More Birth Surprises!

Yes, more birth surprises and they are not about me.... but I do only have THREE WEEKS UNTIL MY DUE DATE!!! .... Okay, back to what my real topic is, though.  Two and half weeks ago we came home from church to find a surprise of baby bunnies from our rabbit, Mary (or that is her most recent name).  We immediately removed the male (Peter) and placed him in with our other female (Patches).  We knew when we did this we would likely have more baby bunnies in 30 days, but we were so wrong.  Fifteen days passed and we noticed Patches was making a nest with her fur... and lying inside the nest and breathing rapidly.  As we played with our recent litter of two week old bunnies I asked my older girls if they had ever seen Patches behave like she was behaving.  They said they had not.  We left Patches alone and went in the house for a while.  When we came out the nesting box was filled with fur.  Let me just tell you that if they do this you probably already have baby bunnies... and we did.  This was Monday afternoon by the way.  I reached in the nesting box and could feel the body heat and tiny little bumps that were bodies.  Immediately, we once again removed Peter.  As both our rabbit cages are now occupied by mothering rabbits Peter is temporarily in a portable dog kennel and looking very lonely, but never fear we plan to solve that problem this weekend. 

So, this morning we checked on the rabbits and I was very curious as to how many new baby bunnies Patches had.  Mary's six seemed like a lot to me, so when I reached in and started counting it went something like this...

1, 2, 3, 4, 5... Hmm... she might have as many as Mary....


6.... She does have as many as mary and I still feel more!



7, 8,... Still I feel more... wow!

9.... No way!  And I am still feeling more!

10 !!!!!!...... Nope, that's not all!!!!


11..... Hmmm... Getting closer...


Well, just how high do you want to go?!! A DOZEN!!! Patches must have been listening the day my husband said, "Time to make the donuts!"..., And thought he said, "Time to make the bunnies!"  A DOZEN BABY BUNNIES!   So, I think we better get on that cage project!  These little guys grow fast.  We went from THREE rabbits to TWENTY-ONE rabbits in a matter of two weeks.  And I am soooo glad I am not a rabbit... twelve at a time would be way too much... even six would be way too much.  ;)

Four Weeks Until Due Date

I can hardly believe how fast the time is passing.  I only have four weeks until my due date.  And I don't feel like my belly can stand to be any larger.  With this pregnancy I have felt like I am riding a roller coaster.  At any moment I feel like my stomach is going to flip and it is very strange.  She is a wiggler, but not anymore than the others.  I am in awe of why it feels like she is rearranging all my insides.  Maybe I have just forgotten the feeling, but I really do not think so.  And as much as she moves I really have not seen the large body parts like and arm or a leg move across my tummy.  They do... but I mean when you clearly know that is an arm you are seeing.  Her head is pressing down in my pelvis a lot and I really think I am carrying her lower than I have with my other four babies.  They were always high.  For some reason she seems to favor the right side of my pelvis.  On the last ultrasound she had her arm up by her head and it keeps me wondering if she still has it up.  I so hope she does not or that she will put it down before she attempts her exit.   So, these are my thoughts... and I wanted to capture them here, so I can look back on it later. 

Birth Surprises!

We came home from church this past Sunday to the find a little surprise in one of our rabbit cages.  There were six baby bunnies in there!  We did not even know that the momma rabbit was expecting.  Yes, we have had her caged with a male rabbit the whole time we have had her, but we did not think she was old enough to have babies.  She is only about five months old and the male she bred with is about 2 weeks younger than she is.  The kids went out to check on the rabbits and came back in saying they thought there were baby bunnies in the nesting box.  I was about to dismiss their talk as just silliness, but something they said about the nesting box being filled with rabbit fur got my attention.  Many times they have tried to convince me that they "think" baby bunnies are on the way by telling me that a female has been pulling out her fur.  I go to check and find tiny amounts of fur in the cage due to shedding.  This time something was said about their being a lot of fur and even mention of seeing something they thought were babies.  Knowing that there was also a male in that cage I suddenly felt an urgency to check it out.  What I found was in fact a nesting box filled with rabbit fur and the male rabbit inside.  I startled him and he got out and immediately due to the movement he caused in the nest I saw little wiggles all amongst the fur!  I immediately got the male out of the cage and moved him in with our older female rabbit (and yes, I realize that could mean I have another "birth story" to tell in 30 days).  Back in the nest I could see several little heads bobbing up and down and I was immediately able to tell there were, at least, five babies and I estimated that it could possibly be as many as eight.  That is quite a litter either way!  Uncertain what we should do I decided we should leave them alone as much as possible to avoid traumatizing the mother.  The problem with that is that the weather has been a bit extreme here for our area and for rabbits.  We have had a lot of cold weather in the 20s range.  Even with a heat lamp and tarps completely around the cages there was definitely cause for concern for the survival of these delicate little babies.  Domestic rabbits (those are rabbits living under the care of humans) are at a huge disadvantage concerning weather condition versus rabbits living in the wild.  In the wild a rabbit tunnels underground to a burrow, which protects it from extreme cold and heat.  I really wanted to leave these babies alone to be cared for by their mother and not disturb "nature"; however, in reality the very idea that we have them in cages for pets means we have already disturbed nature haven't we?  That being the case we have an obligation to help increase their survival rate in my opinion.  And let me just say here that my husband did not agree.  He thought we should just leave them alone and let them live or die.  Okay... whatever... difference of opinion.  ;)  That night the forecast called for temps around 37 degrees and I knew they were probably okay with our heat lamps and tarping, but in the early hours of Monday morning I started to feel a bit anxious.  I went to check on them early and was pleased to find that it was quite warm and there were in fact lots of warm bobbing bodies in that nest.  Whew!  Sweet relief! 

We have confirmed that there are six babies!   ...and one little "black sheep" in the family.

(Please overlook the nasty towel.  In an effort to be quick I did not "pretty them up" for picture time.)

As the day passed and I checked the weather I knew the temp would once again be dropping into the 20s again... for one night... then, up to the upper 30s the next night.... then, back down into the 20s again for a few nights... or more.  I told the kids we would be moving the rabbit cage inside the house when their daddy arrived home from work.  When Cody arrived home I told him we were going to bring the cage in.  I think he did not truly believe me and he went about doing his own thing.  I persisted and slit open a large black garbage bag to lay down under the cage for sheeting to protect the floor area and catch the rabbit poop.   I then, started considering what to do to have the cage raised, so I went into the potting shed and got five equal size flower pots to to sit the cage on (one fore each corner and one for the middle for added support).  The only thing left to do was get the cage in.  By this time I think Cody finally realized I was serious about it all.  Together we picked up the cage and carried it in.  It is very lightweight, but large and we did not want to jar the babies in their nest.  So now... well our house kinda smells like a farm inside.  Bleeeeechhh! 

 Of course, being humans we can not seem to "leave well enough alone", so we spent the first day fretting about the momma rabbit not feeding her babies.  She never went in to feed and for this reason I was concerned that moving them in we may have done more harm than good.  After a full day of worrying about this I finally found some information online.  Apparently, a mother rabbit stays away from her babies due to instinct to keep from drawing attention and unwanted predators to the nest.  See the momma has a strong scent and the babies do not, so they are safer with the momma away.  Also, often the momma will only feed a couple of times and during the night when there is less activity around.  And here we were thinking she had abandoned her babies... all the while she was protecting them.  Amazing! 

And in case you might wonder we have dropped all other Science for now to observe real life Science!  The kids (and I) have learned so much and have had a great time. 

Level 2 Ultrasound Scans (Pics)

I just wanted to share the Level 2 Ultrasound scans that we had done this Friday.  These are the 3D images.  I loved seeing her moving around on the 4D images, but they would not let us video that.  Bummer!  The cord goes up her body and is tucked under her chin is these scans. No harm.  At first Cody was alarmed and thought it was around her neck.  At that point the ultrasound technician explained to him that even if it was it would not be cause for concern and they only get concerned when they see it wrapped around the neck twice.  Then, she showed us how it was coming up from the belly button, up her chest, over her shoulder, and under her chin.  Likely it is only staying there because she is snuggling it up and tucking her chin in. 

 In this first scan you can really see her features.  She looks like my others and has that same little nose.

She looks like she is really resting here, but let me tell you she was very active during this scan.  She kept kicking and punching the scan wand (transducer). 

In this one the tech zoomed up and cropped out the areas around the face to focus on the face.  Again, you can see that same little nose and if you look closely you can see that she has the same lips like all my others.  The top lip has very define "peaks" and to me her lips look a little on the "fluffy" side like her brothers.  And I can't tell you how much I love his big fluffy, juicy lips! 

I am glad we got the chance to see this little glimpse and check out all her parts to make sure she is thriving and I am so excited that we will soon be seeing her in real time soon.  I do however want to hold onto these moments of her squirmy little body safely tucked away inside of mine while I can.  They grow up way to quickly and every moment is a treasure that I don't want to rush! 

Baby Predictions Game Time!

I have always wanted to do this, but never have actually take a sort of poll on what people's predictions are for the upcoming birth of my children.  So, this time I am going to.  Why?  Simply.... I need something fun to do besides obsessing over the other birth details. 

First I am going to give a few clues or things you might wonder about, then I will list the questions.  The fun part is where you tell me your predictions.
My children's names are Savannah Faith, Sierra Faith, Caden Reese, Sahara Faith.... and so it is a given that her middle name is going to be Faith.  All of my babies have ranged from 7 lbs. 6 oz. to 8lbs. 8 oz. with my smallest one being a schedule caesarean a couple of weeks early.  My son is the only one I went into labor with and he was 8 lbs. 6 oz., if my memory serves me right.  My labor started two days before my due date with him.  My due date is March 16th.  The level 2 ultrasound two days ago showed her weighing 5 lbs. 5 oz. already with almost 7 weeks until her due date.  Also, this ultrasound showed a due date of March 11th.  The first ultrasound shows a due date of March 16th.  As far as length... I think they were all under 20 inches.  Take all that for what you will.  What I want to know is what you predict!!!

1. First name?
2. Date of birth?
3. Weight?
4. Length?

So, who wants to play along?!  I am so excited to see what you all predict!  I will try to repost this periodically until the birth and then, after the birth let you all know!

So, What Are We Going To Name This Little One?

Today I got a message from my dear friend Tara asking me if we were going to name this baby girl with another "s" name.  Well, that is a very interesting questioning and one that I can't even believe that I have not blogged about!  It has actually been pretty interesting.  And just to let you know we are not going to reveal the name or decide for sure on the name until the actual birth, so I will refer to one certain name as simply "X" in this post. 

First of all, I want to state that we never planned to name our children with any particular letter, or theme, or other strangeness.  And, I think God gives parents the names for their children in many different ways.  I have one friend that prays and researches in depth and always tries to have her babies name all picked out before she ever knows the gender or sees the baby on ultrasound.  I know others that purposely choose biblical names and others that try to find the most unique names or spell them in a very unique way.  To each their own.  I think God can give us all the names for our children in a very personal way for us.  I will say that the only real "rules" that I have purposely followed are:  (1) I don't like for names to be shortened (like mine.... fortunately, no one has ever called me Shan as opposed to my real name, Shannon), so I look for names that simply can not be shortened.  (2) I like a lot of syllables and even long spellings, but it is not a"requirement"".  (3) And I like gender specific names (if they are girls, I want it girly sounding... if they are boys, I want it masculine). 

So, the next question to answer might be how did our other children get their names... or rather, how did we get them.  Before I was EVER pregnant I had the name "Hayley" picked out for a girl.  Loved it!  It reminded me of all the old Haley Mills movies from my childhood and I just thought it was a pretty name.  However, a few years before we actually joined the parenting world the name gained popularity and even a cousin of mine named his daughter that.  Okay, so I am not one to intentionally name my children a popular name, so that was out. 

• When I was actually pregnant with Savannah I made a list of names and we just talked about them and thought Savannah was the one.  Her middle name was also one of those names I had wanted for her first name, but thanks to Faith Hill making it popular I decided that it was better suited for her middle name.  And Faith was chosen simply because I wanted her to have a strong faith in God.  So, our firstborn was named Savannah Faith.
• Shortly (like a week) after Savannah's birth I was sitting around watching TV and there was a character on a show named Sierra and I had the thought, "If I ever have another girl I like that name."  I never told anyone... it was just a thought in my head.  A few days later when my husband was off work and we were outside in the yard he looked at me and said, "You know, if we ever have another girl I like the name Sierra."  Wow!  Now, that was easy... the middle name.... not so easy.  As with Savannah, I wanted Sierra to have a strong faith.  It was suggested we use Hope like so many people do... Faith, Hope, Charity, but those are not the same as Faith.  After much deliberation we decided that they would have the same middle name and it would be a wonderful thing when they grew up and married and still had there middle names in common when they changed to their married names.  We found out later that this is actually quite common.  With that settled our second child would be named Sierra Fatih. 
• When I became pregnant with Caden we realized that we had a little trend going with the girl's names and before we knew his gender we were pondering boy and girl names.  It is really then that we realized that both of our girls had names that were geographic locations and both started with and "s".  Also, not only were they just geographic locations they were also deserts.  So, when we found out we were having a boy that was one less dilemna to deal with and we were happy not to have any "rules" to consider for his name.  We never really had too much of a list for Caden.  Boy names were hard for us and there were few that we really loved.  I am not sure why.  Caden was really the only one we were heavily considering.  I was on the way to church one Wednesday night for a ladies Bible Study when the name Reese came to me.  I believe God gave me that name for him that night.  Strangely, as the weeks past I began to see the name wherever I went.  I wanted to name him Reese Caden, but sadly I did not listen to God fully hear.  I had several family members telling me it just did not "flow" right and that Caden Reese was the way I should go.  Confession... I caved.... and it is one of my biggest regrets because I really think Reese is the name God gave him.  Oddly, it was a couple of months AFTER Caden was born that we realized what we had done in regards to more complexity we had added to "the name game".  Now, all the females in our home had "s" names and the males had "c" names.  It was a total accident, but people think we did it on purpose.  And it is embarassing to say, but we did it in total cluelessness, because we are smart like that.  LOL!  So, that is the story for his name, Ceden Reese.
• And then it was time for another girl in our house.  I really felt that if her name was too different from the other too girls it would not seem right.  I wanted to name her Sahara because it was beautiful and mysterious.  It also just happened to be my favorite and followed all the girl "rules" that had developed.  Let's just say we had a LOT of opinions about what we should do and I knew after what I had done with Caden's name that I had to really NOT listen to what others opinions where on this.  Her name was too important of a thing to let others sway me again and I wanted no regrets this time.  I kept it secret (and boy my mother-in-law was not happy about that... it was nothing personal, but still she was not happy about not knowing the name).  I did tell a few people that I knew would not try to influence our decision.  The big reveal was at the time of birth.... Sahara Faith.
• Now that brings us to the current little one in the womb.... now this one is really interesting, I think.  Shortly after Sahara was born I started to have thoughts about a certain girl "s" name.  I mentioned it to my husband, but it was just small talk and nothing more at the time.  We were considering not having any more children due to the repeat caesarean births.  Time moved on and lots of discussion and two years passed.  We had started wanting another baby when Sahara turned one year old, but knowing that it would be caesarean I was not open to it at all.  After discussing the possibility of a VBAC over the course of the next year we decided that under those circumstances we would have another baby (if God saw fit).  And let's just say God saw fit INSTANTLY.  Bam!  Conception!  LOL!  We were on vacation for five weeks at which time this child was conceived and I was starting to show slight signs of the possibility of pregnancy before we got back from this vacation.  What a cool souvenir!  As we were heading home we dropped by to visit Cody's parents.  His mother asked it I was pregnant to which I responded, "Why would you ask a thing like that?  Not as far as we know"  ;)  The next week she dropped by our house and as soon as she arrived she started questioning if I was pregnant and we since we had planned to keep this a secret until we did some midwife research, etc. we were trying hard to change the subject.  She finally said, "Well, if you are I have a name for this one!  You should name her "X"!"  And first of all I was thinking she has lost her mind, but how on earth did she come up with the name that has been on my heart.  And we do not even know the gender.  And she was one of the ones that always gives us a hard time about the "s" name thing.  As time is passing everyone is asking about the name and we are able to brush it off mostly, but my mother would not quite calling me to give me her list of names... ranging from Sydney, Sheyenne, Shenandoah (because it matched mine more), and on and on.  I kept telling her that I was not naming this baby until birth and I would "consider" them all, but no promises.  She was persistent and one day she calls me and says, "I have the name for this baby!  Your daddy picked it out.  He has been out riding the four wheeler and he came in and said to me, "I have a name for Shannon's baby.  It's "X"."  I almost dropped the phone.  Also, as I was dropping Sahara off at the church nursery one day and one of the nursery workers ask me point blank, "So, are you going to name this one "X"?"  I had a teenage girl from our church ask the same question one morning.  As well, even a few near strangers.  I find that very peculiar, especially since "X" is not a common name at all.  The real irony in the situation is that I had decided that it was time to break all the rules and go with a name that was totally different than the others for a first name, but I think God has already named her.  ;)  That that is the story up until now for the name for "Baby" Faith Swafford. 

Level 2 Ultrasound Update in Galveston, TX

Just for the record I want to say that I am glad we did the Level 2 ultrasound.  Some of the images are still kind of strange for me because the bubbly look all over the surface of the baby (looks kind of wart-like), but it is simply amazing.  I actually preferred seeing the portion that was in 4D.  The 3D is the part where it looks kind of bubbly on the surface.  The detail in all of it is simply amazing!  I will have to see if I can scan the images to show here.  I have a new scanner in my printer, but am clueless about it.  I will say this though... there are no surprises as far as the baby's looks.  She looks like all my other kiddos.  Her lips look just like Caden's.  All my children have the same lips for the most part, but Caden's are ultra fluffy.  This baby's lips look ultra fluffy, too.  Same little nose and ... well, everything.  We got to see little wisps of hair floating around her head, too.  Interestly, she had the umbilical cord tucked under her chin, which kind of scared my husband.  The ultrasound technician pointed out that it is very common to have a cord around the neck and that it is no big deal, but this baby's cord was simply coming up from her tummy across her shoulder and under her neck.  So glad she was able to tell Cody that and put his worried mind to ease. 

We got great news about the placenta.  It has moved up away from the c-section scar.  And not just a little.... like WAY up.... like 6-7 inches up!!  And the reason that is such good news is that we can rest assured the the placenta is not connected to any uterine scar tissue and it is safely out of the way for a vaginal birth.  It was a double whammy in the joy category. 

I have a lot of amniotic fluid .. like 24 percent, so I am going to double check with the "medical midwife" that is handling my case to make sure my bloodwork showed no sugar problems.  They just referred to the amniotic fluid level as being "borderline" on the high side and sometimes that is seen in sugar level problems.  I really do not thing that it is an issue, but will make sure we watch that. 

Also, this little one is already estimated to weigh 5 pounds 5 ounces with 7 more weeks of growing to do.  No surprise that she is bound to be a big girl.  I expect she will be in the 8-9 pound range like my others.  I was pondering the thought of her weight and thinking about how many babies are born and this one's current size.  Amazing to me.  I would like to have a small baby, but I am quite thankful that mine or very healthy babies and that this little one seems to be also.  That is the most important thing of all.  They checked her heart since her brother was born with holes in his heart (that later closed) because that is a genetic trait.  All looked great there. 

It was an exciting fun time for us and the kids to see the baby!  Afterwards, we took them to eat pizza and shopping at the Dollar Tree.  Love that we can let them pick out anything in there and still get out cheap... especially, since we went to The Rainforest Cafe after that to ride their jungle ride.  That is getting to be an expensive little "treat".  I was shocked when the man told me it was $32.  And that was with Sahara being free to ride.  $5 a ticket adds up quick when you multipy it times five.  ;)  And there will be a day when it will be times 7!  Yikes.... nevermind... let's not think about that.  LOL!  Then, we took them down to the beach and let them run around for about 30 minutes or so.  It was warm and sunshiney, but still kind of nippy with the gusty wind from the Gulf.  We left Galveston via the ferry and we all enjoyed seeing the dolphins.  We saw dolphins on the way there and on the way back.  Very exciting!