3+1= 4

So here is my first post about Josiah.

I'll try to give a few little snapshots of what our family is like at this time and how it's been throughout the pregnancy. Like I said in my last post, I'm trying to record Josiah's life so far. This may not be the most interesting, polished reading material you come across today. As I write this I'm trying to remind myself of my goal here: to record and document. Maybe I'll do more creative stuff with it later.

So let's set the stage here.
It's mid March 2008. I look like this... oh boy.




Our kids look like this: (This is a favorite activity. Playing "armies".)





And this is the history of babies in the Montgomery family, so far:

Daniel is born
20 months later, Michael is born
18 months later Mercy is born
16 months later we miscarry Sparrow, a baby we lose early on in the pregnancy
11 months later Baby #4 is due

All that to explain that the age difference between Mercy and Baby #4 is the longest. And as I prepare to give birth to this new family member, I'm excited about how much older Mercy will be in comparison to how old Michael was when she was born. It really isn't that big of a difference when I think about it now but it was definitely something I was thinking about then...

I was also thinking about our homeschool co-op. I was in the midst of my 6 week teaching unit. My due date happened to be before the end of the unit. Part of me was really hoping to finish teaching before I had my baby. I won't go in to detail about what the other part of me was thinking because it might seem ungrateful to the women who gracefully took my place as teacher for the last two weeks of my unit.

The whole pregnancy seemed more difficult to me than previous pregnancies. I'm pretty sure that's a grass-is-greener perspective. Or it may have been that there were three kids to care for rather than two. Thankfully, I wasn't on any bedrest during this pregnancy. I didn't have any freak bleeding situations. (And I won't describe them or things like them at this time. Just in case you were concerned.) There was the time when I had to be rehydrated in the hospital due to too much morning/all the time sickness but after about week 16 or so, I felt much better. If I'm being accurate about this pregnancy, I shouldn't make light of the morning sickness part. The fact is that I have really bad all the time sickness for the first half of each pregnancy. Ick. But I know women who are that sick for the entire pregnancy too. I'm going to move on from that subject now. It's too icky.

Other important flavors of this particular pregnancy include:

-We don't know the gender of our baby
-Up until the 20 week ultrasound I'm really hoping I'm carrying twins (it would be more efficient, wouldn't it?)
-The 20 week ultrasound shows some kind of abnormality in my uterus that is "watched" afterwards
-I'm seeing a different doctor than my pregnancy with Mercy and he is a man- a first for me
-I'm planning on delivering about 10 minutes away from our house and I'm happy about that
-Daniel thinks we will have a girl so that it will be "even" in our family. Three boys and three girls including Mommy and Daddy.
-This baby is extremely active!

When I'm within a few days of my due date, my doctor suggests the possibility of inducing labor. Both Michael and Mercy were born that way and I'm all for it. I feel a little funny about it only because I don't feel as enormous as I remember feeling at 9 months with the other three. I'm not quite as uncomfortable as I remember. I wonder if the baby is big enough. And whether I should just finish my teaching unit first. But we schedule Grammy and Grandad to come help with the kids and put the date on the calendar. It's two days away!

Oh, we don't have a name yet. Bob and I are really bad at picking names. He comes up with lots of good names. I just don't like them.

To make this long story shorter, I'm going to stop writing about the details and bring in the pictures.

Here he is! Josiah Thomas Montgomery is born!


At 7lbs 8ozs, he is my smallest baby. Both Michael and Mercy were a whole pound bigger. Daniel was two pounds bigger at birth.



The umbilical cord had a knot in it and it was wrapped around his neck twice. God protected him from harm all throughout the pregnancy and during labor as well, to bless us with this sweet tiny boy.



Oh, how I love the day my children are born!



More to come...

rebecca