Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
It's A....
Girl!!!
Our second daughter, Sylvia Hope was born Monday, March 5th. She shocked us all with her weight of 8 lbs. 14.5 oz.!! I guess she was really fattening up while waiting to make her appearance. :-) She measured 20.5" long. (She is the same length that Susannah was, but 1 1/2 lbs. bigger.)
We are so happy to finally have her on the outside where we can see her and hold her and love on her. Oh my, there is nothing more heart-capturing than a squirmy, snuggly, miracle-of-life baby that grew inside of me for 9 months!!! We are in love, plain and simple.
Thrilled to no end, enjoying some skin-to-skin with my daughter.
Labor was induced Monday morning and contractions started about 9:30am. After about 10 minutes of pushing (5 pushes in 4 contractions - yes, I was proud of that!) Sylvia was born at 1:13pm after a little under 4 hours of labor. I was already 5cm. when we got there (and had been for 2 weeks) so once things started, they went fast.
All showered and snuggled the first evening.
Susannah got to meet her little sister Tuesday morning.
I had packed a few books to be able to have some
"quality time" with Susannah when she came to visit.
Daniel is reading "I'm A Big Sister" to his 2 girls. :-)
"quality time" with Susannah when she came to visit.
Daniel is reading "I'm A Big Sister" to his 2 girls. :-)
We came home Wednesday shortly after noon. Aside from being a little tired from lack of sleep, I'm continuing to feel really good (and the pain meds help. ;-) ).
Sylvia ready to go home, wearing the same outfit
her big sister wore home from the hospital.
her big sister wore home from the hospital.
Susannah loves her baby sister, "Sigh-ee-uh", though we can't get her to say her name very much. She is very protective and wants to make sure Sylvia has her paci and blankie if she notices that they aren't with her.
Well, it will soon be lunchtime for everyone, so in wanting to get this posted already, I will have to save more for another post.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
41 Weeks
Today marks the 41st week of pregnancy for me with our 2nd baby. I do feel like I have been pregnant for-ev-er. :-) I won't deny that. I know that I really haven't been and won't be. I feel like "this is the longest I've EVER been pregnant in my LIFE!" but as this is only our 2nd child I don't know that I can proclaim that too loudly. ;-)
The past week or two have certainly been more trying, physically and emotionally. My emotions haven't been terrible, there was one weekend where for a day and a half I just wanted to sit down and cry "just because." The rest of the time I am just exhausted almost all of the time.
Not as a way of complaining, but more just sharing and recording for my own sake, most days I feel like I am barely going to survive. Some mornings I wake up and think "there's no way I can have the baby today, I'm too tired!"
Sleep eludes me several hours each night and if I try to nap in the day I rarely fall asleep very deeply or for very long at all, I just lie there dozing and resting (wishing I could be sleeping!). Saturday and Sunday mornings are my catch-up and recovery time when it comes to sleep. I don't have to bust out of bed early to get Daniel's breakfast and lunch, so I can stay asleep and get a second cycle of good sleep. I have not checked for sure, but I think I usually fall asleep the first time at night around 1 or 2am... then I usually HAVE to get up about 4:30 or 5 and it takes me a bit to fall back asleep from a bathroom visit. Then on workdays the alarm starts going off around 6 or 6:30, so not really any time for another good "sleep" in there. Without feeling guilty about it, I do not bust myself out of bed Sunday mornings so we can get to Sunday School because that is ONE day that I can sleep more and not feel dead all day long.
The other downside to the past 2 or 3 weeks of this journey has been that my back has been bothering me more and more. Especially if I lie on my left side, for some reason my back just doesn't like it very well. But I get weary of being on my right side. :-) So in the mornings I cripple out of bed and creep around for most of the morning until my back gets most of the kinks out and then I'm a little better for the rest of the day. Susannah goes in circles around me quite a bit lately, and I feel like it takes me 5 minutes to get from one side of the kitchen to the other! I have been going to the chiropractor weekly for the last month or two, and that really helps.
Between lack of good rest, back pain, and feeling like an over-inflated beach ball that an elephant is sitting on, no, it has not been easy lately. Many days I feel like I simply cannot go on. I cannot move another muscle. I cannot bend over or squat down to pick one more thing up off the floor, or lean and stretch to wash another dish, or figure out one more meal to eat. Multiple times each day though, I just pray for God to give me strength and grace to get me through the moment. Through another few minutes, another hour, another day. And He does. And I make it. I have Scripture verses taped to my cupboard door, and the lyrics to the hymn, O Love That Will Not Let Me Go, taped up at the kitchen sink. I find comfort and identity in the 2nd line "I rest my weary soul in Thee!" as well as throughout the rest of the song.
A few good things that have come from being pregnant this long...
I was able to attend church this morning which was a surprise mini-concert and then message from Steve Green. If the baby was already born (and hadn't come extra early), I probably would not be up to going to church yet. This morning was a HUGE blessing to my soul and I'm so glad that I am still pregnant so that I could attend.
I have been keeping the laundry caught up and the floors better picked up. :-) I am working with Susannah very purposely helping her keep her toys picked up when she finished playing with them, or before naps and bedtimes. (Plus it's SO much easier for her to pick them up than for me to!) We have had more time to implement "room time" into most of Susannah's days where she plays in her room by herself for 20 minutes (we started out with just a few minutes and worked up to 20). This gives me a chance to sit down a catch my breath, close my eyes if I really need to, or give my undivided attention to a task (which will soon likely be one of the baby's feedings).
A continued blessing for this pregnancy is that the baby and I are continuing to do great. I still am not experiencing any swelling (aside from the big beach ball, of course!), my blood pressure and heart rate have been great, and baby continues to pass with flying colors each visit as well. Now if I could just have a little more lung room to breathe deeply again!!
To close out this update, which will most likely be my last pregnancy update before the baby comes, here is a picture from today. Officially 41 weeks pregnant. Yes, it was 51° when we left for church this morning and I wore short sleeves and no jacket. :-) And yes, I do wear jeans to church lately!! I grew out of my (non-maternity) skirt around 37-38 weeks (rather, I had it hiked up as far as I dared hike it and it was getting too small to fit around and over), and as I have never found a maternity skirt I like, I figure a couple Sundays wearing jeans is not going to hurt anything. (And it helps that in our church some dress to the nines and others dress in jeans, so I'm not an oddball wearing jeans. :-) )
The past week or two have certainly been more trying, physically and emotionally. My emotions haven't been terrible, there was one weekend where for a day and a half I just wanted to sit down and cry "just because." The rest of the time I am just exhausted almost all of the time.
Not as a way of complaining, but more just sharing and recording for my own sake, most days I feel like I am barely going to survive. Some mornings I wake up and think "there's no way I can have the baby today, I'm too tired!"
Sleep eludes me several hours each night and if I try to nap in the day I rarely fall asleep very deeply or for very long at all, I just lie there dozing and resting (wishing I could be sleeping!). Saturday and Sunday mornings are my catch-up and recovery time when it comes to sleep. I don't have to bust out of bed early to get Daniel's breakfast and lunch, so I can stay asleep and get a second cycle of good sleep. I have not checked for sure, but I think I usually fall asleep the first time at night around 1 or 2am... then I usually HAVE to get up about 4:30 or 5 and it takes me a bit to fall back asleep from a bathroom visit. Then on workdays the alarm starts going off around 6 or 6:30, so not really any time for another good "sleep" in there. Without feeling guilty about it, I do not bust myself out of bed Sunday mornings so we can get to Sunday School because that is ONE day that I can sleep more and not feel dead all day long.
The other downside to the past 2 or 3 weeks of this journey has been that my back has been bothering me more and more. Especially if I lie on my left side, for some reason my back just doesn't like it very well. But I get weary of being on my right side. :-) So in the mornings I cripple out of bed and creep around for most of the morning until my back gets most of the kinks out and then I'm a little better for the rest of the day. Susannah goes in circles around me quite a bit lately, and I feel like it takes me 5 minutes to get from one side of the kitchen to the other! I have been going to the chiropractor weekly for the last month or two, and that really helps.
Between lack of good rest, back pain, and feeling like an over-inflated beach ball that an elephant is sitting on, no, it has not been easy lately. Many days I feel like I simply cannot go on. I cannot move another muscle. I cannot bend over or squat down to pick one more thing up off the floor, or lean and stretch to wash another dish, or figure out one more meal to eat. Multiple times each day though, I just pray for God to give me strength and grace to get me through the moment. Through another few minutes, another hour, another day. And He does. And I make it. I have Scripture verses taped to my cupboard door, and the lyrics to the hymn, O Love That Will Not Let Me Go, taped up at the kitchen sink. I find comfort and identity in the 2nd line "I rest my weary soul in Thee!" as well as throughout the rest of the song.
A few good things that have come from being pregnant this long...
I was able to attend church this morning which was a surprise mini-concert and then message from Steve Green. If the baby was already born (and hadn't come extra early), I probably would not be up to going to church yet. This morning was a HUGE blessing to my soul and I'm so glad that I am still pregnant so that I could attend.
I have been keeping the laundry caught up and the floors better picked up. :-) I am working with Susannah very purposely helping her keep her toys picked up when she finished playing with them, or before naps and bedtimes. (Plus it's SO much easier for her to pick them up than for me to!) We have had more time to implement "room time" into most of Susannah's days where she plays in her room by herself for 20 minutes (we started out with just a few minutes and worked up to 20). This gives me a chance to sit down a catch my breath, close my eyes if I really need to, or give my undivided attention to a task (which will soon likely be one of the baby's feedings).
A continued blessing for this pregnancy is that the baby and I are continuing to do great. I still am not experiencing any swelling (aside from the big beach ball, of course!), my blood pressure and heart rate have been great, and baby continues to pass with flying colors each visit as well. Now if I could just have a little more lung room to breathe deeply again!!
To close out this update, which will most likely be my last pregnancy update before the baby comes, here is a picture from today. Officially 41 weeks pregnant. Yes, it was 51° when we left for church this morning and I wore short sleeves and no jacket. :-) And yes, I do wear jeans to church lately!! I grew out of my (non-maternity) skirt around 37-38 weeks (rather, I had it hiked up as far as I dared hike it and it was getting too small to fit around and over), and as I have never found a maternity skirt I like, I figure a couple Sundays wearing jeans is not going to hurt anything. (And it helps that in our church some dress to the nines and others dress in jeans, so I'm not an oddball wearing jeans. :-) )
Friday, March 2, 2012
Of Bread And Bubbles
This past Wednesday my order of wheat berries arrived and I am so thrilled to be back in fresh-ground flour bread makin' business!! My first experience with ordering wheat berries I ordered Hard White Wheat. This time I ordered 50 lbs. of Hard White Wheat and 45 lbs. of Soft White Wheat. The hard white is supposed to be better for bread, and the soft white better for pastries. I used the hard white in cakes, cookies, muffins and so on, liking it just fine, but I'm eager to see if the soft white makes a difference.
As the new baby hasn't come yet, I have to keep making bread to keep my freezer stash supplied. We go through bread so quickly sometimes I'm not sure if I'm keeping up with my supply for after baby comes or just using it up!! Today was an overcast morning and then rainy afternoon, and my bread turned out beautifully! I was a little worried that maybe I would have lost my "touch" (ha!) as it's been a few weeks since I ran out of wheat berries. I was happy to turn out three loaves of nice, well-risen, good textured bread.
One of Susannah's thrills is helping me grind the "fow-er." Today when I mentioned bread she pointed to the mixer and jabbered something about fow-er, then pointed to the mill (which is in the opposite corner of my kitchen counter).
She likes to watch the wheat berries run down in the hopper on the mill :) As it nears the end, I do put the lid on in case any of the berries go flying as I don't want them to hit her or me.
This morning she also helped me wash up the few dirty dishes that didn't go in the dishwasher. She loves to put things into the dish-water for me, and I have to monitor closely that she doesn't put in something that doesn't go in water OR something I'm not ready for yet (I am a little picky about my dish-washing order! :) ).
After I finished, I drained the water but didn't rinse down the sink like I usually do. Pretty soon, she had the measuring spoon drawer open and had gotten out every single measuring spoon to scoop soap bubbles out of the sink and onto the counter!
Even though I am very eager for our baby to be born, I am reminding myself to enjoy these times with Susannah while she is the "only" child and I can give her my undivided attention :)
As the new baby hasn't come yet, I have to keep making bread to keep my freezer stash supplied. We go through bread so quickly sometimes I'm not sure if I'm keeping up with my supply for after baby comes or just using it up!! Today was an overcast morning and then rainy afternoon, and my bread turned out beautifully! I was a little worried that maybe I would have lost my "touch" (ha!) as it's been a few weeks since I ran out of wheat berries. I was happy to turn out three loaves of nice, well-risen, good textured bread.
One of Susannah's thrills is helping me grind the "fow-er." Today when I mentioned bread she pointed to the mixer and jabbered something about fow-er, then pointed to the mill (which is in the opposite corner of my kitchen counter).
She likes to watch the wheat berries run down in the hopper on the mill :) As it nears the end, I do put the lid on in case any of the berries go flying as I don't want them to hit her or me.
I asked her to say "cheese" and instead she said "fow-er!"
This morning she also helped me wash up the few dirty dishes that didn't go in the dishwasher. She loves to put things into the dish-water for me, and I have to monitor closely that she doesn't put in something that doesn't go in water OR something I'm not ready for yet (I am a little picky about my dish-washing order! :) ).
After I finished, I drained the water but didn't rinse down the sink like I usually do. Pretty soon, she had the measuring spoon drawer open and had gotten out every single measuring spoon to scoop soap bubbles out of the sink and onto the counter!
Even though I am very eager for our baby to be born, I am reminding myself to enjoy these times with Susannah while she is the "only" child and I can give her my undivided attention :)
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