Updates on Baby Number Three

These updates are being given every 30 minutes to every hour. You may want to scroll down to 1:40 AM and read them as they progressed through the night (and day).

12:36 PM

Here is my little buddy. I have not slept yet and find myself to be a little nutty. The kids came to meet the baby and are so excited to finally meet him. Paige came to visit the baby. She had the children over night and they were happy to be with her. She said that Owen woke up in the morning and said, where is Bill?
Here is Anna holding her brother for the first time. She is going to be a big helper.
Here are my kids!
Owen holds his brother for the first time.
And what is his name? His name is Watson Truth Eshelman.

Where is Lydia? Room 4424.
Phone number to her room: 391.7331.

9:13

He is huge!

Baby boy born!

10 pounds, 4 ounces

22 inches long!

Name: We will see.

8:06

Lyd is working very hard. No baby yet.... maybe he is a bit stubborn??

7:05

We are at shift change. Lisa is leaving us for some sleep. Lydia is on the phone with Tante Heidi right now. Heidi was present for both of the other two children's births. She feels really bad that she could not be here. We understand the necessity of work though!

Dr. Van De Burg thinks that things are going to pick up real soon. We will see.

I would like a Venti Mocha with an extra shot of espresso. My eyes are a little burny.

6:44

Lydia is now at a 9. One more and she wins!

When we were here for our first child it was really an amazing time. To watch a life come into the world is so incredible.

After Anna was born they brought the three of us to the room where Lydia and Anna would spend the next couple of days.

I remember looking out over the city of Grand Rapids and saying to God, "How on earth are we going to be able to do this?"

He gives the grace that is needed though.

As we contemplate being out-numbered by our children, we again ask, "how can we do this?"

The Lord will provide all that we need for raising 3 unto his glory!

6:21

I have been asked to let everyone know that I am not neglecting Lydia by blogging right now. She likes some space in all of this.

Things are getting more intense and it seems that we may have an early morning baby yet.

5:50

Lydia is at a 7-8. (Go ask a mother what this means.)

We have turned all of the lights off and opened all of the blinds. Soon we will see the sun rise and a new life brought into the world.

I keep thinking of the Psalter selection:
"Now unto us thy mercy show/ let thy salvation now bestow/ We wait to hear what God will say/ Peace to his people God will give!"

5:24

Lydia is resting quietly between contractions. We have gone over some new age, I mean... super-Christian breathing techniques. I am not sure how helpful I am, but I am here for her. When she is having a baby I really realize how much I love her. Lydia is quite amazing.

4:51 AM

It amazes me how many of these people try to push the pain drugs*. When you first come in and they ask if you will be using pain meds- and you say (politely and in a Christian way), "no thank you" that does not mean that everyone will stop asking. It is kind of annoying because they make it seem as if it is really foolish to not use anything for pain (other than endorphines).
*Not that we are opposed to people using them if they need them.


One really great thing though is that Lisa is not making Lydia be on the monitor (this is the thing that watches the baby's heart rate and some how rates her contractions). We like that. She is checking on his heart rate about every 45 minutes though. She is being safe.

Lisa also made me some Hazelnut coffee. It is pretty tasty.

3:48 AM

We arrived at Spectrum just fine. The contractions are going well (at least from a medical perspective). We have settled into the room and it is a nice fresh green color. That seems like a nice color to deliver a baby in. The doctor has not arrived, but has been paged a few times.
We will give a further update as it is comes.

Our nurse, Lisa, seems really nice. She is not very 'baby annoying' like some nurses are. She is level headed and seems to mean business. I am sure that we will all get along just fine.

Paige has the children for those of you who were wondering. They were both asleep soundly and were told as we tucked them in and prayed with them that they would most likely meet their brother in the morning. They were too tired to care, but I am sure that they will love him when they see him.

1:40AM

We are on our way to Butterworth Hospital. We woke her doctor who was quite asleep. I am just remembering that Butterworth's main entry is being renovated. Where is the door to that place now?

I need some coffee. Starbucks is closed.

Not yet.

No baby yet.
Lydia was due Thursday.
It is Monday night.
If it does not happen Tuesday AM, I have vowed to lock myself in the house with her until this baby comes.

We cannot have her out bumping into things.

Clean House For Baby

Owen and I are trying to get the house clean for the new baby. Mama is exhausted and ready for this baby to come. We have decided that we still do not have a name... we are open to suggestions. We are quite ready for the new baby to join us! This week has been filled with anticipation as we looking forward to this blessed event! Pray for us.

Family Update

Things have been quite busy around here. We are preparing for a new baby, our AC was out this past weekend, we had company for a week, and I have a lot of behind the scenes work being done as a part of my internship.

Some things seem to never change though, such as Owen wanting to nap with his vacuum cleaner tucked in next to him.
Since our visitors left we have cleaned out some of the things left behind in the refrigerator. Shawn and Tammy are organic-naturalpathics who do not use man made food-products. The result of this was some heavy whipping cream left which was unopened. Owen, Anna and I had a great time turning this into butter. I made them guess what the cream would be when it was done, but of course, they had no clue. When it turned to whipped cream, Anna exclaimed, "it's turning into a mocha!"

She loved the moment when it went from whipping cream to separated butter and water. It was like magic, minus the Harry Potter action.
Owen liked it on a cracker. He could not wait to eat more. We told him no.
Anna thought that it was really a great thing as well. Homemade butter.. what could be finer? Well, homemade bread on which to spread it!
We also went to Johnson Park for lunch today. The kids played and Lydia and I went through baby names. We may have one.... who knows. Lydia is quite excited about being delivered from this burden... I mean child. We are very excited to have three little ones. What a blessing and an honor to raise children unto the glory of God!
Owen and Anna are always telling * * * * * * * * * what the outside world is like... spankings and all. Here they are giving a pre-kiss.
I am sure that the next few weeks will be filled with pictures of our little guy. I will give a precondition now... we do not think that new borns are cute... this is a myth. But we do love them.

The Kids and their Cousins

I have been meaning to post these pictures for some time now. These were taken the week that we went to Pennsylvania to see my family and attend the Synod of the RPCNA. My mother likes to get pictures of all of her grandkids in matching clothes. We traditionally do it in front of her Clematis. It is a nice spot for pictures.
This is Owen with his cousin Wyatt. The 23rd is Wyatt's 3rd birthday. Happy birthday Wyatt.
Here is another one of the boys. I am sure that if these two lived in the same town.. or state, that they would be quite naughty together. The Lord is gracious.
Here is Anna and Hannah. When you look at the boys, you see Eshelman for sure. The girls look more like their mothers than the boys do.
Naughties again.
Here is all four of them. Next month there will be five of them- we will be home at Thanksgiving time so I am sure that there will be another picture then.
And... one for fun!

Our Little Chicago Trip For Lydia's Birthday

We took a little trip to Chicago this week for Lydia's birthday. We had a great time visiting the Shedd as well as her family. Here is a little picture of the the skyline taken from the toll road leading into Chicago. I cannot believe that a city can charge $2.50 just to ride in on the quickest route to downtown. Amazing!

Here is the Sears tower. I have nothing more to say about that.
We got to the Shedd and went right to the dolphin show. It was not very exciting, but the kids thought that it was something fun. I cannot believe that someone would want to get paid money for teaching giant fish-like things to jump and look cute. Not my idea of a calling.
Here are the things flipping around in the oceanarium. Notice Lake Michigan right outside of the windows. I was more amazed with the number of tall ships that moved along the lake. I am also amazed that there are no notable cities on OUR side of Lake Michigan.
Here is the birthday girl with her two little ones.
Here is Anna and Owen looking at the Coral reef. There are some AMAZING fish in this area.
Here we posed in front of the super classy fountain that welcomes visitors from around the world to the Shedd. They call it 'the world's aquarium'.
We went to Lydia's parents house to meet them for dinner. We went to a Bohemian restaurant and I had Moravian duck. We had a great discussion about Jan Hus, the Reformer from Prague. He is still a national hero there.

When we left we took Peaches the family bird of 14 years. Our little friend Sydney B. has been saving her money for a bird and we knew that Peaches would be happy with her.

Some more notable things:

• Today is Lydia's birthday.
• We have not done much to celebrate.
• Justin and Marion are liars.
• Little Stuart is being baptized this Lord's Day.
• People keep asking Lydia if she is having twins and commenting on her ginormous belly.
  

Meet the Baby!

Meet the third Eshelman baby. We have been praying quite a bit for this little person. We have been praying that this baby, as well as Anna and Owen, love the Lord Jesus Christ from infancy. John the Baptizer was said to have leaped in the womb at the hearing of the name of Jesus. May all of our children be used for the glory of God and the advancement of Christ's Kingdom.