Mommy Blog: Daily Living

I didn't know it was possible to have a child and love absolutely everything about him.

(Hubster questioned whether I even love it when Jem poops. Don't get me wrong--I don't have some strange poo-love, but diapers reassure me that I'm making enough milk and feeding my boy well). 

Anyway. Everything. I love absolutely everything. 
First morning squeaks. 
"Ah goo, ah goo" as I change his diaper (I promise you this means "All good," even though my linguistics training tells me it's far too early for him to make meaningful utterances).
Wiggles, grunts, grins, and incredible belches when he nurses. 
Spontaneous, frequent, wonderful, ear to ear, toothless smiles. 
Giant, dramatic hand gestures. 
Coos, almost giggles.
Stretches, kicks, holding his head. 
Sheer delight at all his new discoveries. 
And, yes, even dirty diapers. 

Pre-Jemsy, I led a crazy-full always on the go life. I'm rather often asked what life looks like now. 

It's still full. But not so hectic. A beautiful blessing of nursing, that I totally didn't foresee, is the rhythm it gives my day. Every four hours I must stop, more or less, and just be. I do little things during this time--talk, read, day dream-- but the motion must stop. So what does a "day in the life" look like? 

Our daily living varies a bit, based on whether I have Zumba in the morning or discipleship in the evening, but, for the most part, it looks a lot like this:
In the early hours, I nurse briefly then put super cute cuddle boy back down. I then crawl back in bed myself while John gets ready for work until it's time for us to eat breakfast together. After Hubster leaves, I drink coffee, browse social media (that means connecting with all you cool-cats!), do little chores around the house, and shower before Jemsy wakes again. He nurses, and we cuddle, sing, read, and giggle. We take a walk with Mama Deb. We have lunch with Daddy, and then Jemsy takes a little nap while I putter in the studio, lining up my tasks for the afternoon. He nurses again, during which I usually read aloud to him from something like To Kill a Mockingbird (not so much because I think a 2 month old will derive great literary benefit, but so he can hear my voice and hear new words). He naps for several hours in the afternoon; I start dinner, then knit, paint, sew up seams, take pictures, and generally do the bulk of my creating and business running while he sleeps. John comes home and we eat. Jem nurses again while we catch up on our day. We spend time together as a family. Jem has his last meal then goes to bed with a round of "Hush Little Baby" and a whispered prayer still floating in his ears.

He smiled at me today during that early morning nursing when neither of us are really awake. It melts my heart every time. 

Mama-hood. A gentle refining. Someday, I know he'll teach me lessons in patience and self-discipline. But for now, the lessons are sweeter: rhythm, routine, slowing down, and so much gratitude. 

Adventure well; Live fully.
HAK

Mommy Blog: Unmedicated Waterbirth

Fabulous-- week 2 of being back at blogging, and I'm a morning late. In my defense, the yarn for my spring collection arrived yesterday, and I spent nap time (aka, Mama's Work Time) knitting furiously rather than blogging.

Besides, what better topic to talk about first thing in the morning than child birth, right? 

First thing you should know: I.hate.needles. To the point that, no kidding, my first reason for investigating unmedicated childbirth was to avoid needles. I remember talking about it with a friend of mine shortly after John and I got married, and she told me about another friend who had delivered her last child as a waterbirth. I was intrigued-- supposedly the waterbirth was a lot less painful than a regular unmedicated vaginal birth. I like water (a lot), so, hey, nothing to lose right? 

After John and I got pregnant, I started doing my research. What exactly does it mean to have a natural, unmedicated birth? What is waterbirth? We watched the Business of Being Born, and I was off in a whirlwind of learning everything I could about childbirth. I read mommy blogs; I watched documentaries; I devoured Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. What started out as a fear of needles quickly became a passion: God designed a woman's body to grow and bear children, and, while that process is marred by sin (resulting in pain, complications, etc.), it is a natural, beautiful experience. I'm not saying that every woman with a sound doctrine of creation must have a natural birth, but I did become convinced that 1) the fear women have of birth is a lie-- perhaps even part of the curse of sin. I would love for all women, however they choose to deliver, to be able to birth without fear. And, 2) unmedicated waterbirth was the best choice for me and for Jem. 

When people find out I gave birth without any sort of pain medication, they generally react some level of horror. When they realize that I did it on purpose, I'm pretty sure the general consensus is that I'm insane. Then there are some answers to common questions:

Yes, I gave birth in a hospital.
Yes, I would have (and did) accepted medical interventions that kept us safe.
Yes, Jem came out underwater. 
No, he was not in danger of drowning.
The tub was about 3 1/2 feet deep and 5 feet across. 
Yes, John was in the water with me (and, yes, he wore pants. (No, I don't know why that's a question either)). 
Yes, it hurt. No, it was not unbearable. 
Yes, I would do it again.

 More questions? Maybe I should start at the beginning:

Jem was due on December 18th. At my midwife appointment a couple of days before, I was slightly dilated, had my membranes swept, and was told labor was imminent. A week and a half of waiting later, on Christmas Eve, we thought something might finally be happening (Don't even get me going on all the false/early labor I had. Weeks and weeks of it. If you aren't sure if you're in labor, you are not alone. I was a wreck more than once simply because I was so frustrated by not knowing if it was time or not!). We had dinner with my parents and some friends; we went to the Christmas Eve service at church. By the end of the service (around 10pm), my contractions were just a few minutes apart. We had been at this point before (several times, actually), and the standard advice I had been given was to go to bed and see if the contractions kept going thru the night. But, no, I had done that and had them stop, and I wanted to have this BABY ALREADY. We ended up checking into the hospital at 1am where, of course, the first thing they did was convince me to take an Ambien to try to sleep (I had been awake for about 23 hours). I sort of slept, but it mostly just made Jem sleepy so that I spent most of my labor looking like this:

Once Jem finally woke up, though, they released me from the fetal monitor and let me walk around the maternity ward to encourage my contractions. Now, my contractions never became very regular--to the point that the nurse and midwife almost tried to send me home a couple of times, but then found that I was still dilating. Best I can tell, this and a couple other things were the result of me having soooo much pre-/early labor. My body started this process tired and was thus rather inefficient about the whole thing. 

After 18 hours in the hospital (it's now about 7pm on Christmas), my water broke just as we were ready to have it broken. This is when the fun really began. All of a sudden, those contractions HURT a lot more. Until then, I could close my eyes and breathe/ lightly moan through my contractions without too much trouble. All of a sudden, I was mooing like a cow from somewhere down in my toes. They took one more 30 minute fetal strip, the tossed me in the tub (for the second time. I had labored in the tub for 90 blissful minutes during the afternoon). As I started feeling pushy (aka, started losing my mind), I remember thinking, "Well, it's too late for drugs now." 

I pushed for a little over an hour before Jem was born. If John hadn't been in the tub, I likely would have drowned. Keeping one's head above water is not a high priority when mid-contraction, apparently. He held on to me and made deep, low sounds for me to imitate as I pushed. Mom and the midwife reassured me over and over again when I simply felt too tired to keep going. Yes, I screamed as he crowned, though the scream seems more etched in my mind than John's or Mom's--the focus of the moment was that head full of hair entering the world. And the next moment, he was with us!

We basked in the awesomeness of the moment for a few minutes, then John cut the cord and cuddled Jem on the couch while I was fished out of the tub and delivered the placenta. Here's the part about medical interventions I alluded to: because I had been in labor for so long, my body was more tired than it has ever been, and my uterus had trouble contracting down to stop the blood flow where the placenta had torn away. Basically, I had a moderate hemorrhage. While I wouldn't say I was on death's door or anything (they didn't even give me an IV, thank goodness, because n.e.e.d.l.e.s.), it was serious. I was given two drugs, one of which was a shot of pitocin, to help me contract (during which, Mama had to promise me ice cream to distract me. Did I mention I hate shots? She was good to her word and brought me a smoothie the next morning). I share this, because, for me, an unmedicated birth meant not being induced with drugs or receiving pain medication. I had no problem receiving medications (like the Ambien early in labor or the pitocin afterward) that were intended to make me as healthy as possible to take care of my baby. 

We had an amazing "golden hour" in the birth room before transferring to post-partum. At one point the midwife came in with a laugh and asked if anyone had weighed Jem yet. "No, but can we??" I begged. I had been told all through my pregnancy that I would have a small baby, "7 pounds, tops." (I gained 40 pounds while pregnant--I had some serious doubts that my baby would be so small). Sure enough, Jem was 8 lbs 15 oz, and I may have overheard a nurse or two express surprise that I, a pretty petite woman, could manage to deliver a baby of that size and not need stitches. I guess these wide hips paid off. ;-) 

The bottom line?
Birth is beautiful. It's earthy, messy, a "blow your hair back experience," and beautiful. 

Adventure well; Live fully.
HAK





(Note: None of the links in this blog benefit me financially in any way--I just wanted to make it easier for y'all to access some resources I found helpful.)

(Also, I'm young-- like 23, people-are-still-surprised-that-I'm-married-and-more-than-one-stranger-implied-that-I-was-a-teen-pregnancy young. That meant that my odds for an uncomplicated birth and easier recovery were really good. Always talk to your doctor or midwife to choose the safest birthing plan for you and your little one).

Rebirth of the Blog

Hey y'all!

Wow, it's been awhile, huh? 

I spent November working in my shop which was absolutely wonderful. Now I'm trying to regain that momentum because...

Baby boy was born on Christmas! Jem is 8 weeks old today and absolutely wonderful (even if he does need 487 diaper changes per day. ;-) ). 

As you may recall, I took a blogging "sabbatical" because, well, I wasn't blogging anyway and felt like I needed to give myself permission to not worry about it, take some time, and come back with an actual plan. No joke, it took me this long to feel like I had enough ideas to confidently reenter the blogosphere without total fear of neglecting this space all over again. 

For now, I'm going to blog once per week on one of four topics: 

I really hope to "build up" over time as I get the hang of this thing-- it is, after all, about my adventures, and I have a lot of those, so I should theoretically have endless fodder, right? right... 

Please, please, please write in the little box below and leave a comment-- things you want to hear about, things you never EVER want to hear about, your latest adventure... Speaking of which...

Adventure well; Live fully.
HAK

Super Straighforward Steps for Pregnancy Fitness

Back to School!
 
It's that time of year again--Summer is winding down, kiddos are back at their books, and the rest of us are once again renewing resolutions of fitness and health. 


22 and a half weeks pregnant (and still taking silly selfies, but who could resist??) with a BOY (yippee!). A few weeks ago, at the sweet nudging of my Hubster, I realized that walks, even long, frequent ones, were not cutting it as my pregnancy fitness plan. About this same time, my Mama bought me a fabulous pair of maternity jeans, and I wanted to look and feel great in them. 

I hadn't gained any shocking amounts of weight or anything like that, after all, I'm growing a whole other person, but John could tell I was lethargic and losing confidence about how I looked and felt. So to the Y he sent me (side note: It takes a special man to tell his wife that she needs to get her backside out to the gym and be able to do it in a way that makes her feel encouraged and confident, not fat or criticized). 

So, in light of the last couple of weeks, here are my very straightforward 

Tips for Staying Fit and Feeling Great 

During Pregnancy:

1) Talk to your OB or midwife. Really, don't skip this step, especially if you don't have a history of being active. If you are fortunate, you'll get a green light like me, "Anything that you can do that you are able to do, do it." If they have guidelines, listen to them. You can always ask them to reevaluate your condition later after you make some progress, etc. 

2) Just do it. Really, do it. Put on your big girl yoga pants and your sneakers, and do something. Cant think of anything but walking? Walk. Start somewhere, anywhere. 

3) Shake it up. Fresh out of ideas? Shake it literally (Zumba class, baby! I'm in love!), or figuratively--try an Expresso bike or the elliptical instead of just walking. Keeping your mind engaged is also important when working out. Boredom busts good intentions. Find ways to make exercise fun.

4) Don't forget to hydrate and eat well. Hydrate means water, and plenty of it. Also, don't interpret that as "eat perfectly." I'm definitely pro-ice cream. ;-) But pay attention to what goes in your body. Don't undermine your workout with crummy eating. 

5) Look good. Choose flattering maternity clothes. Budget busted? I've found some lovely steals on Old Navy's clearance rack. Knowing that you're rocking a fun outfit will add bounce to your step and serve as both reward and motivation for staying active. 


Keep it simple. Keep it fun. :-)

Adventure well; Live fully.
HAK

Knightlet #1

Howdy, Everyone!

Shortly after my last post, Hubster and I got some exciting news: Our first Knightlet is on the way! 

I wish I could eloquently describe our emotions and thoughts, but it's really very simple: we are so happy. 

Rather than trying to keep the secret, we told the whole world pretty much right away with the help of our Moby-cat:

 

While I can promise you he doesn't really have a clue that I'm pregnant, he's the only one that has reveled in the exhaustion of the first trimester--he's getting spoiled by all this extra cuddle time! 

Our parents are over the moon--which is the most wonderful thing ever, and my friends are excited, too (and maybe just a little overwhelmed ;-) ). 

And, after weeks of waiting, we FINALLY had a prenatal appointment this week and got to see our little baby (and his/her heartbeat!).

 I'm 9 weeks along, and just can't wait till December 18th! 

Talk about a new adventure!

Adventure well; Live fully.

HAK