Stinkin-Lincoln!

We would like to officially announce the new arrival of Lincoln Robert Swenson. He was born March 24th 2008 at 2:56pm at a husband-blaming 9lbs 2oz! The day before was Easter and just like every other day. We got up and while we were getting ready for church in the morning Abbie thought her water broke but it wasn't how we always heard it would be, there was only about a cup full of liquid on the kitchen floor over which she was standing (let me know if this is TMI for ya:) and it wasn't watery per se but more of an egg-white consistency. She didn't want to believe that her water broke so she proceeded to get ready for church-- silly Abbie ;) We had been instructed by our mid-wife that when the water breaks give it till 1-4-1... your contractions should be for one minute every four minutes for an hour. So we weren't rushing to the hospital because she wasn't feeling anything resembling a contraction. So the day goes on as normal and then we get together with Jake's family for Easter dinner. While there Jake is able to convince Abbie to finally call their mid-wife and just see what she says about the spillage earlier that morning. She said to go in and have it checked to see if it was amniotic or not. So we went and while the nurse was asking Abbie if she had a sample she could test; as if by asking this question she was using the strongest powers of suggestion, her water broke sitting there on the bed! (Abbie's not the nurses') Well nothing else happened that night and in the morning they started a pitocin drip because her body wasn't going into labor by itself and after 15 hours of her water breaking they wanted to get things moving before infection and stuff had the chance to set in. So around 1 o'clock she started to push and two painless hours later little baby Link was born! (just kidding-- she says it hurt like crazy-- but she sure didn't let on that it did! She just pushed and pushed and finally at the last two pushes she finally said a little whimpery *ouch*) Abbie champed all the way through it with no epidural and no drugs whatsoever! Jake told her that after seeing how strong she really was she could start killing her own spiders, mowing the lawn, changing the oil and all of the other stuff that she wouldn't do before. Link is perfect! (literally...at this stage his little poops don't smell and we've always heard that that is the one stipulation for perfection)

Just over 11.5lbs now at 5 weeks old he is one healthy kid! He eats well and sleeps for 4-5 hours at a time at night. We will probably be eating crow by saying this but so far we couldn't have asked for a better baby! Sure he has his fussy times but usually it's just cuz he's poopy or something and daddy hasn't paid much attention to that Baby Whisperer book obviously or he would be able to distinguish his poopy-cry from his ive-got-a-bubble-cry-- Daddy will learn soon enough. It's when the poopy-cry is intermingled with the hungry-cry and bubble-cry when things get really exciting! He sure does want to let us know everything he is feeling... :) I'm sure well have plenty more updates and we're sorry this one made it out so late-- kind of been busy.

Check out our online album to see more shots of Link! http://picasaweb.google.com/home?hl=en&tab=wq

Changes and more changes...he's almost here!!!!

Well, there has been a lot that has happened here in the last month and a half. Jake has finally landed a pretty unbelievable job as an Educational Recruiter for ITT Technical Institute which is great money and offers to pay for his schooling at 80%! After 5 interviews spread over three weeks and a battery of personality tests (which we’re surprised he passed ) he was finally given an offer about four weeks ago and gladly accepted the position! He spends his days recruiting and interviewing potential students and basically makes the end decision whether or not they are “worthy” for school. He enjoys his power! We couldn’t be happier and just in time for baby Lincoln to come around!

Abbie is just about done with this whole pregnancy business. She can hardly find a comfortable position anymore and is starting to contract stronger and stronger as the days go by—we’re just waiting for that fateful flow of amniotic delight which is nature’s way of saying, “Can’t turn back now, Ha, Ha, Ha!!” Abbie is fairly keyed into the holistic-side of almost everything she can be and is willing to “just let it happen how it’ll happen,” but that still hasn’t kept her from allowing her Chiropractor to draw some message points on her to see if her body will induce itself after rubbing on them for a bit…we’ll do that tomorrow and see what happens. According to the Dr. Lincoln's lungs are fully developed and he is as ready to come as he is gonna get now! Jake still continues to put the bug in Abbie's ear that even though having an epidural dramatically increases the probability of the use of instruments during birth, oxytocin augmentation, bladder catheterization and possible, even permanent, paralysis— it would dramatically decrease his having to see his poor baby in pain; after all, he did this to her and wants to feel as non-responsible as possible! They say after massaging those points you’re looking at 24-48 hours (if your body is ready) and then you’re parents! YIPPEE we’ll see! (ps...we're dilated t a 3!)

So for those not in the loop yet as to our other big news-- it is as follows. Since the college Jake is working at now has offered to pay for any degree he receives there at 80% we have decided to get him enrolled into the School of Health Information Technologies program next quarter (which is basically the study of the business-side of any medical office; coding, billing, insurance, records management, etc…) and with a bunch of his credits transferable from Boise State he will be able to graduate from ITT in less than two years totally prepared for Chiropractic school. So, to all of those who have been under the impression that we will be in Texas by August of this year you can push that out a few more years on your calendars! Chiropractics is definitely still the goal and ITT has made it even more so, but has just offered a way to enter with a much needed degree at the same time!

We’ll let you know about Lincoln as soon as we SEE him!

Starting a New Year!

Well here's the skinny! Abbie is 8 months preggo with our first little baby boy! We have decided to call him Lincoln Robert Swenson and are totally stoked to have him almost here. Jake is getting really excited to be able to finally have a turn holding him. He is getting a little tired of going over to feel him kicking (whenever Abbie beckons) and then not feel anything--ever; he says that he must have narcoleptic hands. Abbie is working as a Behavioral Interventionist/Psycho-Social Rehabilitator for the Boise School District as well as for a private company called Clearwater Rehabilitation. She really likes it and is learning some pretty good anti-grumpy-child skills; being that this is Jake's son she is about to have, she's definitely going to need them! Jake is currently looking for another line of work and is on the verge of getting a great job (soon to be disclosed to the public.) After almost three weeks of interviewing he is ready to finalize things. He has been trying his luck with the insurance business selling health and life insurance but has come to a cross-roads and decided to go a different route. Abbie is serving as the Ward's Young Women's Secretary and loving every minute of it. With putting together activities for the young girls every Wednesday and teaching a lesson every fourth Sunday she is keeping herself plenty busy. Jake is the Ward's Gospel Doctrine teacher and has his hands full. He says he feels pretty inadequate at times but every Sunday he seems to pull off some pretty great and inspiring lessons. Dag and Teague are content just being the typical happy-go-lucky pit bulls...and Zeus--their newly acquired 1/2 Lynx 1/2 Manx 3 month old cat-friend is giving them their practice for having a new-born baby in the house. He sleeps all day and then is energetically awake from about midnight on, every night, keeping the sleepy parentals up! He's still a kitty and probably taken from his mother too early because the other day they found him trying to nurse on Dag! The plans are still in the hopper to move down to Texas this Summer; August is looking like the time to go. Jake will be finally going to Chiropractic School and is getting pretty antsy to get started!