A Time to Adjust

The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his 

people with peace. ~Psalm 29:11

Emma Michelle has made her arrival and not a moment too soon. Weighing in at 10lbs, 10 oz I was thankful she came a little over 3 weeks early! All the kids were so excited to meet her and beg me all the time if they can hold her. We are certainly feeling blessed. 

But you know, blessed isn't the only thing we are feeling. We are feeling outnumbered, overwhelmed, tired, and weak. Does this surprise you? People keep asking us how things are going, or how we are doing and then seem surprised when we don't say that things are going excellent and we've got this all under control! I realize you expect that with baby 7 things are old hat to us but really this has been a rather hard adjustment.The fact that we have two babies in the house is a big factor in our feeling like we don't have this under control. Tess is still a baby at 10 months so we have two to give bottles to and feed and two who don't walk, and two who can't verbalize their needs and two who can't really do anything on their own yet. Not to mention the other 5 that still need us for things! This is a new experience for us and the closest to having twins either of us ever wants to be! Before this our closest two were 14 months apart and honestly that was nothing compared to this! Of course if God had ever seen fit to bless us with twins we would have been happy but right now, we are glad they have come one at a time! We are relying on Gods grace and strength to get us through each day and we know He will...this is just going to take some time!

My Irish Twins-10 months apart!

Emma is also dealing with jaundice. They did discharge her from the hospital because her numbers were borderline at the time so we were told to keep an eye on her. Yesterday at her check up her numbers had gone up into a zone that could present some dangers. So we had more lab work done this morning to see if her numbers went down...but they didn't. The went up. If her number gets to 20 she will have to be hospitalized and put under the bili lights. This morning she is at 17. So we have been told to keep doing what we are doing which is feeding her every 2hrs (or less if she wants...yes, exhausting!) and having her sleep in the sun. Please pray that her numbers would decrease without the need to be hospitalized. We are thankful that she doesn't present any of the other symptoms associated with jaundiced such as being lethargic and not wanting to eat. Those are danger signs that we need to be keeping an eye out for. Otherwise for a premie she is doing great. The Dr's are really happy with how she looks and we are so thankful!

There are so many things I am thankful for in regards to Emma's pregnancy and delivery.My health is one of them. Up until a couple weeks ago my blood pressure and sugars remained right where they needed to be and I know that was the power of all your prayers at work. My BP took a turn for the worst last week. I was put on "bed rest" but realistically we all knew that was impossible so I was to do as little as possible and not leave the house unless I absolutely had to. Even with doing those things and resting as much as I could my BP still got dangerously high. I was sent to the hospital a couple times to be monitored when the decision was finally made the best thing for me health wise was to induce me and deliver the baby to get my blood pressure down. We saw Gods hand in this delivery everywhere we looked. That day the Dewhurst family, whose daughters have been babysitting for us lately, were able to come and watch the kids for us since we had no child care. They arrived in lightening speed and even spent the night so Ben could stay with me at the hospital after I delivered! We are so grateful to them! Also, when you've delivered as many babies as I have at the same hospital ( a small hospital) the nurses come to know you very well and we know the nurses well. I have my favorite nurse. I have loved her since she helped deliver Gabe and then Will. She was the nurse on duty that day and I was so thrilled. She's amazing! And the icing on the cake was that my favorite Dr., the one I request to only be seen by, happened to be on call and delivered Emma. I was on cloud 9 really with my medical team! It doesn't hurt my Dr. is originally from Madawaska! God just blessed over and above. My blood pressure remains stable, not great, but not terribly high so I don't need to be on meds this time around and we are praising God for that. 

So long story short we are all doing well, we are happy and blessed but also tired and overwhelmed. All the meals our friends are providing are a saving grace right now, we are so blessed by wonderful friends. Bear with us as we slip off the radar for a few months and get to know our new addition and adjust to life as we know it now! Your prayers and love and support mean so much...we know how blessed we are!

Our 7 amazing kids!