So, no baby yet. At first I was frustrated and then worried, now I am at peace. Let me start by saying that Thursday night (the 8th) my water broke around 11pm. It was hilarious. You'd have thought Jesse and I were first time parents. I was standing in front of the computer and splash, it went all over. I started yelling for towels and Jesse ran around like a chicken with his head cut off. I'm accustomed to the baby flying out after the water breaks as that's how it's always happened in the past. We were a little freaked out to say the least but I wasn't having any contractions so we just kind of got ourselves together and tried to relax. Of course I couldn't relax. I was waiting for the contractions to start. They never did. The midwife came over to check things out and I was fine, baby was fine. So we waited and waited and waited. Knowing that the medical community would have had me hooked up to an IV full of pitocin immediately and not quite knowing why I had to check it out on the internet. It seemed to be a little premature to even think about going to the hospital so we stayed home. Friday came and went, Saturday arrived. The midwife recommended acupuncture to get the contractions going. I had never done it but was open to it so Jesse and Sammy drove me up there. They shopped at Trader Joe's while I got the acupuncture done. It was pretty cool and kind of weird, LOL. I do think it brought on contractions as we were up half of Saturday night dealing with that. All three midwives, my mom, and a tired Sammy stayed up all night too. Still - no baby arrived. We waited out Sunday and tried various methods of natural inductions. None of which worked. Mary Therese continued to thrive and I felt fine (althought tired) so we waited. Today is Monday, Jesse went back to work, I went about my business. I did manage to get an awesome prenatal massage and grabbed a quick cup of coffee with my dear friend Colleen.
So - here's my real point. The five older kids were gone from late Friday afternoon until early afternoon today. I missed them so much. It just felt wrong without them here for that length of time. I realized that dirty dishes and toys everywhere are SO worth it. I realized that who I am is so much entwined with who they are. They were only two miles down the road but it felt like they were worlds away. Tonight we put Sammy to bed and watching Facing the Giants with the older kids (I highly, highly recommend the movie). Anyway, it was so, so nice to be with them. I am so blessed. It is not a burden. Our house will remain messy, there will always be dishes in the sink, laundry to fold and not enough money in the bank account but what we have is priceless. What little Mary Therese is coming into is more love than most of us can ever hope for.
For all of that I say thank you to God for helping me see what I have before I bring another child into our world. Thank you for not bringing her early or even on time (though I wouldn't mind it being sometime soon ;) ). It will be insane, seven kids, one dad, and one mom. It will be loud, it will be messy, it will be absolutely wonderful. Praise God for all of His works! He really does know what he's doing. :)
