Homebirth videos

A couple weeks before the birth I took this video of our bedroom prep...


at 10:15 my water broke.. after a good 16 hours of contractions every 10-15 mins.  Apparently Patty thought I was further along than I was because she told me to lay down and wait until she got there.


Around 1am (Patty checked me, found me at only 3cm, then asked if she could take a nap on our couch:) we decided to double make the bed, check on the pool, and start covering the room with plastic.  Joel was a little paranoid about the potential mess.


4am. Contractions more intense, but not that frequent. Only every 7 minutes.  However, strange things are happening in the Penton household... other than a homebirth, of course.. .


1pm. About an hour and a half after the birth. Mommy nursing Luther, Joel and Patty just finishing some clean up.


The boys say 'hi' to their new brother...

Homebirth of Luther Joseph Penton!

Luther Joseph Penton was born on April 19th, a mere 10 days past his due date.  He was also born at home with a midwife.  Here are some pics to tell the story of his arrival.

 The bed set up.

Other supplies...

More set up...

In pool during contraction.. Patty, my midwife, coaching me through it.

In pool between contractions.. hence the smile :)

No rest for the weary...

 Yeah, there was quite a bit after that. Yelling, crying, praying, sweating, pushing, etc. 

But eventually at 11:45am...

Luther Joseph Penton was born! 

Daddy got to 'catch' baby Luther!  (Although he refused to pull on Luther's head to get his body out.. as I was yelling/instructing him to do) There were more tears and more prayers and HUGE sighs of relief!  

Baby Luther nursed for 45 mins like a champ...

 Then we (Joel and Patty) began clean up...The hose was submerged completely and filled, then one end threw out the window. (white trash? it was clean water at least..)  It siphoned out very quickly and Joel was proud of himself for thinking of this efficient method.

Daddy checks on Luther..

Look at that cone head!

Sweet babe..

After some nursing, cutting cord, and delivering placenta.  Luther was ready to be checked out.  8 lb 1 oz..! Patty predicted "a little guy maybe 7 pounds max" After 30 mins of pushing I knew he was much bigger than Judah was! (he was 6 lb 11 oz and came out in 2 pushes)

Daddy inspects his newest son...

Open eyes..

Joel threw a spaghetti bake in the oven and Joel, Patty and I destroyed it in a matter of minutes.  Nobody had eaten all night or all day.

Patty left around 3pm.. thanks Patty for torturing me.. I mean..getting the baby out safely ;)

After Patty left everyone took a nap...

After that Joel (39 months) and Judah (19 months) came for a visit to meet their new brother with Emily and Whitney (11 months).  That experience was so chaotic and we were so deliriously sleepy that we forgot to take pictures.

Luther got to stay in our bedroom that night but after a few snorts and whines he was moved to the bathroom...

The next day the brothers came over to check out Luther...

They decided that he needed an Easter bunny toy to keep him company...

And Mommy enjoyed breakfast and baby in bed...

Praise the Lord! We are so thankful for little Luther's safe arrival. 

41 weeks...still waiting!

Whew! Past due date again. So thankful Joel is home and able to take care of Joel and Judah all day.

Easter
I thought that since I have time to do things I'd post an update about Easter. This Easter was our first as a family at our own home. Since the next day was my due date we decided not to leave town.  It was super nice and laid back.  We went to church in the morning and then had an indoor egg hunt.



Judah did an incredible job in his room 'hunting' his eggs. Once he discovered there was a jelly bean inside each egg there was no stopping him! After naps and a nice dinner we had our family worship time which included a teaching lesson about Jesus death and resurrection, using 'Resurrection Eggs.'  Joel loved the project, Judah had a hard time sitting through it, no surprise there.



Joel
Joel has finally mastered riding his bike, and has a blast doing it.  It took some perseverance from Daddy (Joel wasn't really motivated to learn, most of the time) but now that he 'has it' he wants to do it all the time!



9th Month of pregnancy quality time spent with Joel 3 is usually on the couch reading books.

Judah
Judah and Daddy have had some fun the past 2 weeks catching up on much needed quality time together. They are like best buds lately.  Daddy enjoys Judah's extreme playfulness and Judah enjoys Daddy's willingness to take him outside all the time:)

Some of Judah's favorite new words are "Haa Maa" for "help me" with arms up in the air (a sign we taught him for help a while ago). "Jaa-do" for Jesus.  "Ahh-bee" for Amen.  His pronunciation is not that great, but he tries to say almost everything now, and usually gets the number of syllables correct :)

What are we doing with ourselves while we wait?
Fun projects, like mulching.

Selling Joel's motorcycle.

and playing outside with our version of a 'water table.'

 

What else is going on as we wait?

As we wait we are challenged and reminded to rely on God for everything.  Our daily family worship sessions have been a huge blessing for me during this time.  As we sing and pray and talk about Jesus together as a family (yes, its short.. 5 minutes? I mean.. Judah is 1.) I am able to refocus on what is important and that produces more patience and an attitude of thankfulness within me.  We are so blessed.

2 weeks and counting!

Judah's shirt says "Nobody consulted ME about this NEW BABY thing!" Little does he know, we used the same shirt on Joel to announce my pregnancy with him not that long ago! 

Practicing rocking the baby and being gentle, they look like they are having too much fun though!

Wow! I cannot believe how fast this baby crept up on us! I am 38 weeks and we are getting excited to welcome  the newest Penton boy into this world. Joel talks a lot about his 'new baby brother' and even gives him kisses, hugs, and tries to feed him pretend ice cream :) Judah has found out what the word 'baby' means and says it whenever he sees a picture of a baby, a carseat, or a kid smaller than him.

Judah is a big boy all of a sudden!

Joel has 1 more tough week of traveling and then has some time off.  My dad is here in Columbus to help with the boys this week though, thank goodness!  I also went to Cincy for a week this month so that the kids could run around a bit more and I could rest a bit more:)  I am feeling pretty good, Just last week I had to take off my wedding ring due to swelling.. getting to week 37 for that is pretty good for me!  I get pretty tired around the boys nap times, and usually need a nap myself.  I am still sleeping well so that is nice.  I am hoping for only 2 more weeks of being this large, but we will see :) My due date is April 9th, we do not expect this one to come early, but it would be nice!

Joel and Judah had a blast in Cincy - outside every day for hours!

 The Boys
Joel and Judah are FINALLY in a room together in their bunk beds.  It has been quite an adjustment.  Joel III has always done well playing by himself in his room and staying in his bed.  However, when you add Judah to the mix apparently the temptation to get rowdy and loud is just too much.  I expected the novelty of being together to wear off in a few days, but it has taken a couple of months and they still have issues at times.  Joel and I are experimenting with walkie-talkies, a monitor with two-way talk, and of course numerous spankings. So far the best course of action seems to be spankings immediately when Joel gets too loud/kicks the wall/stands up/yells/hands things to Judah/etc. Unfortunately, the execution of that is extremely exhausting at a time that I usually count on to relax! Thankfully, Joel has taken over 95% of childcare when he is home now.  (I usually prepare 1-2 meals and read them some books each day and that is about it!)  Judah has been just exhausted from lack of sleep and that means more crying and tantrums.  He had a short week of getting out of the bed/trying to climb the ladder/acting crazy but since then has been a very good boy when he is in his bed.  I get the feeling that if he could talk he would just say "Joel! Please be quiet so I can go back to sleep!!!"

Joel and his cousin Indy, reading books like nice little boys!

Anniversary
March 19th was our 7 year anniversary! I am so thankful for an amazing husband who loves the Lord so passionately.  It is interesting to reflect on the last 7 years... 4.25 of them I have been either pregnant or nursing!  For 2 of them, we were still in college! (well.. Joel was.)

Joel surprised me with flowers in the morning, and I, of course, cried tears of joy.  (I mean.. I"m really pregnant!) Joel III, who has never really seen me cry, thought the whole thing was quite interesting and kept asking why I was crying and offering to give me hugs. We had a nice date the next night to celebrate.  What a huge blessing this marriage is!

Hope in the midst of Denial
People keep asking me if I'm 'ready.' I think what they really mean is "are you ready for 3 boys under 3 1/2?" And the answer: "Um.. no. I"m in denial, and I want to stay that way.. thanks!" I need to take things one day at a time at this point I think.  I get slightly overwhelmed when I think about simple tasks like how to get them all into the car and strapped in (yes, I will need go around the van and open all 3 doors and strap each boy in myself).. However, I am so incredibly thankful for the blessing of these boys.  God has taught me so much about myself and how I relate to Him through my boys.  Because of this, I now long to be a more obedient and trusting child of God.  I love how my patience and faith is challenged literally every day with these boys.  Seriously.  I do.  It keeps things interesting, combats complacency, and forces me to grow and depend on God.  How awesome!  Not only that, I am consistently blown away at how awesome of a father my husband is.  He does an incredible job of modeling Christ as our Father to our boys.  I learn so much from Joel and I am so thankful for his passion for Jesus.  Ok.... I'm also pretty thankful for the huge help that he is in taking care of them .. especially now!

Joel's 3rd Birthday!

Joel LOVES cake!

The Elmo balloon was a big hit for everyone

Wow, a whole month later and I am finally blogging about Joel's 3rd Birthday, which was Jan 17th... we had a small party with our friends, the Hollidays.  We had pizza (with goat cheese - no, not like that, its sliced and very mild! so yummy!) cake, and presents.  Joel had a hard time waiting to open his presents, but other than that the evening was splendid!  Joel especially liked his Melissa & Doug ice cream play set and has been so obsessed with it for the past few weeks and he keeps it up in 'high' places "so Judah won't get it." *sigh*

This past weekend we spent some time in Van Wert to celebrate the January/February birthdays.  Joel opened some more amazing gifts, including an awesome pirate hat and sword, but...again.. his absolute favorite toy was a Melissa & Doug sliced cookie set.  (they should really be paying me for advertising;) Judah also was obsessed with cousin Eliza Spath's princess crown and wanted to wear it the entire evening.  Daddy wondered where he had gone wrong as he watched his two boys enjoy really girly things.  (Side note: props to any man who bakes cookies!:)

Joel opening his favorite gift - Melissa & Doug ice cream play set

Joel update
Since Joel has turned 3, it seems that he is much more opinionated and likes to begin his statements with "you should..."  He also becomes fixated on how things are 'supposed' to be and has a hard time letting go of that ideal.  However, on the bright side, Joel seems to be even more a sponge of information than ever.  He absolutely loves to read long, long books and seems to follow the story line very well.  He also enjoys babysitters more than before, I think because he tells them what to do and they listen ;)

results - NEGATIVE!

Joel was recently allergy tested and the results stumped even the 'Asthma and Allergy' specialist.  Based on his symptoms and history she expected something to show up as a positive allergy.  Plus, since 80% of childhood asthma is allergic asthma, she said that the results would give us a clue as to whether or not he actually has asthma at all (he was wheezing at the time and agreed that his symptoms are different from typical asthma).  The entire test was negative.  She said Joel was an 'atypical' case and mentioned a few possibilities:
1. Joel might be allergic to something but it has not shown up yet. Sometimes it takes years.  She suggested coming back in 1 year if he was still having symptoms.
2. Joel might have non-allergic asthma. (not common)
3. Joel might have reflux or large adenoids that may be causing his wheezing. (she confessed that probably these are unlikely since his tonsils looked 'great' and he does not have reflux symptoms)
4. Joel might have viral asthma.  She stated this was her best guess.  I agree his symptoms match up with viral asthma more so than anything else.  However, this is usually something found in babies. So, kinda weird.  What happens is that the child is exposed to a virus, wheezes mildly during the sickness and then continues to wheeze (only slightly but oftentimes with no other symptoms) for multiple days even weeks after the illness is visibly gone.  This type of asthma commonly disappears when the child gets older.

We were there for 3 hours and I've heard it is super expensive.  Thank goodness Judah was with Daddy at home.  However, finding out Joel is probably not allergic to anything was definitely worth it.  Also, we recieved lots of free Singulair samples and for us, this is huge.  Singulair is a chewable pill with a much different mechinism of action than other asthma or allergy drugs.  It has minimal side effects and seems to work wonders!  But, the makers of Singulair know this of course and so the price is sky-high.  For us, one month of singulair would be $130!  At $4.50 a pill, I use it very sparingly but have found that it does work very well for Joel.

Joel and Judah like to play "doctor"

Judah update
Judah is still not saying much but understands a ton.  He follows commands well when he wants to;)  We started spanking Judah this month and I forgot how tough it is at first.  We are sticking with spanking him for only 2 types of disobedience - 1. not coming to us when we say "come here" and 2. touching something after we have said to him clearly, "no touch"  I think he is slowly understanding the whole obedience thing.  He is getting frustrated with 'not getting his way' and has loud crying fits when that happens.

Judah is now very fond of pretend play, dancing, and getting beat up by his brother.  In fact, he likes his brother so much that ff he is ever in a room without his brother he is looking for him constantly.  He calls him 'ba-duel' for Brother Joel.. duh, could you not figure that out?  I am already using Joel's influence on Judah to get Judah to do what I want.  For instance, when Judah goes up the stairs for fun Joel always follows along (the way that Joel follows his little brother around is a story for another time).  I tell Joel to come back downstairs and he immediately says "but Judah, Judah!" as he slowly, and unhappily complies.  Sure enough, about 30 seconds later, Judah will come down as well.  Maybe that is an evil game to play. Oh well.

sweet Judah all bundled up

I've decided that I cannot handle much... 30 day trial update

Joel always looks like he is either hurting or trying to hurt Judah in some way

 I've decided that I cannot handle much these days... our recent 30 day trial for Joel was to avoid red meat and aspartame (coke zero).  I would have preferred that Joel avoided dairy, or that we both avoided meat all together.  But Joel thought both of these would be too difficult. (he specifically mentioned not being able to pass up Chipotle cheese) So, we picked red meat.  I don't have much against red meat other than the fact that it is of course animal-based, but I dont think steak is any worse than chicken, at least from my minor research at this point.  However, I do think that ground beef is horrible for us, and it would be great if we could avoid it as much as possible.  I cannot wrap my head around eating an animal product that is from 1000+ cows and then washed with chemicals.  I mean, this cannot be good for us, right?  So, I thought this would be a step in the right direction for avoiding ground beef in the future.  However, I didn't think through the process of preparing dinners for a family with 2 people avoiding dairy, and 1 avoiding red meat.  After numerous dairy-free chicken recipes, I resorted to vegan recipes.  The kids and I liked them pretty well but Joel struggled.  In addition, it was a TON of effort on my part to look up the recipes each week, buy new ingredients, and then allow at least 1 hour before dinner to prepare the meal.  Needless to say, after about 2 weeks of this, I got lazy and we ended up going out to eat more often than normal (still adhering to our dietary guidelines), which, in a lot of ways, defeats the purpose of the trail in general! oh man.

Oh and along those lines, the purpose of the 30 day trial (p.s. I love this guy' blog) is to cut something out of your diet that is so drastic that it would be a huge lifestyle change.  Stick with it for 30 days, by that point you should experience some health benefits from the dietary change (more energy, weight loss, less congestion, better sleep, etc. these are just examples).  By the end of the trial you have enough experience with the new lifestyle and the benefits that come with it to make an educated decision on whether or not to continue.  Of course, since it didn't really work out for Joel this way, he is pretty excited to start eating red meat again.  However, I do have some results to report. In 2008, Joel had a full lipid panel done and his triglycerides were 255!  This month he had a lipid panel done and his triglycerides were 145! (normal is below 150) Wow! However, in the past 3 years he has lost 25 lbs, started working out more and eating healthier. So, I have no delusions that his lipid levels were lowered from not eating red meat, but, maybe that helped a little...who knows.

In other nutrition news.. we have discovered the "guacamole salad"..adding chopped spinach, broccoli and whatever other chopped up veggie to our guac in order to sneak in raw veggies.  They absolutely LOVE it!  Joel eats it with a spoon and Judah eats it with his fingers (sometimes a spoon). As long as some garlic salt is added, they will both eat it up like crazy.  Between that and juicing (their favorite is apples + carrots) I think I've finally found a solution for getting raw veggies into my 1 year old and 3 year old!

this might not look amazing, but it tastes awesome!

Dairy update - Joel III and I are still 'dairy free' with exceptions, however, Joel has been sick for 2+ weeks this month, and the sickness turned into wheezing in his chest.  I haven't heard real wheezing from him in so long , so I was pretty sad about it.  I also have noticed my nasal congestion return since decreasing my vitamin C intake.  However, I am not ready to return to dairy for us just yet.  At the very least, we would stay off cow's milk, I 'm pretty convinced that cow's milk is not good for anyone. (especially kids who have ear infections, sinus infections or asthma)

http://www.ecomall.com/greenshopping/mmilk.htm

http://www.naturalnews.com/000930.html

http://www.waoy.org/9.html

http://saveourbones.com/osteoporosis-milk-myth/

http://anamikas.hubpages.com/hub/Cowsmilk

Joel III update - January was tough on Joel... he wheezed longer than he has in a long time.  We had to use albuterol quite a few days in a row and I felt as though it didn't really improve his wheezing that much.  It is so hard to tell with him because he wont cough or have any other symptoms, so it is literally up to me to listen to him frequently with a stethoscope to see if he is wheezing or not.  We absolutely HATE the effect that the albuterol has on him.  In addition to making him jittery and hyperactive, Joel has a tough time sleeping while he is on it.  Which makes his behavior and symptoms worse.Joel says right after I give it to Joel III he 'can see craziness in his eyeballs immediately.' I have such mixed feelings on this issue. I am super thankful that Joel doesn't 'suffer' at all from his 'asthma' but then again, that makes me think that maybe the dr.'s I have listened to are blowing this whole thing way out of proportion.  However, from my experience as an RN I know that wheezing is not good and can quickly turn even worse, so it's not something you want to mess around with.  But it's tough when your 'wheezing' child is running around the house, not coughing, breathing just fine, sleeping just fine, and has a runny nose and thats it!  (i.e. if I didn't have a stethoscope I wouldn't know anything was wrong at all...until it was 'too late' perhaps this why we've only had 1 actual asthma attack) The only time he really suffers is when we give him the albuterol because he gets extra spankings for his terrible behavior!  AAAGH!

Fortunately, from previous experience I know that everything seems like a 'bigger deal' when I am pregnant.  So, I am trying to keep a good perspective.  If you think of it, would you pray for us? Pray for a good solution for Joel that hopefully doesn't involve medications with systemic side effects.  Pray for me to be able to 'handle' the pressures of being responsible for my family's health, and education.  (Joel pretty much takes care of everything else, thank the Lord!)  I know these issues aren't a big deal in the scheme of things, but every prayer helps!

Christmas recap!

Christmas was a great time in the Penton, Groskopf and Penton homes this year.  We especially had fun taking the kids to different sites this year as we knew Joel would enjoy doing more this year.  We took a trip downtown to see the life-size nativity scene and then a huge train display at the Columbus public library. Then we took a trip to Easton Town Center to see the Easton Express, huge tree, and lights.  We also took a carriage ride and went out to eat while we were there.  Joel III just loved the carriage ride!

looking at the lights at Easton 

Joel loved his time at Easton

In Cincinnati we attended "Awaited" by Crossroads, it truly blows me away each time we see it. This was our third and I am impressed more and more each time.  It is the story of Jesus from the perspective of the Angels. Joel III did very well sitting still throughout the whole show.

"Awaited" by Crossroads in Cincy is always a highlight for us

We also took a trip to the Cincinnati Museum center in Cincy and it was a blast.

At our home, Christmas morning was special, here's a video that captured a lot of it.  Judah is especially precious in this one.

A big splurge for us! In space and dollars.

It was a lot of fun teaching Joel this year about Jesus. He picked out every single 'manger scene' he saw and was excited about it.  Since Christmas he has been setting up toy people in a little circle standing up with a little person sitting down in the middle and he will say "Mommy look look! it's a manger scene!" Judah picked up less meaningful practices over Christmas.. he picks up anything he can get a hold of and will point it at you and say loudly 'Ba Ba!!' as in 'bang bang.'


Groskopf Christmas

Groskopf cousins all dressed up - Joel, Indy, Justin, Judah, and Sydney

Penton Christmas

Noah, Ethan, Kate, Bobby and Rachel chillin at the Penton home