the last several weeks have been quite an amazing journey. there have been a few bumps in the road and a few moments of completely being overwhelmed and full of doubt and fear. but throughout the journey God has been at work and showing me His will for me.
a few weeks ago, i told you that i was getting my certification to be a doula. so i thought i would tell you a little bit about where i am in the process and what has been going on in my life surrounding this big huge God led adventure.
i do not need to be certified to be a doula. so i am not waiting for my certification to "become a doula". God has given me this passion and desire for this field and i am claiming it. i am a doula! so i gladly and proudly accept the title of a doula!
part of my certification requires me to actually assist three families during their childbirth. that was the part that really scared me. i was really nervous how i would find clients who would hire me without my certification. but since it is part of God's plan. i have set it aside and let Him handle that part and when i did. when i accepted my title and claimed the role. He showed me that He will bring me the mothers and the clients that He wants me to support and encourage.
i have received confirmation after confirmation that this is God's will for me. it has been wild. you know when you pray about something and you ask for God to confirm it in a huge way like maybe a billboard. well, i feel like my confirmations have been even bigger than that. God has put so many different opportunities in my path. He has brought me so many connections and new friends already. and i just started pursuing this. but He has had this plan in the works for a long time, i just didn't know it!
i am so excited about my new journey!
since i haven't been so great about blogging lately and have a lot to write about, i will continue this in another post. for those of you who really don't care about reading about the doula stuff, i am working on a blog and website that in the future i will be putting the details there. but for now, this is part of my story and my life so i am sharing it here!
Showing posts with label pregnancy and childbirth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pregnancy and childbirth. Show all posts
4.19.2010
4.08.2010
a piece of my story (part 2)...
this entry is the second part of a piece of my story and has a very exciting announcement at the end...
so, i continued to pray over the next few months. not sure exactly how God wanted to use me but know that i was willing to be used how He wanted to use me. it is really a scary feeling to know that God is doing a work in you but you can't really figure out exactly what it is. but i gave it all to Him.
i began a bible study in january and we are reading a joyce meyer book called a leader in the making. the women in this group all have a passion for other women and are in this study to find out how God wants to use them. this bible study and the reading that i have done has been instrumental me hearing from God over the past few months.
in the beginning of march, after watching a few shows which i love to watch about childbirth and babies, i started thinking about becoming a nurse midwife again. i began to pray specifically for God to show me if this is a dream that was mine or was it His. i clearly kept feeling Him telling me "no, not now". in my blog hopping i stumbled upon a few blogs that are written by nurses. and somewhere in that i found a blog written by a mother who was pregnant with her second baby and she had a few posts in there about being a doula. and i was intrigued. and i felt something stirring inside of me!
if you don't know what a doula is, basically it is a birth or labor assistant. she is someone who is hired to care for the mother during the her labor and birth. the word doula means "woman servant". traditionally, this role is given to friends and family members of the parents as a support system. with a doula, she is not only an encourager and supporter, but she is also educates and serves as an advocate for the parents. she is present at the labor and birth the entire time working with the father and any other support person in the delivery room to help the mother during this time regardless of whether she chooses to have interventions or a natural childbirth. a doula does not perform anything medical or give any medical advice.
i had researched this some time ago, but wasn't sure this was for me, i had bookmarked a few websites but felt i was really suppose to go in the direction of the medical field. so after visiting this blog, i went back and looked over the sites i had saved. i began doing research about being a doula and began praying. God quickly and clearly answered my prayers. i felt Him telling me that this is what he wanted me to pursue. things fell into place and i have begun my certification process to becoming a doula.
i am so excited about this new journey that i am on! it feels so great to have a direction and a place to put the passions i have. i can not wait to see how God works in this new journey. there is so much more that i want to share with you about this journey. i will be working on a series of posts that will share this journey. i am also gathering ideas for a new blog that is specifically on being a doula.
so there it is, my big exciting announcement!!! thanks for reading this piece of my story!
dawn
so, i continued to pray over the next few months. not sure exactly how God wanted to use me but know that i was willing to be used how He wanted to use me. it is really a scary feeling to know that God is doing a work in you but you can't really figure out exactly what it is. but i gave it all to Him.
i began a bible study in january and we are reading a joyce meyer book called a leader in the making. the women in this group all have a passion for other women and are in this study to find out how God wants to use them. this bible study and the reading that i have done has been instrumental me hearing from God over the past few months.
in the beginning of march, after watching a few shows which i love to watch about childbirth and babies, i started thinking about becoming a nurse midwife again. i began to pray specifically for God to show me if this is a dream that was mine or was it His. i clearly kept feeling Him telling me "no, not now". in my blog hopping i stumbled upon a few blogs that are written by nurses. and somewhere in that i found a blog written by a mother who was pregnant with her second baby and she had a few posts in there about being a doula. and i was intrigued. and i felt something stirring inside of me!
if you don't know what a doula is, basically it is a birth or labor assistant. she is someone who is hired to care for the mother during the her labor and birth. the word doula means "woman servant". traditionally, this role is given to friends and family members of the parents as a support system. with a doula, she is not only an encourager and supporter, but she is also educates and serves as an advocate for the parents. she is present at the labor and birth the entire time working with the father and any other support person in the delivery room to help the mother during this time regardless of whether she chooses to have interventions or a natural childbirth. a doula does not perform anything medical or give any medical advice.
i had researched this some time ago, but wasn't sure this was for me, i had bookmarked a few websites but felt i was really suppose to go in the direction of the medical field. so after visiting this blog, i went back and looked over the sites i had saved. i began doing research about being a doula and began praying. God quickly and clearly answered my prayers. i felt Him telling me that this is what he wanted me to pursue. things fell into place and i have begun my certification process to becoming a doula.
i am so excited about this new journey that i am on! it feels so great to have a direction and a place to put the passions i have. i can not wait to see how God works in this new journey. there is so much more that i want to share with you about this journey. i will be working on a series of posts that will share this journey. i am also gathering ideas for a new blog that is specifically on being a doula.
so there it is, my big exciting announcement!!! thanks for reading this piece of my story!
being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you
will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
philippians 1:6
many blessings ~will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
philippians 1:6
dawn
4.07.2010
a piece of my story (part 1)...
several weeks ago, i wrote this post and i have been working on "my story". everyone has a story, and everyone's story is different. a few things have developed in my life and i wanted to share a piece of my story with you. i am posting it in two parts! so, here goes...
as a young girl, pre-teen age, i loved children. i started babysitting at like 11 years old or so. i babysat for a lot of different families. i would get so upset if i didn't have a babysitting job over a weekend. i loved it that much. i babysat all through middle school, high school and college. it was no surprise when i earned a degree in elementary education with a concentration on early childhood and became a teacher. i was only a teacher for two years when I was blessed with a child of my own. i quit my job as a teacher and happily became a stay at home mommy.
being a mom is when i developed a new love for babies and toddlers. with each baby i gave birth to, i became very passionate about pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. i also became very passionate for for other women, especially those in the child-bearing and child-rearing season. after my second baby was born, i felt like God had placed a calling on my life to become a labor and delivery nurse and eventually a nurse midwife.
by the time i had my third baby, i was the coordinator of a mops (mothers of preschoolers) group and the passion i had for other young mothers was undeniable. the thought of another women going through their season as a mom without knowing Christ burdened me. i know that i couldn't be a mom without God being the center of my life. my passion was so strong to tell other moms about Him. God allowed me to minister to other mothers during this season of my life and through our mops group. that was one of the sweetest seasons of my life.
after my season with mops was over, i was heading into a new season of my life, to pursue a nursing degree. God had other plans for me. i attended nursing school for one semester and loved it! after that semester, it was made clear to me that it was not time to finish my degree. nothing fell into place, so i withdrew from school and put that dream on hold.
it was a few months later when i realized God's plan for me. that was when he blessed us with another positive pregnancy test and with our fourth baby, jaelyn. during this season of being pregnant and becoming a new mom once again, God began to teach me that my family is my first ministry. i took advantage of this time and began to get my life in balance and just focus on my family. i didn't lead any type of women's ministry, i didn't volunteer much at my church and i didn't do many things outside of my family. as much as i want to pursue my passion to minister to other moms, He wanted me to realize my family comes first.
shortly after jaelyn turned one, i felt the passion in me stirring again and wanted to pursue what exactly God had in store for me. my passion is two fold, because i am passionate about other women (women's ministry) but i am also passionate about pregnancy & childbirth. i began to pray about what how God wanted to use me. i also began to research nursing schools during this time, i also began to volunteer at my church as the nursery coordinator.
after praying and researching nursing schools, i got the big red stop sign from God and felt like it was not the right time to go back to school. it was made clear to me that the strenuous hours in school and clinicals was not going to fit into our family's lifestyle. so, i put it on hold and i continued to pray.
....the next piece of my story/part 2 will be posted tomorrow, come back and read it, i promise it will be posted and it has an exciting announcement in it!
many blessings ~
dawn
as a young girl, pre-teen age, i loved children. i started babysitting at like 11 years old or so. i babysat for a lot of different families. i would get so upset if i didn't have a babysitting job over a weekend. i loved it that much. i babysat all through middle school, high school and college. it was no surprise when i earned a degree in elementary education with a concentration on early childhood and became a teacher. i was only a teacher for two years when I was blessed with a child of my own. i quit my job as a teacher and happily became a stay at home mommy.
being a mom is when i developed a new love for babies and toddlers. with each baby i gave birth to, i became very passionate about pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding. i also became very passionate for for other women, especially those in the child-bearing and child-rearing season. after my second baby was born, i felt like God had placed a calling on my life to become a labor and delivery nurse and eventually a nurse midwife.
by the time i had my third baby, i was the coordinator of a mops (mothers of preschoolers) group and the passion i had for other young mothers was undeniable. the thought of another women going through their season as a mom without knowing Christ burdened me. i know that i couldn't be a mom without God being the center of my life. my passion was so strong to tell other moms about Him. God allowed me to minister to other mothers during this season of my life and through our mops group. that was one of the sweetest seasons of my life.
after my season with mops was over, i was heading into a new season of my life, to pursue a nursing degree. God had other plans for me. i attended nursing school for one semester and loved it! after that semester, it was made clear to me that it was not time to finish my degree. nothing fell into place, so i withdrew from school and put that dream on hold.
it was a few months later when i realized God's plan for me. that was when he blessed us with another positive pregnancy test and with our fourth baby, jaelyn. during this season of being pregnant and becoming a new mom once again, God began to teach me that my family is my first ministry. i took advantage of this time and began to get my life in balance and just focus on my family. i didn't lead any type of women's ministry, i didn't volunteer much at my church and i didn't do many things outside of my family. as much as i want to pursue my passion to minister to other moms, He wanted me to realize my family comes first.
shortly after jaelyn turned one, i felt the passion in me stirring again and wanted to pursue what exactly God had in store for me. my passion is two fold, because i am passionate about other women (women's ministry) but i am also passionate about pregnancy & childbirth. i began to pray about what how God wanted to use me. i also began to research nursing schools during this time, i also began to volunteer at my church as the nursery coordinator.
after praying and researching nursing schools, i got the big red stop sign from God and felt like it was not the right time to go back to school. it was made clear to me that the strenuous hours in school and clinicals was not going to fit into our family's lifestyle. so, i put it on hold and i continued to pray.
but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness
and all these things will be given to you as well
matthew 6:33
and all these things will be given to you as well
matthew 6:33
....the next piece of my story/part 2 will be posted tomorrow, come back and read it, i promise it will be posted and it has an exciting announcement in it!
many blessings ~
dawn
2.12.2010
two valentine's, two surprises...
in honor of valentine's day, i am reflecting back on two special valentine's days that jamil and i have celebrated. each of them were surprises! one year he surprised me and the other one i surprised him! i am also linking up to kelly's show us your life valentine's dates and memories! so welcome, if this is your first time stopping by! read a post or two or three and leave a comment and let me know you were here!
his surprise to me...
i wouldn't say that jamil is the most romantic man as far as planning surprises and gifts. but this year he planned such a special surprise date that i have always remembered. i do not like surprises at all. especially if i know there is a surprise coming, i would rather just know. but this day, he totally blew me away and i did not see it coming. he put a lot of thought and detail into this special date.
it was valentine's day 2003, i was about 4 months pregnant with jordyn. at that time our life was pretty stressful. jamil was working a full time job with not so good benefits and working three small part time jobs on the side. jamil has always worked super hard to provide for our family so that i can stay home with our kids. one of his part time jobs at the time was serving tables at a restaurant. so of course he was scheduled to work that valentine's weekend! i was sad that we wouldn't be able to do a date night. but little did i know he had planned a surprise for me.
it was a friday morning and i was at a ladie's bible study. as we were wrapping up our study, one of the ladies who was hosting the study was closing in prayer and began to pray for me and for the baby (jordyn!) i was carrying. she also prayed for my husband. she closed the prayer and then began to read a sweet letter to me that was written by my husband.
in the letter he shared his affection for me and then told me that he had a surprise planned for me that day. i was handed a rose and sent on my way home with directions to go home and get dressed up. when i arrived at our house there were balloons decorating my front porch. another letter inside of our house said that childcare was arranged for josh and that i was suppose to get ready to go on a lunch date. i would be told of the location later. after josh was settled in at my mother in law's house, i received a note from her that was from jamil giving me directions to my destination although i didn't know where it was. as i started driving, jamil told me to meet me at an italian restaurant. when i arrived, he was there waiting for me with a dozen roses. we then had a special lunch date together.
even though i don't have any pictures to share, (i probably have the letters somewhere), i will always remember what time and thought jamil put into that special date.
little did he know five years and 3 kids later i would have a surprise for him...
my surprise to him...
i had the "baby itch" for a long time, when jamil told me that he was ready to consider adding a fourth child to our family. i was so excited that we were finally on the same page! in january 2008, i had every sign, symptom and feeling of being pregnant. but to my sadness, i was not. just one month later, i was barely late, and decided to take another pregnancy test. i thought that i could be pregnant but after going through such immense disappointment the previous month, i didn't wan to get my hopes up. when the test showed a very faint positive, i was so thrilled. but because of that faint (really faint) line, i didn't get my hopes up too high. after taking a few more tests and seeing the positive sign, i knew i was. i never keep secrets like this. i am the most loyal person if someone shares their secret with me. but when it comes to my own, i can not contain myself.
i received the positive tests just a few days before valentine's day. so i decided to surprise jamil in a big way. i bought him a new bible and then found several scripture verses that had to do with having babies, new life and multiplying! i cut out little hearts and wrote the scripture reference on each one and stuck them inside of the bible like bookmarks. i gave him the bible. he read the verses and kind of just looked at me and said, i know, i know you want another baby, i guess that is what you are trying to say. after he said that i handed him his own copy that he got when i was pregnant with josh, of "she's having a baby and i am having a breakdown". and that is when he got it and said/asked, "you're pregnant?" he didn't really believe me until i showed him all three positive pregnancy tests, even though they were faint lines, i reminded him a line is a line, it doesn't matter what intensity of color!! you can also go here to read about it, when i posted it two years ago!!
that brings me to this year, i am pretty sure that there will be no surprises from either of us. i know for sure that i am not planning one this year, maybe next year though ;) we have plans to go out tonight on a "shopping date", but i just heard that they are calling for more snow again in charoltte, so we will see.
happy valentine's day and thanks so much for sharing these special memories with me!
his surprise to me...
i wouldn't say that jamil is the most romantic man as far as planning surprises and gifts. but this year he planned such a special surprise date that i have always remembered. i do not like surprises at all. especially if i know there is a surprise coming, i would rather just know. but this day, he totally blew me away and i did not see it coming. he put a lot of thought and detail into this special date.
it was valentine's day 2003, i was about 4 months pregnant with jordyn. at that time our life was pretty stressful. jamil was working a full time job with not so good benefits and working three small part time jobs on the side. jamil has always worked super hard to provide for our family so that i can stay home with our kids. one of his part time jobs at the time was serving tables at a restaurant. so of course he was scheduled to work that valentine's weekend! i was sad that we wouldn't be able to do a date night. but little did i know he had planned a surprise for me.
it was a friday morning and i was at a ladie's bible study. as we were wrapping up our study, one of the ladies who was hosting the study was closing in prayer and began to pray for me and for the baby (jordyn!) i was carrying. she also prayed for my husband. she closed the prayer and then began to read a sweet letter to me that was written by my husband.
in the letter he shared his affection for me and then told me that he had a surprise planned for me that day. i was handed a rose and sent on my way home with directions to go home and get dressed up. when i arrived at our house there were balloons decorating my front porch. another letter inside of our house said that childcare was arranged for josh and that i was suppose to get ready to go on a lunch date. i would be told of the location later. after josh was settled in at my mother in law's house, i received a note from her that was from jamil giving me directions to my destination although i didn't know where it was. as i started driving, jamil told me to meet me at an italian restaurant. when i arrived, he was there waiting for me with a dozen roses. we then had a special lunch date together.
even though i don't have any pictures to share, (i probably have the letters somewhere), i will always remember what time and thought jamil put into that special date.
little did he know five years and 3 kids later i would have a surprise for him...
my surprise to him...
i had the "baby itch" for a long time, when jamil told me that he was ready to consider adding a fourth child to our family. i was so excited that we were finally on the same page! in january 2008, i had every sign, symptom and feeling of being pregnant. but to my sadness, i was not. just one month later, i was barely late, and decided to take another pregnancy test. i thought that i could be pregnant but after going through such immense disappointment the previous month, i didn't wan to get my hopes up. when the test showed a very faint positive, i was so thrilled. but because of that faint (really faint) line, i didn't get my hopes up too high. after taking a few more tests and seeing the positive sign, i knew i was. i never keep secrets like this. i am the most loyal person if someone shares their secret with me. but when it comes to my own, i can not contain myself.
i received the positive tests just a few days before valentine's day. so i decided to surprise jamil in a big way. i bought him a new bible and then found several scripture verses that had to do with having babies, new life and multiplying! i cut out little hearts and wrote the scripture reference on each one and stuck them inside of the bible like bookmarks. i gave him the bible. he read the verses and kind of just looked at me and said, i know, i know you want another baby, i guess that is what you are trying to say. after he said that i handed him his own copy that he got when i was pregnant with josh, of "she's having a baby and i am having a breakdown". and that is when he got it and said/asked, "you're pregnant?" he didn't really believe me until i showed him all three positive pregnancy tests, even though they were faint lines, i reminded him a line is a line, it doesn't matter what intensity of color!! you can also go here to read about it, when i posted it two years ago!!
that brings me to this year, i am pretty sure that there will be no surprises from either of us. i know for sure that i am not planning one this year, maybe next year though ;) we have plans to go out tonight on a "shopping date", but i just heard that they are calling for more snow again in charoltte, so we will see.
happy valentine's day and thanks so much for sharing these special memories with me!
10.16.2009
it all started with josh (his birth story)...
as you may have read, two of my kiddos celebrated their birthdays five days apart this month. i didn't want to combine their parties, so we did a birthday celebration for josh with a homemade ice cream cake and some presents with our family. and then we did a bit bigger birthday party for jaelyn. (i have a strategic way to do birthday celebrations with our kids, we just can't do four huge parties every year - but i will save that for another post.)
since we didn't do a huge party for josh, i thought i would share his birth story instead. i guess i have never done that before. wow! this is a story to read!!!
i just love talking about pregnancy and birth stories. i also love hearing about other momma's stories too (if you have a birth story post on your blog - let me know! and if you don't have one yet - post one and let me know that too!!!) i just love sharing these precious moments.
God totally has put this passion for pregnancy and babies in my heart and it all started with joshua almost ten years ago!! i will start with a summary of my pregnancy with josh and then go into the big birth day!
jamil and i got married on december 18, 1999. on february 1, 2000 we found out we were pregnant. so we had ourselves a honeymoon baby, we had been married for about six weeks and we were about six weeks pregnant. what a surprise. we had "planned" on waiting for two - three years. but God had other plans. it was funny because after the wedding and we were settling into life together, i had this instinct that i just needed to take care of something. so i told jamil, i wanted to have a kitten, a puppy or a baby - it was up to him. he told me i could get a kitten. but before we did, we found out we were being blessed with a baby. and no, needless to say, he didn't let me get the kitten! we would find out through an early ultrasound that my due date was october 4, 2000!
i had a fairly easy pregnancy. i was just a little sick and nauseous during the first trimester, but not too bad. i had no complications and both the baby and i were healthy! we had one little scare around thirteen weeks when at my prenatal appointment, my doctor couldn't find the baby's heartbeat. we had heard it at the previous appointment, so i was terrified something was wrong. we were able to have an ultrasound immediately. praise God, He is so good, we saw the baby's heartbeat and it was moving and waving it's little arm. everything was good. (this pattern repeats itself in each of my subsequent pregnancies, we have a hard time picking up a heartbeat because, i was later to find out that i have a tilted uterus).
because of this little scare, i had to see the baby again, so we had an elective ultrasound to see our little peanut at around 18 weeks. we did not find out the sex of the baby, we wanted to be surprised!! although, we both had a feeling it would be a baby boy! so the rest of the pregnancy went great. i did have heartburn throughout the pregnancy and some strong cravings. it took a long time for my belly to show. i would get so frustrated about that. i wanted to look pregnant and wear maternity clothes so bad. little did i know by my fourth baby, i would be wearing those much desired clothes on the day i got the positive pregnancy test!
fast forward to right before the big day...
on september 28, 2000 ~ i went to carolina's medical center, eighth floor, labor and delivery, little did i know it would become one of my most favorite places in the world. although i was not there that day in labor. i was visiting my dear friend, stephanie. she was in labor with her son, elijah. and i was outside of the door when he was born. at that point in my life, the thought wasn't even in my mind to be in the room with her, i was way too scared at the thought, because i had no idea what to expect.
stephanie and i were pregnant together. and our due dates were like ten days apart. it was the first pregnancy for both of us. it was such a blessing to share this special time with a best friend. our babies would end up being only three days apart!
i had gone across the street to the hospital to visit stephanie, after my 39th week prenatal appointment. at this appointment, i found out i was 4 (yes, four!) cm. dilated and 80% effaced. at the time that didn't mean too much to me, except shouldn't i be in the hospital in labor and not walking around visiting someone else? but the doctor told me i could be like that for a few more days and as long as my water didn't break or having strong contractions i was good to go! i remember him describing what a strong contraction should feel like, i tucked that away in my head. and little did i know i would not have a text book description of a normal labor and delivery. i had no idea what was about to come!!
on the evening of september 30, 200 at around 5:00 pm, i was having some tightening across my belly kind of regularly. so i called my friend stephanie and asked her to describe her contractions and mine didn't really feel like the ones she was describing. they continued throughout the night. they were not regular and not strong. but i decided to call my doctor's office anyway. my doctor was in an emergency delivery, so i talked to one of the midwives in the practice, hallie (who would later end up delivering baby #3 & #4!). she told me that she could tell they were not painful. she suggested i take some tylenol and get some rest and see what happens. around 11:30 pm, the contractions completely stopped. i was so frustrated, i wanted to have my baby so bad!! i was ready!
i slept well that night. and the next morning (sunday october 1, 2000) i woke up early to say good bye to my dad. he had come the day before to drop off my mom (they were living in pa at the time) so she could be here to help us out. since it clearly didn't look like i was having a baby, he headed home. boy, he had no idea what he was about to miss!!! neither did we!
after he left, i think we all went back to sleep, he is a total early morning travel kind of guy! after waking up the second time around 10:00 am, i was laying in bed and felt this complete shift/movement/erratic behavior in my uterus, seriously like something (ha! the baby) just fell out of place. little did i know that was the baby dropping! now, remember, i haven't had contractions since late the night before. so i am not even thinking i would be haivng the baby anytime soon. i was thinking i would be prego forever!!!
so i decide to get up and go make something for breakfast, this is about 10:30 on a sunday morning. (we were not going to elevation church at this point, in fact it wasn't even a church at this time, gosh, pastor and holly were probably still in high school ;) or college to give them the benefit!! ) so, we had decided to skip church!! while i am mixing up the pancake batter, i felt this odd sensation and ran to the bathroom to realize that my water had broken! wow!! within a few minutes the contractions started again. but they were nothing like the night before. these were so much stronger. and they were about 3 minutes apart, regularly! i called my doctor and he said come on in to the hospital to have your baby! wow!!! this was nothing like we learned in our childbirth class. that i would have had contractions the night before and then they stopped until my water broke. so i asked him if i had time to get a shower before heading up to the hospital. he asked how far away we were, i said about 45 minutes. he said, yes, just don't take your time.
poor doctor makemson, he had been in an emergeny delivery the night before and here i am taking my good ol' time to look pretty!!
ok, hang on here, this is where the story gets really good, i promise.... grab a diet coke and come along for the wild ride we (no, i) was about to take!!!
getting to the hospital took forever. i remember, waiting in the living room in pain, hanging over the chair, waiting on my mom and husband to get ready to go. seriously, i was not happy. i am feeling the pain big time now!!! we finally get into our car at about 11:50 am and head up to the hospital. i am in a ton of pain. jamil is driving while chewing on his toothbrush of all things (btw, we have no idea what ever happened to it, he swears i through it out of the car window b/c i was mad about the pain i was in! ha!) my mom is on the cell phone calling our friends and family while timing my contractions. and they feel like they are on top of each other. she is telling me they are about a minute. little did i know that they were about 30 seconds apart and she was about to call for an ambulance to meet us on the way! i begin to tense up because of the pain and intensity and forget to do my breathing and almost pass out in the car. in between contractions with what little time i have, i am nearly cussing out and flipping off the slow moving, "out for a sunday drive" traffic and telling jamil he better run the red lights. (btw, i think i really did flip off someone i wasn't a"very good christian" at this time ;) haha! but i don't think i cussed)
we finally get to the hospital. it is about 12:30 pm or so at this time. we are met at the door with a wheel chair and taken directly to labor and delivery. it was a busy day for having babies, so i am put into a small observation room, where i have a small bathroom, and the room is barely big enough for a bed. i change my clothes and am panicking because i am bleeding, which is normal when at the end of labor! i didn't realize this. i finally get into the bed, when the nurse comes in, i am feeling like i have to push, she said, "oh sweetie, this is your first baby, it isn't time to push yet." she proceeds to check me and i am almost 10 cm. dilated. she almost panics as she tells my mom and i. jamil is not there yet, he is still parking the car!
so she puts me back into a wheelchair, and rushes and i mean rushes me to a labor and delivery suite. while she is pushing the wheelchair down the hall, my hair is flying, my mom is running to catch up and jamil finally joins in the race. i remember to ask for an epidural - um, yeah, right she says honey it is too late for that, we can give you something in your iv. yeah, right, i didn't even get an iv.
so we get into the l&d suite and it is literally time for me to start pushing. this part i can barely recall, i do remember that no one (family & friends) can get any kind of updates from the hospital, they don't even have me registered as a patient, because i have had no time to do any paperwork/check in stuff! that is how fast all of this is going down. jamil and my mom were both in the room with me. we hadn't planned on having anyone in the room but at this point i do not care and really want my mom to stay!
i remember it took me awhile to get good at pushing. i was using every muscle in my body except the right ones. it was when i saw my doctor hold up a huge long needle and a pair of scissors that i got serious and pushed the best i knew how. i remember telling them to move the full length mirror away, that i didn't want to see anything, i could feel enough!
finally, after about 30 minutes of pushing....
our baby was born!
jamil cut the cord and told me we have a joshua and i asked "it's a boy?" yup!
joshua brendan massey was born at 1:39 pm on sunday october 1, 2000.
i was so excited to meet my baby boy!!! i knew it was a boy.
joshua weighed 8 pounds 7 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long.
he was a big baby - the biggest of all four of mine. he did have the cord wrapped around his neck twice but he was completely healthy.
needless to say he came so fast and was so big that i had a lot of recovering to do and felt a great deal of pain. i had a third degree tear (internally too) - ouch!!!
but holding my sweet baby boy, was like a band-aid to my pain, really it was! i was totally smitten and in love with this baby. i was in shock that this baby who was once inside of me, i was now holding. wow! this is a true miracle! i was amazed by this whole process!
imagine the shock of our friends and family when we called them about an hour or so after my mom's call to them telling them we were on the way to the hospital, and we are telling them our baby boy is here!!
so that is where it all began. this is the start of my passion for pregnancy, birth and loving on babies!!
*you can go here to see some pictures of the day josh was born, for some reason i can not find them on my laptop :(
since we didn't do a huge party for josh, i thought i would share his birth story instead. i guess i have never done that before. wow! this is a story to read!!!
i just love talking about pregnancy and birth stories. i also love hearing about other momma's stories too (if you have a birth story post on your blog - let me know! and if you don't have one yet - post one and let me know that too!!!) i just love sharing these precious moments.
God totally has put this passion for pregnancy and babies in my heart and it all started with joshua almost ten years ago!! i will start with a summary of my pregnancy with josh and then go into the big birth day!
jamil and i got married on december 18, 1999. on february 1, 2000 we found out we were pregnant. so we had ourselves a honeymoon baby, we had been married for about six weeks and we were about six weeks pregnant. what a surprise. we had "planned" on waiting for two - three years. but God had other plans. it was funny because after the wedding and we were settling into life together, i had this instinct that i just needed to take care of something. so i told jamil, i wanted to have a kitten, a puppy or a baby - it was up to him. he told me i could get a kitten. but before we did, we found out we were being blessed with a baby. and no, needless to say, he didn't let me get the kitten! we would find out through an early ultrasound that my due date was october 4, 2000!
i had a fairly easy pregnancy. i was just a little sick and nauseous during the first trimester, but not too bad. i had no complications and both the baby and i were healthy! we had one little scare around thirteen weeks when at my prenatal appointment, my doctor couldn't find the baby's heartbeat. we had heard it at the previous appointment, so i was terrified something was wrong. we were able to have an ultrasound immediately. praise God, He is so good, we saw the baby's heartbeat and it was moving and waving it's little arm. everything was good. (this pattern repeats itself in each of my subsequent pregnancies, we have a hard time picking up a heartbeat because, i was later to find out that i have a tilted uterus).
because of this little scare, i had to see the baby again, so we had an elective ultrasound to see our little peanut at around 18 weeks. we did not find out the sex of the baby, we wanted to be surprised!! although, we both had a feeling it would be a baby boy! so the rest of the pregnancy went great. i did have heartburn throughout the pregnancy and some strong cravings. it took a long time for my belly to show. i would get so frustrated about that. i wanted to look pregnant and wear maternity clothes so bad. little did i know by my fourth baby, i would be wearing those much desired clothes on the day i got the positive pregnancy test!
fast forward to right before the big day...
on september 28, 2000 ~ i went to carolina's medical center, eighth floor, labor and delivery, little did i know it would become one of my most favorite places in the world. although i was not there that day in labor. i was visiting my dear friend, stephanie. she was in labor with her son, elijah. and i was outside of the door when he was born. at that point in my life, the thought wasn't even in my mind to be in the room with her, i was way too scared at the thought, because i had no idea what to expect.
stephanie and i were pregnant together. and our due dates were like ten days apart. it was the first pregnancy for both of us. it was such a blessing to share this special time with a best friend. our babies would end up being only three days apart!
i had gone across the street to the hospital to visit stephanie, after my 39th week prenatal appointment. at this appointment, i found out i was 4 (yes, four!) cm. dilated and 80% effaced. at the time that didn't mean too much to me, except shouldn't i be in the hospital in labor and not walking around visiting someone else? but the doctor told me i could be like that for a few more days and as long as my water didn't break or having strong contractions i was good to go! i remember him describing what a strong contraction should feel like, i tucked that away in my head. and little did i know i would not have a text book description of a normal labor and delivery. i had no idea what was about to come!!
on the evening of september 30, 200 at around 5:00 pm, i was having some tightening across my belly kind of regularly. so i called my friend stephanie and asked her to describe her contractions and mine didn't really feel like the ones she was describing. they continued throughout the night. they were not regular and not strong. but i decided to call my doctor's office anyway. my doctor was in an emergency delivery, so i talked to one of the midwives in the practice, hallie (who would later end up delivering baby #3 & #4!). she told me that she could tell they were not painful. she suggested i take some tylenol and get some rest and see what happens. around 11:30 pm, the contractions completely stopped. i was so frustrated, i wanted to have my baby so bad!! i was ready!
i slept well that night. and the next morning (sunday october 1, 2000) i woke up early to say good bye to my dad. he had come the day before to drop off my mom (they were living in pa at the time) so she could be here to help us out. since it clearly didn't look like i was having a baby, he headed home. boy, he had no idea what he was about to miss!!! neither did we!
after he left, i think we all went back to sleep, he is a total early morning travel kind of guy! after waking up the second time around 10:00 am, i was laying in bed and felt this complete shift/movement/erratic behavior in my uterus, seriously like something (ha! the baby) just fell out of place. little did i know that was the baby dropping! now, remember, i haven't had contractions since late the night before. so i am not even thinking i would be haivng the baby anytime soon. i was thinking i would be prego forever!!!
so i decide to get up and go make something for breakfast, this is about 10:30 on a sunday morning. (we were not going to elevation church at this point, in fact it wasn't even a church at this time, gosh, pastor and holly were probably still in high school ;) or college to give them the benefit!! ) so, we had decided to skip church!! while i am mixing up the pancake batter, i felt this odd sensation and ran to the bathroom to realize that my water had broken! wow!! within a few minutes the contractions started again. but they were nothing like the night before. these were so much stronger. and they were about 3 minutes apart, regularly! i called my doctor and he said come on in to the hospital to have your baby! wow!!! this was nothing like we learned in our childbirth class. that i would have had contractions the night before and then they stopped until my water broke. so i asked him if i had time to get a shower before heading up to the hospital. he asked how far away we were, i said about 45 minutes. he said, yes, just don't take your time.
poor doctor makemson, he had been in an emergeny delivery the night before and here i am taking my good ol' time to look pretty!!
ok, hang on here, this is where the story gets really good, i promise.... grab a diet coke and come along for the wild ride we (no, i) was about to take!!!
getting to the hospital took forever. i remember, waiting in the living room in pain, hanging over the chair, waiting on my mom and husband to get ready to go. seriously, i was not happy. i am feeling the pain big time now!!! we finally get into our car at about 11:50 am and head up to the hospital. i am in a ton of pain. jamil is driving while chewing on his toothbrush of all things (btw, we have no idea what ever happened to it, he swears i through it out of the car window b/c i was mad about the pain i was in! ha!) my mom is on the cell phone calling our friends and family while timing my contractions. and they feel like they are on top of each other. she is telling me they are about a minute. little did i know that they were about 30 seconds apart and she was about to call for an ambulance to meet us on the way! i begin to tense up because of the pain and intensity and forget to do my breathing and almost pass out in the car. in between contractions with what little time i have, i am nearly cussing out and flipping off the slow moving, "out for a sunday drive" traffic and telling jamil he better run the red lights. (btw, i think i really did flip off someone i wasn't a"very good christian" at this time ;) haha! but i don't think i cussed)
we finally get to the hospital. it is about 12:30 pm or so at this time. we are met at the door with a wheel chair and taken directly to labor and delivery. it was a busy day for having babies, so i am put into a small observation room, where i have a small bathroom, and the room is barely big enough for a bed. i change my clothes and am panicking because i am bleeding, which is normal when at the end of labor! i didn't realize this. i finally get into the bed, when the nurse comes in, i am feeling like i have to push, she said, "oh sweetie, this is your first baby, it isn't time to push yet." she proceeds to check me and i am almost 10 cm. dilated. she almost panics as she tells my mom and i. jamil is not there yet, he is still parking the car!
so she puts me back into a wheelchair, and rushes and i mean rushes me to a labor and delivery suite. while she is pushing the wheelchair down the hall, my hair is flying, my mom is running to catch up and jamil finally joins in the race. i remember to ask for an epidural - um, yeah, right she says honey it is too late for that, we can give you something in your iv. yeah, right, i didn't even get an iv.
so we get into the l&d suite and it is literally time for me to start pushing. this part i can barely recall, i do remember that no one (family & friends) can get any kind of updates from the hospital, they don't even have me registered as a patient, because i have had no time to do any paperwork/check in stuff! that is how fast all of this is going down. jamil and my mom were both in the room with me. we hadn't planned on having anyone in the room but at this point i do not care and really want my mom to stay!
i remember it took me awhile to get good at pushing. i was using every muscle in my body except the right ones. it was when i saw my doctor hold up a huge long needle and a pair of scissors that i got serious and pushed the best i knew how. i remember telling them to move the full length mirror away, that i didn't want to see anything, i could feel enough!
finally, after about 30 minutes of pushing....
our baby was born!
jamil cut the cord and told me we have a joshua and i asked "it's a boy?" yup!
joshua brendan massey was born at 1:39 pm on sunday october 1, 2000.
i was so excited to meet my baby boy!!! i knew it was a boy.
joshua weighed 8 pounds 7 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long.
he was a big baby - the biggest of all four of mine. he did have the cord wrapped around his neck twice but he was completely healthy.
needless to say he came so fast and was so big that i had a lot of recovering to do and felt a great deal of pain. i had a third degree tear (internally too) - ouch!!!
but holding my sweet baby boy, was like a band-aid to my pain, really it was! i was totally smitten and in love with this baby. i was in shock that this baby who was once inside of me, i was now holding. wow! this is a true miracle! i was amazed by this whole process!
imagine the shock of our friends and family when we called them about an hour or so after my mom's call to them telling them we were on the way to the hospital, and we are telling them our baby boy is here!!
so that is where it all began. this is the start of my passion for pregnancy, birth and loving on babies!!
*you can go here to see some pictures of the day josh was born, for some reason i can not find them on my laptop :(
7.12.2009
six years ago (jordyn's birth story)...
this is one of my very favorite things to do...share the stories and think back to birthing my beautiful babies!! i love thinking back to those very special days!! words can't even express how much i cherish those four birth days!! so with jordyn's birthday coming up, i am going to share my second baby, first baby girl's birth story!
six years ago, i gave birth to our first baby girl, jordyn alexis. it is crazy how fast the last six years have gone by. i have always always wanted to be a mommy to a little girl and i feel so blessed to be jordyn's mommy! i feel double blessed that she gets to be a big sister to our second baby girl, jaelyn!
going back seven years ago, i remember holding my sweet baby niece, hannah, she was dressed in a sweet pink dress, with lots of pink and white ribbons in her hair and she smelled so good. oh, i knew i wanted a baby girl and i remember praying to God and asking Him to bless us with a baby girl.
it was several months later, just a few weeks after joshua turned two years old that we found out we were pregnant with our second baby. we had been trying to get pregnant for almost a year. and we were on our third and final round of clomid (fertility drug) when God blessed us with our second baby. i had been quite frustrated and had finally given it all to Him, i released my control and put it in His hands. and that is when He gave us our beautiful baby!!
overall, i had a wonderful pregnancy with jordyn. of course there were a few bumps in the road. i was sick for the first 14 weeks, just sick feeling all of the time, morning and night. we had a little scare around 9 weeks when we couldn't hear a hearbeat, but when i came back in two weeks, we could hear her heartbeat with no problem. my uterus was tilted making it hard to hear the heartbeat (this happened with all four of my pregnancies) at 13 weeks, when i had some spotting, i was so scared, but an ultrasound showed a happy healthy baby!! and then at 16 weeks, we had an ultrasound that showed my placenta was low-lying. we also found out at this ultrasound that we were going to have a baby girl. i was so excited!! i was so excited to create a girly girl nursery and buy dresses and ribbons and bows! we had another ultrasound at week 28, which showed that my placenta had moved and i did not have placenta previa. yay! i really wanted to do another natural childbirth. the ultrasound also showed that our baby was definitely a girl!! i breathed a sigh of relief.
friday july 11, 2003: my mom had been in town all week, hoping i would go into labor with jordyn early. my due date was july 15. but i hadn't gone into labor, so she left that morning to go home to pennsylvania. she and my dad were heading to the outer banks the next day with my grandparents, it was the first beach trip i missed in several years. after she left, josh and i were going to the ymca, when i got into the van, it would not start. i had a dead battery. my friend stephanie and her little guy elijah came to pick us up to go to the ymca. we did a yoga class then we went to buy a new battery for my van. i was driving a 1998 toyota sienna at the time. we brought subway home for lunch. we ate while my brother in law put the battery in my van. that afternoon, i headed off to my week 39 prenatal appointment.
i was seeing the doctors in my practice at the time. i was 4 cm dialted and 80% effaced. dr. makemson, delivered joshua and had walked with me through all the infertility stuff i went through so i really wanted him to deliver jordyn. we set up an induction for that following monday. and i headed home excited to know that there was relief in sight. i was probably home for less than 2 hours when i started having contractions. they were painless and very far apart. they continued on and became closer together. i knew i had to play it safe and get to the hospital relatively soon. my first baby came extremely fast. and since i was already 4 cm, i didn't want to risk having a baby in the car (which i was close to doing with baby #1) ! i called my doctor's office and they told me to come up to the hospital when i was ready. we headed to the hospital around 9:00 pm. by the time i got checked in and settled into a labor & delivery room, the monitors showed that my contractions had stopped. i was so afraid that they would send me home. when my nurse checked me, i had progressed to 6 cm. so that bought my ticket to stay!!
by 11:00, my contractions hadn't really picked up at all. so we started talking about breaking my water. my doctor broke my water at 11:30 pm and within minutes the contractions resumed. by 11:45 pm they were on top of each other and quickly i was 9.5 cm and by 12:00 am i was ready to push. i pushed three or four times and our sweet baby girl, jordyn alexis, made her entrance into the world. she weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. she was and still is absolutely precious. she was born at 12:27 am on saturday july 12, 2003. a year later, almost from the date of my prayer for a little girl, she was born!
jamil and i were at the birth with my doctor and nurses. this is the only birth that we did without a friend or family member in the room. and we will never forget that because, we have no pictures of immediately after jordyn was born. the first picture we took was after the nurses took her to the nursery to do the evaluations and then brought her back all clean and with a little bow in her hair. i still can not believe that we didn't take any pictures, nor did the nurses on anyone remind us. we were so completely enthralled in her birth and loving on her that we just forgot. one day i know she will ask if she was adopted since we don't have those pictures like we do with the other three. but that is ok, this special event is forever implanted in my memory and i know she was born straight from me.
4.27.2009
baby bangs...
they are here. it has happened after each of my four pregnancies. after months of my hair falling out by the handful and feeling like i may go bald, the baby bangs have appeared. i was being proactive a few months ago and had some bangs cut. and now i have a few more. those little tiny hairs are growing sparsely across my forehead, thankfully blending into my bangs for the most part. oh, and as my hair gets longer it is getting wavy and curly. it amazes me how our bodies react to giving birth, hormones and such.
has any of this happened to you?
has any of this happened to you?
3.05.2009
four years ago (jesiah's birth story)...
in honor of jesiah's fourth birthday tomorow, i thought i would rewind in time and write a post on the events and happenings of the day jesiah was born!! my friend, stephanie did this the other day on her blog for her little girl who just turned two. loved reading it!!! i have been thinking that i wanted to post the birth stories of each of my babies on my blog. the perfect opportunity would be to do it on their birthday!!! so i will start it off with jesiah's birth...
some background info...
on july 19, 2004 - jordyn turned one year old exactly a week before and i took a pregnancy and it was positive. just the day before we were coming home from the beach and jamil and i had "the talk", we had decided to wait a few years before adding baby #3. i had been feeling a little different (bloated, moody, very hungry) but didn't think i would be pregnant. i woke up sick that day and knew i had to take a test - just in case. jamil was shocked when i told him that night before dinner.
i decided because of my easy births with josha and jordyn that i would switch and see the midwives in my ob/gyn practice. becauase i was still nursing jordyn, and before that being prego with her... i hadn't had a period since october of 2003!! we had to do an u/s to find out my due date. it was set as march 17, 2005.
i was nauseaus throughout the first trimester. i really thought we were having another girl. to my surprise on october 6, 2004. we saw our little baby BOY on the u/s. we thought he was a she and had a girl's name picked out (jaelyn!) but had to work on a boy's name.
we had two boy names picked out; jackson or jesiah. i continually went back and forth between the two. we even took a poll of our friends and family to get their opinions. jamil was set on jesiah. i was the one who went back and forth. i love jackson but it is so popular. and i love jesiah too.
i had a very healthy and "normal" pregnancy! praise God. i enjoyed every second of being pregnant for the third time! i was really uncomfortable at the end and could not wait to see our baby boy!!
fast forward...
thursday march 3, 2005 ... 38 week midwife appt with hallie! i had gained 29 pounds and measuring at 38.5 weeks. i was 3-4 cm. dilated and 70-80% effaced. the baby was in a -1/-2 station. i was making great progress!!!
saturday march 5, 2005 (the day before his birth)...
jamil had to work that day, i took josh and jordyn to eat at dunkin donuts before we headed off to babies r us for a last minute shopping trip to get some things for the baby. i bought his sweet coming home outfit amongst some other things. that afternoon, i installed the infant seat in our van (a 1998 toyota sienna - sage color). i had been having contractions on and off all day. that evening we had our babysitter, amanda was keeping our kids so we could go out to a church gathering. we joked with her about us not coming home and going straight to the hospital if i was in labor. went to sleep around 11:00pm
sunday, march 6, 2005 (the big day - taken from my journal!)...
~ woke up at 3:15 am feeling really uncomfortable and having heartburn.
~ started feeling really sick @ 4am - contractions started and i was shaking a lot. the contractions were 10 min. apart.
~ called the midwives at 5:00 am and they told me to come in (because of my past history with quick labors)
~ we called my mother in law to come and watch the kids, she couldn't come because she had to go into work unexpectedly. really stressed out about this. so we made arrangements for our babysitter, amanda and her mom to come and keep the kids. my father in law came over until they could get here! it was sunday - church day - and almost everyone was participating in some way at church!!!
~ we left for the hospital around 6:00 am, contractions were 5 min . apart
~ we called my family and my friend amy - she was going to be at the birth with us. she met us at the hospital later!
~ by the time we got into a l&d room and i was hooked up to monitors and filled out the paper work, my contractions stopped (they always do this!!!) and small ones started again around 8:00 am
~ i was checked at 8:30 and still only 3 -4 cm. amy arrived during this time.
~ my midwife, hallie was on call and she arrived after 9:00 and checked me again, i was at 5-6 cm.
~ we decided for her to break my water at about 9:45. my contractions picked up quickly and were really really strong.
~ i labored for a little while in bed, only hooked up to the fetal monitors (monitoring the baby's heart rate and my contractions) i did not want to get out of bed.
~ when the contractions were on top of each other i really wished i would have opted for some drugs or an epidural, too late for that.
~ amy and jamil were really supportive as a was in so much pain and just breathing through the intense contracions. hallie and our nurse, arden were great too. they were so encouraging and supportive. they all worked to get me through the pain.
~ at around 10:30 am i knew it was getting time for me to push, he was really low and i was feeling a lot of pressure. i was checked and indeed fully dilated and totally effaced.
~ i pushed two times and on the third push, at 10:56 am our little jesiah was born!!
~ he weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 19 & 3/4 inches long! he was such a beautiful and sweet baby.
some background info...
on july 19, 2004 - jordyn turned one year old exactly a week before and i took a pregnancy and it was positive. just the day before we were coming home from the beach and jamil and i had "the talk", we had decided to wait a few years before adding baby #3. i had been feeling a little different (bloated, moody, very hungry) but didn't think i would be pregnant. i woke up sick that day and knew i had to take a test - just in case. jamil was shocked when i told him that night before dinner.
i decided because of my easy births with josha and jordyn that i would switch and see the midwives in my ob/gyn practice. becauase i was still nursing jordyn, and before that being prego with her... i hadn't had a period since october of 2003!! we had to do an u/s to find out my due date. it was set as march 17, 2005.
i was nauseaus throughout the first trimester. i really thought we were having another girl. to my surprise on october 6, 2004. we saw our little baby BOY on the u/s. we thought he was a she and had a girl's name picked out (jaelyn!) but had to work on a boy's name.
we had two boy names picked out; jackson or jesiah. i continually went back and forth between the two. we even took a poll of our friends and family to get their opinions. jamil was set on jesiah. i was the one who went back and forth. i love jackson but it is so popular. and i love jesiah too.
i had a very healthy and "normal" pregnancy! praise God. i enjoyed every second of being pregnant for the third time! i was really uncomfortable at the end and could not wait to see our baby boy!!
fast forward...
thursday march 3, 2005 ... 38 week midwife appt with hallie! i had gained 29 pounds and measuring at 38.5 weeks. i was 3-4 cm. dilated and 70-80% effaced. the baby was in a -1/-2 station. i was making great progress!!!
saturday march 5, 2005 (the day before his birth)...
jamil had to work that day, i took josh and jordyn to eat at dunkin donuts before we headed off to babies r us for a last minute shopping trip to get some things for the baby. i bought his sweet coming home outfit amongst some other things. that afternoon, i installed the infant seat in our van (a 1998 toyota sienna - sage color). i had been having contractions on and off all day. that evening we had our babysitter, amanda was keeping our kids so we could go out to a church gathering. we joked with her about us not coming home and going straight to the hospital if i was in labor. went to sleep around 11:00pm
sunday, march 6, 2005 (the big day - taken from my journal!)...
~ woke up at 3:15 am feeling really uncomfortable and having heartburn.
~ started feeling really sick @ 4am - contractions started and i was shaking a lot. the contractions were 10 min. apart.
~ called the midwives at 5:00 am and they told me to come in (because of my past history with quick labors)
~ we called my mother in law to come and watch the kids, she couldn't come because she had to go into work unexpectedly. really stressed out about this. so we made arrangements for our babysitter, amanda and her mom to come and keep the kids. my father in law came over until they could get here! it was sunday - church day - and almost everyone was participating in some way at church!!!
~ we left for the hospital around 6:00 am, contractions were 5 min . apart
~ we called my family and my friend amy - she was going to be at the birth with us. she met us at the hospital later!
~ by the time we got into a l&d room and i was hooked up to monitors and filled out the paper work, my contractions stopped (they always do this!!!) and small ones started again around 8:00 am
~ i was checked at 8:30 and still only 3 -4 cm. amy arrived during this time.
~ my midwife, hallie was on call and she arrived after 9:00 and checked me again, i was at 5-6 cm.
~ we decided for her to break my water at about 9:45. my contractions picked up quickly and were really really strong.
~ i labored for a little while in bed, only hooked up to the fetal monitors (monitoring the baby's heart rate and my contractions) i did not want to get out of bed.
~ when the contractions were on top of each other i really wished i would have opted for some drugs or an epidural, too late for that.
~ amy and jamil were really supportive as a was in so much pain and just breathing through the intense contracions. hallie and our nurse, arden were great too. they were so encouraging and supportive. they all worked to get me through the pain.
~ at around 10:30 am i knew it was getting time for me to push, he was really low and i was feeling a lot of pressure. i was checked and indeed fully dilated and totally effaced.
~ i pushed two times and on the third push, at 10:56 am our little jesiah was born!!
~ he weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 19 & 3/4 inches long! he was such a beautiful and sweet baby.
10.11.2008
back story: the big delivery day! (jaelyn's birth story)...
the two weeks leading up to having jaelyn were crazy busy, almost like a blur. we celebrated josh's birthday, jordyn had a fairy tale ball at school and the kids started their fall break - just to name a few things. so i will tell the birth story starting at my last weekly midwife appointment. ( i will catch up on the other family stuff later!)
on wednesday october 1, i had my weekly midwife appointment. i was making good progress, already 3 cm dilated! i knew it wouldn't be long until we would meet our precious baby girl! of course the planner in me was dying to know when and all the details. but i didn't know when, just soon!
on thursday october 2, i was exhausted. i was very tired and feeling lots of pressure and different things going on.
on fridayoctober 3, the kids were off school, they began their fall break the day before. so we headed out the door to get haircuts, go to target and have lunch with daddy. while we were in target, i was feeling pretty uncomfortable, lots of pressure and knew the day was coming. i kind of thought i would go into labor that day or that evening. that night jamil and i went out for a date night, knowing it would be awhile before we would have another one.
saturday october 4, was a busy day, my sister and i went for a pedicure - yeah! one last one before the baby arrived - glad i made it to this appointment! we also attended our dear friends' daughter's birthday party that day. and that evening we went to have a little fall fun at aw shucks corn maze in monroe.
on sunday october 5, my contractions began while i was at the 11:30 service at church. they were not regular and didn't hurt. that afternoon they became a little more regular. we were suppose to be heading to elevation's praise and worship night, but i wasn't sure if we would make it. in the end we decided to go, contractions and all. they didn't hurt and there wasn't a true pattern. so off we went! i had contractions throughout the night while we were there. they stayed 15-20 minutes apart and didn't really hurt. i was so glad that we were able to be there that night. jaelyn knew she had to hold off until after this event!
i couldn't sleep that night and was up for most of it with on and off contractions. i slept from 11:00 to 12:45. and then was up the rest of the night. by about 3:30 am, with the fear of going into hard labor at home and not making it to the hospital, we decided to call my midwife and tell her what was going on. when i talked to her she told me to come on in. we left for the hospital at about 6:00 am.
jamil and i were able to get things in order at our house, finish packing and take a leisurely drive to cmc hospital. my mom came up to watch the kids and we told my sister, who was planning on attending this labor and delivery, to go into work and we would call her with the details. on the way to the hospital, we stopped by krispy kreme and got some donuts! who would have thought that would have been my last "meal" for another 12 hours.
after we arrived at the hospital and got settled in our labor and delivery room, we learned that our friends from church, the lineberger's were two suites down and autumn was in labor too!!! how fun!
when my midwife came in around 7 am, i wasn't having any contractions and the baby was doing great. i was 5 cm and 80% effaced. after i was monitored for awhile, they let me do some walking, so we met up with greg and autumn and walked the halls. it was so special to have a friend there and share in this experience together! the walk did great for autumn - she had her beautiful baby girl within the next two hours of our walk. for me it was another story. at least it made it easy for our midwife to have our two births so far apart.
for the next couple of hours, i walked and rested and still the contractions hadn't started back. so at 11:15 am we decided to break my water. i was still only 5 cm. in the past once my water breaks, my babies make their appearance within 2 hours. so we called my sister and had her come to the hospital. we expected to meet our little baby girl in a short amount of time. i braced myself for a fast and furious active labor and delivery.
it took about an hour for the contractions to start again and become steady and hard. once they did, i was taken off the monitors and began to do all kinds of things to get this baby born!!! i walked, took a hot shower, used a birthing ball and tried to rest. the contractions became harder and more intense. by about 4:00 they were pretty painful and i was getting tired. i started thinking that i would need to have some drugs to make it through. about 40 minutes later, my nurse checked me and i was at 7 cm. some progress but not where i was hoping to be. when my midwife came in, i was in such pain and we talked about the drugs. she really encouraged me that it wouldn't be much longer and i could do this without medicine. she felt like the slow part of my labor was over and it would pick up and she would be here in no time. i opted not to get the drugs and keep on laboring! praying that it would be over soon. i was getting so tired and losing my strength.
about 20 minutes later the contractions were really hard and closer together, i felt a lot of pressure. my midwife checked me and i was still only at 7 cm but my cervix had changed enough and was really thinned out, that we could work through the next phase of labor. without giving a lot of graphic details, i will just say that i began to push through the contractions at about 5:45 or so and jaelyn was born at 6:03pm!!
i was so excited to see her. words never can express the range of emotions that i feel once i have brought a new baby into the world. and it was no different with her! i was in complete amazement of this miracle! i felt so relieved that all of the pain was over and i was holding the best gift ever.
later that night, my parents brought the kiddos up to the hospital so that they could all meet jaelyn!
it was a long day, but a wonderful one! i love being in the hospital after having a baby! i love everything about it. it is like a retreat for me. it is such a special time, one i have enjoyed with each of my babies and definitely with jaelyn's birth too. i stayed in the hospital until wednesday afternoon. i was feeling pretty good. this labor and delivery was probably the easiest on my body, as far as recovery time. but i guess after having four, it knows what to do!!
during my stay there we had a lot of visitors, lots of friends and family came to meet our little blessing. i was so happy to show jaelyn off!!
the big delivery day and hospital stay were just the beginning to a very joyful time in my life and in the life of our family.
on wednesday october 1, i had my weekly midwife appointment. i was making good progress, already 3 cm dilated! i knew it wouldn't be long until we would meet our precious baby girl! of course the planner in me was dying to know when and all the details. but i didn't know when, just soon!
on thursday october 2, i was exhausted. i was very tired and feeling lots of pressure and different things going on.
on fridayoctober 3, the kids were off school, they began their fall break the day before. so we headed out the door to get haircuts, go to target and have lunch with daddy. while we were in target, i was feeling pretty uncomfortable, lots of pressure and knew the day was coming. i kind of thought i would go into labor that day or that evening. that night jamil and i went out for a date night, knowing it would be awhile before we would have another one.
saturday october 4, was a busy day, my sister and i went for a pedicure - yeah! one last one before the baby arrived - glad i made it to this appointment! we also attended our dear friends' daughter's birthday party that day. and that evening we went to have a little fall fun at aw shucks corn maze in monroe.
on sunday october 5, my contractions began while i was at the 11:30 service at church. they were not regular and didn't hurt. that afternoon they became a little more regular. we were suppose to be heading to elevation's praise and worship night, but i wasn't sure if we would make it. in the end we decided to go, contractions and all. they didn't hurt and there wasn't a true pattern. so off we went! i had contractions throughout the night while we were there. they stayed 15-20 minutes apart and didn't really hurt. i was so glad that we were able to be there that night. jaelyn knew she had to hold off until after this event!
i couldn't sleep that night and was up for most of it with on and off contractions. i slept from 11:00 to 12:45. and then was up the rest of the night. by about 3:30 am, with the fear of going into hard labor at home and not making it to the hospital, we decided to call my midwife and tell her what was going on. when i talked to her she told me to come on in. we left for the hospital at about 6:00 am.
jamil and i were able to get things in order at our house, finish packing and take a leisurely drive to cmc hospital. my mom came up to watch the kids and we told my sister, who was planning on attending this labor and delivery, to go into work and we would call her with the details. on the way to the hospital, we stopped by krispy kreme and got some donuts! who would have thought that would have been my last "meal" for another 12 hours.
after we arrived at the hospital and got settled in our labor and delivery room, we learned that our friends from church, the lineberger's were two suites down and autumn was in labor too!!! how fun!
when my midwife came in around 7 am, i wasn't having any contractions and the baby was doing great. i was 5 cm and 80% effaced. after i was monitored for awhile, they let me do some walking, so we met up with greg and autumn and walked the halls. it was so special to have a friend there and share in this experience together! the walk did great for autumn - she had her beautiful baby girl within the next two hours of our walk. for me it was another story. at least it made it easy for our midwife to have our two births so far apart.
for the next couple of hours, i walked and rested and still the contractions hadn't started back. so at 11:15 am we decided to break my water. i was still only 5 cm. in the past once my water breaks, my babies make their appearance within 2 hours. so we called my sister and had her come to the hospital. we expected to meet our little baby girl in a short amount of time. i braced myself for a fast and furious active labor and delivery.
it took about an hour for the contractions to start again and become steady and hard. once they did, i was taken off the monitors and began to do all kinds of things to get this baby born!!! i walked, took a hot shower, used a birthing ball and tried to rest. the contractions became harder and more intense. by about 4:00 they were pretty painful and i was getting tired. i started thinking that i would need to have some drugs to make it through. about 40 minutes later, my nurse checked me and i was at 7 cm. some progress but not where i was hoping to be. when my midwife came in, i was in such pain and we talked about the drugs. she really encouraged me that it wouldn't be much longer and i could do this without medicine. she felt like the slow part of my labor was over and it would pick up and she would be here in no time. i opted not to get the drugs and keep on laboring! praying that it would be over soon. i was getting so tired and losing my strength.
about 20 minutes later the contractions were really hard and closer together, i felt a lot of pressure. my midwife checked me and i was still only at 7 cm but my cervix had changed enough and was really thinned out, that we could work through the next phase of labor. without giving a lot of graphic details, i will just say that i began to push through the contractions at about 5:45 or so and jaelyn was born at 6:03pm!!
i was so excited to see her. words never can express the range of emotions that i feel once i have brought a new baby into the world. and it was no different with her! i was in complete amazement of this miracle! i felt so relieved that all of the pain was over and i was holding the best gift ever.
later that night, my parents brought the kiddos up to the hospital so that they could all meet jaelyn!
it was a long day, but a wonderful one! i love being in the hospital after having a baby! i love everything about it. it is like a retreat for me. it is such a special time, one i have enjoyed with each of my babies and definitely with jaelyn's birth too. i stayed in the hospital until wednesday afternoon. i was feeling pretty good. this labor and delivery was probably the easiest on my body, as far as recovery time. but i guess after having four, it knows what to do!!
during my stay there we had a lot of visitors, lots of friends and family came to meet our little blessing. i was so happy to show jaelyn off!!
the big delivery day and hospital stay were just the beginning to a very joyful time in my life and in the life of our family.
9.23.2008
random thoughts...
i think this pregnancy is affecting my brain. i can barely write in a complete sentence or thought this morning. so i think i will just put it in a list form today... i love lists, so how fitting!!!
~ yard sale is done and over with and i never know if they are truly worth the time and energy. but it did bring in some cash to get us through the week - that is a good thing. bad thing is my house was a disaster from my focus being on the yard sale.
~ this week i am working on repairing the house from it's messiness and doing laundry, on top of the regular laundry i have baby clothes to wash as well as some fall clothing
~ fall clothing....wow, where have i been? the weather turned and i wasn't prepared for it. on sunday morning, i realized we were at that point where sending jordyn to church in a strappy sundress and white sandals wasn't going to work. so i will be doing some fall clothes shopping SOON! usually it would have been done by now???
~ i am not complaining about the weather - it is an awesome welcome relief!!!!
~ another welcome relief would be to have baby jaelyn sooner than later!! i think she will be here early... but hopefully she will wait until the week after next. weird to say that, but we have some big things going on this week and next week!
~ this week we have a big day on thursday that has been covered in prayer that i can't wait to share. it all has to do with our sun stand still prayer from last year. let's just say that our prayer is being answered in an amazing way and i will unveil the story eventually. actually i might have to write a book....
~ i have several dear friends who are throwing me a baby shower on saturday - that i am so looking forward to. i have a hard time being the center of attention. i do better at throwing showers and making the guest of honor feel special. i don't do as well at receiving it. i am so humbled at the generosity of my friends throwing it and those attending!
those are my random thoughts for the day!
~ yard sale is done and over with and i never know if they are truly worth the time and energy. but it did bring in some cash to get us through the week - that is a good thing. bad thing is my house was a disaster from my focus being on the yard sale.
~ this week i am working on repairing the house from it's messiness and doing laundry, on top of the regular laundry i have baby clothes to wash as well as some fall clothing
~ fall clothing....wow, where have i been? the weather turned and i wasn't prepared for it. on sunday morning, i realized we were at that point where sending jordyn to church in a strappy sundress and white sandals wasn't going to work. so i will be doing some fall clothes shopping SOON! usually it would have been done by now???
~ i am not complaining about the weather - it is an awesome welcome relief!!!!
~ another welcome relief would be to have baby jaelyn sooner than later!! i think she will be here early... but hopefully she will wait until the week after next. weird to say that, but we have some big things going on this week and next week!
~ this week we have a big day on thursday that has been covered in prayer that i can't wait to share. it all has to do with our sun stand still prayer from last year. let's just say that our prayer is being answered in an amazing way and i will unveil the story eventually. actually i might have to write a book....
~ i have several dear friends who are throwing me a baby shower on saturday - that i am so looking forward to. i have a hard time being the center of attention. i do better at throwing showers and making the guest of honor feel special. i don't do as well at receiving it. i am so humbled at the generosity of my friends throwing it and those attending!
those are my random thoughts for the day!
9.03.2008
update on pregnancy...
i just wrote a post on baby j's blog with a quick update on the pregnancy. warning: the post is very whiny and not at all uplifting. it just tells about how i am feeling today... check it out.
8.29.2008
visiting the hospital...
on thursday afternoon we headed to carolinas medical center (cmc) for our sibling tour. the kids loved knowing that they were all born at this hospital and that baby jaelyn will be too! jamil met us there and here they are waiting for the tour to begin!!!
here is nurse melissa starting the tour. before we headed up to the eighth floor, my favorite floor in the hospital and also known as my spa retreat, the kids had the option of dressing up like doctor's but none of them wanted to do it. oh well! we took this tour with joshua when i was pregnant with jordyn. joshua did dress up then!! but he was barelythree and dressing up was still cool.
first we got to peek into the nursery. i was amazed at the amount of babies that were in there. our nurse said that there were like 60 babies born that week. the nursery and all of the rooms were filled! all our rain must have brought a baby boom!! the kids had a lot of questions about the babies and what the nurses were doing to some of the babies. there was a baby being moved up from the nicu and having little monitors with sticky tape removed. josh thought they were taking off her skin. there was a baby underneath the lights getting a little suntan so we had to explain why she was there. i must say i was excited to see all the babies and can't wait to see what ours will look like!
next we went into a labor and delivery room. this room looked very familiar to me - i was actually in that room when one of my friends was there in labor!!! i told joshua that it was the room that his best friend was born in - he was soooo excited.the kids climbed onto the bed and nurse melissa showed them how the bed works. she also told them about some of the equipment in the room. joshua immediately spotted a game system controller and was so excited. that was all he could talk about. the rooms have video games and internet access through a flat screen tv. wow - more ammenities than our own home. i am definitely trying to figure out how i can get a few extra nights tacked onto my stay!!! our nurse said she thought i deserved it, being a fourth time mommy.
the kids had lots of different questions about the room. nurse melissa answered them. and she told them about how a new baby will need a lot of special care. she encouraged them to be big helpers.
she also told us some different details about the labor and delivery floor. the mommies and the babies on the floor now where a little gps bracelet. and there are monitors all over the hospital that sense where their location is. when the baby is brought to the mommy the little bracelets are matched and then they chime!!!
nurse melissa brought a baby doll for the kids to practice holding a baby! here is jesiah doing a great job! jordyn also held the doll - she was an old pro! you can tell she is a mommy in training. joshua was to into the idea of the video games that he didn't want to hold the doll. he is so excited about those games - he didn't grasp the fact that he probably won't get to play on them very much. it's not like he will be living there with me - the kid's visits will be very short when they are there!!!when we were done with the tour, we went into a conference room where the classes are taught and the kids had a little snack. nurse melissa talked more about the hospital and things that may have changed since we were there last! then she gave each kid a certificate and a little coloring book. we had a great time! i think it is really beginning to hit all of us that in just under 2 months we will be meeting our new baby!
8.26.2008
overwhelmed...
i am feeling very overwhelmed today. there are so many projects that i want to complete and work on before the baby comes and i don't know where to begin. i am in panic mode that they wont get done in the next 8 weeks. on sunday, i started having some contractions (braxton hicks) and i think they really brought it home to both jamil and i that baby jaelyn will be here before we know it.
i have this incredible desire to get our home completely organized and deep cleaned. today, as i walked around the house and took inventory (by making lists!!) of what needs to be done, i felt panic stricken. i realized i am at a loss of where to begin. there are closets to be cleaned out and organized. i am in need of some creative ways to store a lot of our things. we are pushing maximum capacity in our home and running out of space. once i figure out what stays and what goes i have to figure out where to put everything.
so my mind is on overload with thoughts of where to start and how to get the tasks done in a way that will really work for our household. i am also frustrated because i have very limited energy to complete all this work. i run out of energy when i am halfway through a project. very frustrating.
this week (and probably for the next few weeks), i will be staying home so i can begin to knock out some of these projects.
i have this incredible desire to get our home completely organized and deep cleaned. today, as i walked around the house and took inventory (by making lists!!) of what needs to be done, i felt panic stricken. i realized i am at a loss of where to begin. there are closets to be cleaned out and organized. i am in need of some creative ways to store a lot of our things. we are pushing maximum capacity in our home and running out of space. once i figure out what stays and what goes i have to figure out where to put everything.
so my mind is on overload with thoughts of where to start and how to get the tasks done in a way that will really work for our household. i am also frustrated because i have very limited energy to complete all this work. i run out of energy when i am halfway through a project. very frustrating.
this week (and probably for the next few weeks), i will be staying home so i can begin to knock out some of these projects.
7.14.2008
baby's name....
on our baby j's blog i posted the name we have chosen for her!! i haven't been using her name when i write because we hadn't decided on spelling. i think we have decided so check out the blog to read it!!!
5.20.2008
5.18.2008
tomorrow...
is the big day! jamil and i will be going for the baby's ultrasound and my monthly midwife appointment. as long as the baby is cooperating, we should be able to share the good news!!
so check back sometime tomorrow and hopefully i will be able to post the news of whether we are having a girl or a boy!!!!
so check back sometime tomorrow and hopefully i will be able to post the news of whether we are having a girl or a boy!!!!
4.20.2008
gender prediction tests...
i need your help... check out the baby's blog so you can weigh in on your gender prediction tests!!!
4.07.2008
baby j's blog...
i created a new blog yesterday to keep track of the daily going ons of this pregnancy. i will still post on this blog about the pregnancy - especially the big stuff!! but the other blog, will have more detailed (sometimes graphic) posts of what is going on with me during the pregnancy. i feel that i have been pretty focused on the baby and the pregnancy and i didn't want to consume all my posts with that stuff on here, since this blog serves as our family blog as well as my thoughts on life. so i just created another blog where if you want you can check in on the progress of the pregnancy and the baby!!! check it out!!
3.05.2008
out and about....
today, i have been very aware of my eating habits - basically making sure that i have something in my stomach at all times. i have been trying to balance the food and liquid thing. not too much or to close together. i have eaten a lot, like a baby, every 2 hours or so. it has seemed to help. we were out and about today - doing some shopping and then meeting some friends for lunch - i think getting out of the house today really helped too. getting my mind off of not feeling so great was a good thing. tonight we are going to the bobcats game - i really hope that i will continue to feel ok. i wouldn't want to be sick there - i want to enjoy our time away!!
last night, after talking to my friend patti - i had jamil stop and get me some coke. i haven't had any caffeine (seriously none! cold turkey) since i found out i was pregnant. but a coke sounded so good yesterday. patti encouraged me to do what i need to do to survive this stage and if one coke was going to make me feel better - then go for it. i agreed and that coke made a world of difference last night. i may have to switch to the caffeine free kind b/c i don't want to go against my one a day rule.
my husband was a true hero last night bringing home not only the coke, but dinner and a late night snack too (sushi - not the raw fish kind!!) for me! he is a great man!!! he really pampered me!! i have been pretty whiny and really tired. not a lot of fun lately. he has put up with my mood swings and crazy cravings - i know we have blown our food budget out of the water this month. he has been such a good sport and very supportive. he has been understanding and encouraging. i am so glad God blessed me with him!!!
last night, after talking to my friend patti - i had jamil stop and get me some coke. i haven't had any caffeine (seriously none! cold turkey) since i found out i was pregnant. but a coke sounded so good yesterday. patti encouraged me to do what i need to do to survive this stage and if one coke was going to make me feel better - then go for it. i agreed and that coke made a world of difference last night. i may have to switch to the caffeine free kind b/c i don't want to go against my one a day rule.
my husband was a true hero last night bringing home not only the coke, but dinner and a late night snack too (sushi - not the raw fish kind!!) for me! he is a great man!!! he really pampered me!! i have been pretty whiny and really tired. not a lot of fun lately. he has put up with my mood swings and crazy cravings - i know we have blown our food budget out of the water this month. he has been such a good sport and very supportive. he has been understanding and encouraging. i am so glad God blessed me with him!!!
2.18.2008
our big valentine's surprise...
jesiah is proud to announce he is going to be a big brother!!
yup, that is right.... the massey family is adding another "j" to it's crew!!!
what a wonderful valentine's day surprise for our family! i found out last week that we are pregnant! baby #4 will be making her (his) arrival around the 19th of October 2008!!
we are all excited. we told the kid's on valentine's day. they each got a stuffed puppy and there was a fourth one and we made them guess who it was for. eventually with jamil's help, joshua said "mom's pregnant!!". it was really cute.
i told jamil on the day before. i gave him his valentine's present a day early! i gave him a bible and it had four scriptures marked with little red cut out hearts. all the scriptures had to do with "babies". he didn't realize that i was saying i was pregnant. he thought i was trying to encourage him and hint around that i was ready for another baby. then i gave him a book called "she's having a baby and i'm having a breakdown". (it was a book i gave to him when i was pregnant with our first). then i said "congratulations, baby #4 is on her (his) way". he finally got it! i definitely surprised him (again!!).
i am really excited to be pregnant again. i love love being pregnant. i have always been blessed with healthy and easy pregnancies. i am praying this one will be the same. i have already been feeling a little queasy in the morning and i have been exhausted. but i am trying to enjoy each and every day because this little baby will most likely be our last.
now i will be able to post regularly again, i just couldn't bring myself to post a lot last week, because i had this big secret!! i wanted to hold off on this post until we told our close friends and our family!!
yup, that is right.... the massey family is adding another "j" to it's crew!!!
what a wonderful valentine's day surprise for our family! i found out last week that we are pregnant! baby #4 will be making her (his) arrival around the 19th of October 2008!!
we are all excited. we told the kid's on valentine's day. they each got a stuffed puppy and there was a fourth one and we made them guess who it was for. eventually with jamil's help, joshua said "mom's pregnant!!". it was really cute.
i told jamil on the day before. i gave him his valentine's present a day early! i gave him a bible and it had four scriptures marked with little red cut out hearts. all the scriptures had to do with "babies". he didn't realize that i was saying i was pregnant. he thought i was trying to encourage him and hint around that i was ready for another baby. then i gave him a book called "she's having a baby and i'm having a breakdown". (it was a book i gave to him when i was pregnant with our first). then i said "congratulations, baby #4 is on her (his) way". he finally got it! i definitely surprised him (again!!).
i am really excited to be pregnant again. i love love being pregnant. i have always been blessed with healthy and easy pregnancies. i am praying this one will be the same. i have already been feeling a little queasy in the morning and i have been exhausted. but i am trying to enjoy each and every day because this little baby will most likely be our last.
now i will be able to post regularly again, i just couldn't bring myself to post a lot last week, because i had this big secret!! i wanted to hold off on this post until we told our close friends and our family!!
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