Parker Jack Smith

Parker Jack Smith

July 29, 2015

7lbs. 5 oz.

19 inches long

I went for a check-up on Monday, July 27th (Mike took off work early to come with me) and I was really not dilated to anything at all.  My cervix is so damaged that it makes it hard to check and a few weeks earlier the doctor thought I was a 1-2.  The doctor joked that we knew I had an opening to my cervix since I'd had other kids, but otherwise we wouldn't be sure.  I couldn't believe I was already 38 weeks along.  I had never carried a baby that far! The doctor scheduled our induction to be on Friday, which was Mike's birthday.  I spent the next day thinking of everything I needed to get done and made lots of plans of things to do on Wednesday and Thursday.
But...on Wednesday morning I woke up just before 7:00.  The boys weren't up yet, so I decided to try to go back to sleep.  At 7:05 I felt a strange feeling and my water broke all of a sudden!  It was so weird because it didn't happen that way with the boys and I'd given up hope it would this time.  I ran to the bathroom and immediately called Mike.  He had just gotten to the Springdale exit headed to work.  I told him I wasn't hurting and we probably had plenty of time.  He told me he may have driven just a little fast to get home though :)  Then I called Mike's mom and my Mom to see who could get to me the fastest to be with the boys.  It turned out that Mike got here so fast that my parents just headed to the hospital and Nikki came to stay with the boys.  I showered, put make-up on, and gathered up a few last minute things.  I came out to the livingroom to find Josey and Gavin snuggled up in the recliner waiting for me.  I told them we were having a baby and they started screaming and cheering.  Super sweet moment!  Mike arrived and installed the carseat really quick.  We headed to the hospital and it was a pretty interesting ride to say the least.  I figured we had plenty of time, but got worried when a few contractions hit.  When we got there Dad and Mike got me a wheelchair to get me inside.  We got all checked in and I was dilated to about a 4.  The doctor came in and said if I didn't start laboring on my own he would give me Pitocin at 11:00.  Sure enough no contractions really, so they started inducing around 11:30.  Candra and Alicia were in Butler, Missouri at our cousin's house, so when they got the call they left and made the trip home in about 2 and a half hours, exciting road trip for them!  At about 1:20 I was starting to get more uncomfortable and the baby's heartrate started dropping with the contractions.  It was scary because I was worried about baby boy.  By 2:30 they had me on oxygen and inserted an internal monitor to watch the baby more closely.  I knew he would be fine, but I was definitely more nervous than I had been in my previous deliveries.  At 3:00 I was in a ton of pain but only dilated to a 7.  My cervix wasn't wanting to dilate through the scar tissue.  So painful!  I abandoned my plan for a natural birth like I had with Josey and Gavin and asked for an epidural after the nurse checked me and tried to loosen the scar tissue...worst pain in my life probably!  Getting the epidural was awful because I was already in so much pain.  My doctor had to head over to Mercy hospital for a c-section and told us he'd be back in a hour and a half.  I didn't think he would make it back!  The epidural worked for about an hour or so then I was in extreme pain again...no idea why it didn't work!  I may as well have not even had one because I was in just as much pain as natural childbirth.  I just kept asking why I was feeling everything and what went wrong?! At 4:50pm I knew the baby was coming any minute and asked to push. The nurse let me push a little, but then told me to try to stop pushing.  That's almost impossible!  At 5:03 Dr. S ran in the door and tried to get gowned up.  Everyone was helping him scramble to get his shoe covers on and he nearly fell over.  Pretty funny after the fact :-)  As the doctor put on his gloves I said I had no choice but to push.  He said "go ahead" and sweet baby boy came right on out at 5:06 pm!  So glad our doctor made it in time.  He delivered all of our boys and has taken wonderful care of me for the last 8 years, so special. 
     The first thing I thought was that the baby was so tiny.  I expected him to be bigger since I was 38 weeks and 6 days along.  I also thought he was such a beautiful baby.  Perfectly shaped head and just adorable!  Mike and I were instantly in love of course!  Mom and Laura stayed for the delivery and it was so great to have them by my side as well as Mike.  Of course Mike was an amazing coach and kept me as calm as possible.  He helped me to focus on the baby and gave me strength when I thought I just couldn't do it.  I just held the baby and nursed him until all of our family came in to meet him.  Such a joyous and special time!
     We debated his name and finally decided on Parker Jack Smith around 11 pm that night.  Everyone had left, so we text them to tell them his name.  We had been tossing around the name Parker for a few months and Jack was my Dad's great-grandpa's name. I think it is perfect! 
     We are just so thankful for this sweet baby boy.  I had to go through a lot of hurdles and discomfort during the pregnancy just like with Gavin, but it was all worth it because we were given this precious miracle.  We love you Parker Jack!

35 Weeks Along!

Our family and friends threw us a wonderful baby shower this past weekend!  It was so fun to celebrate our new little guy.  I have slowly started checking things off my to-do list this week.  The doctor put me on modified bedrest at 33 weeks along, so I have to take it easy but I am still getting up to cook for the boys, etc.  I'm glad it is summer vacation and I am not missing work to be on bedrest. 
Today we finally made it to the day we have waited for, the cerclage removal. It was more difficult to remove this one and it was pretty painful at some points. It only took about ten minutes to get it out though, and I survived :-)  My cervix dilated to about a 1 right when he removed the stitches.  Baby boy measured 37 weeks, so he may be on the bigger side.  We hope we can keep him put for a few more weeks.  I delivered both the boys during the 37th week, so hoping we can make it that far.  We are so thankful for all the well-wishes and prayers from our family and friends! 

Baby Boy #6!!

     We had a check-up scheduled for February 26th and I wondered if maybe we would find out what we were having.  With the other boys we didn't find out until our big scan at 20 weeks along, so being only 17 weeks I wasn't sure if we'd find out.  When we got to the appointment they asked if we would like to find out, so we went ahead.  It only took about a minute and a half to see that we were expecting another baby boy!  The doctor didn't have to tell me, it was more than obvious.  We were fully expecting to hear this, so it was no surprise to us.  My immediate thoughts were: YAY another sweet baby boy to cuddle, I'm always going to be the only girl in the house, and how in the world are we going to feed three teenage boys someday?!  We are just beyond thrilled to be expecting another precious boy.  
     We pulled together a quick gender reveal party for a week later and it was perfect.  We didn't tell Josey and Gavin so they could find out in a fun way.  Josey popped a balloon filled with blue confetti and we sprayed the boys with blue silly string.  It was fun to watch their excitement and see everyone else's reactions.  The theme was sweet cupcake or stud muffin.  We had tons of desserts to celebrate our little stud muffin.  
     Naming him will be quite the challenge though!  We have used our 10 favorite boy names with the other boys, so we are running low on ideas.  I'm betting he will be nameless for a while, just like Gavin was for his first six hours of life.  We definitely want to have him safely in our arms before we name him, so we've got some time. 
      I am now 20 weeks along and we are just taking it one day at a time.  Some days I am more uncomfortable than others and just have to really listen to my body.  I tend to overdo it and end up hurting later.  I can't wait to see baby boy next Thursday at our anatomy scan.  Can't wait to get a glimpse of his sweet little face! 

Baby Smith #6

Gavin has officially joined Josey in the big brother club!  Josey was so excited to pass the "big brother" shirt down for Gavin to wear.

Mike and I had a few conversations during the summer about whether or not we would try to have more children.  We were so thankful after I delivered our healthy, rainbow baby Gavin.  We really didn't talk much about it after he was born, but when he turned two I really started wondering if we were done.  We love our little guys so much and couldn't think of a reason why we wouldn't want another one.  Even back when we married at 18 and 19 years-old, I always pictured us with a house full of children.  Only two problems were keeping us from jumping right in.  Did we want to struggle through months or years of fertility treatments again?  Could we handle the worry of another high risk pregnancy with required surgery?  We had never prevented pregnancy after Gavin and in the back of my mind I hoped maybe it would "just happen."  In August we decided that we would just go ahead and contact my doctor and see what he thought.  He ended up prescribing me the medicine over the phone and I started it that same day. I took Femara, the same drug that we use to conceive Gavin.  The first month was awful.  The cycle failed and I had a lot of bleeding and the most awful cramps I have ever had (that's saying a lot with everything I've put my body through).  I was hesitant to even start a second cycle.  We did and yet again we did not get pregnant.  I figured ok, two failed cycles hopefully only about 8-12more failed attempts and we will be pregnant.  I started the third cycle and about 14 days in I started bleeding and had awful pains.  We were unable to finish the "trying" days for that cycle.  I took a test on day 28, the day before Thanksgiving and it was negative.  I didn't even bother to tell Mike it was negative and he actually text me later saying he had hoped it was good news since I hadn't told him it was negative.  I thought it was sweet that he was hoping for a positive just as much as me.  I was busy baking that day and then we celebrated Thanksgiving Day with our families.  The next day I just had this impulse to test again.  We went shopping and I picked up a test.  I came home and decided to take it really quick before dinner.  I could not believe it when the incredibly faint line appeared.  I didn't even think of a cute way to tell Mike, I just yelled for him to come see if he could see the line too.  We decided it was definitely positive.  Of course I cried and Mike just hugged me.  We were again so very excited but our usual fear was also there.  I tested a few days later and it was definitely positive.  We decided not to tell anyone until we had an ultrasound.  We usually tell our families, but since I had so many complications with the cycle we wanted to wait.  We went in on December 22nd and saw one healthy baby on ultrasound!  What an amazing day!  We wrapped up the ultrasound picture and gave it to our parents to announce on Christmas Day.
We are still amazed that it only took three cycles to get  pregnant this time.  Many have asked if it was a surprise baby.  I like to think of it as a planned surprise.  We never imagined we would be on this journey again so soon.  The baby is due on August 6, 2015.  The due date is just seven days earlier than Gavin's so I feel good knowing the timeline for everything.  Will the baby be born on Johnny's birthday July 20th, Gavin's July 25th, Mike's July 31st, or even Jaxsen and Asher's on August 5th?  Most likely we will have another July baby!  I've never carried past 37 weeks, so we will just have to see.  I have surgery on January 28th to have the cerclage placed to ensure I can safely carry the baby.  I'm hoping for no bedrest until the end of the pregnancy after school gets out.  It worked out great with Gavin, so we are just praying for the same outcome.  I am so thankful for this amazing blessing we have been given.  I am staying positive and getting very excited to hear a heartbeat in a few weeks!  I just can't wait to start feeling baby kicks again and to hold another sweet baby in my arms this summer.