Told ya she's perfect

I'd be really ungrateful if I didn't put a plug in for my friend Jen Korth who took these for us. Check out her website:jen

Just a stupid post (forgive my boredom)

My solution to a serious case of Cabin Fever: Wrap baby up in one of those hippie wraps and go for a walk. Boy is it nice to see the outside world and the weather is perf.

By the way this photo is going to be my official "before" shot. I've got 32 lbs to lose to get to my pre-preggo weight and it couldn't come off fast enough. Nobody has been more sick of being fat than me.
Question for you ladies out there- How long is it ok to wear maternity clothes after you've had the baby? Just wondering.

My new obsession

My friend, who I think is the nicest person ever, made Charity this adorable pillowcase dress as well as blanket and bib. All embroidered. Thanks Jen!!!! (The bow doesn't quite work yet. We need a bit more hair :)

And Jenalyn asked that I take a photo of Charity with a 2 liter pop bottle to get an idea of her size. But we don't have a pop bottle around here. You get a syrup bottle and my hand instead. I know it's ghetto. Does that give you an idea though? She's wearing a Preemie onesie here. And below I put a Newborn size outfit on her. She's drowning in it!

We weighed her yesterday though and she broke 6 lbs!

For all those askers I want you to know that we are doing really well. My back is getting better every day and I feel pretty good. I'm tired, but overall I am really enjoying this baby more than you could imagine.

Charity is the sweetest baby. She is not much of a cryer. She just eats, poops and sleeps pretty much around the clock. If this is how she's going to continue babyhood, she will for sure be our easiest baby.

G*A*C*S

Charity started a new organization- G*A*C*S- Girls Against Car Seats. She's the Founder and President :)

She rarely cries so I had to capture this.

Here she is

So I'm getting requests for 1- photos and 2- birth story. Here you go with 1- Moments after her birth and looking quite messy.

Hours after her birth and much cleaner and sleepier.

1 Day old with Dad. I am euphoric with love and gratitude for these two.

Shortly after getting home today.

So I don't think the majority of people would really want to read a boring birth story, but there are a few out there that have asked me to. So I'll comply. I absolutely do not expect you all to read it. For those of you that just want the quick details, I'll do that first.

I was induced. It took forever. There were a few hiccups that made the whole process a little harder. But she finally got here after a very long and difficult labor Wednesday morning at 5:08 am. She was 5 lbs. 15 oz. and 20 " long. She and I are both home now and recovering just fine.

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Long birth story version for you nutty people who really want to know.

I had planned to have a very natural birth. I did a lot of reading and took classes and was all set to go for a completely unmedicated delivery. I had a midwife and a doula. My two worst fears as I prepared for her arrival were these: First that she would be breech. Becca was breech and getting her turned while I was in labor was a nightmare!!! Second, that my labor would be so long I wouldn't be able to handle it. Both fears were realized.

So as it turned out, at 37 weeks, 3 days pregnant, I needed to be induced because my blood pressure was just too dangerously high. I was concerned that having to be induced would make the delivery harder because pitocin causes such intense contracting. I also worried that since she was having to come out early and I was not dilated at all I was gonna be in the for the long haul.

On Monday night they had me start citatek. By morning I was only dilated to a 2 and 50% effaced. Kind of a bummer. Contractions were starting and they felt like progress was looking good enough to start pitocin. So I started pitocin very early Tuesday morning. Contractions picked up a bit more. After hours of that though, there was no further dilation. Soon they realized that she had turned to have her feet coming first (breech) and that she either needed to be turned, or they needed to do a C-section. I honestly considered the C-section because of my experience with having Becca turned. But I decided to go ahead and let them turn her. It was painful and a bit scary, but not as bad as it was with Becca. What's better is it was a success! So then things started to move forward a bit better. They wanted to break my water even though I was still at a 2 to kind of help keep her head down. So they did that and immediately contractions got very intense.

I had never done a natural delivery before. I never had the desire to try it before this pregnancy. I thought I knew a little of what to expect. Afterall, I had labored to a 5 with Jonah without too much problem and without any pain medication. But I was in for a treat. It was much harder than I expected. The pain was pretty intense. I had no idea a uterus was that strong!

I managed to deal with it though until I was completely dilated. They told me it was time to push. I pushed for about an hour. But nothing seemed to be happening. They were getting a little concerned. They told me they thought that she was turned again in a way that was going to make it extremely difficult to deliver. They said that she was in a position in which some women just opt for a C-section rather than to try to do vaginally. She had her head down, but it was like sideways or something. They said in order to still deliver her vaginally, they would probably need to put their hand up inside of me and turn her head. At that point, I hadn't slept in two nights, and had been laboring so long and hard. So I was like "GIVE ME THE EPIDURAL NOW." Thankfully the anesthesiologist quickly came in and took care of business.
They did their thing and successfully turned her again. Then I started pushing again. With the epidural it seemed like no problem at all. I think I pushed for about another hour and she was finally delivered!
I was overcome with relief and joy. I couldn't stop kissing her and telling her I loved her. Tears couldn't be held back either. It was wonderful. All things checked out and she looked good.

About a couple of hours after delivery I started getting a massive headache. It was a strange one. If I layed down flat, it went almost away completely. But if I raised my head at all, it was miserable. They told me I had a spinal headache from the epidural. Apparently it only happens 1 in 200 epidurals. I was ordered to lay flat and hope that it would get better on it's own. It didn't. This morning they said that it could last weeks and the only way to fix it was to either lay flat as much as possible, or to get a blood patch. I opted for the blood patch as taking care of a newborn while laying flat on your back 24/7 isn't really reasonable.

The blood patch was really strange. It was basically like another epidural. They put the needle in my back while I curled up and I held that position while they drew blood out of my arm and put it directly into the epidural needle in my back. It felt really weird. Then I had to lay flat for about an hour. When the hour was done, my headache was completely gone! But my back was in bad shape. It still is. It feels like I'm getting electrocuted when I try to move or walk or anything. But at least if I stay still I am ok. And I can be upright and feed the baby and such. So I think it was a decent trade off. I'm hoping my back gets better soon though.

Charity is doing well. She is feeding well and looking good. She has been spitting up tons of amniotic fluid and has choked on it as well. Last night she stopped breathing for a minute and scared the life out of me. She turned very blue and I quickly gave her a little mouth to mouth and she started breathing again. So she kind of scares me and I feel like I have to watch her or have Steve watch her all the time. But otherwise I think she's doing well.

That's the long drawn out version. Hope it wasn't too boring!

So as to not leave ya hangin

She's here! I am crazy tired, so opted not to call everyone. But she FINALLY got here this morning at 5 am. That was the wildest labor and delivery I've ever had. Not the most fun. But she and I are well now and recovering. She weighed 5 lbs 15 oz and was 20 inches long. She's doing great. More details and photos to come later.

This is it

I went in yesterday for monitoring and my blood pressure was high enough to where they thought they better induce me. I've been in the hospital since yesterday afternoon. They started me on citatek (not sure how to spell that,) last night. This morning they started me on pitocin. Progress is slow, but I think I'm now officially in labor. We'll keep you all posted. She should be here today.

Baby Update

Today I am 37 weeks and 2 days pregnant.
I was sent to labor and delivery twice this past week and was asked to go a third time, but refused after my first two visits. Why? Because after getting me freaked out and having me and baby be monitored for 3-4 hours and being subject to various testing, they just sent me home feeling emotionally and physically drained.
Why was I sent to L&D? I have been getting bad headaches, my vision has gotten whacked out and a few other unpleasant symptoms. Turns out my blood pressure is high and I've got a mild case of preeclampsia.
At this point I am considered full term and a doctor they had me see at Maternal Fetal Medicine felt like it was more risky to keep me pregnant than not. Unfortunately I've been getting tossed around between midwives, doctors and specialists with all varying degrees of concern and game plans. I went in to doctors appointments and testing several times last week and it looks like this week will be the same. Ugh.
The game plan as of now is to come in for testing and monitoring every 3 days and if anything changes for the worse even slightly, they will probably induce me. Tomorrow I go in. I don't feel good at all, so I am anxious to be done with this and to be holding my baby! But we'll see what happens.

Recommendations

Going on a double date with these ^^guys ~ Recommend
Seeing the musical "The Fantasticks" ~ Don't really recommend

Spending a couple of bucks to buy a coconut for your kids ~ Recommend! Totally worth the hour they spend in the garage with few tools trying to get the thing opened.

Plus their delight when it is finally cracked!

"Funfusion" crafts ~ Recommend

We have literally kept our kids entertained for HOURS doing these. Plus we had a party for our Primary class (we have ten 4/5 year-olds, but only 6 made it to the party) and it kept them entertained for a long time too.

It's such a quiet craft and leaves no damage.

Just some ideas for you.

Virtual Tour of Baby Charity's Room

The before pictures- What a mess. It was kind of a storage room before I began.

So here's what I get and don't get credit for on this room-

I did: The idea and design

The painting of walls and woodwork

Putting up and painting the shelf

Picking out the accessories and putting them up

What I don't get credit for: The "stream" and artwork on the walls. I had an artist; Anna's brother in-law, come do that part.

The after shots from all angles.

You can't see the words on the walls very well in these photos, so I took photos of just the words too. It's pretty subtle but still noticeable when you're actually in the room and not seeing via photos. Which is what I wanted. These words are above the crib.

This picture didn't capture how cute that sun is. Maybe if you click on it, you'll see it better.

The puzzle that took us forever to put together. All framed in a very ghetto way. I took an old picture I didn't like so much anymore, took it out, painted the frame and sloppily put the puzzle in there instead. I didn't feel like forking over a bunch of money to have it professionally framed. Maybe I should have though.

This is behind and above the rocking chair.

The other wall.

These words are up above the clouds above the stream:

The entrance to the room.

So I've gone through all the baby stuff and have everything washed, set up and ready to go for baby. I am so ready for her to arrive! Not just ready, I'm going crazy with impatience. People have asked what my due date is. It's Sept 4. So I've got just a few weeks till I should deliver. If I had it my way, I would love to have her just a couple weeks early.

Confessions of a mediocre mom

So what kind of mom am I?
Well to start off, I'm now the kind of mom who will let a child wear the same outfit for 5 consecutive days in a row just because it's her favorite outfit and because I've given up caring about stuff like that. I'll even take this child to respectable places like the optometrist in said outfit after she's worn it for 5 days. Think ill of me if you wish--but that's what I've become. (Look how happy that child is in that outfit btw.) I'm also the kind of mom who after a couple years of hearing "When can I get contact lenses?" lets her 10 year old get them. And I'm actually almost as excited about it as she is it too. (She's loving them so far!)

And finally I'm the kind of mom who 1-Decided years ago that my kids will only get a "friend birthday party" on their 8th, 12th, and 16th birthdays. Otherwise they just get a fun date with either mom or dad and a little family celebration on their special days. And it's worked out great.

2- Today is Becca's bday and I'm also neglecting to make a post exclusively to her. But she's had a good day so far and we love her to death!!!!!!!!!! How did she grow to be 6 already?! I've used her birthday as my excuse to smother her with extra hugs and kisses today. What a joy she is to me!

As a mom throughout the years, I think I've changed quite a bit. I used to care about my house being spotless a lot more for example and that affected my parenting significantly. In many ways I've learned to loosen up a bit. I often ask myself "Is it of eternal consequence?" And if it's not, then I try to let it go. Don't get me wrong though; I LOVE a clean house.

I'm not the greatest mom, but I can say that I am truly crazy about my kids and I am confident that they know it. I make plenty of mistakes for sure! Although, I think for the most part my children are enjoying life. And I'm enjoying it with them.

Splurge

I did something really crazy. I actually took all my kids and myself to a salon to get our hair professionally cut! Nothing major and special but it was SOOOOOOOOOO nice not being the family hair cutter for once! (Although Steve still insists that I and only I always cut his hair. You'd think after 11 years of my haircutting, he'd learn his lesson. ::Sigh::) I rarely get my own hair done/cut. I usually only do once or twice a year. I needed to do something. While I was at it, I decided to go ahead and give myself a break and have someone else cut my kids hair for a change. It turned out to be a pretty fun outing. Jonah's after shot
Celeste's after shot- she got a few inches off with some layers.
Eden's after shot- she also got a few inches off with some layers.

Becca's after shot- She got an "a line" cut,

which will be so nice as she hates getting her long hair brushed!

And this is my after shot (and 8th month preggo shot for bonus). I got my hair permed straight. I was a bit tired of curls--- I mean frizzzzz. I also got 2-3 inches cut off. My hair color looks strange too for some reason, but I didn't get it colored. (I know what you're thinking: "That's one bad color job if she did!" And you're right.) I haven't done any kind of color for about 6 years and I'm trying to let my gray hair take over just a bit more before I cave and start coloring and forking over the cash frequently to maintain it.

We also went to the dinosaur museum with the Bishop cousins. Fun fun.