Random thoughts Thursday... technically it's Friday

• This wind is incredible, annoying and I would like for it to stop.
• Upon my Dr.'s order's I started "swimming" today. Actually I just walk around. I am hoping to relieve the Sciatica that I have been battling, which has gotten progressively worse I might add,  have some felt some relief today, however, developed a painful groin due to exercising new muscles I guess.
• Got a call today that I have high glucose results, I go back Wednesday for a 3 hour glucose test. I am praying that it was an isolated thing and that I don't have Gestational Diabetes, I'd rather not add that to my list.
• I have an ultrasound in the morning to check the placental tear and growth of the baby
• I have a friend who recently found out she was pregnant, when Sophie learned about this she asked, " did she take her temperature on the pee pee stick like you did mommy?", she continued to ask HOW does a mommy know when she might have a baby in her tummy.... that was fun explaining, I'll spare those details. 
• David is still feeling the after effects in running in the OKC Marathon Relay coupled with playing basketball that afternoon ... his neck and back have been giving him fits to say the least
• Davis is wrapping up OCCT testing tomorrow. Tonight he informed me that there were 4-5 questions over Shay's Rebellion, he said they barely covered it in class, he was so frustrated. I could not remember any details about Shay's Rebellion, however,  I do remember learning something about it... back in the day
• We have 3 caterpillars captured, we are hoping to witness a cocoon and butterfly appearance, with my luck they will be plain ol' moths, but a beautiful transformation, none the less
• We also have a bird nest on our back deck with 6 birds that have hatched, I am afraid the mother has abandoned the nest. The last 2 days when I have looked, from a distance, w/o touching etc... she has not been there :( I'm hoping I am wrong.
• Well, I got up to take Tylenol for Sciatica, I am finally feeling relief, better head back to bed...

Overdue Birth Story of Sophie Marlana

As my pregnancy of this third little one progresses I have reflected so much on the birth of my last one, Sophie. I realized I had never written a Birth Story documenting the amazing experience I had with her birth. So here it goes, almost five years later. I remember it like it was yesterday actually.

After giving birth to Davis in 98, with every intervention possible, except for a c-section, I soon began to educate myself on the whole process of birth. Davis was a rather large baby at 9.3 lbs. . I wouldn't trade his birth for anything, even though it was a very difficult one. His birth urged me to explore other alternatives and led me to becoming a Doula. Little did I know it would be almost 7 years before I got to put in to practice all of the new things I had learned.

My goal with Sophie was to have a natural/unmedicated birth with my husband and a Doula to guide me through the whole process. My sister-in-law Moni eagerly began educating herself on the techniques. I knew she would be great, I wasn't even worried about how much she knew, I was so confident in her nurturing personality to help us through the birth, and she did amazing! David was extremely supportive and was willing to try ANYTHING to make me comfortable, even when it was not so comfortable, and at times back breaking on his part. He stayed active and involved the whole 18+ hours we labored to bring Sophie in to this world. I say We because I believe it was only possible to accomplish what I did with God and the support of these two people.

We arrived at the hospital around 6 AM for a scheduled induction on August the 17th. The Pitocin was started at a very low dose to get things going. It seemed so easy at first. It was a very slow process, which was actually good, since I did not plan to have an epidural. My Dr.  wanted to break my water around 8:30, however, I declined, knowing that it would kick things in to gear very fast and I didn't think I was ready. Needless to say it was not broken until 3pm or so. In between 8-3 we walked the halls, changed positions too many times to count, and I sat on my birth ball most of the time. We listened to my Enya CD's over and over. Ironically Sophie loves to listen to them too. David was so cooperative and encouraging with all of my requests and frequent changes of positions. Moni was encouraging and emotionally and physically supportive through all of my requests too. She was good at reminding me to remember to breathe and reminding me of my goal and the beautiful baby I would be holding in the end. Once my water was broke, around 3pm, things did not take off like I had hoped. I continued to progress slowly. We continued to move around and I wasn't in the bed very much. As the night continued I finally started to have the unbearable contractions. I was allowed to sit in the shower, on my birth ball, while Moni sprayed my belly with the spray nozzle. Thank goodness I was allowed to do this, I believe it was at least an hour that I stayed in there. I was still doing very well. The amazing thing about birthing is there is a break in between surges (contractions) that gives you the needed relief. I clung to those. As I progressed we learned that I had come to a halt. I stayed at an 8 for at least an hour or more. This is when one of my nurses checked me to see if she could "help things along", this is also when the demon possessed Michelle was introduced :) Not sure what she did but it hurt more than anything I had ever experienced. I began wanting an epidural, I began to panic!!! Transition had arrived... I was beside myself! Moni stepped out in to the hall leaving David and I alone for a few minutes while she talked to the nurses. I'm sure she was asking them " what the heck do I do with her now?" I was demanding an epidural, but what I was being told was it would be at least 30 minutes before the anesthesiologist would even get there... it would most likely be to late. So in those few moments while she was out of the room I started having the urge to push. I screamed to David that the baby was coming out now! Needless to say he got a little terrified, to say the least, and hurried to get the nurses. After returning to the  room he actually fainted. The nurse checked and low and behold little Sophie was on her way. Several nurses began attending to David, and I actually began to calm down. They called the Dr. and I was just holding on until she got there. At this point it had been 18 hours and we were in to the next day. The pushing stage was much more manageable. I would bear down and actually was screaming/grunting very loudly (so loud I'm sure it could be heard down the hall and one nurse said "don't make that noise" it was impossible not to, and my Dr. said those were my best pushes, so keep doing it!) then simply lay back and sleep. I was totally focused and able to ignore what was going on around me... chatter between the Dr. and nurses, and all the attention being given to David. It did take at least an hour of pushing, but it felt more like 20-30 minutes. Finally little Sophie came in to the world at 3:18 on August 18th 2005. I felt amazing afterwards, tired yes, but I was so alert and full of unexplained energy. I was able to nurse her immediately like I had hoped for, she wasn't even cleaned off yet. Then of course they had to take her and weigh her etc... She also had some fluid that she had to have suctioned a few times. Otherwise it was the birth experience I had imagined and hoped for. It was so amazing. Note* David was taken down to the ER for IV fluids after seeing Sophie. He recovered well. They were worried because his pulse would not come up. He plans to not faint this time around :)

So, in about 16 weeks I will be going through this again. I have the same plan, however, this time around I am planning to try Hypnobirthing as well. I hope to keep from "freaking out" during transition. I pray that I can stay focused and I pray it will be less than 19 hours this time around. I plan to NOT be induced, unless absolutely necessary. I can't wait to write a more accurate birth story for our baby girl in the weeks to come.... stayed tuned :)

Yes, it's 3:28 AM on Tuesday morning...

What better thing to do than update my blog. And,WOW!!!, I just discovered new features of composing a post.

So to the right here we have an old snow pic, from the last snow, hence the failed attempt at Christmas lights on the tree behind Sophie. I just had to include a pic of some kind...

So, I am still on modified bed rest/ house arrest, which means I am not returning to work anytime soon. The bedrest was brought on by a tear in my placenta and contractions. I am so glad I do not have to be confined to my bed, and even have permission to go out for a short period, as long as I am sitting most of that time. It's still very difficult at home to make myself not do laundry, clean, etc... especially since the nesting syndrome has set in .... and I really don't remember it with the last two??? Anywhoo, my mom has ben a tremendous help cooking and keeping up w/ our laundry.

Last Friday we had our 20 week ultrasound with the high risk Dr. That was an event in of itself. It took about 2 1/2 hours, most of that being wait time. During this wait time my body decided to have stomach issues. I guess I was  in the right place, a Dr. office... Miraculously I was better by the time we actually went in to the room for the US. Oh, did I mention we took Sophie and Davis, boy they sure had fun waiting over an hour and being quiet... So upon entering the exam room I got upon the bed, that actually had stir-ups, and waited while nurse Sophie took over. She insisted I put my feet in the stir-ups, which actually wasn't necessary, then she proceeded to ask "there... you comfy now?" I refrained from telling her I didn't know any woman who was actually "comfy" when she had her feet in stir-ups, but I just followed her orders. Her father was very amused. Then she wanted to check out/look at all the gadgets of the machines etc... not too harmful I guess. All the while Davis was just sitting apprehensively in the corner of the room. So, eventually we were able to see the little baby on the big screen. Everything looked great (except for tear) and we all ooohed and aaahed.... It was confirmed 99.7% to be a baby girl. We finally got out of there are headed home...

I think I will attempt to go back to bed. Goodnight.

Well I was right...

Yesterday morning as I wrote I was predicting that I was not going to feel well. I attempted to go back to sleep with no luck. I managed to drag myself out of bed, shower,and get ready for work. While driving Davis to school I continued to feel worse to no avail. I turned the van around and came home. Within 20 minutes I was thankful I did! I was sicker yesterday than I have ever been...I experienced all the symptoms listed for about 8 hours straight. You could compare it to a terrible stomach virus. My conclusion was...I must be eating gluten.

Around 5pm or so I had a little energy to read and discovered my conclusion was correct. I learned that gluten is in malt, which is in candy bars,which I ate on Wednesday. I know I had other things too, like salad dressing. This is such a learning process. My life will be consumed w/ reading labels for awhile. So when you see people reading labels...
perhaps they have Celiac??

I am feeling better today, not 100%, but MUCH better. I am so glad I went to CR tonight, because I considered not going. It was very uplifting and rejuvenating. Thank you to all of you and your kind words of concern and encouragement!

P.S. For those of you who asked, yes my kids are getting tested next week. That shall be interesting. Just a blood draw...a first for Sophie and Davis vomits at the sight of blood... we shall see :)

God wouldn't give me anything I couldn't handle...

This little quote is well said. I have yet to figure out my little 9 year old son. Whoever told me that being a parent is the hardest job you will ever have wasn't kidding. How can one little person fill your whole heart with more love than you ever imagined and at the same time make you so frustrated you feel like...well you can fill in the blank!? There is no way to prepare a new parent for all of the emotions and feelings they will experience when they bring that precious baby home. Maybe that is why so many of us stop riding roller coasters... we are on one too many days of the week. I wouldn't trade this experience of being a mother for anything. I find comfort in knowing that my faith, patience, commitment, love, and happiness blossomed when I became a mother. I thank God first then Davis.

The Wii has taken over!!!

A good friend often tells me "God rewards good choices". We have tried over the year to make good choices, in particular with our finances...although we could always do better, that's the perfectionist in me;I'm working on that. Anyways, about 6 weeks before Christmas David won a Wii package deal at his work (Dell). He was elated! All our son has asked for this year is this game system, as we responded with explanations about why we could not get that this year. So we were possibly more excited than Davis on Christmas morning...there's nothing better than seeing your child light up with excitement over something! I crave those moments.

Wii will strive to remember that "God does reward good choices" in the coming year, 2008. I must say the Wii was just the icing on the cake...we were rewarded and blessed in soooo many ways in 2007! Have a Happy New Year!!!