Should you induce labor naturally

At the end of my first pregnancy, I developed a rash called PUPPP...and it was miserable. It began when I was almost 40 weeks. I can easily say it was the worst thing to ever physically happen to me. I felt like I was going insane with itchiness. I won't go into great detail since that isn't the purpose of this post but just know that if anyone was ready to have that baby it was me.

Days went on and no labor came. Days turned into a week and it just kept on going. My husband kept reminding me that the baby had to come out at some point, this couldn't last forever. But the farther I went from my due date the less I believed him.

So we were trying to induce labor naturally. We did everything I knew to do; spicy foods, lots of sex, evening primrose oil (not necessarily to induce), walking, hiking, bouncing. I asked my midwife about castor oil and decided against it. (Her reasoning is, if it has a laxative effect on you it could on baby as well which is no good!) But that baby would not come.

About 41 weeks and 5 days my midwife gave the green light and encouragement to try black and blue cohosh tinctures. By 42 weeks my baby was here and the PUPPP was finally over!

What I learned from that, was that babies usually just won't come no matter how much you coax them if they aren't ready.

But as I have read stories and even seen people I know try to induce naturally I am beginning to think it still isn't a good idea.

Doing things that you have been doing your whole pregnancy (at least should be) like walking, sex, hiking, eating good food which in my opinion should include spicy :), aren't really inducing labor. They could help but only in the sense that doing those things are good for your health and getting the baby in position as well as preparing you for labor.

They can be hard on your body if you aren't giving yourself rest but other than that they really shouldn't be the cause of you going into labor when your baby isn't ready.

More of what I am talking about it the more drastic "natural ways" to induce labor, like castor oil, stripping the membranes, trying to break your water, laxatives, really intense foods, extreme pumping etc. These things could actually affect you and your baby.

If you believe in having your baby naturally then you should also be willing to let it come on its own time. I told you my story at the beginning so you would know that I completely understand how miserable you are and how desperate you are to be our own person again. I get the aches and pains and even the extra ones, but it isn't worth giving up a natural birth or worse, the health of your baby for a couple of days or weeks early.

Scientists still aren't fully sure what causes labor to start, although they do know it has to do with when the baby is physically able to breathe on its own. (Except in special circumstances when the body senses a danger either to mom or baby and begins premature labor) We shame the medical community for inducing women too early and babies being born still immature because of it. Yet so many women who want natural birth try to do the same.

These methods may do nothing for you. But sometimes they do cause reactions like very strong contractions that you and your baby aren't ready for. You could stress the baby and cause it to release meconium. You could cause yourself to go into labor before your body is actually ready causing a very long and difficult labor. You could be sacrificing your ideal natural birth.

There are times when trying to induce naturally should be used. If labor needs to start either synthetically or "naturally" it is clearly better to attempt to start it naturally but otherwise, in my opinion, I think it is best to wait.

My Journey to Healing my Diastisis and all the changes that go with it...

If you happened to read my last post you wold have read how I am learning so much right now about alignment and natural movement and how my mind is being blown right now with new concepts. I have been working hard these last 2 weeks since getting my splint to repair my DR (diastasis recti) and correcting my alignment in my body.

It must be working because 2 weeks ago my DR was a for sure 3 finger widths apart...yesterday when I checked it was 1 at the bottom and not quite 2 in the middle and top!!!! I cannot believe how much it has changed and how quickly.

Now this doesn't mean that I am out of the water yet. I have read that the gap can measure different widths at different times and since I am pregnant I will have increasingly more pressure being placed on my abs as baby gets bigger. But the main thing that excited me is that what I am doing is working.

What am I doing? Well, first off I started wearing a prenancy abdominal splint from thetummyteam.com. I love it! It is very comfortable (for what it is). I was/ am able to wear it 24 hours a day. You can take breaks if you need to but the only reason I did was to feel the baby moving with my hands when it was really active. But you can't just wear a splint and expect to get better. So I have been doing tummy safe whole body workouts (with pregnancy in mind) from www.fit2b.us .

At first I was just wanting to workouts that focused on core work...until I began learning about the real cause of a DR. In my last post I wasn't as learned as I am now about what a DR really is and what causes it. Most people think it can be caused by pregnancy but in reality the problem was there before I got pregnant. The problem was the way I carry my body and move or don't move.

I mentioned last time about how we have trained our bodies to sit all day long. What this has done is shortened certain muscles and possibly tightened others. Our bodies adapted from the time we were children to allow us the endurance to sit all the time because that is what we kept telling our bodies we needed to do. What this has done though is altered our bodies so that when we try to do other movements like standing or walking or any type of exercise, our muscles aren't shaped the way they originally were as children when we could climb up a tree like no one's business or even just run around like banshees all day long without feeling all the aches we do now.

We see the aches and pains as normal but I don't believe they are. Yes our bodies get older and can wear down in certain areas buy why is that people living in traditional cultures can work so hard physically into their old age and before 30 we start moaning when we stand up. Its because we aren't using our bodies!

If you break a leg and have it in a cast for weeks, then you take it off. The muscles in the leg have atrophied. You wouldn't expect yourself to start working on your leg intensely and in fact a lot of people have to go through physical therapy afterwards to gradually build up the ability to use it again. We have cast our whole bodies in a sense by immobilizing ourselves. A lot of our muscles have atrophied and don't function the way they were supposed to.

Whoa..what was the point of this post again? Oh yeah, my DR. Before I get carried away writing about everything I am learning let me  get back on point.

So on top of working my body, I have been learning about the proper alignment of our bodies and working to correct things that my body has adapted to doing like have my pelvis tucked out and my ribs thrusted forward. I correct myself every time I notice and I can tell the difference for sure. These little changes are what is actually necessary to heal a DR and prevent it from coming again.

Since I am pregnant and my body is shifting I won't be able to fully correct my alignment right now, well that and I have 20+ years of training my body to do the wrong thing to undo. But working now is going to ensure a healthy pregnancy and birth and will set me up for a quick recovery and starting point to continue to work on alignment after baby is born.

We, meaning Chris and I, are brainstorming ways to make our home more movement friendly (when we actually move into our own home). As if I weren't weird enough, I am really focusing on changing our lifestyle to include tons more movement in our life. I want my children to continue to move naturally and have the abilities they were created to have.

I know I always say this, but not sure how often I will keep posting. But I will try to stay up on our journey, more for me really. I want to document the changes in our life and the healing of my DR, because who knows one day maybe I will be teaching this stuff! I hope so anyways...

So go out today and MOVE! Go walk off the trail and feel your confused body waking up from its slumber.

My daughter's breath smells like poop!

So I have to share this story for all you mamas out there that might eventually have this problem and are wondering "What the heck is going on!"

Last weekend my husband came home and kept complaining about smelling poop. I just assumed it D since we had been having the poop everywhere episode that week. But when he would pick up S he would say that he thinks its her breath. I couldn't smell anything on her breath and told him he was crazy. When we were in the car I could smell the poop smell but upon investigating he mouth I got nothing. The weekend ended and he left for work. And sure enough I started smelling it on her breath and it was very unpleasant...I mean like I said in the title, it smelled like poop!

I tried all week to get rid of the smell before my husband came home. I tried brushing her teeth multiple times a day. I tried bathing her more often. But nothing would make it go away.

Then Friday i was voxing (Voxing is the term for using Voxer which is am amazing app that is basically like a walkie talkie on your phone but free!We use is very frequently) my best friend and I noticed Sammy was kind of coughing/blowing out her nose but didn't think much of it until I looked down and she has a disgusted look on her face and her eyes were red and watering. She said, "Ugh, what's that!" and I looked in her hands and she had pulled what looked like at first glance a wad of gum from her nose. I was thoroughly grossed out. I got a tissue and took it from her and it didn't take long to realize it was definitely the source of the smell! Upon further gag inducing investigation I deduced that it was actually paper.

So somehow my daughter managed to show and wad of paper up her nose and kept it there for at least 2 weeks, long enough for it to infect her nose and begin decomposing all the while without it apparently bothering her. Yuck! It was horrific. After looking it up online it is apparently pretty common but is usually discovered after concerned parents take their child in for poop breath only to find out their stinky angel has something rotting up their nose. Thankfully S's came out on it own without a trip to the Dr. And the smell since then has gone away.

So if your child ever starts having breath that makes you want to puke get a light and check up the nostrils for any foreign object. And if that doesn't work take them in before you offend your poor little one because you can't bare the thought of kissing their poop filled mouth :)

On another non-poop note, I completely finished D's doll.

Goodnight!



*** From now on posts will not be posted the day they are written***

Maybe I will pick this back up...

I stumbled upon my old blog tonight and saw how many pageviews its gotten. Apparently people want to read more about EC and parenting :)

So maybe if I can find time in my busy life I will pick this back up.

A quick update since it is my bedtime...

Sammy is now 2 1/2!! So hard to believe! She is fully potty trained during the day and has been for over a year now. She does wet the bed at night but it started happening when her sister was born.

Which leads me to announcing that Samantha now has a little sister, Dakota who is currently 10 months old! As far as EC is going for Dakota...its good but not going as well as with Sammy for multiple reasons. We have had a few transitions during her younger months like moving. And I wasn't a diligent to potty her as a was with Sammy. My thoughts were that it wasn't necessarily quantity of catches with Sammy as it was quality but that isn't always true. I depended on diapers a lot more with D especially during the move which the whole process took about 2 months. We are working at it but now he cloth diapers have severe amonia build up from the well water so we have been using disposables for night and outings which really hinder us. But she is still on ly 10 months and she knows to go, just need her to cue to me :) I hopefully can post more on this later.

Another transition that hindered D's pottying was my first trimester for our 3rd baby! That's right I am now 14 weeks into my 3rd pregnancy :) Planning on another homebirth. We are in the process of moving yet again a couple of hours away to where my husband has been relocated for work. It is a crazy time right now but we are making the most of it.

This next babe I am planning on keeping it diaper free the vast majority of the time including out and about. Having depended on diapers so much with D it really makes me not want to this time especially after going back and reading how well we did with Sammy from such an early age.

So there is the quick update of it all. We shall see if I can find the time to come back later and add more!!

Dakota 10 months

Sammy being silly- 2 1/2 yrs

Its been a while...

Wow! Our life has been pretty busy the last few months and so much has happened! To catch us up:

Samantha showing her friend how to crawl.

We officially are moved into the intern house and have been for a few months now.

Samantha started crawling two days after we moved in!

She finally got over her diarrhea after having it for 6 long weeks!

So as of today Samantha is 9 months and 6 days old!!! Not only is she crawling but she is also pulling herself up on the furniture. She can bend down to pick something off the floor as long as she is supporting herself and she will sometimes walk along the furniture. She loves following me all around the house and loves to see what I am doing! Having her be mobile has been so awesome so far because the whole crying when I leave the room thing has finally ended since she can just go wherever I go!



Crawling and pulling up has also allowed her to reach many other things she couldn't before and since we also have a much larger house there is even more to get into. But we have been training her as you have probably read and she is very good at understanding what we say (although she doesn't always like it!) She now knows "Don't touch" "Don't eat it" "Let go" "no"  and "come here". Eighty percent of the time she obeys right away but occasionally with something she really wants she will give us a little fight, but we always make sure to win so that she doesn't lose.


As I mentioned earlier she finally got over her diarrhea. Pottying was going great for short time there afterwards but as she started getting more efficient at crawling she began cuing to us less. I have heard from other moms who EC that it is pretty common for babies to sort of "pause" when they hit a new major milestone like crawling or walking. Some mom's think that they literally stop caring and others see it from a more logical perspective. They are able to do and see so much more than they used to and just like we will wait until the last minute sometimes to go to the bathroom when we are preoccupied they will as well. The difference is that you and I know our breaking point and can accurately judge so as not to hit the point of no return. But an infant who is learning their body and gaining self control doesn't know that point yet. So I have had to start going off of timing again.

But she was so dang cute sitting like a big girl!

Another issue we have had was what potty I was putting her on. I bought a travel seat that lays inside the adult potty before she was born to use in public. But once she was big enough to use it I liked it so much I started putting her on it at home every time except in the middle of the night when I still use the Baby Bjorn. She was so cute sitting on the big potty like a big girl! And she was good at it too! I became comfortable enough with her on it that I would step away from her to get her diaper together or leave the room for a second which was a big mistake.

 One night I sat her on the potty right as we got home from being out. I left her side to take off my boots only a few feet away. I was talking to her and she was turning around to face me when she misjudged her balance and toppled right onto her forehead with her body collapsing on top of her face. She barely hit the floor before I swooped her up into my arms. My heart was racing and she was SCREAMING! It was the second most scary moment of her life! After a couple of minutes she finally calmed down and we assessed the damage. Just a bump on the forehead and broken capillaries on her little nose. She looked like Rudolph for a couple of days! I felt so bad that I ever got comfortable leaving her. I obviously stopped after that.

 But I also started noticing that she was pretty consistently not pooping on the big toilet and would instead wait until she was in a diaper (which you can imagine how frustrating that is given how far we have come). She would poop in her little potty but not the big one. Then I had a "duh" moment. Her little feet dangle off the big potty so she has no ground to bear down against when she has to poop. Imaging trying to poop sitting on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you. so we started sitting her on the little potty again in the bathroom and voila we've got poop in potty again!!! So maybe her falling off wasn't such a bad thing after all...just kidding!!!!!!



So Chris was laid off in November for the rainy season as expected and money is a little tight, also as expected. And I have been sewing things for Samantha and as gifts and everyone kept telling me I should sell them so I decided to start my own business! I am still working on all the details so currently I only have a facebook page but soon I hope to get my etsy page up and running. It has been so much fun so far deciding the name and creating the design. And I had my first two clients, my mom and a very close friend! But her you got to start somewhere right?! If you are interested please check out my page here and please like it also!

 So due to being so busy the last couple of months I failed to take Samantha's 7 and 8 month pictures. But I was sure to take her 9 month ones so at least I will have 1, 3,6, 9 and 12 month shots for her birthday (which I am so excited about!!) Here are other random pictures from the past months and her 9 month shots. Hope you enjoy!!!

A Christmas Eve nap

I found her sleeping in her crib like this today!

Sad to Leave but Happy to Move!

I am just so excited to announce that we are moving next week! We have been in living in a studio since we got married...well actually I have been living here since a month before we got married; 17 months! We are moving to the intern house where we were both interns. I am so very excited to be close to lots of people again and especially close to some of our best friends! We have been trying to figure out if and where to move to for such a long time so to finally be at this point is super exciting.

When we first found our studio we were so excited! We were just engaged and didn't have much time to find a place. I looked online everyday for something we could afford and close to our community when one day I found it! For $450 a month we were so shocked and it was within waking distance of the neighborhood where most people in our community lived! We called right away and came to look at it.

The lady from the property management group looked at us like we were crazy for wanting to look at such a tiny place. She talked to us like we were going to laugh at the thought of moving in once we actually got to see it. Then she didn't know how to react when I said I loved it!!! And I did. It was perfect to begin our new life as a new couple and eventually family, although we weren't expecting to start so soon. We were so excited about it we didn't even notice the broken screen door or the kitchen faucet that has the tiniest amount of hot water flowing from it. It had character...sort of. So we moved our stuff in and I moved in the month before the wedding.

First Arbuagh Kiss!

I enjoyed making the space ours and preparing it for Chris once he became my husband. There wasn't too much to prepare but I loved laying in bed at night picturing what my near future would like like after we said "I do". A few weeks later on June 11 we came to OUR little haven and became husband and wife then went out to eat India Oven : ) . We soon left for our honeymoon and returned with an extra person unknowingly hiding in my womb.

BFP!!!

I started feeling different and suspected I might be pregnant. Anxiously I waited to take a test and took a few way too soon! Then finally the first day my period should have started the test was positive! I couldn't believe it! Just 2 weeks into our marriage we found out I was pregnant! We began taking weekly belly photos almost immediately...and then forgot after a while.

First Weekly Pregnancy Picture

I remember the air conditioner broke towards the end of my first trimester. Yuck! It took the a whole week to finally replace it. And a week to a nauseous pregnant woman is a long time! Then winter came and my belly grew. I loved when I could start feeling her move inside of me! I spent so much time sitting on our only chair staring at my belly waiting for her to move. We rearranged our furniture and set up the co-sleeper before I was even 20 weeks! My excuse was so that we could get used to the new layout by the time she came but really I just wanted to daydream about when she would be laying in that bed next to me!

Last Pregnancy Shot at home at about 5 months

Winter began to fade and my pregnancy was coming to an end when I got the worst pregnancy rash called PUPPP. Ugh it was horrific. I was already past my due date and all of a sudden this incredibly itchy rash spread over my entire body and was constantly itchy! Scratching became my drug of choice. During the day we tried everything we could think of to get my labor started and to distract me from the itch but at night I would wake to find myself scratching like a madwoman! Chris would hear me and get me out of bed to throw me into the cold shower. Terrible! We would sit there for so long with the freezing water pouring over my body while I sobbed begging God to make it go away. I think that was just as hard as labor!

Sorry its blurry; first time to inspect my daughter

Finally 2 weeks after my due date labor began! I spent my labor walking around our small home back and forth from the bathroom to the kitchen into the main room and then all over again. I was in the bathtub when I broke down and cried to Chris telling him how hard this was. And after 18 hours of labor my beautiful daughter was born on our bed in our tiny home into the hands of my amazing midwife. I will always remember that corner of my bed right next to the door to the bathroom where I met my daughter for the very first time.

First Potty

This is our first home as a family and where many of my daughter's "firsts" have occurred!
Like her first time to get dressed, first laugh, first cry, first bath, first time to potty in the toilet, first time to roll over, first time to sit up, first time to roll off the bed, first time to have a poop explosion, first time to understand "no", first time to eat a food other than breastmilk. For her first 6 months this has been her home!

First Tantrum

So although I am very excited to be moving and to have much more space for our family there is a part of me that is sad to say goodbye to the first place we called home as the Arbaugh Family. I will cherish every single memory that I have of this tiny studio; the good and the bad. And now I am looking forward to our next home and all the memories it will bring.

Baby Training

This can be a pretty controversial topic but I am now a firm believer in training our children from infancy. We started Ecing our daughter from birth. Whenever I noticed her peeing or pooping I would say "psst" to get her to associate the word with the action. At 5 days old we started placing her on her potty and saying "psst" to tell her to go potty and she went for the very first time at our command. At the time it could have just been timing or coincidence but as time went on she learned the association of "psst" and time to go potty. Now it is very evident that it isn't just about timing and it definitely isn't coincidence but rather we have trained her to go potty at our command. Obviously if you have ever read my blog before we don't catch everything yet but she is still trained according to many. (There is a debate among some circles about what potty trained actually means, ex. one is trained when they have zero accidents anymore or when one has an understanding of when and where to potty and occasionally may have accidents. I tend to lean more toward the allowance for accidents since most pregnant women have had an accident before and no one would say they are no longer potty trained) Now some people still find my family very odd for "potty training" my daughter so early. And there sure are a lot of critics of EC out there, but let me assure you my daughter is trained to a pretty far extent.

Now if you understand that she is potty trained-ish, then you should understand that any baby can be trained for other things as well. One of my favorite parenting websites/ministry is No greater Joy. Please visit their website or even better read their books To Train up a child and No Greater Joy Volumes 1,2,&3 for more information on what I am talking about in a broader sense. But for now, this is what has been going on with training my daughter.

I really dislike getting my hair pulled as I am sure most would agree. And little baby hands are notorious for hair pulling or getting at your jewelry or eyeglasses. And I just really don't want to have to always wear my hair up, never wear jewelry, or be forced to start wearing contacts again. So I wanted to train my daughter to not touch those things on me or anyone else. I started maybe around 2 months or so. She was able to hold her head up and her arms were starting to squirm around much more and would grab anything they came in contact with including hair. Developmentally she didn't know what she was grabbing and I don't think was able to distinguish between hair or anything else she would grab so I didn't want to just say "no" to her grabbing and prevent her from grabbing at everything. So at first we began teaching her to let go. When she would grab hair or any other undesirable thing we would say "let go" two times while tapping her hand  and then I would flick her hands until she let go. When she did I would smile and say "good girl!!!" which is also what I usually say when she potties in the toilet.

There weren't too many opportunities at first to train her but as she has gotten older more and more have arisen. Especially this last month. Her motor skills have improved drastically. At first she started reaching in the general direction for something she wanted to touch hoping to be able to grab it. Now she is getting pretty skilled at grabbing exactly what she wants. This whole time I have been training her to let go and this last couple of weeks she has shown HUGE improvement. She understands me now. It usually takes me 2 times saying "let go" and tapping her hand for her to let go. Occasionally I have to still flick her hand but she is definitely understanding what I am telling her. It is so neat to watch her little mind growing!

So now that she is able to grab at what she wants, we are starting to train her to not touch specific things. And now we are using the word "no". I usually give a flick the first time she touches anything because I want to quickly associate the word no with that object and then after she understands "no" I will just tell her once and if she continues to touch or touches again I will flick her hand until she stops touching. Since she already understands to let go when getting flicked it doesn't take her long to let go of something but if she still wants it she will keep grabbing at it a few more times. But has eventually always stopped. Its amazing! Once we can get her to understand the meaning of "no" our life will become much easier with an older baby! So stay tuned to hear more results!!!


 In regards to getting back on track with EC...

So big! She is starting to sit on her potty on her own!

Yesterday went GREAT! I caught every pee overnight which is the very first time!!! Very exciting!!! Part of it was me waking up obviously but another was she was holding longer waiting for me to wake up because I knew I was getting up right away. And then during the day we only had 2 very small misses. One was in the morning after she woke up. She usually has a couple of small pees after she wakes up and it can be hard to catch them all when they are close together. I missed while I was taking a shower. The other one was when I was out shopping. She fell asleep in my wrap and then we went to my mom's house where I didn't pee her right away and since it had been a while she just couldn't hold it. But only 2 misses all day and night is an awesome record!!!!

Last night wasn't too great... we only missed 2 but I like not missing any : ) And this morning has been all catches except for one when she was playing on her belly.

Daddy is home!!!

Our Family bed is complete again. He was so sleepy!

I woke up Tuesday morning and had a quick thought wondering if Chris would ever just come home one day and surprise me. Nothing made me think that; I just did. Then later that afternoon he text me saying that he was busy right then but would call me later. I was planning on going to a community group that night at 6 so I was hoping we wouldn't call then so I asked him when. He said he probably wasn't going to work that night and would prob call around 8-9. I thought that was a little odd since he had worked 2 weeks straight with no time off but then again maybe they were giving him time to rest or something. But because I had the thought of him coming him everything he said made me suspicious! So then I asked him what he was doing and he said he was driving. They were sending him all over the place for Union stuff. I reasoned in my mind that that could be true because he had been having some issues with the union earlier that week where he did in fact have to drive all over. But my heart was still hoping. I went to community group and was hanging out with everyone when he asked me when the group would be over. It hadn't even really started yet. Then he sent me a picture of inside our house with a glass of wine and our white lights lit. I immediately knew he was home and I announced to everyone that I had to leave because my husband was home. They were all excited for me and helped me get all Sammy's stuff in the car to rush home to my beloved husband who was waiting for me with M&M's!

She nestled into his armpit and fell asleep. She missed her Daddy!

Needless to say I was very excited and we both cried a lot that night! So I  have my Baby Love home with me at last!

Since he has been home EC has not been going so great haha! I have been a little preoccupied with spending time with Chris that we have just not been paying attention to the potty cues. Oops...sorry Baby Girl! So we ran out of cloth diapers really fast this last week which means yesterday and today she has been in disposables : ( Which by the way are horrible for trying to catch! They have made our catch ratio plummet!  We are probably catching about 20% these last couple of days!! But today is laundry day and I think our family is back on course so this week should get better.

I do have a funny story to tell about parenting. We saw a little boy this week that a family member was baby sitting who was 10 months old. He crawled into the bathroom and when he was pulled out he cried. Not a long cry which he dried up pretty quickly when he saw there were people he didn't know in the room. A comment was made and everyone started "aww" ing to him and he started crying again which was even funnier to everyone else not realizing they were why he was crying. But not because he had been offended; he couldn't even understand what was said. He was crying because he was getting attention for doing so. So after he stopped and was happy again I said, "Watch this" and for absolutely no reason I looked at him and began saying with a sympathetic face, "Aw, poor baby. That is so sad poor baby..." and immediately he started bawling again right on cue. Sometimes I don't think people realize how much children's emotions aren't true emotions but just a reaction to the emotion that is being given to them. Like a hurt child for instance will scream uncontrollably when people are around and especially if they are focusing on their "pain". But when no one is there or even just paying attention, they usually might cry for a second then keep playing. Unless they know someone is nearby who will give them the show they want. Just an interesting observation. Try it at home... for fun of course. Wouldn't want to make it a habit ; )


On another note... I finally made Sammy's 4 month onesie and took pictures today! It a little over a week overdue but better now than never! She is currently 29 inches long and 16.8 pounds! Thanks to Granny for the adorable new flower headbands and tutu!!! Enjoy!

Trying to get back in the groove

Since we have been home we have been having quite a few misses. I went to my mom's Sunday and stayed the night and then came home late last night. We had lots of misses over night there. I think I was just absolutely exhausted and was having a really hard time waking up. I am still trying to catch up on sleep but Sammy still isn't sleeping as much as she used to at night. She has gotten a little better; waking up about every 3 hours. But oh how I miss that good 6 hour stretch.

Her bottom gums are starting to get a little swollen and mushier. Not sure what that means but she has been incredibly fussy today! It could be that she has gotten used to being held all day long from last week or she is teething. Not sure which or if its both but little bit is throwing icky tantrums left and right. It has been a pretty hard day today to say the least. Thankfully she finally settled down and I nursed her to sleep for her afternoon nap.

Hmmm, now that I think about it I  have heard other EC moms say that they start having more misses when teeth are coming in. i wonder if that could be why. I have also heard that some babies don't like laying down when they are teething... maybe! We shall see.

So that's my day, how is yours?

Please dont Deify me!

**So I want to preface this post by saying I genuinely don't want to sound 

 like I secretly want your praises by saying that I don't want them. 

Also I am not saying that everyone should do exactly everything that I do or the way I do it.

 I am saying to figure out what really is best for you and your family and do it.

Many have said many great things to me recently about what I am doing with Samantha, and while I appreciate the encouragement I want to also make clear that I don't want to appear as though I have everything figured out and I am somehow a supermom. Our pastor and good friend Brion recently just said that when people see you doing something "extraordinary" they will deify you in order to justify themselves for not doing what you are doing. People will say or think things like, "Well your baby is just extra sweet." or "I couldn't do that because I have this kind of child or these things to do or these problems with my husband". And while I honestly don't think that everyone is doing this I do want to confront those who  might be and tell you that what I am doing is completely possible for you to do... its even pretty easy once you can get over your fleshly self.

While I have always wanted to be a mom I didn't come to do what I do naturally. The Lord has been showing so many truths to me for the past few years, biblical truths and practical. Once I got one revelation I wanted more. I want to know what is true and right and best for my family, AND I wont make excuses to not do what is best. I realized during my first trimester when I was exhausted and I just want to sleep all day that I would rather die young and exhausted having poured my life out for the Lord, my husband, and my children than to die old, complacent, boring and with no good fruit of my labors. So I CHOSE to pursue truth and then follow it. I researched and still do about tons of things. Food, drugs, vaccines, EC, birth, pregnancy, child training, marriage, etc. Once I learn about something I try to apply it. It isn't always an automatic switch but I purpose myself to change.

I am no different than anyone else. God didn't give me extra grace to do these things. At least none that I didn't ask for. I made purposeful decisions to figure out what was and is good for my family and then I followed through. My point in this post is to tell everyone that you can do and have what I have. Work on your character so that you aren't lazy and complacent and do it! If you want to potty train your baby, awesome do it. Research it. Learn about it. Ask questions. If you want an amazing birth, do it! You want an awesome marriage read the word and obey it! You want to know how to parent, read the word and obey it! And watch people who have great kids! Learn from them. Ask them questions!!!

I am sinful! So sinful! I am lazy and apathetic. I was not born with a propensity to go out of my way to learn things. If I followed my flesh I would have an average American life, marriage, family. Probably even worse. The point of this blog is to be an information source to someone who is searching, like other blogs were to me. Not to be the entertainment for people who will read this and do nothing.Therefore, please do not deify me. Please please please do not say that I am different and somehow better than you because of what I do. I need the same amount of Jesus' blood to cover my sins as you do.

My Birth Story

My due date, exactly 2 weeks before she was born!

3 weeks before I was due I began having some contractions that were more intense than the braxton hicks I had been having for months. I thought I would be going into labor soon. Weeks went by until my due date sadly passed while I continued having. Then I developed a horrible pregnancy rash called PUPPP. It covered my entire body except for my face. Nothing I did would make it better. I was miserable. At my 41 week midwife appointment my birth assistant put me on a diet to try to minimize the itchiness and it helped tremendously! But I was still very pregnant and ready for my baby to come! We started using black and blue cohosh tinctures to help stimulate my contractions.

 March 19, Chris and I went to our midwife's (Renee) house for her to put primrose oil directly on my cervix. While doing so she checked me and I was 6 cm and 100% effaced! We were very shocked that my uterus had done that much work and I wasn't even in labor yet. So we went home and tried to go to sleep. Almost immediately after laying down contractions began and they were good ones. I tried sleeping but eventually they became so painful that I had to move through them and obviously couldn't do that in bed. So we got up at about midnight and started working through my contractions. Renee came around 2:30 and then Rebekah and Kim (student midwife and birth assistant) came around 3:00. My favorite way of working through the contractions was to stand and put my arms around Chris' shoulders and moan. It was like we were dancing. I felt so close to him and I soaked up his strength! My contractions were strong but they would speed up then slow way down. Hours went by and the midwives decided to go home to rest and give us a chance to rest as well. I tried finding a good spot in bed to lie down in between contractions but everything hurt my back. The position I finally could find minutes of rest on was on my knees leaning on the birth ball with my bum up against the wall. My sense of time was completely gone! I was shocked when the sun began to rise because it had only felt like a couple of hours since labor had begun.

Chris and I got up, ate breakfast and tried going for a walk. I could only make it down our alley because it was so cold and I didn't feel comfortable moaning outside. The midwives returned and I kept on laboring. I felt good and was enjoying labor. I joked between contractions and then focused when they would come. But they were still pretty irregular. They would get down to 2 minutes or less apart and then would space back out to 10-20 minutes apart.The midwives went for a walk and let us labor alone. When they returned we were all determined to get this labor going. I was about 8 cm and my bag of waters was bulging. We wanted them to break so I would get into different positions during contractions and try popping it with my breaths. It wasn't working. The bag kept bulging further but still wouldn't break so they had me lie down and push during contractions. That's when things began to get intense.

I somewhat liked the pushing then because it felt different than the contractions but it also wore me out pretty quickly. Finally it broke!  I was checked again and I was 9cm with a tiny lip of cervix still in the way. My contractions were so very intense after that. I couldn't find any position that felt good. And my back was killing me! Sometimes it felt good if Chris pushed on it and others it was horrible. I felt like a deer in the headlights sometimes. When the contractions would begin all I knew was that what I was doing hurt and I had to move but I had no idea where to move to. I asked to get into the bath tub thinking that would help my back but it didn't.

This is when I hit my wall. Because I wanted to be a midwife  I have read tons of birth stories and almost every woman describes a point in their labor where they have to decide to let their bodies go and give into the pain. I tried preparing myself mentally for this moment, knowing that the quicker I could give in the better. I was trying so hard to give in to the pain but it was so difficult. In the bath I started crying and telling Chris about what I was feeling about giving in. He was so helpful the entire time! He was there at every moment encouraging me and supporting me in whatever way I needed him to. My midwives came in to offer some additional support and I asked if I was in transition.When they said yes I was very encouraged because that meant birth wasn't too far away. They had me change my breathing to blow the pain away instead of moaning which helped tremendously and they had me squeeze the pain into their hands.

Then it was time to get things moving. We decided to go ahead and let them try to hold the cervix out of the way to let the baby's head come down. They had my lie on the bed again and push during contractions while one of them would try to move my cervix. This part is a little blurry to me and all the moments run together. It went by so fast to me. I was pushing which at this point felt amazing. It still hurt but it was a different pain. It was an active pain from the stretching instead of the contraction. I remember in between contractions being so relaxed and almost in another world. Then the contraction would come and I would push with everything inside me.

I wanted to change positions because I didn't like the idea of being on my back but Renee wanted the baby to come down to a certain point before moving. At one point Renee had me open my eyes and focus on her which was actually really hard to do. I was in such a different place that trying to focus on the outside was near impossible. It was like trying to stay awake when you are exhausted and your eyes just won't stay open. Then she had me tell my baby that everything was okay. Later, she told me that the reason she did this was because Samantha's heart rate was low and she wanted me to breathe and calm the baby.

She started having me breathe through every other contraction to help her get more oxygen but then my body started pushing for me and there was no stopping. That was probably my favorite feeling of the whole experience. Feeling my body take over in pushing her out without any help from me was exciting! I still didn't think that she would be out soon. In my head I kept wondering when I would be able to get up and change positions. Then all of a sudden everyone was yelling (remember I was so deep into my head that I didn't hear a lot of what was going on around me.) I didn't know why everyone was yelling but I kept pushing with everything I had in me! Everything burned like crazy! At first I hesitated because I wanted the burning to stop but I remembered that I had to push through it to make it stop. There is no turning back. Then they placed Sammy on my chest!

 I thought I was dreaming for a second! I thought I still had hours to go! I was so excited that my baby was finally here! I can't remember if she cried right away or not. I just remember her wet slimy body on me. I loved it! She was born at 6:20 pm on March 20 after 18 hours of labor! I literally thought it felt like 4 hours! It went by so fast to me! I tore in two places but there weren't very deep. Only one needed stitches. Getting stitched was not fun at all! I could feel them stitching me because the medicine wasn't working. So I sang to Samantha to try to keep my mind of the pain. She loved it! Then we snuggled into bed as a family.

They cleaned everything up and Kim made us dinner. Samantha weighed in at 8 pounds 9 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. She was so beautiful to me! She nursed within her first hour. Her grandmas came over for a quick visit then we nestled in to our bed together. I barely slept that first night! I was way to high too sleep! Chris put her in his arm so I could sleep for a couple of hours. She caressed his beard the while time and he fell in love!

Day 3, we went on our first walk.

Attitude

Notice her middle finger!

The other day I was working on sewing a new mei tai wrap for Sammy and I can't do so while holding her. So I put her in her Bumbo for the first time. She doesn't have perfect head control but she can hold her head up for a while so I placed her in front of me so she could watch what I was doing... but this wasn't good enough for little Sammy. She wasn't having it and decided to tell me all about it. She threw her first fit! It was pretty funny to watch. I know some people don't believe in letting your children cry especially at such a young age, but I do. It was very evident that she was just pissed that I wasn't holding her. She has recently started doing that. But this wasn't just a way of communicating her want this was a cry that was to make her desires known in a very selfish way! I could see that oh so lovely selfish flesh rising up in her yelling at me, "You will serve me and my desires or you will pay." Fortunately I am not so easily swayed, plus I love her way too much to let that rule me. So instead of picking her up... I took pictures.

Chris keeps saying that the Lord equates us like babies which makes me laugh. Its true! We freak out and think the world is caving in in us while God knows it isn't and that we are just fine. That's why I can laugh at my beautiful naive daughter who thinks that she MUST be held in that moment. I know that she is fine and there is absolutely nothing wrong. She was fed, dry, awake, and happy until she was placed in the Bumbo. So I let her cry and continued on with my sewing until she became happy again. Then I picked her up and snuggled her! I love my daughter very much and will train her in the way she should go so that when she is older she will not depart from truth.

My 7 week old is trying to crawl!!!

She started out in the middle of her blanket!

So Sammy seemed like she had some gas she needed to get out so I put her on the floor for some tummy time. She has army crawled a whole foot so far! She has got her legs going and even gets on her knees occasionally. And she is barely scooting with her arms but its getting her moving! I don't know why she thinks she is so big!!! SLOW DOWN! I am not ready for her to grow up yet!!!

Cloth Wipes

Here are my flannel wipes. Super easy to make!

I wanted to mention cloth wipes to anyone interested in cloth diapering or ECing. Originally I intended to use cloth wipes in our cloth/EC usage but it turned out not to be too practical for us. I know other people who EC that use them and love them but they just didn't work for us. And here's why:

Because we potty Sammy we usually don't have too much to wipe since most of everything goes into the toilet and not all over her bum and in her deep rolls! So when I started using our cloth wipes I realized that they were almost a waste of laundry. And then I would have a dry diaper but would have to get up to put the wipe in the wet bag. If the diaper was dirty I wouldn't be making any extra trips but its annoying to get up to put one barely used wipe in a bag across the room many many times a day if I don't have to.

However I love the idea of using cloth wipes along with the diapers. I'm cheap! I made my wipes and I think they are pretty cute! Honestly I would probably try to find a way to make the wipes work if my husband really wanted me to but he likes our system the way it is and doesn't mind spending the little extra money for disposable wipes every week.

To make them I just cut out flannel squares of fabric and hemmed the edges. Then for a wipe solution I made my own out of water, tiny bit of tea tree oil, Aloe Vera, and Castile soap. I just looked up the recipe for it. But I actually like using just water best. I didn't like having the smell of the solution on my hands after using the wipes. Then I saved on old wipes container but about a cup in there and let the wipes soak in the solution. I have heard of some people actually utilizing a wipe warmer so its not so cold on baby's bum. Then for traveling I used my peri bottle from birth to spritz the wipe before using.

So now with our disposable wipes we keep an old wipes container with no lid near her baby potty to throw the used ones in and empty it when we empty her potty. This system works great for us! If anyone wants my cloth wipes that lives near me let me know!

Logistics

This is her first time being on the potty! And she went right away!

 So I thought I would describe a little bit about how we do this whole potty training business in case anyone is interested in trying or just curious. For the first 4 days after she was born we would cue her with a "psst" sound every time we knew she was going potty. Since she was wearing a disposable diaper we didn't get to cue her very often but did when we could. Then when we first started actually giving her opportunities they were mostly based off of timing. Babies don't usually pee or poo in their sleep so they most often need to immediately after waking up...just like we do! So every time she woke up I would put her on her toilet. And almost every time (unless I was too late) she would pee or poop! It was amazing! Each time she went we would make our cue sound to establish the meaning of the sound. She learned very quickly what it meant. Once we began ECing we also began putting her in cloth diapers so we could tell when she was eliminating and could cue her quickly.

Daddy's first time holding her while she goes.

After a couple of days of watching her and pottying after her waking up I started to pick up on her own cues. Babies know when they need to potty contrary to what some doctors will tell you. They feel the urge to release just like we do and can even control the sphincter to hold it (just not as long as we can). Sammy gets grunty when she needs to go and will grunt almost every single time! There are only rare occasions where I don't hear her grunting but it could just be that I didn't hear. Another thing she does is when she is feeding if she is wet or needs to pee she will lick my nipple instead of eating. This was frustrating to me before I figured out why she does this but now that I know its an easy fix.

Currently this is our routine; During most days I keep her in a prefold with a snappi or just bare bum with a prefold under her. I also keep a fleece blanket under her at all time because it is mostly waterproof as long as she doesn't sit on it for a long time. We don't particularly like getting peed on so this keeps us dry. (Although there have been a few times where I felt daring and held her without it...then regretted that decision.) I try to pay attention to the noises she is making throughout the day to listen for her grunts but sometimes I miss them or don't have enough time to react but we catch most everyday. If I am busy and I know that I won't be able to hear her I will put a cover on.

Another interesting note is that most babies won't potty when they are being worn in a carrier or in a car seat. So when I wear her in my wrap I usually keep her in just a prefold without a cover unless I am going to keep her in the wrap for a long time. Then I put a cover on her and try to give her a break to potty.

When we go out in public that's when things get tricky. I have always put a cover on her when we go out because I really don't want pee to get on her car seat. I try to always give her the opportunity to potty before we leave the house. I have hear other moms do this and also when they take their babies out of the car seat since that's when the babies will usually go. But I either forget to do this or don't want to wake her if she is sleeping. Then there is the issue of public bathrooms. If a bathroom doesn't have a changing station I have to set up shop on the floor which is disgusting to me! But I have tried doing it in my arms and that's a disaster. I take off her diaper and cover and then hold her in my arms over the toilet. She does her thing and then I put the hopefully dry diaper back on. Or put on a clean one if necessary. We keep a wet bag in the diaper bag to bring dirty diapers home. If the bathroom is a one toilet room I will hold her over the sink which is much easier on my back. When we are out at someone's house I sit on their toilet backwards and hold her in my arms.

These shirts are perfect for ECing so that we don't have to keep unsnapping a onesie.

I do keep a Tupperware in the car to potty her in there if necessary but we don't use it very often because I don't like it. There is a type of travel size potty that's supposed to fit nicely between your legs that I want but can't get right now. If we are near some grass and not any nosy onlookers I will sometimes potty her over the grass.

Then for our nighttime routine that can differ as well. It really depends on when you ask me! Last week we were keeping her in just a prefold and placing a flannel blanket under her so that we don't have to change the sheets if we miss. But I kept not waking up in time and missing over and over again so I started putting her back in a cover again. Ironically now that I have been doing that I have been waking up and catching almost all the pees in the night! Oh well.

So there are the logistics to what we do.