Friday, July 20, 2012

A post in which I make no apologies...

...and photobomb you!
Life is busy. What else can I say. Did y'all know since I last blogged my five-year-old became a six-year-old, we survived our sixth tax season and our first as a family of five, my kindergartner became a first-grader, Caroline finished her second year of preschool, we took a mini-vacay to Houston to visit our besties, we went to the beach, my newborn became a six-month-old, that very same baby started CRAWLING and has had her first taste of food other than mama's milk, the big kids completed two weeks of swim lessons and are prepping for Camp Thurman next week?! So, no apologies. We've been busy living life and I just haven't blogged it.

Jack's birthday fell on Easter Sunday this year!
 Emmalyn and Cousin Bennett!
Easter egg hunting in the house on a rainy Sunday!
  Our family of five!
Me and E at a super fun birthday party!
 Jason loving on a llama!
 Caroline LOVES God's creatures!
 Jack and me at the Highlander Games, his school's version of field day for the younger grades.
 WOAH!
 All three precious ones!
 Picnic time!
 Enjoying dinner in the backyard.
 Emmalyn's room, which I just realized I've never shown.  Jason refinished the crib and it's beautiful!
 Dresser/changing area.  Those frames on the bottom are STILL empty!
 Our precious baby is a thumbsucker!
Sweet girl with Yaya!
 Smiles!
 Making Mothers Day gifts
Jack and me on Hill's Kindergarten field trip to the Fort Worth Zoo.  So fun!
 This is how you do a field trip with a four month old!
 YAY!  Happy Tax Deadline Day!

 My big boy reading a book.  He LOVES to read and is so, SO smart!
 Four months old!

The chronological order of the previous pictures is questionable and I have WAY more pictures to share and no time... more coming soon!

Monday, February 20, 2012

An hour in the life...

of a mom of three, one of whom is a newborn.  This is just one hour folks!

Monday, around 11:30am:

 We were happily eating lunch and Emmalyn was acting like she'd like to go to sleep in her buzzy chair so I decided to go put her in her bed. She always sleeps better in her bed.  When I picked her up she was soaked. She'd had a MAJOR blowout (strange for cloth diapers but she's still little and some of them don't fit just right yet) and it was all over her, all over her clothes, all over the chair - up to nearly her armpit and down to her foot. What. A. Mess! I took her to her room to get her cleaned up and got mess on the changing table and on the changing pad cover. I finally peel off her clothes, smearing her with lots of ickyness and decide it'd be better to just give her a bath - she needed one today anyway. I wiped her off as best I could with wipes and then... she peed everywhere! I wiped her dry with a prefold, laid another prefold in her crib and put her on it, naked, and went to get her bath ready. I came back after maybe 90 seconds and found that she'd peed again. A LOT! I guess the first pee was just a warning. The second pee was the real deal.  There was so much that it soaked the prefold and got her sheet and mattress pad wet. The sheet and mattress pad that I'd just changed YESTERDAY. I take her and get her cleaned up in the bathroom and then back to her room to get lotion and dressed. While I was doing that Caroline decided she was ready for her nap. I told her I'd be right there to put her down but then the sweetest thing happened. Jack said he'd do it. He unmade her bed, closed her blinds and curtains, tucked her in and gave her a hug and a kiss goodnight. And she went to sleep! Back to E's room - I stripped the bed and changed the sheets for the second time in 24 hours and then put Emmalyn in her bed, turned on her humidifier and mobile and popped in the paci and she was out like a light! Then it was on to laundry - poo covered laundry. My littlest one managed to create an entire load of laundry in less than an hour. No wonder I always have full baskets!  Good thing she's cute!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Emmalyn's Birth Slideshow

One (of many) things we did differently with Emmalyn's birth was to hire a birth photographer.  Lynsey Stone is so talented and we are so glad we decided to have her on our birth team!  She captured the beauty of the birth and we hardly noticed she was there.  When I watched the slideshow the first time I was constantly thinking "How in the world did she get that shot without me noticing?!"  So, here it is.  Keep in mind that it is a slideshow of a BIRTH so if you're not into watching that kind of thing (even though there aren't any graphic shots) then don't watch, okay?  I hope you love it as much as I do!

Emmalyn Ruth's Birth Slideshow

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

The Birth of Emmalyn Ruth - January 6, 2012

I’ve got to start with how differently we travelled through this pregnancy journey.  It was full of faith and trust that God had every moment of this little one’s life planned, right from the start.  After birthing Jack and Caroline naturally in hospitals (both of which were fulfilling experiences) I knew that if I ever had another child that I’d want to birth at home.  I didn’t mind the actual birthing in a hospital; it was the postpartum experience that just wasn’t for me.  That, added to the fact that the idea of a peaceful birth, surrounded by the people I love in a place I love just seemed right for our growing family.

I discovered I was pregnant in April 2011.  We were shocked, but not terribly so.  We weren’t trying and we were (kind of) preventing; paying attention to cycles and such but, still, trusting that if the Lord wanted us pregnant, there wasn’t much we could really do about that.  Well, He definitely wanted us to have another baby and once the news sunk in (and I had an ugly crying/laughing/praying fit in the shower one morning) we were over the moon thrilled!  We discovered that my “due date” was Christmas Day 2011.  How wonderful!

 The next step in our journey was to choose our midwife.  I am heavily involved in the local birthing community and know many midwives both professionally and personally.  I think I probably had a more difficult time choosing someone because there are SO MANY wonderful midwives in our area that I know well.  I asked for recommendations from friends and sister doulas and I prayed about my decision a lot.  You know what I discovered?  When God wants you to go in certain direction, He can often be VERY clear.  I had a few midwives in mind when I started my search and over and over and over the recommendation was the same: Kim Watkins.  We spoke with Kim over the phone for an interview and told her we’d discuss our decision and let her know in the next few days since we still had a couple of other midwives to speak with.  Jason and I hung up the phone, looked at one another, and instantly called her back.  Our decision was made.  Kim and her senior apprentice, Abbie, were our midwives.
The pregnancy progressed normally and fairly uneventfully.  With the exception of some pretty wretched morning sickness and back/pelvic pain, I felt pretty good most of the time.  It’s also amazing when you’ve got a 3 and 5 year old to chase around how quickly your pregnancy seems to fly by.  That is till your due date rolls around.

Christmas day came and went and I still had a baby in my belly.  We had a wonderful time with family celebrating the holiday and we just knew we’d have a baby within a week.  The latest I’d delivered a baby was 40 weeks and 6 days so I was confident that we’d have a new bundle by the New Year. 

The week after Christmas was really nice.  We spent lots of family time together, I had several chiropractic adjustments (I’d been going at least weekly since I was 15 weeks along), and one “dress rehearsal” of labor in which I’d contracted every 6 minutes for HOURS and called in my entire birth team.  After having my mom, my midwifery team, and my birth photographer’s back-up (my photographer was at another birth) at my house for a couple of hours, my contractions fizzled and then just plain ol’ stopped.  That was super frustrating but everyone around me was so supportive.  At least we’d had an occasion to get everything out and together for the birth even though we’d had no baby just yet.

When the New Year dawned I was totally bummed out.  I was 41 weeks.  I’d never been this pregnant before and was, frankly, kind of pissed off that I didn’t have a baby in 2011 (I am a tax accountant’s wife after all).  I sent the kids off with Jason to church and then attempted to drown my misery in heavily sweetened coffee and a marathon of TLC junk shows.  Jason definitely sensed that I was “off” (how could he not since I woke up and immediately started bawling first thing in the morning) and attempted to give me lots of love and lots of space that particular day.  He took the kids to play with some friends that afternoon and left me alone so my friend and massage therapist, Hannah, could come over for an acupressure appointment.  It definitely helped me relax but, alas, didn’t start labor.  This little one was not ready to be Earthside just yet.

I’d texted Kim and Abbie during that day and we’d decided that if we didn’t have a baby by Friday night, they’d come over and we’d chat about what to do next.  I had no idea if I was dilated or effaced at all since my midwives were very “hands off” about that kind of thing.  In fact, my pregnancy had been mostly intervention free up till this point with the exception of some blood testing.  I hadn’t even had an ultrasound which was just fine by me.

On Thursday, I decided that an acupuncture appointment sounded like a good idea so I could relax a bit and possibly get my labor moving.  I’d been having contractions every 20 minutes or so that morning but nothing I’d categorize as painful or labor-like.  My appointment was at 11:30 (I had several “good” contractions during my treatment) and my mom went along with me for the day.  We ran some errands, went to my appointment, and had a wonderful lunch out before heading to pick up the kids.  I’d asked her to pick them up for me so I could avoid the “you’re still pregnant???” conversations.  I know folks mean well but I was on my last thread.  I continued contracting every 20 minutes or so throughout the rest of the day.  After we put the kids to bed for the evening, Jason and I went for a walk and had such a sweet time just being together and joking with one another.  We definitely had a special evening.  I rounded out the day with a small glass of Moscato (which was wonderful) and a nice hot shower before going to bed.

January 6, 2012:

3am:  I remember waking to my first contraction.  I got up and went to the bathroom, of course, and them back to bed.  My contractions were enough to wake me up but not enough to get me out of bed just yet.  They were coming about every 10 minutes.

4:30am:  I nudged Jason to let him know he wouldn’t be making his business breakfast that morning.  I was in labor.  I couldn’t imagine why I’d ever thought I was in labor the week before.  These contractions were no joke and I had to breathe through them but I was still fairly comfortable in bed.

5:43am:  Still in bed, I text Kim and Abbie to let them know that today’s the day!  I’m still trying to snooze between contractions that are still 10 minutes apart.

5:50am:  OMIGOODNESS I have to get out of bed.  NOW.  I’m no longer comfortable and I do not want to have another contraction lying down.  No thanks.  I decide to head to the kitchen and have some juice and cereal while sitting on my birth ball and checking Facebook before the rest of the house wakes up.

For some reason this morning, Jack and Caroline decide to sleep later than their normal 6:15.  They both wake around 6:45 and I think can sense something going on.  I tell them that I think today’s the day their new brother or sister is going to be born.  They’re both excited.  The distraction of getting them ready makes me doubt my labor and I think my contractions may have slowed a bit during this period.  My mom shuttles them off at 8am to take Jack to school and Caroline to a friend’s house for the day.

9am:  Jason speaks to Abbie and lets her know that he’s ready for her and the rest of the crew to head on over.  It will take them at least an hour and a half to get there.  I’m not ready for them just yet and am hesitant to tell them to come.  I really don’t want a repeat of having everyone out and then sending them all home again but we tell them to come anyway.  I also call my birth photographer, Lynsey, and put her on notice that things are happening but I’m not quite ready just yet.  Jason looks at the back door and HAS to clean it.  His nervous energy makes me laugh.  The door’s been dirty for a while but it had to be cleaned right then.  Hehe!  Jason and I take a walk in the gloriously beautiful morning.  The high temperature forecasted for the day was 73!  It was lovely and our walk was long.  My contractions are still coming every 10 minutes but are fairly uncomfortable.  Still not painful, though.

All times here on out are based on my best guesses.  I was entering laborland and my sense of time was definitely skewed.

10:30:  We return home from our walk and I decide to have a snack.  Grapes and oranges never tasted so good.  And I need water.  Lots of water.  My mom is back from shuttling the kids around and she and Jason laid hands on me and pray over me and the baby.

10:40:  Lynsey arrives and we chat for a bit.  I decide I have to make Jack and Caroline’s bunk beds.  Picture me on a bunk bed ladder breathing through a contraction.  Awesome.  I finish cleaning the big kids’ room and work through more contractions on the birth ball.  They’re probably every eight minutes or so now.
10:50:  Abbie arrives.  She checks on the baby with a fetoscope and does a quick check of my vitals.  All is well.  Kim and Donna arrive shortly after and begin bringing in their haul of birth tools.

 11am:  Jason begins filling the birth pool in the living room.  I need him to apply counterpressure to the small of my back during contractions while I lean on something (couch, counter, door frames, kitchen table, etc.) and push back against him.  He is right there every time.  There’s just something about his hands and how they feel just right.
Ok, at this point I’m abandoning times all together.  I have NO idea when things happened and just a vague idea of the order of things.  I’m heavy into laborland now.

I REALLY have to work through my contractions now.  I remember being a bit cold and standing in the sunshine coming in through the back door.  It felt wonderful.  Right then a contraction hit and I had to hold on to the back of the couch and squat to get through it.  No more counterpressure.  Squatting felt GREAT.
At some point someone asks me if I’m ready to get into the pool.  Easy answer.  YES.  I get in the water and it instantly relaxes me.  I’m trying to listen to the praise and worship music that’s been playing in the background (that Jason had been obsessing over getting just right for a while – more working out nervous energy).  I remember one song (though I can’t remember which one) that really moved me.  I know that the Lord was in our home and guiding us through our birth.  I felt His presence and knew that I would soon have my sweet baby in my arms.  It was such an amazing encounter with the Holy Spirit.  I labor resting on the side of the tub for a while and then find my favorite position:  hands and knees.  I no longer want to be touched much and I feel like the contractions are coming much more quickly but my pain’s not really increasing.  It was such an interesting feeling to me.

I had a particularly intense contraction and was beginning to feel a moment of weakness.  I needed to call on the Lord to help me through but I just couldn’t do it.  I asked Jason to come pray over me and he tried but was overcome emotionally.  Kim placed her hands on me and prayed for me.  I talked to the baby and asked “sweet baby, come to me”.  I then decided I’d like to try another position for a minute so I laid back against the tub and immediately had what I remember the most intense contraction of my labor.  I could NOT be still and could NOT lean back.  I roared through it and said “I don’t know what to do with it!”  I meant the power.  I felt SO MUCH power pulsing through my body and I honestly didn’t know how to cope and make it work for me.  During that contraction I felt my water break and I knew it wouldn’t be long now.

I was vocalizing a lot, very loud and low.  I was thinking “OOOOOOPPPPPPEEEENNNNN” as I moaned through my contractions.  Again, I was not really in pain, just feeling an overwhelming power taking over my body with each contraction.  For some reason I felt afraid to push and during a couple of contractions, when the power was at its peak I’d yell “SHIT!”  Not like me at all but so necessary at the time.  Now it just makes me giggle bit thinking about it.  Maybe I was feeling afraid of pushing because I wasn’t sure if I was dilated fully yet and didn’t want to push if it wasn’t time.  This was my first labor that was completely intervention free – I’d had no cervical checks and didn’t want any.  Once Kim and Abbie suggested a little push to see if it felt right during the next contraction I was able to relax a little more and give myself permission to push.  I tried a couple of times and didn’t feel ready just yet.  I waited and moaned through a few more contractions until I felt my body pushing on its own.  I could feel the baby move down with each push and it was such an incredible feeling!  Several times I’d become overwhelmed by the intensity and Kim would calmly whisper affirmations to me to ground me.  It was so incredibly helpful and kept me focused on what I was doing.
I’m not entirely sure how long I pushed but I don’t think it was more than about thirty minutes.  I pushed on my hands and knees and kept saying “c’mon sweet baby, c’mon sweet baby”.  As the baby was crowning my contractions seemed to slow some so my body could stretch.  This was so different for me as Jack and Caroline came out so quickly.  This was better.  I did feel the “ring of fire” this time and I don’t recall feeling it with my other births.  It was no joke.  I definitely yelled “It hurts like FIRE!!!”  Kim had me reposition a little to relieve some pressure and it helped a bit.  Then, within a few minutes my body gave some MASSIVE pushes and the baby’s head came out.  I heard someone say “the head is born” and then my body gave me a little rest before I had to push out the shoulders.  With the next contraction I gave another big push and my sweet baby, the one I’d been calling out, was born into Jason’s hands.  He passed her through my legs to me and I leaned back, excited to see my new little one.  We all looked together and discovered we’d had a girl!  I knew it!  It had been my feeling the entire pregnancy and I was right.

Little Emmalyn Ruth was born at 2:09 pm weighing 9lbs, 12oz and was 22 inches long.  She is such a blessing to our family and her birth was so peaceful and beautiful.  We did it!  After waiting “patiently” for twelve days past her due date we finally had our homebirth!  It couldn’t have been more wonderful.


Saturday, January 07, 2012

Introducing...

Emmalyn Ruth Maurice! Born at home, in the water, into her daddy's waiting hands on January 6, 2012 at 2:09 pm. 9 lbs, 12 oz, 22 inches After waiting a long time for this sweet little girl's arrival we experienced a beautiful birth. Mama and baby ate doing great and Jack and Caroline are thrilled to have a new little sister. Pictures and birth story to come soon... -- Posted from my iPhone