Jacob, Meet Sophia.

Sophia and Nanna came to the hospital to visit and to have the siblings finally meet. Sophia was quite taken with the new little one, and of course Jacob was completely indifferent, for now. We are sure that Sophia will have many things to teach Jacob as the years progress, and that Jacob will be able to teach Sophia a thing or two. They are both already teaching us.

More Photos of Jacob, Nana with Jacob, and Mommy with Jacob:

Welcome Jacob Arthur

Jacob Arthur Gerhard arrived this morning at 6:58am, after about 10 hours of labour and 20 minutes of pushing. He is 5 pounds 12 ounces and absolutely beautiful. Everything went as it should and mom and baby are recovering well. Daddy is now at home cleaning up some very last minute work things that are due before month end.

I was at the united church national camping event this past weekend, and I would tell people that we were expecting our second child "any day now". I felt like I was being a bit dramatic, though, because it's still a week from his due date, but as it turns out the timing was really close. My plane out of Toronto was late by 20 minutes, and by the time it landed in Regina, Tricia was already starting to have contractions. In the airport. As she was waiting for me to land! We got home at abut 11:00 and at 1:30 we went in to the hospital with 30 second contractions 4 minutes apart. They had a look and sent us home. At about 5:00am, Tricia woke me up with much more pain and the contractions were still 4 minutes apart but they were 60 seconds and much more intense. We went in and were assessed (7 cm) and went straight to the delivery room. That was at around 6:00. Her membranes ruptured at 6:30 and by 7:00 we had Jacob in our arms.

So all is well and we will report more as things happen. We've told Sophia about it and she was very interested, I showed her some photos and she was interested, I told her we would go visit later this afternoon, and she said "Car ride?" so clearly that's the priority, to go for a car ride. It will be exciting to see how she reacts to the baby brother.

On the way

So I returned home last night at around 11:00, after a 20 minute delay, and My darling wife is waiting for me at the airport. And she is having mild contractions.

Good timing.

We went in to the hospital at 1:30am, and they sent us home.

We are going in again, now, at 6:00am. I expect they will not send us home. Tricia's contractions are 4 minutes apart, lasting around 60 seconds, and they are becoming more intense and painful.

We will keep you posted as we are able!

Yup, still pregnant

But the boy is making his presence known! There's not much room in there and he is definately trying to make the most of it. I have been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions but nothing painful or consistent. Last check up showed a healthy little guy with a good measurement and heartbeat. Can't really determine or even guesstimate weight, as he is partially to my back, so that makes it hard to get a sense of his size. Doctor is happy with the progress so far, and heck, I have even slowed down in weight gain....hallelujah!

I am in conversation with the little life, trying to convince him to stay in at least for a couple more days. David is currently in Fingal, Ontario doing music at a UC Camping event (and is thankfully only gone for the weekend rather than a whole week, like the conference in Philadelphia earlier this month!). And he has some major things due on the 30th. Then the baby can come!! I am not alone right now, my mom (bless her) came just before David left and will be here for three weeks. The Grandparents on all sides will be here at varying times and for varying durations either just before or just after the birth. I am looking forward to having everyone here.

It's funny, I haven't really given much thought to the labour and birth process this time. I have occasional twinges of nervousness, but I have enough around here to keep my mind busy! And heck, there's a two year old to look after...her life certainly doesn't slow down for mommy. I am sure that the nervousness will be present when labour actually starts. But this time, I know what to expect (kind of) and have some knowledge of how my body responds. I also trust my body a little bit better this time. It knows what to do, I will follow it's lead. As for medication....we'll just see what happens.

So I have been busy nesting here...preparing menus and food for the freezer, cleaning and organizing (including the freezers and the fridge and pantry), trying to get loose ends tied up, and preparing for a houseful of people. And life with Sophia moves along.

Sophia has gone back to gymnastics and Kindermusik --she loves both. We spend time at home singing, dancing and trying to do somersaults. She has been enjoying baking with both myself and Nana (they made sugar cookies, while I was working on a cake --which I will post later!). She has taken to dragging around the stool from the bathroom downstairs so that she can get high enough to see over the counters. It's cute and actually really good, except for when she is trying to moosh the cupcakes you've been working on for an hour, or is trying to sneakily stick her fingers in the cake that you've been working on for three days. Yikes.

We've been busy with playdates and hanging out with William and Marie-Eve. There have been lots of trips to the park, lots of walks and more than one trip to the Pet Store. Sophia has developed a habit that comes directly from her Daddy...whenever she sees herself in the mirror she MUST make faces at herself. This is now part of the post bath time routine. Wrapped in a towel she stands on my legs and goofs off in front of the mirror.

Her singing ability has also been increasing. She LOVES to make up songs about everything ...from what we had to dinner, to who we played with, to running naked between mommy's room and Sophia's room. It keeps her entertained. She has also memorized many of the words from the Kindermusik CD that she asks for specific songs and then happily sings with it. I love listening to her!

I am not sure how much she understands about the permanency of a baby brother, but that doesn't seem to bother her. She spends time talking to the little guy, playing with my belly button, and telling me that brother is going to come out of my belly button....hmmmm, I wonder if that is possible!! She loves to help out, so I am thinking that she's going to be a great big sister.

So I am patiently waiting for this little guy to arrive, so that we can finally meet him and get to know him. And I am eager to leave behind the maternity clothes and maybe fit back into my pre-pregnancy clothes (wishful thinking at this point). It's an exciting time....we'll keep you posted.

T-30 days

Well it's down to the final month for little farquar. It's been a long haul for Tricia, especially since it was a hot summer (thank goodness for air conditioning) and we think that Sophia is really starting to "get it" about the new little one. She keeps mentioning "baby brudder" and makes a big deal about Mommy's belly (Daddy's belly too, sometimes, but we won't mention that). Sometimes it feels like it's coming way too soon, and sometimes it feels like it's not coming soon enough. This time, we don't have to worry about an hour long car trip, but on the other hand we were hoping to have access to the spanking new OB unit (get it? spanking?) which will now be ready in 2009. Whatever. We know our way around the current hospital anyway. We have lots of clothing and stuff ready for the baby (Tricia having been treated to two, count'em two, surprise showers) and the crib has been converted back from a toddler bed to a little bitty baby bed. Are we ready? It seems like it and at the same time it seems like we aren't. But of course it'll be here in a month or so whether we're ready or not.

We haven't posted any pregnant photos of Tricia yet this time, so here she is.



Oh, and one more result of the final days of the pregnancy - I have once more been relegated to the couch to leave room for tossing, turning and diagonal sleeping. I'm sure Tricia misses me - that's what I said to myself when she kicked me out. Really, though, it's partly defense on my part - she could crush me if she rolled over the wrong way.

OK. enough of that. She needs the room and all the sleep she can get.