Countdown to 2. Part 4 the "Birth Day!"

6:00 pm and the first real contraction consumed me. five hours later the contractions had not stopped coming. they had been coming every 4-7 minutes. at 11pm we decided to go see what was going on.

we got to the hospital and they hooked me up, and low and behold the contractions ceased. after five straight hours of coming they put that belt around my waist and all action stopped in it's tracks. the doctor came in with a huge grin on his face... "mrs. littlejohn is this your first baby?" i laughed out loud, "no, sir this is my fourth! i know this seems like a first time mother failing... but it's not!" he kept laughing at me. checked my dilation and assessed the situation. he said, "you are at a two. based on your previous birth history i don't think this baby is coming for another week. you are not thinned out at all.. i think you should go home and get some rest. i'll give you an ambien to help you sleep."  my biggest concern with the ambien is it would stop labor if i was in labor, he assured me the ambien would not stop labor. as we were leaving he saw the shere disappointment on my face and said, "you know doctors are wrong... you could be back here in hours in labor!" i smiled a fake smile and wheeled my big, fat, belly out of that place.

we got in the car and i started sobbing.... i was exhausted and an emotional mess. mark calmly reassured me that anderson would come when he was ready, and it was ALL going to be ok. he encouraged me to just enjoy my week with mom and dad.  as we pulled out of the hospital parking lot it happened.... ANOTHER CONTRACTION!  all the way home i contracted every 4 minutes... but i was not turning around. i was not going back to the hospital to be disappointed again. next time i was going back was when anderson's head was sticking out and i was SURE i was in labor. :)

we got home after midnight and went straight to bed... obviously, the ambien was working... i kept tossing and turning all night.. contractions came and went but i had convinced myself i was just dreaming. at 3am i sat straight up in bed with a REALLY bad contraction. i got up and started pacing the living room and the hallways. i didn't wake up mark b/c i didn't want to. i took a bath and tried to breathe.  finally at 4am i woke up mark and said, "i need you!" he came in and rubbed my back and tried to gage where i was. 45 minutes later we called sweet meg to come watch the kids. at 5am we were headed back to the hospital. when we got there the same doctor was waiting for us. he still had that goofy grin on his face... "hi, mrs littlejohn!" "i am not going home this time" i stated. he laughed. he checked me and sure enough i was almost a five and i was NOT going home.

at 7 my doctor arrived to check on me. just a quick shout out to dr. furniss the best OBGYN ever! dr. furniss had delivered both julia and lucy. she had become a friend more then a doctor. she came and checked me and i was nearing a 6.. she patted my leg and said, this boy will be here before noon. i nodded.. "i know he will."

*pause for some history*
katie took forever because she was not ready to come... like i said,"hijacked from the womb!" i had an epidural.
julia came super quick. i checked in the hospital at 7am and she came at 11:21am. no epidural.
lucy came quick also. i got to the hospital at 4 am and she came at 7am. epidural this time with some complications that ended me back up in the hospital for an additional 4 days.
with anderson we had decided to forgo the epidural... for many reasons but mainly the combination of him being a whimpy white boy, family history, and past complications...

*back to story*
after 7am, both sets of parents arrived :) INCREDIBLY SPECIAL!
  also at 7am, i got out of the bed and literally stood through the remainder of my labor until it was time to push.

throughout the morning i was dilating quicker then i was effacing. but both were extremely slow. even without the epidural. at 11am the doctor came to check and i was a 7... entering transition labor (the worst part of labor)... dr. furniss was a little puzzled but patient. "his coming" she said. after that check up all contractions stoppped...STOPPED! the nurses were super great. they kept telling me my body was giving me a break before the final lap. "you've got this they kept telling me!" i was frustrated but stable. i chatted with the parents, watched TV, and tried to relax.... at 1230 the contractions started again. i was still at 7. by now the contractions were so intense i was whimpering through them. 2 o'clock came and i was only an 8. and only 70% effaced. at 245 i was begging the nurses for an epidural. again, they just encouraged me. "sara, you have come so far, he is almost here! hang in there...!" most women transition only for a couple of hours. i had been in transition for 3 hours with my FOURTH baby. it was getting miserable. mark rubbed my back and rocked my waist EVERY contraction. i called it the "valley of contractions" it was AWFUL! 3:40 they checked again, i was at a 9. at this point you could tell the dad's were having a hard time sitting still through all the crying. mark decided to send them to go get the girls.. they ran out of the hospital :) the mama's stayed behind and cried through every contraction with me... :(

we were taking bets as to when AJ would arrive. mark said 4:21.. i thought he was being kind. at 4 i felt TONS of pressure... a few minutes later i began to crown and jere ran for a nurse. the nurse came in... she began to prepare the room for labor.... she said, every so kindly, "ok, sara, i want you to give me a practice push to see how close we are, then i'll go get dr. furniss... one nurse was pulling up the stirrups the other was sliding her gloves on... they said "push!" and i pushed with everything i had..... AND HE CAME at 4:21 :) no one was ready.. they started saying," stop, stop, stop!! grab the betadine, get some gloves, grab the betadine, grab the doctor, etc..." it was too late.. he came and the nurse delivered him. her name was shannon anderson :)

dad said anderson climbed the ladder to the slide all day long taking his sweet time, then he got on the slide and slid out. my practice push worked!  although, my doctor was SO disappointed she missed it. she was so disappointed that she let the nurses have it for not coming and getting her the minute i was at a nine... which was her specific request on the chart... OOOOPPPPS! she ran in, hugged my neck, kissed my check, and left for the day.

they cleaned my little boy, bundled him up, and laid him in my arms...

it was love at first sight.
and guess who was there? mom! and it was more special then any words i can find.

i always feared that anderson would lack in the picture department b/c i would be too busy. the opposite is true there are more pictures of him then there are of the girls :) here are a few:

happy birthday anderson joshua littlejohn!!.. we are so incredibly blessed by your presence in our home. we love you!! ~ mama

Living in the Storm Combined with Part 3 of Anderson's Journey!

when i gave birth to katie my mom flew to MS on august 22nd 2003. katie was born wed, august 27th, 2003. joanna drove down on the 27th, just in time to be there for katie's birth. dad and jonathan came down on friday, august 29th. my mom stayed behind until september 5th. my mom was there for two full weeks. i had no idea how much i was going to need my mom... and she was there. and it was super special.

two years later i gave birth to julia this time mom and dad came for two weeks. again, i did not know how much i needed BOTH of them. and it was super special!

six month later joanna gave birth to megan... and guess who was there? mom. and it was super special!

21 months later mom came to town once again to fulfill her motherly duty..although, this time things went a little differently.  mom had a "spell" while she was taking care of katie and julia. mark and i were at the hospital with newborn lucy. thankfully, zach was only two hours away at camp and was able to immediately come and help. while nothing dangerous happened.. mom was in a fog of confusion when mark and i realized something was VERY off. this was a very sad realization for all of us. my dad came to MS sooner then he anticipated... but after 24 hours mom cleared right up and she and dad stayed for an additional week and were super troopers. but guess who was there regardless of the situation? mom. and it was super special.

14 months later joanna gave birth to lizzie, and guess who was there? mom. and it was super special.

seven months later it was my turn to give birth AGAIN.. holy, moly i know.  only this time it was decided many months before hand that mom and dad were not going to be there for the birth. anderson was due march 28th, and mark was graduating from college may 1st. merely weeks apart. we really wanted my mom and dad to be able to come to mark's graduation... traveling was getting harder and harder for mom. she was unable to fly by herself, and it wasn't going to work for them to come on back to back trips to MS. mom was in a very different place then she was even a year earlier. so i resigned myself to the fact that mom and dad would see Anderson when he was a month old and it really was going to be fine. many daughter's don't have the gift of having their mom at the birth of their children.. and i was going to be just fine. i was sad. very sad. but i totally understood. well, well, well, dad was asked to make a trip to north carolina and he decided that he and mom would drive, and our their way home from NC they would swing through MS from march 17th-march 22.. only five days. but they really wanted to see their grand babies. march 17th-22nd was kind of close to my due date but not really. my history with child birth looked like this:
i was due august 28th and she was hijacked(induced) on august 27th.
i was due ocotber 24th with julia and she came (with some castor oil assistance) on october 21st
i was due june 26th with lucy and she came (with come castor oil assistance) on june 22nd


i was never one of those lucky mama's that went early. i was always real consistent in giving birth right around my due date.

leading up to march my doctor saw no sign of real progression.  i had been having contractions/braxton hicks for months.. AJ was head down but i had no dilation. the closer we got to mom and dad's arrival the more and more convinced i was that i was no where close to giving birth. regardless of how i felt, i was encouraged by the women in my bible study to specifically pray that anderson WOULD arrive while my parents were here. we prayed and cried together. they shared in my desire for my mom to be there. they understood the weight of the situation. my mom was also grieving the fact should would not be at the birth of one of her grandchildren. she felt it. she talked about it a lot. one week before my parent were due to arrive, mark announced our request to our whole church at a wednesday night service. right then and there our sweet, sweet pastor, Jason, begged the Lord to allow Anderson to come while mom and dad were present. i might not remember all the words jason used, but i remember the tone, the boldness, and urgency in which he spoke, and it touched me and mark SO deeply. after that evening of prayer i felt such in peace in whatever the situation held for us. i knew if mom wasn't there it would be sad, but we would make up for it somehow. however, i just continued to be still and let my Savior decide.

mom and dad arrived on march 17th, and for many days leading up to their arrival i was trying EVERY natural method of inducing labor. doctor's don't recommend starting these natural methods until you have reached your due date... but this was my fourth baby, i was doing WHATEVER i wanted. :) all my methods seemed to be proving failure.. nothing was happening... mom and dad arrived on march 17th, 2009 at 5:40 pm... at 6:00 pm exactly i was standing in the kitchen cooking dinner, i leaned down to grab a pan from the cabinet and "OUCH!" a REAL live contraction consumed by body and made me catch my breath and go still... was this it? was this labor? had God blessed us with the desire of our hearts AGAIN?! was my mom going to be able to see her first grandson be born?!...... (to be continued)

Mom and Katie:

Mom and Julia:

Mom and Lucy: (this is a terrible picture.. can't find the one i am looking for... but she was there :)

A 30 year detour! :)

so we are taking a detour today from the anderson birth story to talk about a MUCH bigger "birth" story. today we are celebrating the 30th birthday of someone whom i could not have survived the last 29 1/2 years without. someone who has walked this journey of life with me every step, and remains the most loyal friend, confidant, support, encouragement, life saver, etc..etc... the list never ends. who is this person? the one and only Krystle Kay Hall.

Krystle is my cousin. Our dad's are twin brothers. And really, we are very twin like also. born barely seven months apart. our parents still, to this day, cannot tell our voices apart. we have grown up together. each on two very different roads. mine smack dab in the middle of the bustling city. hers. smack dab in po-donk riverton, ks. krystle has learned to love the city,( and she can drive in the city too!) and i have turned into quite the small town country girl. krystle is a tower of consistent love for my whole life. we have fallen asleep endless night recounting stories, loves of our lives, dramas, fears, dreams, frustrations, secrets, etc..etc. from the time we could write we were keeping up with each other by snail mail.. pages and pages of information. then when we got to high school and email revolutionized our communication. then in our college days, cell phones were even better. and now, texting.. PRICELESS.  we have been more rotten then anyone will ever know, and have had more adventures, and laughing spells then this world can hold. i have come up with 30 descriptive phrases for krystle on her 30th birthday.

1. too nice :)

2. too helpful :)

3. pig cleaner

4. corn peeler

5.strawberry picker

6. not american car driver

7. aunt

8. niece

9. diligent

10. best friend

11. super shopper

12. mover watcher

13. KU fan

14. lover of God

15. lover of people

16. wise

17. math master

18. administrator

19. dancer

20. traveler

21. trustworthy

22. LOYAL

23. thoughtful

24. sister of the Chad Hall

25. daughter of the the amazing Clark and Jackie Hall

26. not such a word master :)

27. mentor

28. confident

29. full of intrgrity

30. BEST COUSIN IN THE WORLD!!

 here are a few in the picture collection. i was unable to get to the old ones... :( there are boxes FULL of them.

krystle, i love you. happy birthday! i hope your day is FULL of the richest blessings from our sweet Savior. 

cannot wait to burn up the road between and overland park and riverton SOON :)!! ~s

Countdown to 2! (Journey of Anderson) Part 2.... Sonogram Day!

it was sonogram day!

mark and i made a date out of it, (when you are parents you take every opportunity for a date).. we were so excited. but in a nervous kind of way. were we going to have an Anderson Joshua Littlejohn or a Myra Anderson Littlejohn??

before EVERY sonogram we had ever had mark and i always took time to pray in the car.. telling the Lord that whatever He had for us we were willing to accept. that meant boy/girl... special needs or no special needs. one baby or two babies... whatever that sonographer revealed, we took from the very hand of the Lord.. b/c He tells us in His word that HE and HE alone knits His creation together in our wombs.. this is so comforting to me.

i laid down on the not very comfortable sonogram bed, and the very not friendly sonographer came in and started covering my belly in goo... for those whom have never had a baby sonogram they typically do a 10-15 minute search of the baby.. clicking around quietly and every once in awhile showing you different things and measuring different chambers and limbs.. then they let the anticipation build up and the "big reveal" is last. it is SO hard to focus during the first 10-15 minutes because all you are doing is trying to identify female and male parts. each secretly thinking to himself/herself, "oh, that was definitely a penis.. oh wait, no maybe that's a vagina! i just wish they'd hurry up and tell me!!!" so mark and i settled in for the 10-15 minute guessing game. the sonographer laid the wand on my belly and not even 30 seconds later she blurted our, "well, we certainly have a boy floating around in here!!" mark and i both bursted out laughing and said, "WHAT?!" we were totally unprepared and caught off guard. i saw nothing that looked like a penis on the screen. the sonographer looked like a deer in the head lights... she said, "oh, no you didn't want to know?! i totally forgot to ask! i am so, so sorry!" we convinced her that yes, in fact we did want to know, but we wanted to know if she was SURE it was a boy... everything calmed down a bit and she slid the wand over my belly and very convincingly showed us that it was in fact it was a boy... silence. i looked over at mark and his eyes were glistening with tears. i am pretty sure he almost fainted. once, i saw him crying... i cried. A BOY BABY. what in the world was this going to be like?

we couldn't even hardly speak to each other when we got in the car... but immediately we bowed our heads and thanked God for blessing us with the desire of our hearts; a boy.

i thought i was going to be able to keep our little child's sex a secret... but not 24 hours later i was literally busting at the seams to tell our family and friends. mark, conceded... although, he really was going to wait!

on november 6th, 2008 i wrote this mass email and sent it out:

Hey Everybody,

My Mom and Dad told me that I could send out my very first email. I know many of you are anxious about whether I am a boy or a girl. Truth is I am not so worried. I know exactly what I am. My Mom is having a very hard time not sharing the news about what I am and my Dad has given her permission to tell people.  She says that good news is not so good when you can’t tell the world. You see I am very excited to announce to the world that I in fact am a BOY! You read it right, Mom and Dad actually made a boy. My name is Anderson Joshua. Anderson is my Poppo’s mom’s maiden name, also my Uncle Zachy’s middle name. Joshua was my uncle’s name. I hear lots of female voices outside of mom’s belly. She just keeps rubbing her belly and saying, “Oh, Anderson.” Wonder what she means…

Don’t tell Mom, but I can hear Dad’s motorcycle and I fully intend on getting a ride on one someday. ;)

 Well, I think that's all I need to say for now. Can't wait to meet everyone!

 Love,

Anderson

it was a really special day. with a really special "birth" day four months later!!

(to be continued!)  ~s

First Picture!

Countdown to 2.. The Journey of Anderson

Anderson turns 2 on Thursday (March 18th), so i thought i'd post a little about my pregnancy, his birth, and his cuteness all around. also, this means that i will not have to come up with "new" material while our house is bubbling with company.

anderson was very much "planned" (i use the term loosely b/c i believe that without a doubt i am NOT in control and that my God ordains EACH and EVERY step of my life). in june/julyish of 2008 mark and i spent a lot of time talking about having our fourth baby. originally, we were going to come to VA and wait a few years, then have our fourth. but after much thought we really sensed that a move to a foreign state would only complicate being pregnant. not having a doctor that we knew, we had no idea if we would have a community to support us, etc..etc.... we were still close to family in MS, we had sweet friends at church and in the community, a great list of babysitters, and we felt like all their assistance would be huge. b/c if the previous 3 pregnancies would be any indication of my fourth, we would need as many hands as possible.

the long of the short of it is i get sick, sick, sick. from about six weeks until 18-20 weeks.. so it's 12 weeks of awful. when i was pregnant with katie i was not working, so i did not realize how sick i really was. i slept probably 15 hours a day. i was also fighting depression, which was another reason for the increased sleeping. after i got pregnant with julia, i was hospitalized twice for severe dehydration. i remember one day i threw up every hour for 24 hours straight. i literally could not stop puking. it was after this little episode that the doctor said, "sara, we have to find a solution or you are going to lose this baby!" EEEKKK. thankfully, my sister was working on the pediatric oncology floor and recommended Zofran. they had already tried phenegran to no avail. so the doctor wrote the prescription. and we about passed out when we went to fill it.. it was 33 dollars a pill, and i was instructed to take 4 pills a day which equals 132 dollars a day!! so for a 30 day supply it was nearly four thousand dollars. needless to say we did not have four thousand dollars. after, bargaining with the insurance they "graciously" allowed us 30 pills a month.. 30 compared to the 132 i was prescribed... my doctor even called and begged them to give me more.. "no" was the answer. so we had no choice but limit   intake to one pill a day.. half in the morning half at night. we also were encouraged to contact our church and see if they would be willing to assist us financially. i still cry thinking about their response.. they basically told us, "whatever you need!!' what a beautiful example of the workings of Christ's body. so with the help of our church and other churches, i was able to increase my stash of zofran..  and if you have not heard before, zofran is the miracle drug. for the most part it eliminates large amounts of throwing up and helps battle the dizziness. after a few days on the medicine i told mark i would sell a kidney on the black market if we could just continue the steady supply. i was able to function again and i was SO GRATEFUL. when i got pregnant with lucy, the doctor didn't even question me and wrote the prescription at my first visit.. i had leftovers stored away too.

with all 3 girls the smell, thought or site of food had me rushing toward a bathroom. everyone kept saying 5 small meals a day.. i wanted them to take their 5 small meals and shove it where the sun doesn't shine. after throwing up in every venue possible you begin to think two things when you go anywhere 1) where are the bathrooms? 2) how will this food taste coming up? it is not a fun life. you get extremely discouraged and exhausted with constantly battling nausea and vomit. i have thrown up in the middle of the aisles at walmart, i have thrown up in church sanctuaries, i have thrown up in the middle of sentences, i have thrown up on random people's lawns, i have thrown up in the car into a walmart bag more times then one can count, WHILE DRIVING.... like i said, exhausting.

the only thing about anderson's pregnancy that was different from the girls was i was ravenous!! so hungry in fact, that i would welcome the owner's of lenny's sub shop every morning @ 11am, so that i could consume their italian sub combo. it was the only thing i could hold down and it was SO satisfying. i should have stock in lenny's! they knew my name and my order before the sickness passed. most mornings i would arrive in my p.j.'s and glasses.  so "unsouthern"  of me. but i was SO done being a southern bell by then. most evenings i would put myself to bed after tucking in the girls. mark was in the middle of his senior year of college so he was EXTREMELY busy... and it actually worked out well. he would study most evenings at the library since i was not much of a companion at night. the sickness with anderson lasted longer then it did with the girls. but we survived....barely :)

we were not going to find out what our fourth child was. we found out with katie, then did not find out with julia, and we found out with lucy... however, i did decided i wanted to know what our 4th baby was, BUT we were not going to tell anyone. isn't that wrong, so wrong? really, i think i didn't want anyone to be "disappointed" if it was another girl, so i thought the anticipation of not knowing would keep everyone on their toes.

mark and i both loved the thought of adding a boy to our home, but we were MUCH more comfortable with the thought of adding a fourth girl. we were REALLY good with girls :) when we were "planning" our pregnancy we prayed two specific requests: Lord, please continue to number our steps, and Lord, if it is your will please grace us with a little boy Littlejohn. in addition to our prayers, we studied more thoroughly this time the rhythm of getting pregnant with a boy. yes, folks it is a scientific process. while some like to believe it's all chance... it's not. it's a very specific, and exact science. anywho, we said our prayers, practiced the art of babymaking in the boy rhythm form... and waited for the sonogram day.

although, if you would have asked me and mark what we were having... we would have BOTH confidently said, " A GIRL!"

were we ever in for a SHOCK!!
(to be continued)
~s

Here I am at 36weeks...

Andseron Beckoning His Sisters!

um, if you have not seen my adorable son lately, here he is in all his glory. he is saying "hi" to his sisters whom are playing in the front yard. he is not allowed in the front yard without an adult... so he is stuck inside with me getting video taking of him. i mean, is he not the cutest thing ever? he talks all the time and bosses quite a bit. i wish i could have videoed the girls response to him.. they all ooo'd and ahh'd at him.

ENJOY!
~s

on a lighter note...

i am thoroughly enjoying watching the men's conference basketball tournament on TV today. such a great perk to being a stay-at-home mom... :)! "yes, katie 7x6 is 42..... HOLY COW, did you see that shot?!!!" i am pretty sure the tournament brackets will be a great, great lesson in math.
for instance:
"ok, katie who's score is higher Mama or Daddy's....? (Mama's of course!)
"ok, katie after many years of losing for uncle andrew, what are the odds that he will have ANY teams in the final four this year?...... slim, very slim....

again, one of the many perks of homeschooling.

today is allison joy (AJ) vincent's birthday. allison was born eight days before our anderson joshua (AJ) and while they have not been able to spend much time together in their life time we plan to fix that little situation when we get back to the mid-west. happy birthday allison!! happy thursday! ~s