Due Date Came and Went!

Well if you didn't know my due date was yesterday, unfortunately no baby yet! As much as I'm enjoying this time and getting a lot of cleaning done and cooking I just want to be in labor already! I feel like the size of a bus (and not the short ones).

I'm super bored actually! Since school is out and I don't work anymore I just feel like a bum! On top of that it's super hard to walk now because my feet are swollen and I'm now a size 9 (prepregnancy I was a 7).

We are so excited for baby to get here! We are debating between two names; Sadie and Brynlee.  SO we are just going to decide when we meet her.

I had an appointment with one of my midwives on Wednesday and she said that she estimates the weight to be around low 8 lbs.  Looks like we have a little turkey ball on our hands!

We had the uncomfortable talk about induction and set a date just in case.  It's the 27th! So if I don't go into labor spontaneously by than that will be the big day! I'm hoping that it doesn't come to that because I really didn't want to use an synthetic drugs and be hooked up to an IV.  But whatever happens at least I have Ben with me and I know that it will be an AMAZING (and painful lol) and SATISFYING experience.

We had our last childbirth class yesterday and it went great! I highly recommend Katy Rawlins from birthidahofalls.com  She knows what she is talking about! One of the most important things that I learned from this class is that I have a right to choose what kind of birth experience I want.  I feel empowered to make choices and to tell people no, I'd prefer to do it this way.  Lastly, I know that you can't really plan child birth.  You can make a list of a billion things that you do and don't want but chances our most of those are going to fly out the window, so it's important to know what you will not cave in on unless it is medically necessary.  If and when things don't go as planned for our little girls birth I know that I did everything in my power to be prepared and knowledgeable of what is happening, and for me personally I think that is what makes all the difference on whether you have a satisfying birth or not.  You have the choice!

Pink and Aqua Nursery is Complete!

Well our baby girl's room is finally done! And just in the nick of time as well, considering my due date is this Sunday :)

We are really happy with how it turned out and the best part of it is that a lot of it was done on the cheap through different DIY projects, buying stuff on sale, and just shopping around for the best deal in general.

I made the lamp, the "I'm a Child of God" picture was bought on etsy as an electronic file for only $3 and I had the frame already so all I had to do was go and print it out, I also made the embroidery hoop wall hangings from scaps of fabric that I had and you can get the hooks for like $1.

We we're really fortunate with our families being able to get some of the bigger pieces for us so that we could still have a small Christmas! The Stanly's bought us our crib and my mom got us the dresser, and we got the bedding from Pottery Barn Kids.  It was the only thing in the room that I splurged on :)

This chair was a total gift from Ben! We were walking around Walmart one day picking up some of the stuff that we still needed for the baby and we said we should get this for you, it's probably more comfortable than the regular recliner that we were going to put in there.  What a sweetheart! Now we have some owl accents as well throughout the room because I thought they were cute, but this is by no means a "theme"! Every time Ben see's something with an owl on it he try's to convince me to get it! I again made the lamp, and I painted the ceramic owl, and the table...check this out!!! Was $25 from Walmart and is super perfect! We absolutely love it! We got the owl pillow as a baby shower gift from the Stanly's and I was able to get this paper lanterns for just a couple dollars a piece online.

We finished up the day before yesterday with finally hanging the shelves that I had gotten on the wall.  Because we've been so busy and I tend to hang things crooked, I've been waiting several weeks for this to get done! I'm so happy with how it turned out and how much storage space our changing table gives us.  Thanks Dad!

"So that's what they're for!"

So this post should probably have a little disclaimer if you are anywhere near a super private person and if the subject makes you uncomfortable then I'm sorry you should probably just stop reading now! I've got a little something to say about this and I'm not going to be shy about it! :)

I hate how in this country there is a stigma associated with breastfeeding.  So many people have a issues with getting their babies to breastfeed and are embarrassed to get help.  Sure there are lactation consultants at the hospital but their way of doing things are a lot different then if you saw a doula that was a lactation specialist.  In our country we have to have a giant blanket covering our whole upper body so nobody feels "uncomfortable".  Seriously?! If you are uncomfortable about me breastfeeding than here is a thought, don't watch! Ugh who would have thought of that?  Apparently we are now so ashamed of our bodies that women can't breastfeed without being behind a closed door with a blanket over us, so that nobody else feels "uncomfortable"!  You want to know what's really uncomfortable?  A newborn latching on only to your nipple and pulling! You can talk to me about how breastfeeding makes you feel uncomfortable when you actually know what it's like.  

Stepping off my soap box now.

So your probably wondering where on earth is this coming from she doesn't even have her baby yet?  Well I got the AMAZING opportunity to attend a 3 hour breast feeding intensive class where we learn about the basics of breastfeeding, the benefits, positions and latching (yes, with baby dolls), and common problems and what you can try to fix it.  My childbirth teacher was teaching the class at the Agape Birth Center and I asked her if it would be beneficial to me to wait until the baby was already born to go to one, or before.  She was so sweet when she said if you take the class before you will be so much more prepared for it and you could potentially avoid some of the struggles that other women experience.

I learned so much at this class! There were 5 of us who were expecting and 1 women who had her baby girl just 2 days ago.  It was such a special opportunity to have her there.  She was very open and not shy.  This was her second child.  Her first child she had such a hard time breastfeeding that she said she gave up and used formula.  She was crying while she said that because she knows that if she had just sought out the help and had been more prepared from the start should could have nursed him, she said that she was willing to do anything to nurse her new baby.  It was a very beautiful experience being able to actually see someone nursing and she was so open that she let Katy (the instructor) pretty much walk all of us through it. just sitting right in front of us.  All I've ever seen of breastfeeding was a women covered up with a blanket, I had never really seen a child actually nursing and let me tell you it was the most amazing beautiful thing!

There are so many benefits to breastfeeding

Benefits for Baby!

• Early breast milk (colostrum) is literally liquid gold- nothing beats it! It provides baby with so many nutrients and antibodies to protect them, help them thrive, and fight diseases.
• Formula fed babies have a lot higher risk (not a guarantee) of asthma, obesity, diabetes, and gastrointestinal track infections.  
• Since breast milk is a living organism it's easier for baby to digest 
• No formula changes with the growth of your baby.  Your breast milk changes from colostrum to mature milk around the 3rd to 5th day after birth.  Mature milk contains just the right amounts of fat, sugar, water, and protein for your little one.  

Benefits for Mommy! 

• Life can be a little bit easier! Obviously your going to spend the first while feeding every 2-3 hours but eventually the feedings will get a little longer in length and your baby will sleep longer stretches as well.  When that happens it makes going out a lot easier, you don't have to make formula ahead of time.  Think about all the time you can save by not having to make, measure, and sterilize! 
• It feels good! Yes for a while it can and will hurt because your nipples are not conditioned to it yet.  But when you nurse you are releasing oxytocin in your brain because of the skin to skin contact with your baby.  It can help them feel more secure, warm, and comforted.  It's a great way to bond with your baby! 
• Breastfeeding saves you $
• It's good for your own health.  You bounce back to your prebaby weight faster.  Breastfeeding is linked to lower risk of health problems such as, 
• Diabetes
• Ovarian cancer
• Breast cancer
• Postpartum depression

I don't want it to come across that I think that women who formula feed are bad moms! Cause that is not the case! Sometimes due to medical reasons a baby is unable to nurse and I think at that point the best thing that you can do is try to pump, pray, seek help, and hope for the best.

This class taught me so much valuable information especially about how critical it is to start breastfeeding right after birth and how we choose to labor and give birth can effect breastfeeding as well.  Whatever drugs and fluids (like an IV) you get your baby gets as well.  But think about how small their body is and how much they are getting?  It's very common to see babies whose mothers have gotten epidurals to come out lethargic and unresponsive, this makes them being able to latch properly very difficult which makes it hard for your milk to let down.  In addition pacifiers and bottles should be introduced till after 6 weeks.  This isn't really due to much to nipple confusion but really the flow of the bottle.  When you bottle feed your baby never has to work for it, but when you breastfeed the milk just doesn't poor out, they have to give it a little effort! 

I just want to end with how grateful I am to have a body that God created that has given me the greatest privilege to be able to nurse my baby.  I know that I am more prepared now than I was yesterday, and that this class taught me that if this is really important to me to not give up.  If I have problems with nursing I am completely dedicated to providing my daughter with what I see as the very best source of nutrition.  I just want to share the information that I learned with other mothers and future-mothers because it has already blessed my life and I definitely feel empowered. 

38 Weeks and Contractions...in your LEGS?!

So yesterday we had our comfort and coping child birth class.  It was such a blast!  Not to spoil any surprises to those who are going to take Katy Rawlins class down in Idaho Falls, but she had us do practice contractions.

Your probably thinking...practice contractions, that's impossible! Well probably, yes.  But she had us go and do a wall sit for a minute.  It hurt so bad!! I'm not even kidding, we couldn't use our hands or anything or put our hands on our sides we just had to keep doing it at a complete 90 degree angle.  I thought I was going to die haha

Well then she had us do another one about a couple of minutes later to represent transition in child birth.  When you feel like you can't possible do it anymore.  I thought I was going to cry. 

Well than we learned a bunch of visualization techniques and breathing that seriously worked!  She had us do another wall sit, but this time she told us to use the techniques that we used to work through the pain.  They really did work! For me I breathed in through my nose and breath out of my mouth.  As I did it I pictured that I was breathing in one color changing it in my body and breathing out another color.  Sounds a little nuts?? Well it may be, but it works! It didn't take the pain away but allowed me to focus on something other than my throbbing burning legs. 

Than we talked all about our comfort bag.  I knew that there were things that I needed to bring to the hospital, but I never would have thought of some of the comfort items that she suggested, such as a rice pack that you can heat up in the microwave, and even....take two tennis balls wrapped them in a stocking and there you go a sweet massage tool :)

And of course food!! I definitely plain on snacking throughout the birth on stuff like granola, apples, and hello...I'm sure Ben would appreciate some food as well!! And plenty of juice, Gatorade, and WATER! And a little treat for whoever is in the room...I'm going to make some brownies! :) After putting up with me in labor, I'm sure they deserve a treat ;)

I finished our "Priorities and Preferences" sheet, otherwise known as a birth plan outside of a hospital, so I'm happy to be all set with that.  I just have a few things for example such as no constant electronic fetal monitoring (instead we would like to use a doppler), no IV or Hep lock (this allows me to move around as much as I like and not be tethered to an IV), and we want delayed cord clamping (this is when you don't cut the umbilical cord for at least 3 minutes and it's stopped pulsating (provides lots of good nutrients and antibodies for the baby)...and then some other stuff as well :)

Other than that I'm glad that the semester is coming to an end, Sadie will be here in AT MOST 3 weeks :), and we are just so excited for this little adventure to begin! I have less than 2 weeks left until my due date, but chances are I'll go over! So I'm just trying to enjoy the last few weeks of feeling her move and catching her little foot when it sticks out.  It still blows my mind when she will completely move and I see my stomach do like a wave. Or when she sticks her bum out.  I'm going to miss that feeling! 


However....I am not going to miss being the size of a mini bus, the terrible back pain, and peeing every 30 minutes.  38 weeks has treated me well so far, but I can't wait till I can see her, and hold her in my arms, and talk to her...even though I talk and sing to her now, I can't wait to be able to look into her eyes and do it! 

Trials and Comfort

I usually try not to express my feelings and emotions to much on our blog, and like to use it as just a tool to show what we have been up too.  But I got the very strong impression to write about an experience that I had today.

This is really difficult for me to actually write, and I've tried to write down my feelings a few times but each time I do I just want the hurt to go away so I try not to think about it.  My family and my aunt Pat's family have always been really close.  My Aunt Pat and Uncle Paul are two of the nicest people you will ever meet.  For spring break/Easter we would go down to Virginia and visit their daughter Kelly and her family.  She has two of the sweetest kids ever, and it blows my mind because how old they've gotten because I remember holding Brynn in my arms when she was just a little baby! Kelly was really great about staying in touch with me over facebook when I moved out here to Idaho for college.  Even though we always lived so far away from each other I always knew that if I needed her she would be there.  She was really important to me.  Kelly unfortunately was in a bad situation at home and in winter she died, very unexpectedly (details are not appropriate to share so please don't ask).  I was in school that semester and we basically had no money, I tried to convince myself to just put the $850 airplane ticket on a credit card and go to her funeral.  I really wanted to be there for my family, but I had a gut feeling telling me not to go.  I followed my gut, and either the day of her funeral or the day before I talked to my Aunt Pat and I will never forget the feelings that I felt when we finished the conversation.  She told me that she knew that I wanted to be there, and if there was any way possible I would be.  When I got off the phone with her and had myself a good long cry something in my heart was telling me that it was important for me to remember Kelly by the memories that I had of her and that for me I didn't need seeing her at her funeral to be the last memory.  I know that I will see her again, and that gave me so much comfort.

The reason that I was thinking a lot about Kelly today was in my sociology class we were discussing domestic violence, and it just really hit home with members of my family.  If you know that someone is being hurt- you have to be there for them, don't judge or criticize them for not leaving, but let them know that they are being brave for telling someone and provide them with references to resources that can help them.  The most important thing you can do is listen and believe them.

That being said, sometimes there is no escaping death.  It's apart of life, and it should be.  It's the only way that we can live with God again and have the greatest happiness and joy.  It's painful, sad, heartbreaking, sometimes we don't think it's fair, and usually it just plain sucks.  But it happens.  When it happens please don't turn to bad habits to cope, but rather look for the ways positive ways that this person has affected your life.  What did you learn from them?  How will their death make you do things or see things differently?  Believe me, I know it's a heck of a lot easier said than done, but it can be done- in time.  I have been able to forsake the anger that I felt for the person that took my cousins life away and honestly forgive him. That only came after I had found peace in the plan of salvation

We've all lost loved ones and some of us really struggle with that every day.  This short video that I watched really strengthened my faith in the Lord that death is not the end of us, and that we will be together again.  Families are eternal and everlasting, death does not triumph over life.

Meet Ruby!

Well after realizing how small our little 2 door Pontiac Grand Am was, and seeing as though it had gotten into like 4 accidents, and with winter coming along it was only 2 wheel drive and scared the living daylights out of me when the roads were even the slightest bit slick....

We bought RUBY!

She is pretty much my favorite car ever

and we got a pretty good deal on her too. 

And we definitely put her to the test on the way home! 

The dealership was all the way in Jackson, WY about 2 hours away and every time we go I cry when we go through the Swan Valley Pass.  It literally is the scariest thing in the whole world when there is snow on it.  And even though it's only November there was a ton of it! Enough that people were snowboarding down the side of the mountain.  Well our little blue car could barely make it up the mountain, and it's brake aren't too swell anymore (we are in the process of fixing them)  With my hands and nails digging into the car and sobbing a bit because I have this overwhelming fear that we are going to somehow drive off the side of the freaking mountain, I actually told Ben that we should just turn around!!!!  Well we are glad we didn't!  Ben drove the little blue car home and I got to drive Ruby.  She has all wheel drive so it was a lot less scary, and the tires were pretty good too.  She does have some miles on her but a lot of them we're from the highway. I had some preferences for the new car, because I was going to be the one primarily driving it because it's the safer one, so Ben wanted me and Sadie to be as safe as possible.  What a good guy! He's so sweet!  I had my heart set on a hatchback, or a non dorky looking wagon.  I really like the space and this may sound stupid but...I can see better out of the back window which = less accidents!I also wanted something that had really good gas mileage.  Ruby definitely does! She gets 26 mpg in the city and 31 mpg on the highway.  They filled it up at the dealership and when we got home from the 2 hour drive the tank was still on full! It has a really nice interior and is in good condition.  Ben knows that this car has to last us a while so I'm going to take really good care of it! Changing the oil every 3 months and rotating the tires, I'm going to treat this car like a second baby!

The Birth Day Class is a Great Investment!

What an interesting class! I definitely recommend this to any of my friends in the Rexburg, ID area who are expecting or will be soon ;) it's definitely worth the time and money especially if you are going to do a natural birth.  I never realize how much I didn't know or even think about!

The first class we talked all about what our ideal birth experience would be.  It was a really small class for this session just us and another couple and than there will be a few different couples coming at random weeks for classes that they missed.  Katy Rawlins is the instructor and is a certified doula as well.  She is so funny and really knows her stuff.  One of the best parts is the fact that it doesn't feel like a class that you would take a school or at the hospital, it's more relaxed and realistic so I feel comfortable asking questions and not feel stupid.

My favorite part about the 1st class was discussing what your partner will be doing while your in active labor, and especially what he won't be doing.  Please no counting! Childbirth is a natural process and in fact it releases the same hormones in your body as when your being intimate with your spouse.  You want to feel as relaxed as possible to ease the pain, and having someone counting in your face 1,2,3,4,5,6 screaming YOU CAN DO IT! COME ONE YOU CAN DO IT! I realized in the class that it was certainly not relaxing for me! haha

Another thing that I loved was learning the best way to make noise.  You always see people screaming at the top of their lungs during childbirth but that's actually counter productive! It's proven that making noise when you are in pain helps to cope, but there are different types of noises.  When you are moaning in a low pitch you are actually relaxing your cervix...go on try it...now scream in a high pitch, do you feel it tighten up?
Well I don't want to give away any of her secrets but just a little teaser for all my mama's out there.

Her class is worth it, it's fun, it's affordable, and I feel more confident that I can have Sadie in the least invasive way possible without any unnecessary medical intervention.  Also me and Ben left feeling even closer to each other and having a better idea of what to expect and what we can do.

http://birthidahofalls.com/?page_id=2