Gary and I were a bit discouraged at our Monday doctor's appointment to find out that my contractions had done much, and that Kate was still pretty high.  Dr. Leo strongly recommended giving it another week, but after talking about it we talked about revisiting the issue on Thursday.  I went up to see him again Wednesday morning, and saw very little change.  He still recommended waiting, but we had decided that we wanted this baby here by Thursday night one way or the other.  He warned of the increased likelihood of needing a c-section, and told us to be prepared for a 24 to 48 hour labor not one of my short labors.  He scheduled us to come in Wednesday at 4 to start the process overnight, and said he'd see us about 5 on Thursday morning.


The nurses all thought he was crazy to schedule an overnight induction for a fifth pregnancy, particularly with my speedy delivery history.  But I didn't want to get my hopes up.  Within a few hours we had regular contractions, by 9 I told Gary there was no way we'd be sleeping tonight.  When I reached a 6 and my water broke even though she was still at a station -3 (WAY up high), and the nurse called Dr. Peterson who was on call to come right away.  In less than an hour Kate was born, and this time Gary didn't have to catch.  Dr. Peterson, told everyone that he doesn't know why Dr. Leo scheduled an induction for his night on call, instead on his own night on call. haha.  Dr. Leo came in this morning, shocked, and said he's never going to live this down.  They all were giving him a pretty hard time as he left this morning.


Katherine was born at 11:24, May 24th, 2017.  She weighed 8 lbs 12 oz, which makes her our heaviest baby to date.  She was 20 inches long, same as Rebecca.  She has a head full of dark hair, and is the spitting image of Ruth and Gary with her Cunningham ears, the flat rounded nose, and big ole cheeks.  She also has the same squish eyes as Ruth.  She doesn't care to open them much, but they look dark blue like the others did.  They did some extra blood sugar test over night since she is in the 93% for her gestational age.  The first one came back a little low, but the rest have been fine.  She has actually nursed quite a bit - nearly an hour the first time, and about 5-10 minutes every hour for the next 3. which was a surprise, I can't recall any of the others doing so well so quickly.  She is sleeping away right now.  They expect to release us tomorrow morning first thing.

I played t-ball this year.  I liked playing home and batting best.  When I was catching I liked playing in the middle (pitcher).  Because I get lots of balls there.  I liked my teammates.  Alea was my teammate, and Ruth and some boys.  Me love Daddy being my coach.  (He just inserted that she was the worst player on his team, and she replied, "Silly Daddy.")  I like him cheering.


I liked having a party.  We had some cupcakes and played at the park.  Then we had another party.  I got a trophy and played on the bounce houses.

May 1, 36 weeks 2 days, face shot.  Look at those big old cheeks.  She's going to look like Gary and Ruth, I'm sure of it.  Still holding out hope for red hair though.

Monday afternoon I had my 38 week appointment.  Everything went well.  I'm so excited to finally be down to the end.  It feels real and yet surreal to realize that we should have a baby by this time next week at the latest.  The plan is to go in Monday afternoon, and set definite induction plans for that day or beginning of the week, depending on how things look.

35 weeks.

May 1, Kate's foot.

My parents are planning to take the entire day on Friday to drive down.  They will be here about a week.  So, anytime after that sounds like a good time to have a baby  They have plans to take the older kids back to Alabama with them for a few weeks.  We've not worked out all the details of how long they will stay, but that should help too, with adjusting to having a baby back in the house.  I'm hoping when they come back, that they can stay over a little while too.  Having Mother around with 4 kids in the house would be wonderful.

May 1, Profile shot.

Now, we are just playing the waiting game.  And before you ask, don't ask about whether or not the contractions are picking up, don't ask when I think we'll go into labor, just don't ask.  Let's be honest Ruth came 19 days early, and Rebecca came 10 days late.  Three of our four children had to be induced.  I doubt this one is any different.  Besides, do you really think I had her and just didn't tell you?  Seriously though if one more person asks, I'm ready to tell you people 3 weeks after she gets here, that by the way, she arrived.

38 weeks on my 32nd b'day.

My butterfly garden is beautiful, and it also has butterflies and birds and flowers.  I have yellow flowers, pink flowers, purple flowers, and orange flowers.  Some of the yellow ones died and are growing more flowers again.  My favorite is the pink one in the pot (a desert rose).  I also have a fern and some hosta.

This is so Ahna can see what Angel Ivy looks like.

I was playing my favorite wii game, when all of a sudden I was transported into the Wii...

One day, I was playing Mario Party 8, until a glitch when into the Wii and it took me inside.  When I found Wario, Waluigi, Luigi fighting about who was better at Mario.  Waluigi said, "I should have been in instead of you, Luigi."  Luigi said "No, I'm better than you."  Wario said, "No I'm the best of all."  Then Mario comes and says "Break it up, break it up.  You all have your own games, even if me and Luigi has more." I was hiding behind a tree while they were fighting in the beach land.  This is land number 4 in the New Super Mario Brothers.  Then Donkey Kong comes and he was angry about something.  Mario says, "DK!"  So, then those two start fighting.  Then Yoshi comes and he uses his tongue and throws them all to different places, splitting them up.  But, Princess Toadstool comes and starts fighting with Yoshi, and everyone starts fighting again.


Mario finally said, "Lets stop fighting and just agree that we should all have been in it."  So they head back to Mario's house for a party, when DK asked, "Do you feel like someone is watching us?"  Mario said, " I did hear foot steps."  Bowser comes out and said, "Can I come to the party?"  "Yes, you can come and join the party,"  they all say.  He was so happy that he accidentally burned the tree that I was hiding behind.  So Mario says, "You are the little boy, kid, who comes and plays me!"  I said, "Yep, that's me."  So we all went inside and got the party all ready.  Mario said, "There's some things missing.  First, the drinks, and second, where is Bowser with the cake?"  When Bowser finally got back, it was a humongous cake that Bowser had cooked himself.  They all had some, and there was plenty left over.  Next, Tribones and some other guest that Bowser invited, like a turtle and Boo.  So they started the party, and hung a sign that said Mario and Friends:  Big Party.  So, it started getting late, they were having so much fun, and sharing presents.  Bowser got a ticket to fix his castle.  Mario got a treasure box with 2 of each kind of power.  Luigi got some more overalls, since he's running out.  Waluigi gets a brand new purple hat.  Wario got a boxing bag for punching at home.  Then I got the one and only, my very own flier box, with 15 flier powers in it.  Since it was late, it struck midnight.  So, Mario said, "You better go back home now.  When it gets 2 minutes after midnight, you can't go home again, and the time will start back in your world."  So, he walked me to the portal to go home.

I ended up in the living room floor.  Momma said, "Time for lunch!"  And I said, "I'm coming!"  And that's where my blog ends.  The end.

I waited a long, long time for a loose tooth.  Britt lost lots of teeth, but I did not lose any.  But now I have lost one.  Britt had his tooth growing behind his baby tooth, and I had mine grow back behind my tooth too.  When I first found my loose tooth I was super happy, because I had waited a long, long time.  The dentist wanted to pull it out, but I said no.  I ate corn on the cob on the side of my mouth because of my loose tooth.  Every day it was a little looser, and one day we slept in the tent.  A few days after that on Saturday before Easter, there was only one little bit still there, so I pulled it out.  And my tooth is almost to the right spot now.  I put my tooth in a little bag, but I did not get Britt's Mario bag.  The next morning I woke up and looked under my pillow, and there were two tooth faerie coins.  Daddy thought she wouldn't come because it was Easter, and it would be her day off.  I'm happy I've lost a tooth, and I want to lose another one.


(What Ruth didn't share was that she had that loose tooth for at least 46 days, and wouldn't pull it herself.  And she refused to let her Daddy do it, because she wanted to do it herself.  I've never seen a kid go so long with one.)

(After reading Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day to Britt, I asked him to make up a story about his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  He insisted that he didn't want to write that kind of story, that he doesn't like when bad things happen to him.  So instead he has invented his own story with a new character.)

Mr. Muffin woke up and had very bad sleep.  He knew that it would be a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.  He went to school to teach, but was run over on the way, by a fire truck.  He barely survived, but he made it to school.  Someone opened the door for him, but he was a little too slow, and it hit him in the face.  It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

In his office, while he was speaking, one of his students flung a rock at him right in the face with a sling shot.  He knew it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.  He decided to help his head, to go by Steak and Shake and get him a milkshake.  But on his way, he was hit by a stampede of cows on the sidewalk.  He knew it was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  So, he finally got to Steak and Shake, and he got an M&M milkshake, but it tasted like poop.  He knew it was a terrible horrible, no good, very bad day.

So, he said I'm going to find a tree, sit down and build my very own secret hide out so no one can bother me.  But, while he was cutting down a tree for wood, it fell down on top of him.  When he got up, another tree fell on his toe, making him drop the ax cutting off his leg.  Mr. Muffin knew it was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  So, hobbled, dragging his foot down the sidewalk as he goes to the hospital.  When he barely got there, there were 1000 people.  So when it was finally his turn, there was no more room, and they kicked him out the window.

When he hit the sidewalk his back broke.  He knew it was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  So he drug himself home with his hands, but on the way he was run over by a skateboarder, stepped on by a runner, and a dog.  When he finally arrived home, mosquitos were out and the were taking all of his blood, until he lost an entire milk jug of blood.  Then, his neighbor's cat scratched him up, and a remote control car hit his head and one of his grown up teeth fell out.

While his wife was cooking supper, a pan of hot grease fell on his arm.  He knew it was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  So, his wife put him in bed.  He told himself maybe I should have went to a hotel.  But his wife told him bad things happen even in hotels.

The end.

Today, I took the gift cards and money that we were given for Kate, and after my final MFM appointment, Britt, Ruth, Rebecca and I headed over to Babies R Us.  I picked up almost everything that was still left on my list (still debating on the bumper, and there were a few little things the store I went into was out of).  So tonight, I was able to put the last of that stuff together.


Of course this room will still primarily be a guest room.  After all Kate will sleep in the cradle in our room until she sleeps more or less through the night, or outgrows the cradle.  I might put her in here for naps, but we'll still need a place for company.  I really love how everything has come together the coral and teal and sage green with little bits of pink here and there.  It's so feminine and yet not super girly.