Birth story teaser

I have something exciting to announce. Some women I know through the blogosphere and fellow LDS mothers are compiling a book called: The Gift of Giving Life:Rediscovering the Divine Nature of Pregnancy and Birth.

I wrote a submission for this book a couple weeks after Vince was born and decided that it needed some polishing before I sent it in. Up until now I have not polished it up and pretty much forgot about it, and Vince is now 6.5 months old. However, I just read this post and knew I had to submit my story. Now or never. Polished or not polished. So here is my submission for the book (this is not the birth story in it's entirety that I will some day publish on the blog :)

I prepared for a natural birth with my first baby using Hypnobabies. After my water broke, I started having back labor and was not making much progress. Once I reached a 4 and after laboring for 24 hours, my midwife found out my daughter was breech; because my water had already broken, I had to have an emergency c-section. I was devastated. Right before finding out she was breech, my husband had given me a priesthood blessing saying that I would be able to have the natural birth that we had planned and practiced for. We talked about this later and felt that the Lord was referring to a future birth. I knew right away that I would try for a VBAC for my second birth.

The disappointment of my birth coupled with a colicky baby led to post partum depression. As I shared my experience with other women and helped influence them to make their own decisions regarding their births, I started to feel some closure from my own experience. I realized that had I not experienced the heartache and depression that I did with my daughter’s birth, that I might not have the passion or motivation or empathy to help empower other women to feel good about their births. This quote by Elder Wirthlin helped me understand that my pain was being restored to something greater.

"The Lord compensates the faithful for every loss. That which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto them in His own way. While it may not come at the time we desire, the faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude."

I knew that the Lord loved me and that He needed to teach me things that I could only learn through the disappointment of my daughter’s birth. I learned to trust in His will and timing.

With my second pregnancy I again practiced with Hypnobabies and envisioned the natural birth I had wanted the first time around. I found the only OB in my city who supported VBACs and hired a doula. Though I wanted nothing more than to have a VBAC I had faith in the Lord’s will and knew He knew what I needed better than I thought I did.

A week after my due date I started having contractions. They were intense enough that I couldn’t sleep through them. I felt them in my back again which alerted me that again my baby was not in an optimal position to be born. The next day I had an ultrasound to check my amniotic fluid level since I was “overdue”. It was down to 4.5. Five is normal. My Dr. was concerned and could have scheduled me for a C-section right then but, told me to come back in two hours to admit me to the hospital. Two hours later I was still at a one.

My Dr. broke my water and gave me pitocin. Of course that increased my back labor. It had been over 24 hours and I could no longer take the pain and the fact that I was progressing so slow. I knew it was going to take even longer so I asked for an epidural. I was still able to move around with the help of my doula and husband to try to get my baby in a good position. After about 40 hours of labor I was at a 6. I knew that my chances of having a VBAC were getting slimmer as time went on. I was also coming close to the 24 hour “deadline” that most doctors give to laboring women after their water breaks.

I tried to prepare myself mentally for having another C-section but, the thought of that made me cry. It didn’t seem fair after having labored all this time to just have another C-section. My Dr. was supposed to come back to check on me but, she got caught up in a surgery. During the time she was in that surgery my back labor finally stopped and I had completely dilated to a 10! I know it was no coincidence that she was in the surgery for so long. Had she come back any earlier I think she would have made me have a C-section. Never before in my life could I feel the intense power of my friends and family praying for me.

I was able to have a VBAC! Having a vaginal birth was more important to me than having a drug-free birth. Sure, (again) it wasn’t the way I had planned but, being able to push my son out of my own body was a wonderful feeling. And I don’t mind that I needed an epidural to be able to do that. I did it! Will I try a third time to do it naturally? Yes! But, if not, I will accept the Lord’s will and just be happy to have a healthy, beautiful baby. A few days after the birth I read this scripture and felt the Lord speak directly to my heart:

“And it came to pass that after I had prayed and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will grant unto thee according to thy desires, because of thy faith” (Enos 1:12).

My righteous desire was to have a vaginal birth. I’m so grateful He saw fit to grant me that desire not only because of my faith, but because of the faith of my family and friends too. Together we all witnessed a miracle.

If you have a story to share, do it!

Orlando

We made an impromptu trip down to Orlando on Fri. July 16th b/c a "young man" (not sure what else to call him) in our ward was going to receive his endowment in the Orlando temple before leaving on his mission AND Charles found out that one of his high school buddies was there for a conference. So, we booked a hotel on Hotwire for $19 and drove the 5 hrs down.

Keep in mind we had just gotten back from VA the week before so this was somewhat tiring. And the kids didn't do well in the car. And there was a TON of traffic in Orlando. Everyone and their dog was there for summer vacation to Disney World.

But, we had some amazing Cuban food! We walked around Celebration again and I found out the name of the beads I've wanted since first visiting there in March 2009. Can't put up a pic, but check out how delicious these beads are!

So, turns out that the temple session started at 2pm, we thought it was at 2:30. Whoops! But, I made the best of the situation, did initiatories and met him and his family in the Celestial room. They were surprised to see me there. It was wonderful! The Orlando temple is beautiful. The only way it could of been better was having Charles there. He was driving around Orlando trying to lull the children to sleep. I felt bad that we both couldn't go inside since that is what made the whole trip worth it to me.

Being the great husband that he is, he checked out a top rated salad and sandwich shop beforehand on Trip Advisor for me and we had dinner there before heading back up to Savannah. I ordered a salmon salad but, they ran out so gave us a $10 gift card. That's some sweet customer service if you ask me. So, we bought key lime jam and habanero jam from their store.

As we were coming to St. Augustine I begged Charles to let us drive on the scenic highway along the coast and not the boring tree laden interstate. He hesitated because our lovely children were crying in the back seat and Azure had about 4 accidents in less than 48 hrs, so naturally we both wanted to get home- the sooner the better. But, we weren't sure we'd ever have the opportunity to do it again. So, just as we were about to pass the exit, he obliged me and made the turn off and we got to drive through St. Augustine again :)

We stopped on the beach at sunset. Here's the proof:We are SO happy to be out of the car, on a beautiful empty beach and NOT listening to the screaming cries of children :)

But, they are sure cute, aren't they?!

Because we like FL so much we are tentatively planning on applying for a residency in Tampa. By we, I mean Charles :) It'll be exciting to see where we end up next June!

A walk down memory lane

Ah! I am filled with nostalgia as I blend up a batch of sweetly smelling steamed organic peas for Vince. I love these days of making baby food as I remember my days as a first time mother to my little Azure. Indulge me by watching this video again 2.5 yrs later:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Oh my heart!

Little Miss Azure

This little girl is awfully cute with her perfect blonde ringlets. 50% of the time though it's a struggle to get her to do things. I know, she's only 3, I have to remind myself that often. It's exhausting to give out small bribes after every request answered no. So, that's where we're at these days. I'm learning just as much as she is, but, I think I'm more of a slow learner in the patience department.
She got this 25 piece puzzle for her birthday from her friend Monica. I showed her how to put it together, I think twice. Then, we put her to "bed" where she continued playing in her room. Awhile later she exclaimed excitedly underneath her door: "Mommy, come look. I did my puzzle all by myself!" And she had! I was so proud of her.

6 months

I missed blogging about the 5 month mark. Here's a pic a week before he turned 5 months. You can tell how chunkier his face is only a month later in subsequent pics.
Here's what "Baby Vince" has been up to lately.

I gave him his first solids 3 days after he turned 5 months. He was able to lap up water from a cup around 3.5 months so I knew he'd be ready before 6 months. I made him oatmeal from steel cut oats. I wanted to start w/ oats instead of rice b/c I didn't want to constipate him. Well, we had the opposite effect and Daddy's clothes got the brunt of it, twice :)
In the last month he's eaten oats, bananas, applesauce, avocados, blueberries, watermelon, a cheerio, and sweet potatoes. He's pretty much liked it all. I am making my own baby food again. I love knowing exactly what is in the food I give my babies. Here's my fave website on the how tos.
No, food allergies as of yet which I'm grateful for since he's had eczema I thought he'd be a little more prone to them. Which I'll report his eczema has gone down so much in the last month. I used to have to put hydrocortisone creme on him every other night. Now, I'm only doing it once a week. Yay! I did figure out that he breaks out with a rash on his body every time we've gone to the pool. It must be chlorine. He sure is a hottie though in his board shorts :)
He stopped sleeping 11 hrs straight about 3-4 wks ago. Sometime after we got back from our VA trip for the 4th. A week after that trip we took another road trip (we are hardcore) down to Orlando, FL (perhaps a post to come on that trip). A week after that we flew to CA for a wk. So, I blame it on all the traveling and disruptions to the blessed sleep schedule. Sleep is very important to me and I've noticed it's very important to my children. They do not have happy dispositions when they don't get enough sleep.

He's been rolling from back to tummy and tummy to back since a little before turning 5 months. He can lift his entire chest off the ground. Still haven't seen him get on his knees though. He can't really support himself for very long with his arms when sitting up. He usually just folds in half and tries to eat the carpet.

I stopped double swaddling him only 2 wks ago. He seemed like he still needed it until then. Now, I'm swaddling him with one arm out. On the morning he turned 6 months I found him on his tummy and laying diagonal. He hadn't done this before since he'd been double swaddled for so long. I'm *hoping* that with no overnight travel plans for the next month or so and with one arm free now, he'll start sleeping 11 hrs straight again!

He nursed like crazy the week we were in CA. Pretty much every 2 hrs. I think it was a combination of teething, stranger anxiety in a new place, and not having any of his familiar contraptions to occupy him (swing, playgym, jumper, etc). And then today he only nursed 4 times all day and even fell asleep in his swing which he never does.

He grunts when I'm talking to someone while he's nursing. It's so funny. I think it's his way of letting me know he wants me to focus on only him while he's eating :)

He says "ba ba" quite often. Which is funny since we tried giving him a bottle today and he wouldn't take it. He didn't scream and push it out of his mouth though like Azure would do but, he didn't really suck on it. Oh well, I guess none of my children will take bottles.

He just recently stopped taking what I called "couch naps" in the arm of the couch b/c he's now leaning forward too much and I'm afraid he's going to roll off. Here's some of his last "couch nap" pics.
And a "couch nap" with Daddy:
One of his favorite things to do is grab both of his feet when he's on his back. He's not as flexible as Azure was in getting his toes in his mouth. His legs are just so chunky! I love it!

4th of July Catch Up

I considered not even backtracking at all but, I will just a tad.

We headed up to Danville, VA for the 4th to visit Ev and Mike, the newlyweds. How did I manage to not get any pics of Mike?
Besides catching up, the highlight of the trip (and one of my favorite 4th of July traditions) was the flag cake- making it, which everyone helped with, and of course eating it.

Traditionally I've made it using a pound cake or angel food cake. Thanks Stefani for this new recipe. We will be using it again!

Azure was scared of the fireworks for about the first half of the show. It was too loud for her. She kept her eyes closed and covered her ears. After exaggerated oohs and ahhs from us she finally opened her eyes and enjoyed the end of the show.

Azure's antics

Today Azure asked for a piece of bread to eat. "Do you want peanut butter on it? Regular butter?" "No, just bread."

After I gave it to her she started to break it into little pieces while she sang, "Azure was a prophet. First one that she knows. Follow the prophet, follow the prophet, follow the prophet. She knows the way!"

I was nursing Vince on the couch so I couldn't get the video camera to record this hilarious event. After she was done singing and I was done laughing I asked her what she was doing and she said, "I'm doing the Sacrament."