3 weeks

Joshua is 3 weeks old! Today we had our pictures taken by Charlie Vowels. Here are a few of her pictures of Joshua. At his doctors appointment yesterday he weighed 9 lbs 10.5 oz! He gained 1 whole pound in 12 days. He is continuing to do well and we are continuing to enjoy our baby boy!

1 week pictures

I just wanted to share a few pictures of Joshua from last Wednesday when he was 1 day shy of 1 week. The last picture was one my Dad caught of him smiling in his sleep on Sunday at 1 1/2 weeks. He is doing really well... already having passed his birth weight by 3 ounces at 1 week old. We are loving him and wishing time would slow down so that we could better enjoy every moment. He will be 2 weeks old already on Thursday.

Joshua Peter

Joshua Peter Neufeld

November 6, 2014

8lbs 7oz

Here he is! We were so happy to welcome our son into the world on Thursday night. If he would have waited another 28 minutes he would have been born on Friday but I was glad not to have another 32 minutes of pain! He holds the record for our heaviest baby at 8lbs 7oz! I can tell you the extra pound makes a lot of difference! He was also born with his hand at the side of his face and his shoulders got stuck which didn't help matters. Thankfully we are both happy and healthy. I am definitely taking it easy this next little while.

Joshua also hold the record for longest time without a name. It took us over 10 hours to name him which may not seem long to some people but we have had all of our other babies named in the first 30 minutes. Joshua was on our favourite name list... it just took us a while to decide if it suited him. The meaning of Joshua is "God is Salvation." Peter is Jonathan's middle name, the name of one of the twins I nannied when I lived in Switzerland and the name of Joshua's Great, Great-Grandpa.

I just wanted to take a few minutes to share some pictures. I hope you enjoy them. We are all very much enjoying Baby Joshua.

38 Weeks

I have now been pregnant about a total of 228 weeks. We are currently partway through our 38th week in this pregnancy (by my original due date) or just about starting our 38th week (by my ultrasound date). I have never made it to my due date (though I know I should never say never) and my last 3 babies have been born at exactly 38 weeks. So, we are ready to welcome this baby boy into the world!

At my last doctors appointment my cervix was stretchy and I was 3-4 cm dilated. I have a doctors appointment this afternoon so we will see if that has changed any. To some people this seems like a lot but it is pretty typical of me to dilate before labour begins. With Samara I was 5cm dilated for a week. I have had several bouts of contractions over the last several weeks even lasting for up to 6 hours! This makes it difficult for me to predict if I am just having another round of practice contractions or if Baby is on his way. With Rebekah I had 6 hours of contractions before I was mostly confident that it was actually kicking in to the second stage of labour and that she was indeed on her way.

The last few weeks have been difficult. It spends a lot of emotional energy wondering if I am just up for another sleepless night or if it is baby day. I try to ignore the contractions for the most part but the question is always in my mind. You would think that with this being my 6th baby I would relax a bit about the whole labour and birth but I think I feel more stress and anxiety with this one then I have with any of the others.

I am looking forward to my mom coming for the long weekend. It will be nice to have the extra hands to distract the kids and some visiting and help to distract me. Jonathan is taking the rest of November off and works his last day on Saturday. I feel less overwhelmed knowing that soon I won't be on my own.

I may include a pregnancy picture later on if I get one. Hoping rather to be posting some baby pictures soon. We will likely put our first pictures of baby on Flickr when we are in hospital. You can view them by clicking on this link:

Neufeld Flickr Page