Ezekiel Julian Murphy

Well, the day finally arrived! Friday morning at 8 30 a.m. , Ju , Allistair and I welcomed a very precious new baby boy into our little family! Ezekiel Julian Murphy wieghed 9 lbs 5 oz! The birth went amazingly, i woke up at 4 a.m. hoping to find myself in labor and was quite dissappointed that i wasnt having any contractions, then 12 minutes later, i felt my first one. They were very close together right off the bat, about 2 minutes and just kept getting closer. at 5 i woke julian up and texted my sister who was in stoney creek, letting her know i was in labor so she might want to head home (i was definately not expecting things to progress as fast as they did!) by 6 a.m. i was having back to back contractions so my mom came over to get allistair and we headed to the hospital. I was 9 cm already by this time! i couldnt beleive it when my midwife said taht, but was very relieved! i pushed for about 20 minutes and then our little Zeek was born. The midwives were incredible, i also had my best friend katrina in the room with us for the birth which was awesome! i was sad my sister didnt make it in time for the actual birth (she walked in 5 minutes after he was born! :( , but at least she got to see him right after. Everything is going great so far, Zeek loves to sleep, hes a very content little boy! and Allistair is doing amazing with him, he loves holding his baby brother ! here are a few pics of our bundle of joy :)

holding Ezekiel for the first time. We were shocked by all

his very dark hair!

Allistair meeting Zeek

What an awesome 9 months to share so close with my sis Shanelle

im so looking forward to our boys being so close in age :)

Allistair holding his baby brother

2 very proud grandparents :)

Auntie Kris and her newest nephew :)

Zeek is very pleased with his being able to stretch out now that hes born! this is how i found him after i came from my shower!

happy birthday little boy!!

Last saturday was a very special day for us as we celebrated Allistiars 2nd birthday. His real b-day is Aug 24, but we had it on a weekend so everyone could make it up. It was so much fun having all of julians and my family and friends up to help make it such a special day. Allistair got all sorts of trucks and tractor toys! thanks so much to everyone who was able to make it out!

allistair and ben - best friends!

Allistair LOVES tractors of any kind so for his birthday i made him this farm cake.

it took me forever to do because i was trying to ice it in the dark, since the power

was knocked out after the tornado that went through!

allistiar didnt pay any attention to all hte presents until julian told him

they were full of new toys! then we could barely keep him away from them!

Today shanelle and i had kris take some pictures of our tummies before one of us goes into labor! (more likely to be nelly than me seeing as im 33 wks and shes 37!) it was a lot of fun, and we had a good amount of laughs too! its been so much fun being so closely pregnant at the same time!


this pic was not done today, but i thought i'd put it up anyways,
it was a fun week having mark and his new wife lauren home from school!

it looks like a mirror image! funny how shes 4 wks ahead of me but we're about the same size!

is it going to be a boy?

or a girl?
we'll find out soon!

in other news, julian and i bought a house! we've been wanting to buy for a few years now but it wasnt financially possible at the time. we'd given up actively searching since we couldnt find anything that seemed to be the right place for the right price and then 2 weeks ago we found one online and thought we'd give it a shot , just for fun. We called the realtor and LOVED the house the minute we saw it, the next day we put in an offer and after a few counter offeres back and forth, we now officially own the house! move in date is sept. 28th! its going to be a tight fit trying to get everything done before the babys' due date on oct 4th but it will be fun! its so awesome to be starting a new phase of our lives together as homeowners! i'll post pics once we get moved in!

the countdown is on!

Well, im down to just over 8 weeks to go! hard to believe! this pregnancy has gone so fast, and still seems to be passing before i have time to realize it! i will be 32 weeks on sunday and have been feeling pretty good. im not getting much sleep these days but its all just good practice for baby. at my last midwife appiontment i found out my hemaglobin tests came back low so now im on an iron supplement. i have been starting to get things ready for the baby, washing all the newborn clothes that i have from allistair , and getting little things ready for my hospital bag. im so excited, and a little dissappointed that the pregnancy will be over so soon . i know how crazy that sounds but i am definately am one of those people who LOVES being pregnant, and wishes it would last longer than 9 months lol. anyways, here are a few recent pictures. enjoy!

allistair reading his truck book to the baby

ever-growing tummy at 31 weeks

my adorable/goofy little boy! he brought all his animals to this chair and sat with them! it was too cute!

allistair loves his sandbox! he'd spend every minute out there if he could!

I am officially 26 wks pregnant now and feeling enormous! Its been fun to compare pictures of this pregnancy with the ones i took while pregnant with Allistair.

I had another ultrasound on the 15th of june to check on the amniotic band and the cysts that were on the back of the babys head. Praise the Lord, the cysts are completely gone and the baby has not yet gotten tangled in the band. The midwives and obgyns are going to keep me going to ultrasounds to keep an eye on it but its a really good sign that it hasnt happened yet. As far as my cyst, i have been thinking of having the baby delivered by c-section so that i can have the surgery to remove the cyst at the same time instead of doing it 6 wks after the birth. I talked with my midwife yesterday and she ultimately the choice is up to the ob, which i dont really like, i personally think it should be my decision...but we'll see what she says.

update and prayer request

Hey all, thursday, april 29 julian and i were able to see our baby again :) I love being able to see him/her moving around and sometimes getting to feel those little movements! everyone one of them is so special. A few days ago i got a call from my midwife regarding the ultrasound. I was told the baby has some cysts on the back of its neck (she said these are very common and i shouldnt worry as they usually go away by themselves). She also told me that they noticed what is called an amniotic band , which basically is what can cause deformities and sometimes even natural amputation of the babies limbs. Having an amniotic band is quite rare, about 1 in every 12-1500 pregnancies , so my midwife was surprised to see that i have it. They dont know what causes them, and there is nothing they can do about it, so im asking for your prayer for the safety of my little one. The good news is that right now the amniotic band is near the bottom of my uterus and the baby is sitting near the top and none of his/her limbs are tangled in it as of yet. They have booked another ultrasound for me for june 15 to check up on everything and keep an eye on the baby. Im feeling an odd sense of peace about everything right now, i know that God has a reason for everything that is happening in this pregnancy and i have faith that He will take care of everything in His way. As far as my cyst goes, i will be seeing a speicalist on may 21 so hopefully i will know more then. Im really praying that i wont have to a) be transferred to an o.b instead of getting to continue my pregnancy with a midwife, and b) that i wont be put on bedrest for the rest of my pregnancy! i cant imagine how that would be with allistair running around on the loose! Anyways, thats the update so far. I will let you know when i find out more.

me at 18 weeks, and shanelle at 22 weeks!

this is a picture of the babys hand :) all 5 fingers there !

my little one waving at me!

this shot is of the babys legs, it shows the knees, and the feet

crossed at the ankles

baby now weighs aprox 8 ounces :)

ultrasound

About a week ago, i noticed a lump in my stomach. At first i thought i was just feeling the baby so i ignored it, but over a few days i noticed it was still there and it was beginning to hurt when i touched it or moved in a weird way. I got in to the doctors the same day and she thought i had a hernia so i go an ultrasound scheduled. I went yesterday and had it done, i have yet to hear the results from it but the tech said she didnt think it is a hernia but she wasnt aloud to say anything more about what it could be. The lump is about the size of a lemon. The good news from the situation so far is that i was able to see our baby for the 1st time yesterday! he/she is so cute and tiny. it was fun seeing the baby move all around. I am just under 15 weeks along now so im hoping that whatever this lump turns out to be, it wont affect the baby or the pregnancy. For now im just trusting the Lord for peace , and i know that whatever this turns out to be, God never gives us more than we can handle. I will write more when i hear back from the doctor, until then, here are some pictures the ultrasound technician gave me of our little one.

the baby was doing a head-stand so this is the best profile pic she was able to get.

you can see the babies little face and its spine.

this is a closer shot but the baby was in the same position.