Before & After

Now, we really do have a before and after to show. We went back to Lea Murphy to get Ephraim's new born pics. He cooperated about as much as one might expect from a four day old. I think we'll have some great shots to remember this blessed time in our lives.

Lea is gracious enough to put up a sample of our shoot on her blog. We'll go back next week to see all of the pictures and try to decide what we want to purchase without breaking the bank...that's going to be tough.

Ephraim Todd Schneberger's Birth Day!

At 5:27am on Sunday morning the miracle began. Sara had her first real contraction. Obviously, we were excited and anxious as we anticipated all that this new day might bring.

Sara's friend Jaye, who just happens to be a labor and delivery nurse, had just arrived from New Mexico on Saturday. Sara wanted to share this experience with her best friend and receive all the support possible. Shortly after her first contraction, Sara went in to Jaye's room to get the diagnosis - labor had begun!

It was time to take a shower and begin making all the calls. The first call was to Dawn, Sara's doula. Since Sara wanted to have a natural birth, she began working with Dawn and she was a God send. We really couldn't have done it without all the support that we received.

Sara wanted to labor at home as long as possible. The contractions were coming pretty regularly through the morning, so I had to call our worship pastor Tim and let him know that I would not be preaching on this particular Sunday...time to go to plan B.

Sara was contracting about every 6 to 7 minutes and they were lasting anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds. Around 11am we decided to go for walk. During and after the walk the contractions began to come more regularly and were lasting longer. Soon they were coming every 3 minutes and lasting 75 to 90 seconds. It was time to go to the hospital.

We arrived at St. Luke's Northland on Barry Rd. around 1:00pm. They checked Sara shortly after arrival and she was dilated to 7 cm and 100% effaced and the baby was at 0 station. We had made lots of progress and we knew our little boy would be coming into the world soon.

Sara continued laboring so well without any pain medication. Around 3pm they checked Sara and she had only moved to 8 cm and not progressed any further, but that was primarily because the bag of waters had not broken yet, which was providing a cushion that was prohibiting the baby's head from coming down much further. When at 4pm Sara had made no more progress and was still at 8cm, the doctor talked to us about breaking Sara's water in order to help labor ...we took a few minutes to think about it and then decided to go ahead.

The doctor came in and broke Sara's water at 4:06pm. Then, everything began to progress very quickly. Around 4:30 pm Sara began to feel the urge to push. She started pushing at 4:48pm and Ephraim was delivered at 5:18pm. Only 30 minutes of pushing for her first baby! Sara did such a great job with the whole pregnancy, labor and delivery - no pain medication whatsoever.

The first hour after delivery was full of frenetic activity. Cutting the cord, getting pictures, weighing and checking vitals, getting pictures, making all the calls, getting baby to feed. What a miracle. He is here!

Ephraim weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. Mom and baby are both healthy and doing well. And I got video of the whole thing...but I don't think mom will probably let me post it on the world wide web. But, if you are lucky enough to come by our home, you might get to see some of the video.

Ephraim got his first bath around 12:30am. We've been up and down all night checking and feeding and changing, but it is definitely worth it!!

You can check out our pictures at the link over on the right. We will constantly be updating the blog and our pictures of our miracle!

The Miracle: 39 Weeks

Not much time left now! Today has been a bit rougher than yesterday...I am definitely feeling heavy and achey and very much pregnant! I woke up with my lower back and hips really hurting, as well as a dull ache in my abdomen. Could be signs that I overdid it with my walk around the neighborhood yesterday, or it could be signs of early labor. It's kind of a toss-up at this point! I took some tylenol and Richard and I went for a shorter (and less hilly) walk today after lunch, which I think helped to loosen me up a little bit (well, Richard walked...I waddled!). We'll see what the rest of the day holds!

"E" has remained very active, in spite of having less room to move around...can't believe I'll soon get to feel his squirms and wiggles from the outside instead of the inside! Thanks to the website http://www.spinningbabies.com/, I was able to determine that he is in an optimal position for a relatively smooth labor and delivery. Since I am wanting to try for a natural birth (that's right...no drugs! call me crazy...it's just something I've always wanted to try...letting my body do what God designed it to do without unnecessary interventions), having him in a favorable position now can really make a difference in the speed and ease of labor. I know it won't be easy regardless, but it helps to know that it doesn't have to be even more difficult! So we'll see how it goes...you know I'll keep you posted!

I hope (and think) this will be my last post about baby "E's" progress in utero...from here on out I sure hope I get to post about how he is growing and changing out here in the real world! :o)

How your baby's growing: Your baby's waiting to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it's likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.