Welcome Peter Joseph!

It official: Peter Joseph is our little paradoxical baby. He has defied every expectation we had of him. As many of you know, we were planning a hospital birth since we couldn't afford a home birth. In the middle of May, we found out that our doctor had lost his privileges to deliver at the hospital and we began planning our home birth, which, through God's grace, was much more affordable. We were so happy because we were concerned about getting to the hospital an hour away in time. After our last birth and the fact that we live in what many people consider the middle of nowhere, our midwives were concerned that they wouldn't make it here in time. We were instructed to call as soon as I thought I was in labor. But I was convinced that God wouldn't bring the baby that quickly since He had coordinated it for us to have a home birth with midwives that we trusted. So two weeks later, after many false alarms (most of which I didn't contact the midwives about), one of the midwives asked if I would be willing to have my water broken to "help things along." Though I am not for labor inducement, with my midwives' concern and the annoyance of having contractions for the past few months, I agreed. La Shel said they would be at our house around 8 or 8:30 to break my water after the boys went to bed. When she arrived, we got down to business rather quickly and broke my water. I was instructed to go for a walk to help get things started. So a-walking we went and nothing happened.... After a while, I was told to go to bed and rest and everyone laid down. After a very restless night for Colin and I, Jamin left around 5 AM with instructions to call La Shel if things changed from the 9 minute apart contractions since she is only about 30-35 minutes away. Still nothing happening.
At 9 AM, La Shel called to check on me. Things still weren't really happening but I was still tired. I told La Shel that I was going to lay down again for a little while, then eat breakfast and go for a walk. She suggested that perhaps we should augment our induction with a bit of castor oil. Leaving me with instructions to take castor oil at noon if nothing was happening or call her with any changes, we got off the phone. At about 9:30, I woke up and ate some breakfast and got ready to go for a walk, even though I was still tired. At 9:45, we set off at a slow pace. Within the first 30 feet from the house, I had a contraction lasting a minute. By the time we were 2 houses down from our house, I was having another contraction and Colin was sending La Shel a message to come back to the house. I told him he was crazy and that as soon as she got here, things were going to stop again. We got to the pond and I was having another contraction. Halfway back to the house along the golf course, after another contraction, Colin suggested we head home. I still wanted to lay down and didn't think anything was really happening so I agreed. When we got home, I had another contraction (my 5th) and ended up throwing up on the grass. I told Colin to call the midwife and find out where she was: 15 minutes away according to her GPS and going 80MPH. I sat down on the chair outside, enjoying the sun and breeze and noting a little longer break between contractions. As I started another contraction, La Shel called back to tell me to go lay down so that gravity wasn't helping Baby along. I agreed since I felt a minor urge to push at the time. After laying down, I had the major urge to push and told Colin to start washing his hands and find out where the midwife was: 10 minutes away according to GPS (more like 12 in real life). The next contraction the phone rang and completely broke my no pushing concentration. At that point, I told Colin that he needed to call La Shel again to find out where she was: at the corner of Cole Grade and Valley Center Rd, 6 minutes. She began giving Colin instructions: get the blankets, put some chuck pads under me. After a second of panic, he began to follow her instructions, only to be interrupted by my countermand to undress me NOW because the baby was coming. He dropped what he was doing to undress me and discovered that the baby was crowning. As he reached out to support the baby's head, the entire head emerged, followed quickly by the baby's body. Though not funny at the time, I think it's funny that Colin was trying to tell La Shel what was happening but by the time he said, "There's the head!" the baby was completely out. That's right, Colin delivered our baby with no midwife here, 28 minutes from first contraction to birth! The first paradox: God arranged for us to have a home birth because He knew we would be safer at home!  The second: I was sure I wasn't in real labor, my midwife wanted to further augment and my husband was the only one who was sure it was real.
After the birth, Colin followed La Shel's instructions to lay the baby on my belly and begin drying him off, check to see if the cord was pulsating, etc. Even before I could see little Peter Joseph, I said, "He's so tiny!" The whole end of my pregnancy, my belly was so hard and big that we were convinced it was all baby and that he would be close to 10 pounds since his big brothers were both over 9 pounds. Not so! He weighed in at a tiny 7lbs 11oz at birth. I know, I know. This is a normal sized baby but, after having birthed my two 9+ pound whoppers, this little guy is a tiny little peanut. Plus there is something about him that seems... I don't know. Fragile isn't the right word and neither is dainty but even the Thesaurus isn't giving me the word I'm looking for. When the midwife broke my water, my belly halved in size. I seriously looked 6 months pregnant, not full term.
PJ is a teeny tiny eating machine, nursing constantly and easily. What a blessing! Dylan and Joshua love him. Dylan wants to treat him like one of Ava's baby dolls, telling me what to do with him and where to put him down. Joshua has surprised me by easily giving up his number one nursing status and insisting that I nurse the baby every time he so much as moves. Though they are very challenging right now because they are so excited and don't understand the fragility of a newborn, they are adjusting a lot better than we had hoped. Colin wants to hold him constantly, loving the special connection they have.
So all is well here in the Skidmore household, with everyone adjusting to our tiny new addition.














Blessings

The Lord is good! We have had a lot of changes in the last week, big ones and ones that can change the whole course of our family's life. These changes do come with complications in the short term, though.

The first major change is Colin's new position at work. He is no longer going to be the Casino Operation Scheduler. He is going to be promoted to Manager of a new department that analyzes the efficiency and enacts new ideas throughout the whole property. The program is called Continuous Improvement. This is awesome news since Colin wasn't the biggest fan of his previous position and is very excited about this new position. Ironically, both his father and brother in law are well versed in the process. His father spearheaded this process in American factories and his brother in law is a black belt in the process. So between the personal resources Colin brings to the table and the training he will be receiving, he will be quite ready for this. There are, however, some short term challenges this poses. Being 9 months pregnant, the week long training in Arizona next week is making me a bit nervous. My mother, bless her heart, has agreed to come stay with me and the boys during the time he is away even though she is coming straight from a two week trip to visit my aunt to my house for 6 days with all the drama going on at her own home. She's a bit nervous about it since I can go into labor at any time.

Which brings us to the next big change of the week: I am having a home birth after all! There has been lots of drama that has nothing to do with us but lead us to being able to have the home birth we wanted all along with our midwives from Joshua's birth. We are all very excited about it but, with Colin's impending trip, a bit nervous that the baby may be born while he's gone. If so, my mom will be here to help but Colin and I will both be pretty bummed if he misses it.

Finally, Dylan had an appointment with a pediatrician that focuses on children with ADHD. The doctor actually thinks that if he has ADHD, it's secondary to either Sensory Processing Disorder or Asperger's Syndrome. From what I've read, as a complete non-expert in these disorders and a pretty decent expert in Dylan, it seems like the Sensory Processing Disorder is more likely and more fitting with his symptoms. The pediatrician wants us to take Dylan to a psychiatrist to determine what, exactly, is going on with him but she doesn't accept insurance and charges a whopping $250/hr. Our insurance will reemburse half but we still can't really afford that amount, either. So I am going to try to find another psychiatrist who either accepts our insurance or charges less. We also want to try Cranial Sacral Therapy with Dylan as there is evidence that it helps children with both these disorders and ADHD. BUT the really good thing is that there are doctors paying attention to him, trying to help him as opposed to medicate him and send him out the door without ever looking at him.

Overall, it's been quite the eventful week here in the Skidmore house! While all these things are good and blessings from the Lord, it's been a bit overwhelming to process it all. Please pray that we make it through these next, very exciting and busy weeks easily. Also, that we find a doctor for Dylan that we can work with and that the Lord gives them discernment in the situation.

Hope all is well!

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Our small family includes Colin, Brandi, Dylan, Joshua, Peter and a new little girl due in July. We're a young family raising our children for Christ.