Sweet Baby Judah Bug

For those of you that actually still check our blog, here are some pictures of the Judah Bug (as we have affectionately named him!) I have been so MIA with my blogging. Everytime I even think about wanting to post, that's as far as I get.... just thinking about it! Life with four is crazy, but we are settling into a routine of sorts. Of course life has been pretty easy lately with the holidays and all the extra help. Blake is off work until the new year, so we'll see what I'm saying about four come January 5th! So far Judah has been a very easy baby. Pretty much like his brothers. He's sleeping good at night, sometimes even giving us 4 or 5 hour chunks! Unlike the other three he was not jaundiced when he came home so it was nice not having to deal with that for a change! He managed to stay healthy with two brothers hacking all around him. Even with quarantining Caleb and Nate for almost a month before Judah arrived, they still managed to catch some yucky cold and had fevers and the whole nine yards for about a week! I'm definitely learning it doesn't matter what you do, kids are just going to get sick! Judah weighed 9 pounds 11 ounces at his 2 week check. I looked back at the other boys' baby books and all three of them were right around there at the 2 week mark. Nate was even 9 pounds 11 1/2 ounces! We are loving having a newborn around again. The time just goes too fast... I am cherishing every bit!

the best Christmas present

playing under my bug gym
snoozin in my bouncy seat

still in my hospital get up!

The Long and Short Story

So I'm always quite amazed at all my girlfriends abilities to write about the birth stories of their babies and of course I always love reading them. So hear goes my attempt to recount the events of the last couple of days. Well actually the events of the last week... With my last two labors (Caleb and Nate) my body took like three days to actually ramp itself up to begin "real" labor after having false labor contractions for a couple of days. So of course this time I was expecting the same thing. Last Tuesday night, November 25th, I started to experience these false contractions. Now for those of you that have never had them, they are more than just uncomfortable Braxton Hicks and are actually painful. They really feel like the real thing and sometimes even get into a consistent pattern. I can't even tell you how sick I was of timing contractions. So for about a week, I experienced this and never knew if "this time" would be real. By about Monday I was convinced this baby would never come and had resigned myself that I was actually going to have to go to my 40 week OB appointment! (of which I have always had to make, but never actually had to go to)

So on Tuesday I was of course just expecting more of the same. And it was... nothing out of the ordinary. Picked Asher up from preschool around noon, came home, and put the boys down for their naps. Mom and I just hung out. I had a few contractions sitting down, so I decided to get up and change positions to see if they would continue. Nope. Boys woke up around 3:00 and we decided to put on a Christmas DVD for them. Sitting down watching the movie, the contractions start up again. About 10- 12 minutes apart.

4:30- Contractions still about 10 minutes apart but getting painful (Caleb is sitting on my lap watching the movie during these contractions)

5:00- Blake gets home and contractions are still coming, ate dinner and cleaned up still having contractions

5:30- Decide to go to Lowes to get the boys out of the house. While at Lowes curtain rod shopping, my contractions keep coming and continue to get more painful. Decide this IS probably the real thing and tell Blake we need to come home. (By the way, we did manage to pick out our curtain rod and tie back hooks with four kids one of which had to go all the way to the back of the store to potty (Caleb) in the middle of all the contraction action!)

6:30- Get home and start the whirlwind routine of baths and bedtime for the boys. Blake handled most of this as I am having lots of contractions and am timing them. About 5- 7 minutes apart by this time. Call my friend Laura in Georgia to tell her these are for real, but have to wait until they are consistently 5 minutes apart for about an hour before we call the doctor.

8:30- Some contractions are closer together than five minutes, but occasionally one would be longer in between than 5 minutes. Hurting like crazy.... this better not be false labor! Decide to call the doctor who tells us to go ahead and go to the hospital. Finish up packing and Blake makes his pot of coffee (just preparing for how my typical labors go... way into the wee small hours...) Leave for the hospital with some coming only three minutes apart!

9:15ish- Check in at REX. Blake drops me off (which I have never had him do before, but decided I didn't want to walk having contractions in the freezing cold) The entire waiting room was full so while waiting for Blake I just stood in between the two doors without having to actually wait inside so I wouldn't have to make a spectacle of myself! Definitely didn't want any security guards rushing for a wheelchair while I was waiting for Blake!

9:30- Into triage where the nurse decides after seeing me have a contraction that she needs to check me ASAP! Am 8 cm with my water about to break! I can hardly believe it as she starts immediately wheeling my bed into a room (with Blake helping her guide the back of the bed... ha!) She then precedes to start preparing me for the possibility that I may deliver so fast that I won't be able to get an epidural! WHAT!

10:30- Got epidural... Praise the Lord!

11:00- 11:15ish Feel my water break and a few minutes later am dilated to 10 and ready to go! Unbelievable!

11:30- After only pushing through a few contractions out HE came! I think I'm still in shock that I actually have FOUR boys. (although I really shouldn't be now should I!) And just for the record and for my friend Erin... I thought Judah was a Grace!

Here's Baby Judah

Here are some pictures of the events of last night. Obviously, there will be more to come in the next few days. Amber and Judah are doing great. Both healthy and looking fabulous.

This was before Judah arrived. This is Dr. Beatty. With her delivering Judah, Amber went 4 for 4 with her deliveries at Atrium. She had a different Ob for each one. Dr. Beatty said she didn't know of anyone else that had happened to.

Please keep us in your prayers. Amber and Judah will go home sometime on Thursday.

Welcome Baby Judah

Judah Riley Hickman, born at 11:30 pm. 8 lbs. 9 oz.

Baby whoever you are Update

Am's water just broke. They now say she was 7cm. when we got here. She's almost 9cm. now and with the water breaking it literally could be anytime now. Keep praying.

Well...

So about 5 o'clock this afternoon Am starts having contractions...REAL CONTRACTIONS!!! They were about 10 mins. apart, but we didn't think anything of it considering she had so much false labor this last week. About 7 o'clock, they started getting closer in the 5-7 min. range. We put off calling for a little while and finally Am called around 8:30. Dr. Beatty said to come on in and see where we were.
We got to Rex and figured that Am would be somewhere around 4 cm. if we were lucky. The sent us to triage and the nurse was about to get Am set on the machine, when Am had a contraction...A REAL BAD CONTRACTION!!! They nurse at that point decided to check Am. The look on the nurses face said it all. Am asked her is she was 3 or 4 cms. The nurse said, "Try 8! We're getting you to a room now!" So here we are. We're in the room and Am just got here epidural and the baby should be here soon. We'll keep you posted. Pray, pray, pray.

No Baby Yet!

Just a quick update for those of you checking in.... we are hanging in, having lots of contractions and false labor, but no real signs of labor or baby yet! I blame this on a couple of close friends who have been MIA this week and have been hoping the baby would wait on them to get back! (You KNOW who you are!) My mom is here though so we have been keeping busy and the boys have loved having Nana around to give them undivided attention. Caleb asks her every night before he goes to bed if she is going to stay! We'll keep you posted if anything exciting happens....

Baby "Who Are You" Check- up at 38 Weeks

Today I went in for my 38 week check and we are 60% effaced and 2 cm dilated! Now this really doesn't mean too much, except for the fact that I only have 8 more centimeters to go! Hooray! I have really been having alot of Braxton- Hicks contractions over this past week as well. Of course everytime I start having them I start to get that excited feeling but then quickly realize that they're nothing to get excited about! Gotta love how my body tries to get labor started. With both Caleb and Nate I had lots of "false labor" episodes before the real thing. So all along I've been expecting the same thing with this one too. We're getting excited to meet this little one and find out "who" is in there! I keep changing my mind and going back and forth, but I think today I finally decided what my official guess is.... don't get excited I'm not going to share! I'll just let you know after the baby is here if I was right or wrong! Dr. Zimmerman did tell me when we were talking about the baby's size that it definitely did not feel like it was anywhere as big as Natey Nate (who was my biggest at 8lb. 13 oz.). That was very encouraging as Dr. Beatty, who I saw last week, said the same thing. So hopefully #4 will break the trend of weighing more than the one before! I've also been having some stomach issues, which I have never had before my others, but read on the internet can be common before the onset of labor even up to weeks before! WHAT! Weeks before... you have got to be kidding me! We're pretty much ready although I haven't completely packed my bag. It's sitting beside the bed, but how much can you really pack? Pretty much everything you pack you need now... so I just have in my mind what I need to throw in! My mom and dad get here on Monday so we'll see if this baby decides to wait on them or come this weekend. We'll keep you posted......

Then and Now!

So what's the verdict? Definitely carrying more on my sides this time then straight out front! And don't let looks deceive you, I've gained more weight this time around too!

prego with #4 at 36 1/2 weeks

prego with Nate at 39 weeks

Our Little Lion

I figured I'd better do a post all about the baby of our family while he's still the baby for a few more weeks... He gave me lots of photographic moments while he was in his lion costume, although I decided I didn't dare try to put the hood on his head and ruin the peaceful moment. I just love this little costume. I actually did the same thing with Asher when he was this age and took like a bazillion pictures of him as the lion. We even used one for our Christmas card that year. Nate is still so very laid back and is usually so easy going. We'll see if he keeps this up after the baby gets here. He has finally sprouted some more teeth and now has four! Whoo Hoo! I've decided that he is going to be staying in his room and the crib for a couple of months even after the baby gets here. He's just not old enough for a toddler bed yet, and I'm not ready for him to move in with the other two quite yet! He has been our baby that has been the quickest to walk and Blake and I laugh because he's also been our most chunky baby! He loves to be anywhere that his brothers are and I'm so glad that he won't be the baby of the family as he will not stand to be left behind. Natey Nate turns 15 months today and has no idea what is in store for him in the coming weeks.....

gotta love those cheeks!

best shot I could get of the lion's head!

Fall Festival 2008

We had a great time a couple weeks ago at the fall festival our church does. Asher and Caleb, oops I mean Spiderman and Tigger rode ponies, slid down inflatable slides, and played lots of games! Not to mention they also brought home lots of candy which they are still hitting me up for every afternoon for snack time! We loved seeing all our friends in their costumes!

The five Hickmans.... soon to be six!

Daddy with Spiderman and Tigger

ready for fun!

Spiderman lovin' on the lion

(very rarely does this happen!)

let's get this party started!

Ben the gorilla

Owen as THE Daniel Renstrom

Nick with Elijah the zebra

Allison and Hudson the giraffe

Spiderman shootin' some hoops Tigger bowling

bean bag toss

our gigantic pony we rode!

"After all that, all I got was this stinkin' glow stick!"

(more on this little lion in the next post)

Warm Gingerbread!

Last weekend we finally took the plunge into the world of color and painted the inside of our house! We have been wanting to do it for awhile and actually found a weekend that we didn't already have something going on. Blake was able to paint the hallway, living, and dining rooms all on Saturday. Even with three kids in the house! We chose the color "warm gingerbread" and love the way that it turned out. Our next project is to get some curtains up on the front and back windows. I think I was most happy that we finally painted and were able to take down our yucky blinds that we have had on our windows since we moved in FIVE years ago!

finished living room

in the midst of the chaos

warm gingerbread in hallway

Great Night in Knoxville

Every two years my brother and I meet in Knoxville for the Bama/UT game. This year was the second time we have made it. Knoxville is a good half way point for Stu and me and it is a great time for the two of us to have some brotherly bonding. The trip last time was great. Anytime you go to a football game at an SEC venue and get to see your team play it is always fun. Plus, contrary to what most Alabama fans think, UT fans are very hospitable. However, last time Bama lost and so the trip was a bit of a downer. Not so this time. Knoxville became Tuscaloosa North that Saturday. We parked in a main parking lot on the main street that runs through campus and every car in our lot were Alabama fans. This helped us know pretty early in the day that things were going to be in our favor. We were not disappointed at any point in time that day. All in all, it was a very enjoyable time. I'm looking forward to going back in two years, hopefully having the same results.

This was our parking lot. 9 vehicles and all were Alabama fans. This was a good early sign.

I took this picture for my good friend Nick Roark. He is a UT fan and I've been a sympathetic shoulder for him to cry on this year. This gentlemen had these shirts made and let's just say they were in short supply. Seems he may have been a prophet.

This was the view from our seats. We sat beside some great UT fans. We could see all of the action.
This is a picture of the UT bands famous circle drill. The loudest cheers from the UT crowd all night were the boos for Fulmer when he was introduced before the game and the cheers for the band at halftime.
Final scoreboard shot. This capped the end to a great night.

Fun at the NC State Fair

We had a great time at the fair today! We met up with the Roarks and the Bugnars and all managed to stay together through all the craziness. We even got to hang out with the Williams for a little while too! It was COLD this year! Seriously, every year we have gone it has always been "too warm for the fair" as Blake says. This year, it was definitely not "too warm"! We were all wearing jeans and coats and I was still cold at times. The boys had a great time riding some rides. All Asher has talked about since last year was riding on the ferris wheel, but when it came time to ride, he decided that it was way too high for his liking! So he rode down the slide, on the old timey cars, and on a little bug ride. Bubbs joined in for the cars and bugs! Natey Nate stayed home this year with the boys favorite babysitter, Ashley, as he is still battling his croupy cold. Blake got his fried twinkie (I think he has had one every year since they were the new thing at the fair a few years back!) and I enjoyed my funnel cake and roasted ear of corn. We even managed to stay till it was dark which Asher thought was so cool.

Blake thinks he looks presidential in this shot

Asher was excited that he was "steering"

Ash sliding

Blake sliding... uhhh too much static!

ready for the bug ride

hang on tight Bubbs

Ash on the bugs (I was sad that they each wanted their own bug and didn't want to sit with each other!)

it looks like Caleb is eating the mission control rocket

yummy fair food

group shot... although not quite the whole group!