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.

The Miracle: 38 Weeks

Can't believe we are talking about the baby being here in a matter of days, rather than weeks! I am finally feeling ready. Since the doctor's appointment last Wed we have managed to accomplish quite a few things on the "to do before baby" list, so I am not stressing out at this point! Today we had another doctor's appointment, and while me and baby are both doing great, she said we are pretty much at the same place we were last week, so no further progress. I had figured that would probably be the case...we REALLY toned down the walking and stretching after last week's appointment, because I knew I wasn't ready for this kiddo to get here any earlier at that point! Now that we have more of our ducks in a row, I'm ready to get back to our former routine. And what a beautiful time of year to get out and enjoy walking around the neighborhood...I LOVE the spring! All the green and all the trees budding and flowers in bloom and birds singing...this is why I wanted a spring baby!

Thank you to all who have been keeping me and the baby in your prayers. I have said it before, and I will say it again...this has been a very blessed pregnancy! I really am feeling wonderful...no major physical complaints at all, still sleeping through the night (with maybe one visit to the bathroom at most), no major swelling, etc. The doctor this morning was actually surprised when she asked how I'm feeling and I told her that I feel great...she jokingly let me know that it was ok to say that I was ready for this all to be over and how horrible I was feeling, etc, etc. I just smiled and told her that, REALLY, I feel great! Now we're just playing the waiting game. My prayer is that with an easy pregnancy we can also expect to enjoy an easy and happy baby...we'll see how that pans out! Guess we'll find out soon enough, at any rate. :o)

Even though I'll be 39 weeks tomorrow, here is how "E" has developed over this past week:

How your baby's growing: Your baby has really plumped up. He weighs about 6.8 pounds and he's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). He has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold his hand for the first time! His organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb. Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If he's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If he's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time he's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after he's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

Before & After

We went to a photographer named Lea Murphy yesterday to get some before and after shots taken. This one is obviously from the "before" category. Once baby "E" is here, we will get some infant shots with him.

Working with Lea has been a great experience so far. We would recommend anyone in the Kansas City area, especially if you are having a little one soon to contact her. Check out her website at the link above to see her great work. She posted this pic on her baby blog, we'll see the others when we go in for the next photo shoot...we'll have a little one with us then...it is hard to imagine that it could be any day now. Soon and very soon we are going to see a baby!

The Belly Pics...

Ok, so we went ahead and took some "belly pics" tonight, since the belly may not be around that much longer! Wish I had been taking these all along on a weekly basis (like I originally intended) so that I could see the progression...I'm such a procrastinator! Since the baby has dropped my belly is sitting pretty low...definitely looks like a basketball underneath my clothes! You can see all the belly pics on our Flickr photostream (click on the photostream to go to our Flickr website and see them all in a larger size), but I'll go ahead and post some of my favorites. :o) Just be forewarned...I'm kinda pasty, so my belly reflects some of the flash!! (hehe)

This one really makes my belly look like a balloon stretched so tight it's about to pop. I'm not uncomfortable, though...it just looks that way. :o)

E.T.'s First Video

I'm getting accustom to our new video camera that I might be familiar enough with it to get some good video of our baby's first days. As you'll observe in this video becoming a parent does make one quite a bit dorkier. Oh the joys of parenthood.