All Aboard!

Somehow I missed posting this. While my mom was down visiting and helping out with Katelyn and Taylor after I got home from the hospital, we took a ride on the SAM Shortline. It is a tourist train that tours some of the small towns in south west Georgia. There is a stop in Americus, Plains, Cordele and a few other towns. We took the Archery Explorer tour. It starts in Cordele, but since there is a stop in Americus, we got on here and didn't have to pay as much. Here are a few pictures of the train.

Taylor gives Grandmommy a kiss.

Our first stop was in Plains, GA, where Ex-Pres. Jimmy Carter lives. Plains is also known for their peanut cash crop. The Peanut Festival is held here every year in September. We got to sample some homemade peanut butter ice cream. Yum! It was very sweet.

Doesn't Taylor make the cutest little peanut!

Our last stop was at Archery, GA, the boyhood home of Jimmy Carter. I will not say that I am a fan of Jimmy Carter, but it was interesting seeing how and where he grew up. It seems like it would have been a hard life back then.

The Living Quarters

The Farm

There was a beautiful peacock on the farm strutting his stuff.

Taylor got tired of riding in the stroller and wanted to walk around most of the time.

At this point she decided that she'd rather push the stroller.

Katelyn's First Visitors

We were not in the hospital for very long - just over 24 hours - so we did not get that many visitors in the hospital. Also, the hospital where I delivered Katelyn was not in the same town where we live. After the tornado hit in March 2007 there were a lot of changes in Americus. Our hospital here was completely destroyed. Two of the doctors in the group that I used for Taylor left town - not because of the tornado but for other reasons - and the new doctors were not taking any new patients by the time I became pregnant with Katelyn. I was forced to go to another town because there were no available doctors in Ameriucs. I chose a group in Albany that was just wonderful. I plan to stay with them because I liked them so much. The office was so nice and updated. They made my former doctor's office seem antiquated and archaic. So, all this to say that I did not receive many visitors.

Bud and RuthAnn brought Taylor down to the hospital to see Katelyn that afternoon after I delivered her. When they walked in the room Taylor seemed a little confused and worried that I was in the bed. I think she thought that something was wrong with me. I did look pretty rough. I had no makeup on and I was pretty swollen. I was nursing at the time, so they all left to get some dinner in the cafeteria. When they got back Taylor got up on the bed with me and Katelyn and wanted to hold her immediately. Her first words to her little sister were, "What's up Kate-Kate?" That is her nickname for Katelyn. Ever since then she has loved holding her baby sister and doesn't want to put her down. It is really sweet.

Taylor with her new baby sister.

Grandpa "Budsy"

What a proud Grandma!

One of Daniel's coworkers, Pete, came by to see us and bring a gift. He is a great dad and really great with kids. He would like to have more kids himself and I hope one day he will.

Aww, how sweet.

After we got home from the hospital my parents came down for a visit. My mom stayed a couple of weeks to help with the cooking and cleaning while I got some much needed recovery time. It was so nice to have her here. It was a good distraction for Taylor to keep her for being so jealous of Katelyn in those first days at home.

Another proud Grandmommy!


Granddaddy and his Poe girls

Daddy did not stay the entire two weeks that Mama was here. He went back to Chattanooga and then down to Huntsville to get my grandfather and bring him down here. I was glad that he was able to come and spend some time with the girls. It was good for him too since my grandmother passed away so recently.

Super Gramps!

There are more pictures to come, but these are just the first few visitors that Katelyn had in the first couple of weeks of her life.

Our Newest Addition

On Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at 9:56 AM Katelyn Elizabeth Poe came into the world. Her somewhat unexpected early delivery took most of us by surprise. I say most of us because I had a feeling deep down that she would come early. This whole experience (pregnancy and delivery) was much different from my first experience with Taylor. In some ways this is good and in other ways not so good, but in every way it was special. Katelyn's early arrival may have been a surprise to us, but God was not at all taken by surprise. In fact, He was the One who orchestrated the whole event. He knew from the very beginning this great adventure that He would be taking me on. I say great adventure because it has been an experience like no other. I am so thankful that I have a Heavenly Father who watches out for me and for my family. I don't always understand why things happen the way they do, but I am thankful that God is the One who is in control of all things and not me.

Here is Katelyn's story. The day started out like any other day. Daniel got up and got ready for work as usual. It just so happened that he had a prompting (I believe by the Holy Spirit) to put some items together in his bag to take to the hospital just in case I went into labor. Up until this point Daniel had not packed a bag for himself because he didn't have enough clothes to set aside that far in advance and Katelyn's due date was still 2 weeks away. Just like every morning, Daniel came over to my side of the bed to give me a kiss before he left for work. I told him that I thought I might be having contractions and wanted to get up and use the bathroom before he left. I had been having feelings off and on all night long like I might be having contractions and could go into labor soon, but I wasn't sure if what I was feeling was actual contractions or just really bad gas. I didn't want to have a false alarm and alert everyone just because I had it in my head that she would come early, so I tried not to make a big deal out of it. Besides, my pains had not been consistent up to this point.

Well, around 7:00 this morning I would say is when I officially went into labor. I tried to time my contractions, but I was having a little trouble telling when they began and ended. I just tried to estimate and it seemed like they were somewhere between 5 and 8 minutes apart. I know this sounds like a wide range, but I wasn't using a stopwatch and, like I said, it was hard for me to tell the start and the finish. I decided, however, that these were probably true contractions and not gas pains and that we needed to call the answering service at the doctor's office. I also suspected that my water had broken. It was not as obvious this time like it was with Taylor, so I wasn't absolutely sure. When I called the answering service they paged the midwife on call and in the meantime I jumped in the shower. I probably should have tried to take a quick shower, but I thought that I had plenty of time and wanted to shave since I knew I would not feel like shaving for a couple of days. While I was still in the shower the midwife called back. I had told Daniel what to tell her and she told him that everything I was experiencing were classic signs of labor and that we needed to go straight to Labor and Delivery at the hospital. After I got out of the shower I started rushing around. By this time my contractions were getting stronger and closer together. Daniel had already called Bud (stepdad) and RuthAnn (mom) and they were already at the house to get Taylor when she woke up. While I finished getting ready and got the rest of my stuff together Daniel scrambled around to finish getting Taylor's stuff together to spend the night with them and got the baby's stuff together to go to the hospital. Even though I tried to be more prepared and ready to go this time, I still was not completely ready when the time came. I am so glad that I have a husband who does not panic in situations like this and who thinks of everything - well mostly everything. At least he remembered the most important things. It was about 8:00 by the time we left and by this time my contractions were getting harder and were 4 minutes apart. I think my exact words were, "We need to go NOW." Because we left in such a rush we did forget a few minor things, but we knew that Bud and RuthAnn could go by the house and pick up the things we forgot before they brought Taylor to the hospital to meet her new baby sister.

As we left the house, Daniel said a quick prayer for our traveling safety and we were off in a hurry. We discovered that 100 mph doesn't feel that much different from 75 when you are driving through the country, but 65 mph feels like you are poking after you have been going 90 mph. When we got into the city we ran into more traffic and it felt like we were never going to get there. We finally arrived at the hospital around 8:30 (a trip that should have taken an hour). When we got up to Labor & Delivery I had to register with the receptionist. This was the last thing I wanted to be doing in the middle of having hard contractions. I had already pre-registered, so I don't know why they couldn't have done all of this after they got me in a room. They finally let us back to the nurse's station but wouldn't put me into a room and ended up sending me to Early Labor. Come to find out, they must have thought that I was not in labor because I was so calm. My advice to anyone who comes into the hospital in active labor would be to let it be known vocally so there is no doubt that you are ready to deliver.

I had never experienced early labor before, so I thought that I would have hours of contractions before I would be dilated enough to give birth. When I went into labor with Taylor my water broke first and they had to induce labor. If I remember correctly, I was in labor for 9 hours before Taylor was born. Well, Katelyn was not waiting 9 hours. Evidently my contractions were much more effective this time because once they got me in a bed and examined me I had dilated 7 cm. I was a little bit surprised, but I was also in a lot of pain. I was already feeling the urge to push. The nurse realized that I was ready and sent me on to a delivery room. Sharon, the midwife was waiting on me.

Now, I had planned to get an epidural and there was nothing that was going to keep me from getting it, but Katelyn had other plans - and evidently God did too. It was going to take 15 minutes to get my blood work back so they could even get the epidural and then we would have to wait for it to get put in and take effect. They had trouble getting my epidural in with my last pregnancy, so I knew that this could be a problem again since I have slight scoliosis. Sharon left the decision up to me if I wanted to go ahead and push through the pain or to wait on the epidural, but she strongly encouraged me to go ahead and push her on out. I was so scared. Sharon made a statement that made me feel a little better about going natural. She said that I would be out of pain faster if I went ahead and pushed and that she was ready to come. I decided that faster was better. She failed to mention that the pain would be worse. I just remember silently crying out to God to get me through it. I was shaking so violently from all of the pain. I pushed so hard that I busted some blood vessels in my face. Daniel said that I turned the deepest shade of red he had ever seen on a human. Everyone was so wonderful and encouraging. They really coached me through it well. I pushed through a total of 2 contractions and Katelyn was out. It seemed like forever, but they said it was just a couple of minutes. Well, if that is true, it was the longest 2 minutes I have ever experienced.

Once Katelyn was in my arms it was the most wonderful blessing. Sharon held up the umbillical cord and showed me that it was in a true knot. I wasn't sure what she meant by this at first, but Katelyn had been so active in the womb that she had managed to tie a knot in the umbillical cord. Only 1 out of every 200-300 babies have this. It had not caused any problems, but if I had waited on the epidural it could have slowed down the birth process and tightened the knot in turn causing Katelyn's blood pressure to drop and forcing them to do a C-Section. I was very grateful that God had given me the courage to go forward without an epidural. He truly was in control of everything and showed Himself faithful in the midst of my circumstances. I am proud of my beautiful baby girl and am so grateful that she arrived safely and healthy.

Here are some pictures that we'd like to share with you:

Katelyn Elizabeth Poe

7 lbs., 8 oz. 19 3/4 inches

Taylor loves holding her new baby sister.

Coming Through the Terrible Two's

The past two weeks have been pretty tough in the area of discipline. It seemed that everytime I would tell Taylor not to do something that she would do it out of defiance. If I told her "no" about anything, then she would whine or even start crying. She has been sick with allergies or a cold, so that has not made it any easier. I think that may have contributed to the whininess. Being in the last stages of my pregnancy it has been really trying to deal with it all day long day in and day out. There are times that I think she might have been bored too and just needed a playmate. Well, it seems that she has taken a turn for the better. This weekend Daniel and I got to have some time away from her. I think this may have been the start of something wonderful. Friday night we had the rehearsal dinner for Laura Greene's wedding. That was like a date night for us. On Saturday we were gone for the wedding. During all this time she got to spend some quality and quantity time with her grandparents. She loves them and I think having the time away from her did me good. On Sunday Taylor was in the best mood - well for the most part. She was rather fussy after church but I think she was just hungry. We had our new Music Minister, Joe Horan, and his wife Sara along with their baby Ella over for lunch. Sara's sister and niece were also with them. Sara's niece is about 7 years old and was a fun playmate for Taylor. I think it helped her to have someone to play with. Sunday night Taylor was in the best mood. She has also been a different child today. Usually she always has to be watching something on TV whether it be Praise Baby or Hermie, but something has to be going in the background. Today was not much different, but she did play a lot better on her own and seemed to be more interested in the toys in her toy box. She actually allowed me to rest on the couch while she played with her Little People school bus. It was so nice.

This afternoon we went over to Bud and RuthAnn's house to drop off the pack 'n play. I have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday and they will be keeping her all day for me and will need to get her down for a nap at their house. They also will need it there when I go into labor and keep Taylor for us. I had intended to drop it off and come back home, but Daniel ended up coming over there after work and we stayed for dinner. We had Praise Team practice at church at 7:30 so Bud and RuthAnn offered to keep her while we did that.

Praise Team practice went really well. It was determined that we would rehearse every Monday night at 7:30 to be prepared to lead worship on the following Sunday. This will give us a chance to hear all the music and practice on our own through the week and not be scrambling to get it together on Sunday morning. I am really excited about Joe and his vision for the Praise Team. He is more prepared and organized than any other worship leader I have worked with. Even though I will be taking some time off here pretty soon from singing, I can't wait to get back involved. I am so excited to see how God is going to work in our worship ministry.

Bagpipes and the Baby

This afternoon I sang in a wedding at my church. Our interim music minister's daughter got married. It was a beautiful wedding. I sang How Beautiful during the lighting of the Unity Candle. I was a little concerned yesterday when I started getting a scratchy throat. I always get more nervous for weddings because it is the bride's big day and I want it to be perfect for her. For the processional a man walked in playing the bagpipes. When he got to the stage he joined the organist who was, by then, playing along, and the drummer who was playing a snare. It was very different, but awesome! I was sitting right behind the organ and the bagpipes were so loud. Katelyn was moving and kicking like crazy the entire time he was playing. I had never felt her move so vigorously before - and she moves a LOT. After the ceremony I was talking to the bagpipe player and he told me that there is a reason that she was moving like that. He told me that the frequency of bagpipes is the same frequency as your heartbeat. That is why bagpipes are so moving to listen to. He told me that they have special lullabies that will put you right to sleep. I might just have to get Katelyn some bagpipe music to sleep to.