William Joseph McBride's Entrance Into the World

Thank you everyone for your prayers during Pam's labor yesterday. We have a healthy, beautiful baby boy. As usual things did not go as planned but the end result was a healthy mom and baby. Pam did a wonderful job through almost 24 hours of back labor. She used all we have learned in our classes. Unfortunately her cervix wouldn't cooperate. While her contractions were getting stronger throughout the evening her dilation was stuck at 4cm for well over 12 hours. After much consideration, thought and especially prayer we agreed that the best thing for both mother and baby, who after delivery we saw was trying to force himself down a cervix that wasn't ready for him, was to deliver via a C-Section. While not the natural birth we wanted for William, Pam and I were and are totally at peace with the decision. The OB on call was wonderful in explaining the benefits and risks of C-Section and attempting to continue a vaginal delivery. She even asked us if she could pray with us before the surgery. For me (Jeff) that was the final nudge in knowing that we were doing the right thing that I had gotten while praying over the decision with Pam. As always, we were firmly in God’s hands. The C-Section went off without a hitch and William was delivered screaming his lungs out ready to face the world. As I type this mother and baby are resting together in our post partum room at Round Rock Medical Center. The staff here has been excellent from the time we got here. They have truly respected and honored our wishes for the birth and worked to help Pam as she labored yesterday. And for me, I was truly amazed at the speed and proficiency that the OR team worked at last night when we decided on the C-Section. While not what we pictured for the moment, we were together, in good hands, and could not have been in any more amazement at hearing the words “It’s a boy!!!” and seeing William for the first time.

For those of you in the Austin area we would love to have people stop by starting this afternoon/evening (Tuesday) to visit and meet William. It looks like we’ll be in the hospital till Thursday, possibly Friday. Thanks again for all of your prayers during Pam’s labor. We are truly blessed to have as many showing they love us by checking in with how we were doing.

The Differences

So as it's feline nap time on Sunday afternoon here in the McBride household we realized the differences in our cats. We have had three cats so far and each of them have had totally different personalities. Lizzie is our independent one. She is totally Texan: mossies most of the time except when food in involved, only will let you give her attention when she wants it, and playing with toys fairly infrequently. Logos is our social cat: he is pretty much in the same room as we are all the time, will play with a toy for 15~20 minutes at a time, though like Lizzie he will only let you give him attention when he wants it.

This showed up today, Lizzie took a nap on our bed and Logos in the living room with us.

Progress

Casey and Dad brought over the crib and changing table/dresser. It took a little bit to get them situated but they are here.

Casey did a great job making the crib and staining the dresser to match. Casey thank you so much. You did a great job!!!

We did our first load of baby clothes!! Logos was making sure that I was not alone in folding and that the piles did not fall over.

And now?

Just wanted to update you.  We are at 38 weeks, and 3 days to be exact, so 11/2 weeks to go.  We had an ulrasound this morning and we got a picture of our Little Pumpkin's face.  The ultrasound says that our baby is about 8lbs, 6 oz right now.  That means the baby is probably a little smaller than that.  We will wait and see what our Little Pumpkin comes out as.

A new profession?

Not anytime soon. Our pastor, Benjamin, was out of town for a couple of weeks and to fill in on Sunday's he asked a Jeff and another member to speak. This is the first time Jeff has given the message. He has spoken and given testimony but not the full message. I think he did a great job. Here is a link to the podcast: http://www.neaustinvineyard.com/listen.htm He spoke on August 9th, it's titled "Gifted to Serve: Guest Speaker Jeff McBride."

Here's the direct link to the MP3 file: http://lovemypodcast.com/neav/Message%202009-08-09%20Guest%20Speaker%20Jeff%20McBride.mp3

New Clothes

So today was the first day I wore maternity clothes. Right now I don't have to wear them all the time but I sometimes they are more comfortable. I got a Bella Band so I can wear my 'normal' clothes a little longer. The tops are longer and it seams to be more comfortable. I borrowed many shirts and a couple of pairs of pants from a friend. I still need to go shopping for a few things as she was not pregnant during the summer but I am good for now.

Yes that is a skirt, and I wore it to church.

Doctor Visit #5

We had a regular check up at the ob office at 28 weeks. So at this stage they do what is called a glucose test. It's a test to check for gestational diabetes. It's only one hour. You have to fast then drink this stuff that has a given amount of sugar, that kind of tastes like a cross between Tang and half flat Sunkist. Well I 'failed' that one so I had to take the 3 hour test. I had to fast for 10~12 hours before the test started, then during the test I could only drink water. I have passed that one, so I do not have gestational diabetes.

We are still working on the house and the nursery, so things are progressing. I will post pictures when things have more dramatically changed.