We got a Wii!!

Ahhh, finally!

Jesse and I have longed for a Wii since we first learned of their existence over a year and a half ago. But we didn't get one right away, for a couple reasons. 1) We were still playing our online video game (World of Warcraft) pretty regularly. It was something fun that we enjoyed doing together, so we decided not to introduce another (costly) gaming system into the mix while we were still very much involved in a different one. 2) They were out of stock everywhere, all the time, so we couldn't have found one if we wanted to!

We first actually played the Wii during a family reunion last summer, when his brother brought a Wii with him. It was so much fun, now we were even more eager to own one of our own. But still, cost and time were an issue.

Over the last few months, I've really stopped playing our game except for a few rare occasions. I actually finally decided to officially unsubscribe recently, and as of the early part of May, I won't be able to log in and play anymore unless I resubscribe (i.e., pay another monthly fee). Jesse has still been playing, but mostly out of habit, really.

And of course, now here come the economic stimulus checks. We haven't received ours yet, but any day now, we expect $1800 thanks to GWB's "bright" idea. (And at this point, I totally have to share a link to a video that another blogging friend introduced: Economic Expert). Since our savings has been rather depleted until very recently, we decided early on to put as much as possible into our savings. But come on, $1800 for free? We can't resist. We decided to spend a small chunk of it on something fun, and finally get our Wii.

So we've been looking around a lot, but still ran into the problem of hey, wait a minute - they're still out of stock, everywhere you look! We had called around to several stores, asked some in person, and everywhere we asked, they told us that they get Wii's in stock on Sundays, and they're usually gone within hours.

Well, darn. Since we don't shop on Sundays, as a religious rule, that pretty much guarantees that we'll never have a Wii, right? Not unless we spend a crazy amount at eBay, where people mark them up for profit, and shipping costs at least $30. But then a friend suggested Craigslist. Well, duh! Why didn't I think of that? Craigslist is awesome - that's how we've managed to find a renter for our condo out in Colorado when we've needed one. Nice and cheap (errr, FREE that is!), and fast response. So I started looking around Craistlist, and while people were still marking them up for a small profit, at least I could pick them up locally and forget about shipping costs.

And THEN, on Monday morning, while browsing around for a Wii, I ran into a post on Craigslist that said, "HEY- they still have some in stock up at the mall!" I'm sure I looked stunned as I read it, because I could hardly believe it! I called Jesse to have him run over during lunch to check, since it's so close to his work, but he misunderstood me on the phone, and thought I was talking about somewhere too far for him to squeeze into his busy lunch schedule that day. When we talked again after work, he quickly called up the store to see if they still had them. No, unfortunately, they did not. Sold out that day. *sigh*

But then, Jesse decided to call back Circuit City. He had called them a couple weeks ago to find out their typical Wii stocking schedule, and the customer service rep had been completely unhelpful (typical Maryland). He decided to try calling them again, just because. As someone answered the phone, he asked, "Do you have any Wii's in stock?" And a prompt, uninterested answer of "Yes" was the reply. Jesse was a little stunned, and took a second and a half to respond with a "Really? You do??" And when it was confirmed, off he ran to put on his shoes, head out to the car, and drive to buy our very own Wii.

Half and hour or so later, he returned home with the prize: A brand new Wii, and a couple extra games to go with it. All our very own!

And YES - it's just as much fun as we knew it would be! And so worth waiting for, all this time! Jacob, for the first time ever, can go beyond watching everyone else play, and actually manages to play a little bit on his own. Melinda needs constant monitoring so she doesn't whack someone with the controller, though - all her focus goes to the TV and she doesn't notice when Jacob (or even Mom and baby Alex) walk too close to her, and swings her hardest right into the passer byes. Whoops.

But at any rate, it's a lot of fun. And so exciting for us, who thought we'd be lucky to ever actually find one for sale!

You want to know what the crazy part was? I took the kids to Target the next day, and there on the shelf where they've never had any Wii's in stock for the past 1.5 years that we've looked, they had three Wii's waiting to be purchased. Is there some sort of twilight zone going on or something, where suddenly everyone has them in stock for several days at a time?

A Giveaway

Last week there were almost 1,000 Blogs participating in the Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival. I hate to admit that I wasted far too much of my time and probably entered around 800 of those giveaways. I actually won 2 items! A code for a free box of personalized Fruit Roll Ups, and a Phillipine Cookbook. It was a lot of fun to participate, and even more exciting to actually win something!

I had thought about hosting my own giveaway during that time for a product I was really excited about, but I held off, because I hadn't actually received it in the mail yet.

But guess what? It came today! And I *love* it! It's a phone skin from mytego.com.
See how cool my phone looks now?

I love it, because now I can tell my phone apart from Jesse's phone. We both upgraded our phones just after Alex was born, and decided to get the same one. And we've been confusing them ever since, since they look exactly the same. We tried using different screensavers on the little mini screen, but once it hasn't been used in a while, it's dark enough that you can't tell which phone is which with a quick glance. So I started hunting for skins I could use for my phone, and ran into mytego.com. I had a lot of fun playing around with the customization of my skin. I ended up using one of their stock designs, instead of using my own images (I thought about putting pictures of my kids on there, or uploading pictures of their artwork, but ultimately decided to go with something "prettier" - and besides, my kids love "Nemo" fishes!!).

Long story short, I had so much fun with it, I want to give one away! So here it is, my very first Blog giveaway. One winner will receive a virtual gift card to mytego.com where they can design a skin of their choice. The amount will be dependent on the item the winner chooses to skin, but it will be either $13 or $21, enough to cover either 1 or 2 faces of a mobile phone, MP3 player, or PDA, as well as the shipping.

All you have to do is leave me a comment on this post! Of course I would very much love a personalized comment, something more than a simple "I want it! Please choose me!", and more along the lines of how cool I am (hehe) and what you think about my blog, especially if you're new here, but it won't be required. ;) You do need to make sure I have contact information for you, however - either leave an email address in your comment, or make sure your profile has your email included in it. This giveaway is open to anyone: My friends, family, or complete strangers, as long as you provide contact information.

The Giveaway will end one week from now, May 5th, Cinco de Mayo! I'll accept comments up through midnight of May 5th, and announce the winner on May 6th. The winner, by the way, will be selected randomly.

Please feel free to spread the word if you want to, with a link back to this post!

Shoes and Diaper on Alex

Remember the shoes and diapers I sewed during my pregnancy? I finally got around to taking pictures of them on Alex.

I have to say, the shoes were a perfect fit for him, right off the bat. He practically lived in them for the first couple weeks, when the weather was cooler. The diaper looks like it just barely fits now, so I guess I'd better try and find time to sew the rest.



And another video. Just can't resist taking them, sometimes! It's a little dark, sorry about that. My camera never has liked the lighting in our house.

Things I need to do more often

Today I did two things that made me happy, that I really should do a lot more often than I do:

1) Bake chocolate chip cookies. (Thank you, Alton Brown.)
2) Dance to good music with my kids.

I'm going to ignore the idea of there being too much of a good thing, for now.

My baby is uber strong

We were getting ready to leave the house this afternoon to do some shopping, and I set Alex down on his tummy while I ran to get something out of the back room. It took maaaybe 10 seconds, and when I walked back down the hall, I saw him tilting, and I said to Jesse, "Oh, look! He's so close to rolling over!"

But as I said it, he did it. He actually rolled over, from his stomach to his back. At less than 4 weeks old.

And you know what else? Alex rolled over again earlier this evening while Jesse and I were working on preparing some Sharing Time materials, and he was on the floor next to us.

No, he can't do it every time he wants to, I can tell. But I still find it absolutely amazing that he rolled over already. Especially since I really don't put him down on the floor very often when he's awake.

His head control seems really ahead to me, too. If I sit him up on my knee, or lay back at an angle with him facing me on his stomach, he can hold his head fairly steady for quite a while. A couple minutes, at least.

And here's a video from this morning. Melinda was having a lot of fun making a little tower next to Alex's hand, and then saying "He knocked it over!" when he flailed his hand around and happened to knock the blocks down.

It's what crazy people do.

Ah, I'm exhausted. Reeeeally exhausted.

It's my first week home alone with 3 kids, which is challenging enough. Yesterday I felt brave and decided to have an outing - we went to storytime at the library. Perfect trial run, really, since it's nice and close to home and I can leave whenever I need to. But today's outing? No comparison.

We went to playgroup at a park. Alex cried in his carseat because he was hungry - I didn't leave enough time to wake him up and feed him, and that made for a grumpy kiddo by the time we arrived at the park. While at the park, Jacob got stuck at the top of some monkey bars because I wasn't watching him. Suddenly I have 3 to keep an eye on, and Jacob was the first victim of me learning the ropes. At least nobody was hurt...although Jacob apparently thinks it's great fun to throw sand at people. Sigh.

At noon, we left and went straight to grab some lunch. While I had nursed Alex at the beginning of playgroup, it had now been a couple hours, so he was of course hungry again. I nursed him briefly in the car before we headed into the restaurant. But it wasn't long enough, so he got grumpy with me again pretty soon after we were inside. This was all while I was trying to order food for the rest of us- what fun! I snarfed my food down as fast as I could, trying to enjoy the pleasant blend of curried chicken salad with avocado and pineapple and mango chutney, while bouncing Alex on my knee, and trying to encourage Jacob and Melinda to please eat something other than the side of chips. All while watching the clock like a hawk, because we really didn't have much time before we needed to head off to take Alex to the doctor.

When we were done, it was back to the juggling act of herding two walking kids through the parking lot while I carried an awkward car seat and a heavy diaper bag. And then back down the busy street to the doctor's office. And Alex still grumpy with me because he still wanted to finish his meal.

Once we got to the doctor's office I plopped myself down as fast as I could and nursed Alex during our short wait. Melinda and Jacob proceeded to dig through the toys as fast as they could, making a perfect mess. All too soon, a call of "Alexander?" came from the door. Then it was back up and herding the older two and carrying Alex with me down the narrow hall. At least this time it seems like Alex was full enough of milk to be content.

He was weighed and measured, of course: He's 12lbs 11oz, and 22 3/4 inches long (in the range of 95th to 97th percentile). And then we waited for what seemed like half an hour in the exam room...although it was probably more like 10-15. But that is MUCH too long for two energetic, increasingly tired kids to be cooped up in a room waiting, with nothing to do. They opened every drawer and door they could reach, ran circles around the exam table, rolled around on the stool, and so on. I was already tired by the time our doctor joined us.

But once she got there, boy oh boy, they got about 10 times worse. Suddenly they were running and screaming inside that tiny little room - it couldn't have been more than about 8x8. How they were managing to run, I don't know. But I do know that for some reason, my kids seem to think that being inside a doctor's office gives them license to run around like crazy howler monkeys (just ask my midwives, they'll probably agree, despite always being so cheerful about my tag-along kids!). Having myself and 3 kids cramped in there, along with the doctor, was pretty close to a nightmare. It's a good thing I didn't have any serious concerns to discuss, because there's no way a solid discussion could have happened. As it was, I had to interrupt our talks a few times to have Melinda sit on a chair for antagonizing her brother, which resulted in some serious pouting and more poor behavior. And once she decided she was done with that, she wanted to leave. Helped herself to the door and everything, and I had to go retrieve her and Jacob from the hall and explain that no, we will not be leaving the room until we're done talking with the doctor. Finally we are done, and Alex decides he's had enough and starts screaming his head off. So I decide I'll call in our next appointment instead of trying to do it over his loud, insistent voice.

Seriously... I'm tired! Please tell me there are other people out there, somewhere on the face of this earth, who are also crazy enough to take three children at once into a single small exam room? After already being out of the house for 3 hours? Close to naptime? Because I sure felt like I was crazy. And the best part is I'm planning on doing it all over again, having all three of them get a check up in the same visit. I must be absolutely mad to want to repeat this.

And yeah, I'm not the only tired one. Not 10 minutes after we've been back inside the house, here's Jacob:

Looks like a good idea, right? Mmm. Couch naps. Wish I could have one right now.

And for a couple pictures that aren't quite substantial enough for their own post, here's Alex floating in the bath a couple nights ago - he enjoyed it so much! He was perfectly content and just remained fairly limp and unmoving for a good 10-15 minutes before we got out. And he smelled so nice when we were done, too, because we added some Burt's Bees Apricot Baby Oil to the bath, as well as washed his scalp with it (that's also what's making the dots in the water, by the way).

And here's the wonderful daddy! Not only did he put Alex to sleep in the sling, but he kept wearing him while he played video games. :)

Earth-Mother's Giveaway

There's a great giveaway you can enter over at the Crunchy Domestic Goddess blog - lots of great prizes, many earth-friendly! All in honor of Earth Day and Mother's Day - combined! Maybe I'll even win and be able to make up for my faux pas described in my previous blog entry! And maybe you'll understand how cool I think this giveaway is by all the exclamation points I'm using in this paragraph! Woot!

Very honestly, I'd love to win a big ol' set of reusable grocery bags. I can't tell you how sick I am of plastic bags, and the crazy checkers out here who like to put one single item in each and every bag. I do save them up and recycle them, but it's insane that I can fill an entire hall closet with plastic grocery bags. I'm sick of it! Gimme resuable!!

Want to enter? Click the image above, or go here!

Earth Day faux pas

One, I didn't realize it was Earth Day until halfway through the day. In fact, I can hardly keep straight what day of the week I'm on right now, and it surprised me to look at the calendar and see how much of April has already passed. And that my wedding anniversary is one week from now!?

Two, I'm not Wonder Woman. It's a miracle my kids survived today, seriously. Jacob not only choked on a hot dog (first time ever, and scary for myself, him, and even Melinda), but he also was playing potato sack races inside the house with Melinda, and fell and smacked his forehead into the door jam. So yeah, amazing everyone survived. And yet I still managed to find time and energy with which to do 3 loads of laundry (even folded and put away!!).

Considering those two things, it's truly a miracle that got dinner on the table -- THANK YOU Grandma Newson, for making me a stash of freezer meals!!

Therefore I don't feel particularly guilty about my Earth Day faux pas. I did not manage to do anything at all with the kitchen today, and really wasn't up for it yesterday after Alex decided to be awake and fussy practically the entirety of the afternoon and evening (well, till 1am, to be exact). So after Jesse and I had cleared the table, emptied the dishwasher, filled it back up again, started it, and then set the table for dinner and realized that there were no clean forks to eat our dinner with, we put plastic forks out for dinner.

Yup, plastic disposable forks. On Earth Day. I felt momentarily horrible, when I realized the irony in it. Especially since I genuinely do want to make earth-friendly changes in my living style, and have made a few already in the past.

But it doesn't count this year because I have a newborn in the house, right? RIGHT??

By the way, this doesn't happen often, really! Those forks were from the same small box of forks I bought for Melinda's birthday party 6 months ago.

Haircuts

Jacob and Melinda got haircuts yesterday. Jacob's been getting to the point where any time he's the least bit hot, his hair starts getting wet and sweaty. Yuck. (And how is his hair that thick, anyway??)

After a week of Jesse and I both asking him if he wanted his hair cut, he finally said yes. Of course, Melinda couldn't let him have all the fun, and insisted she wanted her hair shorter, too (even though I was hoping she'd be okay with growing it out...oh well). So off to the bathroom we all went for some home haircuts.

Jacob did MUCH better than he has done in the past with haircuts. He sat down for the whole thing, although he was very concerned by how itchy he was getting with the hair all over him. And concerned about the hair just plain getting all over him, itchy or not. I guess one of these days we should invest in one of those nice haircutting apron/bib thingies.

Here's a video of Jacob getting his hair cut. It's a little bit boring, but I thought I'd include it anyway.

Jacob just after the haircutting has started (I forgot to get a "before" shot):

And here's Jacob's "after" photo. Please forgive the pink shirt with the bow. He picked that himself, from Melinda's smaller clothes, and the less fighting with him, the better! Doesn't he look completely different with short hair, though? It always makes me nervous to cut his, because it changes him so much.

As for Melinda, this was my first time trying to do a full haircut by myself. I was nervous. Very very nervous. I've cut her bangs before, when she was little, and I've trimmed them small amounts at a time, but I've never cut ALL her hair before. Even though it's not my favorite style on her, I think I did a pretty decent job. It's not perfectly even, but close enough.

Melinda, before the haircut:
Melinda, after the haircut:
Melinda's hair on the floor:

For the record, they both like their haircuts. And I hope they'll be a lot cooler as the warmer weather approaches!

Next, it's my turn. I desperately need a haircut... my hair looks like a mop and it has split ends that are 2 inches up in some places. But I don't feel like going for a $45 haircut, and I don't want an $8 haircut.... how do I find something in between??

A Wizard of Earthsea

"...As a man's real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower: until at last he chooses nothing, but does only and wholly what he must do..."

The above line is taken from the book "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin. I read this book for the first time after recently watching "The Jane Austen Book Club" movie, where one of the main characters tries (for most of the show) to convince one of the women to give the SciFi/Fantasy genre a chance, this author being the one he focused on, determined that she'd like it. I've never read anything by her, but I had at least heard of "A Wizard of Earthsea," and I already know that I love Fantasy books. I enjoyed the book, the older writing style, and the whole idea behind the story. I will definitely be looking for more of her books in the near future.

As for the quote, it really struck me when I read it. It seems to me that there's a lot of truth in that statement, even from a Gospel point of view: The more you gain in knowledge and true understanding, the more set your path in life is become, until at last there really is no choosing, only doing what you know you must do to live rightly.

Open eyes

Alex had quite the awake time last night. I finally had a good chance to take some pictures of him when he was both awake and content.

Poor, poor sad baby acne. :(

The Big Sister and Big Brother

On Wednesday, Melinda finally did something that comes naturally to most big sisters - she pretended a baby doll was actually a baby!

Jesse and I were trying to ask Melinda a question, and she was so deep in thought that she didn't respond at all. Finally Jesse realized she had her baby doll with her, and said, "Look Becky, she's nursing her baby."

When I got out the camera she looked and smiled, but before then she was just staring off into space while drinking at the table.

A few minutes later, and she was now burping her baby, too!

Melinda very excitedly and proudly told me that she was learning how to do all the baby things she's been watching me do with Alex. Later, after she had pretended to change her doll's diaper, I asked her what her baby's name was. Take a guess? It was Alexander, of course.

And Jacob has mastered drawing smiley faces since Grandma Newson was here to visit. It's very cute, because he always says "round and round, an eye, an eye, and smile!" while he draws it. And honestly, I had no clue he was so close to being able to draw something real instead of scribbles!! (Although Grandma Newson can testify how incredibly compelled this boy is to scribble on every non-paper surface he can think of.)

Quiet Time

What do you get when you put one 4 year old and one 2 year old into a small room by themselves for "quiet time" lasting just over an hour?

A big, fat mess.
P.S. - it was certainly not a very quiet "quiet time".

2 week update

Today we visited the midwife's office for a 2-week postpartum visit for myself as well as a 2 week quick checkup for Alex (all handled by the midwives).

My weight is down to 190 by their scale (185 by mine...huh). Down from a top weight of 212, I believe it was. My tear is fully healed already (woohoo!).

Alex weighed in at a whopping 12lbs 6oz - almost 2 pounds heavier than his birthweight, in only 2 week! Wow! Melinda wasn't even that heavy at 1 month old!!

Alex does have quite a case of acne on his forehead right now. My midwife said it may be related to spicy foods, dairy, or chocolate. I've never heard that suggestion before - Melinda and Jacob both had baby acne, but from what I understood back then, it was from my hormones. On the one hand, I'm happy to know that I could possibly get rid of Alex's acne by cutting out some dairy and chocolate, but on the other hand - NOOOO!!! My chocolate ice cream?!?!?!? I absolutely crave those sweets!!!

Alex really hated the carseat at first. Cried from the instant he was set in it, until we finally took him out. But he's getting a little better. Now he'll still cry, but usually not right away, and usually he stops a few minutes into a drive, thank goodness. Which is definitely a blessing, since the drive down to the midwife's office is about 30 minutes. I would be an absolute nervous wreck if I had to endure 30 minutes of Alex screaming in the carseat!!

Trip to the park / New Bike

Jesse is home from work this week (yay!). We decided that since 1) this week is going to be very sunny and Jesse is home, and 2) Melinda has been practically begging for a "big girl" bike, that we'd go ahead and buy her the bike and let her try it at the park a few times this week.

So this afternoon, we all headed out to the park together. Melinda was a natural on the bike, figured out the brakes by backward-pedaling without any prompting and everything! Of course Mom and Dad were too distracted by trying to get out the door with 3 kids instead of 2, and forgot her helmet at home. Oops. Good thing she goes pretty slowly! She did fall down a couple times around corners (Jesse blames it on the training wheels that don't let you lean into a turn well enough), but managed to jump off the bike as it was falling so that she didn't get hurt at all.

After only a few minutes of biking, the kids wanted to switch to playing on the playground. Fair enough, I guess. The wind was pretty chilly, especially when a cloud happened to block out the sun, but Alex was super cozy in my carrier. In between swinging and sliding, Melinda and Jacob went crazy, picking a million and a half dandelions and stuffing them in their pockets, giving a few choice flowers to Mommy. We finished up the outing with a little bit more bike riding, which was honestly less bike riding and more flower picking.

A video taken from first arriving at the park:

Jacob rides a little ways:

Here comes Melinda around the bend!

Melinda smiles for the camera as she rides by.

Jacob gives up on pedaling and starts walking the bike:

Becky and Alex enjoying the sunshine (I'm wearing Alex in the carrier I sewed myself!). Notice Melinda pulling up her pants as she heads out to the dandelions (her skinny hips are constantly a problem with pants!), and one long-stemmed dandelion poking out from my pocket.

See what I mean about ending the outing with more picking flowers than riding bikes? Melinda was literally only pedaling about two rotations at a time before hopping off to pick more dandelions.

Laugh till you cry

Last night, Jesse and I were directing Melinda and Jacob in their nightly living room pick-up. Jacob was cleaning up the markers they had left on the floor, and found one that was missing a lid. He was extremely concerned about this poor little marker with no lid. Jacob likes everything to be just right - especially things with lids. Hoping to get his mind off the marker and back to picking up, I told him, "It's okay, Jacob, just give the marker to Daddy and he'll keep it safe".

I wish I could give you a video of this instead of a written account, it would be so much better, timing wise.

JUST as I said "he'll keep it safe," Jesse ever-so-casually and thoughtlessly tossed the marker into the trash right next to him. The timing was just.... incredibly ironic, I guess. The look on my face must have been very incredulous, and Jesse just started giggling, and suddenly I just burst up laughing. And then Jesse started laughing harder. Soon enough, I was laughing so hard that I was crying, and very lucky that I wasn't peeing my pants!!

I just couldn't stop. Jesse eventually took Alex from me so I could go use the bathroom, and even as I was back there all alone, I was still laughing out loud. And even though I had calmed myself down by the time I came back out to the living room, as soon as I had sat down and exchanged glances with Jesse again, the hilarity just started right back up, and I was back to laughing so hard I was crying.

And as I was laughing so hard, I was saying, "It's not even that funny!" through my tears and wheezing. It really wasn't that funny. I'm fairly positive reading this probably won't even make you giggle. But the timing of me saying the word "safe" and Jesse just tossing the marker into the trash just had us both laughing for a good 10 minutes.

Maybe we're just sleep deprived. ;)

To make this more interesting, if you're reading this blog post, and happen to remember the last time you laughed so hard that you cried, please post about it on your own blog, and share it with me!

More Alex pictures

I've taken a few more pictures - here are some of my favorites! (And yes, for those wondering, Alex is definitely on the blond side, unlike Melinda and Jacob! In fact, an interesting note, is that Jesse found out that Boden is Celtic for blond [aside from my intended meaning of messenger/herald in French]...how fitting!)

All the family except Mommy, and then Grandma Newson holding Alex:


One week old!


Melinda pats Alex's head:


I really love this one for some reason!


By the way, this little Dinosaur outfit he's wearing is the Newborn size. I finally put it on, since his cord fell off today, and it's already time to put it away! I can hardly snap it past his diaper, and the arms are too short, and if he stretches out his legs, the toes are too tight!


Alex shows off how strong he is, and lifts his head off the ground to look around:


All curled up and snuggled, asleep in my homemade pouch carrier.

Alex's (very long, detailed) Birth Story

Note: This birth story is mainly for my own record and benefit. It may be rather boring and long in some parts, and a little more detail than you want in other parts. Feel free to read it and comment, if you'd like, but just know that I wrote it for me.

One week ago today, as was normal during the last several weeks of my pregnancy, I woke up for the fourth or fifth time that night to use the bathroom. It was just before dawn. When I got back into bed, I was surprised at how wide awake I felt. Usually, with waking up so frequently during the night, I never felt fully rested, and it took incredible amounts of willpower to get up before 9:30am. So feeling wide awake before dawn really got my attention. While I was laying in bed, waiting for sleep to return, I had a contraction. It was just before 7am. That in and of itself wasn’t unusual, since I had been having sporadic contractions for nearly a week at that point. But usually, those contractions happened more often in the late afternoon and the evening. This was the first time I had noticed one while I was laying in bed. At this point, I really couldn’t sleep. Soon enough, Jesse was getting up and getting ready for work, and I just kept on laying in bed, hoping to get more sleep. I had another couple contractions between the first one and the time that Jesse left for work. I wasn’t paying much attention to the clock, but it seemed like they were maybe 20-30 minutes apart at that point in time. I didn’t say anything to Jesse.

After Jesse left for work, Melinda and Jacob were up and out of bed, and soon asking for some breakfast. So I dragged myself out of bed and got them some cold cereal. And then I promptly went back to lay down. I had another contraction before it was time for me to get up and shower, and again, it seemed like it was probably between 20 to 30 minutes since the last contraction. I used the bathroom again at some point during all of this, and noticed some bloody show on the toilet paper. Then I started getting excited – this was something definitely new, and usually considered a solid sign of true labor! By the time I left the house at about 10:45am, I had used the bathroom at least 5 more times to “check” for more bloody show, and it was there each time. And the contractions were getting a little closer – about 15-20 minutes apart by my best guess (since I still wasn’t writing them down).

I had a chiropractic appointment at 11am to help with the Pubic Symphisis Dysfunction. While I was there, I had a couple more contractions, and the chiropractor went ahead and did a little acupressure on my feet and ankles which had potential to encourage labor, since it was definitely beginning to appear that I was in fact in early labor. On the drive back home, which only takes 10-15 minutes, I had a couple more contractions.

Once I was home, I had to use the bathroom, and got another sure sign of labor – my bowels were very loose. At this point, I decided it was time to start calling people. I called Evelyn, my midwife, first, to basically just give her a heads up. I felt like I was still a good ways off from actually needing anyone to come to our home. When I talked to her, she told me, apologetically, that she may not make it to my birth, since she was with a woman in labor and only at 4cm at that point in time. But her assistant, Casey, would definitely be there, and they have another midwife they work with occasionally when situations like this pop up, so that Casey wouldn’t be alone. I was a little nervous about Casey being the one to come, since I had met with her the least amount of times during my prenatal appointments, and didn’t feel like I knew her very well. But it turns out that her being present at the birth confirmed my initial impressions of her anyway – she was a very warm, calm, happy presence.

After calling Evelyn, I called Jesse at work to let him know what was going on. He sounded a little excited, but not too concerned. But he ended up arriving at home for his lunch break a good half hour early. Apparently, once I had called him, he just became too unfocused (and nervous, in his words), and just sat at his computer doing practically nothing, until his boss told him to “just go home!”

Once he did get home, I decided to start timing contractions and really get a good idea of where I was at. I had quite a few that were 10 minutes apart, until 1pm, they suddenly started getting closer together, until at 1:20pm, they were suddenly 5 minutes apart or less. And they were starting to feel strong enough that I felt a bit serious through them. And while I could talk through them (my friend Cara even called me on the phone and talked with me for a few minutes), it definitely took a bit more effort. So I called the midwife again, and told her it was probably time to send Casey over, since contractions were now so close together and feeling stronger. If we were planning a hospital birth, this would be the point where we packed things up and headed out the door. But when I called Evelyn again, she said, “Are you sure? You seem awfully calm and chatty still.” I told her that I was sure, and so she called Casey and sent her on her way.

At about 2pm, Casey arrived and checked me back in the bedroom. She took her time, because my water was bulging and she commented that it’s a little more difficult to “assess” when the water is right there. She said I was “stretchy”, hemmed and hawed a bit, and then decided I was at 7cm dilated. I hardly believed her, and said, incredulously, “Really?!?” Well, at 7cm, things were really a lot further along than I thought they were (I really would have put myself at 4, maybe 5cm, just based on how I was feeling and my past births). So I went into a frenzy of phone calls. I needed someone over ASAP to watch the kids for me. My visiting teacher, Andrea, was my main person to call for childcare, but I had talked to her on the way home from the Chiropractor, and she told me then that she’d be unavailable between 2:30 and 5:30, when she had to drive her kids around to various appointments. And when I tried to call her after I was checked, she wasn’t even answering her cell phone. I started calling people on my back-up list, and soon found that nobody was answering their phones. I pulled out my little Relief Society directory book, which had just been made a couple months earlier, and found myself so grateful for its existence. I started flipping through it and calling anyone who I was remotely comfortable with and lived relatively close to me. Finally, after some time on the phone, I got a hold of Liz from the Primary Presidency. I told her my situation and she rushed right over, I was so thankful for her being available. But she needed to leave just after 3pm to pick up her kids, so I wasn’t done with phone calls yet.

Since I still hadn’t gotten through to anyone else, I decided to just start leaving messages with everyone I could think of, hoping someone would call me back before Liz needed to leave. The contractions during all of this were getting closer (2-3 minutes apart) and stronger, but I pushed them to the back of my consciousness and just focused on the phone calls. Some people later called me just about crazy for being on the phone when I was so deep into labor, I should have had Jesse making the calls, or I should have thought to call the Compassionate Service Leader (which never even crossed my mind, really!), but in retrospect, I’m kind of glad for something to occupy my mind for that length of time, so I wasn’t focusing on the pain of contractions. It made labor feel that much faster and not so intense. I had been standing against the kids’ bunk bed during all the phone calls, and even commented to Jesse a few times, “Man, it’s really hard to talk on the phone through contractions!!” Eventually I got a call back from Brittney, who I had ironically made plans with for that afternoon, and had canceled with because of labor. (I had joked with her that maybe this baby just needed a written invitation to turn down, in order to decide to come out!) Brittney said she could come right over as soon as she got her youngest son out of his bed. I thanked her profusely and got off the phone. When I looked back at my phone log, it was just about 2:45pm when I was on the last call. As soon as I was done, I went and used the bathroom. I had a very strong contraction while I was washing my hands, and informed Casey when I came out. During this time, the midwife Karen had arrived, after Casey had informed Evelyn of how far along I was, and it was apparent that there was no way Evelyn would be able to join us in time for the birth. Almost as soon as I had told them that I had had a strong contraction in the bathroom, I had another one, just as strong. “Holy cow!! Those were practically right on top of each other!,” I complained.

And before I knew it, they were all practically on top of each other. Melinda started coming in and out of the room, wanting to watch, but since nothing super interesting was happening, was fine with leaving again. Brittney soon arrived, and offered to take the kids out back to play. Melinda just couldn’t pass up that opportunity, and dashed out of the room to put her shoes on and play. (Her hierarchy of priorities: TV is less interesting than birth, but birth is less interesting than playing outside!)

It seemed practically no time at all before I was suddenly feeling pushy during the later parts of the contractions. I announced it, and all I got was a cheery “That’s fine.” Casey and Karen encouraged me to stay upright and let gravity help, and positioned me at the foot of my bed, leaning on my hands to support myself, with my legs apart so I could sway my hips through contractions. I eventually felt very tired of supporting my weight with my arms, and asked if it was okay to kneel down instead. “Of course!” they said, and made sure I was helped down. I soon buried my face into the mattress, Jesse holding my hand and rubbing my back, whispering encouragement in my ear. I was starting to have trouble through contractions, and the pushy feeling intensified to the point where I was grunting and giving small pushes through many of the contractions. Soon enough, I was fully pushing, and very uncomfortable. If there would have been time enough between contractions, I later remarked, I might have cried from the intensity of it all. But there was very little in the way of breaks – only enough time to catch my breath before the next contraction, really. During one of the later pushes, my water suddenly broke, and then I could really feel the baby’s head in the birth canal. It did not feel good, and since I’m so great at stating the obvious, I said, “I can feel the baby’s head in the birth canal!” Everyone thought that was hilarious, apparently. Karen said, “What did you think was there, a cabbage head?” And Jesse joked, “I don’t know, it looks like it could be a pony, maybe!” And it was all odd enough that it pulled me out of the intensity for just a few seconds, and I had myself a little laugh right along with them.

But then it was back to work, and I pushed with each contraction. Not with any coaching – nobody told me how or when to push, I just pushed when my body told me to. If I had been in a hospital, I might have been told I was doing it all wrong – the pushes were short, definitely not to a count of 10, but they were effective. The head was soon crowning. I could tell, it was a familiar enough sensation, and the most uncomfortable part of all, but nobody was telling me that the head was crowning, and I guess it frustrated me a little bit. I asked quickly and breathlessly, “Is the head crowning??” “Yes, the head is crowning.” Of course it was. What I felt was accurate; I knew what was going on. But it was still nice to hear it. Another push or two, (pushing with all my might, but backing off a little with the fear of tearing) and the burn of crowning went away. “Is the head out?!?” I asked, a little panicky. “Yes, the head is out now.” Of course it is. Thank goodness. Another couple pushes, and then the pain really intensified again. “Is it the shoulders??” (PLEASE, say it's the shoulders!) “Yes, it’s the shoulders now.” Oh, good, what I felt was right. Thank goodness again. They had me put one leg up, so I was on one knee and one foot, to help make room for the shoulders to come out. A couple more pushes, and the shoulders were out. I remember in my past labors, once the shoulders were out, the rest of the baby’s body just slipped out without any effort at all, and that slipping felt like such a huge relief. This time it felt a little different – not so much an effortless slipping out, as it was a slower “oozing” out.

Alex was quickly placed on the floor in front of me, born at 3:27pm, only about 45 minutes after I had gotten off of the phone. I sort of just looked at him with a little bit of disbelief! I definitely remember thinking, “Wait a minute, a 9 pound baby should look bigger than that….” It took me a couple seconds to realize, “Hey…I’m supposed to pick that baby up!!” And I did pick him up, and held his slippery, blue-purple body against my chest, a little awed that I was finally seeing him, that he was finally out. Casey and Karen helped me sit down, put some pillows behind me, and I just stayed there on the floor, between the foot of my bed and the file cabinets behind me. Alex wasn’t suctioned out, his cord wasn’t clamped and cut…. nothing was happening except for me meeting my baby. After a minute, they laid some warmed receiving blankets on top of Alex, but that was it. It was so different from hospital births. Alex cried, and I couldn’t seem to really soothe him. He wasn’t interested in nursing just yet. While I was still sitting on the floor, Melinda and Jacob were brought in to see the baby, but they didn’t seem especially impressed, and just wanted to go outside to play some more!

Several more minutes went by, and I was helped up to the bed to rest until I felt cramping again, to birth the placenta. I tried several more times to nurse Alex, but he still wasn’t interested. Then I was asked to push with the next cramp I felt, and with that push came the placenta. Alex’s cord was clamped and cut at that point.

The order of things that happened after that is a little bit blurred for me. I believe that the placenta was examined first. Casey called it a beautiful, perfect placenta. I watched her examine it… I’ve seen placentas before, but it’s still something interesting to watch. It looked so much bigger than I would imagine a placenta to be. Alex was also weighed and measured. Karen and Casey had a little exchange: “How big do you think he is?” “I don’t know, I think he might be 10 pounds!” I sat in disbelief, hearing how big they thought he was. Evelyn had said at a recent prenatal appointment that he was “definitely” 9 pounds, and that was about what I was expecting - just a bit bigger than my other two babies. But 10 pounds sounded a little on the crazy side! They put him in the blue fabric sling, and weighed him – he was pronounced to be not only 10 pounds, but 10 pounds 10 ounces! “You’re kidding!” I exclaimed. “What on earth is wrong with me, that I look at a 10 pound 10 ounce baby and think he looks small?!?” I really couldn’t believe it. I have always loved hearing about the births of bigger babies. I have always believed myself capable of birthing a bigger baby. But I was expecting something at least a full pound lighter at this birth, so I was a little bit shocked!! His length was 21 inches, and his head was an incredible 15 ¼ inches around. He cried through the measuring, and got very upset. When I had him back, he was finally ready to try nursing, and managed to do it with no correction needed!

After measuring and weighing him, Karen checked on me. I had a slight tear. She said it could have used maybe one or two stitches, but when she and Casey both looked at it, it was a nice clean, straight tear and looked like it could heal itself fairly easily. We all decided it would be far less traumatic for me if we just skipped stitching altogether. I’m glad for that decision – I’ve had practically zero pain in that area since the birth, compared to the stinging and tenderness for the first few days I’ve had with the others. They also made sure my uterus was shrinking normally, and that the bleeding wasn’t too much, and found me in good condition. Soon, they were cleaning up and on their way out. And I was still snuggled nicely in my own bed, in the comfort of my own home. It all felt perfect to me.

We had quite a bit of company that day. Between both Liz and Brittney (with her 2 boys) there to watch the kids, and then my visiting teacher Andrea showing up just as the midwives were leaving, it already felt much more lively than I’ve experienced in my hospital births, where nobody was there except for hospital staff, myself, the baby and Jesse. And of course, the other major difference being that Alex was born in the afternoon instead of the middle of the night. Usually I was done birthing and so exhausted that all I wanted was to sleep! But this time, I felt wide awake and thrilled that everything had gone so nicely, and happily chatted with my visitors.

The first 12 to 15 hours of Alex’s life were making me a little bit nervous – he would go from perfectly content to completely upset in no time flat. He’d be nursing just fine and happy, and all of the sudden refuse to suck anymore, until I would offer a finger to suck on. Then he would be happy with that for a little bit, but go right back to being upset again. Eventually Jesse figured out that when he wouldn’t want to suck at the breast or on a finger, he wanted a diaper change, and then he would be calm again. Thank goodness for that discovery. We must have gone through about 8 meconium-dirtied diapers just between midnight and 5am. Who knew a baby could poop so much?! But after his last dirty diaper, he finally slept quietly so we could get some rest. After that he was a totally different baby, thank goodness! I was definitely not feeling ready to handle a baby who cried a lot.

I was instructed to spend at least the first two days laying in bed. Unfortunately the first few bowel movements I had after the birth were not friendly to me, and I found myself dealing with very painful hemorrhoids, just like I did after Jacob’s birth. So really, I’ve spent nearly the entire first week staying in bed. I’m feeling better now, and although the hemorrhoids aren’t gone, at least they aren’t causing me significant pain...as long as I sit on the Boppy while I’m on a hard chair, at least! I’m still trying to limit my sitting time (with the exception of typing out this long birth story, obviously), hoping to speed healing time. Aside from that one problem, though, I’ve been feeling fantastic. And Alex is also doing very well, nothing like that first 12 hours of his life. He’s been good at sleeping, nursing, and fairly easy to calm when upset. My milk came in quickly, and he was already a full ounce heavier at his check-up, 3 days after his birth. According to our doctor, Alex is just “perfect!” And how could I possibly disagree with that?

Casey visited me again a couple days after the birth, and had barely enough time to check on me before she had to rush off to another birth. While she was there, she told me that the week had been incredibly busy for them. She had been up for 48 hours at one point. I told her how hard a job like that must be (and I had just been reading “Pushed” by Jennifer Block, where I had been reading of similar situations by midwives), and she told me that yes, it was hard work sometimes, but it was also so rewarding for her. When things occasionally got very busy and difficult, she would just pray for strength, and got what she needed. She really feels like she is doing God’s work, she said. And after such a nice, peaceful birth experience, I really have to agree with her on that count.

Casey also told me that she’d been sharing my experience with all the other mothers she worked with that week, she was so proud of me! In her words, I was so calm during labor, and just a “grunt, grunt” and out this 10 and a half pound baby came! I laughed and told her it felt a little more than a “grunt, grunt”, but she said she was amazed by how calm I was during labor – not a “drama” person during labor at all. Again, I certainly didn’t feel calm through all of labor, but at the same time, I was definitely more kept together than I was during Jacob’s birth, which had similar timing. I always remember feeling very much like I had been plowed over by a freight train, after Jacob was born – my emotional response just couldn’t keep up with my body’s physical progress, and I just felt very panicky, and then shell-shocked when it was all over. It was very different for Alex’s birth. It was certainly very intense and hard at the end, but I knew what was going on, and I still felt generally in control of what was happening, and overall content with my surrounding environment. I really think that a homebirth made all the difference in the world for this birth. I’m sure, with a 10 pound 10 ounce baby, if I had been in the hospital, I would have felt just as crazy panicked – if not more – as I did during Jacob’s birth. Many people I’ve talked with since the birth have expressed how amazed they are that I birthed such a big baby at home – that I’m some sort of super hero or something! In reality, I think I was able to do it, simply because of my surroundings, being where I already felt comfortable. I don’t feel like a super hero, but I do feel proud of my choice to homebirth, and elated that it was such a good experience for me. If we have another baby, I will definitely be planning another homebirth. I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world.

Just a few pictures

I meant to write out the birth story today, but just uploading the pictures is making me tired of sitting. ;) So you'll all have to settle for pictures for now.

Just a minute after the birth... I picked up Alex and held him on my chest and rested for a few minutes. He's still attached to the cord.


Getting measured after being weighed:
A couple hours old:


Monsterly long fingernails, thanks to being past his due date:


Two days old, opening his eyes and looking around calmly.

Alexander is here!

This is just a very quick post to say that Alexander Boden is here!

He was born at 3:27pm, at home. He weighed a whopping 10 lbs 10 oz (!!!!!), was 21 inches long, and had a 15.25 inch head circumference. Much bigger than we anticipated, but everything went great!! We are both doing very well.

I'm supposed to be laying down as much as possible for 2 days to promote easier healing, so I'll get around to writing out the birth story and posting some pictures in another day or two.

Maybe today!!!!

I woke up and had to use the bathroom shortly before 7am today. When I got back in bed, I felt almost wide awake - TOTALLY unusual for me at that time of day. After several minutes, I had a rather strong contraction. Also unusual - most of the time my contractions have been strong-ish only in the evening. I had another one or two before Jesse left for work an hour later.

I got up just after Jesse left for work and scrounged up some food for the kids. Used the bathroom again...this time, I noticed bloody show. Went back to my bed to lay down and ponder all of this, and had a couple more contractions before I got up again.

Long story short: From about 7am - 10am, I've gone to the bathroom at least six times to "check", and there has been bloody show each time. I've had contractions about 15-20 minutes apart, generally nice strong ones. Even when I've been up and walking around, or taking a shower, etc. Plus I had this general sense of crampiness, like my bowels want to empty out.

I called and gave heads up to Jesse, the midwife, and my visiting teacher who is planning on doing childcare for me.

We went to the chiropractor. She did the normal adjustment, but also went ahead and hit some accupressure points on my feet as well, that might encourage labor.

Had a couple contractions on the 10-15 minute drive home. Used the bathroom again, and yup (too much info!!) , bowels are definitely loose. I've had several contractions since then, surely closer together than 15 minutes.

So unless this baby is a born practical joker, I'm thinking labor has started.
Jesse is home for lunch and I'm going to start timing these things for real, instead of having just a vague idea of when I'm having contractions. I haven't decided whether I'll let Jesse go back to work or not.