her. This Snoopy shirt is her fav.

Ready for church!

Dresses on and hair in ponytails before church

• Bedtime: Jack goes to bed easily and falls asleep quickly almost 100% of the time. The girls, on the other hand, share a room and it's a little harder for them to settle down and fall asleep. Most nights they are up for about an hour past their bedtime playing in their room, but eventually they settle down and fall asleep in their own beds. 

It's been fun to watch Alexis, Jack, and Faith become funny and intelligent 4-year-olds. Although there are days that they absolutely drive us crazy, they really are great kids and we are lucky to be their parents. Here are some other pictures from the last few months:

Sitting at the computer with Daddy

Out for a walk before Graham was born

Morning cuties

Headed home from church

Mother's Day tea at preschool a couple of weeks after Graham was born

The school year went so fast!

Graham at 2 Months

I know I say it all of the time, and it's a cliche, but time flies! I can't believe Graham is 2-months-old already. I completely missed doing a 1 month blog post for him due to the craziness of adjusting to being a family of six, but I hope to do monthly blog posts for him from now on. (This post was actually written almost entirely on my phone while I nursed and held Graham as I haven't been able to find much time to sit down at my computer these days).

Graham at 1 Month, Graham with Jack and Faith at 1 Month, and a photo of me with my baby brother posing the same way Jack and Faith posed with Graham

Age: 2 months
Weight: 10 lbs 6 oz
Length: 22 inches

Size Clothes: 3 month 

Naps: He sleeps best during the day when we are on the move (carrier, stroller, car). His naps are still random and short.

Napping in the Rock n Play

Night Sleep: At night he sleeps great! The last time he eats during the night is still unpredictable (anywhere between 7:30 and 9:00), and sometimes I wake him up for a 'dream feed' in hopes that he'll sleep longer (although it hasn't really worked). For the most part, though, he wakes around 2:30 am and 5:30 am to eat and I'm usually back asleep within 30 minutes of him waking. (At 1 month old this was not the case as I was up for at least an hour every time he woke up as he was much more awake during the night). After he eats at 5:30 am he goes back to sleep until about 7:30 am. At 7 weeks old he slept from 10:30 pm to 5:30 am, which was amazing, but it's only happened once. For his first six weeks he was sleeping in the rock n play at night, but after I read about the increased SIDS risk and the developmental issues that can occur due to a rock n play, I switched him to a pack n play. I expected the transition to be difficult, but it ended up not being a problem at all.

His first night in the pack n play

Eating: Our trio was bottle and formula fed so breastfeeding has been something new to learn this time around. I am so happy it has worked out so far as it was something I was really disappointed about with having triplets. Although it was really hard for the first couple of weeks, once my body got used to it and we got Graham's top lip tie lasered, it has been so much more enjoyable! Breastfeeding is much more convenient than bottles, especially now that I'm getting more comfortable feeding him in public (with a cover and in discreet places since I do like my privacy). We don't have to make formula, guess how much a baby will eat, heat it up, and then wash the bottle! We have given Graham a bottle of pumped milk on occasion, and I really hope to do this a little more regularly so that I am able to leave him with Micah and sitters in the future.

During the day Graham eats every 1.5-2 hours (sometimes I stretch it a little longer if we are out) starting between 7:30 and 8:00 am. I'm not feeding Graham on a set schedule, but I do watch the clock to know when I should feed him based on the last time he ate. I started doing this when Graham was about 10 days old as I wasn't getting any sleep at night because he'd go long stretches during the day and then he'd want to eat all night. A lactation consultant suggested I try to get him to eat more often during the day so he slept more at night, and it worked great. His last feed of the day is usually around 8:30 pm. Right now he eats about 11 times in a 24 hour period, and he usually eats for about 15-20 minutes (although there are always a couple of short feeds during the day too).

Food Intolerances: Unfortunately it seems that Graham had some food intolerances as when he spits up it's a very large volume and it smells like vomit. This started when he was about two weeks old, and at first we just thought it was reflux. But as time went on we realized that this didn't seem like the reflux our other kids had since he didn't spit up very often but when he did it was projectile and so much that there were puddles (or if it was on me I needed to change my entire outfit and possibly take a shower).

After doing some research and talking to the pediatrician I decided to eliminate dairy and soy from my diet. His spit ups decreased and I thought maybe it was a fluke, so I added it back in after 10 days. During the 4 days that I ate dairy / soy, though, his spit ups increased again. So as of 6/1 I have been dairy and soy free again. Since his spit ups haven't gone away completely I took Graham to a Kinesiologist who determined he also had a gluten sensitivity. I have been avoiding gluten since 6/15. It is so difficult to eat this way, especially since I don't have much time to grocery shop and prepare food and dairy, soy, and gluten are in so many foods! If it helps Graham it's definitely worth it though.

Likes: Looking at picture frames and fans. Laying upright on a chest. His pacifier.

Snuggling with Mommy

Dislikes: Getting changed after spitting up on himself. When loud noises wake him from his nap (happens often since the big kids are loud and I haven't been able to get him down for a nap upstairs very often).

Milestones: He first started smiling at 5 weeks old, but the smiles really started becoming more frequent in the last week.

8 week old smile

Places he's been: Graham has been so many places already! He has been to Target, Sprouts, and Costco. He sat on the sidelines while the big kids played at the spray park, pool, and a few parks. He's been to church and he's been along while we worked in the nursery. He's been to the Zoo, Aquarium, Botanic Garden, and Explora. And he's been to Monte Vista twice, which is a four hour car ride without stopping each way, and he did pretty well! Both times we were in MV we also visited the Great Sand Dunes. We are thankful he is an easy going baby so far. He's been more places in his first two months of life than our trio had been in their first year. Everything is so different with a singleton, especially when Mommy is trying to keep the older siblings entertained.

Aquarium

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Evening stroller ride with Mommy after the big kids went to bed

Trying to keep up with the biker gang

Reading with Grammy in Monte Vista

Things he does that make us smile: SMILE! I don't know if there is much better in life than having a tiny baby look at you and give you a huge smile! He also makes some adorable cooing noises.

Howard Trio's thoughts: Since having a baby brother has been a HUGE change for Alexis, Jack, and Faith, I thought it would be fun to get their thoughts on him each month...

• What is your favorite thing about baby Graham?
• Alexis: I love talking to him, kissing him, hugging, and looking at him
• Jack: hugging him
• Faith: putting his pacifier in and helping getting rid of the throw up 😁

Looking at his tiny hand

Our four cuties

Here are some other random pics from the last month:

The girls waited a whole month to hold him, but they were both proud when they did it! The were afraid he would pull their hair and I think they just weren't sure what to think of a baby.

Reading bedtime stories (no one wanted to look at the camera but me)

Playing

Saying good-bye to Grandma. We have been thankful for the help that the grandmas have given us in the past two months!

Father's Day 2017

Tummy Time

Meeting his future BFF Peregrine who is 7 weeks younger than Graham

I put him on his back and then came back to him on his side!

Alexis' Interview Questions

Last year I asked each child these same interview questions, and I plan to do so each year for their birthday to see how their answers change. Here are Alexis' answers to the questions that I asked a few days before their 4th birthday:

•What is your name?

Alexis 

•How old are you?

June 7 

(Since I knew she didn't really listen to the question I asked again, "How old will you be on your birthday?") 

4

•When is your birthday?

June 7

•How old is Daddy?

I don't know

•How old is mommy?

16

•What is your favorite color?

Purple and yellow

•What is your favorite food?

Hot dogs

•Who is your best friend?

(...points to me) 😍

•What is your favorite song?

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Baa Baa Black Sheep

•What is your favorite animal?

Polar bears and pandas 

•What are you scared of?

A snake 

•What makes you happy?

(...points to me) 😍 

•Where is your favorite place to go?

To the Botanic Garden

•What do you want to be when you grow up?

A car mechanic 

•What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?

I don't know

•What is daddy's favorite thing to do?

Botanic Garden 

Faith's Interview Questions

Last year I asked each child these same interview questions, and I plan to do so each year for their birthday to see how their answers change. Here are Faith's answers to the questions that I asked a few days before their 4th birthday:

•What is your name?
Faith

•How old are you?
3
(I rephrased..."How old will you be on your birthday?")
6 

•When is your birthday?
June 7

•How old is Daddy?
I don't know

•How old is mommy?
6 or 9

•What is your favorite color?
Red, pink, and orange

•What is your favorite food?
Once I tried some fish before and I liked it. And my favorite food are rolls.

•Who is your best friend?
Alexis and Jack

•What is your favorite song?
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

•What is your favorite animal?
A elephant

•What are you scared of?
Bears

•What makes you happy?
Polar bears

•Where is your favorite place to go?
The zoo

•What do you want to be when you grow up?
A ballet

•What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?
Clean up the kitchen

•What is daddy's favorite thing to do?
Make smoothie

Jack's Interview Questions

Last year I asked each child these same interview questions, and I plan to do so each year for their birthday to see how their answers change. Here are Jack's answers to the questions that I asked a few days before their 4th birthday:

•What is your name?
Jack

•How old are you?
5 
(I rephrased, "How old will you be on your birthday?") 
4

•When is your birthday?
In June

•How old is Daddy?
(...Held up 10 fingers)

•How old is mommy?
I don't know

•What is your favorite color?
Blue

•What is your favorite food?
Peanut butter jelly

•Who is your best friend?
Faith

•What is your favorite song?
Jesus Loves Me

•What is your favorite animal?
Tigers

•What are you scared of?
An elephant

•What makes you happy?
Tigers

•Where is your favorite place to go?
The zoo 
(I rephrased the question since he seemed stuck on the zoo theme..."If you could go anywhere in the world?") 
The mountains

•What do you want to be when you grow up?
Doctor

•What is Mommy's favorite thing to do?
I don't know

•What is daddy's favorite thing to do?
Play with us

Graham's Birth

I have so many posts in the works as a lot has been happening since I last posted seven weeks ago. For starters, Graham was born six weeks ago! Life has been pretty hectic since his birth as we have been sleep deprived and trying to adjust to life with a newborn and three 3-year-olds. In many ways it's been harder than I expected it to be, but I'm happy to say that I am finally starting to feel like myself again and I'm starting to believe that we will live a somewhat 'normal' life again. Also, Alexis, Jack, and Faith are turning FOUR in two days, so I have a lot to write about with them as well! But first, the birth story.

Thursday, April 20:
I'm not sure when my contractions actually started since I had Braxton Hicks all of the time since I was about 15 weeks. But after dropping the kids off at preschool and going out to breakfast with my parents, I decided to start timing them. I recorded my first one at 10:30 a.m. and they continued to be about 30 minutes apart for the next six hours (until about 4:30 p.m.).

For the next two and a half hours, from about 4:30-7:00, they were anywhere from 10-25 minutes apart.

Starting around 7:00 p.m., right when we were putting the kids to bed, I noticed that they were getting closer together and even stronger. They were now 10-12 minutes apart.

All day I went about my normal activities. I did have a 30 minute foot reflexology massage at 1:45 in the afternoon, which might have helped things progress, and it definitely helped me relax for a bit.

I told Micah about the contractions when we were getting the kids ready for bed (my parents went out after dinner). I told my parents about the contractions when they came back around 9:30 p.m.

Unfortunately Alexis had been sick and coughing, and when we were getting ready for bed she had a crying / coughing fit, so we decided to put her on a mattress in our room. This was better in a way so that she was close by, but her heavy breathing made it harder for me to sleep. Plus, the contractions started becoming slightly more noticeable once I laid down, so I gave up trying to sleep and sat in a comfy chair in our room.

Friday, April 21:
Contractions began getting closer together and they were coming about every 5 minutes for several hours. I woke Micah up and told him I thought we should go to the hospital (I called triage first to ask the nurse's opinion). I texted our Doula to let her know what was happening, but I told her to wait to come to the hospital since this was my first time being in labor and I wasn't sure how serious things really were yet. Thankfully my parents were in town so we could leave the house without making arrangements for the kids.

The last photo I took before heading to triage

I arrived at triage at 3:00 a.m. and, of course, my contractions slowed down. Sadly I was only dilated 1 cm, so we went back home. I felt embarrassed that I thought I would be further along after all of those contractions, but as this was my first labor I really didn't know what to expect or what labor contractions really felt like. We were back home by 4:30 a.m. and I was able to sleep (interrupted) until 7:30 am. Since I was up all night timing my contractions, though, those three hours were the only sleep I got Thursday night.

Although the contractions slowed down when I was at triage, they picked back up again in the morning. Once again I was convinced that I should go back to triage as now the contractions were coming every 3 minutes apart, but we decided to have our Doula come over to our house first. Megan, our Doula, came over at 10:30 a.m. and suddenly my contractions slowed down again. We all agreed that I should stay home awhile longer to see how my contractions progress. 

Although in hindsight I wasn't technically "in labor" yet since the medical world only counts labor as starting when one is 6 cm dilated, the contractions were already painful. Although I could feel them in my abdomen, the contractions were really painful in my back. Megan helped me figure out my breathing, she showed me some ways to use a rebozo (long scarf) to help with the pain during contractions, and she put counter pressure on my back during contractions. Contractions were 3 minutes apart but bearable at this point. They would slow down when I laid down, so I was still in early labor and we knew it wasn't time to go to the hospital yet. 

Because of the back pain I was experiencing, Megan thought the baby might be posterior. She walked me through the Three Sisters poses from Spinning Babies to try to make sure the baby would be anterior. Around 12:30 Megan took a break for lunch and we ate too as it didn't seem like things were moving very quickly.

At 2:00 p.m. Megan came back and we did some exercises to help engage the baby. We did some rebozo sifting, laying tilted on my stomach, and step walking (this was done on our landscaping bricks in the backyard and the kids were quite puzzled as to what I was doing). The step walking was pretty tiring since I was exhausted from not sleeping much, I was super pregnant, and I was not in any sort of cardiovascular shape.

Around 4:00 p.m. we decided that labor didn't seem to be progressing, even though I'd been having noticeable contractions for over 24 hours, and that Megan should go home. The contractions simply weren't coming regularly enough to be active labor since they would slow down when I rested. At this point I felt extremely frustrated since I was already exhausted from not sleeping the night before and the back pain was intense with every contraction.
After Megan left I decided to try to sleep again, and this time contractions did NOT slow down. I rested for about 30 minutes before Micah and I decided that things were actually getting serious and it was time to head to the hospital. We left our house around 5:30 p.m. 

I texted Megan on the drive to the hospital to let her know that she should head that way as well. I was in SO MUCH PAIN with every contraction during our 20 minute drive. Of course traffic was terrible because of construction once we got off the highway, which had Micah driving through parking lots and such to keep moving. I was in a lot of pain and he was getting concerned. During that unbearable drive I decided that I wanted the epidural (I was hoping to go without, but I wasn't completely against it if the pain got too intense). The back labor was sooooo bad, and I was soooo exhausted from the lack of sleep, so I told Micah that I definitely wanted the epidural (we had a "code word" that I was supposed to use to let him know I was serious).

We arrived at triage at 6:00 p.m. They wanted to weigh me and take my blood pressure, but since we had done that the previous night and I was in excruciating pain with every contraction, I convinced the nurse that it wasn't necessary. I felt very out of control with every contraction and I was not doing a very good job managing the pain and my breathing. I think I was just too exhausted since I had been 'working' all day.  The midwife checked me in triage and said I was 4 cm, which was the minimum dilation required to be admitted. I was discouraged that I wasn't further along, but I was very thankful that they admitted me.

They moved me to labor and delivery very quickly, and I got the epidural around 7:45 p.m. (I was 5.5 cm at that time so at least things kept progressing). Megan arrived sometime before the epidural.

The epidural was amazing! It took a little while for it to fully kick in, but once it did I was able to relax and sleep, and thankfully it didn't slow my labor at all! (My biggest reason for not wanting an epidural was because I had read that it could slow labor, which could lead to interventions, which could result in a repeat C-section which I really wanted to avoid). I was fully dilated by 11:20 p.m., but the bag of waters had not broken. The midwife said we should give it an hour to let it break on its own and let the baby move down. 

While we waited I started getting nervous about some pain that I felt in my lower abdomen with each contraction. I had the ability to increase the epidural dose, but I didn't want my legs to feel completely numb (although in the end they did). I was concerned that the pain I was feeling was due to uterine rupture, which is the biggest risk of a VBAC, although the risk is less than 1%. I talked to the midwife and she assured me that I was fine and that I was probably just feeling the contractions. 

Saturday, April 22:
At 12:50 a.m. the midwife came back and manually broke the water and then the pushing began. I pushed for 2 hours, which seems like forever, but didn't seem like that long to me in the moment. Micah caught Graham and he was born on his due date at 2:50 a.m. (he was anterior at birth, but I think it is possible that he was posterior during labor which would explain my back pain). Graham weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and he was 20.25 inches. He tried to breastfeed almost immediately, which was amazing to witness. Seven minutes after he was born the placenta basically delivered itself, which seemed to surprise the midwife. Micah then cut the cord.

Graham just a few hours old

I am so thankful that I was able to experience a VBAC. This experience was a stark contrast to having premature triplets born at 31 weeks via emergency C-section. Although having triplets is amazing and knowing that Alexis, Jack, and Faith started as 3 lb babies is unbelievable, being able to hold Graham the second he was born is an experience I will never forget. It is truly indescribable.