I love being a mom. My goal in life, for as long as I can remember, was to be a wife and a mother. I have literally been laughed hysterically at for saying that, but it's true. Always has been. I love kids!!! What more can I say?
Growing up, I was often referred to as the "Baby Whisperer", cause I could get babies to sleep like nobody's business! It's a nice title to have... especially when you can help out moms who are at their wits end.
But, I digress.
I love being a mom. Throughout my pregnancy, I hoped that I would still love to be a mom when it happened. You know how sometimes you get super excited about something, and then it turns out to be nothing like what you imagined? I hoped and prayed that would not be the case with motherhood. And thankfully, it wasn't!
However, anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE to be busy. I thrive when I'm busy! I love having places to be, people to see, people who rely on me being somewhere at a certain time and place. Before having Poppy, I had no idea just how much I loved that.
Another 'however', with a newborn, I certainly do have someone who needs me and who relies on me. But a lot of my everyday life (so far) is spent at home, not 'accomplishing' a heck of a lot.
Yeah, right.
Raising a beautiful little baby into what will hopefully become a strong, still beautiful, godly, young woman who will one day likely get married and have children of her own is QUITE a goal to set! And if that truly is what she becomes, then I dare say that's a heck of an accomplishment!
Today's society seems to think that if we don't make tons of money, work too many hours, get far too little sleep, (even though I do fall into that category!) or have some sort of public recognition for our daily accomplishments, that we're not truly living.
I beg to differ. Since the birth of Poppy, my life has never been more... dare I say... perfect. Don't get me wrong, my life is far from perfect in the truest sense of the word. But, I have a beautiful baby girl who I adore and who seems to adore me back (hehe), a godly, handsome, wonderful husband who I also adore and who I know adores me back (again - hehe), the same godly, handsome, wonderful husband who has a stable career giving my (so far) little family the opportunity for many adventures to come in our army life, a roof over our heads, food on our tables, families who love us all so much... I could go on. Best of all, Jon and I have the gift of salvation - something we both couldn't be more thankful for.
We pray every night, as we have since Poppy's conception, that one day, hopefully at a young age, she will come to know the Lord, to have a personal relationship with Him... to grow in love for him, and to continually grow to love him more every day of her life.
We are so blessed!!!
If you're thankful to God for the way he has blessed you, why don't you take a minute to tell him so?
Lord, thank you SO much for Jon and Poppy and all of the other blessings in my life. I am so undeserving, but You are so merciful and gracious, and for that I am and will be eternally grateful!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
"So... let's adopt the rest..."
At 3:40 am, on October 11, 2010, I woke up to some warm liquid in my bed. Dang... did I pee the bed, or was this go time??? I jumped out of bed, and the liquid kept coming. I sat on the toilet to get rid of the rest of it, and nothing came. I stood up, and it kept coming. I sat down again... nothing. Stood up, starting pouring again. By this point, I was quite sure that it was, in fact, my water breaking!
Excitedly, I waddled into our room and woke up Hubby. Much to my surprise, it didn't take the normal 20 minutes to get him to be slightly more than coherent. Within moments, he was up and at it with me, rearing and ready to go for our big adventure!
By this time, contractions had started coming every few minutes. I was so excited that my contractions were so close together, indicating that I would have a nice, short labour (like my mom!). I couldn't wait! I said to Hubby, "Babe, by noon today, we'll probably have our girl!" HA!
At 6:00 am, with contractions 2 minutes apart, and getting stronger and stronger, we made our way to the hospital. I waddled my way up to the Labour and Delivery floor, to be checked out by whoever would tell me how far along I was. By this point, the pain was majorly intense, and the contractions were still about 2 minutes apart. I couldn't wait to hear how far dilated I was.
Well, after almost an hour and a half of monitoring my contractions, they finally came to check out how far dilated I was. I was expecting to be at least half way there. Not a chance. The doctor let me know that I was all of 2 centimetres dilated. OUCH. How could I only be 2 centimetres after over 3 hours?
I was told to go home and relax, and to come back when I was ready. They offered me some drugs to make me feel a little better until I was ready to come back, so I got a combo of Gravol and morphene and they sent me home. I swear, it did nothing.
At home, my parents home, that is, the turkey was cooking for our Thanksgiving dinner. My brother and his fiancee, little brother, and both parents were all around to see me in my misery. Fiancee and Mom took care of keeping track of my contractions. Still about 2 minutes apart, and getting more and more intense as time passed.
Come about 11:00 am, my pain was bad enough and constant enough (2 minutes apart, lasting over a minute for each contraction), I was ready to go back to the hospital. The whole way in, I prayed I would be muuuuch further dilated than my original 2 centimetres. Well... I was a whopping 4 centimetres this time.
"Way to go! That's amazing - you're making such great progress!"
Ummm... yeah... whatever. Here I thought I was about 8 centimetres dilated... so 4 was a major disappointment!
At this point, after being in labour for about 9 hours, with the end nowhere in sight, I was ready for an epidural. I had initially decided that I would try to go all natural, but would just take it as it came. I think if my labour was about half as long, I would have been able to do it without the epidural... however, 4 cms after 9 hours was not what I was anticipating.
More time passed and I was put on Pitocin as well as my epidural. The epidural didn't take well, so they kept having to raise the dose. The Pitocin wasn't working, so they had to keep upping that dose as well! Finally, at 10:00 pm, I was allowed to start pushing.
I pushed. And pushed. And pushed... and pushed. For 2 hours, I pushed. No baby. The doctor came in and told us that he needed to check and see how Poppy's oxygen levels were because I had been pushing so long. After making multiple needle pricks in her head, they finally got enough blood to test. Apparently her oxygen levels weren't great, so it came to crunch time: Plan A) forceps, followed by Plan B) a C-Section if necessary.
Oh, what fun. All the way through my pregnancy I had said: "I don't care if I have to have a c-section... as long as it doesn't come after having been in labour for a million hours!"
And here I was, after being in labour for a million years, with the prospect of a c-section. Okay, I was going to push with ALL of my remaining energy (which now I am sooo impressed with myself for even having any energy at all!) and get this baby out with the forceps.
Somewhere around this point, after twenty-something hours of labour, I leaned over to Hubby and said, "So... let's adopt the rest...".
"You have three contractions to get her out, before we take you for a c-section."
Contraction 1: I pushed. And pushed. And pushed. No baby.
Contraction 2: I pushed. And puushed. And pushed. Baby came part way.
Now the excruciating part - waiting for the 2 minutes for my next contraction, so I could get baby out the rest of the way! Owwwwwwwwww!
Contraction 3: I pushed. She pulled (with all of her might). I pushed. She pullllleeeeddddd. I pushed. BABY!!!
12:50 am on October 12, 2010, the second love of my life entered into this world. What a beauty!!!
She is perfect.
Excitedly, I waddled into our room and woke up Hubby. Much to my surprise, it didn't take the normal 20 minutes to get him to be slightly more than coherent. Within moments, he was up and at it with me, rearing and ready to go for our big adventure!
By this time, contractions had started coming every few minutes. I was so excited that my contractions were so close together, indicating that I would have a nice, short labour (like my mom!). I couldn't wait! I said to Hubby, "Babe, by noon today, we'll probably have our girl!" HA!
At 6:00 am, with contractions 2 minutes apart, and getting stronger and stronger, we made our way to the hospital. I waddled my way up to the Labour and Delivery floor, to be checked out by whoever would tell me how far along I was. By this point, the pain was majorly intense, and the contractions were still about 2 minutes apart. I couldn't wait to hear how far dilated I was.
Well, after almost an hour and a half of monitoring my contractions, they finally came to check out how far dilated I was. I was expecting to be at least half way there. Not a chance. The doctor let me know that I was all of 2 centimetres dilated. OUCH. How could I only be 2 centimetres after over 3 hours?
I was told to go home and relax, and to come back when I was ready. They offered me some drugs to make me feel a little better until I was ready to come back, so I got a combo of Gravol and morphene and they sent me home. I swear, it did nothing.
At home, my parents home, that is, the turkey was cooking for our Thanksgiving dinner. My brother and his fiancee, little brother, and both parents were all around to see me in my misery. Fiancee and Mom took care of keeping track of my contractions. Still about 2 minutes apart, and getting more and more intense as time passed.
Come about 11:00 am, my pain was bad enough and constant enough (2 minutes apart, lasting over a minute for each contraction), I was ready to go back to the hospital. The whole way in, I prayed I would be muuuuch further dilated than my original 2 centimetres. Well... I was a whopping 4 centimetres this time.
"Way to go! That's amazing - you're making such great progress!"
Ummm... yeah... whatever. Here I thought I was about 8 centimetres dilated... so 4 was a major disappointment!
At this point, after being in labour for about 9 hours, with the end nowhere in sight, I was ready for an epidural. I had initially decided that I would try to go all natural, but would just take it as it came. I think if my labour was about half as long, I would have been able to do it without the epidural... however, 4 cms after 9 hours was not what I was anticipating.
More time passed and I was put on Pitocin as well as my epidural. The epidural didn't take well, so they kept having to raise the dose. The Pitocin wasn't working, so they had to keep upping that dose as well! Finally, at 10:00 pm, I was allowed to start pushing.
I pushed. And pushed. And pushed... and pushed. For 2 hours, I pushed. No baby. The doctor came in and told us that he needed to check and see how Poppy's oxygen levels were because I had been pushing so long. After making multiple needle pricks in her head, they finally got enough blood to test. Apparently her oxygen levels weren't great, so it came to crunch time: Plan A) forceps, followed by Plan B) a C-Section if necessary.
Oh, what fun. All the way through my pregnancy I had said: "I don't care if I have to have a c-section... as long as it doesn't come after having been in labour for a million hours!"
And here I was, after being in labour for a million years, with the prospect of a c-section. Okay, I was going to push with ALL of my remaining energy (which now I am sooo impressed with myself for even having any energy at all!) and get this baby out with the forceps.
Somewhere around this point, after twenty-something hours of labour, I leaned over to Hubby and said, "So... let's adopt the rest...".
"You have three contractions to get her out, before we take you for a c-section."
Contraction 1: I pushed. And pushed. And pushed. No baby.
Contraction 2: I pushed. And puushed. And pushed. Baby came part way.
Now the excruciating part - waiting for the 2 minutes for my next contraction, so I could get baby out the rest of the way! Owwwwwwwwww!
Contraction 3: I pushed. She pulled (with all of her might). I pushed. She pullllleeeeddddd. I pushed. BABY!!!
12:50 am on October 12, 2010, the second love of my life entered into this world. What a beauty!!!
She is perfect.
Welcome to My Life!
Two years ago in October, I met a very handsome army man, who showed up to my church's evening service. To make a long story short (though it will likely be expanded upon at a later date!), we fell wholly and madly in love in what seemed to be no time at all. By the end of January we were engaged to be married in August of 2009. One of the things I love most about this army man was his deep desire to be a father. We decided to wait until January, after being married for almost 6 months, to begin 'trying' for a baby.
Miraculously, and blessed beyond words, our first 'try' gave us the excitement of a positive pregnancy test! From that moment, we were excited beyond words to share our life with this growing little baby inside of me. For 9 months, I took folic acid and prenatal vitamins, ate what I should, stayed away from what I shouldn't, walked and walked and walked and walked, and took care of my body the best I possibly could. The excitement of little body parts jabbing me here and there was more than I could take - I was in a constant state of excitement... all the way to the very end.
Finally, I gave birth to a beautiful little girl on October 12, (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend! Throughout my whole life, I have so desperately wanted to be a wife and a mother... and now I am both! Poppy, our little one, is an angel. From day one, she has been a sweet, cuddly, and content little girl. I am so in love with being a 'momma'!
Here, I would like to share the day to day activities and occurrences of me and my little one, as well as my army life.
Welcome to my life... grab a hot drink, get comfortable, and stay awhile!
Miraculously, and blessed beyond words, our first 'try' gave us the excitement of a positive pregnancy test! From that moment, we were excited beyond words to share our life with this growing little baby inside of me. For 9 months, I took folic acid and prenatal vitamins, ate what I should, stayed away from what I shouldn't, walked and walked and walked and walked, and took care of my body the best I possibly could. The excitement of little body parts jabbing me here and there was more than I could take - I was in a constant state of excitement... all the way to the very end.
Finally, I gave birth to a beautiful little girl on October 12, (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend! Throughout my whole life, I have so desperately wanted to be a wife and a mother... and now I am both! Poppy, our little one, is an angel. From day one, she has been a sweet, cuddly, and content little girl. I am so in love with being a 'momma'!
Here, I would like to share the day to day activities and occurrences of me and my little one, as well as my army life.
Welcome to my life... grab a hot drink, get comfortable, and stay awhile!
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