Sooooo Many Things!

Wow, my longest blogging drought to date.  And I've missed so many notable things!  Mary turned TWO in April, John turned FOUR in May, and we birthed our fourth child exactly one week after John's birthday, 3 1/2 weeks before the expected due date!

Mary on her 2nd bday

John on his 4th bday

Me and Clark just a few minutes after his birth!

Clark Stephen Acker came barreling into the world on May 29th at 9:10am.  Here's the birth story for those interested, but mostly for my own record.  Skip on down a few paragraphs or to the pics if it's not your cup o' tea or you get tired of reading the details!  

We had a bit of a scary false alarm on Saturday the 25th (36 weeks), as I'd come down with a fairly high fever the night before, which sent me into dehydration which led to contractions, which led us to the hospital, which led to the discovery of a high baby heart rate.  Not ideal.  They began talking induction, but thankfully some Tylenol and 3 bags of fluid got my temperature and the baby's heart rate down; so they sent us home with firm "take it easy" warnings. 

By Monday, I was back to feeling just-your-average horrible and assumed I'd remain that way for a couple more weeks, waddling and grunting and sweating.  But the next morning, I woke up feeling like a million bucks and super motivated to get stuff DONE around the house!  I spent the day happily checking things off the list.  That night, I sat Pete down with our very-tentative list of name options and said, "I had a huge burst of energy today, so now we need to pick a couple names because we're going to have this baby soon." To which he replied, "We've got plenty of time."  So naturally, 5 hours later in the wee morning hours of Wednesday the 29th, I was wandering the dark house timing my contractions.

By sunrise, the contractions were 10 minutes apart and fairly intense.  When Pete woke up, I told him we'd need to head to the hospital soon, so he quickly jumped in the shower while I went in to get the kids up.  The moment I walked in their room, the contractions doubled in both intensity and frequency.; I could hardly stand up straight to help Mary get dressed.  I sent Sus to tell Pete that we needed to GO, and we were all five packed in the car heading to the hospital within minutes, praying that our favorite Miss Angie would be able to meet us at the hospital in time to whisk away the children to avoid having those sweeties see exactly where babies come from--or come out, to be more specific.

We got to the hospital at a little after 7am (after the longest, most tense 35-minute car ride of my life), and sure enough, I was 8cm and ready to go.  Once they got me hooked up to all the monitors, they discovered that once again our little babe had a high heart rate.  So there was no time for my beloved epidural; they needed to break my water and deliver that baby!  The doc broke my water and headed for the door to check on other patients saying, "Alright, let us know when you feel like you need to push!"  She and the nurse weren't even around the corner before I said, "PETE I NEED TO PUSH!"  So he grabbed them right quick, and they came meandering back in the room as I legitimately crossed my legs to keep the baby from flying out.  They got everything set up right before my next contraction and told me I could push during that one; I pushed real hard, and out came a red headed angel boy, less than 5 minutes after they broke my water.  

It's important to note here that Miss Angie did get there to get the kids about half an hour before Clark arrived, praise the Lord!  The kids later told me they had no idea I was in any pain.  SO thankful they were so oblivious.

Clark had some respiratory issues at birth, where he was not getting enough oxygen on his own and needed additional support until his lungs got strong enough to keep his oxygen at a healthy level independently.  So he was transferred to Children's Hospital of the King's Daughter's NICU in Norfolk that afternoon.  Unfortunately that meant he would spend his first night separated from his mommy, as I had to stay at the hospital where we delivered until the next morning, when they could discharge me early.  Pete was thankfully able to spend the night at CHKD with Clark, and I was able to join them around noon the next day.  Clark cleared up his respiratory issue within 24 hours, but we had to stick it out at CHKD for a few more days until everything -- every level, every number, everyTHING -- was perfect.  So after four and a half days in the hospital, Pete and I got to bring Clark home to life with the best little siblings, who'd been anxiously awaiting our homecoming at the house for days with my parents.

So many people have asked how our time at CHKD and our night apart affected me.  For lack of better words, it was really hard.  The night apart was hard because I just didn't like knowing he was without the one human touch he was familiar with.  That broke my heart.  And the 3 days that followed in the NICU were hard for a couple different reasons.  I hated being away from my other babies for twice as long as I was supposed to be.  I knew they were in good hands with Pete and my parents, but this wasn't like I was on a vacation we'd been planning on.  Unexpected separation was really difficult for me, and I knew that Sus in particular doesn't do well with curveballs.  So thankful for my parents being there to entertain and distract.  It was also a tough experience because of all the precious lives that surrounded us in our little pod at the NICU.  Clark's life was not on the line, so I was able to look up from his crib often; and man, was it a heartbreaking view.  NICU nurses and staff are angels from heaven, I'm convinced.  Some of these babies had been there for months already; some still had months to go.  Some would eventually get to go home with their parents; some would never get that opportunity.  I am thankful for our time there, as it's given me a glimpse into a world I would have never really understood otherwise; I am also abundantly thankful that our tenure there was so short, even though it felt like an eternity.

So allll that happened over 2 months ago, and a TON of other stuff has happened before that and since!  Hopefully this random assortment of pictures will help cover some of the other important things.

Taking it all the way back to February, here's my team on Football Sunday at church 

Susannah visited the dentist for the first time this Spring and did great!

Daddy got some SILLY shoes in the mail, and John had to wear them around for a bit

One of the kids' favorite activities on cold or rainy days is to have an indoor pool party!

This pregnancy I got such bad varicose veins and swollen ankles, I had to wear compression socks. The kids modeled them for me!

Such a thug lil napper

On the first day of my third trimester with Clark. See the size difference from the next pic!

First day of the third trimester with Mary. Way smaller than with Clark!

The kids love to  "do exercise" with me and Pete 

Mary is AT HER CUTEST (and naughtiest) season of life!

When it finally got warm enough to play outside in the water this Spring, so these jubilant faces were not put on!

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday

Strawberry picking 

Pete and I took a little babymoon to Highland County and caught some GIANT FISH!

When we returned, Mary didn't let go of me for 45 minutes.

My annual girls trip to the Outer Banks!

Mother's Day with my sweeties

Riding around with some of our best buds 

Someone should have taken Mary to the Women's Ward right away!

Susannah finished preschool summa cum laude

The BEST pic of these two!

The big kids got to come meet and hold Clark on Day 2 at the NICU.  True love!

Sweet buddy

Thankful to all be back together when we finally got to come home from the hospital

PopPop holding Clark

True personalities

Dizzy is THE BEST!

Mary's obsession is still as sweet (just not the most gentle all the time)

The Gilberts got to come for the day to play and meet Clark!

This is Clark being not-tired enough to sleep in his crib

This is Mary sleeping on the stairs because she's also not tired ever.

Sunday afternoon snuggles

The Wares came to visit us this summer, and it was the best 3 days of 2019!

After a day at the pool, here we have John and Hendricks.

Aunt Lauren did face paint with the kids, and I cannot get over John! 

Smiles for breakfast

This is Clark at 2 months, just a couple weeks ago

Being real cute!

Figgy and Aunt Sarah came to stay last week, and BOY did we have some fun!  Here they're making peach cobbler together.

Making pretzels!

My true feelings when Pete complains about taking pictures with me 🤪

Our happy Clark!

And we'll end here with the cutest wedgie pic from just the other day

And that doesn't even brim the surface of the past 7 months.  I for real am going to try to update more regularly again, especially with some BIG changes coming up: Sus heading to kindergarten and John starting preschool!