The Summer of Trials

I really wish I would remember to update this blog more often. I do want to have some sort of record of our lives raising our precious children!

Since I last wrote, little Elijah Daniel Samuelson was born on May 10, 2012. After a failed external version to get him from breech to normal position I ended up going into labor a week early and having an emergency c-section. I was so terrified about the surgery and recovery, and looking back at all of the OTHER things we've gone through since he's been born that was the easy part!

Here's the story of the labor and birth:

I woke on the 10th feeling "different." Eric's parents had stayed the night because Marty had an MRI that morning, so they had already left for UofM hospital. Around 8am I started feeling contractions. They were about 5-8min apart. Over the course of the next hour they became 4min apart. I alerted Eric while he was in the shower and he got out, I got in. We called triage and they told us to come in. How convenient that his parents were already at the hospital! We gave them a call and met them at Mott, passed off the girls (I was very emotional and teary eyed at this!) and headed up to triage. They checked me and I was 3cm, and starting to really feel the pain of the contractions (it was at that point about 10:00am). After a consultation with the doctor, they wheeled me into the pre-op room and got me ready for surgery. Eric wanted to get a camera and to call my family to let them know I was going to deliver right away. He left, and I was taken to the OR. I was really scared, but mostly excited! Of course getting the spinal was horrid. It took forever, and they were also trying to get blood from me at the same time, so I was getting poked and prodded all over. Once the spinal was in they allowed Eric to come in. (now it is about 12pm) I was so relieved when I saw him, all decked out in his scrubs. Right away they began the surgery. All of my fears and anxiety were gone, I was just so excited to meet my son. The thought that I would be hearing his cry in just a few minutes made me so thrilled I could hardly contain myself. I was grinning from ear to ear. I could feel a lot of tugging, pushing, and pulling. Eli was crammed way up in my rib cage, so he was hard to get out. Then the moment happened, I heard the doctor say, "Here he is! He's a chunky one!" And then his little cry. They brought him around the curtain and I saw my little guy for the first time. All gooey and chubby, he was perfect, all 9lbs of him.  They took him to clean him up, and he made some funny sounds that sounded like, "Oh no!" all of the nurses were laughing! It felt like ages until I could see him again. He peed on the doctor, then on the nurse, then through his blankets, geez. It all happened so fast.  One minute I was sitting on my couch watching tv, and 3 hours later I was holding my precious baby boy! After the surgery they wheeled me back to recovery. I was not feeling any pain at all, but was shaking uncontrollably. The shaking started on the operating table, and continued for a couple of hours, it was terrible. I couldn't stop chattering my teeth. Nevertheless, I nursed Eli as soon as I held him. He was ready and latched on right away. He nursed for an hour on each side. It was pure perfection. Eric brought Hannah back to see him, and then Autumn, then Eric's parents each came back to see him too. After a while they took me to my room. Everyone stayed around for a while and then Hannah and Autumn went back to Port Huron with Eric's parents while I was in the hospital. Gradually as the spinal wore off I began feeling some discomfort. It was mostly an ache of my abdominal muscles. I never had any incision pain at all. Over the course of the next 2 days I was able to get out of bed, walk around the room, and on the last day I even took a shower by myself! I was blown away by how much I was able to do, and the severity of the pain was minimal as long as I kept up on the meds. It was hard to get Elijah in and out of his bed, and I couldn't change his diapers yet, but I was so happy to lay in bed and nurse him all day long. We barely got any sleep, although he was a great sleeper....at first. I was absolutely in love, and we had an instant bond.

Now Elijah is 3 1/2 months old. Since his birth we have gone through a lot! Here's a run down:

May- my parents visited after Eli was born for 2 weeks. They were an incredible help to us. Cooking, cleaning and taking care of the girls while I recovered and Eric worked. It was amazing having them here. Eric had just started working at Produce Station, so he was still adjusting. I was still recovering from surgery, and it was very hard to get anything done being sleep deprived, sore, and busy with the children.

June- I am working on figuring out how to manage 3 kids and take care of the house while also starting to pack for our move. It is a huge challenge, and as the summer rolls in it is a HOT one. Lots of days are a wash because of the heat. With only 1 small AC unit, we spend a lot of days holed up in my bedroom. After my birthday things just got worse. I turned 30.

July- Autumn begins getting sick, her breathing gets worse and we decide we need to get to AC soon. Elijah also stopped nursing, so we knew it was time to get cooled off. We had several days in a row over 100, with many over 95 too. We spent a total of 7 days in a hotel. It was so difficult for Eric, having to pack everything we needed by himself in a disaster of a house and in the unbearable heat. He is such a wonderful man. Always making huge sacrifices for me, I am so grateful for him. At the end of July we spent 2 weeks at the Garcia's house in Chelsea while they were in Argentina. This was great! Finally the kids got into a routine. Elijah started sleeping and eating on a routine, and we were able to have normal family life again. Unfortunately Eric had to go back to the old house several times alone to pack. There was SO much to do, and only days to do it. We moved in 2 stages, one Saturday we moved everything to the garage at the new house, then on Tuesday we moved into the house.


August- Our new life begins. We are in the new house! our house has AC, a pool, laundry room, basement and 3 bedrooms- everything we ever wanted! I could not be happier. We begin moving things in slowly from the garage. Since the basement isn't ready yet, we only move in essentials and when it is finished we will be able to finish up with setting things where they go. Eric's schedule is a challenge still, being 1-9pm. I have to figure out dinners, bedtimes, and cleaning/housework all on my own. It is a lot of work! The house is still being worked on, so people are in and out all the time. We enjoyed swimming in the pool and getting settled in general. Elijah is growing like a weed, 17lbs at 3mo old!! We also got our first family pet (besides fish or frogs) Figaro! He is the best cat we could ask for. He tolerates all of the fur pulling, squeezing and chasing from the girls without a problem. He doesn't run and hide under the bed, he loves snuggling and is so mellow. He got loose before we were ready to let him outside and was missing for a couple of days. I was devastated. I had become really attached, and felt really sad that we may never find a cat like him again. Thankfully I was able to find him in the woods next to the house.

And now we are here at the last week of August. I am loving life right now. Most of our major stressors are gone, the heat, sick kids, surgeries, messy house, packing, moving etc. ALL GONE. Now we are on a quest to increase our income once again. I am hoping to find a family who needs childcare in our home. Eric is continuing to seek a higher paying position somewhere in the food industry. We've survived the hardest season in our lives, it feels great to be under God's wing. He has taken us through the fire, and we have come out even more pure on the other side. PRAISE HIM.

Fall is approaching and I am getting ready to start more serious homeschooling with Hannah this year. She is SO hungry for learning, and I see no reason to wait. We are considering sending her to preschool 2-3 days a week for socialization as well. We'll see if that happens. I know she would love it, she asks every day when she gets to go to school. We waiver back and forth about sending her to school. I know I want to do a lot of  educating her, but I also see the value in formal education as well. I wish I could send her to school 2 days a week for elementary school. That would be ideal. I don't know if we are allowed to do that, it would probably make it harder on her. We'll see what happens. Maybe I'll remember to post before 4 months pass again!