Blessings

 I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father.  I know that he knows me and loves me.  We've had rough year financially.  Joe has worked hard at his job but it is 100% commission which can be hard.  He was offered a job that would have been salary but would have started out lower than what we would have liked but had the potential to grow.  We seriously considered this job and prayed about it. We really felt like he wasn't supposed to take it and was supposed to continue with what he was doing.  We felt like if he had wanted an easier way we could do that job so we didn't have to stress so much about money every month, but that the lord would help us if we continued with his job but it wouldn't be easy.  Then a week later we learned that if he didn't make a certain amount of money by the end of the year (3 months) he would be fired January 1st.  We were really nervous once we found this out and wondered if we'd made the right choice.  Again, we felt that we had and to continue on our path. Now we are 2 months in with only 1 month left and he still hasn't made close to the amount he needs to make. I wonder often if it is going to happen, but I know that we are following what we have been asked to do. It isn't easy and I get stressed sometimes about it.  Just this last week though there have been several instances where we knew that our Heavenly Father knows us and is aware of us.  One day I was trying to decide what to make for dinner and I thought I would make soup but then realized we didn't have enough milk to last us the rest of the week if I made the soup I wanted to make.  I could have gone to the store but I didn't want to until Saturday.  Within 15 minutes a friend texted and asked if we could use a gallon of milk because she had a gallon that was expiring the next day. I knew right then that the Lord knows me and that was a simple way to show that he is there. The next week we were getting ready to go to my parents house for Thanksgiving, but we didn't have the money for gas.  I was stressing about it and trying to come up with a way to pay for it.  I thought maybe we could use some Walmart gift cards that we have but the closest Walmart gas station to us is 30 minutes in the wrong direction.  Soon there was knock on the door. It was another neighbor with a card with $100 in it.  It was enough to get us to and from my parent's house and pay for some prescriptions that we needed.  Again, I knew that Heavenly Father knows me and is there.  Then on Sunday Joe decided to go talk to the bishop to seek advice.  He thought maybe he would be able to tell us what we could do. He said he didn't have any advice but during the conversation he learned that we had borrowed $60 from Maddie to help pay for a test Joe needs to take for work.  He said just this week he found $60 in an envelope that had been slipped under his door.  He said he didn't know what to do with it, but at that moment he knew it was meant for us.  Again, we knew that Heavenly Father knows us. We have been so grateful for other blessings we have received like being able to borrow my brother's car so we could go to Thanksgiving or receiving $80 in gift cards to use at restaurants in November or receiving numerous goodies from neighbors.  I am so grateful for these reminders that we have received during this trial. I don't know how everything will work out. If things don't work out at his job I know that the Lord has something else in mind for us and we will pray that we can be directed to where we need to go, but right now I do not doubt that my Heavenly Father is there and that he hears and answers our prayers. 

Rex's Birth

 

We found out we were pregnant with baby #7 in November 2019.  We were so excited because we had been trying for a couple years. Overall the pregnancy went very well. As we got closer to the due date we learned that the baby was breach.  We kept waiting hoping that the baby would turn. The baby wasn't turning though so we decided to have a version done to see if we could get the baby to turn to avoid a c-section. We went to the hospital early on the 17th of July when I was 38 weeks.  They gave me some medicine to relax my muscles and then the doctor came in and pushed on my stomach.  It hurt a lot. Luckily the baby turned and we were able to go home after being watched for a couple of hours to make sure that the baby was handling it well. After that we waited and waited for the baby to decide to come.  It's due date was 7/31/2020 which was Ben's birthday. The week before my due date I started itching a lot.  I couldn't sleep because I itched everywhere. I had been itching for a lot of the pregnancy, but this was even worse. I asked my doctor about it at my appointment that week and she told me it didn't make sense to test my blood because it takes a couple days to get the results back and by then I might have already had the baby and the only way to fix it was to deliver the baby.  So she asked when I would be miserable if I hadn't had the baby yet.  I told her Monday, August 3rd. We scheduled an induction for that day figuring that I would never get to that date. My parents came up for the weekend hoping that I would go into labor. It didn't happen. Also, over the weekend we discovered that they had just changed the hospital policies because of increasing COVID-19 cases. They only allowed one person in the delivery room with you. So my Mom wouldn't be able to come. When they found that out on Sunday they decided to take the kids home with them. Monday morning we got up and checked into the hospital. The doctor came and broke my water around 9 am. He said the baby was up extremely high, like +4 station. I could tell to because when he went to break my water it really hurt where with other babies it hasn't. Contractions didn't really start at all so they came and started some pitocin to help get things moving. Finally contractions started and it didn't take long for me to feel like I couldn't get ahead of them. (After having Rex I learned that I had a UTI which was why I couldn't breath through the contractions. It also had been causing me cramping before I even went into labor, but I just assumed it was because I was going to go into labor soon.) I told Joe to let the nurses know I was ready for an epidural. He went and told them and they came and started IV fluids. They told me I had to have a complete bag of fluid before they would start the epidural. I sat on an exercise ball trying to breath through the contractions while we waited. Finally, I asked Joe what was taking them so long because I had gone through the bag of fluid and they still hadn't come. He got up to go ask and the anesthesiologist walked in the room right then. They had me get up on the bed and swing my legs over the side.  Finally I had the epidural and I was able to relax a little bit. My legs felt completely numb. After a couple hours I got to the point that I felt like I needed to push soon but I wanted to wait longer so the baby could come down lower so I didn't tell anyone.  When they came and checked me they said I was complete with a little lip. I had kind of done what I've done with other babies where it takes me forever to get to complete when I'm dilated to an 8. They called the doctor and she came to the hospital. While we were waiting the nurse had me do a couple practice pushes. When the doctor finally got there she checked and had me start pushing for real.  She said the baby was still up a little high. He was having some heart decelerations too. Also, there had been meconium when they broke my water. After 3 pushes Rex was born. The doctor was interested to see how long he was because she said he was really long for such a short Mom.  She asked where I'd been hiding him. We were very surprised it was another boy as we had been thinking we had another girl. We were excited to have another boy though. He was 9 lb 5 oz and 21.75 in long.  He was cute and calm from the beginning. We stayed at the hospital with him for 2 nights. He did really well. The other 6 kids stayed with grandma and grandpa for a week. They got to go to the cabin which they loved! When they all got to meet Rex they were so excited. He has been such a chill baby.  He spits up a ton. He sleeps a lot. He started smiling before he was even two weeks old.