"Born at Home"

Sweet brothers :)


Ben joining his brother for a little tummy time!


Working on chubbing up his cheeks - Noah's started out smaller than Ben's so he's got to get going if he wants to be in the chunky cheek club!


Noah's "Born at Home with Love" onesie from our midwife Chinmayo


My midwife, Chinmayo, with Ben and Noah

What do you picture when you imagine a home birth? Do you picture frantic craziness and emergency like situations? A PLANNED homebirth is not like that at all. My homebirth was a wonderful and despite all the pain, a very peaceful experience. I was able to move around, go to any room in the house I wanted to, shower, take a bath and push in what ever position I wanted. My midwife, Chinmayo, who to me is the epitome of a homebirth midwife, is soft spoken and has a wonderful soothing accent. She is always tuned into your needs during labor and is there as much as you want her to be or not. She even gave me a foot rub with oil while I was in labor which was so soothing. When Noah was delivered both Chinmayo and the assitant midwife, Suzi, backed off and let me hold my new son and have that immediate bonding experience. They unobstructively checked him out and then checked me out. His cord stayed attached to the placenta until it stopped pulsating and then was cut by my sister :)
For my next child I will most certainly be having another homebirth as I can imagine nothing else. Ben was born in the hospital after laboring and pushing at home for 25+ hours. He was born healthy, which is the ultimate goal, but the experience was not what I had hoped for...Noah's birth felt like my redemption birth and it gave me back my confidence that I really can do this whole childbirth thing!
So thankyou to Chinmayo for helping to provide me with such a wonderful birth experience!!!

Pre Noah :)

Cassandra, Mallory, Rosie and Ben at the petting zoo


Checking out the animals


Love my Auntie!


Ain't nothin but a corn dog...


Awww... me and my mom and sister :)




Whoa - who stuffed the giant ball up my shirt???


Say "bib"... "mam"!


Sporting some fancy earmuffs at the Saturday Market


Sisters

2 weeks old!

Our little blondie


Waving "hi" to everyone!

Noah is now 2 weeks old! Time is flying by so fast. He had a 2 week checkup with Chinmayo and his weight is up to 8 lbs 15 oz... he is a good eater! He has been a pretty laid back baby except for sudden bursts of high pitched squeals. He doesn't like getting dressed or undressed or having his diaper changed but neither does Ben at this point so I guess that never changes! LOL!

Noah...

Big yawns... it's rough being little!


Granma Cathie and No No :)


So excited to hold his little brother - in fact he squeezed his arm when we tried to take Noah away!


Sleep smile :)

Noah and his Auntie Rosie


Rosie, Cathie, myself, Ben and Noah


The lights are so bright I'm just not going to open my eyes!


Put me back in!


My sweet sweet boys


Kissing his brother :)

Noah Douglas

Noah Douglas (named after his maternal grandfather, Doug) was born in the home his Papa built on June 10th at 8:50am. He weighed 8 lbs 4 oz and was 20.5 inches long. Labor was much shorter this time (about 7 hrs true labor) and I only pushed for about 30 minutes! So much better than 5 hrs!


Mama and Noah


Brent and his boys


Ben is so sweet with his little brother - always kissing him and wanting to touch his hands and face. He even helped me burp him yesterday :)


A little scratched up already from his long fingernails!

40 Weeks!

40 weeks and 1 day

Well here I am one day past this monkey's due date! He apparently is thinking it's extremely cozy in there. I have been having a ton of contractions especially the last few days. I went for my checkup today with Chinmayo and she did an internal exam. I am 1-2 cm dilated, 60% effaced and baby is at 0 station. So hopefully baby will arrive in the next few days! On the up side my mom and sister are both here so we are having a lot of fun and I have been getting a lot of help! My sister has been giving me foot rubs at night which totally rock and are the best I've had! We've been to the zoo, Saturday Market, the park and watched some fun movies. I told my sister that when the baby is being delivered she could catch him if she wants...I think she's pretty excited about that.
Anyways, hopefully the next update will be to announce Baby #2!!!
Everyone pray for a safe and uncomplicated delivery and a healthy baby and momma please!!!! :)

Randomness

Ben and I at the zoo with Debbie, Brittany and Landon


Grandma Debbie with her 2 grandsons :)


The boys doing a little dirt work


Playing with Brent's old Tonka truck


Auntie Brittany and Ben

38 Weeks

38 Weeks with baby boy #2


38 weeks with baby boy #1

Here I am at 38 weeks...still preggo. But what did I expect after being 8 days late with Ben? Wishful thinking I suppose. I'm sure the best I can hope for with this one is that I might actually have him around my due date. So at least 2 more weeks of hanging in there! Today has been a pretty uncomfortable day. But the last few haven't actually been that bad. I go for another checkup with Chinmayo on Tuesday. The good thing is that the countdown for my mom to arrive has started (well it actually started when she left in April!). She gets here June 5th for 3 whole weeks!!! Yay!
Brent and I got to have a date night last night which was pretty fun. We went out to a steak house for dinner and then to an Aces hockey game. Funniest thing was that our Govenor Sarah Palin, her husband and 2 of her kids were sitting right in front of us (we had VIP seats curtesy of Brent's work). Pretty neat!

New Words!

Ben has started saying some words! Yesterday he said help "elp" and please "theaz". I was so cute and I was really excited. For quite sometime now when we ask him to say bib before he eats he says "mam", not sure where he got that but he says it everytime so we figure it counts for now! He is also getting really good at pointing out body parts on himself and us. He has also started to be able to point out specific food while he's eating. Such a smart boy :)
Meanwhile, on the baby front I am approaching 38 weeks and feeling more like 45 weeks - LOL! I'm hanging in there though and I know that whenever little bubba does decide to come it won't be long from now... I am truely looking forward to getting my body back and being able to do stuff again as I am just so uncomfortable right now. I go for another checkup on Tuesday.

36 Weeks

Whoa belly! 36 Weeks

Just when I thought I couldn't get any bigger I do! Brent thinks I'll have the baby early because in his words he "can't imagine me getting any bigger"!
I had a checkup with Chinmayo yesterday and she drew my blood again. My hemodilution has gone down further which is good. Baby's heartrate is slowing down (145 bpm) which is normal as birth gets closer. He was head down and I hope he stays that way. Earlier today I'm pretty sure he flipped himself head up but I think he is back to head down as I'm getting kicked in the ribs again! Chinmayo sent me home with all her birth supplies because I am her next mother set to give birth - Yay! It's becoming more real and before I know it he'll be here!!! She also instructed me on what to do if he comes so fast that she doesn't make it to the birth... after Ben's labor of 28 hrs and 5 hrs pushing I can't imagine this one would come that fast but I guess we'll see!