The Skinny on Jason

How is Jason doing? I'll tell you...just like my last four babies, that's how.  He is a bit like Fiona, a bit like Daniel, and also like Lula.  And sorta like Heidi too, but I have no linky for her.

Jason was born with a significant tongue tie, just like his mama.  We had it clipped right away so he could have an easier time latching.  Most mamas dwell on labor and delivery as the hardest/scariest part of having a baby.  I always have troubles with newborns and latching, so that is what I dread.  This time, I tried to be as prepared as possible.  And that has paid off...sorta.  He is latched, but not transferring milk very well.  He passed his meconium in the first few days, but stopped pooping after that.  I had to give him a little baby-sized suppository on the fifth day to help get things moving along, which worked, but he didn't poop again for another five days.  The second, third, and fourth treatment didn't help, but finally, on the day before his doctor's appointment, it worked! Hallelujah!

The midwife has been coming out to weigh him every three days, but he never gained, only lost weight even with the lack of poo.  She had me on a four hour feeding block schedule, where I keep him on one side for four hours to maximize the fatty hindmilk intake.  Halfway through my four hour block, I pump the other side for supplemental feedings.

Yesterday at his appointment he weighed 7 lbs 13 oz.  That is a significant weight loss when he should have been back up to birth weight.  They also weighed him before and after a nursing session which showed only a half of an ounce of milk transfer.  So now I have to be even more aggressive with my pumping/supplementing after nursing, just until he is up to birth weight.  I'm using the finger feeding/eye dropper method that I used with Fiona because I know from experience that once he finds out how easy a bottle is, nursing is over. 

With these eight kids, I've had a few who were exclusively breastfed, but would take a bottle, kids who would never take a bottle, kids who couldn't even stay asleep unless they were attached and nursing (those were long nights I tell ya), and kids who rejected breastfeeding and loved their bottles.  The bottom line with feeding babies is both methods take lots of time and energy.  From me.  Whether I'm sitting on a couch for hours with a nursing baby or standing at the sink washing pump parts and bottles, it is time and energy.  But I've washed enough bottles in the last three years.  I'm ready to be tied down to the couch with a nursing baby again.

Babies, Babies, Babies

So far this summer, we've had baby chicks, baby geese, a baby human, and I guess I forgot to mention the baby ducks...

The ducks share a birthday with Jason! Six hatched the day he was born and two more hatched three days later.

Evie was completely in charge of this project.  She made sure to write the date on the eggs when she put them under the broody hens and has managed all the hatching, feeding, and nesting.

She still has eight duck eggs and one chicken egg under hens and Fairy, the duck mama.  Fairy is meaner than Strawberry!  Or so I've heard.  Today was the first day I went all the way out to the chicken yard.  I'm looking forward to getting back into a new normal.

Owls and Geese

An owl has been lurking around.  Whether or not it is the same owl from a few years ago, we do not know.  We do know that something took off with one of the new geese...but it probably wasn't the owl.  Mark, Evie, and Gwin are devastated very upset.

After we watched the owl hunt for awhile this morning, Mark took the camera out to capture the moment.  The Moment was simply us drinking coffee while watching the owl hunt while the geese grazed.

When the owl flew down to pounce on a field mouse, the little geese all started running to Gwin, who had her wings spread open in both a guarding and embracing way.  Gwin has been extra protective ever since the gosling was carried off.

Gwin even gave Jack a good tweak on the ear, just for lying in the dirt too close to a curious gosling.  He jumped up at her like, "What did I do to deserve that? I'm just layin' here!"  Kai heard and decided it was open season on goose...but even Kai is intimidated by Gwin!

Pictures

We do a lot of this

Did you know Heidi sleeps with her eyes open? Creepy!

Jason

Several times during this pregnancy I informed people that I've had my beautiful homebirths and I'm totally fine going to a hospital or birth center for this one.  My reasons were typical: I hate the dogs, the kids are noisy, the weather is too hot, what if there is an emergency... but when it came down to it, I'm so glad I stayed home.

Laboring at home with my kids all around (all my kids except Ian and Shane-they are still at camp) was just so natural.  Evie and Fiona figured out pretty quick that if I was leaning on the wall, they should either take what I was carrying or wait to ask questions until I looked at them again.  Lula just ran underneath me singing "London Bridge."  I would have missed that cute moment in the hospital.  Lula also had a spider crawl on her leg and bite her.  I wouldn't have captured the spiders for Mark to ID while having a contraction if I were at a birth center.  I would have missed snuggling Heidi during her last nap as the youngest baby in the house too.

All day, my contractions were not too painful and spaced far apart.  I'm always convinced that they aren't doing any good and yesterday was no different.  After lightly contracting most of the day, I had three bigger ones, one right after the other that caused Mark to say, "Please call the midwife and Jennifer now."  That was around 7:00 PM.  I finally got a hold of the midwife through her birth assistant around 8:00 PM.  My midwife had already been up all night delivering another baby, so I wanted her to sleep as long as possibly before coming out to my seemingly unproductive labor.  Jennifer got here around 8:30 and started filling the birth pool.  My midwife decided to skip out of her class (I didn't know she also had classes last night) that wasn't out until 9:00 and just come straight over.  She got here just after 9:00.

I remember looking the clock at 8:15 and deciding that the kids would be having a slumber party downstairs.  I rushed them into blanket and pillow gathering and made sure they knew they couldn't come back to their rooms again.  I told Lula and Daniel they were just going to fall asleep in front of a movie (and I didn't see Daniel again). It was pretty early for bedtime.

The midwife barely had time to unpack her supplies and get her computer set up before I realized this baby was coming and coming fast.  An awesome part of having three kids in three years is that every birth sensation was familiar.  I remember feeling a contraction and thinking, "I know you, Pain."  There was no fear. No inhibition.  It was a totally different experience than my other births. 

And on the other side of the birth tub wall, there was Mark.  As soon as I said, "I can't feel my arms!" he scooped me up and held me until Jason was born.  I can't even describe how it feels to open my eyes and see that my soulmate was there holding me in my most vulnerable time.

Jason Mathuen was born at 9:47 PM, just ten minutes after Mark put Heidi down for bed.  He was born in the water and in the caul!  Evie, Fiona, and Lula came straight in to meet him.

He is fitting in nicely and things are still a little crazy with managing all the kids.  We are taking pictures like crazy, but I'll post them in a few days as I'm down to one-handed typing...

Boys at Camp

Saying "goodbye" to Ian and Shane on their third/second year of Boy Scout camp was so much easier than Ian's first year.  Mark is with them until tomorrow and then he returns to be my cook and maid.  Until then, this is what Mark is doing at camp:

That is Ian and Mark jumping off the high pier.  Mark is the oldest Boy Scout there.  No, seriously.  The other leaders just sit around and wait for their turn at the range.  Mark cannot be pulled from the fun activities.  He earned himself the nickname Animal while playing water dodge ball.  In this game, if you get hit by the ball, you have to tread water until the game is over.  Mark stayed dry the whole time.  This is what Whole30 does to people!!!

Playing Catch Up

We had a week of Vacation Bible School
Laura, Emma, and Alexander came for a visit
The weather has been terribly hot, but thankfully cooled to just under 80 degrees
I am one week away from my due date and very tired. Of everything.

That's it!

The End of the Screen Ban

I'm pretty sure the kids think they are getting away with the fact that this ban is actually only 4 weeks instead of a full 30 days....but it is HOT and I am TIRED and I need a babysitter that will turn my kids into lifeless zombies again.

They have played outside in the pool and on the trampoline, hung out with poultry, climbed trees, thrown the frisbee, taken apart the broken bikes, colored a winter's worth of fire starter pictures, played with stuffed animals and blanket forts, read, and pretty much did what kids are supposed to do.  Because making movies like this is perfectly normal, right?

I've seen the greatest change in Daniel and Fiona.  One doesn't throw as many fits, the other finds ways to entertain herself without asking for a movie first.  Ian didn't change at all.  He is the one that asked if he could clean the house last night so he could get started on screens right away this morning.

Nesting

We have a little over two weeks until our next little blessing joins our family!  I have such a list of things to do and I'm pretty anxious to get Mark home and focused on what I need him to do... Nesting.

Gwin

Mark is busy with his own list of things to do before the baby is born.  Men nest too, did you know?  He has a ton of loose ends to tie up at work, Boy Scouts, the YMCA, and...

Lucy-growing like crazy!

...he wanted some more geese.

These five geese are Embden geese.  We can't tell which are male and which are female, but at some point we will be setting up a grazing circle in the pasture and encouraging them to produce meat.  And for the record, these geese are for Evie because she is a hard-working little farm girl who is always happy to get up early and head out to check on all her poultry projects.  She has a clutch of duck eggs that are due to hatch in six days brooding under a hen right now.  Plus the chicks she hatched out earlier this spring.  Now Mark and Evie are moving into geese....they have five years to make it work *wink*