Meet Sarah Paraskeva!
Posted by Eric (June 4, 2007 at 10:02 pm)
We’re back from the hospital and Sarah Paraskeva’s personal website is ready! Read all about her birth, get all the vital stats, learn about her unusual name, and best of all see lots of pictures of my littlest little girl.
God is good! Praised be His Holy Name forever! In his mercy he has blessed me to be the father of six girls—no fewer than six! Nor has he forgotten to give me sons, two of them, older brothers to help me nurture protect these precious sisters and daughters.
I invite you to share my joy by meeting this newest Scheidler daughter.
Congrats!
When is the Baptism and Chrismation??!!
Comment posted June 4th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Gorgeous! What an ordeal… but what a blessing.
Eric, you are too funny — “Dad and ‘William'”?!?
My best wishes and promised prayers for energy, health, and continued happiness for Mom, Dad, and their “quiver full” of children!… Diane P.
Comment posted June 4th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
She is cute and I am impressed with her dimmensions. Wow! The birth just really confirms my desire to stay away from hospitals. All that warning and monitoring and such is enough to make any woman stressed. I remember at Veronica’s birth we insisted they bring the hearing test equipment to the room and we also refused the bath–just freezes the poor child before they have a chance to eat and feel welcomed. Anyway, maybe in the world of the Culture of Life, maternity centers will abound and hospitals will be a rare anomaly for birthing babies.
Blessings! And Congratulations!
Comment posted June 4th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
This is a birth of epic proportions!
And it isn’t really a suprise, is it, why women want to know how big the baby was? I mean, this just isn’t vital statistics, this is empathy.
And Sarah is much cuter than William.
Comment posted June 4th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Eric, your website is awesome! Thanks so much for sharing the photos that show Sarah’s welcome by all family members. Sarah is truly beautiful! It is so reassuring for me to see April,who always looks beautiful, looking so serene and proud of her new baby. I can’t wait to be on hand to help next Monday. Hopefully, you will get back to a regular rhythm of life soon. I will do all I can to help that happen.
Sending love and blessings……………………….Margie
Comment posted June 5th, 2007 at 7:02 am
Congratulations Scheidler Family – and welcome Sarah! What a beautiful family you are!
God bless.
Joan B. (from totb list)
Comment posted June 5th, 2007 at 7:34 am
So glad for you and yours. Sarah is beautiful. May the good Lord continue to bless you all.
Karen
Comment posted June 5th, 2007 at 7:39 am
Congratulations. I didn’t read the stats, just the story. Would be interested to have the blanks filled in. Note vandalism???? I just have to hear it. Also about the experimental procedures you declined, etc.
I had one C section, unnecessary in my opinion, for my first child. (Premature ruptured membranes, failed induction. It was my due date but cervix was not ripe. But I think they mixed the pitocin solution wrong; that was when nurses mixed it on the floor -1973-I heard two of them arguing about the decimal point and the one I think was wrong, won. If I am right about this, it was too weak by a factor of 10. …and my water was only leaking slightly, a “high leak” With my current level of knowledge I would have stayed home, kept clean, and waited.)
After that, one midforceps rotation delivery, one spontaneously completed vaginal delivery in hospital but with newborn complications. From number four on -I have 9- at home. Number six took 36 hours, started during the Holy Thursday liturgy, and baby was born 3 am Easter Sunday. I wanted to go to mass for Easter but I was strongly discouraged by my family. Always have been sorry I didn’t…”How old is that baby? Oh, about 6 hours….” I was a bit tired, I admit, but I could have done it.
Your hospital experience really could have been much worse than it was; on the whole it sounds as if your freedom to say no was respected and you weren’t hustled into a section. That says a lot for your doctors.
But, you know, you really didn’t HAVE to go to a hospital. (and the next baby after my 36 hour labor only took 12 hours…and he weighed over 12 pounds.) My doctor, who gave me prenatal care but couldn’t come to to the births, admitted afterwords that he had been worried that my uterus was tired out and unable to labor efficiently-not true. He hadn’t said a word to me, not to worry me, and because of suggestibility. I love him for that. And numbers 8 and 9 were even shorter. So you don’t have to be convinced that they all will take 61 hours. Also, if you stay home, the borderline between in labor and not in labor can be more fuzzy; you can go on doing ordinary things during early labor; one time my husband and I measured and cut out curtains; another time I picked and canned beans-my husband wound up monitoring the pressure canner as my contractions had become too intense. I have a really great memory of having a contraction while on my hands and knees in the dirt, under the sun, picking the beans.
I enjoy your blog even when you aren’t talking about birth.
In Christ,
Susan Peterson
Comment posted June 5th, 2007 at 9:09 am
Sarah is beautiful. And I had the privilege of having her brothers and sisters at my house for the duration of April’s long labor. An ordeal for April, but lots of fun for me and grandpa. We love having the house full of children.
Comment posted June 5th, 2007 at 9:44 am
I’ve been reading your blog for over a year now and had no idea you were also fellow home birthers! Small world. I had a doula birth last summer who was one of the Homefirst docs’ neice, as well as a former Homefirst client who moved up here several years ago.
Congratulations on your little beauty of a daughter.
Comment posted June 5th, 2007 at 10:29 am
What a beautiful baby girl…and a beautiful name to go with it!! Congratulations!
Comment posted June 5th, 2007 at 11:56 am
May God bless you all! The kids and I gathered ’round the computer this morning to read the story. They especially loved the part about the vandalism (but no more bad influences on them, okay?) Then off we went to offer a prayer for Sarah’s health and happiness. And yes, she is very cute.
Looking forward to seeing you all later this summer. I’ll bring food.
Comment posted June 5th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
So, what am I to make of the fact that Sarah stuck, but Catherine – her eldest aunt – did not?? I do love the name Sarah, though and little Faith was almost named Sarah (my boys actually preferred that). She is beautiful and I cannot wait to hold her. CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Comment posted June 5th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Eric and April:
What a cutie! She looks a little like our just-turned-two Patrick. Any chance of a pre-arranged marriage?
Blessings and Best Wishes,
Patrick, Peter, Brian and Judy Smith
Comment posted June 5th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
She looks so alert for such a little one! She’s beautiful. Congrats you guys.
Btw, my hoomebirth experience as you know (but others may not) was wonderful. Nothing to complain about. I hope the second one goes as well. Although I do not wish for a long labor, I do hope it isn’t too short or my doctor, who is over an hour away, might not get here!
Comment posted June 5th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Eric & April,
As you may know from hearing relatives recount the story, I always thought new babies were pretty universally ugly for the first couple of weeks until their faces unfolded, the wrinkles smoothed out and their heads began to look more like grapefruits than howitzer shells. This always made the mothers, aunts, sisters, grandmothers and in fact all females furious, and they universally gave me hate looks. I don’t think I ever heard any men complain about my observation, and I believe I even saw some cautiously nod in agreement.
But then Ann and I started having kids and I saw something I had not seen before. My OWN kids were universally BEAUTIFUL! Other kids might still have been somewhat homely, but even they were looking better. And something truly miraculous happened. I began showing everone I encounered those first-second-after-birth photos. I posted them on elevators, forced strangers to look at them, and I insisted that they see what I saw: STARK PERFECTION! — the Gerber Baby!
I remember when one of my uncles who was suffering some crisis or other in his own familly, did not rave enough about a picure of Cathy, and I never felt very friendly toward him after that. So I am a convert to the cult of the baby picture, and I always say they’re cute, since all babies are.
But there is a drawback to that. When I thought babies were universally ugly at birth, it really meant something special if your kid could elicite a “Wow! That one’s REALLY cute!” out of me. Now . . . but Sarah does look a lot like Ada, and Ada’s awfully cute, so what more can I say? Congratulations on No. 8! I’m real proud of you both.
Love, Dad
Comment posted June 5th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
What a beautiful daughter. Sarah is richly blessed to be born into such a family. She has much in common with our only daughter, Annie. They both were beautiful babies…and each has a mouthful of a middle name (Dirblun…had to keep my mother’s maiden name alive) 🙂
May God bless Sarah with many years of joy!
Comment posted June 5th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
Eric and April, Welcome to Sarah. Love, Helen
Comment posted June 6th, 2007 at 12:13 am
Congrats, Scheidlers, on the arrival of Sarah Paraskeva! Another Scheidler beauty is welcome in the world. (April, what a saga!)
Love,
Michael, Dina, Michael III, Monica, Thomas, Maria, and Peter
Comment posted June 20th, 2007 at 7:39 am
Poor thing. Hopefully she and the rest of your children will have the sense to get away from your demented family as soon as they can.
Comment posted October 14th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
I don’t know, Frank. Personally, I’d prefer to be born to a pro-life family… lessens the chance of me getting killed.
By the way, Sarah is adorable! 🙂
Comment posted October 14th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Sarah is adorable! And as Annie pointed out, she looks quite alert for a newborn. I love her nose =)
She is very fortunate to be born into such a welcoming family. It was a great idea to take snapshots of her being held by her siblings too.
Congratulations Eric & April!
Sunnyday
Comment posted February 3rd, 2008 at 4:37 am