One Month

E is now one month old. It’s amazing how they grow so fast. She is already so much more responsive. She is starting to look more like a baby and less like a new born.

We received good news this week. My brother and his wife have been waiting to adopt for over a year now. They were hoping to get placed when we had J. They got announced to over the weekend. It’s a boy and he is due March 10^th. I’m excited E will have more cousins her age. So far J is the only odd man out. All the other kids have cousins on one or both sides that are close to their age.

Their baby will be half black and half white. They were hoping to adopt a black boy, so they are really excited about this. I talked to a friend here that adopted bi-racial children. She said she always gets questions when she is out with her kids. I wonder, without begin disrespectful, if the "Mother at the Swing" (see Karin's blog) might also apply to this situation.

I remember a story from my youth of a bishop asking people to stand if they lived during the life of latter day prophets. He started with Joseph Smith. A chuckle went through the audience in reply. Then he read Brigham Young. To the surprise of the then young story teller one of the aged widows in the ward stood. She had been born a few months before Brigham Young died. I think with the passing of Gordon B. Hinckley perhaps one day E will be an aged widow who will connect a child to him.

Classic Pics

I’ve been meaning to post pictures of the kids. We found our camera today (yeah! Another little blessing.) It’s been missing for weeks. So hopefully I’ll have some good pictures soon. I think I’ll post a few classic pictures just for fun. I can’t believe how much our kids have grown just since we moved to Wisconsin, especially J.

New Job

“T” starts his new job at the cheese plant today. He will be working nights which means he’ll never have to miss church. The pay is really good, they are one of the better employers in the area. So after two months of no job this is a great thing. I just love the company he works for too. They recruited me to Wisconsin in the first place. If it weren’t for them we probably wouldn’t have met. So this is definitely a little blessing.

He’s starting in curd processing which is intense manual labor. He’s pretty excited about getting tough again. He says it’s great if they pay you for a 12 hour workout. They offered him a job in intake too, but he wanted the workout. Of course he doesn’t expect to stay at this position forever. Curd processing isn’t exactly a career, but there is opportunity within the company. His application for Air Force Officer is in, so that could be an option. We'll probably hear back in March. Or if he wants to get his master’s degree online he can stay up and study on his days off without distractions from the rest of us.

Twilight

Have you read Twilight yet? My Logan book club in was reading it this month. I probably wouldn't have read it except I happened to receive a copy of it for Christmas. It was really random. My sister sent her husband to the bookstore to get a present for me. He said they had a whole isle devoted to Twilight so he figured it must be good. And there you have it. I was super surprised when I opened it on Christmas.

Anyhow, I thought I’d write a post since I do enjoy discussing and hearing people’s opinions on the books I’ve read. My first impression was that it was a little too sappy for me. By halfway through the book Bella was swooning so much I almost quit reading. I only kept going because my neighbor told me the author wrote the book based on a dream she had about vampires. I figured I wasn’t to the “dream part” so I kept going.

I understand this book is hugely popular with housewives. I wondered why would a teenage romance appeal to middle aged women? I guess it’s not strictly a romance. It does involve vampires which could classify as fantasy or horror. Then there is the idea of a man with complete self control over carnal desire (perhaps also fantasy). My mom said it would be good for young men to read. It doesn’t matter if your made to be a monster, you can be whatever you choose to be.

When I finished the book I couldn’t decide if I wanted to read more or not. There are two more books in the series. I don’t think I could handle it if Bella keeps swooning every other paragraph, but I do like the characters. Reading Twilight was like watching a chick flick, something I rarely do but enjoy. So if you’ve read this book, tell me what you think I’d love to hear it.

Clothesline

I love this blog. Thanks for all the great comments. It makes me feel like I’m back in the old neighborhood again. So here’s my clothesline story. We moved into our current apartment half way through December. It took us a few days to get our dryer hooked up because the outlet was different and we had to rewire it. Anyhow, we when we went to connect everything we found the vent shaft (connecting our ground floor apartment to the roof) had fallen and crushed the connecting pipe. We called the manager they had someone come look at it, but no repair was attempted. Then everyone went on holiday for a week and a half. Since then, they have made two repair attempts, neither successful.

So what does that mean. I haven’t had a dryer for a month. The nearest laundry mat is 20 minutes drive. It’s 20 F or less outside. I have a newborn that goes through her wardrobe every two or three days. Solution: we put up a clothesline in our apartment.

So here’s a thanks to all my neighbors and friends that convinced me that clotheslines were good. I would never have had clothespins or any idea how to hang clothes or what to expect for drying time. Thanks for the little blessing of good friends. Even the annoyance of not having a dryer in the dead of winter is better because it reminds me of you.

My Birth Story

I had a rather different experience with this birth, so I wanted to share my story.

L offered to come up and help me with the birth this time. It was a great comfort to have someone there who understood where I was coming from. I was concerned that the three hour drive from Chicago might be too long and she would miss the birth. On Wednesday night (January 2) I started having contractions around 9:30 P.M. By 10:30 they were in a were in a regular pattern and coming closer together. We called a sitter and L. We told L when she was ready to go straight to the hospital just in case. She got there way before us so we had her come back to our place and we all slept for a few hours. By 3:30 AM my contractions were 5 minutes apart and coming stronger. The hospital is a 30 minute drive and I was GBS positive again so we decided to go in. I figured we'd have a baby by breakfast time.

We went to the hospital got checked in and waited. My contractions had slowed and I figured it was because of the traveling. We walked the halls then lay down to try and relax. Nothing worked. By 7 AM my contractions had all but stopped. My labor was stalled. “T” had an interview he couldn't miss in Milwaukee. He had to leave by 9 AM. I decided I should check out. Partly so “T” wouldn’t be tempted to skip his interview and partly so I could go eat and see if we could get things going again.

My doctor was okay with me leaving if the baby passed an NST (non-stress test) conducted by ultrasound. The baby passed the test. The ultrasound technician was super nice and even printed out some pictures for us. The doctor cleared us to go. It was really weird to leave the hospital knowing I was still in labor. I was really confused.

L and I went and got breakfast and walked the mall. All the while I was completely puzzled why my labor had stalled. I kept thinking of Karin's story about concerns she had about the baby stalling “Buggy’s” birth. I thought maybe it was because I knew “T” had to leave and wouldn't be back until after lunch. I felt confident that it was the right time for the baby to be born. The due date was Dec 24th. We thought it was a girl and A was born on her Uncle Tr's birthday. January 3rd is Uncle Jer's birthday. Jer and Tr are birds of a feather, they even work together.

After lunch and a little more shopping we went home. Something I had been hesitant to do for two reasons. One, my kids were there and they didn’t understand labor and why mommy wouldn’t bend over and no talk to them every five minutes. Two, because I knew as soon as I hit transition it wouldn’t take long. We could get regular contractions, but nothing more than we'd had the night before. I didn't want to go back to the hospital and have labor stall again. This time I was waiting to see signs of transition.

When we got home we started thinking about the baby's position. In the release NST the baby was facing my left side. The baby had previously always been facing my right side. Either way, not the ideal birth position. I logged on to Doreen’s website and clicked the spinning babies link. There I learned that it is difficult for the baby to rotate if the chin is not tucked. I pulled out the photos given to me by the ultrasound tech. They clearly showed the baby’s chin was up. So we got out the birthing ball and tried hula hoops. Then I got in the shower and did pelvic rocks until the tub filled with water.

I decided to try rotating the baby manually. I was a little nervous about rotating the baby with my hands. But at this point I figured I had few options. Surely they would induce me if I went back to the hospital. They baby would certainly be born one way or another in the next 12 hours. I checked to make sure the baby was still moving. And then gentle tried to move the baby. I was surprised at how different it felt in the water. Submerged I was easily able to rotate the baby. It seemed like the baby’s shoulder was caught on my right hip bone. I could feel the contractions radiating from there to my back. I worked that area for a bit and the tension seemed to free.

I finished up and went to my room. I asked my husband for a blessing. Then I lay down to listen to my body. I was unsure if I had been successful in rotating the baby. It was about 7 PM and my husband was taking the other kids to his brother’s house to spend the night. Before he even left I noticed strong swift contractions and started getting the feeling we should go to the hospital again. He told me to go rest and call his brother’s house if we decided to go the hospital. I lay down again for about 5 minutes, but now I knew it was time to go.

L and I called and got in the car and left the house around 7:30. Contractions were now coming fast and furious. I took a large garbage bag to sit on and a bed pan just in case. We checked into the hospital around 8 PM. This time I opted for the wheelchair. I asked them to call the doctor. The nurses wanted me to change and check me etc. before they called the doctor. They checked me and said I was at a 5 or 6 but everything was really loose. I’m sure the bag of water was bulging and I was already starting to tone. Luckily they told the doctor to come. Not to long later my water broke and I was ready to push. I looked at the two nurses in the room and wondered which one was going to deliver the baby. Fortunately the doctor arrived moments later. And a beautiful baby girl was born at 9:05 PM.

Warning: gory details ahead. Probably for experienced moms only.

I went with side lying position this time. It was a little awkward because they wanted me to hold my leg way up in the air. And of course I still tore, but Emma does have fewer stork bites (birthmarks) than my other kids. So far I think I prefer the supported C birth position. I will probably go with that if there’s a next time. I guess that’s just the scientist in me, I always want to try something new in hopes of finding a better way.

Two other funny things. Doreen told me to try touching the baby’s head when it crowns. I didn’t with J, but I tried it this time. Only the baby hadn’t completely crowned yet. It was more like a fold of skin. I thought I was touching the cord instead of the head. And I had a moment of unnecessary concern. “Oh no, the cord is prolapsed.” But of course it was not.

The other funny thing was after the birth they were kneading my stomach to make sure the uterus was contracting and I wasn’t hemorrhaging. (Everyone’s least favorite part.) A large heart-shaped blood clot shot out and “T” was standing right there. He had a moment of shock before he realized that it couldn’t actually be my heart. He is still making jokes about it though.

Your probably wondering about the GBS. They weren’t as crazy about it here as they were in Logan. There I was on antibiotics for officially one hour before the birth. They marked GBS + on baby’s bassinet and they kept me 48 hours. Here they didn’t even get and IV in before the baby was born, so we were really not following regulations (I tried.) They kept us for 48 hours (well the nurses let me go after 6 PM but the doctor’s official orders were after 9 PM). And the scheduled a one week check-up and told me to keep an eye on the baby and her temperature. So far she is doing great.

First Post

Hello! I've been thinking about starting a blog for a long time. It seems easier than sending mass e-mails with updates on what I'm doing. This blog was really inspired by the encouragement of good friends and their blogs. Why Little Blessings? Because I enjoy reading the yearly mass e-mail of a good Christian friend who always thanks the Lord for all her blessings each year. I hope to have many posts of thanks to the Lord.