Miriam's Arrival and How We Chose Her Name

First, I want to mention how we truly didn't take having this pregnancy and birth for granted. Perhaps because I found out I was pregnant earlier than with the other pregnancies, or perhaps just because I'm a little older, I was paranoid about losing this baby. I had four friends lose babies during this pregnancy. My heart ached for each of them. Then when I went in for my pre-op labs the day before my c-section, something interesting happened. I arrived at admitting and was told that we were going to skip labs because they had pushed my c-section up to that day (the 9th) at 4:30 pm. I had recently got a phone call from the doctor's office telling me they had pushed my c-section up to 7:30 am from 10:30 am on the 10th, but they hadn't mentioned moving it to the 9th. I was confused, was thinking about how we'd need to arrange things so that we could pick up my parents, and wondering if there could be a mistake. I mentioned the phone call from my doctor's office and how they told me it was only pushed up to an earlier time for the next day. The lady in admitting called someone else in the operating room, confirmed that Ms. Gale was on the schedule for the same day, and then suggested I call the doctor's office. I called the office, but was told the nurse was in the room with a patient so I'd need to wait until she got out of the room. So we waited. It wasn't too long, however, until admitting realized their mistake. There was another lady with the same last name who saw the same doctor and had been scheduled for her c-section the next morning at 7 am. However, she had just learned that the baby had died and they pushed her c-section up to that day to deliver the stillborn. Same last name, same doctor, and likely the same due date. My heart ached for her. I cried a little for her. I was reminded throughout the pregnancy that I shouldn't take it for granted.

I ended up having my pre-op labs on the 9th and went in for the c-section the morning of the 10th. It was odd feeling so prepared. With Allie, we hadn't known what to expect. She was our first c-section, our first baby. With Rachel, we were planning on a VBAC but hit a deer and ended up with a c-section at a different hospital than planned and a totaled car. This time, my parents were at home with Allie and Rachel, and Jared and I were able to head to the hospital by ourselves, knowing what to expect. Buddy seemed confused as we left early in the morning, but otherwise everything was calm.

We arrived at the hospital, got changed into a lovely gown, got my IV, and waited until go time.

I have had spinal blocks (vs epidurals) for each of my surgeries. They seemed to put more of the numbing agent in this time because I was getting tingly up into my armpits. I didn't necessarily like that, but it was okay. I still had the odd yet wonderful sensation as they pulled our baby girl out. She was born at 7:41 am. We heard her cry. It's such a beautiful sound, a sound that pulls at your heart as you hear your new baby for the first time. Jared didn't watch the surgery, but he snapped this picture without looking right after she came out. They cut the cord and then lifted her up over the blue screen so I could see her beautiful face. They hadn't done that for Allie and Rachel. I loved it. I didn't see them until they were wrapped up in a blanket with a hat on. But I got to see this precious girl. She had such a cute little face, with chubby cheeks and a small chin. I wasn't sure who she got her nose from, but I knew she was beautiful.

After wrapping her up, Daddy got to meet her. I love Jared's smile. It is full of love for his newest daughter.

And Daddy brought her to me so that I could meet her. I was smitten.

This picture isn't much different than the one above, but you can see that Jared and I were looking at each other. We brought this beautiful baby into the world together.

She seemed ready to eat. She kept sucking on her hand. One of the things I dislike the most about c-sections is that I don't get to breastfeed immediately. But I did get to have her by me for several minutes before they took her to the nursery to measure, clean up, and dress.

She seemed so tiny. Rachel had been a big baby, and this baby girl was definitely smaller. The doctor and nurses all guessed that she weighed around 7 lbs. We were all surprised to hear she was 7 lbs, 12 oz. I think the fact that she was short threw everyone off. She was only 18 inches, our shortest baby.

Her first bath in the hospital

Jared went with our sweet girl. I obviously stayed put as the doctor sewed me up. For the first time, I got nauseated in the operating room. I actually threw up. It was rather unpleasant. But once they finished closing me up, they took me to recovery.

My main complaint about our experience at the hospital was that recovery was downstairs. Because of this, they could not bring my baby girl to me like they had done with the Allie and Rachel. They just kept her in the nursery. Poor Jared couldn't even stay in the nursery with her, and he didn't really know where I was, other than "recovery". I was in recovery for three hours. My uterus didn't seem to want to firm up well, so they gave me some meds to help with that. Those three hours seemed like an eternity for both me and Jared.

All Jared could do was sit, wait, and look through the nursery window at our sweet baby girl.

I was finally brought back upstairs, and we were all reunited. We then let Grandma and Grandpa know that we were ready for them and the girls to come.

We didn't have the camera ready, but the smiles on Allie's and Rachel's faces as they walked in the door and saw their new baby sister were priceless. They kept commenting on how small she was and how cute she was.

Grandma and Grandpa Bobbie got to take turns, too.

They came to visit us at the hospital twice on the first day, again on the second day, and then we went home on the third day. With how crazy everything was following Rachel's birth, we didn't take a family picture in the hospital. I didn't want to forget this time.

Jared is such a wonderful father. I love watching him hold our babies.

Our time in the hospital went pretty well. I had high blood pressure and was anemic, but otherwise did well. I got to look at and hold this sweetie.

We had no idea what we were going to name our baby girl. We had checked out a baby name book from the library. We went through it and made a list of 45 names that we liked. Two nights before having her, we figured we should probably narrow the list. We went through it and got it down to 35 names. We really didn't have a forerunner, either. 

When we had family prayer the night before she was born, Jared prayed that we could know what we should name her. Then after the prayer, Jared started herding Allie and Rachel to their room, and my mom said, "Miriam." The name popped into her head. She hadn't seen our list of 35 names, but I told her that it was actually on our list. Then after Jared, our baby girl, and I were all back together at the hospital, I asked Jared if he had had any names come to mind. For both Allie and Rachel, I felt that I knew what they should be named, but I wasn't feeling anything this time. Jared replied, "I was thinking maybe Miriam Louise." I let the option roll around in my head and then asked Jared, "Do you really want Miriam or are you just saying that because my mom said it?" I didn't want Jared to feel like he had to pick the same name she had. But then Jared completely surprised me by asking, "Your mom said Miriam, too?" I then told him how she had it come to mind after his prayer the night before. He hadn't heard her say it since he was busy with the girls. We then felt that Miriam was what she was supposed to be named. My mom and Jared and both received the inspiration this time, and little Miriam Louise's name was chosen.

And one more picture of Jared holding Miriam. I love this picture.

New Year's Eve Fun

Nikki had a doctor's appointment on New Year's Eve. The girls played at a friend's house and heard that they were going to have a party that night. We had wanted to do something fun for New Year's with the girls but had decided on anything specific. Allie and Rachel kept asking if we could have a party at night, so we told them that we would. What would we do? We'd make (and decorate a few) cupcakes and have a dance party. The girls were really excited about both of those ideas.

Rachel was really good at picking cupcakes for Nikki to frost but frosted few herself. Allie frosted some all by herself, and Jared and Nikki frosted a lot of cupcakes.

Rachel also helped put the cupcakes into the pyrex pans for storage.

We forgot to buy more sprinkles, so we could only decorate with the few that we had left. Allie and Rachel didn't mind. They were just happy that they each got to eat a cupcake or two with sprinkles on top.

After cupcakes, we had a dance party. There are some songs that the girls love to hear on the radio in the car. We went to YouTube, searched for a few of these songs, and then rocked out to them. Below is a video of the girls (and Daddy) dancing to the different songs. The songs chosen were: What does the Fox Say? by Ylvis; Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen; Moves like Jagger by Maroon 5; and Rumor has It by Adele. It's important to note, however, that the last song is sung, "Boomer has it," in our household. It's what Allie hears and belts out.

And a few pictures from the dance party. 

Something I've always loved about Jared is how he'll let loose and dance crazy. I've always been too self-conscious. I'll admit that I don't care as much now that I have kids, but Jared is simply the best dad ever. As a very pregnant lady, I was happy to record and take pictures of the dancing.

The girls were very hyper after dancing, so we decided that the party should end with story time. Daddy read some books to the girls and then we had our family prayer, scripture study, and the rest of our bedtime routine.

New Year's Eve was a pretty fun night for the Gale family.

A "Parade"

I forgot to include this in an earlier post but wanted to include it. The girls wanted to put on a parade for us.

Christmas and All Pictures Related

Leading up to Christmas, the girls got to interact with Santa some. We went to Walmart the Saturday after Thanksgiving and happened to see him. They were offering free pictures with Santa. The girls were thrilled with seeing him, and we were thrilled with the price. Granted, he wasn't the most authentic looking Santa. When driving home, Allie said, "Mom, I don't think he was really Santa. I think he was just a normal person." I asked her why, and she replied, 'He wasn't wearing Santa shoes. He was just wearing normal shoes." You can't get anything past her.

We had the opportunity to Skype with the real* Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus closer to Christmas. The girls were again thrilled. Allie was so excited to tell other people that she got to Skype with Santa.

We had audio problems, so we ended up seeing Santa on the computer while talking to him on the cell phone. Thank goodness, we had his number!

The girls get to open one present on Christmas Eve. And, of course, they happen to open up new Christmas pajamas.

Joyous for her Jammies

We took several pictures of the girls in front of the Christmas tree. We took MANY shots and luckily got a few good ones.

Capturing their Silliness 

A friend who also had three girls first suggested that we get Allie and Rachel life-size baby dolls to care for when our baby comes. She had done that for her first two and found that it worked really well. We decided that it was worth trying and found a great deal on baby dolls at Sam's Club. We wanted to save money by making beds and bedding for their dolls. Once the girls went to bed, Mommy and Daddy got to work.

Jared made the beds by modifying a design we had seen online. We had most of the wood already and were able to get some other wood for fairly cheap at the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. The total cost was approximately $18 and a lot of lost sleep over the week or two leading up to Christmas. He did such a great job!

Nikki made the bedding. All of the fabric was from scraps that we already had, so we didn't have to pay anything for the materials of the bedding. The binding on the edges of the little quilts wasn't done perfectly, but it was Nikki's first time doing it. The motto while making the bedding was, "It's for a doll."

The beds and bedding turned out pretty cute.

Santa visited and left goodies in our stockings. He even left some goodies for Buddy.

Allie was so excited about Buddy getting something from Santa that it distracted her from looking at what she had in her stocking for a few minutes.

 An orange!

A toothbrush and Candy

Sea Creatures that grow in water and fingernail polish

Allie with all of her stocking goodies. She was especially excited to get Rarity, the My Little Pony, and her little stuffed giraffe.

Daddy with his stocking goodies. 

And Mommy with her goodies.

Allie had left a note for Santa. She was so excited to see that he left a note thanking her for her note and cookies.

After looking at all the goodies in the stocking, Allie and Rachel were really excited to see their beds.

They hadn't opened their babies, yet, so Allie put her giraffe in the bed and Rachel put her Mater car in her bed. Cute and silly girls.

The babies!

Each of the girls picked out two little presents from the Dollar Tree for each other. They each picked bubbles for their sister and then Rachel picked a magna-doodle type toy for Allie. Allie picked a coloring book for Rachel.

Allie with her very well drawn pteranodon.

Daddy and Buddy worn out.

Allie and Rachel opening up a present from Grandma Terri and Grandpa Dick.

So happy about their adorable bags!

Opening their present from Grandma and Grandpa Bobbie.

Legos!

Playing with Legos

One of Buddy's gifts from Santa was a laser pointer. He LOVES it.

The girls love it, too!

It was a wonderful Christmas. It was more humble than the year before, but it was just as special. It was really neat making the beds and bedding and knowing that we had put in so much love and work into those gifts. It is so special seeing the wonder and joy that the girls have.

 * Jared's dad grew out his beard and was Santa at some events this year. We were really happy to get to have the opportunity to Skype with him. It was really magical for the kids.