StretchyChurch

There are some pictures of Macy at the St. Elizabeth Medical Center website. Check them out here.

Just added a couple more pictures to my last post, in case you want to check them out.

Macy Eve Watson was born yesterday, Wednesday, August 22, 2007, at 1:40 p.m. (according to all the official documents; however, upon video playback, it actually happened closer to 1:45 p.m.). She weighed 8 lbs. 1.8 oz., was 21 inches long, and has a thick head of dark, curly hair.

The experience was completely different from Micah’s birth, which involved a 36 hour labor, a cervix that wouldn’t dilate, 2 epidurals (one of which stopped working and the other never worked), etc, etc. Macy’s birth, on the other hand, wasn’t necessarily easier (says Robin), but everything was so much shorter.

We got to the hospital at 7am for Robin to be induced, though, ironically, Robin’s contractions were already 5 minutes apart and getting more intense. When the nurse saw that she said, “You won’t need much pitocin!”

And she didn’t. By about 10am, the contractions were strong enough to need an epidural. The contractions continued, but they didn’t hurt—and Robin was oh so happy!

At noon, I asked the nurse if she thought I’d be safe to make a quick Burger King run. She said yes. Robin was 4cm dilated and continuing to dilate at about 1cm per hour. At that rate, Macy wouldn’t be born till 6pm.

So, I ran to Burger King and was back by 12:30. Robin’s mom and I ate while Robin rested. At about 1:10, Robin’s contractions got really strong—really strong! At 1:20, the nurse walked in and saw that Robin was not comfortable. So she checked Robin and found that she was 10cm!! She had jumped 6cm in just over an hour!!

At shortly after 1:30, the doctor arrived. And at 1:45, Macy Eve made her appearance!

We couldn’t believe how quickly it all happened in the end. And I’m so grateful that she didn’t decide to come while I was at Burger King! I didn’t know it at the time, but that was a close call!

We brought Micah over at around 5pm. He gave her a gift that he had picked out and wrapped himself—a package of 2 binkies (pacifiers, for those who don’t speak baby-talk). He was so excited! And it was absolutely adorable. Then we gave him a truck, which was Macy’s gift to Micah. Yes, I think he likes her! The cutest thing was that whenever Macy cried, Micah said, “It’s ok, baby sister!” And he would repeat every now and then, “She come out Mommy tummy!”

Today, we came home at about 2:30 p.m. We’re exhausted, but we’re so excited to be mommy and daddy a second time! I’ll keep you posted on how Macy’s doing. In the meantime, here are some pics and vids.

Macy at 1 minute

Macy at 15 minutes

Macy at 20 minutes

Tomorrow morning we go to the hospital at 7am for Robin to be induced. Funny thing is that Robin’s been having mild contractions all day about 15-20 minutes apart. Now she’s at 7 minutes between contractions and they’re getting stronger. This little one has been holding out and now she says, “Aw, what the heck. I guess I’ll just come out on my own!” She’s gonna be a handful, I can already tell!

Next time I post, I’ll have a daughter!

Whenever I put Micah (my 2-year-old) to bed, I ask him, “Micah, you want a story?”

And Micah says, “Yeah.”

So I say, “What kind of story.”

And Micah says, “Jesus.”

Tonight we went through that same routine as we were sitting down in the rocking chair. I started to tell the story of twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple and a few sentences into it, Micah turns and looks up at me and says, “Jesus love Micah.”

Man, I’m getting choked up just thinking about that. It’s such an amazing thing to see my little boy taking his first steps in his faith journey. And it starts with simply knowing that “Jesus love Micah.”

Still no baby. That’s all I can think about these days…

I know, I know… It’s been over a week since my last post. I’m well aware of it.

First, let me get the baby news out of the way: There’s still no baby. This Wednesday is the due date, so we’re hoping and praying she comes this week!

Now, regarding my lack of posting, you’re probably thinking, “C’mon, Markus! You’re not even working now! You should be posting new content every day!” That may be so, but I gotta tell you–there’s a lot of work involved in trying to sell a house!

We’ve had several showings this week. That’s the good news! And we’ve spent countless hours continuing to work on getting the house ready for sale (or possibly for rent, depending on how things go…).

Today, I spent most of the day reflooring one of our rooms. And while I was doing that Micah had a great afternoon playing with some of his friends from school who just moved in down the street. The great thing for his mom and dad is that when he got home he didn’t last very long….

He sat down with Robin on the couch. A few minutes later he climbed off the couch and laid down on the floor. He said to Robin, “Lie down, Mommy.” So Robin heaved herself off the couch and onto the floor. And after about a minute of rubbing Micah’s head, he looked like this….

It’s official. Robin and I are both officially unemployed!

Yes, today was Robin’s last day as Educational Director at Abby’s Child Enrichment Center, where she’s worked for the past two years. And while she’s glad to be done, I think she’s also a little sad–she told me again today (as she’s told me many times in the past) that she really liked her job.

I have to admit. It’s really weird to think that we’re both unemployed. I’ll be surprised if we ever find ourselves in this situation again (until retirement)!

And I bet some of you are wondering, “How are they paying the bills?” Well, while we now no longer have Robin’s income, Union Presbyterian Church was really gracious in giving me a two month severance when I resigned. And I’m extremely grateful for that. This gives me the opportunity to focus on being with Robin, Micah, and the new baby when she’s born; on selling our house; and on preparing myself for my new church in San Diego.

This is all one more milestone in our transition from Kentucky back to California!

(By the way…  gotta love that picture!!)

Today was a good day. I got to spend pretty much the whole day with my two-year-old son, Micah. Normally, he would go to pre-school where Robin works as Educational Director, but today I kept him home with me.

Here’s what we did:
1) Cuddled in bed in the morning.
2) Filled up the kiddie pool with water (a pretty big kiddie pool–I think it’s something like 8′ by 4′).
3) Had Spider-man snacks.
4) Read the Elmo potty book together.
5) Read the Shrek the Third storybook together.
6) Played the guitar and sang some songs (by Micah’s request, of course–Jesus Loves Me, I Got the Joy, Every Move I Make, etc., etc…).
7) Played Tennis on the Nintendo Wii (Micah doesn’t actually play; he asks to play, so I give him a controller–then I secretly play with the other controller… shh…).
8) Played Boxing on the Nintendo Wii (this one Micah plays himself–though his attention span generally lasts less than one round…).
9) Walked down the street with Micah on his little riding truck.
10) Put Micah down for a nap.

And that’s when it got interesting!

While Micah was napping, Robin called and said she was on her way to the hospital! Not to worry (yet), she said. The doctor told her she was dilated to about 2cm and was 50% effaced. He also said her blood pressure was high, and because of that sent her to labor-and-delivery at the hospital!

I, of course, thought this was it! Today we were gonna have our baby girl! I got the digital camera and the video camera loaded into the car and, as soon as Micah woke up, we headed out.

And then Robin called again. And said that they were sending her home…

Bummer!! So we went back home.

But I gotta tell you, it turned out to be a great rest of the day, anyway. While Robin rested with her feet up, Micah and I spent at least an hour playing in the kiddie pool! That alone was worth having to wait a little bit longer for baby to be born. I think it’s the most fun I’ve had so far with my little guy!

After we were done playing in the pool, we played the guitar some more. Micah is so cute when he says, “Woo-hoo!” on Every Move I Make!

And then, as a family, we watched our newest guilty pleasure–So You Think You Can Dance. And then it was bedtime.

Yes, it was a good day. I’m including a video of Micah which I took today before we knew that Robin was gonna be coming home.

Man, I love that kid!!

Another FYI…

I just added some pictures to the About Me page.