Okay, so it has been a long time since my last post. I'm starting to wake up now that our second baby is sleeping through the night. We've been learning a lot as parents of two kids, and so I'm hoping to chronicle some of that stuff on the blog.
The first thing is swaddling. With our first baby, Justin (my husband), swaddled in rare form at key moments to calm Lewis down. But this time, I was up in the middle of the night often trying to get Owen back to sleep and having trouble. Owen has been a relatively easy baby with only a few really fussy instances. Still, in the middle of the night when you're exhausted and in a daze, you just want that baby to get back to sleep ASAP.
We were enrolled in a program through our insurance company that got a nurse involved in our prenatal care. Basically she called about once a month to check on my progress and answer questions. It was actually really nice because she could answer questions I was embarrassed to ask anyone else as a second time mom. This nurse sent me the DVD called THE HAPPIEST BABY ON THE BLOCK, by Dr. Harvey Karp, which turned out to be very helpful in regards to the whole sleep issue. Dr. Karp recommends the swaddling thing as part of his "4th trimester" theory. You want to recreate the womblike atmosphere, and let's face it--babies are pretty snuggly trapped at the end of pregnancy.
We found that the swaddling trick really worked for Owen. That coupled with background noise provided by a fan, which Karp also recommends. Owen has been sleeping through the night for a couple of weeks now. He's going 8-10 hours or more now at 12 weeks, and it is fantastic! We still swaddle Owen at night with one arm out. He falls right to sleep once he's in position. It's wonderful. Lewis started sleeping through the night at about 13 weeks, and Owen beat him by about 3 weeks using Dr. Karp's recommendations. Just something to think about for those of you with newborns or pregnant!
More to come......
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Saturday, August 2, 2008
free caffeine
Psalm 127:2-- 2-- In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.
For some reason I have found Mountain Dew left in shopping carts twice recently. The first time was at Target a couple of weeks ago. I found a 12-pack of the caffeinated beverage on my way in. Seeing that it had obviously been paid for, and being extremely tired from getting up to feed Owen every night, I claimed it for my own. Then this week after doing my regular grocery shopping at Kroger, I returned my cart and found a 20 oz. bottle of Mountain Dew Voltage in another basket.
After the first incident, I joked with a friend that God knows how tired I am and decided to bless me with some caffeine. After the 2nd, I am really believing it!
Now bear in mind that I am not a caffein-e-holic. My husband and I own a coffee shop, but I am still careful about how much I consume. Many pregnant and nursing women take a complete hiatus from caffeine. I am not such a person! I cannot drink hot coffee in early pregnancy. It absolutely turns my stomach. The occasional iced latte, I can handle for some reason. But by the halfway point, I have been able to get back into my morning routine and have a cup of coffee in the morning. On occasion I might have some sort of cola-type beverage or iced tea in the afternoon (Sonic's are the best, esp. during happy hour!). But by dinner I am decaf all the way.
I had forgotten how exhausting newborns can be, but luckily the caffeine doesn't seem to stop him from napping during the day. It's getting Owen to sleep initially and getting him back to sleep after the 6 a.m. mark that has been so difficult. Don't get me wrong......I love watching old episodes of the X Files or Wings in the middle of the night, but I love sleep more!
There's this verse in the Psalms about the Lord granting sleep to those he loves. I find myself begging for God to be true to that verse daily. Somehow I make it through each day, but there are moments when it seems impossible. Surely more sleep is just over the horizon.....and cooler weather. Until then, I've got my Mountain Dew to give me a boost. :)
Saturday, July 19, 2008
birth story
It's been a month since my last post, and oddly, our sweet baby Owen is now 4 weeks old! My doctor kept saying that if I delivered at 38 weeks with the first one, that likely the second would come at a similar time. He was right! This labor was much better than the first....and more normal, just like I had prayed for.
I woke up on Saturday morning around 8:30 a.m. which was generally when Lewis wakes up. I had breakfast and everything seemed normal. Around 9, I passed some blood during a routine potty break. It occurred to me that this could be the beginning of labor, OR it could be the sign of something bad like my placenta pulling away from the uterine wall or something awful like that.
At 9:15 or so, I started noticing contractions. These were slightly more uncomfortable than the Braxton Hicks contractions I'd been having for months. After having several, I jumped in the bathtub and then called my doctor to get his opinion. Since my first labor was all back pain, I had no idea how long this "early" labor might last. But knowing my history with Group B strep, Dr. Gass sent me on to the hospital to have the nurses take a look. My friend, Mandy, came to sit with Lewis so that Justin and I could head out. We got to the hospital at 11 a.m.
My doctor had called and warned the nurses we were coming, so they quickly took care of us and after determining I was in "early" labor, they called the pharmacy to get my antibiotics ordered. The drugs did not arrive until 12:30 p.m., and so I was prepared to labor all afternoon to get six hours of them in my system. Thankfully we didn't have to wait that long. After several innings of Reds baseball, my contractions were getting harder, and I was getting very dilated. When I arrived I was around 5 cm, and remembering to breathe deeply helped me to keep things moving along!
I was nervous about being in a different hospital to deliver this baby, but the nurse I had was sooo helpful and let me get up and move around even with my IV.
With my first labor, I had a half dose of IV narcotics to get me through the whole experience of giving birth. But when the contractions hit, they were just as painful. So this time I figured that I could make it without anything, and I did, but at their peak I could tell a difference between the contractions with drugs and the ones without! Mainly, there wasn't much of a break between them because the pain lingered for me. With the Nubain I could almost sleep in between contractions. Thankfully, once it got really bad I had less than an hour to endure the bad stuff. On the plus side, I was VERY MOTIVATED to push that baby out. Without pain meds I could feel everything as the baby made his way to freedom. The drugs definitely take the edge off, but there are positives and negatives either way.
Just before 3 p.m. I was feeling pressure to push, and so I never got the next round of antibiotics (they had told me I would get more at 4:30 p.m.). In the end I was so focused on pushing that they had to tell me to open my eyes when the baby came out. My doctor went on and on about how pink and healthy Owen looked.
I felt great after delivery, and despite the fact that Owen was at risk for contracting GBS, they let me nurse right away and hold him for the first hour. He was pretty slimy! I didn't get to do that with Lewis, so it felt so nice to be able to bond immediately after all that hard work. The nurses took him to run their tests, and he turned out to be perfectly healthy with no apparent problems. That was a huge relief!
Giving birth is so empowering. You feel like you could conquer the world. I immediately felt the relief of not being pregnant anymore. It had become exhausting for me, and I can't imagine going a full 40 weeks after having both of mine early.
Since then, we have been adjusting to life with two kids. The baby stuff has been easier overall. Breastfeeding has been much better with Owen. I definitely feel much more confident in my ability in that area. The first time around you just feel so clueless, but Owen and I have had a smooth transition there (though the first few days were still tough). The hard part is just being able to entertain another child while nursing. So far so good.
Owen sleeps as well as Lewis, but we are more tired because we have to get up in the morning and we can't sleep when the baby does unless it is during Lewis' naptime. That part has been much harder. But otherwise we are back into the swing of life already whereas with Lewis I felt knocked out for a couple of months almost.
Hopefully I'll get caught up on sleep soon so and inspired to share more about life with two kids.
Here's picture. He was born 6/21/08 at 3:41 p.m. He was 7 lbs. 12 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long.
I woke up on Saturday morning around 8:30 a.m. which was generally when Lewis wakes up. I had breakfast and everything seemed normal. Around 9, I passed some blood during a routine potty break. It occurred to me that this could be the beginning of labor, OR it could be the sign of something bad like my placenta pulling away from the uterine wall or something awful like that.
At 9:15 or so, I started noticing contractions. These were slightly more uncomfortable than the Braxton Hicks contractions I'd been having for months. After having several, I jumped in the bathtub and then called my doctor to get his opinion. Since my first labor was all back pain, I had no idea how long this "early" labor might last. But knowing my history with Group B strep, Dr. Gass sent me on to the hospital to have the nurses take a look. My friend, Mandy, came to sit with Lewis so that Justin and I could head out. We got to the hospital at 11 a.m.
My doctor had called and warned the nurses we were coming, so they quickly took care of us and after determining I was in "early" labor, they called the pharmacy to get my antibiotics ordered. The drugs did not arrive until 12:30 p.m., and so I was prepared to labor all afternoon to get six hours of them in my system. Thankfully we didn't have to wait that long. After several innings of Reds baseball, my contractions were getting harder, and I was getting very dilated. When I arrived I was around 5 cm, and remembering to breathe deeply helped me to keep things moving along!
I was nervous about being in a different hospital to deliver this baby, but the nurse I had was sooo helpful and let me get up and move around even with my IV.
With my first labor, I had a half dose of IV narcotics to get me through the whole experience of giving birth. But when the contractions hit, they were just as painful. So this time I figured that I could make it without anything, and I did, but at their peak I could tell a difference between the contractions with drugs and the ones without! Mainly, there wasn't much of a break between them because the pain lingered for me. With the Nubain I could almost sleep in between contractions. Thankfully, once it got really bad I had less than an hour to endure the bad stuff. On the plus side, I was VERY MOTIVATED to push that baby out. Without pain meds I could feel everything as the baby made his way to freedom. The drugs definitely take the edge off, but there are positives and negatives either way.
Just before 3 p.m. I was feeling pressure to push, and so I never got the next round of antibiotics (they had told me I would get more at 4:30 p.m.). In the end I was so focused on pushing that they had to tell me to open my eyes when the baby came out. My doctor went on and on about how pink and healthy Owen looked.
I felt great after delivery, and despite the fact that Owen was at risk for contracting GBS, they let me nurse right away and hold him for the first hour. He was pretty slimy! I didn't get to do that with Lewis, so it felt so nice to be able to bond immediately after all that hard work. The nurses took him to run their tests, and he turned out to be perfectly healthy with no apparent problems. That was a huge relief!
Giving birth is so empowering. You feel like you could conquer the world. I immediately felt the relief of not being pregnant anymore. It had become exhausting for me, and I can't imagine going a full 40 weeks after having both of mine early.
Since then, we have been adjusting to life with two kids. The baby stuff has been easier overall. Breastfeeding has been much better with Owen. I definitely feel much more confident in my ability in that area. The first time around you just feel so clueless, but Owen and I have had a smooth transition there (though the first few days were still tough). The hard part is just being able to entertain another child while nursing. So far so good.
Owen sleeps as well as Lewis, but we are more tired because we have to get up in the morning and we can't sleep when the baby does unless it is during Lewis' naptime. That part has been much harder. But otherwise we are back into the swing of life already whereas with Lewis I felt knocked out for a couple of months almost.
Hopefully I'll get caught up on sleep soon so and inspired to share more about life with two kids.
Here's picture. He was born 6/21/08 at 3:41 p.m. He was 7 lbs. 12 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
impending birth
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to this life?"--Matthew 6:25-27
It's been over a month since I posted anything, and probably longer than that with anything of any depth. I'm close to being 38 weeks pregnant and have been having all kinds of stressful thoughts creeping in all the time. Lewis came at 38 weeks so it seems like it could be any time now, but I even doubt my ability to know the signs of labor.
Adding to my stress lately has been another flea infestation. We had one last year that was definitely worse. Still, the idea of bringing a newborn home to get bitten by fleas is not a happy one! We got rid of our cat, who was actually helping the situation with her Frontline treatment, but I do feel better that there is not cat fur everywhere. All in all, it feels like we are winning the war now........but it all started May 1st, so it's been a struggle that has robbed me of sleep and given me that itchy feeling all over that is quite frustrating.
Another area of fear involves caring for two kids who can't speak! Lewis is not making much progress in communication. He has learned one new sign in the last 3 months or so. The state has denied our request for additional speech therapy (and oddly, recommended we lessen the amount to twice a month instead of once a week......I guess because progress is not being made?). Financially things are always tight for us too, but knowing another child is coming into our lives has added to the stress of that also, causing more than a few arguments with my dear husband.
It seems like lately as I look at things it has been easier to be frustrated or spin my wheels trying to do what I can to make things better instead of really seeking the Lord and his plan in all this. It's dawned on me that the fleas are probably more a wake-up call meant to push me over the edge in my dependence on the Lord. I feel like I've been carrying this huge burden and God is whispering, "Hello!!! I'm right here, hand all that over and let me carry it."
Sadly, much of my spiritual enrichment lately has come from Streams in the Desert, the little devotional book put together by L.B. Cowman. Not that it is bad....I just long for time and energy to dig deeper. This week, many of the readings have been about enduring through trials and seeing God's blessings through them.
"You are suffering through these tests, but know that God sees sweet flowers of faith springing up in your life beneath these very trials. You try to escape the pain, yet God sees tender compassion for other sufferers finding birth in your soul. Your heart winces at the pain of heavy grief, but God sees the sorrow deepening and enriching your life.
No, my friend, it is not raining afflictions on you. It is raining tenderness, love, compassion, patience, and a thousand other flowers and fruits of the blessed Holy Spirit. And they are bringing to your life spiritual enrichment that all the prosperity and ease of this world could never produce in your innermost being."
I know everyone is dealing with something out there! I'm really trying to rest and trust God's holy character.......that his love for me is constant and unchanging, and he is accomplishing his purposes in my life through all this.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Top Names for 2007
According to the Social Security Administration, here are the top names from last year.
| Rank | Male name | Female name | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacob | Emily | ||
| 2 | Michael | Isabella | ||
| 3 | Ethan | Emma | ||
| 4 | Joshua | Ava | ||
| 5 | Daniel | Madison | ||
| 6 | Christopher | Sophia | ||
| 7 | Anthony | Olivia | ||
| 8 | William | Abigail | ||
| 9 | Matthew | Hannah | ||
| 10 | Andrew | Elizabeth | ||
| Note: Rank 1 is the most popular, rank 2 is the next most popular, and so forth. | ||||
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
single parenting--sort of
My husband, Justin, is traveling with his band this week and I have had a taste of single parenting. Granted, this is nothing compared to those who have to work and support their families while being the sole parental influence. I cannot begin to imagine how tough that would be. Still, I've been amazed at how well things are going.
Lately, as I become more and more pregnant (or just larger), I've been so tired and when the afternoon hits it feels like I might fall apart. But usually around that time, Justin comes home and helps relieve the weight of parenting. With Justin out of the picture, we have planned a lot of activities to keep us around other people which has been a huge help. It feels like somehow Lewis senses that things are more laid back right now. I'm not sure whether it is just God answering my prayers that he will be a cooperative child, or possibly Lewis is actually maturing. But he has been a true delight this week. I have been expecting him to fight me at mealtimes and other transitional times when he tends to get upset, but really he has been more agreeable than ever.
Maybe I'm finally getting the hang of parenting.......or just knowing that there's no one else to pick up the slack gives me a different tone that Lewis does not want to cross. Either way, I hope some of this behavior sticks around.
Lately, as I become more and more pregnant (or just larger), I've been so tired and when the afternoon hits it feels like I might fall apart. But usually around that time, Justin comes home and helps relieve the weight of parenting. With Justin out of the picture, we have planned a lot of activities to keep us around other people which has been a huge help. It feels like somehow Lewis senses that things are more laid back right now. I'm not sure whether it is just God answering my prayers that he will be a cooperative child, or possibly Lewis is actually maturing. But he has been a true delight this week. I have been expecting him to fight me at mealtimes and other transitional times when he tends to get upset, but really he has been more agreeable than ever.
Maybe I'm finally getting the hang of parenting.......or just knowing that there's no one else to pick up the slack gives me a different tone that Lewis does not want to cross. Either way, I hope some of this behavior sticks around.
Friday, April 11, 2008
God's promise to abraham & sarah
"Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him." --Genesis 21:1-2
Lewis got a children's Bible for Easter and we have been reading it every morning. Not that he is very interested or can understand the stories just yet (it's really for kids 4 years +), but I figure it's a good habit to get into. Oddly enough, it has been great for me because as we read, I think about the stories and go back to the actual scripture to get the whole picture.
The story of Abraham and Sarah has had me thinking a great deal about God's faithfulness, and about our desire to help God out when we think he needs it. If you go back to Genesis 15 and 16, God makes his promise that Abraham's offspring will be numerous and eventually bring about the Savior who turns out to be Jesus.
In Sarah's mind this was impossible. Her alternative was to give her maidservant to Abraham and "build a family through her." Abraham agrees and immediately there is hostility between the two women as a result. This whole thing is so similar to what we do all the time. We know God loves us and will take care of us, but often we don't see how he is going to make our lives come together and work. Women are great at coming up with a good plan to "solve" things. Unfortunately these plans often make things worse.
The beauty in this story is that God remains faithful to Sarah, and carries out his plan as promised--despite her lack of faith. Sarah is the one to become pregnant and give birth to Isaac in her very old age. God blesses Ishmael as well, but it is a different type of blessing. Sarah's line is the one that leads to Christ.
The women's Bible study I attend is studying Galatians. We have been discussing at length our freedom in Christ and how we tend to put ourselves back under the law instead of trusting in God's grace alone for our salvation and daily living. Though it is a gift, we try to earn our salvation and God's blessing by doing all kinds of 'good' works.
Galatians 4 sums up Sarah's story this way, "Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise...........Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. But what does the Scripture say? 'Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son.' Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman."
It is wonderful to live in that freedom. I pray for my faith to be strengthened by abiding in Christ so that I can trust God to fulfill his will for me without worrying about things or trying to fix them on my own. God doesn't need my help after all! God does ask for me to act in obedience and to do good, but my faithfulness thankfully does not determine his next move. What a joy to know and rest in this truth!
The story of Abraham and Sarah has had me thinking a great deal about God's faithfulness, and about our desire to help God out when we think he needs it. If you go back to Genesis 15 and 16, God makes his promise that Abraham's offspring will be numerous and eventually bring about the Savior who turns out to be Jesus.
In Sarah's mind this was impossible. Her alternative was to give her maidservant to Abraham and "build a family through her." Abraham agrees and immediately there is hostility between the two women as a result. This whole thing is so similar to what we do all the time. We know God loves us and will take care of us, but often we don't see how he is going to make our lives come together and work. Women are great at coming up with a good plan to "solve" things. Unfortunately these plans often make things worse.
The beauty in this story is that God remains faithful to Sarah, and carries out his plan as promised--despite her lack of faith. Sarah is the one to become pregnant and give birth to Isaac in her very old age. God blesses Ishmael as well, but it is a different type of blessing. Sarah's line is the one that leads to Christ.
The women's Bible study I attend is studying Galatians. We have been discussing at length our freedom in Christ and how we tend to put ourselves back under the law instead of trusting in God's grace alone for our salvation and daily living. Though it is a gift, we try to earn our salvation and God's blessing by doing all kinds of 'good' works.
Galatians 4 sums up Sarah's story this way, "Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise...........Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. But what does the Scripture say? 'Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son.' Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman."
It is wonderful to live in that freedom. I pray for my faith to be strengthened by abiding in Christ so that I can trust God to fulfill his will for me without worrying about things or trying to fix them on my own. God doesn't need my help after all! God does ask for me to act in obedience and to do good, but my faithfulness thankfully does not determine his next move. What a joy to know and rest in this truth!
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