Here's our sweet pea having a bath like in the "big girl tub!" What a cutie...
After getting back from Arizona we decided that it was time for Natalie to have "real" baths. Her umbilical cord fell off when we were in Palm Springs (3 weeks old or so) but we had just been giving her a wash-cloth bath every day. With all the busy-ness of the last few weeks we decided to wait until we were home from Arizona until trying out this new venture.
We had been given a baby tub and tried that on Wednesday but she just kept slipping around and her head kept rolling around so it was quite annoying. Finally I pulled out this great little invention from Kirsten, who is a nurse and bathes babies on a regular basis. It is the BEST invention ever...Natalie lies still and doesn't move around or slide down into the water. And she LOVES bath time now. So cute. So, THANKS, Kirsten!!!
Just thought I'd share. =)
Having a good weekend...last night we hung out with Nate & Debra at their place. Debra made a tasty casserole and we just chit-chatted. Today I slept in (which doesn't mean much if you're up 2 times at night and go to bed at 1:30am!) and our friend Rachyl came by to say goodbye. She's leaving to Ethiopia for 2 weeks and we'll be in Arizona by the time she gets back! It's so wierd that again I have to say goodbye to wonderful friends. I feel like since high-school I have had to make new friends constantly...at Multnomah (Portland), then at Azusa, then in Valencia...and on top of that everyone from Abbotsford. Now we're moving on to a new place were I trust the Lord will again provide us with wonderful friends. I am SO thankful for blogging, which allows me to keep in touch with all you wonderful friends all over the globe...sure makes things easier!
Oh...have I mentioned my new addiction to Sudoku? Shaun calls it my "boyfriend" since I like it so much! Driving back from Arizona I spent a majority of the time doing it. So challenging but oh so fun. I love numbers. Yes, I am a dork.
Alright, I should go. Our room, office, and bathroom are in shambles and I must figure out how to organize everything. Have a GREAT weekend!
Well...it looks like as of May 13th I should technically be called the Canadian Arizona Girl...yes, that's right...Shaun GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!!!! Shaun is going to be a Youth Worship Resident for Central Christian Church of the East Valley in Mesa, Arizona. It is a LARGE church (over 5000 people!) and we LOVE it! Praise the Lord...we are SO pumped!
Shaun is hired as a resident which is a full-time position (with entry level pay--but enough because Arizona is less expensive than Cali) and it is an AWESOME program that Central offers to recent college graduates or post college students who are wanting to get into ministry but don't have a ton of ministry experience. It is a 15 month program (so it'll end in September 2007) that basically shows what ministry is all about with guidance from other pastors and leaders. Most of the residencies that Central offers are not guaranteed to hire at the end of the 16 months, but this residency is guaranteed to have a full time job at the end. Central is opening a brand new campus in September 2007, and they are training and will be preparing Shaun to take over the youth services and worship for the youth when the new campus opens in Gilbert, Arizona (about 7 miles south of the current campus).
The weekend went great overall, although it was quite up and down emotionally. The whole weekend we fell more and more in love with the church, the position, and the kids so we were really hoping that THIS was the place that God had been preparing us for!!! It was a really busy weekend--they had a bunch of activities planned for us with the youth staff, kids, and the worship band (made up of Jr. & Sr. High kids). They had asked Shaun to lead worship for the Jr. High & Sr. High services on Sunday morning and that went really well. We also were able to attend the main church service on Saturday night--which we loved! I told Shaun after the service that I would move to Arizona JUST to go to this church. It is AWESOME!!!
After the services on Sunday Shaun went out for coffee with two of the staff leaders and they offered him the position. I had stayed back at the hotel and had a nap with Natalie and he came back and said "I'm sorry I took so long...I stopped by the post office to see if I could pick up a change of address form." I was SO excited...could not believe it!!! We prayed about it that night and "slept on it" even though we both knew and felt God's peace from the beginning with this job. We had been scheduled to leave Mesa on Monday morning, but instead we woke up and decided to go do some apartment hunting...
So...we're moving the 2nd weekend in May.
I cannot believe it!!!!!!!!!!! We are so excited that after this period of waiting that God has shown us exactly where He wants us! We trust that He has fully prepared us for this ministry and that He will work through us both. I am really excited to get to know the youth and hopefully will be able to lead a small group of girls. So we have a LOT of stuff to do and we are quite overwhelmed. A lot of people to say "good-bye" (or "See you later!") to...a lot to organize and pack. Crazy. But we are also CRAZY excited that we have so much ahead of us and that God has lead us in this way!!!
Natalie is doing so good...she is such a content baby! She did so awesome this weekend. Both Shaun & I felt so bad because we didn't spend a lot of quality time with her since we were so busy this past weekend. I felt like she was in her carseat a lot and just got out for feedings and nighttime. Poor girl. But she didn't complain. What a little angel! We are SO in love with her! She is starting to be more alert...soooo cute.
Anyways...I hope this post makes sense. I've been writing it over the last 2 days because I wanted to make sure I got it all in right and my head is kinda in shambles (understandable...kinda stressed out!!!). Thanks SO much for all of your prayers and support. We can't wait to share more of this adventure with you, as it comes.
I forgot to mention CONGRATULATIONS to Brandon & Alison on the birth of Jackson James Gentry on Friday, April 14th!!! Alison is one of my best friends from Multnomah...who would've thought that we'd be welcoming our first babies into the world in less than 2 weeks of each other??? Can't wait to meet the little guy...he is oh so cute!
Today we're heading out to Palm Springs!!! YAY!!! My parents flew down last night and we're picking up Ben at the airport on our way. We'll be gone until Tuesday. Oh, it will be wonderful to spend time in the sun and for them to also spend some quality time with Natalie.
We had our 2 week checkup today (well, she's actually 12 days old today but they're closed on Saturday)...Natalie is doing great! She is back up to 7 lbs 5 oz which is good. This means that she is getting enough to eat! Phew! I must say I have been worried because she is a quick eater--usually she is done in 10-20 minutes and then she either falls asleep or just doesn't accept any more food! Makes for quick and relatively easy middle of the night feedings!
Update on Shaun's job situation...we are headed next weekend (22nd and 23rd) out to Mesa, Arizona. There is a church out there that is having us come out for a "interview/candidating weekend". The position is for a very large church (over 5000 people!) leading worship for youth services and also being a youth leader. It is more of an internship with a guarantee for a job at the end of the year. It is part time, but pays well (for the area) and would be great experience to start out in ministry with youth leaders over him, directing him and guiding him in this "transition". We are really really excited about it, but nervous. When we go out there Shaun is going to lead the youth services in worship on Sunday morning. Please pray for him...that the Lord will give him confidence in his abilities and that we will have a clear open door or closed door.
Anyways...sorry this is kind of short. Gotta go feed the babe and then finish packing! Happy Easter everyone...
Well ladies & gentlemen...our little princess has arrived. We are so excited to introduce you to our little lady, Natalie Ryan Sawyer. She is so precious! Thank you SO much for your prayers and support, and for all of your encouraging comments. We are so blessed and excited to share her with you!
So you wanna know the details...here they are. If it's too much information for you, don't read. =)
Friday we went in at 3pm for our appointment down at the hospital. We got all ready to go as if we might stay, so we had all our bags packed, etc. When we got to the hospital we had to wait for a bit for the midwife to come in to see us. They ran some tests (checked my cervix--I was still only about 1 cm dialated and 50-60% efaced) and then took an ultrasound to measure the amniotic fluid. They told us up front that if the amniotic fluid surrounding the baby was under 8 we were not allowed to leave. The amount left was 8.7, which they said was "okay", but because I was 41 weeks I would need to return the next night or Sunday morning to be re-checked. They highly recommended we stay, but said it was our decision. The midwife thought the whole process should take approximately 24 hours because my cervix was what she deemed "favorable" to induce at this point.
Shaun and I both prayed about it and made the decision to stay because of the amniotic fluid levels and also because we would have to come back in a matter of days anyways. So, at 8pm (after a yummy tasty hospital dinner -- NOT!) they inserted the Cervadil, which is basically a little tampon-thingy that releases a hormone to "ripen" the cervix. The doctors/midwife expected to leave this in for 12 hours and then on Saturday morning they would then place me on Pitocin, which is a drug given through an IV that starts contractions.
Almost immediately after they inserted the Cervadil I began to feel period-like symptoms and kinda hot-flashy. The nurse said that was a good sign it was working. After 2 hours or so I began to feel contractions. They came about 5 minutes apart, and by the time Nate & Deb left they were about 3-4 minutes apart. The nurse came in and started me on an IV and told me I couldn't eat or drink anything anymore, and she also started me on Penicillin for my Strep B. She told Shaun & I to walk around for about an hour on the floor to see if that helped things along. Well it did...after 30 minutes I couldn't stand it anymore because my contractions were coming on so strong, about 2-3 minutes apart. We went back to the room and I laid down and requested some time of drug to take the edge off. They gave me 2 types of drugs (I can't remember what they were--but it wasn't Demoral)...one to take the pain away and the other to combat any nauseau I may feel from the first drug. The side effects of both were drozziness. Almost immediately I began to feel dizzy and extremely tired, but absolutly no relief from the pain. So I was falling asleep between contractions (for about a minute) and then waking up to breathe through a strong contraction. It wasn't fun...I hate that feeling of having no control over wanting to sleep or not! At about 2:30am the midwife came in to check me and saw that I was progressing too quickly (the Cervadil was WORKING)--I was already 3 cm and contracting too strong and close together. So she took it out, and I also requested an epidural at that time (which I had planned I'd probably get from the beginning). The epidural was great--I could still move my legs and toes, but I couldn't feel the contractions at all at that point--and that was amazing. The epidural itself didn't hurt too bad, except for the fact that I had to sit really still through contractions while they were giving it to me. Within 10 minutes I was feeling no contractions and I was able to sleep without being awoken every 2 minutes! It was great.
So I fell asleep until around 7:00am. Nurses kept coming in to check my blood pressure cause I guess it kept going really low (since I was so relaxed!). At one point a nurse came in and I asked her if I was still contracting (since I couldn't feel it). She told me that I was but since I was a first time mom I was going to have LONG day ahead of me and that I'd probably be started on the Pitocin soon. I was a little bummed because I thought my labor had really slowed down instead of speeding up.
The midwife came in shortly after and I told her I was feeling a lot of pressure. I thought maybe the epidural was wearing off--but she checked me and told me my water had broken and that I was 9 cm and would be ready to push in about 1 or 2 hours! I could NOT believe it! They immediately moved me to a Labor & Delivery Room, where I was prepped and had to "bear down" while the baby's head became more enaged. I definitely felt all of this--the epidural took the pain of the contractions away but I still felt a ton of pressure at this point until the end.
At 9 am my nurse told me I could start pushing. She was so cute--an old Asian lady who said in her accent, "Don't worry--I catch babies for 30 years!". As I was pushing, she kept saying, "Push hard. Like a bowel movement. Push, harder!" It was SO funny. But it helped because I was able to push her head down and she was out by 10:45am. So I pushed for about 1 hour and 45 minutes--it seems long but it went so fast to us because I was so busy trying to get her out.
Her head was out and the midwife told me to look down and grab her--so I was able to reach down and pull her onto my chest. Shaun and I were both (of course) in tears and could not believe it was happening! The midwife hadn't told us what the Baby was...so I lifted her leg and we both said, "It's a GIRL!!!!????!!!" I use the question marks because we were convinced this baby was a boy...after the whole mess-up with the doctor "spilling the beans" back at 33 weeks. I had thought this was a girl for the whole pregnancy, and REALLY wanted a girl, so when she accidentally told us boy we began to prepare ourselves for a boy! To be honest I had had such a hard time when that had happened because I was a bit disappointed for my "gut instinct" being wrong! But I guess I was right after all. Natalie Ryan played a great April Fool's Day joke on us. Silly girl.
Oh, but she is so precious.
Right now she is napping in her crib. I went in awhile ago to check on her and she was just content lying there and looking around at her surroundings. What a blessing from the Lord. We are in awe that He chose us and blessed us to take care of this little one.
Now on to the Baby Poll...the rules did state that whoever had the most answers correct would win the Starbucks Card...so I have a bit of a dilemna because we have Kori and Julie who had 2 answers right, and then of course Denise was the only one who got the date right. Unfortunately I can't send ALL three of you Starbucks cards (although if we were more financially able I would!) so I am thinking the winner should be...DENISE! Because she was right about the date...and she took a big chance by giving a later date when the doctor had said we'd be early. So Denise...email me at sawyergirl777(at)hotmaildotcom...I'll need your address so I can send it. =) For everyone else who doesn't think that's fair...get over it...it's my contest! =)
Alright...that's all for now. Things are going great so far and we are excited to share more as it comes.
Yes, this is still Debra. Surprise! It is a girl, and her name is Natalie Ryan Sawyer. She was born at 10:45 this morning, weighing in at 7lbs 7oz. She is 21 inches long and has curly black hair. As you can see, she is one of the most beautiful newborns. Kristal can tell you the details, however I can give you the basics. Around 3am, she received an epidural so she could sleep. She woke up at 7am, and much to her surprise, she was dilated to 9cm. By 8am, she had dilated to 10cm, and she was allowed to begin pushing around 9am. Things began moving quickly, and with one or two pushes, Natalie Ryan Sawyer was born to the world at 10:45. Shaun came to the waiting room to let us in on all the good news, and he had tears in his eyes. What a blessing this day was for all of us. And the blessings continue...everyone is healthy and happy, and they should be home tomorrow.
Hello, everyone! This is Debra, and I am reporting the long-awaited good news. Baby Sawyer is officially coming tomorrow, on April Fool's Day. Kristal and Shaun went in for their 41-week doctor's appointment at the hospital, and they were informed that due to the amount of fluid surrounding the baby, they should begin induction. At 8pm, she was given the medication that is to "ripen" the cervix. This will hopefully prevent the need for potocin, however, if their is no progression by morning, they will have to give it to her. Around 10pm, she began feeling contractions. Once we left around 11:30, the contractions were getting more painful and closer together. If she can't sleep through the night because of the pain, she may decide to get an epidural. Kristal is tough, and she can totally do this with no problems. I am confident. Plus, Shaun is a great help. Please be praying for them as they move through the night. This is unchartered territory for them, but God will guide them gently. She loves you and can't wait to see you all.
Here's our sweet pea having a bath like in the "big girl tub!" What a cutie...
