December 8th came and went with a blur as that was the original due date for you, our sweet #9. As each day passed we held our breath wondering when you would make your appearance. The doctor said it would be super quick once it started and that scared your dad fearing you would come before we made it to the hospital. On Monday, December 13th (40 weeks and 5 days) at 1:30 in the morning, I woke up to go to the bathroom. I had my first contraction followed by another one 7 minutes later. I quickly woke up your dad.. who sat straight up and said ‘we don’t have much time’ HAHA. Your dad texted our friend who was going to stay with your siblings. While I labored in the kitchen, and he rushed around the house gathering our things for the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital at 2:30am. 1 hour after the first contraction! With one look and realizing you were our 9th, they hurried us straight back to triage. Mommy was checked and was 8cm dilated. (Yep that was quick!) All was good to go to proceed with a VBAC. They hurried me to a room and began setting up for you to arrive. We had the most amazing midwife who was calm and patient with mommy. She asked how I wanted to labor and allowed me to stand –a huge answer to prayer. Because things were happening so fast I didn’t get a COVID test or an IV (yeah!!) but my contractions were extremely strong. It was suggested that I have my water broken so you could arrive. When that happened we realized you had already had a bowel movement. This didn’t stop the plan, but we had to have a heart rate monitor placed to check your stress levels. I was moved to the bed to check how things were going, I was a 10!!!.. the midwife said.. lets go ahead and push. So I gave 3 good pushes.. but I knew nothing was happening with them. Then your heart rate dropped really low and they called the doctor to try and use the vacuum. As your heart rate was still having issues and then they realized you actually were only at a station 0. Which isn’t good. Something was keeping you from moving down. The midwife sat at the edge of the bed and I said.. I know something is wrong. She said yes I think so. With tears in my eyes and searching your daddy’s face for confirmation, we decided to have a C-SECTION. But I just knew something wasn’t right. Within seconds they were prepping me to go into surgery. Your dad said that there were so many nurses and medical personal in the room, then once they wheeled me out it was completely silent. At that moment with only the beeping of the heart rate monitor, it was a bit eerie. Because it was a true emergency your dad could not go with me, and I had to be sedated. The last thing I remember was hearing the doctor hollering “you need to move faster!!”
I woke up what felt like hours later to see you lying in the little hospital cradle next to me. I was so drowsy I was nervous to hold you, as I was afraid I would drop you. You were born at 3:53am on Dec 13th. You weighed 6lbs 14oz and were 19.5 inches long.
Once the doctor came to check on me and send me up to a room, we found out indeed something was wrong. You had shifted in the birth canal and arched your neck causing you to become lodged. This would not have been something we could have known. I am so glad we went with my gut and opted for a C-Section. The rest of the day was very hard for mommy as I had to now recover from major surgery.
When you were two days old, we shared the name we felt the Lord give us. Mommy had wanted Shepherd – as she knew you will to be a mighty leader in the Lords army. Daddy felt a few times throughout the pregnancy that Caleb was a neat name. Once we found out the meaning of Caleb we fell in love with it. Caleb – in the Bible remained wholeheartedly devoted to God and because of that, he was given a great reward! So after much prayer, you were named: Caleb Shepherd “Brave Faithful Leader”
We spent the next 6 days in the hospital, as mommy’s health was a struggle. Three days after you were born (and as they were releasing us) mommy’s blood pressure spiked and she was diagnosed with Postpartum Preeclampsia (she also had this with Lydia). The medicine caused serve headaches and flu-like symptoms. I struggled with the most intense headache, I was barely awake for those 24 hours of the Magnesium Sulfate. It was seriously the worst. They kept me monitoring my blood pressure, which will take weeks to even out. Finally, after spending six days of meeting you, loving on you, and working to get strong, we were released! First stop home was to meet the eight siblings so anxiously waiting to love on you!
Today I am starting with History, which for our family has always been done together. No matter the age, we all sit down and go through this together! We have LOVED Mystery of History.. https://themysteryofhistory.com .. We would read a chapter and do the fun activities.
This year I wanted a very American History focused study. So I purchased our Spine ( choose one book, or curriculum, that you use as the launching point for your studies. You read a small section of the spine, then take off and do
We only do 1 day a week of formal lessons in history. For us it is Tuesday. After morning basket we stay on the floor and everyone pulls out their
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