How quickly we forget...

• that a newborn's hair is absolutely the softest thing on earth--with their skin running a close second.
• the urgency and motivation contained within their cries.
• the size of their hands and feet compared to the rest of their little bodies...is it just me, or do they seem big proportionately?
• the size of their burps and toots compared to the rest of their bodies-hee hee! It is always so shocking!
  
• how tough it can be too maneuver their little limbs into clothing--or maybe how helpful my toddler is when getting dressed!
• how exhausting nursing is in the beginning--I remembered the pain that I seem to experience; I did not remember just how time consuming it is, and darn that prolactin for making you even more sleepy than you already are on top of it! ;) Along with that, it is really tough to schedule trips out of the house when things are nearly an hour away, and you must nurse on the 2-3 hour mark, 'round the clock.
  
• that you fall instantly in love at first sight, and that none of the seemingly negative stuff even really matters.
• how gratitude producing it is to watch your husband bonding with his new child.
• that we would do just about anything for this new little love.
• just how much we love baby gowns! They make diaper changes around the house 10 times easier!
• that babywearing is essential in our house!
• how behind I get (incidentally, if you are waiting for our announcements or a thank you note--it's gonna' be awhile--sorry!) on EVERYTHING except laundry, which becomes even more necessary than you think it could ever be if you want the poo and urp to come out of those adorable new clothes all your generous friends and family have given you!
• how my attitude when people send me plants shocks me. Believe it or not, I used to love to take care of houseplants. Now my attitude screams--I already have one child to keep alive, now a teensy baby too! Not to mention the dog! No more keeping things alive--I will NOT be responsible for more living things! It makes me laugh, but this really is my truth-be-told outlook on it.
• How everyone has something to say, and how sweet almost all of it is!
  

Anyone else have things to add to the list? I'd love to hear more!

Adelynne's Birth Story

I’d been having birthing waves on and off since, well the beginning of February really. My guess date was February 28, and though I was post-due date with my son, I kind of suspected that my second wouldn’t be that way once I started pressure waves that early!

Fortunately I have a great doctor who never even mentioned induction—even with a 2^nd “big baby” at just about 41 weeks! My favorite bit of encouragement that I heard while expecting what I suspected would be another big baby (my first was 9lbs 5 oz) was that baby fat squishes! So I told everyone that, and I believed it to my core—how true it turns out to be!

On Wednesday, I started having pressure waves 4-6 minutes apart, and because we live an hour away from the hospital, and we needed to drop our son off at our friends’ house, we decided to head into the hospital. We got there, and about an hour or two later, the contractions petered out. It looked like our little girl was working up to something, but we were still going to have to exercise patience—not my strong suit by the way! I was Group B Strep +, so the on-call doc told me it was better safe than sorry as far as my getting to the hospital timing was concerned, and that he would rather have me in 5 times for prelabor, than have her so fast that we couldn’t get her all the antibiotics through the I.V.

Thursday ended up being rather uneventful, which meant I got a good night’s sleep, for which I was grateful, and Friday, my parents arrived from out of state to visit—fortuitous since we thought they’d be coming to visit an already born baby! They got in at 1:30 pm, and we had kind of a busy day—by my design, because I thought it might get things going! We went to a late dinner and were home around 9 pm. I’d had a few pressure waves throughout the day, but nothing particularly of note, but they did seem to be picking up in both intensity and speed as I put my son down for the night. I was really concentrating on those lullabies by the end of our routine!

When I left the room around 9:30, I turned on the ContractionMaster website out of curiosity and started timing my waves. The first 2 were about 7.5 minutes apart, the next 5, the next 3.5—I decided to get into the tub to see if it slowed things down. That was the suggestion of the L&D nurse from the last time I’d been in. She said to soak for about 30 minutes or so, then get out and see if the waves started back up again. Well 15 minutes into my bath, I’d had more than 5 waves and decided it was time to go! I told Ben, we put a few last minute things in the car, I put my Easy First Stage Hypnobabies track on my iPod with my headphones, and we were off! We got to the hospital at midnight and went right up to our room.

They were doing the intake in between my birthing waves, and I was still listening on my iPod. I was able to breathe deeply with my lightswitch off during each wave, and was totally responsive in between to the questions. My first exam showed I was at a 6, which surprised everyone a little. About a half an hour after that I was at an 8, and it wasn’t long after that that I felt what I thought was my water breaking—that is unconfirmed by the staff, because I guess it didn’t look like it had broken, and they’re not really sure when it did, but I felt a very different set of sensations immediately after the strong wave with the pop in the middle. I’d been so calm and quiet to that point, and it was as if I was taken over. I was vocalizing loudly, and I would be dishonest if I didn’t admit that there was p***, but she was crowning—unbeknownst to me—I wasn’t sure what was going on since I didn’t really have the luxury of feeling my first birth.

I had put my iPod into a dock by this point and I was listening to Early First Stage still—no time to switch to Pushing Baby Out. Ben says I pushed 3 times—I honestly couldn’t tell you, but it was amazing to feel each step-first her head (14.5 in.) then her shoulders (14 in.) then her chest (14 in.) and body. Adelynne was here; 9 pounds 2.5 ounces and 20 ½ inches long! She made her grand entrance less than 2 hours after we got to the hospital—at 1:48 am. They immediately put her on my chest and waited for the cord to stop pulsing. It was the most glorious moment of bonding ever! I was clear-headed and exhilarated with awe, joy, and love at my birthing process and my beautiful little girl! We did it! The nurse said it took 8 minutes from start to finish—the doctor barely got in here and the bed was broken down just in time. With things moving as fast as they did, I had a 2^nd degree tear, but the doctor really took her time stitching, and I can already tell I am healing well from that, and I didn’t feel it happen, so it’s really not a big deal.

All of the nurses have been talking about how great things were—this is the first Hypnobabies—or Hypnosis type birth of any kind that they have seen, and they are full of good things to say; wishing all births would go that way.

Adelynne has been so alert compared to Nehemiah. I feel badly that he had all of those drugs the first time, because the difference is astounding! But without that first birth experience, I wouldn’t have had the incentive to figure out what I wanted to do differently the next time; the Lord works all things together for good.

Well, I think little Miss A is ready to nurse again—she loves that! So, I’d better run! I couldn’t have asked for a better experience, and will tell anyone who’s interested all about it! Praise the Lord with me for His faithfulness and provision, and for new life!

Adelynne is here!

Hi all! I'll be writing up my birth story shortly, but I wanted to let you all know that Adelynne arrived this morning at 1:48 am. We got to the hospital at midnight, so things went really quickly! I was able to have the natural childbirth that I wanted, and she is gorgeous! 9lbs 2.5oz, 20.5 inches long with a 14.5 inch head circumference. She also nurses really well so far--hooray! Here are some pictures of our new little sweetie!

World for $1

I just saw a deal where you have the possibility to get a hotel out of 15,000 the world over for $1 a night. It is a little gimmicky, because they only do it for 15 minutes a day, and they only give you hints for when that will be, but if you are interested in giving it a shot...Head on over and check out Last Minute Travel's
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It doesn't exactly say when time runs out on this deal, so if it has expired, I am sorry. I am not going anywhere soon, or I would try it out for you! ;)

What's a girl to due?!

Well, depending on who you listen to, my due date was yesterday or today. Seeing as it is highly unlikely that I will be giving birth in the next 3 hours or so, I am overdue--again! I guess my babies just like to snuggle in! ;)

Please pray that I would be patient and that I won't have to be induced--it hasn't even come up with my doctor yet, but I would really rather avoid that conversation altogether!

So, on my due-date, we had some friends over for soup, sandwiches, and Wii fun after church. A little rockin' out on Guitar Hero. I think I surprised everyone with my Pat Benatar kick while jammin' on Heartbreaker! ;) Yeah, that's right...I've still got some moves! The guys then played some Mario Kart while the ladies entertained the children. All in all, it was a fun experience, (and I guess I shouldn't be too shocked about this) that left me exhausted!

Hoping things are well with you all--I'll try to keep you posted! I love getting pictures out as fast as possible after the little one arrives, but there isn't WiFi at the hospital, so we'll see!