fun with bread

We're joining the Crazy club, I guess. We just tried grinding fresh wheat berries into flour, then making bread out of it. It was actually kinda' fun, and I was surprised how good the bread was without any white flour. I expected bread like the really hearty whole grain stuff I've had before, but it tasted better. Anywho, maybe we'll keep trying some more. I'm pretty sure it's a bunch healthier. Chances are, I'll burn out on making it really soon. I tend to be very faithless on carrying through on things.
-Mark

Geldan's birth story (the momma's attempt at a quick version)

so Geldan is now 3 weeks old.
i have been having the hardest time trying to write out his birth story.
i'm always wanting to chronicle every detail.
here goes . . .

?am - mark set off for a tuning day in lake geneva/williams bay

after breakfast and morning jobs done - turned family room into a fort for school and fun

normal stuff goin' on

3-4:15 - momma and 2 little milligans take a late afternoon nap

snacktime

4:50 - call grandma sara (she asked,but there was no baby news to report - nothing happening)

5:16 - i called mark to check on his day and estimated return home (first time i noticed that i was having some contractions)

suppertime - homemade frozen pizzas needing some doctoring up - owen helps with the toppings - the rest of the bunch is instructed to pick up the family fort room - the momma is annoyed at the kiddos not helping - the momma is annoyed by more persistent contractions keeping her sitting down every 10 mins or so and keeping her from getting supper done

6? - mark returns home - gets a cold, distracted welcome - the momma is crabby and grumpy and frazzled - the kiddos are still cleaning up and unhappy about the fort fun being done - mark takes over the supper stuff

6:16 - i begin keeping track of contractions - barking out orders for all between cntx 2-6-4-10-8 mins apart (strong, but irregular) - not yet willing to admit this is really labor (after 4 "false alarms" i really doubted my judgement) - not ready to call midwives or grandmas

suppertime

7? - finally give the midwives and grandma strub a call - in task mode and feeling guilty over grouchiness with everybody - busy cleaning up and attempting to get the house in order before baby arrives - really annoyed that after all this time of waiting, this baby is going to come and my house is not ready (my first due date of september 21 was off. we recalculated to a possible october 2nd?? or maybe 6th?????? so geldan was either 3 weeks overdue or right on time??)

8ish - midwives and grandma strub get here all around the same time - i'm needing to concentrate and breathe through cntx stronger, but still irregular - mark has been getting kids ready for bed

8:20 - decide i need to turn off the task mode and work on birthing a baby - head upstairs to our bedroom (where all the birth supplies have been set out since our sept 15 "preparatory labor" day 4 weeks before) - midwives check vitals on momma and baby - i lay down on our bed - cntx kick up a notch -really having to concentrate and breathe through cntx - staying calm and relaxed

8:47 - water breaks - cntx at full speed with no rest between - start moaning as the cntx increase in intensity - thoughts on children who were not yet asleep - hoping they were not scared hearing momma screaming - midwives announce "there's the head" - my body does it's work

8:55 - heard my baby cry for the first time and "kim, you have a beautiful baby boy!" - 8 mins after my water broke - less than 4 hours from the time i noticed i was having contractions - and i don't remember pushing at all - our biggest baby yet - no tears - surprized that all the things i was even slightly anxious over were never present - amazed at this unbelievable experience of birth

(time had stopped when i decided to go upstairs and enter baby mode, so i checked out the labor flow chart for timing details)


- that wonderful moment finally arrived when mark handed our son to me and i held this new child for the first time!

-we delivered the placenta - grandma strub got to cut the cord - we got cleaned up just enough so that the children could meet their new baby brother (it couldn't happen fast enough for me because i was still concerned over them hearing me in labor and my crabbiness of the evening) - hogan, owen, leannora, and able were still awake, so grandma strub got the curious children up - it was so sweet to see their excitement over their new baby brother


- when the children went to bed we did the baby check - 8# 15 oz!! & 21 in long - gestation right on time
9:42 - called grandma sara - shocked her with the news (things had happened so fast we hadn't called to update her)

10:36 - called grandpa strub (who was working out of town)

11:10 - midwives head home

cozy with baby, birth stuff cleaned up, ready for our first night with our seventh child who still needed a name (i did make the request that mark give our son his name before going to sleep for the night)

geldan erik milligan is named - meaning: to yield to the eternal ruler, surrendered to the sovereign one - the significance of his name is a whole story in itself - that will have to be saved for another day - but to say something simply . . . we are rejoicing over the opportunities God has been giving us to yield things to Him. it has been amazing to experience victories while resting in His work. what a blessing it is to learn to trust Him and wait on His timing. "be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him . . ." psalm 37:7 - in all things we praise the Lord!

Please Welcome - Geldan Erik Milligan

Geldan Erik Milligan

Here's Shiloh holding Geldan.

The birth went beautifully. It was about 3 and 1/2 hours from first contraction to birth. Kim called me while I was on my way home from a day of Piano tunings - around 5:30. When I got home, we ate then called Kim's mom and the Midwives. They arrived around 7 or 7:30, and Geldan arrived around 8:55pm. Kim did great. She's fine and healthy. Perfect baby boy. Wonderful company. Great and marvelous God. What a blessed day!

Here we are just after delivery.

Here's our Midwives.

Geldan is 8 pounds, 15 ounces. 21 inches long.

super food supper

we're such cruel parents

(notice the tear drop under shiloh's eye)


we had brussel sprouts, rice,
AND liver and onions and mushrooms for supper

and the children ate super duper well

they are amazing kiddos!



(cause their sad face pictures were just set up)

a good day and the garden's end for the summer

today was a simple sort of sunday.
church.
lunch.
momma got a nap with the little milligans.
the rest of the family played and worked outside.
it was a beautiful fall day!
we picked the last of our garden's produce (except for a few green tomatoes left here and there).

little pumpkins

acorn squash

cherry tomatoes

the children also helped mark cut out stuff from our lilac bushes - dead branches, mulberries, weeds with burrs. . .
our neighbor girl even helped transport the piles of stuff to the city brush pile.
she joined us for supper too.
we topped off the day with a campfire in the backyard.
mark and hogan worked on carving some bows.

so unless we photograph the garden clean up process (which might not even happen with the arrival of baby milligan???) this is our garden's end for this summer.

here's a look at the corn's final height
it got up to the garage roof!

this was owen a couple of weeks ago harvesting tomatoes from his beefsteak plant
given to us by grandma strub
after our heirloom tomatoes didn't survive transplanting

surprize!
we found 3 big pumpkins hiding by the rhubarb plants
they volunteered themselves from our compost pile
nikao is helping uncover one of them

summer has ended well and we are looking forward to a beautiful fall - our favorite season of all!

another baby update

well, they say third time's a charm.
that's what i was hoping for.
instead we got 3 strikes, but baby milligan #7 has yet to come out.

we have had 3 exciting preparatory labor days.
wed. 15th
sun. 19th
fri. 24th
each of these days we've made the phone calls to have the midwives and grandparents join us for baby's arrival.
twice now the midwives have spent the night in our guest bedroom.
our due date was the 21st.

though i'm not anxious that we're "overdue," nor frustrated over these funny days, i am looking forward to meeting this baby in God's timing.
i've had to surrender myself to waiting and God has been using the questionable labor days to better prepare us for the arrival of this child.
psalm 37 has been a favorite section of the Bible to me for some time, and has comforted my heart, mind, and spirit this week.
"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him . . ."
that might be this baby's verse!

thanks for your thoughts and prayers!!
we have definitely sensed the blessing of being prayed for throughout these days.
this baby already has an interesting birth story, but we'll be sure to send out the news once we have new baby news.

baby milligan news

so a baby news update . . .
i woke up early this morning to some contractions.
they were fairly regular, so we called our midwives and the grandparents.
once i got up, the baby activity slowed down.
by 2:00 pm, we decided that labor was not progressing, so the midwives returned home.
so i'm calling this preparatory labor.
it sounds so much better than false labor.
and really, i believe it's all working together to bring this baby to join our family.
it has been a good day.
i'm not disappointed or frustrated at all.
God's timing is in the works and we can trust Him!

so please keep us in your prayers as we wait and trust this baby to arrive in God's timing.
love in Him,
kim