introducing baby......

clive thomas neher

born monday october 27th
1:13 p.m. via emergency c-section

9 lbs 15.4 oz. (yes 0.6 oz short of 10 lbs)
21.5 inches long (2.5 inches longer than Fin was)



written monday night by groggy mommy: labor began at home just after 1:00 am - i woke matt at 3:35 when they became regular and less than 5 minutes apart. i hated waking him as he has spent weeks preparing with a partner for his Moot Court competition at law school which was today at 4:30. oops. baby had other plans. thankfully his partner is a good friend and the Moot Court board was sympathetic and allowed their team to reschedule for 7:30 a.m. on tuesday. kinda stressful but we're thankful for their understanding.

we got to the hospital around 4:30 a.m. leaving finley snoozing in bed with his Mimi Neher (who is the Godsend grandma visiting from NC). they monitored me for about 2 hours before officially admitting me. because i was five days overdue and a previous c-section case, they knew they had to keep me around and that this baby would come today, one way or the other. my plan was to labor through and work towards a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section). but my progress was slow although my contractions were strong and steady.

after about 11 hours of laboring, i finally reached a meager 3 cm dilation and the contractions got more intense. i then asked for my epidural which they delivered. just after it took effect my doc came in and checked me and i had moved up to 5 cm. so she burst my water to get things moving. she had told me all along that i had a massive amount of fluid surrounding my large beach ball belly (as my friend corissa detected this summer). so when she burst my water, a tidal wave ensued. the doctor and nurses present were in shock and awe at the continual flood and said that is was the most they've ever seen. i believe the words were "that is a COPIOUS amount of fluid!" they even called other docs and nurses into to witness the event, laughing in amusement.

then in a matter of seconds the amusement turned to panic. as the water flooded out, the baby's head pinned the cord to the cervix causing a umbilical cord prolapse. basically the force of the flow really pinned it down, and like a kink in a garden hose, the baby was suddenly without flow of oxygen and umbilical fluids. all the nurses and doctors started talking in panicked code (though trying to smile and not make us nervous). "O.R. - STAT!" (they really do say that!) was what we heard next.

i was whisked into surgery fast and matt was left in a panic on the other side of the swinging doors. i was lifted onto the operating table under the big round light, an oxygen mask covered my face and then my lights went out. picture the "woman's work" scene from the movie "she's having a baby" - exactly like that, no joke. apparently they cut him out of me in two minutes. two minutes!

i woke up about an hour after he was born and had it all relayed to me. when my eyes opened, my weeping husband was standing over me letting me know our son was perfectly healthy. it was so scary and traumatizing, and it was crazy how quickly the events turned. but i felt safe in the hands of the professionals and am very thankful for their quick action and work.

i am still a little drugged and numb from the waist down. this afternoon and evening with our new son has been euphoric and joyful, a time of thankfulness, awe and adoration. i know tomorrow though that my pain will set in and my long road to recovery and healing will set in. but he is so worth it!

it took us nine hours to decide on a name, but after spending quality time with him, we decided he was a clive. clive thomas. C.T. he is a healthy nurser, a peaceful sleeper and is absolutely adorable. he looks JUST like my baby pictures.... we'll see if he stays looking like me or if he'll morph into another mini-matt like big brother finley. speaking of, finley will come to meet his brother tomorrow. that will be so fun to witness!

so thanks for your prayers! thanks mimi for being here and being so helpful and loving your grandsons so much. thanks matt for your loving support and sacrifice. thanks to friends who have already poured so much love and excitement on us - keep it coming. and please keep praying for us as we transition and i heal.

click here for album of clive's first day!

sing loud!

in august, while visiting his mimi and papa in north carolina, finley starting singing. we had always sung to him and then with him...but last month he starting just singing on his own. and he sings all the time!

he sings what he calls his "baby songs", which would include the abc's, twinkle twinkle, etc. and he sings songs he learned on TV, like some of the theme songs to his PBS shows and he even sings along to commercials! oops! he even hums tunes, including the tunes to my very favorite game shows (yeah!). the cutest is when he sings the song his daddy has always sung to him at bedtime... "L is for the way you look at me, O is for the only one I see...." he knows the whole song! the best part of that song is when he sings the word, "ex-tra-ordinary" with gumption!

his favorite tune is the alphabet song though. he sings it many times a day. sometimes he makes up new words just to sing along to that tune. for example, he might sing about all the things he is eating for "bress-us" (breakfast) to the tune of the alphabet song. i have tried to film it, but he says, "mom, don't take my picture!" and clams up. today he was sitting in his round chair, reading his children's bible and singing away. i snuck in and he sang the whole song for me, though he acted very silly. he says "sing loud!" a few times at the beginning, and he even broke briefly into his "dinosaur voice" which you'll hear for "T-U-V". after i took this video he said, "that's enough mommy. no more pictures."

i should be embarrassed....

there are so many reasons why i should be embarrassed to share this story, but i will anyway because it is such a classic finley situation. and i know he was embarrassed, not to mention, posting this on my blog will just give him another reason to hate me one day! ;)

it was a typical morning, we had just gotten up (hence his huge pillow hair - he went to bed with wet locks). he was feeling really independent and did not want me to help him with the potty. so i let him remove his own diaper and take a seat. because he was urging me to leave him alone with his business, i went around the corner to put some stuff away in his room. after he was all done, i tried to help him get a new diaper on, which he also wanted to do himself. knowing he'd never figure it out by himself, i left the room again for a second to let him give it a try. next thing i know he is crying in pain.

"mommy, help i used mommy's diaper and it hurts me!" (no further explanation needed). but you can guarantee he won't get into my cabinet again!

bossy little finley......

here are some funny/sassy quotes from finley in the last 48 hours:

after asking finley to help me pick up his flashcards which are all over the floor, he said, "do it yourself, mommy, i am busy reading my book."

when i was getting some fabric out of my craft closet, which is in his playroom, he whipped around and said, "mom! i am tryyyyy-ing to watch calliou, so SHHHHH!" with his teeny finger across his lips and his uni-brow furrowed.

he came running mischieveously out of the bathroom with a huge proud smile on his face...he said, "i ate it and i'm going to be sooo sick!" (still smiling). "come here i'll show you.....see, i ate mommy's soap.!" he had pulled his potty chair up to the sink and pumped my hand soap into his mouth.

we are working on potty training and he opted to go in his pants instead of the potty. i told him he shouldn't poop in his pants anymore and he should use the potty like a big boy. he said, "no mommy, just change my bopper (diaper), okay?"

i walked upstairs with a coke and he said, with finger pointed at me, "you drink upstairs, you better not spill! no spill!"

i guess i'm getting my mothering words spat back at me. especially when he says, "obey me, mommy!" (don't worry, i tell him not to talk to me like that).



he says some sweet things too:

matt and i were sitting together on the couch and finley came over, climbed up and hugged our necks and said, "aw, look, we're all together!"

he woke me up saying, "good morning, mommy, have sweet dreams?" i said yes and then asked him what he dreamed about. he said with a smile and sigh, "oh, i dreamed of daddy." i asked what he and daddy did in his dream and he said, "we hugged."

bolly-what?

being a HUGE fan of bollywood cinema, hindi music and, of course, american reality tv competitions, i was thrilled to see this last night....
(ignore the cheesy judges).



i love me some OM SHANTI OM!

unscathed....

as you may or may not know, omaha was hit with a freak storm on friday afternoon. it was this fast-moving monster cloud that swept though and was gone as quickly as it came.

finley and i were at home, it was almost five, and we were just waiting for matt to get home from his job in lincoln (an hour drive away). i was sewing and finley was playing in nothing but a diaper. because i'd been home all day, i was still in my pajamas or "housecoat" as my grandma might say. i heard them talking about high winds and thunderstorms coming our way. they were saying it wasn't a tornado but more like a hurricane - 90 mph straight line winds with rain and hail. i could here the warning sirens outside, but i, like the news reporters were, was mostly concerning myself with everyone outside for the huge concert in memorial park and also the crowds and vendors at the downtown arts fest. but it still wasn't raining and not even the leaves were blowing on the trees.

next thing i know, out of nowhere, the trees started swinging wildly and the wind was howling. i looked across the street out my studio window just in time to see a tree fall on the transformer and the white explosion that followed. that blew out our power and i grabbed finley and ran downstairs. as we were running downstairs, it sounded like a tornado was over us. we could hear the sounds of trees snapping, the wind howling, metal twisting and that haunting "freight train" sound. i got us down to our dungeon of a basement and it was pitch dark in there. i stuck finley in the baby exersaucer that is stored down there (so he couldn't escape into the darkness and mess of the basement). that's when i ran back up to find a flashlight or candles.

when i got upstairs to the front closet (where i never found a flashlight) a huge object slammed into the outside of our house on the other side of the wall where i was standing. (i found out later is was the neighbor's adirondack chair from his porch). then i heard it scrape down the side of the house (we later found it broken inside finley's play fort). then i looked out the front window just in time to see the neighbor's 100-yr old 40 foot tree rip out of the ground and slam into the street and then saw my patio furniture and all my pots and plants get literally sucked off the porch. they didn't slide along the ground, they picked up into the air and flew over the patio wall and scattered around the neighborhood. then the hail started. it was coming at as fully horizontally. our front bay window was being slammed with rain and hail and that window is under about a 10 foot overhang. all that happened in about two seconds while finley was wailing in the basement. so i ran down to join him and we hugged and tried to call daddy.

when i finally got through to matt he has driving toward omaha on the highway and had no idea about the storm. and then it was all over. since i was still in my nightgown, i grabbed a t-shirt from the laundry basket and put it on. then finley and i emerged out of our house to assess the damage, along with all the other neighbors. i surveyed our house and found that the only damage we had included missing roof shingles, holes in the window screens from the hail, and detached rain gutters. i tried not to be too outwardly sad that all my lovely plants and gardening were destroyed. all my pots were dumped and scattered. some pots i found down the street under a neighbor's car and some pots i never found. all my lilies and hydrangeas were snapped off at the ground and my hostas were shredded. my patio furniture was in the front bush, in the street, and even under the fallen fir across the street. we had a huge tree branch fall in our front yard but it didn't hit anything. i didn't complain though, because when i looked across the street i saw that all the houses had trees on their roofs and major structural damage.

i finally met all the people that live in my neighborhood though! too bad it had to be under those circumstances and that i had to look like white trash at the time. remember i was still wearing my nightgown with a t-shirt over it, and i had a bandanna on my head b/c was about to take a bath. also finley had on nothing but a diaper and neither of us were wearing shoes. ha! matt didn't get home for almost 2 hours after the storm. all the traffic lights were out and trees covered all the major thruways. while we were assessing the damage around the neighborhood, he was caught in traffic and in an angry mob of rush hour drivers trying to make their way home on a friday night. click here for the pictures i took immediately after the storm.

when matt got home he anxiously informed me that he had HOURS of work still to do for his law firm and it couldn't wait. but we had no power! soooo, poor us, we had to go to a hotel for the night. finley and i got to eat, bathe and sleep in a/c and matt got to work on his report late into the night. the next day, we got home about 2pm and found our power restored, thank God! however, the people across the street did not, nor did most people in the area. many will still be without power til the 5th, so we were very lucky.

the whole weekend was community cleanup for our neighborhood and our whole city. we were able to clean up our yard and house and make it look almost exactly as it did before. matt and i felt kinda rude on sunday when we were merely weeding the yard and adding some mulch to the front beds while the people across the street were trying to get trees out of their living rooms and collect all the bricks from their chimneys. ah, the pleasant nebraska weather! when will be get a break?

my inflation, thus far

watch as i expand. here i am in weeks 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and now week 24 of my pregnancy! how much bigger will i get in the next 16 weeks? my guess: HUGE!

baby pillow fever!

wow, i just counted and i have made over 200 personalized patchwork taggy pillows for my etsy customers! i love looking at the pillows all lined up together, but it is the back sides that take all the work. i'll reopen my etsy shop soon, and these will be back on the market!

click here to see the other items i have sold in my etsy shop since opening in november 2006. i've been busy - but once this second baby comes, i don't think i'll be able to do so much multi-tasking. especially if this baby isn't as easy as finley was!

head(less) shots

june 2008:
finley's first tan lines of the summer, and
baby boy #2 compromising my waistline

It's a BOY!

it's week 22 of my pregnancy and we had our big revealing ultrasound yesterday. we found out that we are having another little boy, a brother for finley! they were able to confirm that my previous due date was accurate - october 21. and, that he is healthy, strong and has all his parts! thank God!


i asked if he was going to be enormous at birth like finley (9.5 lbs). the doc said that the baby was measuring average sized for now, according to head measurements, but that the baby usually grows into its abdomen size by the time of birth. this baby's current abdomen size is in the 85th percentile, so he'll definitely be on the large size. with all his large measurements, i looked up at the screen and asked, "what is that 8th percentile measurement?" and of course, it was his leg length. yes, 8th percentile. so he'll be just like his big brother, with huge head, shoulders and stomach and teeny short shrimp legs. thankfully finley's legs grew to catch up and hopefully this baby's will too.

a witness to great beauty and love....

this past weekend was the wedding of daphne and caleb. i had the honor of being one of daphne's witnesses, as she threw out the traditional "bridesmaid" position. it was great because i got to be a part of the wedding party and all that it entails, but did not have to buy or wear a bridesmaid's dress or carry an awkward bouquet. instead we got to dress ourselves, within the wedding color scheme, and wear beautiful handmade corsages, made by audra mcavaddy. this dress idea came in handy for me, because i am in maternity wear now, being 5 months pregnant, and we all know pregnant girls and bridesmaid dresses just don't mix. thank you daphne and caleb, for including me. it was beautiful and so fun and definitely one of the most unique and memorable weddings in my experience.

the weekend's highlights for me (in words and images):

witnessing daphne and caleb exchange vows. after all these years of watching their love grow, it was touching to watch them bond their lives together. after being so moved emotionally and spiritually by the ceremony, matt and i both commented later about how anyone could take the act of marriage lightly. it is so serious and God-ordained. all wedding ceremonies should be done with this much beauty, depth and spiritual signifigance. the spirit of God was in that chapel.

hanging with sarah lance, all the way from india. it was so great catching up with sarah who flew in from kolkata for the festivities. she brought with her all the beautiful saris that were used as table runners and she wore a beautiful sari herself. i loved hearing about her continued work with wmf india and the women of sari bari.

seeing my boys walk in dressed to the nines. i was away all day doing wedding duties, so matt had to bathe, dress and bring finley to the church on time. and he did! they came in like such gentlemen and i was so proud. finley even behaved himself mostly, though he spent most of the time on the floor.


meeting baby sarah and baby ada for the first time.
the landreths came down from fargo for the wedding bringing 10 week old sarah maya with them. she was even more precious in person! we have already arranged the marriage between her and finley, so their first meeting was important. apparently she made an impression on him, he's mentioned "baby seer-ah" at least once a day since, even in his bedtime prayers!

and twyla o'callaghan came out from atlanta with little ada brigid. also more precious than words. i didn't get to see much of her though since chris heuertz never put her down the whole weekend.

getting the whocares girls together. all but two of the girls from the whocares blog were present at the wedding. i got to see everyone in person and put faces to names and blogposts. what fun!

hanging with caron easley and hearing her sing. caron came out from illinois and was also part of the wedding party.
we haven't been able to hang out since she moved from omaha a few years back. but we laughed and had fun like we did in our troublemaking asbury college days. also, i got to hear her and ali serenade the crowd during the reception and it was lovely!

receiving caleb coppock artwork as a wedding party gift. everyone in the wedding party received a different print of a caleb original. it was such a unique and meaningful gift to receive. we all know starving artists can't just be handing their art out for free. so this one will be framed and cherished!

dancing to the voyage music of breaksea caravel. breaksea caravel is the minneapolis "theatrical orchestra" who performed at the wedding and at mick's the night before. they were so talented and fun, and a blast to dance to. it was great seeing everyone sweat and jive to the music, especially the bride and groom. (here they are performing on another occasion):


and last, but not least, watching brent anderson play the trombone with the band. after the crowd chanted his name to hit the dance floor, he blew us all away by picking up the trombone and playing along with the band to a whole song. we only found out afterward that he had never touched a trombone in his life. perhaps that explains why he was holding it upside down and why he pulled the two pieces apart while trying to play the deep notes. funny and unforgettable - thanks brent.

best wishes, mr. and mrs. coppock, and enjoy your honeymoon in maui!

feeling green...

...as in queasy, morning sickness!

i was hoping since i am nearing week 13 that my morning misery would begin to subside. i was feeling great the whole last week, and not today - it is back. i just want to lie in bed and close my eyes for hours! but finley just won't let that happen, i am sure of it! plus, i am exhausted because finley has been waking me up at least an hour earlier than usual since transitioning to a toddler bed.

last week, he finally started diving out of his crib, which resulted in a bloodied lip and a bruised face. i didn't want to wait and see if he could break his neck, (or his arm like his older cousin had), so i took the front panel off his crib and made it into a big boy bed. i put a rail up so he wouldn't roll out in the night, but he can still get out of if when he wants, which i thought would be a battle. i put two gates up at night so he can't leave his room, thanks to my sister's suggestion.

so far, he's been a dream at bedtime! we just tell him to go get in his bed. he stands and the door and says, "night, daddy, night, mommy!" then shuts his door and climbs into bed. then don't hear a peep from him til morning! but at first he was waking up really early in the morning, opening the door and yelling through the gates. he would scream repeatedly, "MOMMY!!! DADDY!!! OUT!!!!" so we told him that he wasn't allowed to shout in the morning. so now, he stands and the gate and politely and quietly says, "mommy, i'm ready please." and if i don't come, he starts with his dad. but he knows how to pull heart strings so he calls for his daddy the way his daddy calls for him, "hey buddy, hey buddy" ever so softly. it is sweet and hilarious!

everyone told me that with my second pregnancy i would "pop" sooner than before. they were right! i already have a baby bump and i am just finishing up my first trimester. here is a self-portrait i took in the bathroom mirror last night. and yes, i am already wearing some maternity pants. my regular jeans are already too uncomfortable! if my belly is this big now, i can only imagine how enormous it will be in six months. i am hoping to not get quite and mountainous as i did with finley. i will try to do things a little differently with diet and exercise this time around, but who knows if that will even make a difference. we'll just have to see! let's not forget just how HUGE my belly was last time.....

(ok, so the nepali mu mu isn't very slimming).

OMG! how did i even manage?!?!?!?!??!?!

bring on the bump!

ok, so we didn't make an official announcement. but maybe you connected the dots from the baby countdown widget, the facebook comments, or (if you have seen me in person) my obvious chest and tummy plumpness. or maybe you noticed me ordering water instead of wine, my constant "feeling under the weather" or taking extra naps.

but it's true, the neher family is brewing another chubby, stubby, big-eyed baby! this week starts week 12 for me. that is 12/40 of the way there. how did we keep this to ourselves for so many weeks? well for one, i had to give myself some time to adapt to the idea. i have a two-year old currently transitioning to his big boy bed (and thus not sleeping enough) and he is about to start potty training, God willing. also, i wanted to make sure everything was progessing smoothly in my womb and get a due date confirmation from the doc.

so usually at your first pre-natal visit, the doctor will take an ultrasound of your womb to locate the uterus and the baby's sac inside it. they must make sure that it has "implanted" in the proper location in the uterus and is the appropriate size for the date of conception. from there they can confirm a due date (range) and proceed with the pre-natal lab workups.

however, due to my severely tipped uterus, they were unable to locate it or the baby inside it on the first visit, or the second (two weeks later). but two weeks after that, they finally found it! it was way over the the right, but should continue to center itself as it grows.

inside was a 1.5 inch long baby with kicking legs and a fluttering heartbeat in its chest. so here he/she is! please pray for this baby and for me, for health and growth and ease! we'll keep you posted as we grow and as we approach our october due date.

does anybody even read this blog?

if so, then you may notice a new widget on the page.

i'm just seeing who you are, that is, if there is anyone.

the beginning of the blunt toddler honesty....

kids say the darndest things....and the most honest! i have heard my mom, sisters and friends tell me stories about their kids' honest remarks. until now, finley hasn't been talkative (or opinionated) enough to give me his two cents. but i am starting to learn what he really thinks of me.

how were my parents not mortified when my older sister (as a toddler) told a group of minglers in the church foyer, "my daddy has a tail." how did my sister not get her feelings hurt when her son looked at her beautiful wedding photo and said, "mom, you look really gross!" and when she asked him, "well, do you think i look better now?" and he thought for a minute then replied, "no, worse." or when a little neighbor girl sat on my grandma's lap and said, "oh, you're fat." to which my grandma replied, "yes, i am." my mom had always taught us to never talk about people being overweight. that some people can't help it and some people just "eat too many cookies" (her dumbed down explanation). after clearly absorbing this lesson, my older sister carol (as a toddler), kindly told a stranger at the in the grocery aisle, "you ate too many cookies!" oh no! my sister lindsay was especially outspoken with her truths as a little girl. sometimes my mom feared what my sister might say. when she was about 3 or 4, my mom was pushing her through the piggly wiggly in the shopping cart. a man came through the doorway who was morbidly obese and could barely walk. lindsay covered her mouth and started to giggle and carry on. then she pointed at him and said, "mom, he's barefooted!" shew! my favorite one was when she was in first grade, she told her sweet white-haired teacher that she looked just like her grandma. the teacher said, "how's that?" to which she replied with great affection, "you have the same hangy down skin on your arms, and those blue lines on your legs." ouch!

about a year ago, my innocent little one year old boy was watching sesame street when this clip came on. he pointed at the tv and said, "mommy! mommy!" i was touched that he would compare me (or confuse me) with norah jones. ok, so maybe his vision wasn't too sharp and all he saw was the long brown hair. whatever the case, it was sweet.

now he's two and a few months and talking and understanding a lot more. this morning over breakfast we were watching pbs and a commercial came on for amazon grocery. there is a woman, clearly not a morning person, wearing a huge bathrobe, with disheveled hair and a grumpy face. her kids are running amok and she is ransacking her kitchen cabinets searching for coffee grounds. she even stands up on the counter, throwing things over her shoulder, only finding one empty coffee can after another. while this is happening, finley points at the tv and says, "look, it's mommy! and in mommy's dress!" and proceeds to giggle and laugh. (yes, i wear my robe a lot, almost every day, even over my clothes! but is it my "dress", my uniform? according to finley i guess so). so then the commercial goes on to say, if you use amazon grocery service, you'll never run out of whatever the particular item is you need, yada yada. at the end, the woman sighs and smiles and sips on her steaming cup of coffee. after which finley burst into laughter and exclaimed, "she NEEDS her milk!"

i guess i better just prepare myself for all the honest statements that will come out of finley's mouth over the next few years. hopefully he won't say much in public places, or to his teachers, grandmas or strangers!

do you have funny stories of toddler honesty? if so, share them with me!

my growing easter bunny

i can't believe this was finley's third easter. his first easter, (2006 in lexington, ky) he was two months old. he was so enormously fat his first easter, we could barely close his easter outfit around his huge legs and bottom.
last year, (2007 in lansing, mi) he was 14 months old and he looked so cute in his seersucker pants and vest. however, he was pretty cranky and did not care much for his easter basket.
this year, (2008 in omaha, ne) he is 26 months old and his legs are finally lean and lengthened. his is still a little guy though, and he is wearing the 12-month size vest from the year before! ;) this easter was fun, because he listened when we read him the Easter story from his children's Bible, he understood and enjoyed the easter egg hunt, and thankfully, still hasn't discovered candy.
he's still our sweet snuggle bunny and we are so blessed to have him!!