Friday, May 29, 2009

Guess Who's Having Another Baby?

Not me...

My little brother Zac and his wife Stephanie. Yay!


Doesn't Henry look like Dave? I wanted to scan more pictures, but my printer is acting weird.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

For Stacey

I like these pictures Stacey sent me. Enjoy ~


Grampa & Stacey's horses




My new business... more to come.

Changing and Changes

Mr. Henry went to the Dr. yesterday. He is doing fabulously. He is average with height and weight for his age. He is advanced as far as his awareness and alertness. Of course, he's absolutely perfect! Side note- I love the new Dr. I chose. She's in Damariscotta. Her office is beautiful, she's wonderful and they give Henry a book for each visit. When the nurse brought us to the room and checked Henry's vitals she was so impressed with him. She couldn't believe how alert and interactive he is. She went out to get other nurses to come see him. She couldn't believe he is only two months old! I was so proud! The Dr. said the same thing when she came in. He gained about 6 lbs and grew 4 inches! He's changing everyday.

We have many changes coming. We sold our house and are moving to Hope to a beautiful spot on Hobbs Pond for the summer thanks to Molly's friend Teresa. We are really looking forward to that. We want to rent because we are not sure if we're staying in Maine if our business sells. Dave would really like to move back to Maryland, but the job market just isn't there at this moment. So we are waiting on selling and jobs. On that note, I am starting a new business. It's web based and I should be launching it late June early July. It's an insider's online guide, resource and interactive map of Maine businesses and Maine points of interest. Little Harbor Technology has been building the website and I love it!! I am looking for commissioned sales people and members to join. I can't wait to get it up and running.

Isaiah 49:15-16a

15"Can a woman forget her nursing child
And have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.
16"Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

A.W. Tozer Quote

The Church is constantly being tempted to accept this world as her home... but if she is wise she will consider that she stands in the valley between the mountain peaks of eternity past and eternity to come. The past is gone forever and the present is passing as swift as the shadow on the sundial of Ahaz. Even if the earth should continue a million years not one of us could stay to enjoy it. We do well to think of the long tomorrow.

Birthday Party, Cousins & More

We had a birthday party for my grandfather (73 May 21), me (32 May 23) and my cousin Annie (23 May 27) on Sunday evening. I got a couple shots of my mom's grandchildren Henry and Teagan and my grandparents' great-grandchildren Teagan, Nevaeh, and Henry. Unfortunately Teagan and Henry took turns bawling, so it wasn't easy to say the least. It didn't last long. Maybe Annie got better shots.

Teagie Weagie

Pete, Annie (birthday girl) & Nevaeh


Grampa (birthday boy) reading Psalm 28

the Pease great-grandchildren - notice how they get progressively happier as you go from Henry to Teagan to Nevaeh (Nevaeh's always happy)





Teagan being tackled by Nevaeh (she's not the first to be tackled)





Cousins - Teagan & Henry




Henry 10 weeks old on my 32nd birthday - 5/23/09

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Happy Birthday Grampa!



Happy Birthday Grampa!

It was 24 years ago when I was still your favorite granddaughter.

It was about 17 years ago you were teaching me how to drive a standard in the Northern Maine woods.

It was 13 1/2 years ago you came to Boston in the middle of the night before Thanksgiving to tow my car home after I broke down for the second time on my way home from college and had no way of getting my car back to Maine to get fixed.

It was 11 years ago you made not such a great whirlwind trip to Maryland to see me graduate from Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

It was 6 1/2 years ago you walked me down the aisle when I got married.

It was almost a year ago that you were strong for all of us when we heard the news about Vinny.

Thanks for always being there. You are greatly loved.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

In the Motherhood

Henry's Birth Story -

I think of some many things I want to write but haven't done it lately. I have to write this down before I forget parts.

As many know, I was counting the days down until I was due. No one really expected me to go into labor on my due date. Of course, I was praying to God it would be that day or earlier. I wasn't sleeping much leading up to my due date. That morning, Friday, March 13, I woke up very early with contractions. I was so excited. They got to be pretty consistent but pretty far apart. Then I went to sleep and they disappeared. I had an appointment with my midwife around 11 a.m.. I told her about the contractions. She said she thought that I would be there some time that weekend to give birth. I was really excited for several reasons - one being I really liked her and wanted her to deliver Henry. I had one contraction while I was there and she thought there was a very slight possibility I might even come in later that night. Then she checked how far I was dialated and it was barely a centimeter. My hopes started to fade at that point. I met my mom and grandmother in Rockport and we ate some Mexican food (I listened Mishelle). I started to get random contractions very far apart but I wasn't sure if they were braxton hicks or not. Mid afternoon I told Dave I thought I was going to go into labor and we would be going to the hospital later so pack his stuff. (He didn't think I was serious). We were watching Barefoot Contessa in our bedroom when I realized I was in early labor. It was after 5 p.m. and the contractions were consistent but far apart. I was getting really excited. I remember thinking if that was how bad contractions were then labor was going to be a breeze (ha-ha). I sat on my exercise ball. I took a bath. I talked on the phone. Life was good. I was very excited. We called the midwife and she said we should come in when the contractions were around 4 minutes apart. I think we started driving to Damariscotta around 8 p.m.. Things got worse on the ride. The contractions were painful and they were only 2 minutes apart. We got to the hospital, by-passed the registration and got into a room. I was the only one in labor that night. The nurses hooked me up to a machine to see how far apart my contractions were and how long they lasted. They were lasting up to 90 seconds (which is long!) and were only 1 to 2 minutes apart. The nurses started to get nervous because the midwife was on call and she wasn't there yet (if it had only happened that quickly :)). The nurses each tried to check my dialation and neither said they could tell and one thought my water had already broken. They started to panic because they thought maybe I was fully dialated. I was thinking, "Wow, this is so awesome. I going to have my baby right away and my labor is going to be so easy." Wishful thinking again. The pain was getting more and more intense. My room was right across the hall from the water birthing suite. I paced back and forth waiting for the midwife to get there. They didn't want me to get into the tub until she had checked me. It seemed like FOREVER before she got there. She checked me and I was only 3-4 centimeters dialated. What??! Why were my contractions so close together? I guess because I wasn't dialated at all before I went into labor and my body was doing double time to get me ready. The other MAJOR letdown was that my water hadn't broken. I kept pacing. My water broke in the water birth room. I don't remember the sound, just fluid running down my leg - a lot of fluid. I walked into the hall and told them my water broke. My mom and Dave were having lovely chats in my hospital room at the time. I was glad because I didn't want anyone talking to me or touching me. The nurses had me get into the shower. My contractions hurt SO bad at that point. I really didn't know how I was going to make it through. I took a long hot shower. So long and so hot that I raised my body temperature and caused Henry's heart rate to sky rocket. Not good. I asked if I could go into the birthing tub. I got in with monitors attached for Henry. As I cooled down, his heart rate went down thank God. The midwife and nurse were like two angels. They were so nice. I didn't really talk or scream. I just kept thinking and wondering how I was going to make it through. I kept thinking God really did curse Eve in child bearing. I kept trying to think of EVERYTHING and ANYTHING to make it through the contractions. The midwife kept saying, "Just make it through this one; don't think about the next". How can you not think about the next? Impossible. I hated it. I wanted to quit. You can't stop labor and I wasn't going to have a c-section. I asked for drugs. The midwife didn't think I was serious. I really wanted something to take the edge off. I got out of the tub and was freezing to the point of shivering. The lab was supposed to come up and take my blood and they told me I had to wait until after they came. They checked me again and I was only 5 centimeters and it had been hours or it seemed that way. Finally the lab came and took my blood. Usually I am a total wimp about needles and nudity but I didn't really care at that point. They gave me some nubane (?spelling) and I kept asking after when it was going to kick in. Angela, the midwife, told me it was only supposed to take the edge off. I felt like the edge it was taking off was very miniscule. It did help me dialate. I went to 9 centimeters in a flash. I got in the tub and started pushing. I had been pushing for a while when Angela told me that there was too much miconium in my fluid to safely deliver in the tub. I got out and started pushing in the bed. Dave was beside me and my mom was behind the curtain in the same room. I pushed for over an hour but it seemed like nothing. His little hand was up by his head when he came out, so I tore a little bit. He was born at 4:36 a.m. on Saturday, March 14, 2009. Precious baby boy with no name. They handed him to me and it was all surreal and a blur. I really couldn't believe I just had a baby and he was in my arms. A doctor was there to check him. He weighed 6 pounds and 13 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. So precious. The next hurdle before I got to enjoy my little boy was that the placenta was not coming out. It had been an hour (which seemed like 5 minutes to me). They hooked me up to morphine and told me that might have to operate to get it out. They paged the OB Doctor on call. Two hours after birth I finally pushed the placenta out with the OB Dr.. It hurt. During all of this we decided to name our precious boy Henry. They stitched and cleaned me up and we were in our room before 8 a.m.. To be continued....

9 Weeks Old Yesterday


Resting on Grammie Sue's Shoulder

with Cousin Sam

with Mommy in Boston - thank God Aunt Sissy drove us & helped us!


Aunt Sissy and Henry in Boston


Getting weighed on the nail scale at Uncle Vick & Aunt Sissy's store





Flowers I got for Mother's Day

2 month old birthday

Friday, May 15, 2009

http://knox.villagesoup.com/announcements/BirthStory.cfm?StoryID=158836&storytypeid=2

Henry's Birth announcement in the newspaper.

ROCKPORT (May 14): Henry Vincent Umstead was born on March 14, 2009, at Miles Memorial Hospital to David and Rachael Umstead of Rockport.
Henry was born at 4:36 a.m. and weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces.
His maternal grandparents are Daniel and Sonja Burns of Warren and Larry and Joanna Galkowski of Rockland. His paternal grandparents are Valerie Umstead of Baltimore, Md., and Charles and Linda Umstead of Baltimore, Md. Great grandparents are Nate and Charlotte Pease of Union and Robert and Darlene Galkowski of Newport, R.I.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Happy 2 Month Birthday Henry Vincent

Today Henry is 2 months old. The time has gone so fast, but I also can't imagine what life would be without him. He is the most precious. Pictures later tonight or tomorrow.

Boston Bound

I want to go to Boston for the day!! Maybe soon? I'm waiting to hear if Shanie will go with me because Dave's not into it.

Read Heaven by Randy Alcorn

I wish I could copy and paste the book Heaven into my blog. It's so important to read.

I like this quote from D.L.Moody "Soon you will read in the newspaper that I am dead. Don't believe it for a moment. I will be more alive than ever before."

"We dare not 'wait and see' when it comes to what's on the other side of death. We shouldn't just cross our fingers and hope that our names are written in the Book of Life (Revelation 21:27). We can know, we should know, before die. And because we may die at any time, we need to know now - not next month or next year." Page 23 & 24

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Henry on Mother's Day








This morning.


How could you love something so precious any more - I do every day. All I want to do is stare at him.

I read the Book of Psalms to him and working on Proverbs. Now we're starting Randy Alcorn's Heaven.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Mother's Day Mom!



It's my first Mother's Day because of my first born Henry Vincent - the best Mother's Day present anyone could get. But it's my Mom's first Mother's Day without her first born Vincent Paul. Special thoughts and prayers to her today. I keep thinking of Hosea 6:1. May God bless her special today and this year.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Grammie's 70th and Henry's 8 Weeks



















Mother's Day card Stephanie made me












May 9, 2009 ~ 8 weeks old today