Oops – I missed baby boy’s 2 week b’day post! It was quite a busy day (in my defense). I was the last one up in our group at 7:45 AM – and my main mission was to get everyone fed, dressed, and out the door to visit my mom before pictures at Target.

Yep, we have found that Target is the BEST source for pictures for us! We have taken each child on their 2 week b’day to have their picture made in the coming home outfit my parents have gotten them. Only one child was a day off, not sure what the reason was anymore….

Anyway, it’s the best deal for us. No sitting fees, $3.99 portrait sheets, as many people as we’d like – and this time we even received a coupon for $20 off of $75 or more! We’ve never spent over $50, but this time, we set a record – almost $295 before savings, $107 final price. Of course, my parents came along to order some themselves too, so we didn’t spend this much on our own.

These have been a lifesaver for us, you can’t find pictures that cheap elsewhere – at least not with all the options they give us (we haven’t found better prices, they could be out there I guess). Be aware, only the basic pics are that price, and you have to have a coupon for them (shouldn’t be hard to get on their mailing list, or check coupons in the paper maybe?). Any upgrades cost extra, so we usually forgo those.

Okay, back to our day. The baby would NOT take a nap for anything! I couldn’t believe he was so awake all morning long – until after 11, I think it was! I finally had to turn on the TV for the older ones, so I could put the baby in the playpen while I showered.

It only took 6 hours to get everyone ready (since we had to add lunch in now), get the clothes picked out for our pictures, loaded up and out the door. By this time, we only had 2 hours at my moms. I used this time to iron our clothes. I soon discovered why I gave up ironing years ago – it’s not fun!

We made it for our photo shoot only a few minutes late – pretty good considering I’m still fairly new to 4 children! We even got our 50 shots made in an hour. Perfect timing, cause the baby was ready to eat just as we finished. Should I mention it took over an hour to pick out our favorite pictures? Yeah, don’t ever ask me to make a decision quickly.

Actually, it seemed pretty quick for us. We ended up saying yes to more pics than we usually do, although many are the smaller sizes. But we’ve got some REALLY good shots – some of our best ever! DD has one that should go in a magazine!

It was funny, baby boy was SO alert AFTER the photo shoot – I guess he’d slept long enough by then, plus had a full tummy. Oh well, I think we had one pic with his eyes open.

Stats – on our basic digital scales, he’s at least 8 1/2 lbs. – anywhere up to 9 lbs. That’s 1 lb. since last Thursday. So eating is going well!

Sleeping – He sleeps GREAT, when he’s sleeping next to me or in my arms. LOL. DH says he can’t blame him, that he has it made. I guess he does! Part of me would like him to sleep in the playpen at night, but he hasn’t made it all the way through the night in it yet (not that I’ve tried too hard).

And yes, I keep mentioning the playpen because we don’t have him a crib set up. We have a crib, but just don’t have it up. For one, I don’t want to have to get up and go to another room every couple hours during the night to feed him. And two, I don’t trust leaving him with the little ones just yet.

They would never want to hurt him, but don’t understand how offering a blanket or toy could hurt him – especially if it was thrown over the side of a crib. SO, we’re just using the bassinet on the playpen in our room for now.

We’re holding our breath and praying for God’s protection right now. My grandfather visited the other day, but didn’t mention beforehand that my grandmother had been sick. (Or else we would’ve asked him to visit with her later) She didn’t come, just him, but he held the baby for a while, as well as asking the other little ones to give him hugs.

Well, the next day, yesterday, my grandmother finds out she has pneumonia. YIKES!! This is highly contagious, and you CAN be a carrier WITHOUT having it yourself. I am SO mad at myself for 1) not asking if everyone was well first and 2) asking him to wash his hands when he walked in the door.

I usually am pretty firm about health things, but didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Now, I’m having to suffer through the worry of wondering if we’ll all come down with pneumonia – it’s not a fun feeling. Esp. when I think that I  could’ve made it less likely. It also doesn’t help that the world is starting to get panicked about this swine flu thing.

Come on people, if you are sick, or someone in your house is sick – STAY home and away from healthy people!! A runny nose or sore throat isn’t always just a simple cold or allergy – it can grow and mutate into something worse. That was the case with my grandmother. She was just tired and had an earache. Nothing was wrong when she went to the dr. last week, but one week later she has pneumonia.

I’m really having a hard time fighting off the worry, though I am better today than yesterday – thanks to some sleep last night and praying about it.

Other news, child #3 has made changes since baby brother came along. Friday, we moved him from his baby bed to a toddler bed. At 20 months, he was ready! Of course, he still likes big brother’s bed, but has done much better with his bed than the crib. It’s also helped that we have a Finding Nemo “fish” pillowcase and quilt on there. This was a great find at Wal-Mart with our oldest son years ago for only $9!!

Can you believe they charge over $35 for these things!!! We watched this one for ages as they kept marking it down, finally snagging it at $9 – we were thrilled! Not that they know who Nemo is, but they like fish.

Okay, my little ones are in from playing outside, so my time is over. Until next time,

“Little Mommy”

PS – We have a new home on the web, for ‘family’ highlights. Give me a shout at Candace @HeavenInOurHomes.com, sharing a little about yourself and how you found us, and ask for the link!

This is TOTALLY against what I recommend for mothers – formula – for more than one reason. I can’t believe first of all how much corn syrup is in this stuff!! Did you know that some brands have OVER 43% corn syrup?

Then consider that the FDA is allowing something added, sorry – I don’t remember the name – but it starts with M and has been causing a lot of stir in China. It’s a white powdery substance that can be deadly. But the FDA says it’s alright in formula because it’s in such low doses – what?!?!

But I do realize that there are moms that aren’t able to breastfeed. I’m not talking about the ones that are too lazy or selfish to give it a go, but some moms really don’t have milk! Then there’s also adoptive parents to consider.

I myself have had to use formula for a time with 2 of my 4. When pregnant and nursing, sometimes your milk dries up. This was the case for me, as well as having contractions and those causing bleeding while pregnant.

I didn’t like it at all, that’s just how it worked out for us despite my best efforts to continue nursing. I have since learned that there is a homemade version. It’s tedious, and I’m not sure if I could take that on myself or not.

For anyone interested in the homemade version, I’d recommend visiting www.Mercola.com and search his site for it. There is SO much great info on formula there – things the public doesn’t know about what’s on store shelves.

Anyway, back to formula, for any of you that use it – I’ve got a deal for you! I have some cans of Similac formula here, and am willing to GIVE them away for only the cost of shipping with any purchase of $10 or more from the Baby Products page!!

Please verify that I still have cans left – I have a limited supply! What I have is Similac Advance with iron, where you only add water. This is an 8 oz. can. I also have Similac Isomil Advance Soy, also 8 oz, and you only add water.

I believe I have some Enfamil around here somewhere to, but haven’t got it in front of me yet. You can inquire about this. So, any purchase $10 or more will give you a FREE can of formula, again, only add in shipping charges. You can’t beat that!

“Little Mommy”

Thursday I took our baby boy to the pediatrician for his 8 day check up. He’s been a little jaundice, and I really wanted to get that checked out – though he doesn’t look as yellow as our last baby did. The pediatrician didn’t seem too concerned, but still ordered a blood check since his eyes were a little yellow.

I told her that I didn’t think he was as yellow as he was the other day, and she agreed that was probably true – that the eyes were the last thing go back to normal. Hmmm…. I never knew that! Note from today – he’s hardly yellow at all!

He’s gone from 7 lbs. 6 oz. to 7 lbs. 9.8 oz. in 8 days – really good for a breastfed baby! Remember, baby’s lose weight the first few days before mom’s milk comes in. We left the hospital the day after he was born, and he weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. that day (with the baby alarm on his foot). So that’s an ounce a day pretty much.

I’m a bad mommy on the other stats – I have no clue what his head was before, but it’s 14 cm now. He’s 20.5″. I thought his face looked like it was filling out, so was happy to see he IS gaining weight good.

Our feeding schedule is really no schedule at all, and if you’ve read for a while, you know this is me. The ‘feed when they’re hungry’ deal worked great last time, and seems to be this time. He’s gaining weight good, and eats enough every 1 to 2 hours during the day that he only wakes 2 or 3 times at night.

I think we’re usually around 10:30 PM, 1 to 2 AM something, 4:30 to 5ish, then 7:30. Most mornings he’ll continue to sleep until 9:30 or 10. I can deal with the 2 or 3 spells a day where he’s awake 2 hours straight, since this means he’ll take a couple of 2 hour naps during the day plus sleep all night.

I’m trying to enjoy the sleeping times during the day when he’ll sleep in the playpen (when I can put him down – I’m still loving to hold him!!), since this is when I’m trying to regain my ‘position’ as housekeeper/ cook.

Today, DH had to take #3 to the dr. since he’s been waking up the past 3 nights screaming and extremely upset. While he was gone, the older two and I tackled the living room. This is always the room I want picked up first and foremost, I guess since we’re always in there.

It took a good 20 minutes of the 3 of us working to get laundry folded and put away, toys put up, shoes in closets, etc…, and then I felt SO much better! I also managed to get 2 batches of banana bread made this evening, trying to build up some snacks for next week when DH goes back to work.

I still have much higher hopes than I have energy, such as the 4 loads of laundry I wanted to do today, plus the homemade granola we were going to make along with homemade cinnamon rolls. Yeah, I feel great, but get slowed down quickly.

I was wearing normal clothes the day after he was born, normal such as not pregnant clothes. I’ve lost down to the weight I’d like to stay at, been there for days. My only complaint is my hormones messing up my skin. Thankfully, my hair hasn’t really started falling out yet.

Oh yes, for you first time moms, your hair more than likely WILL fall out after you have a baby. Being pregnant is wonderful – your hair gets so thick! Within a few months of each of my babies, the hair on the sides on my head gets so thin you can see the skin easily. This pregnancy was the first time it took a good 6 months before my hair stopped falling out.

Funny note – DD had my hairbrush last night brushing everyone’s hair. DH was a little grossed out by the hairs in it when it was on his head. This started a conversation of how Mommy’s hair would start to fall out since I had the baby come out of my tummy.

DD took this the wrong way – she became all worried that HER hair was going to fall out, and her Daddy’s, because the baby had been held ‘in their laps’ too. Oh, poor thing! It was precious, and I don’t think I did a good job holding back chuckles. ;P

Sleep – I’m still wondering how I’m going to get the 11 hours of sleep a night that I’ve become accustomed to the past week. I can’t believe I’ve been able to sleep so much, but I guess I’m making up for the past few months of waking every couple hours. Well, technically, I’m still waking to feed the baby, but I’m usually sound asleep 2 minutes later.

I have no clue how in the world I was able to wake up to nurse my first. By this I mean waking up, sitting in a chair for an hour to nurse him, change his diaper, go back to bed, and do it all again 2 hours later. With my 3rd, and now 4th, I hardly hear them rooting around in their sleep to eat.

All I remember is waking to get them started, then nothing until the next time they wake. At least I wake up enough to burp them before I let them eat again. It’s working good – I’m getting the sleep I need and he’s eating/ sleeping well too.

Of course, we’ve had a wet bed a couple of times due to no diaper changes in the middle of the night! My thoughts – put on a bigger diaper! I did that last night, but it still filled up and leaked by 7:30 this morning. But I can’t justify waking him or myself up (and possibly being awake for an hour or two) just to change a wet diaper. Sure, if it was dirty, but not just wet.

Another funny note – I just realized the other day that the stripe down the front of disposable diapers has a purpose! I thought it was just an ink error, until I glanced at the package and saw it changes colors when wet. LOL. I had no clue they did this on diapers!

We use LUVs with our 20 month old, and they don’t have this. Maybe it’s just a newborn thing? I guess it’s good for first time moms and dads, but it seems kinda pointless to me. Just squish it a little to see how wet it is.

What I love is when DH has stuck his finger in to check a diaper, only to pull out a dirty finger! LOL. He did get his first ‘spraying’  yesterday while changing diapers (first for this baby boy). We’ve gotten pretty good/ fast at changes, except those dirty diaper ones – they take a minute or two to clean up.

Well, hoping to get some of that laundry done tomorrow – getting a handle on things before Monday morning comes. DH has been such a great help this past week, I’ll really miss him being around next week. DD will too, he’s all the world to her! This is the neatest thing in the world to see, a little girl that adores her Daddy so!

He has arranged to take off Tuesday and Thursday, so I won’t be 100% on my own all week – then taking off Wednesday of the next week. After that, hey, I’m taking applications for help! Have a blessed weekend!

“Little Mommy”

I’ll admit, I’ve been a little hesitant to post again. While I’ve tried to be open to hearing from everyone, I have been ‘stressed’ a little, to say the least. I know that for the most part, comments and personal emails sent our way regarding circumcision have been well meaning, but some seem to be just for controversy.

In the future, please feel free to comment on posts and continue to read our adventures, BUT ONLY if it’s not for the reason of causing arguments with me or other readers. This past week has been a very hard week emotionally for us, and some of these comments have been even harder to take.

As a new mom once again, I want this to be a happy time, not one where people criticize me for personal decisions we make as parents. I had no idea what my simple post would spark, and intend to keep the blog from getting this intense again.

We made our final decision regarding the circumcision, and it’s a personal one that will be kept private for our baby’s sake. It was the right one for us at this time. For those of you that shared from your heart, even in emails or Facebook, thank you.  We did make it through most of the links before we made our decision. I can now truly say that I see BOTH sides of this issue.

Just as we are keeping this matter private from here out, please realize that this is a private matter for all parents to make. Being informed is a wise thing, but we always need to respect each person’s privacy and decisions. Remember my asking NOT to make me feel bad??

I’m happy to share both sides of this argument on a separate page in the future, since like I mentioned, I can see both sides – even after we made our decision with this baby. We just have to trust that God led us to the right decision and accept the peace He gave us with it. We only desire what HE wants for our children – nothing else.

Please consider this topic closed as far as ‘arguing’ either way goes.

“Little Mommy”

I ended up going to bed last night before all of the comments on last night’s post came through. For those of you that read these before I had a chance to edit the wording a little, I apologize for any offense that could have been found in them.

It turns out this is a bigger topic than I realized! If I happened to edit YOUR comment, please know I tried to leave as much of your comment as possible, removing only language that I felt was much too personal. This IS a blog for my baby and myself primarily, and also a place where my family, friends, and fellow Christians come to keep up with us – not such private matters.

That said, this is an important topic that we are beginning to feel many experience simply because we think we are ‘supposed’ to do it – the circumcision that is. My only hesitation against not doing it at this point is if some medical condition down the road requires our son to have it done later, when it might be more painful.

“Little Mommy”

Our baby is a week old today – boy, this week has flown!

Today, DH took our older three to the zoo for several hours. I really needed a little extra quiet time, plus I think he needed to get out of the house! He ended up taking a short run the other night around 9:30 – after all the ‘fun’ adventures he’d been through (tee tee in the floor, water poured from cup onto clothes, etc…).

They had a great time, and I really enjoyed the time to relax a little. Somehow, I kept finding myself in the recliner with the baby in my arms, or sleeping on my shoulder. I just can’t get enough of him!! Babies are so sweet, and those noises – oh, they are so precious!!

DH was fine with my afternoon, thinking that the baby sleeping in our bed part of each night would spoil him more than me holding him so much. Personally, I’d rather have him sleep in our bed part of the time vs. having to hold him for naps during the day – at least full time. For now, the holding is simply selfish on my part!

I WILL have to resume “Mommy” role next week when DH goes back to work, so my holding time will be less. I’m not sure how that’s going to go yet. So far this past week, DH has been wonderful getting up with the kids and letting me and the baby sleep in until 9:30 or 10.

This morning, child #3 woke up sometime after 4, and didn’t go back to sleep until 7ish. DH was up with him til 6, then I got up after nursing the baby. All the screams woke up DD around 6:15 – but stayed in bed at least.

#3 finally fell asleep on the couch, DH asleep in bed, so I took the baby to DD’s room – where we were awake until 7:30, then fell back asleep. Oldest son woke up then, but played quietly until 8:30. Okay, I’m boring everyone – but point being – we really needed that zoo trip today!

I was able to get some anniversary shopping done online. DH and I will celebrate our 7th anniversary next Monday. I had no idea a copper gift would be so hard to buy! (Or that copper was so expensive) I finally found something that has sentimental value for me, and hope it can get here by next Monday…. I really should’ve started on this earlier!

Tomorrow, we’ll be taking the baby to get his circumcision done. I’m already fighting tears, I SO don’t like the thought of my children being in pain. Why are we doing this then? Well, it’s not because we think it’s necessary for salvation – the New Testament makes it clear that this is no longer needed.

But I truly believe that God wouldn’t have established something without any other reason for it – I believe there is some benefit, and that it’s probably a health benefit. This was an outward show of devotion to God, and I still see it that way. We are doing this out of respect and reverence for something GOD established many years ago.

It gave me comfort when I read a passage last week that spoke of Jesus being circumcised. I mean, Jesus is New Testament, and He was salvation – this was not ‘needed’. But He was circumcised as a showing of honoring God, submission to Him.

DH even feels better about it after reading Genesis 17 (I believe that’s where he said). I just wish it didn’t have to hurt. We are waiting til the 8th day, since we know that the Vitamin K levels are at their peak (this assists in clotting). I was confused if you count the first day or not, but the drs. office said to come in on Thursday – so I’ll have to trust them.

I’ll be needing lots of prayers for sure, along with the baby needing them! This doctor gives you the option of going back, but I believe DH will decline. I do hope that I’ll be able to hold and/ or nurse him right away though, to maybe give some comfort. We are glad that it’s a Christian doctor we found to do this – if anything could help.

We’ll still have to stop and get a tube of Vaseline. You’re supposed to coat the area with vaseline to prevent the diaper from sticking to the healing area. We learned with our first that it was much easier to squeeze and big blob all the way around it rather than having to rub it on with our finger or q-tip.

I’m wondering if he’ll need Tylenol or something? I guess I’ve never thought much about it hurting really bad AFTER it’s done, but it must! I know with our last I couldn’t convince them to give a shot to numb it. They insisted that the shot would hurt worse than the procedure itself. DH had to agree that he wouldn’t want a shot, so I had to agree with his decision (though I cried tons!!).

Okay, I’ve got to stop, I’ve been trying not to think about it! I should be better tomorrow night…. Oh, please, please, please don’t leave comments making me feel worse about this – thank you!

Good news – he’s gained weight since we brought him home. He was 7 lbs. on our scales, and now he’s 7.5 lbs! They are supposed to be back to birth weight by 2 weeks, so he’s doing good. Our scales aren’t as accurate as baby scales, but they were pretty close with our last baby.

He’s still sleeping a good bit, having 2 or 3 times a day where he’ll be awake for 1 to 2 hours at a time. He’s so fun to watch when he’s awake, I just wonder what he’s thinking as he looks so intently at our busy crew.

He’s been looking a lot like oldest brother when he was a newborn, but tonight, something about his sleeping face looks so much like his sister at that age. I can’t wait to see ‘who’ he becomes! But for now, I’m loving every second of this newborn stage!!

“Little Mommy”

Welcome to Day 3 of our Blogging Giveaway Week! Each day will bring a new contest – each being open for 7 days, so check back daily! Be sure to check out our giveaways at www.HeavenInOurHomes.com and http://Sonbeams.com blogs as well!

Today’s Great Giveaway: Handy Burp’em (Value – $8.99)

Offered by: Sheila from Love Prints

Handy Burp’ems are a new style burp cloth with a protective covering for your hand and baby. Also comes with a pocket at the bottom to catch those runaway dribbles. (No, the cute little baby doesn’t come with it! Sorry!) Good news – open to ALL!

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Alright, How this contest works! Each contest is open for one week (from starting date of that contest). You can receive entries based on the following:

*1 entry for leaving a comment about something you love on the sponsor’s website

*1 entry for adding the ”Nine Months or Less” text link to your blog or website (Leave link back in comment)

*1 entry for blogging about this contest on your blog (Leave link back in comment)

*1 entry for each $5 purchase from our Baby/ Children’s Product Page (Before tax and shipping charges)

*1 entry for joining me on Facebook (Mrs. Candace)  and plugging our site on your page

You MUST leave a separate comment for each entry. Comments will be totaled, and Random.org will choose the winning comment number! This contest ends March 29th at 11:59 PM (CST). See comments button to the lower right – it’s faint! 

Let the fun begin! Thanks for visiting!

“Little Mommy”

** NOTE – This is the DETAILED birth story, so beware, especially any men – you probably don’t care to read! It’s really long too!**

I can’t believe that we’re now a week out from the beginnings of our baby’s birth story! Last Tuesday, April 14th, I called in to my OB’s office to see if I could change my appt. for last Friday. There are two doctors at this practice that I’m not really fond of, mainly because it’s obvious that they aren’t fond of their patients.

I was shocked to hear that my favorite OB in the group wasn’t on vacation like I had been told before, but he was on call that day! To make things better, my OB was on call the next day. Okay, so now I knew that this baby HAD to come between that Tuesday morning and up until 6:59 AM on Thursday – I wanted a doctor I liked.

I googled all sorts of natural inductions, trying some of them during the day, such as massage/ pressure points. My Facebook friends offered their suggestions, and off we went trying to prod our little one along.

Just in case something might work, I straightened up the living room before bedtime, and the kiddos all had a bath. I have no idea what time we finally got to bed, but I wasn’t having contractions – not even one!

I woke up around 12:30 AM or so for my first potty break – no contractions. Alright, I was content that this baby had decided to camp out permanently in my tummy.

I believe the next time I woke up was around 2:15 to 2:30 AM- again, for a potty trip. I remember noticing a few contractions, but nothing to keep me awake or be concerned about. I was back asleep in no time.

3:40 AM - Again, potty break. But this time was different, this time my tummy was hurting. FYI first time moms, you’re tummy will begin to clean itself in preparation for a baby. This is when the contractions got my attention.

I wasn’t sure if it was contractions, or if my stomach was just cramping – but they were strong cramps for sure. I decided to camp out on the couch for a little while, just to be able to pay attention to what was going on. I’ve learned through the many weeks of contractions that I can have tons of contractions while lying in bed, only to have them stop when I move to the couch and become upright.

I was probably on the couch for 15 to 20 minutes when it was clear that these were contractions, and then I realized that they were consistent. I wasn’t sure, but they seemed to be coming every 3 to 5 minutes – though still not too painful, just strong and intense. Yeah, intense is a good word.

(My last visit I was around 3.5 cm, 25% effaced. All of my past pregnancies I was at least 4 cm on my last visit, and each labor – induced or not – were all around 4 hours start to finish. Of course, part of that is due to being 4 to 6 cm when I started – LOL. Anyway, I figured we had at least 2 or 3 hours from here.)

I made my way back to the bedroom, and I guess my stirring around was waking DH up. I didn’t want to wake him up fully, in case it was false labor. It was now about 4:05 AM, and I knew he’d have to be up for work in less than 2 hours, so I just asked where the stopwatch was – if he knew.

It was in the bathroom drawer, but the batteries were dead. Well, now back in the bathroom, my tummy was upset again. Yep, this is it – you normally just don’t go potty that much, especially in the middle of the night. And that normally doesn’t cause contractions to get more intense.

So, 4:11 AM, I’m waking him up telling him I’m pretty sure I’m in labor. My next step is to call the hospital and let them know that I think I’m in labor. I told them contractions were now 2 to 3 minutes apart, and we might be showing up in 30 minutes or so at the earliest if they kept up. They said yes, to come on in.

I wanted to prepare them, since I have fast babies – they would have time to read over my birth plan and maybe alert the doctor (yeah right… they insist on checking to be sure you are in labor before they even call the OB, like I wouldn’t know… I don’t know that they even looked at it at all.)

Back to the story – DH is getting up really quick, and since contractions are only 2 to 3 minutes, I tell him that I don’t think I have time at this point to get a shower. Next thing I know – he’s IN THE SHOWER! Hello! If I don’t have time, he doesn’t have time! (He later told me he thought I meant a shower, dry and fix my hair, etc… No, I meant I didn’t even have time for a shower!)

4:15 AM – I’m sure enough that it’s happening now that I call my parents to wake them. I tell them it would probably be 30 minutes or so before we got ready and left, but if they could be ready to meet us at the hospital to get the kids.

 After that call is made, I begin trying to fix my hair where it won’t look too dirty in pictures, wash my face and begin putting on makeup. Hey, pictures aren’t forgiving!

At one point, I began to think it all stopped – I thought it seemed to be a few minutes without a contraction. Kinda disappointed, but that didn’t last long. Before I knew it, back they were, and now only 1 to 2 minutes apart.

One of my friends, Missi, is all for natural childbirth and homebirths. I remembered reading something she had wrote about standing and rocking through contractions – or dancing with your husband. At the time, I thought it sounded crazy.

Hospitals have you flat on your back to labor. With my first, I was brave and tried the hands and knees positions. Just seconds into my next contraction I discovered that was NOT the position I wanted to be in, and after it was over, I quickly went back to my back. So in my mind, on your back was the way to go, like they do at the hospital.

Well, this time I thought I’d try it Missi’s way. So each time a contraction would come on, I would lean over wherever I was (at the footboard of the bed, or at the bathroom counter) and begin swaying back and forth. To my amazement, it felt wonderful!

So I just kept rocking each time a contraction came. By 4:25 or 4:30 AM, I was rocking an awful lot, and contractions were getting a lot stronger. It was kinda hard to get ready at this point, since I had to keep stopping every minute.

DH was now getting the kids up and dressed, and I was once again going potty. Only this time it was different – it felt like the baby was coming out! I began getting a little frightened at this point, afraid to even sit down since it might come out.

There was so much pressure, that I quickly just dropped my drawers and rushed to the potty. There I was, straddling the toilet – a sight to see. Actually, DH did come to the door and I had to scream him away. But what really scared me was at this point I began bleeding. I’ve never done that, and even having 3 children before, I didn’t realize that you bled BEFORE having a baby.

Let’s just say I was VERY panicked at this point. It felt like the baby was coming out right there, and now I was bleeding. I called L & D to ask them what to do. The nurse was trying to be calm, but that only made me more tense.

She began asking me if the head was right there, to which I finally ended up screaming at her that I didn’t know, I was just hurting real bad and was bleeding. When in pain, and fear on top of that, I’ll scream and not think much of it except that I’m right in doing so.

She could tell that she wasn’t getting anywhere with me, so she kept asking for me to put DH on the phone. Well, considering he wasn’t in the bathroom and I was having contractions almost continally now… well, I wasn’t going to hunt him down.

He came to the door and took the phone from me, at which point it became a little humorous. She asked him if he could see the head, and can you guess what he did??!! He actually got down in the floor and was trying to look! NO!!! (Yep, I’m screaming at him now – ha ha!!)

She’s trying to get him to have my lie on the bed, which I’m yelling back NO to. Yeah, been there – it hurts. He’s beginning to panic at my rocking, wanting me to stop doing that.

Well, I manage to get pants back on and get to the living room before the next contraction. I thought I’d try the lying on my back thing since I was in the middle of the room and had no where to go except the couch.

I threw myself down and back – and yes, I was right, on your back is no fun! And let’s just add this to – thinking you might really have your baby at home isn’t too fun either when you don’t know what you’re doing!

I have mentioned a lot this pregnancy and last that I really would like a home birth, but at that moment, I just wanted to snap my fingers and be somewhere where someone knew what to do.

The nurse had mentioned calling an ambulance, but I knew from my kidney stone that those guys really don’t know much about pregnant women. Plus, I knew this baby was coming NOW, and I didn’t want to have it in the back of an ambulance with strange men with my husband and children behind us in the van.

So, we prepped my clothes and the van (not that it wouldn’t been enough if my water were to break, but it was something), and loaded up. The last time I recall on my clock was 4:41 AM (I’ve been awake an hour now). Of course, we had to sit a minute in the driveway because another contraction came on and I couldn’t even close my door!

I do remember looking back to the kiddos as I was getting in. They were all 3 VERY awake at 4:41 AM in the morning! DD was SO excited, and talked our ears off – asking lots of questions. I wasn’t exactly in the talking mood, I was just trying not to have a baby in front of my children!

For the past 10 mintues or so at that point, I had begun to push against the contractions. While in the bathroom, I would have to stand up on my tiptoes during them. In the van, I was pushing down as hard as I could against the armrest and door – along with pushing up on my feet.

Of course, we came to redlights – but again, a laboring woman cares little for what’s right – so I’m telling DH just to run them. We make it to the interstate ramp, and get behind someone going grandpa speed…. NO!!!

Once on the interstate, we speed around him, and quickly take the fast lane. I guess we went 80 or so with flashers on. I was beginning to calm down a little now, feeling in control of the contractions. They really weren’t so bad pain wise, it was just the intense pressure to push at this point.

I remember once we hit the interchange thinking I was going to have to get DH to pull off on the ramp for me to have the baby. But somehow I managed to get through each contraction, only giving in a couple seconds at a time to push.

I wasn’t trying to push, or wanting to, but the urge was really getting strong now. We made it to the exit, again having to run a redlight. This had to be done carefully, since there were more people there. And what in the world would we see, but a roadworker SLOWLY walking across the traffic lane just minutes before 5 AM!

He got out of the way, then we had no more problems until a transfer truck pulled out in front of us just before we reached the ER entrance. BTW – I dying at this point, fighting off contractions and pushing, though the pain still managable since my water was still intact.

We pull up to the ER right just a few mintues before 5 AM, and my parents come out – my dad with a wheelchair. I’m having a contraction, so it takes a minute to get out. My parents begin asking what they need to do, and I can’t think, so I just tell them to wait there at the hospital.

The nurse begins pushing me, but really, I could’ve walked quicker! She was taking her sweet little time – HELLO!! I’m having a baby – NOW!

I ask if she can walk faster, to which she replies – no, she can’t in case she were to fall or something. So I come back with ”well can he push me?” (DH). Nope again. Well, we had to comply – we didn’t know where to go!

I remember having a contraction just after this, and I had to put my feet down to stop and push against it again. I didn’t think that one would ever end, nor did they – DH and the nurse kept telling me to put my feet up so we could get to the room. They needed to let me get through that contraction without having a baby in the hall!

Well, there wasn’t a foot rest on the chair, and I knew I couldn’t hold my feet up. Thankfully, another nurse met us in the hallway and I switched to her chair. At the time, I was thinking that she might not want to give me her chair, but looking back, she was probably a labor nurse coming to meet me anyway.

The funniest thing of all was when we went to get on the elevator. There was an eldery black gentleman getting off, and his reaction when he realized I was in labor was hilarious!! His eyes bulged out, he jumped and hopped out of the way. I believe he exclaimed something, but wouldn’t have a clue what – it was just really funny.

We got to labor and delivery, and nurses came pouring in the room after us. I felt bad, all the noise I was making in the hallways, but couldn’t really help it (nor really cared at that time). The nurse said something about getting on the bed so they could check me.

Umm.. not exactly what I wanted to hear – that hurts when you’re in labor! Well, there really wasn’t any need to be concerned. Another contraction came on and I lunged onto the bed, kicking my legs and nurses tried to get my pants off.

The next thing I remember them saying was that my water was right there and was what I was feeling. The nurse pushed the baby monitor against my stomach – but didn’t have time to buckle it on. This was 5:07 AM.

The next contraction came on, and despite knowing that you aren’t supposed to push until they say (in case you’re not fully dilated and would tear), I couldn’t help but push – even without the doc there. They began calling for someone to get the resident on call in there.

I didn’t tell them I pushed, until they said I could push on the next one – then I told them I had pushed on the last one. Here it came, and of course, I was pushing again, but it seemed something was lodged. All I knew was it was the water sack.

I thought it was stuck, but DH told me later it wasn’t - he kept looking and seeing it get bigger, even bigger than the baby’s head at the end.

The doc came in, and I’m able to whisper in pain “It hurts, pop it”. The head nurse hands over some metal thing as the doc is gloving up and they are putting her smock thing on. I’m still pushing. She pops it, and next thing I know they are saying something about suctioning.

“It’s head is out?”, I’m asking. Wow – I never even knew it! I kinda felt jipped, not hearing ‘here comes the head’. I guess when the water sac was popped, either his head was right there or got flushed out. Either way, it was relief when she popped it.

I heard something about the cord being around his neck (it was around his neck twice), and the shoulders. DH thinks she pulled the baby out from there, but it was so fast – who knows. 5:10 AM our baby boy was born! It took a minute for me to realize that no one had told me what the gender was, and I had to ask!

In hindsight, I realized that this was the first birth I ‘missed’. I was able to see each child be born with a mirror before, but didn’t really have time to think about it this time. Start to finish – 2:30 AM to 5:10 AM. In hospital room, less than 5 minutes.

I laugh that God must’ve known He had to help me have a natural birth, making it that quick so I couldn’t give in to meds. Really, it was all very managable. The last 3 to 5 minutes were rough, with the water coming out and stretching to the max. That was mainly a very tight, burning feeling.

The cord only was attached for 5 to 8 minutes probably. They said that something was detached and it wouldn’t pump blood to the baby anymore, but instead pull blood out of him. I really don’t think they knew what they were talking about, but they kept arguing and insisting, so DH told me just to trust them and let them cut it.

Since they were saying something about me still bleeding and being concerned about that, I agreed. Plus they said the cord had a knot in it, so I wasn’t sure if much blood could even get to him. In the emergency rush they made us feel we were in, the doc cut the cord – something DH has always gotten to do.

I realized this later, and feel bad for DH. I think he was disappointed, but he doesn’t like to think or dwell on things that he can’t change or fix. (Very unlike me, why do I think I can change things in the past?)

I was able to have him placed skin to skin on my stomach right away, and wonder if him being elevated like that was part of the reason they said the cord would pull tight and draw away blood?

We also forgot to snap a picture with the doc, actually, I don’t even recall her saying goodbye… Really, it was complete chaos!

After he was born, the nurses were great about leaving us alone. It was wonderful to be in a quiet room, no wires or machines hooked up, able to hold and nurse the baby for as long as I wanted. They came in occassionally to check him temp, and just as I thought – he was perfect!

My last baby had his temp drop, but they wouldn’t put him skin to skin – this time we did and it was great! I called my parents back, and they brought our children to meet their new brother around 5:45 AM. The reaction was so sweet! DD’s face was all lit up.

The comment was made that ‘someone’ wanted it to be a girl, like a baby patter-in, but they were happy with their brother.

Well, aside from one nurse insisting on giving me a shot of something (starts with M) for bleeding which I really didn’t think I needed, the rest of my care went pretty good. DH was okay with that, not wanting me to bleed too much, and was willing to chance the drugs.

Overall, I’m amazed at how I can go from start to finish in LESS than 3 hours!! I knew it would be a night baby, and was surprised it was a boy. Mainly because his pregnancy was so high and caused little to no pain/ pressure on my pelvic floor or legs. But he was all in front, so that did have me somewhat thinking it was a boy.

We opened the envelope on Saturday once we remembered it, and the sonogram tech was right “It’s A Boy!”. We are so glad he is, and have been loving every minute we’ve had to love and kiss on him!

Thanks for reading his story, and we’d love to hear a comment from you! I’m very curious at who all of my visitors are – I can see numbers, but that still leaves you a stranger. So please, could you drop a quick comment, maybe even letting us know how you found us? Thanks so much!

“Little Mommy”

PS – It’s true, natural labor DOES give you a much quicker recovery time. This was my 1st all natural. I’ve had two inductions (pictocin and water breaking), and my 2nd child was a natural start with some pain meds in my IV about 45 minutes before she was born. I’m not sure that they helped with pain, but sure made me dizzy!

As long as you focus on contractions, know that they are doing something and shouldn’t be fought against (unless you are in the van!!), you can easily work through them. Your body knows what to do if you listen to it.

I was pretty much on my own this time. I had nurses at the end, but really don’t know much of what they were saying, I was doing what I knew my body needed me to. I didn’t even tear this time!

In case you missed it, he was 7 lbs. and 6 oz., 20 inches long. Okay, NOW I’m saying goodnight – it’s taken about an hour to type this all up!

To my dear son, I love you more than words can describe, and have so loved stroking your head, having your hold my fingers, and kissing your precious little self time and time again! You are a true blessing from God – HIS creation – and we’re so blessed that HE decided to create you for our family! We Love You!

Yep, I made it not even 3 whole days before resorting to a pacifier – something we were able to keep from getting addicted to on our last 2 babies. Well, they really didn’t even like them, so that helped.

Our first baby was such a happy baby, and a baby with a paci. It seemed that when we took it from him soon after his 2nd b’day, he became a lot more moody and fussy, never going back 100% to that perfectly happy child. So thus, we weren’t too fond of ever using a pacifier again. UNTIL…. Friday night…. I managed to find an old one stashed away in the kitchen….

I’m not sure if it was the spaghetti sauce (I tried not to use too much), or the Caesar salad w/ croutons (garlic?) – but we had one fussy baby from 10 PM until nearly 4 AM. We did get a little sleep in the middle of all that, but not hardly any until 1 or 1:30.

He did take the paci for a little while, then got upset all over again. I’m not sure if he was really hungry, but I was bone dry. (Note to self – be sure to drink LOTS more water, especially in the afternoons and evenings.)

The next night, same thing, only not as long. Okay, I had kept myself from salad with our steak, and DH held off of the garlic salt on the meat… So, maybe it’s not the food?

Last night, I decided to try putting him down for the night earlier. We’re not the earliest to bed/ earliest to rise family normally – our bedtime for the kids is 9 or 9:30.

It hit me that maybe he’s just over stimulated by that late at night. I can see it, and you could too if you were around the older three for more than 15 minutes. They’re not bad, they just have fun = are a tad bit excitable.

So, this has put feeding the baby around 9 or 10 PM for the last ‘awake’ time , but the problem being is that he doesn’t want to go to sleep then!

He’s tired, but still needs to have something in his mouth. I’m okay with feedings every two hours, he needs them, but I have to draw the line at being a human pacifier 20 hours a day.

Overall, last night was better. When he did wake up, I simply fed him in our dark bedroom, just one side, then would put him back down. I think it was 10 when he went down for good, and this was MUCH better than the previous nights!

We’re really glad that uncle and aunt brought over some paci’s in his gift bag! He’s starting to get the hang of them, and will take them for 15 or 20 minutes IF he’s not too tired. We’re not using them until they are completely necessary, but we have had those moments.

On another note, I am SO not following the feeding ‘schedule’ they suggest – it just doesn’t work with us. The baby is a little jaundice, so he’s especially sleepy today. I’m feeding him when he’s awake, but then he’s asleep 5 minutes later again (and not eating).

Breastfed boy babies are more likely to become jaundice for some reason, oh, and add Caucasian to that. All three of my boys have been this way. You just have to get them to nurse as much as you can, and hope the sun shines in the window enough to strip them down and let ‘em soak! We did have sun today, so we turned up the heat and stripped him down to his diaper.

He’s getting in his 8 or more feedings a day, just in his own time. I personally like it when he has 2 or 3 maybe 1.5 hrs apart, cause then he’ll go 4 or 5. I’m able to get some things done, take a nap, or spend time with the other ones during these long stretches.

Okay , this is about as much one-handed typing I can do for now,

“Little Mommy”

Just a quick note – I have added pics to the site! See the “Our New Baby” page on the left hand sidebar.