Olivia Love Steinhauer

Yaaaaay! Yes...I finally gave birth to my sweet Olivia! On the day of Oct 29th, I was out and about with my mom and the girls and wondering when I would have that baby. I was even still questioning if it was truly a she or if we might be surprised with a boy. At a quick stop to a little surf shop that day, I saw a bright yellow sign that said 'OLIVIA' on it and it just kinda gave me a little assurance that it truly was a girl and that maybe it was even the day to meet her. So as the day went on, I of course noticed that I was having contractions but they weren't consistent or intense or anything so I went back to thinking maybe it wasn't actually the day to meet her. Theo was in school all night and got home around 11:15p. I noticed that he was home and reading the bible so I just went back to sleep. I looked at the the clock at 11:30p, right as Theo turned off the light and I suddenly felt a really hard {painful} contraction and a 'pop'! My water broke! I jumped out of bed fast enough to not let water get everywhere, but as soon as I stood up the flood waters came! The crazy hard contractions started coming immediately and with every one I had, more water kept coming out. I knew I didn't have alot of time since I was already feeling some pain.
I quickly called my midwives office to let them know I was going to the hospital, then called my roommate to come home to be with the girls. Funny how the 1 night she was away to house-sit was the big night for us! So my mom waited at home with the girls until Carla got there then drove herself to the hospital. I knew I couldn't wait for her. This too was Theo's opportunity to drive like a nascar driver again...he loves it. When we pulled up to the hospital, Theo dropped me off at the maternity services door and had to go park the van. I went up the elevator myself to try to hurry and get checked in. Now imagine me, having hard contractions one after another, trying to walk while I hold a towel between my legs so I wouldn't leak all over the place. So this nurse walks out from around the corner and sees me standing there by myself holding the towel in one hand, and me holding onto the railing with the other and she says, 'Woah, where did you come from?!' {thinking to myself...hmm...does that really matter right now? I came from home and I need a place to drop this baby!} I just told her I needed a room and asked if I could get there quickly. So she led me to a room and all the nurses were scrambling to get me situated. Theo walked in with my stuff, then Sarah walked in. Mom came in a close 3rd. :) And last but not least, my friend Heather, the 'photog' made it in time. So the nurse girl 'checks' me and I was 4cm dialated and asked if I wanted an epidural. I figured that if everything was so intense and I was only 4 cm, I might be there forever in total misery waiting to get to 10cm, so the epidural was in order. About 10 minutes later I let them know I was starting to feel some pressure in my 'down there' region and they checked me again. {thanks for that...ugh...the second you let them know you feel something, they're so quick to torture you a bit more just to "check" whats happening} Well I was at 6-7cm. I was starting to get the feeling that if this epidural guy {Tarzan as they described him} didn't walk in the door right away, I wouldn't have time for my epi. Well, sure enough he didn't make it. Probably 20-25 minutes from the time they first checked me, I was already at 10cm and it was too late. At that point I was definitly feeling like I needed to push. {It actually felt like I needed to poop. Lovely. There's nothing like telling a bunch of strangers that you feel like you're about to poop right in front of them...horrible.} Luckily these peeps deal with this stuff all the time and are ready for anything. Now I'm on my knees, the back of the bed is up and I'm facing backwards leaning into the bed and holding Theo's hands. This took a ton of pressure off, and let me press my huge belly into the bed to help me push. So I was doing that for a little bit until they couldn't get a read on their little monitor thing of Olivia's heart rate so they made me turn over. I pushed a few times like that and the midwife told me to open my eyes, then there she was! Olivia was half way out when I spotted her in all her glory.... hmmm....maybe not totally glorious but you know what I mean. But it truly was an amazing moment. It was done. She was out and I could hold this precious girl in my arms. It's kinda crazy how much relief you feel once that baby is out. Yeah then the pain comes back with the after birth contractions, hurting nipples from nursing, and everything else...all you moms know what I'm talking about. She's so worth it. Anyways, there's the story...Olivia is finally here! <3

I totally WAS in labor!

So last night around 9:30p I started noticing I was having some good contractions coming along. Good as in hard and kinda taking my breath away. So as I watched the clock, I realized they were coming about every 8-10 minutes. Then after a few more hours they got down to 5 and even 2 minutes apart and my back was starting to hurt. Doesn't that sound like a girl in labor?! So we put everything in the car and I called the dr. He said yes, I should go to the hospital, since it's numero 3! So literally as we were walking out the door, Stella walks out of her room. The girl was wide awake and wanting to know what the party was all about. I knew we couldn't actually explain it b/c she'd throw a fit and want to come with us. So we defaulted to the 'because I said so' answer as to why she needed to go back to bed. Haha! So of course, she wants us to stay with her for a little while before she falls back asleep. So Theo goes in there and she stayed totally awake! SO I just sat on the couch waiting, and I fell asleep. It was like 1:30a at this point. I guess around 2:30a I woke up from another hard contraction, but noticed that they had generally slowed down significantly since I sat on the couch. So we just went back to bed and didn't meet Olivia last night. What a crazy thing...we were totally convinced that Olivia was going to make her grand entrance last night, but I guess not!
The cool thing is that I've really been praying that I wouldn't have to go to the hospital and be given terbutaline or vistaril (sp?) how I was with both other girls... That I would just have the baby on the right day without the shananigans before hand. So really although we thought last night was it, apparently the Lord used Stella to make us stay b/c it just wasn't time. He's got my back. :) And....we're back to the waiting game!

{HOLY HUGENESS!}

Cholera Outbreak in Haiti

This is so intense. What a year for Haiti. They got started off with a devastating earthquake, had a couple of bad storms make their way right through there and are now finishing up with a cholera outbreak. And there's still a few months left to the year! Ugh.. It's so hard to know how to pray for the situation. The Lord is allowing all of this to happen in that country...maybe not causing it...but maybe so. I know...I said it. Why do we forget that the Lord has emotions...he gets angry with sin...He does take things personally...not saying that all of Haiti is in full blown sin and rebellion to God so He is causing His wrath on them...but it does kinda seem like that, doesn't it? I mean, He's deifnitly caused total destruction on places before, why wouldn't He do it now? He's the same God as always, right? And His ways are beyond our ways. He is God and we are man...I'm just learning to fear the Lord more and more and lean on Jesus. There's so much that I don't understand. Anyways...all I know to do at this point is to pray for the believers there...for grace to handle it and for my family thats in Haiti. They are directly involved in the relief work of these devastating times. As of tomorrow, 20+ drs will be based at our family's beach house which happens to be a central location to where the outbreaks are happening. hmm...I don't know what to think about that...makes me nervous but maybe the Lord is using it as a safe-haven and 'pocket of mercy?' Only time will tell, I guess. If you read this, please pray for the safety of our family. Thanks.

Some pics from this year...

My big belly at the beach...

The girls playing in the shallow water.

Naya freaked out over the crab.

Stella and I.

Stella and Silas...BFFs. :)

My girls...

A few months ago, the Lord gave me this idea to start a blog or journel or something to record things about my girls. I had an overwhelming sense of sadness thinking that as time passes I might forget things about them how they are now....they way they talk, the funny things they do, ect. So I finally made them each a blog page where I can just note things as they happen so when they're older, and I'm older, we can all look back and remember. The blogs are pretty new so there's not much to them just yet but I'm excited they're up now. Enjoy!

http://dearstella3.blogspot.com

http://mynaya1.blogspot.com

My very own fireman...

SO, I realized that due to my lack of blogging I never wrote about my studly husband starting the fire academy. He's almost 3 months into it now, but he was accepted to the Coral Springs Fire Academy in August! Apparently, CSFA is one of the best fire schools in the state, which is exciting. It's also super strict and has higher standards than the others. Theo says it was a bit militant in the beginning, but now that a bunch of guys either failed out already or were dismissed from the program for whatever reason, the instructors are getting a little nicer. (not really though, ha!)

Anyways, on the first day of school Theo was chosen to be a squad leader which we were excited about. And for the last month now, he was has been moved to the Class Leader role....yessss. I kinda get proud. :) So the chain of command now, is the chief, the instructors, our very own "Steinhauer", squad leaders then the students. SO my man has been put in quite a nice and kinda important position. Thank you Lord for this promotion. It's been a new kind of deal for Theo as he is having to boss around a bunch of guys including men older than him and if you know my husband, he's just a sweet and tenderhearted kinda guy. So the chief (who is forever yelling at these guys) actually yelled at Theo for not yelling at the rest of the class, haha! What a guy. We're blessed that the entire class really does like and respect Theo and his leadership style at this point and Theo, contrary to the chief, isn't constantly "ripping them a new one" as the guys call it. Sorry for the gross terminology.

Somehow we've also gotten a few good hook ups from this deal...one of the students who is no longer with us....as in he failed out, not dead...manages a car wash place so we get to have a decent vehicle! God knows my girls can make quite a mess in point 3 seconds. And another guy, who is still in the game with Theo, owns a pizza place! His family has this yummy pizza joint like 5 minutes from our house and yes oh yes, we do love pizza around here. Today for lunch will be our second pizza hook up from that wonderful and glorious family. :)

Theo also passed his national EMT certification (Thank God), so hopefully when he graduates the academy in February he will get hired onto a department (hopefully, Pompano Beach) ASAP! The Lord seems to be making a way for that situation, so we'll see! The other day at Costco, I was resting on a huge case of canned corn while I waited for a friend to make it to my aisle, and after about 4 random people telling me that I looked like I was about to 'pop' (thanks people), this nice older guy comes by and just asks me when I'm due. He actually has a decent conversation with me about the fact that I'm about to 'pop'...asking me how I'm feeling, ect (without creepiness, thank you)...anyways, I noticed he was wearing a Pompano Beach Fire Dept shirt...so I was able to change the subject from my giant self, to him being someone who could hook us up. :) Of course, I got to informing him about Theo being in fire school and how we wants to work for Pompano Beach, etc. Well as it turns out, this guy has been with the dept for 22 years, is a driver engineer (which Theo is very interested in for the future), and even openly told me about the church he goes to...which I love and happened to go to for like 12 years or something. Hmmm...so I got a little excited for the clearly God meeting in the Costco aisle, then got a litte more excited when the guy wrote down Theo's name "Steinhauer" and said he would be putting in a good word for him! I mean, he didn't even meet him! And he just talked to me, his about to pop wife in the most random of places, sitting on corn at that... From past experiences, this is how God does things for our family. Very randomly. :) Lord, let your will be done, not ours!

38 weeks...

I AM SO TIRED. Maybe walking all over 2 thrift stores today with the girlies in tow was a bit much for me at this point. But I must say that between yesterday and today, I made out like a bandit with my thrift store finds. I got this gorgeous bedspread and shams, an Old Navy dress and a silky breastfeeding friendly top all for $5 dollars! Hello?! Why would a person ever want to shop at a dept store again?! And when my friend Carla, who was with me noticed the bedspread set that I found she informed me that her sister has the exact set on her bed and knows she paid a ton for it! Ahh....sweet satisfaction.
Last night I was fully convinced that I was going into labor. I was having a ton of hard contractions that were hurting around to my back. I couldn't sleep at all until about 4am when they suddenly just slowed down. :( So although I didn't get to meet my Olivia last night, surely she'll be here soon.

Almost done!

Wow, I'm in my 37th week now and getting pretty excited to meet my little darling. If it's really a girl,(which I do think it is) her name will be Olivia Love. Olivia was the very first name that dropped on my mind when we found out I was pregnant again. But then as we know, we were told it was a boy so that took "Olivia" out of the running. I guess Olivia wouldn't make such a great name for a little stud of ours, would it?! But at our 30 wk ultrasound we got the news that it's actually a girl! :) I'm so happy to add another little cookie to our clan. Stella and Naya are such little mama's and can't wait to meet her. Oh- and the reason I mentioned "if it's really a girl" is b/c my friend also had an ultrasound at 30 wks and was told it's a girl...and delivered a boy. SO...I'm trying to stay at peace with that kind of situation possibly happening to us. At least we have a great boy's name (Elias Theodore) IF it does happen. Anyways, I had my weekly appointment this morning and not a thing is happening with my uterus. No dialation, no thinnning of my cervix...nothing. It's amazing how that can be the case with all the pressure and sharp stabs I'm feeling 'down there.' I mean, sometimes I feel like this baby could break my water with all the ninja moves 'she' is doing in there. I guess her little water balloon is getting kinda tight these days. And let's not even talk about how totally deformed and not-round my belly gets when she's in her "awake time." She's definitly not moving around as much throughout the day anymore, but by the evening she's ready to show off her moves. It's so funny how we (preggo people) miss all of this when we're not pregnant anymore. I remember missing Naya being in my belly right after she was born. I was so happy to hold her in my arms and see her beautiful face, but I guess there's just something so incredible and powerful and spiritual about having your child nestled safely inside of you. Thinking on that, I've decided not to be anxious in the 'get this baby out of me' kind of way anymore. Within the next few weeks, she will be out and I'll be blessed with another arrow to our quiver. But for now, I'm going to relish all of those sharp jabs and other crazy ninja moves she gives me while she's tucked away "peacefully" within me. :)