Baking with my baby!

Bananas tend to run in splirts in our family. Sometimes we have none, and sometimes they sit on the banana holder and the whole bunch rots.
A couple of nights ago was one of those times when we had a whole rotten bunch. Emilee wanted to make banana bread. But we already have two loaves of banana bread in the freezer. So after brainstorming a few ideas, we decided to try double chocolate banana muffins.
I'm really not sure if she loves baking because it's her calling in life, or if she just loves, as much as I do, the time we get to spend together when we do it. I guess it doesn't really matter to me which one; I treasure these times!
P.S. Dad added to the creation and found out the muffins are really good with peanut butter on top!

Our 10 year anniversary today!

Pain

I have been thinking since reading part of the hypno-birthing book about pain management.  If it works for childbirth, then can those concepts be used in other parts of our life.

So my 2nd boy had his 5 year-old well child check today.  His older brother has not talked well about 5 year-old shots.  We had a family med doctor back then and I can remember him screaming.  And screaming and screaming.  He didn't stop screaming and crying through putting his pants back on, going to the car (I had to carry him) and all the way home.  He complained about them for weeks.  To the point where I almost rethought my decision vaccinate.  So anyway, I prepped Eli, that the shots would probably hurt some, but he should just take deep breaths and concentrate on blowing them out.  He did that, and when the 3rd shot came around I thought he was going to cry, but I reminded him of the deep breath and he made it through!  He is so proud of himself for being brave!  And I was happy to leave with a happy kid, and he was excited because the nurse said he could have 3 stickers (one for each shot!). 

So I really do believe that if you don't have a screaming high pitch reaction to pain, you can make it through much better!

Pampered Chef conference

Delicious Day

Today turned out to be an awesome day.  I was suppose to have a Pampered Chef show, but the host had to move her show, so my day was spent at home.
I started the morning cooking breakfast with the family as we do nearly any morning we are all home together.  Gregg used to cook most of our breakfasts since he is the ultimate scrambled egg maker, but I have learned from him and my dad throughout the years.  I love to cook and I know my hubby would love to enjoy a cup of coffee, so lately I've been taking over.
At least one of the three older kids helps out with the mixing.   About 6 months ago I ran across a pancake recipe using plain yogurt.  I have been playing with the recipe ever since.  With Eli's corn intolerance, it is just easier to make things from scratch.  The boys love to help mix, but the last few weeks it has been Alivia that loves to cook with Mommy.  So she helped with the mixing as I put the bacon on a stone in the oven and started to heat the pans. Yes, Alivia is just over 2, and sometimes she gets some of the ingredients out of the bowl, but it is a joy to watch her learn how to be gentle and careful!
After breakfast we cleaned up and I decided to start boiling the turkey legs I had thrown in the freezer from Christmas to make stock.  Gregg requested booyah, which is a Belgian type of chicken soup that his Mom's family makes.  So I set out to try to match his Grandma's soup.  The stock boiled for several hours as it filled the house with the homey smell of chicken soup. 
Meanwhile Eli and I went through is dresser drawers.  He is going to be five in February and is finally getting too tall for most of his 3T clothes.  Mind you the 4T ones pretty much fall off, but if I sinch the waist enough, at least he doesn't look like he is wearing floods! 
Alivia and I were back in the kitchen later making Gregg's Mom's recipe for cutout cookies.  Livi loves playing with dough.  I am having the hardest time trying to teach her the difference between raw and cooked.  She tried to eat the dough countless times, and later, she went in the fridge and tried to take a bite out of a raw egg!  Silly girl! 
A few more snacks to add and then we had friends over for the Packer/Viking playoff game.  And as I am putting the finishing touches on the spread, the ultimate reward came.  My hubby saying thank you and telling me how great of a job I did putting the 'party' together.  Makes it all worth it. 
Oh yeah, he was still complimenting my soup when we were cleaning up after everyone went home.   Now if only I can remember what I did and recreate the soup again! 

Emilee's Birth Story

Emilee's labor had been starting and stopping since the last few days of August.  Finally, last night the pressure waves/contractions decided to continue instead of subsiding like all the weeks before. 

Around 6 pm the waves started getting more consistent.  They had been quite real throughout the day, but were anywhere from 20 minutes to and hour apart.  By 6:30 I got in the shower and took some of the waves with the shower beating down on my back.  The pressure and heat of the shower felt very good.  At 6:45 I was texting Megan, one of our friends and birthing assistants, that things were starting up again and that I hoped it wasn't still just practice that wouldn't fade away when I laid down.  Spent the next several waves in the bathroom since every one made me have to pee.  Around 8:15 Gregg and I started to plan out when we would decide to leave, waves were around 7 to 10 minutes apart.  Gregg said we should wait a couple hours, but I was more convinced that things were progressing.  By 8:30 Gregg and I had decided to monitor them for another hour before calling in our sitter and Megan who each had a 30 minute drive to our house.  Our second friend and birthing assistant, Dawn, just lives a couple blocks away so we would pick her up along the way.  We didn't quite make it an hour when the waves got 4 to 5 minutes apart and I told Gregg to make the calls to Megan and Ioana.  That was about 9:15 pm.  I sent a 'get ready' text to Dawn. 

Since all previous labors had been long and I had never been more than 4 centimeters dilated when getting to the hospital, I decided I would text my mom and sister after getting to the hospital and seeing how much progress we had made and if we would be admitted. 

We left the house at 10 pm just shortly after Ioana and Megan getting there.  We headed over to Dawn's house and picked her up.  I was talking and joking with them on the ride, pausing in the conversation each time a wave rolled in.  Leaving home the contractions were about 7 minutes apart.  We decided to stop for gas half way up to Hudson Hospital since I said I had to go to the bathroom.  Ended up all four of us had to go.  I had a pressure wave in the bathroom and then after the other three went (it was a really crapy gas stating with one not so clean restroom), I went again and had another wave.  I then tried to walk very quickly out of the gas station since the waves were getting strong enough that I could not walk through them.  Over the past week we had 60 to 80 degree weather but low pressure was coming in and it was starting to rain and only about 36 degrees outside.  I got another wave half way from the station doors to the car and had to hold onto Gregg.  Gregg, Dawn and Megan were all standing there shivering, but I wasn't even feeling cold.  Was just wearing a t-shirt and a thin zip-up sweatshirt.

We continued along the way.  Megan was keeping track of the contractions and said they were about 4 minutes apart when we got to the Hudson ER enterance.  We got out of the car and I had another wave.  I leaned my head against the van and breathed through it.  I giggled at the end cause we could all hear Gregg's teeth chattering.  I had called ahead to the hospital so they knew we were on our way.  But there was still a little check in to do.  As soon as we were checked in we headed down the hall.  Didn't make it to the first turn before I had to stop for another wave.  I agin used the wall for support.  Then we continued on stopping two more times for contractions.  One time I leaned my head against the wall so fast that I sort of hit my forehead on the wall.  We all laughed a little.  We actually beat the nurse to the room, but I had to pee so I went straight for the bathroom, stopping first for a wave. 

The nurse came in and gave me the monitoring band to put around my belly and offered a gown, but I had brought my own laboring skirts and tanks.  Still using the skirts I sewed for Alivia's labor.  I quickly changed and sat down on the bed for the nurse, Brooke, to check me.  7 to 8 centimeters she said.  She went to page Dr. Hartung.  We asked her to start filling the labor tub quick too!  Megan made a joke that I still had 15 minutes to get the baby out on my sister, Janna's, birthday.  She said 10 minutes to complete and 5 minutes to push.  We all laughed. 

The waves continued to come quickly.  I was leaning on Gregg and having him wrap his arms around me and push on my hip bones durning contractions, but I was finding that I needed to concentrate and breathe and he was holding me too close.  So Megan and Dawn took over the back pressure and I leaned on Gregg.  Time was now about 11:50 pm.  

For the next few waves I was back and forth between the bathroom and outside the bathroom door.  The nurse was trying to position the monitors and attempted to get a IV in my hand.  The first IV attempt didn't go in correctly.  I said I needed to use the bathroom again.  It was just shortly after midnight.  While in the bathroom I started to have the urge to push.  The nurse could tell my breathing had changed and asked if I was pushing.  I said I was starting to get that urge and wanted to get in the birthing tub.  It was 12:13.  Megan put pressure on my back while Gregg changed into his swim suit.  I felt most comfortable leaning over the side of the tub and on my knees.  Dawn got the fan pluged in and blowing on me.  Gregg was great about reminding me to keep any vocal breathing low instead of high pitched whiched made the pressure and pain in my back much more tolerable.  I asked Dr. Hartung about better positions for the back pain.  He suggested trying other positions to see.  I attempted to get into a squat position instead of on my knees, but the back pain was much worse.  I decided to widen my knees some.  The nurse got Gregg as stool to sit on to make him more stable.  Gregg later told me when I widened my legs it helped pinned his more steady to the side of the tub.  He said he was pushing so hard on my back that he felt like he was going to go head over heals!  Glad he didn't say that at the time!

Around 12:40 Dawn started to help Gregg push on my back.  I need constant pressure, even inbetween contractions.  And Megan did exactly as I had asked her to do and kept snapping pictures!  I didn't have extra energy for talking so Dawn helped repeat anything I said, since it came out quiet and under my breath.  Mostly just the words, water, up/down and harder when referring to the back pressure.   Megan was awesome on keeping the water jug when coming in when I needed it.

Sometime before one I said outloud that I was feeling the burning and I could tell she was there.  Dr. Hartung was periodically checking progress and told me to feel, that the bag of waters was bulging out.  It was an awesome experience at that point to be able to feel the very slippery sac and knbeow it wouldn't be too much longer.  I remember asking Dr. Hartung if we needed to break the bag or if we could just let it be.  He said he could break it if I wanted him too, but that it was fine.  So we just left it.  I had read somewhere that it relieves some of the cone head effect if the baby's head is born with the sac intacked.  I was able to get in a couple pushes with each surge.  Then I would feel the sac and her head sneak back up as I waited for the next surge.  Dr. Hartung was gently helping with the streching to minimize/prevent tearing.  A few uterine surges/waves later she was born and the sac of waters did not break until her shoulders were born.  Dr. Hartung said it was a sac of steel.  Just like her sister Alivia. 

She was born at 1:03 am.  She did not come out screaming, just making a few slight sounds.  Dr. Hartung rubbed her bath as I told her Happy Birthday!  Seconds later when she let out a louder cry I could hear the happy comotion of the nurses and Dawn and Megan. 

Gregg cut the cord about 1:15 am.  She still had a lot of vernix, even though she was over due.  We laughed about a huge chunk that was floating in the tub (bottom right of picture above :) ).  We also think she may have been posterior for part of the pushing since I had a lot of back pain, or maybe just cause she was born semi-quickly, but her forhead was quite blue, bruise-like after birth. 

I transfered to the bed, our nurse Brooke checked Emilee out and dried her off quick as Gregg got out of the tub.  Then Gregg got a chance to hold her.  Then the nurse cleaned her up quick and we nursed for a short period of time.  Megan kept close watch on her as I was pushing the placenta out to make sure I didn't hold her to tightly as I was 'gently' pushing ;)  It was now about 1:35. 

Emilee weighed in at 9 lbs and 9.3 ounces.  She was 21 inches long and her head circumference was 15 1/2 inches.  Wow!  She beats her brothers and sister (Garett 8lb 3oz, Elijah 9lb 8 oz, and Alivia 9lb oz).  And no stiches for me, amazing what a body can handle!

Megan and Dawn got their chances to hold and cuddle Emilee before they headed home.  We are so thankful for their help.  There were definetly moments where I needed Gregg and both of them!  Meg and Dawn headed out around 2:30.

Around 3:30 or so we transfered rooms, the postpardum ones were full, so we ended up in the Med/Surg wing.  Not a big deal except there was no bathtub in that room.  But now was time for bonding and sleep anyway!  Gregg fell asleep fast, I got some Ibprophen for the contracting down contractions; there is definetly truth to the fact that they get worse with every baby!  Emilee and I worked on nursing and dosed in and out.  The nurse had put on a white hat with a little pink pom pom hat, but her head was so big it kept falling off and exposing her full head of hair.  Just ready for me to stroke and touch as she was nursing.  So far she has been a nursing champ, my best one yet for getting the hang of it so quickly!  Hope that continues. 

I am so very glad to have another wonderful birth experience.  I feel so blessed with the great support between a awesome loving husband, great friends, an excellent gentle doctor and great hospital staff.  Can't wait to show our beautiful gift from God off to everyone!  I love you Emilee!

Love,
Mommy

Pregnancy Update

So far, so good.  Baby has stayed head down, and seems to be saying face backwards now.  So hopefully no posterior delivery!   11 days to due date!  I almost thought we were going to have a Labor Day baby, but my 4 to 5 minutes apart contractions slowed down a lot after laying down!  Although I thought how cool would a 9/3/12 birthday be!  Although I had to explain to dear hubby that I thought it was cool cause 9+3=12 :)  He laughed and told me how I was a math geek!  It's okay, I'll embrace it!

For now, we wait :)  None of the other three have come early, they have all been 4 and 5 days late, so we won't get to excited yet!