Zachary Michael

Lisa stayed at the hospital with our new baby boy, but I'm home overnight with Annika, Abby and Jake. Here are a couple quick pictures:

Some really happy big sisters!

Here's how the day went, all times AM:

1:30 - Lisa woken up by potent contraction, eventually gets up and showers after talking to Mike

3:30 - Mike gets up, showers and shaves

4:30ish - Lisa's mom arrives, we head to the hospital

4:49 - Time recorded by the nurse when we arrived in the triage room

5:32 - Doc breaks Lisa's water in the delivery room

5:48 - Zachary Michael Dekker's first minute in this world

We've gotten pretty efficient at this birthing thing. Time for bed!

Smiling Food - Posted by Annika Dekker

This is so weird! My roll is actually smiling! During dinner We had peas, rolls, and chicken. I had three rolls. My last one had a smiling face on the bottom! Isn't that weird? I was laughing like crazy. It was so funny and unusual. I've never ever seen a smiling roll in my life until now. I bet it's the same for you. I hope I see you soon.

Waiting Game...

So, it's 2:40AM and here I am wide awake again during the middle of the night. That has seemed to be the trend with this pregnancy. It was particularly bad during the first trimester and it has returned again during these last few weeks. Normally I try to get stay in bed and rest but lately after more than an hour I find it's better to get up for a bit and hope I'll be able to fall back to sleep after a bit.

We seem to be nearing the end of this pregnancy and right now that sounds good! My official due date is May 8 but baby has been showing signs that he will most likely come before then. The frequent contractions have been doing their job and I'm guessing it won't be too much longer now! Today makes 36 weeks so technically we're not yet full term. The doctors have informed us that even if he comes right now he would be fully developed and should be healthy. Our only concern is that he would likely be quite small. Our kids have ranged in the 6lb 4 oz - 6 lb 10oz range (all born at 39 weeks) so they're not real huge to begin with! Being born a month early probably wouldn't help a lot in the size category!

So... now we wait. This time feels quite different than it did with the other kids. Annika was a bit of a surprise (I didn't realize I was actually in labor when I went into the hospital with her). Abby was induced and with Jake it was very clear exactly when real labor began. This child has given me a couple times now where I have seriously questioned if, "this is it!" I guess my body is getting older and reacting more strongly to pre-labor. It's a silly thought, but I don't want to "miss" the actual labor assuming it's just more of the same contractions and have a surprise birth at home! I seriously doubt that would happen, but given my past history of short labors and non-regular contractions, the thought has crossed my mind! Maybe I should have Mike read up on the what to do if your wife gives birth at home chapter in the "What to Expect When You're Expecting" book! I'm sure he'd do a great job! After all, he's seen this before, right? How hard can it be? Women used to give birth alone on a prairie. We should be all set then with the modern comforts of home!

Anyway -- please keep us all in your prayers. We are praying for a healthy baby born at the right time. We are also praying for stamina to get through the final days of waiting, energy to keep getting our lives in order, quality time to spend with Annika, Abby, and Jake (spring break has been a real blessing), and tangible ways to show our family and friends how much all of their support has meant to us in these last few weeks! We are truly blessed!

80 + degrees Outside = One Worn Out Boy!

Although Jake often doesn't nap anymore yesterday he just couldn't help it! After playing outside all day with his sisters and friends he was just too worn out to resist! He came in after playing in the sprinkler, crawled into Daddy's lap and promptly fell asleep. What a little cutie!

Jake's 3rd Birthday

On Tuesday we had the joy of celebrating Jake's 3rd birthday. Since he's quite fascinated with all things boy, which includes cars, trucks, trains, and transportation in general, we threw him a construction-themed family birthday party. Above is his birthday cake.



Jake started off the day on Tuesday refusing to acknowledge that he was three. He just wanted to be two. By the end of the day he had changed his mind. A big part of the change was the fact that there was a 3 on his cake.

Showing off their construction hats which they each decorated. Jake's was a bit big and kept falling off!


Enjoying some of his gifts - a book from Great Grandma and a ND basketball from Grandma and Grandpa Dekker!


Eating cake! He had two pieces and wanted more! No early bed time for him!

Just Plain Cute...

Jake and Annika enjoyed the nice weather by playing together outside. Jake thinks he's pretty big stuff now that he can trace Annika with chalk -- just like the big kids!

The Madness Begins

Just more than an hour until the chaos of March Madness begins. Like last year, I got everyone in the family to fill out a bracket, except for Jake. Annika and Abby both comprehend the idea that higher seeds are supposedly the better teams, so their brackets are more or less sensible (Annika pretty much filled out her own). I couldn't come up with a way to get Jake to pick winners without it just pretty much being the same as flipping a coin. So, here are the family's Final Fours:

Abby: Butler over Michigan State, Notre Dame over Kentucky; Butler over ND in the final (she had Butler winning last year too)

Annika: Kansas over Butler, Villanova over Kentucky; Kansas over Villanova (the girls both have a thing for Butler)

Lisa: Syracuse over Ohio State, Kentucky over Baylor; Syracuse over Kentucky

Me: Kansas over Syracuse, West Virginia over Baylor; West Virginia over Kansas

As much as I'm a sports fan, I don't pay much attention to the regular season of college basketball - I'm aware of what's going on and generally know who's good this year and how the Michigan teams are doing, but I don't make a point of watching games on TV and thus don't have much to base my picks on other than the musings of sports radio personalities. I wasn't even sure if Notre Dame was in the tournament until a few days after the bracket came out. I had considered picking Kansas or Syracuse to win the tournament, but I chose West Virginia so the whole family had different winners. All of our brackets are entered on ESPN.com, so we'll see who does better (and then I filled out a bunch more just for fun). I'm actually hoping for Kansas vs. Kansas State and Duke vs. Kentucky in the Final Four, which sounds cool and could happen (as opposed to a Michigan State-Notre Dame final). Let the games begin!