Renshaw Family Christmas letter 2010

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!

What a wonderful year it’s been for us.

At the beginning of 2010 we celebrated two big milestones; Jonah’s 1^st birthday and our 5^th anniversary. What better way to celebrate such great occasions than a vacation! (Especially since Jonah had not yet started walking and still didn’t cost much to travel) So we took a trip to Spain in early February. We spent just under a week in Barcelona and then went on a 9 day Mediterranean cruise that took us to Morocco and the Canary Islands. It was quite an adventure and Jonah did wonderful! We’re looking forward to our next big vacation though it will probably be a while before we do anything as big as that one.

A few months later we found out that a very special person was going to be joining our family, and she has finally arrived! Rebecca Dawn Renshaw was born November 11^th! She was 7 lbs 4 ½ ozs and 19” long. We already feel like she has been a part of our family for much longer than a few months. She looks a lot like Jonah did except that she surprised us with a full head of hair which none of us had when we were born. We fell in love with her the moment we saw her and it wasn’t long before we couldn’t remember what life was like before her arrival.

Jonah was not so sure of Becca at first, but he tolerated her pretty well and quickly grew to love her. He doesn’t like it when she cries and will try to help her get her binkie back in her mouth. It’s not uncommon to find Becca with a teddy bear in her swing that Jonah had put there.

Jonah has grown and changed so much this year! He's a very smart and fun little guy. He started crawling right before the first of the year and he began walking around June. He didn’t really have any sort of transition – he went straight from crawling to running! He loves to play with puzzles and shape sorting toys. He now has a large vocabulary that he uses all day long as he runs around the house telling stories and singing songs, even if some of the words that he says are words that only he understands. He loves to read books whether with our help or by himself. He also loves to put things together and is a great problem solver. His new favorite thing to do is put together seatbelts so we almost always have to unbuckle Becca’s carseat before we can put her in it. He is the sweetest little man who knows no stranger and loves being around other people, especially other children. We feel so incredibly blessed by our two special children and feel even closer as a family because of them.

Dwight is enjoying working for NASA . He is currently helping to retire the Shuttle and feels honored to be a part of the next step in space flight and developing the new program. He began his first semester of grad school at Florida Institute of Technology in August. He is working toward a Masters of Science in Space Systems. His first two classes proved to be challenging, especially since he was getting use to be back in school again. He feels like he learned a lot of valuable information and in the end was able to pull off A’s in both classes. Next semester will be another crazy one with classes in things like Astro-dynamics and other things that go way over my head. Between school and work Dwight keeps pretty busy, but he’s very good at making sure he spends plenty of time with his favorite little boy and girl. I sure married a great guy!

I (Peggy) finally feel like Titusville is becoming home which is mostly thanks to my discovery of the local community theater programs. It’s nice to feel involved and to make friends in the area. I was able to participate in several stage productions including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat which I preformed while 5 months pregnant. It was the best exercise I could have asked for during my pregnancy. During the Fall I was invited to sing with several groups and had the opportunity to carol at Disneyworld earning 2 free tickets! I’ve also been able to work with a few clients giving massages. I hope to be able to find a part time job at a spa or health center in a few years when the kids start school so I need to give massages every once in a while to keep my license. I still have a few piano students and hope to continue teaching this next year. All of that makes it sound like I’m really busy, but most of my time this year was spent playing with Jonah and most recently, staring at Rebecca which is really all I want to do these days. I’m so grateful that I’m able to stay at home with my sweet babies.

We are really beginning to love our little community and our ward family. We’re looking forward to another wonderful year here in Central Florida, and we feel very blessed to be able to keep in touch with friends and family who live far away.

We hope that your family is also looking forward to a great 2011 and we hope that it’s not too far in the future before we’re able to get together with you again.

As always, if you’re ever in the area, you always have a place to stay with us!

Much love,

Dwight, Peggy, Jonah and Rebecca Renshaw

peggyrenshaw@yahoo.com

dwightrenshaw@yahoo.com

Every birth is a Miracle...

Someone told me not too long ago that giving birth was one of the most amazing experiences of their life. I hadn't really thought much about it until she said that, but I realized right away that I felt the same way about Jonah's birth and now I can say that I feel that way about Rebecca's birth too.
We decided to induce a week earlier than planned because my measurements had stopped increasing for several weeks and since I was 'softening' and beginning to dilate a little bit, we (Dwight, my doctor and I) felt it was a good idea to get her out of there "just in case". That turned out to be a very good call since there was very little fluid left when they tried to break my water. But we'll get to that part later...
We got to the hospital just a little after 7:30 on November 11th, checked in and did all the fun prep stuff like blood work and iv's (woo...). The nurse mid-wife came in around 8:30 to check me - I was still only at 1 cm! But the baby was very low and I was pretty much effaced all the way. They use a pill that causes contractions to induce instead of pitocin which they only use if needed later in the delivery.
My contractions started right away! It was excited for a little while and then when I got that first painful one, I thought "what did I just do to myself!" But it was too late now!
At one point I actually considered not going with an epidural but that thought left me quickly after Dr.Tiaval came in to check me and break my water, which like I said was kind of hard because her head was so low and there wasn't much fluid left anyway. I was still only at 2-3 cm's which we were all very surprised about. Dr Taival had to do some crazy stuff to get my water broken which really started the contractions going and from that second on I was praying the anesthesiologist would get there before it was too late to get the meds. He showed up around 2-ish with his needle and he couldn't have gotten there any sooner. My contractions were 2 minutes apart and boy did they not feel good. You think you're good at handling pain, but then you get to a certain point and thank heavens for modern medicine!
Unfortunatly, the epidural didn't work all the way. They said sometimes the needle will shift just barely one way or another and create a "window" where you still feel the pain. My window was on my right pelvis and the contraction pains went from being a general pressure to a very sharp prick in that one area. I would have rather not had the epidural than deal with feeling like someone was stabbing a knife in me every few minutes. But they had me lay on my side and let gravity do its work moving the medicine into the window and eventually it all went away. Then it was time to get a little rest.
Dr Taival came in again around 4:30 to check me again. My contractions were huge at this point! I could tell by the pressure that I still felt even through the epi. This is when things got a little interesting.
My doctor is awesome. She doesn't say things to scare you or worry you which is why I'm guessing she didn't say anything before now about why I wasn't progressing much. Apparently a band of scar tissue had developed and was preventing me from dilating. I was still only a 4 at this point and that wasn't expected. We have no idea where this band of scar tissue came from because I had never had any procedures that would usually cause this sort of thing. The only thing we could think of was when I delivered Jonah something happened that either the doctor didn't know about or didn't say anything to us about. Didn't matter at this point anyway. The band was there and it was starting to cause problems. Dr. Taival tried breaking it manually but that wasn't working. She decided to start pitocin to see if that would help. She didn't come out and say it, but all knew what was coming. My water had been broken for several hours and there was very little fluid in there to begin with and it had been that way for who knows how long. I wasn't dilating and there was an obstruction keeping me from being able to. Dr. Taival didn't say the word "c-section" but she did say we'd have a baby before midnight and we knew what that meant.
Lots of people have to get c-sections. I know this and I knew that everything would be ok. But I was not prepared and the reality of it scared me to death, especially because her head was already so far down.
The only thing I could think to do was get a blessing and leave it in God's hands. I called my good friend Julianna who was getting ready to move but who's husband had not yet been released from being the Elder's Quarm President. He and another member of our ward showed up just after 6:00 and gave me an amazing and powerful blessing. I was expecting to be blessed with peace no matter the outcome, but instead I was blessed specifically that my baby was going to born naturally and without any complications. I guess you can look at what happened next in any way that you want to - but when Dr. Taival came in just a few minutes later to check me and the band had softened and I was at 6 cm, I knew that it was a direct result of Heavenly Father blessing me through their Priesthood. What a cool testament of the power He has entrusted to us and of His love.
Very soon after that I began feeling different pressures and I told the nurse. She said it was a good thing happening but it was shift changing time so she didn't check me or anything. Just after 7 I got to meet my new nurse who talked with us for a while and then left to check on the other girl who had just had her baby. She told us that she'd come back and check in a few minutes and probably need to go find the doctor. But right after she left, the doctor came in to check me because my contractions were doing some interesting things. We kind of joked about how one time, Dr Taival checked someone and the baby was right there already coming out on its own.
Well, she checked me and guess what - this baby was already coming out on her own! It was fun to see Dr Taival go from laid back and relaxed to "all business" as she called everyone in and got to work. She told me not to move and since I was so excited the nurse had to try and keep me from laughing because apparently nothing was stopping this baby from delivering herself. It was probably 3 minutes and two tiny pushes from the time Dr. Taival checked me to the time I got to meet my sweet little Rebecca Dawn. She was 7lbs 4 1/2 ozs, 19 inches long and just gorgeous!
This past week has been a beautiful one as I've fallen in love with this special little spirit. It's been an amazing experience, from the time we found out that Rebecca was on her way to the time that she was born. No matter the pain or discomfort, she has been worth it and to be able to be an instrument in God's hands in creating life is an incredible blessing.
Dwight and I have been given two very special children to take care of. I am so glad that Rebecca has made it here safely and I can't wait to see all that life has in store for her and Jonah.

I'll add more pictures on a later blog, but if you want to see some right now, you can go here. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2098778&id=1155601621&l=6e8b97657b

Big update before the baby comes...

Lots has been going on these past few months and since Rebecca will be here tomorrow (WOO!!!) I thought I should do a quick update before this turns into a 'gush over the newborn' blog...because that's exactly what it's about turn into!

October 9th was Rebecca's baby shower. It was so nice to spend time celebrating the upcoming arrival of our sweet little girl with some friends. My friend, Deanna, did an amazing job putting it all together! It turned out to be a beautiful day.

35 weeks (I think) in the finished nursery

October 29th - even black can't hide my growing baby

Got to sing at the "Music of the Night" Concert

October 30th - Starting a new tradition of spending the afternoon before Halloween at the "pumpkin patch" with our friends

Jonah and his favorite friend, Isaac

On a hayride

Halloween - Jonah LOVED being a duck!

Who's bigger - the pumpkin or me?

Jonah heading to meet his friends in his new wagon. I don't think we could have survived Halloween without it

Jonah and his friends

Jonah was sure tired when it was all over...

...but very happy. I think he's defiantly a trick-or-treat fan

We decided to put up the Christmas tree at the beginning of November because we wont want to do it after Rebecca gets here. We got a tall tree last year since we have such a high ceiling. We just didn't realize how tall it is!

This last Monday we had a picnic on the beach with some friends. We wanted to do it before it got too cold...but we waited too long. Poor Jonah was smiling through his chattering teeth. He loved being there though. Defiantly a beach baby!

And now it's time to add another addition to the Renshaw family. We are so excited for Jonah to have a sister. We'll have pictures and stories up soon!

Happy Birthday to me! (9/25)

This year, my birthday came at me kind of fast. I saw a purple envelope in the mail and I just automatically assumed it was for the baby shower, not a birthday card - haha.
But it still turned out to be a nice day, especially since it was also KSC Family Day. Every few years KSC employees are allowed to take family and friends onto the space center. This is the second time they've done it since we've lived here and we've tried to take take advantage of it because you get access to buildings that you'd never get to see unless you work there. I think it made for a great birthday gift!

Here's a picture of one of the firing rooms - countdown clock and all

Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)
Each of those stars on the flag are 6 feet tall tip to tip!

Inside the VAB. It's hard to look up without getting vertigo

I think that was Jonah's favorite building to see.

Jonah helping Mommy sign the banner for the last shuttle launch ever!

Jonah gets to see where Daddy works

Not sure what this is called but it's the structure they use to mate/demate the shuttle from the plane if it has to land someone besides KSC

Some cool looking plane they put on display at the landing strip

Jonah and his "cool-cool"s That's what he calls them because whenever he puts them on we always say "Jonah, you're so cool!"

I guess I should also mention that Dwight surprised me with a cheesecake and a bag of mini 3 musketeers which I've been constantly craving most of this pregnancy :) Yeah, it was a good birthday.
Happy 27 years to me!