August 30th...

What a precious day...the day we welcomed our second child into this world, a happy, healthy baby boy, Caleb Lawrence.  In much the same way as Hannah's birthday started, my water broke at home around 4:30 am.  I went back to sleep knowing that I had hours to wait (based on past experience).  Around 6:30 when Craig's alarm clock went off for work, I started having contractions.  I knew for SURE that today was the day!  So much more relaxed this time with the second child, I threw some laundry in the wash, called my mom and chatted about their plans while Craig put the car seat in the car and arranged for his parents to drive down from Holland to pick up Hannah and Ike for a few days.  I took a shower, took my time and was ready to go.  Grandma arrived around 8:30 and we took a few pics before heading to the hospital.  Although we didn't think Hannah really knew what was going on, I think just our energies and changes in mood made her realize this wasn't a normal day!

We headed to Bronson Hospital and I was having contractions about every 4 minutes.  When we arrived we went to the Labor and Delivery unit and were treated in the triage unit before we were sent to our lovely delivery room.

We were greeted by Nurse Sarah who would be helping us the entire day.  We became slightly concerned as there was meconium in the amniotic fluid, but the doctors and nurses assured us that we would be taken care of...NICU would be in the room when the baby was born and would complete an assessment upon the birth.  I was only dilated to 3 cm when I arrived and stayed there for several hours...the doctor ordered Petocin for me to help jump-start my body.  The doctor and the nurse both assured us that we'd have a baby in the afternoon--I was skeptical!!  The contractions really started to pick up and about 1:30 I said "mercy" and requested an epidural (thank God for that medical marvel!)  Just a tiny pinch of pain and I was free from any feeling for the rest of the labor.  I was dilated to 9 cm at approximately 5:00, shortly after that we attempted a practice push and I was quickly told to stop and they needed to get the doctor.

At 5:33 we were ready to push again and at 5:35 our wonderfully handsome and healthy baby boy Caleb Lawrence breathed his first breath.  He cried immediately indicating that there was no concern for the meconium and we were ecstatic to see that he was a boy!!  Between the names of Caleb and Hayden, Craig picked Caleb.  We knew the middle name was going to be Lawrence after Craig's Grandpa Terpstra (his first name) and my Grandpa Tapy (his middle name).  As there were no medical issues with Caleb I was able to hold him for a LONG time...much longer than I was able to with Hannah.  It was absolutely wonderful!

Caleb Lawrence Terpstra, 8 lbs. 5 oz., 21.5 inches long, 15 inch head!!  HUGE feet. 

My favorite part!!

So proud of our new baby boy!

Daddy and his SON!!

The new big sister--not so sure about all of this!!

Caleb and Daddy reading their first book of thousands to come!!  

Welcome to our family, our precious baby boy. 

38 weeks and counting...

We cannot believe we're already at the 38 week mark...I'm still feeling really great and cannot wait to meet the little one.  The baby is really active and I can tell it's running out of space as the movements are quite painful at times!  We have everything ready for the baby to come home.  Hannah is enjoying playing with all the baby's toys, moses basket, and boppy pillow and still considers the nursery her room, too!  I even have bags packed this time, which is an improvement from when Hannah was born!  Now, we just wait for the baby...we cannot wait!  Love you, little one!

Hannah and Ruby

We had the opportunity to go to a wedding reception last Saturday.  Hannah's little friend Ruby was there and they had such a good time together.  The reception was in a horse stable, so there was a lot to get into! One of their favorite things to do was to run down a slight dirt incline--which they did over and over again.  We don't often get to see Hannah play with other kiddos close to her age and we were so happy to see how excited she is to have a little girlfriend!

21 Months...So Busy!

Where do I start?  Little Miss Hannah isn't so little anymore...she's a full-fledged toddler!!  She is amazingly active and doesn't sit still for any amount of time.  She loves to rough-house with daddy and squeals in delight when they get real rowdy.  She still loves playing with Ike and has gotten really good at throwing his ball for him and feeding him each night.  She's done amazing in her new big girl bed and although she thinks the nursery is her room, too, I know she'll be a wonderful big sister.  She knows her colors and her shapes (most of the time) and she's learning to count and say her alphabet.  She skips around with her numbers, but it is so amazing to see what she has picked up on.  There are books that she can pretty much read by herself and she understands the 'plot'.  Her vocabulary grows everyday and she'll say words we didn't even know she's heard  before.  Hannah loves bike rides and going to the park to swing and slide.  She loves her friends at school and is such a great little girl when she is there.  We love our little girl so very much and enjoy every moment we have to share together.

One of her favorite things--her thumb!

We almost got a good shot...mommy was just a little too slow.  She would still say this picture is tute (cute).  

Our self portrait...in the midst of yumping (jumping) on mommy's lap.  

An exciting last day of work...

Friday was my last day of work before my maternity leave started.  I went to lunch with some great friends and then headed off to my 37 week check up at the doctor's office.  On my way there, I was involved in a car accident with a woman in her mini-van who said she was in a big hurry to get home and thought she had a green turn arrow...turns out she didn't...I honked, jammed on my breaks, but nothing was going to stop the impact.  Thanks be to God for it not being any worse than it was.  The airbags did not deploy due to the point of impact and no other scratches, bruises, or pain have been evident since the accident.  My main concern was my precious cargo I've been nurturing for the past 37 weeks!  The fire engines, first responders and three police officers responded to the accident as well as my wonderful husband who left work early to meet me at my doctor's appointment.  I was informed by my OBGYN to head directly to the Labor and Delivery unit at the hospital...which we did.  We were in the triage unit for several hours as they are required to do fetal monitoring for four hours.  During that time they also ran blood work and we had another ultrasound to make sure that the baby was not impacted during the accident.  Everything turned out to be just fine...the baby scored an 8/8 during the ultrasound, the heart rate was excellent during the fetal monitoring and the blood work came back negative.  We were released around 5:30 and headed home...with beautiful pictures of our precious baby...and as Hannah greeted us at the door with such great excitement, I was overwhelmed with how blessed our family is!

As I think back on yesterday afternoon, it just reminds me of how much God is in control...and even though we may think we have everything situated and planned and organized...we don't.  How amazing it was that neither of the airbags went off, that Craig was just minutes away from me, that the baby and I were protected before during and after the crash, that we had wonderful nurses at the hospital who helped ease our minds and that we were able to once again peek in on that amazing miracle.  God is SO good, even in times of great stress and emotional turmoil, he is with us--his precious sons and daughters.   

So, here's Baby TuTu Terpstra, at 36 weeks and 6 days...happy and healthy and taking up most of the available room in there :).  We cannot wait to hold the baby when that time comes and to treasure every moment we have to share together.

Summer fun!

Hannah's first picnic after a swim in her kiddie pool...

A few weeks ago we had some friends over with their three kiddos.  We had a delicious dinner and the kids enjoyed playing on the swing set and eating ice cream sundaes outside on the picnic table.

Hannah and Ruby

Charis, Judah, Ruby and Hannah

Helping daddy wash the big truck...

Baby's Nursery...

The nursery is coming along...as far as it will be until we know if we're blessed with a boy or a girl.  We're not going to paint until after the baby is born, but I don't think the baby will mind.  Here's our progress so far...there's a place to sleep, to eat, to get a diaper change and plenty of books to read.  I think we're all set!