And baby makes 4...

What?! Did I just say four? How the heck do I have 4 children? I remember after having Haken, having two miscarriages, and struggling to get pregnant, I thought I would never have more than one child. I wondered how people got pregnant so easy and why it was so hard for us. I wondered if I would only have one child to focus on for the rest of my life. Through my experiences in the last 6 years I have come to realize that God is good. He hears us and he knows what we need. Patience has never been a strong point of mine and He found a way to test it. Now I hear Him almost laughing and saying "you wanted more children, right?" I am very much at peace and feel his love as I sing to each one of my kids at night before they go to sleep. God is good indeed.

Although my husband has documented the birth through pictures on his blog I decided I needed to give a little more detail on our experience. The birth of our children are by far the best days that we have had together as a couple. Everything about a birth is miraculous and these days become those that I will never forget. There is nothing closer to heaven than the death of someone you love and the birth of a child.

Bennion Steve Anderson came to our family on February 9th at 9:56 AM weighing 7lbs 2 oz and 20" 

At 2:45 AM I was awoken by a dream that I had peed my pants. I got out of bed realizing that although it was a dream, I was indeed wet. Sure enough I kept leaking so I knew this was for real. The baby was coming TODAY. I was actually very relieved because during the last two weeks I had lower back pain and cramping which made me feel like I was going into labor soon. I had no idea it would actually come two weeks later. All of my other children were born around 38 weeks and this baby waited until 39 weeks. I was not overdue, but I felt like I was in comparison to my other pregnancies. Again, the Lord knew what we needed and held the baby off for a week knowing that we were dealing with a very sick diabetic Jack. He had the stomach flu all week long. After an ER visit, some Zofran, and a few glucagon shots we were able to get it under control but it was not a very fun week.

At 3:00 AM we called my neighbor across the street to sit with the kids while my mom and sister drove up. When we got to the hospital I was having contractions about every 10 minutes but not anything very hard. When I was admitted I was dilated to a 5 but not really in pain. I think I had about 5-6 contractions total before I got my epidural. I thought for just a split second about going natural, but for only a second.

I was glad that I had that epidural when the contractions started to show up on the screen one after the other. I did, however, get nauseous and throw up once due to the contractions but that was the most uncomfortable I really got.

At 9:00 AM I called my mom at my house and told her to hurry over because I was starting to feel pressure. By 9:30 I was complete and ready to push. Luckily she got there with a few minutes to spare. I pushed for two sets and then he was out.

Because we didn't know the gender of the baby, it was quite a different experience from the rest of my children. The other three births were much more emotional for me. This was more a feeling of excitement. I couldn't wait to look down and see the gender on that last push. I was surprised as I thought that he was a girl the entire pregnancy. I had guessed the other kids right but he threw me for a loop. I wasn't as sick with this pregnancy so it felt a lot like my Gracie. I was more sick with the boys. Apparently that isn't so much an indicator for me after all. I wasn't at all disappointed to add another boy to the family. He is already such a little sweetheart and we can't get enough of him.

The boys fight over who gets to hold him. Gracie is indifferent to having him there. Although I can tell she is just fine with being the little princess of the family. She will be lucky to have three brothers to watch over her.

I love having a newborn in the house again. There really is a special spirit that they bring and each time I have another I realize how quickly they leave the newborn stage and grow up. I find myself just cuddling cheek to cheek with him and not ever wanting to put him down. I am tired, but I have never been happier and can't believe I am now a mother of four.