Dirndls & Football

Of course I have to post adorable pictures of my children, since I'm on a posting frenzy right now (I think this is part of my nesting process since it won't be long now!).

The girls looked so darned cute for church on Sunday that I had to take their pictures.


Also, Lacy decided she wanted to be a football star, and was being hilarious, so we took more pictures. Her team colors are pink and purple, but the players on her team are less than enthusiastic about the sport (FYI, she said she's the coach).

She has her football poses down pat, though.

Midwives in Training

First, the details of today's appointment: I am 38w and 5 d currently. I gained 2 pounds since my last appointment, which puts me right where I should be since I lost a pound at the last appointment. Blood pressure was high (for me) at 108/60something, but I did have kids climbing on me at the time. Belly is measuring at 39cm and baby's heart rate was at 130. Since I've been having so many contractions lately and wanted to have an idea of when I may be needing some babysitters, I got an internal check today. Baby's head is much lower than it was last week, and I'm 3 cm dilated! I'm very thick though, so I could have several more days (or not very long at all). I'm thinking it's going to be within the next week, but honestly, who knows at this point! I just really hope I won't continue having these contractions into February!

The girls always love to help the midwife with checking me each time I go. They help with measuring my belly:

And listening to the heartbeat with the fetoscope

In full bloom

I tried posting this a few days ago, but I got a new memory disk for my camera which wasn't compatible with my disk drive. I have it all figured out now, so now you get to see pictures again!

Here I am, a couple days past 38 weeks. Usually I don't post the bare belly pictures, but the girls were being so cute that I'm going to do it this time.

The Hair

...and because my hair looked so beautiful in those belly pictures, I decided I would do something about it. I got it chopped off. The idea of having really long hair for labor wasn't that pleasant to me. I'm going to donate my ponytail as soon as I decide which charity should get it! I got about 10-12" chopped off.

Waiting for the cut with my snuggley cuties


Full length


During...
The finished new hairstyle:

Getting Ready

Two weeks to go until the baby's due! If you want to make a guess on when baby will make his appearance, you can make your guess here.

Yesterday I was feeling completely unready to have this baby. I went to the midwife yesterday and expressed my concern about the place of birth- the birthing center in my city is not legally able to be operated as a birthing center quite yet (they're waiting on the health department) and there is no guarantee that it will be ready in time. I'm not mentally prepared for a homebirth, nor can I fit a birthing tub in my tiny home at this time, so I'd prefer to birth outside of my home, yet still outside of a hospital setting. I was going to register at a nearby birthing center (it's still a 45 minute drive on a good traffic day, so it's only sort of close by) but they have a non-refundable $250 fee that is not covered by insurance at all. I was afraid of paying that and then having the birthing center be finished in time and not be able to get my money back, or having a freeway baby or an unattended homebirth. There's a family history of fast labors as it is (including my own first labor which was just 4.5 hours- my second labor was much longer due to various complications during labor) especially with third babies. So I'm a little terrified of not having enough time to get there!

So the office manager at the midwifery office called, and I was able to register up at the birth center without paying the fee. I will pay the fee if I actually use the facility. We went and toured it with the girls yesterday and it was beautiful! There is one room that is decorated in purples, and Lacy absolutely flipped about that room. She really wants that to be my birthing room (plus, the tub in that room is deeper, which I really like). I'm feeling much more comfortable with the idea of giving birth now, and even started packing my bags! Now I just have to get this baby to decide to engage his head, and it won't be much longer. I'd prefer not to have this baby earlier than 39 weeks, though!

As far as a pregnancy update goes, I actually LOST a pound! AND, I tried on my belly cast the other day and there's a ton of room still. The midwife guessed by feeling the baby that he's going to be a large one, but not as large as Rosie, who was 9-6. She guessed that yesterday at my appointment he was about 8 pounds-ish. During my blood pressure check, she asked me "What would you do if you went into labor tonight?" She had to check my blood pressure a few minuets later because it started out with the top number being 140. Yikes! After a break and a talk about other things, my blood pressure was back to 104/54. Much more normal for me. Some good news from the appointment is that I'm GBS negative so even if I have a very fast birth, I don't have to worry about antibiotics. I'm happy to report that everything is looking great, and even though I'm extremely uncomfortable this pregnancy, this is the most textbook-healthy pregnancy I've ever had. I haven't even gained too much weight this time!

So today Dave and I have been working hard to get some major cleaning done, and we've made quite a bit of progress. I still have an hour of kid-free time (thank you to my friend Tina for watching the girls today!) but my back is aching so I took a little blog break. I volunteered at Lacy's school this morning, and Dave helped a family at the funeral home (he's not working there yet- it's a family from church- but it is the one he's most likely going to be working at soon). Lacy's teacher said they're going to give Lacy extra help since they know it's going to be hard for me to do it with the new baby and with Rosie already at home. I'm so grateful for their help!

Tomorrow is another big cleaning day. Hopefully on Saturday Dave and I can go out on a pre-baby date- we found two super saver movie tickets and he really wants to see Avatar (I suggested taking the kids to see the new Disney movie, but he wasn't going for that!). He was actually called in to work next week for the asbestos company up in a city that is a 2 hour drive away. He's really feeling conflicted about this. He knows that the funeral home is not ready to take him on quite yet (he needs to get his ducks in a row for schooling first) but he was looking forward to never doing asbestos work again. But, working means earning two times what unemployment pays. He's just really worried about being so far away from me so close to my due date. I really don't think anything will happen until at least 39 weeks, but... when Lacy was born, he had carpooled to work that day and had to figure out how to get home from work while the other guy (who drove) would stay at work. He's worried about a similar situation this time since he can't just up and leave the work site like he could at that other job!

Cinnamon Rolls

Dave bought cinnamon rolls in celebration of a possible career change and the fact that he will likely be going back to school (soon) so he can become an apprentice of this guy who is a funeral director, and eventually become a funeral director himself someday.

Lacy and Rose were eating some as a snack, and Rose asked if mommy made them.

Lacy said, "No, mom didn't make these. Mom's are gooder."

Contractions & Insomnia

So I read a while back that pineapple can bring on labor. Not even thinking anything of it, I had a huge glass of pineapple juice last night (seriously, I'm not ready yet, so I'd like to keep this baby in for at least another week, preferably closer to two). I usually get lots of contractions anyway, but last night it was insane! I don't know if it was because of the pineapple juice or because I'm a little over 2 weeks away from being due and my body is really starting to get ready for this baby. Today I'm still having a lot of contractions, but I have a lot to get done today, so I'm going to work really hard to try to get it all done.

My mom says she's been praying that I won't have the baby while she's gone on her cruise. I hope the prayers work, but if they don't, that's what she gets for taking a vacation two weeks before her daughter's due date!

And of course, the insomnia is a lot of fun. I have a lot of trouble falling asleep and have routinely been falling asleep around 2 am or later for the past few days, than waking up at 7:30 or 8 and not taking any naps during the day. I want to fall asleep, but I just can't.

Oh, the last few weeks of pregnancy are so much fun! I guess they are so uncomfortable because that way you'll actually look forward to going into labor! I've just got to mentally prepare myself to have this baby, and I've got to clean my house to the point where there's not going to be a lot of work to do once the baby is here. I did go through all my birth supplies last night just in case I end up with a homebirth! It was fun looking at the teeny tiny t-shirts that will soon have a body to fit in them!

Haven't done this in a while... kiddo stats

I knew Lacy was tall. But gosh dangit, I didn't really know how tall she was until she started kindergarten. She is the 2nd youngest child in her class, and the second tallest. Then today, we had a doctor's appointment and I got the actual measurements of my children. I am blown away by Lacy's numbers. She is nearly 4 feet tall, and not yet 5 1/2 years old. That puts her squarely in the 96th percentile for height. WOW. I mean, she's often been in the 90s, but I thought maybe she'd slow down a little as she grew, and for a while her height stats were in the 80s. I guess she had a growth spurt. No wonder the size 5 clothes don't fit her anymore- they're all too short (but fit her fine in the waist). The doctor said she is the size of a 6 or 7 year old. But she's proportionate.

I also talked to the doctor about her tip toe walking, and after an evaluation, it seems like it isn't really going to be a problem, but we can always take her to a podiatrist if we are still concerned about it. And she referred us to a podiatrist that Dave has known for years and years. He's the guy that helped Dave with his foot when he broke it the week before we got married.

I didn't have any concerns with Rose, but I did have her get a vaccine. She is on a very delayed/selective schedule, so we're just trying to complete one of the vaccine series right now before we go on to the next one. She's been getting the DTaP vaccine. In choosing which vaccines we will do, we evaluate the risk of the vaccine versus the risk of the disease, and also factor in the likelihood of actually getting the disease in our decision. I feel like the DTaP vaccine, while it has a lot of side effects, is worth it because the diseases (at least tetanus and pertussis) are not eradicated in this country and are quite common, which is why I decided to go with this particular vaccine. Rose hasn't gotten many vaccines, and we will likely decline most others, especially the flu shot and the new Guardasil vaccine (which protects against some strains of HPV and has a high rate of side effects).

And here are the stats for the kiddos.

Lacy: 47.25 inches tall (96th percentile)
49 pounds (84th percentile)

Rose: 39.25 inches tall (63rd percentile)
33 pounds (49th percentile)

Compared to Lacy, Rose is a little pipsqueak! And she was my 9 1/2 pounder and was always bigger than Lacy (at the same ages) until after she was 2.

Let the weekly visits begin!

Okay... today I had another midwife appointment. Everything went beautifully, except that I had traces of sugar in my, uh, system. So I'm hoping that's only because I ate some lebkuchen right before I came to my appointment. I'm doing well with weight gain... I'm up to almost 35 pounds gained (total) I believe. I don't want to gain too much more at this point!

Baby is still head down, and I'm measuring right on with him. I'm thinking he's going to be smaller than Rose, but at this point it's just a guessing game anyway. He still has three weeks of growing left to do- which will include more than a pound of weight gain between now and then.

It's iffy if the birthing center will be ready in time. They have their occupancy license, and now they're waiting on the health department's okay before they can start hosting births there. Crossing my fingers that it will be done in time, because the next closest birthing center is close to an hour drive away, and I really don't want to have to drive that far in January.

I'll have Dave take some pictures of me later and I'll post them. My neighbor said I looked really small considering I'm due in just over three weeks' time. Thank you, thank you, sweet neighbor. For now, we're just trying to get everything ready, while Dave is trying to butcher a cow and find freezer space for all of that. It's a little stressful around here lately, because I'm quickly running out of time!

Kids cuteness

"I'm as hot as a snickerdoodle!" -Lacy, today after her bath.

Lacy has been really cute today. She was playing that she was a mommy and first gave birth to baby Elizabeth. Then, surprise, Elizabeth has a twin sister, Charlotte! Finally, a third girl came into the world, but I can't remember what Lacy named her. Then she asked Rose to watch her children because she had a very important meeting she needed to attend. I asked her what they would eat while she was gone, and she said, well, they can have formula. Which really, really surprised me because lately she's been quite the lactivist! I questioned her about it, and she said, "Mom, it's just for pretend!"

Suddenly, she was a queen, and she was making clothes with swatches of fabric. I was *this close* to getting her a simple sewing machine for Christmas, but I don't think she's quite ready for that yet. I think I'll teach her how to knit first.

I've been under the weather for the past two days, and can I just say that my mom saved the day by getting Rose a collection of children's songs and music for Christmas? I didn't much feel like reading to the kids tonight, but I was feeling guilty for not reading as much as I should lately and for excessive use of the TV (we actually skipped TV-free Tuesday this week- shame on me!), but I was able to put on a story CD for the kids tonight at bedtime, and now I'm feeling just fine about it! No guilt whatsoever. In the collection is three or four CDs of just stories, including many famous fairy tales, Peter and the Wolf, Peter Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland (condensed version obviously) and several others I hadn't heard of before. The other day, Lacy just sat and listened to stories for about an hour. I'm sure these CDs will get a lot of playtime in the next couple of months!

A few photos from Christmas and Christmas Eve...

First off, I was 35 weeks on Christmas Eve, so Dave very kindly took a belly shot of me by the Christmas Tree (at Dave's dad's house).

My sweet girls all dressed up on Christmas Eve
Reading the Christmas story from the Bible

What Santa brought...
A choo choo train and a piano for Rosie, and a telescope, veil and The Sound of Music DVD for Lacy, plus stockings full of all sorts of good stuff! The easel they got earlier that evening from their Papa (Dave's dad).

Christmas Day at my parents' house... Rose, Regan and Lacy all in their beautiful Christmas skirts that Les and Mom sewed up for them! Don't they look great?


We had a really fun Christmas this year! I'm really excited about my new sewing machine, and Dave is stoked that he got gift cards to Wholesale Sports from both his Dad and my parents! Lacy and Rose got some really great gifts and we are so appreciative of everyone who thought of us this Christmas.

Hope you had a great Christmas, too!

Dave found Rudolph

...and he's going to taste delicious!



For any of you from out-of-state, who may be used to other species of deer (especially mule deer), this is actually quite a large black tail deer. And with a bow, it's an absolute trophy! We rarely ever see deer this large, and we see deer quite often living out near the woods. I'm so proud of my hubby! (Not that he was looking for a trophy- as he always says, you can't eat antlers! This deer also has a big body and will provide us with quite a bit of meat)

Is all I ever do baby updates anymore? Plus other good things.

Yet another midwife appointment. Baby apparently had a growth spurt, because I gained 3.5 pounds (a total of 26 pounds thus far- not too bad!) and am measuring a bit ahead of schedule again fundal-height wise (last time I was measuring exactly right on). Everything's looking great- baby's still head down and he's not posterior at the moment, and he's feeling like he's more average sized (I am capable of delivering a 12 pound baby I am sure, but I don't really want to!). I'm feeling like he's going to be in between Lacy and Rose's size- high 8's or low 9's.

AND I went BY MYSELF to my appointment! My sister was so kind as to watch my children for me so I wouldn't go crazy while I was there. They love going to the midwife with me, but honestly, it gets to be a little too much sometimes with them!

After the appointment, I went by K-Mart because I figured they wouldn't be as busy as other stores would be a few days before Christmas. I was right, however, their selection stinks and I couldn't find anything because I never shop there, so I still spent an hour in the store. At least I didn't have to deal with stinky parking situations or long lines, which I dread. I was able to find a few things I needed to get, but forgot to look for the materials I need for this year's funny gift.

After shopping, I went back to Leslie's, and we spent a little time in the kitchen making a few Christmas treats. The girls had a lot of fun eating them and playing with their cousins. We went home to have leftovers for dinner (yum!) and now the girls are settling in their beds. We'll see if they actually go to sleep- their sleep schedules have been so wonky since school got out.

But the BEST NEWS OF ALL: Dave's friend had two beef cows. One was butchered last week. Ever since then, their remaining cow has been going crazy. Escaping and going into the neighbor's yard, destroying fences and property, and basically acting wild. They decided they can NOT have this in their yard anymore. But because they're already going to have an entire cow to put in their freezer, they have opted to give it to us! Dave went out this afternoon to try to find it, and he killed it himself, dressed it out, and is taking it out to a close friend's house who has a meat locker and a processing center. Next week will be butchering time! If that wasn't good enough news, he ALSO shot a 3 point buck with his bow today (for those of you on the east coast, that's a 6 point buck, and for a black tailed deer, which is all we have around here, that's a decent size)! He didn't have time to track it and find it, but he knows he got it and he knows exactly where it is and will get it tomorrow to dress it out and hang it. I don't have any more details than that at the moment. I'm feeling incredibly blessed that our family will have plenty of meat to get us through the next year. Not only that, it is all good, basically organic meat that ate the food naturally intended for that animal to eat, and locally grown, too!

UPDATE: Dave went back and got the deer already! We are going to be overflowing with meat soon!

Wee One Update

Today I am 33 weeks! Just 4 weeks until I am considered term, and 3 weeks after that until I will likely deliver my baby! Lacy and Rose both came right around their due dates, so I'm not expecting anything earlier than 39 weeks with this one.

The good news is the birthing center is almost finished! I walked around it today- they're just doing detail stuff like caulking around the giant whirlpools and such. They need to furnish it still and get approval from the health department, and then they're in business! Hopefully they'll have it all done in 5-6 weeks so it will be ready before I go into labor! It's going to be beautiful! I'm so excited! My city has needed a birthing center for a long time. The closest one is 30 miles away in a larger city, but there are two out-of-hospital birth midwifery practices in my city, so there is certainly a need being filled with this birthing center.

As far as I go... today my blood pressure was super high- 120/80. For me, that's really high. Normally I'm in the 90/60 range. Baby's heart was at 150 and is still head down. I was getting worried because I was feeling hiccups all over the place over the last few days, but I thought I was feeling his bum at the top so I wasn't sure. Sure enough, I was right- that lump I was feeling at the top of my uterus was indeed his bum.

The best news- I am measuring right on at 33.5 cm and I only gained 2 1/2 pounds since my last visit 2 1/2 weeks ago. Considering we've had Thanksgiving and lots of cookies and candies because we are in the midst of the Christmas season, I'm thinking that's pretty good! I would really like a baby slightly smaller than my Rosie, so not gaining two pounds a week (like I did in my 3rd trimester with both girls) is really encouraging. I'm not feeling as giant as I felt when I was pregnant with her, too.

I'm keeping my hopes up that this upcoming birth will be easier than Rose's. I ended up having several complications that emerged at once, resulting in a hospital transfer. My labor with Lacy was only 4.5 hours, and Rose's labor, which should have been shorter since usually 2nd labors are faster than first labors, ended up lasting 9 hours. I was exhausted and just done by the end, but once my (sunny side up) baby arrived, I was over the moon and ready to run a marathon (okay, maybe not quite, but I felt great). I'm hoping this time for a fast labor like Lacy's followed by an easy recovery like Rose's.

Santa Claus is Coming To Our Neighborhood!

Tonight was the food drive put on by the local fire department. They come through the neighborhood with the lights and sirens going and have Santa with them on a sleigh to help collect food. We told the girls that Santa was in the neighborhood and they were so very excited. Lacy immediately put on more appropriate clothes for wearing outside, and I swear we waited outside for 20 minutes because she couldn't stand waiting inside where she could possibly miss Santa coming by our house.

It was freezing cold. But the girls were so happy that they got to sit up with Santa on his sleigh for a minute. Thankfully I remembered the camera.

'Tis the Season... for Static!

This time of year when the humidity is low (except when it is raining) and it is cold, my thin, dry hair always seems to be very staticy. My lucky children also have the type of hair that lends itself easily to a lot of static. Here we have Rose, who just came in from the freezing cold outside.

Wish Lists to Santa

Here's what my girls have asked Santa to give them:

Rose:
Piano
Doggy
Choo Choo Train

Lacy:
Wedding Dress
Veil
Cake Topper

Lacy's a bit obsessed with getting married lately. The other day, she packed all her clothes in a suitcase and told me she was moving to Utah because she was getting married and her husband had a job in Utah.

What's your guess?

I asked all my family members what their guesses are for this new little baby. Here are our guesses, and we'll see who is closest! If you want to play, too, just respond with your guess in the comments!

Rose
Date: January 22
Time: Night/10 pm
Hair? Lots of blond hair
Weight: 9 lb 3 oz
Length: 22 inches

Lacy
Date: January 31
Time: 2 am
Hair?: Lots of blond hair
Weight: 8 lb 5 oz (shockingly, that's Lacy's birth weight)
Length: 21 inches

Carolyn
Date: February 2 (my second choice is January 25)
Time: 10:30 am
Hair?: Lots of brown hair
Weight: 8 lb 12 oz
Length: 20 inches

Dave
Date: January 21
Time: Sometime at night
Hair?: A medium amount of light-colored hair
Weight: 8 lb 14 oz

Past history to help you make your guess: Both Lacy and Rose were 21 inches long. Lacy was 8 lb 5 oz, Rose was 9 lb 6 oz. Lacy was born 5 days before her due date, Rose was born on her due date. Both girls were born at night. Lacy had a smallish amount of light brown hair, Rose had a ton of dark brown hair. As far as Dave and I go, I don't know many details on Dave's birth. I believe he was on the larger side, but he was early (his mother had complications due to the shape of her uterus though, which probably resulted in the early birth). He was a blond, bald baby. I was born in the morning at 9 lb 2 oz/21" long with tons of dark brown hair just like Rosie.

Conversation in the car today

Lacy: I'm going to get married in the Seattle Temple!

Rose: I'm going to get married in the PARTY Temple!

Um... I don't think there's a party temple my dear... but at least you're planning a temple wedding! Even if you are just three years old!

Baby Update

I love going to the midwife! The best thing is the hour long appointments that I get to have with them. It was also exciting to see all the progress on the birthing center that they're building! I bring my girls with me to my appointments because they love to hear the heart "beep" and help measure my belly. They're very good student midwives! I actually wouldn't be surprised if one of my children ends up being a midwife someday!

So upon arrival to the midwifery office, I went in and weighed myself and tested my pee (lovely!) for protein and sugar. I believe at most OB offices, the nurse does this for you. It's just as easy and accurate for me to do so myself! I unfortunately gained 8 pounds in the past 4 weeks, which was a huge jump, but only 20 pounds gained thus far, so it's not a big deal.

Then we went over my tests from last week- the gestational diabetes glucose tolerance test and hematocrit (iron) level testing. The first result was excellent- my glucose level was 80! They're looking for anything under 130, so I was better than okay. I tolerate sugar just fine. It's a good thing, too, because I have a bit of a sugar addiction! I am trying to be better about my sugar consumption, but it is just soooo good! At least this time when I have a 9-10 pound baby, there will be no question that this was just a result of me making big babies rather than having a GD big baby (I didn't get the test with Rose, and she was over 9 pounds, which is why I opted to get tested this time around).

The iron levels, however, are a concern. I've been pretty good about remembering to take my iron supplements, but apparently my body needs a little more of a boost because my iron level was at 30, which is the lowest it's ever been in any of my pregnancies. I need to work to get it up so I don't have to transfer care to a hospital midwife at the end of my pregnancy. I'm now drinking a pregnancy tea which includes nettle and dandilion root which have iron in them. I'm also taking an herb, yellow dock, which helps with iron absobtion. I cook off of cast iron pans already, and have been taking a whole food iron supplement along with my prenatal vitamin. They'll retest my iron level in 6 weeks. Hopefully by then it will be higher! At least now I know why I've been so tired and cranky all the time!

I complained about my aching back, and I will be referred to physical therapy! Unfortunately we can't afford chiropractic care with this pregnancy (as much as I would love to be able to afford it) so this is the only option that my insurance will pay for. I'm hoping with the work Dave's been getting recently I'll be able to get some adjustments at the end of my pregnancy.

Then, the fun stuff. We measured my belly (29 cm, which for me is normal- about 1-2 cm ahead of how many weeks pregnant I am), and listened to the heart "beep" through the fetoscope. I was able to hear it quite clearly this time! It is so hard to hear the heartbeat in one of those. It's different than a doppler, which has adjustable volume controls. This one you have to really focus and listen for it. It is a very faint thumping, but it was clear as a bell once I heard it. Lacy got to listen to it to, and use the fetoscope herself. She loves doing that! The midwife also felt for baby's position, and my guess was right on the money- he is still head down. I determined this based on where I was feeling the hiccups! I think he was flipping all over the place the other day, but went back to head down before the day was done. Then she took my blood pressure and said, "wow, this is high for you!" It was 100/60. Yeah, that's a high blood pressure reading for me, all right! After I had Lacy, I was on my back on the floor passed out because it got down to 60/40! I tend to run low. Last time I think my high number was in the 80s or 90s.

I don't have a new belly picture to post, so for now you'll just get the update. I'll understand if most of you don't want to read this- it's just technical stuff for my own enjoyment later on, anyway!