When I came back downstairs, I found Happy "reading" the Bible to MG. He was telling her about Jesus, the angels, and the animals. I believe it was his version of the Christmas story.
There couldn't have been a sweeter moment for me to witness.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Could There Be Anything Sweeter?
When I came back downstairs, I found Happy "reading" the Bible to MG. He was telling her about Jesus, the angels, and the animals. I believe it was his version of the Christmas story.
There couldn't have been a sweeter moment for me to witness.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Mollie Grace's Birth (Part 2)
Picking up from my first post about Mollie Grace's birth...
About 10 minutes into the 45 minute drive to the hospital (although I think Brandon managed to make it a 30 minute drive), I realized that there was not going to be enough time for me to get that epidural. But I still had no idea that the baby would be born in the van.
Brandon had been on the phone with the doctor and was told to call them back if I felt pushy. When he told me that, I thought, "I'm already feeling that way!" But I didn't tell Brandon that yet because I knew we weren't even halfway to the hospital and I didn't want to scare him. Plus, I think I was still in denial that the baby was coming so fast. Within a few minutes, I screamed, "I FEEL PUSHY!"
Thankfully, because I had read up so much on natural childbirth, I learned a lot about how to deliver a baby without a doctor (though that was NEVER my intention!). I learned that often a woman feels great relief when it is time to push and that she typically doesn't feel the urge to push unless it is the appropriate time (meaning, she is dilated to 10 cm). I also learned that if you deliver the baby when there is no one to cut the umbilical cord, it is okay for the umbilical cord to remain attached to both mom and baby for a little while.
So, I did what any sane woman would do, I started pushing that baby out of me! I went slowly and tentatively at first. From my reading on natural childbirth, I knew to try to take it slowly. It really did feel like such a great relief to be pushing. So much so that Brandon kept asking if I was okay because my yelling/groaning had quieted down significantly. I told him I was okay, but didn't tell him why.
I had my eyes closed to focus on the ordeal going on within me, but I could tell that we were no longer on the expressway and getting close to the hospital because of the frequent starting and stopping of Brandon's driving. The hospital is pretty much right off of the expressway.
This is where my memory gets blurry. I know I was seriously pushing at this point. I also was thinking about getting to the hospital and how there was no way I would be able to get out of the van in my current state. Luckily, the baby was going to resolve that dilemma for me and not give me that opportunity.
Brandon pulled into the hospital parking lot, trying to find the door that the doctor's office had told him to go to, where people would be waiting for us. He couldn't find anyone and, at one point, hopped out of the van trying to look for anyone. Somewhere in that time frame, I pushed one last time and Mollie Grace was born. I grabbed her as she was coming out.
Because my water had broken before leaving the house, I had towels with me. I found one and wiped her down and wrapped her up in it.
At some point, I looked for Brandon and I could see my sweet husband running around trying to find anyone to help us. I wanted to yell to him that the baby was here, but I didn't had the energy. Plus, I figured he would come back soon enough and find out.
He ran around the van and opened the door (either to tell me something or to check on me, I guess) and he had this look of utter shock and disbelief as he sees me in the back of the van holding a baby. (He later told me that I looked so calm and relieved!) We don't find out the gender of our babies ahead of time. It was dark and the umbilical cord made it a little confusing for me to decipher the gender. So apparently, I got Brandon out of his shock by only saying, "Well! What is it? A boy or a girl?!" He climbed in and checked and said, "Girl!".
Right around then, about 10-20 people come running from the emergency room with a stretcher. (The hospital we go to is a teaching hospital, so for every one standard role like a doctor or a nurse, you have several medical students or residents with them.) You could see the excitement on their face and then a touch of disappointment when they saw the baby had already been born.
Just at that moment, I see my doctor walking in front of our van, going into the hospital. It was providential that he was right there at that moment. He was coming to deliver my baby (or so he thought). We called him over to the van. He wanted me to get out of the van with the baby still attached to the umbilical cord, but I was shaking and too weak to do so. So, the doctor climbed into the van, clamped the umbilical cord, and had Brandon climb back in the van and cut the umbilical cord with a razor from the emergency kit that someone had brought out from the hospital. At this point, about 10 more people have shown up to help (or possibly just watch). Brandon thought the crowd of onlookers was one of the best parts. It was crazy how many people were there. They took the baby and put her in a bassinet and then they loaded me up on a stretcher and wheeled us both into a delivery room. And it was pretty much standard issue stuff from there on out.
Also, I did later learn from Brandon that adding to the stress of him trying to get us to the hospital on time was the fact that our empty light on our van was on. We have a little feature on our van that tells us how many miles of driving we have left before we totally run out of gas. Apparently we pulled into the hospital with 2 miles to go.
A few answers to the most common questions....
1. Yes, it hurt.
2. Yes, I delivered her myself. No one assisted.
3. Labor was an hour and a half from start to finish.
4. No discount that I know of, though that would be nice. I think I should get a cut or a commission, if you will, at the very least.
5. Placenta was delivered in hospital.
6. My sweet in-laws took the van to be detailed a few days later.
7. My dad brought a small portable container of gasoline to the hospital to get our van to the nearest gas station.
8. Yes, my dad taught me to always keep my car with a full tank. Yes, I see the irony in this.
9. No, I have no idea what we will do the next time I am pregnant, Lord willing. Move closer to the hospital?
About 10 minutes into the 45 minute drive to the hospital (although I think Brandon managed to make it a 30 minute drive), I realized that there was not going to be enough time for me to get that epidural. But I still had no idea that the baby would be born in the van.
Brandon had been on the phone with the doctor and was told to call them back if I felt pushy. When he told me that, I thought, "I'm already feeling that way!" But I didn't tell Brandon that yet because I knew we weren't even halfway to the hospital and I didn't want to scare him. Plus, I think I was still in denial that the baby was coming so fast. Within a few minutes, I screamed, "I FEEL PUSHY!"
Thankfully, because I had read up so much on natural childbirth, I learned a lot about how to deliver a baby without a doctor (though that was NEVER my intention!). I learned that often a woman feels great relief when it is time to push and that she typically doesn't feel the urge to push unless it is the appropriate time (meaning, she is dilated to 10 cm). I also learned that if you deliver the baby when there is no one to cut the umbilical cord, it is okay for the umbilical cord to remain attached to both mom and baby for a little while.
So, I did what any sane woman would do, I started pushing that baby out of me! I went slowly and tentatively at first. From my reading on natural childbirth, I knew to try to take it slowly. It really did feel like such a great relief to be pushing. So much so that Brandon kept asking if I was okay because my yelling/groaning had quieted down significantly. I told him I was okay, but didn't tell him why.
I had my eyes closed to focus on the ordeal going on within me, but I could tell that we were no longer on the expressway and getting close to the hospital because of the frequent starting and stopping of Brandon's driving. The hospital is pretty much right off of the expressway.
This is where my memory gets blurry. I know I was seriously pushing at this point. I also was thinking about getting to the hospital and how there was no way I would be able to get out of the van in my current state. Luckily, the baby was going to resolve that dilemma for me and not give me that opportunity.
Brandon pulled into the hospital parking lot, trying to find the door that the doctor's office had told him to go to, where people would be waiting for us. He couldn't find anyone and, at one point, hopped out of the van trying to look for anyone. Somewhere in that time frame, I pushed one last time and Mollie Grace was born. I grabbed her as she was coming out.
Because my water had broken before leaving the house, I had towels with me. I found one and wiped her down and wrapped her up in it.
At some point, I looked for Brandon and I could see my sweet husband running around trying to find anyone to help us. I wanted to yell to him that the baby was here, but I didn't had the energy. Plus, I figured he would come back soon enough and find out.
He ran around the van and opened the door (either to tell me something or to check on me, I guess) and he had this look of utter shock and disbelief as he sees me in the back of the van holding a baby. (He later told me that I looked so calm and relieved!) We don't find out the gender of our babies ahead of time. It was dark and the umbilical cord made it a little confusing for me to decipher the gender. So apparently, I got Brandon out of his shock by only saying, "Well! What is it? A boy or a girl?!" He climbed in and checked and said, "Girl!".
Right around then, about 10-20 people come running from the emergency room with a stretcher. (The hospital we go to is a teaching hospital, so for every one standard role like a doctor or a nurse, you have several medical students or residents with them.) You could see the excitement on their face and then a touch of disappointment when they saw the baby had already been born.
Just at that moment, I see my doctor walking in front of our van, going into the hospital. It was providential that he was right there at that moment. He was coming to deliver my baby (or so he thought). We called him over to the van. He wanted me to get out of the van with the baby still attached to the umbilical cord, but I was shaking and too weak to do so. So, the doctor climbed into the van, clamped the umbilical cord, and had Brandon climb back in the van and cut the umbilical cord with a razor from the emergency kit that someone had brought out from the hospital. At this point, about 10 more people have shown up to help (or possibly just watch). Brandon thought the crowd of onlookers was one of the best parts. It was crazy how many people were there. They took the baby and put her in a bassinet and then they loaded me up on a stretcher and wheeled us both into a delivery room. And it was pretty much standard issue stuff from there on out.
Also, I did later learn from Brandon that adding to the stress of him trying to get us to the hospital on time was the fact that our empty light on our van was on. We have a little feature on our van that tells us how many miles of driving we have left before we totally run out of gas. Apparently we pulled into the hospital with 2 miles to go.
 |
| Once we were released from the hospital a couple of days later, we loaded up the van in the same spot where all the excitement happened a few days before. So I snapped a quick photo on the day we were released. For memories and such. |
A few answers to the most common questions....
1. Yes, it hurt.
2. Yes, I delivered her myself. No one assisted.
3. Labor was an hour and a half from start to finish.
4. No discount that I know of, though that would be nice. I think I should get a cut or a commission, if you will, at the very least.
5. Placenta was delivered in hospital.
6. My sweet in-laws took the van to be detailed a few days later.
7. My dad brought a small portable container of gasoline to the hospital to get our van to the nearest gas station.
8. Yes, my dad taught me to always keep my car with a full tank. Yes, I see the irony in this.
9. No, I have no idea what we will do the next time I am pregnant, Lord willing. Move closer to the hospital?
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Mollie Grace's Birth (Part 1)
Late Saturday afternoon (Jan 5), I melodramatically texted my friend Lindsay, who had just had a little boy the week prior, that I would be pregnant forever and that the baby was never coming.
Brandon had Communion set up obligations at our church Saturday night, so I decided to take the kids to Target to kill some time and stock up on a few necessary supplies for the kids, were the baby ever to come. (cue more melodrama)
The kids, though they can have their moments, were behaving fairly well in the store, but they were just extra excitable that night. When you are 1 and 3, there is a lot to point out and get excited about. The current obsession in our household is ALL THINGS Angry Birds. Happy can spot Angry Bird merchandise like an eagle to prey. And if he ever fails to see something, Little Miss, who chooses to use more grunts than words that she is perfectly capable of saying, will loudly grunt about something Happy may have missed.
Well, just our luck that night at Target, we ended up in the check out lane with more Angry Birds paraphernalia than is fair to any parent. The kids were beside themselves with excitement of pointing out stuff. As my very pregnant self tried to load stuff onto the check out lane belt (with just a touch of difficulty) and the kids were begging to see Angry Birds items, the gentleman behind me in line said, "Boy! You SURE do have your hands full." Why do they always say that at the most chaotic time? Is it because it is just so hard not to say it? I politely responded that I did, but was happy about it. If that poor man knew I was going to be delivering my baby in the van in just 3 short hours, he might have even run the other way.
Anyways, I got the kids home and, very fortunately, Brandon was able to leave his communion responsibilities earlier than normal and was able to help me get the kids to bed (otherwise, he may have gotten home after all the drama started and found a baby in our house instead of our van). As soon as the kids were in bed, I started feeling contractions. They felt pretty tame and similar to the false contractions I had been feeling off and on for 3 weeks. After about 20 or so minutes, Brandon called his dad to come over to stay with the kids. I thought the call was a little premature, but I didn't argue.
In the 30 minutes that it took Brandon's dad to get here, my water broke and my contractions increased in intensity. I was laying on the hall floor when my father-in-law arrived. Brandon was hurrying to get everything we needed in the van. Fortunately, I had the foresight to ask Brandon to clear out the back bench of the van so that I could lie down while in labor.
A little background: With my labor with Lil Miss, it went very quickly and I did NOT handle the pain well. So much so that nurses were coming in and telling to be quiet because I was scaring other patients. I was that woman in labor. And it took the anesthesiologist a sweet forever to get to me and give me an epidural. Because of this, I had been reading up a lot on natural childbirth and pain management while pregnant with Mollie Grace. I wasn't planning on a natural childbirth, but because I was reading all this literature that was so pro unmedicated childbirth, I drank the kool-aid a little bit. A few weeks before Mollie Grace's birth, I had casually mentioned to Brandon that I was interested in trying an unmedicated birth. My sweet gentle husband who rarely has a strong opinion on how I handle things said, "What?! Are you serious?! That's crazy!!" We eventually came to a compromise of me trying to labor naturally and if I couldn't handle the pain, then we would chose for me to get an epidural.
We left soon after my father-in-law arrived. As we were getting into the van at our house, I told Brandon, "I want that epidural!" He laughed and nodded, indicating that is what he thought would happen all along. I laughed (as much as I could). He usually is right, anyways.
About 10 minutes into the 45 minute drive to the hospital (although I think Brandon managed to make it a 30 minute drive), I realized that there was not going to be enough time for me to get that epidural. But I still had no idea that the baby would be born in the van.
continued (Part 2)
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Where art thou mojo?
Yes. Hello. It has been some time since I posted, has it not?
So long that we have a new president.
Oh, wait.
Not so much.
Anyways, I haven't blogged for a number of reasons. Mainly, I've lost my blogging mojo and have yet to locate it. I think I've determined that it must be tied up in my Sonic drinks. And I haven't had one in months. Because of the whole pregnancy thing. You know, trying to be ueber healthy for baby and all that.
The hubs and I, per usual, are a few to 10 years behind on current tv trends. Therefore we have been consumed with watching all of the episodes of Lost on Netflix.
That was quite the time investment. But, alas, we persevered.
And I have to say that I am relieved to be through with it. I know there are some diehard Lost fans, but after Season 3, I just thought the writers seemed desperate for a storyline.
In addition to growing a human inside of myself and keeping the other two little humans I grew alive and well, I have been working on the quilt for baby #3. I finished the back and front and made the "quilt sandwich" last night. Now I just need to quilt it and add the border.
Since we don't find out the gender of our babies ahead of time and I have made a quilt for each of our kids while pregnant with them, it is quite the challenge for me to make a gender neutral quilt that the hubs approves of. What do you think? Gender neutral? Or erring on the side of boy? I'm happy with it but definitely think it looks more boy-like.
And for posterity, I'll leave you with a picture of my sweet little animals from Halloween. They are such sweet blessings, on good and bad days alike.
So long that we have a new president.
Oh, wait.
Not so much.
Anyways, I haven't blogged for a number of reasons. Mainly, I've lost my blogging mojo and have yet to locate it. I think I've determined that it must be tied up in my Sonic drinks. And I haven't had one in months. Because of the whole pregnancy thing. You know, trying to be ueber healthy for baby and all that.
The hubs and I, per usual, are a few to 10 years behind on current tv trends. Therefore we have been consumed with watching all of the episodes of Lost on Netflix.
That was quite the time investment. But, alas, we persevered.
And I have to say that I am relieved to be through with it. I know there are some diehard Lost fans, but after Season 3, I just thought the writers seemed desperate for a storyline.
In addition to growing a human inside of myself and keeping the other two little humans I grew alive and well, I have been working on the quilt for baby #3. I finished the back and front and made the "quilt sandwich" last night. Now I just need to quilt it and add the border.
.JPG) |
| the front |
.JPG) | |
| back |
Since we don't find out the gender of our babies ahead of time and I have made a quilt for each of our kids while pregnant with them, it is quite the challenge for me to make a gender neutral quilt that the hubs approves of. What do you think? Gender neutral? Or erring on the side of boy? I'm happy with it but definitely think it looks more boy-like.
And for posterity, I'll leave you with a picture of my sweet little animals from Halloween. They are such sweet blessings, on good and bad days alike.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Friends Across The Seas
When I went off to college, I went to a small school where I basically knew no one. I think there were maybe 2 people from my high school that went to the same college as me. Most of my high school friends went to large colleges and universities where they knew many others.
Since I basically didn't know anyone, I was doing the "potluck" roommate thing, where you are at the mercy of some college life office to place you in a room with someone who hopefully isn't too crazy.
My potluck roommate, Katie, ended up being one of the best things that happened to me at college.
And, she wasn't too crazy!
(I hope she can say the same thing for me).
Katie lives overseas and I haven't seen her in four years (the time she initially moved). Her oldest daughter was less than a year at the time. Her and her husband, Chris, and (now) 2 kids are back for a few months and I got to see them this past week. And our kids got to meet each other and play.
It was so wonderful to see them all. I spent the whole day with her and only scratched the surface of what I wanted to ask and talk to her about (Does she still have the chapstick habit? Does she still dance to Arethra Franklin? Does she still watch reruns of The Cosby Show and Fullhouse? Is "super" still her favorite adjective of all time? You know, important questions!)
Since I basically didn't know anyone, I was doing the "potluck" roommate thing, where you are at the mercy of some college life office to place you in a room with someone who hopefully isn't too crazy.
My potluck roommate, Katie, ended up being one of the best things that happened to me at college.
And, she wasn't too crazy!
(I hope she can say the same thing for me).
Katie lives overseas and I haven't seen her in four years (the time she initially moved). Her oldest daughter was less than a year at the time. Her and her husband, Chris, and (now) 2 kids are back for a few months and I got to see them this past week. And our kids got to meet each other and play.
It was so wonderful to see them all. I spent the whole day with her and only scratched the surface of what I wanted to ask and talk to her about (Does she still have the chapstick habit? Does she still dance to Arethra Franklin? Does she still watch reruns of The Cosby Show and Fullhouse? Is "super" still her favorite adjective of all time? You know, important questions!)
She is such a dear friend and I was so thrilled to catch up with her.
 |
 |
| our oldest kids - instant buds |
 |
| sweet hugs |
 |
| right before the fire ant incident of 2012 |
Friday, August 3, 2012
Glimmers
Yesterday morning, I was trying to hurry to make an appointment. I was doing all the last minute scurrying and Little Miss started crying in the other room. This is not unusual. I could tell it was more of a disgruntled cry than a something-is-really-wrong cry. So, I did my typical, "What's wrong, sweetie?" and "I'll be right there" lines while I quickly trying to get everything together.
I went to check on her a minute later and I saw Happy holding her head and leaning in towards her. At first, I thought he had her in a headlock. But as I got closer, I could hear him saying something quietly to her and then he said an exuberant, "Amen!".
I realized he was praying for her because she was upset. How precious.
When I don't know how to comfort my children or I can't get them to calm down, I just pray for them. Happy was doing the same for Little Miss.
It was a sweet glimmer of hope and an encouragement to me.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Sweet Memories
Because the screening that comes later in pregnancy is not enough fun already. They wanted to treat me to one twice. How kind.
(That, or the fact that I have small babies is a concern for them and they wanted to make sure something hasn't been overlooked in past pregnancies.)
Happy has this complex with doctors and nurses touching me. He screams and cries VERY LOUDLY, which in turn, fires up Little Miss. It makes a trip to the OB with them extra special and delightful. A real memory maker.
Add in a fasting pregnant woman consuming a
When I got to my parents' house, Dad wanted to pull out his childhood train set for my little train nut, Happy, to play with. I have fond memories of playing with that train set with my dad as a child. And it was so precious to see him playing with the kids.
I am so very thankful for new memories being made with Dad.
(And also thankful that I passed the diabetes test.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)