Nursing once again...

Right now as I sit here one of my nipples is cracked and bleeding. The other one is not far away from bleeding. We are definately having some latching problems....but every time I nurse her, and see how sweet and innocent she looks, I can't help but smile through the pain. What an amazing feeling.

Summer Judith is here!!!

Well Summer Judith is finally here!!!!! I posted some pics and you can read the birth story here:

Summer Judith's Birth Story

We're having a little trouble with poor latching and sore nipples but we are working through it. I'll update more later!!

False labor and prayers needed.

Well I guess I will start this entry off with the bad news/prayers needed. Jason's cousin, who is also a childhood friend of mine, was 14 weeks pregnant yesterday when she had a miscarriage. She was very excited about this pregnancy and understandably it's termination was very trajic for her. She did have to be sedated because she was so upset but she is home now, resting. Please send some prayers out her way.

Well last night I started having contractions but really didn't think anything of it because I've been having a lot of false labor lately. So Jason and I went out to eat with Brooke and my mom and by the time we got home I was convinced that it was the real thing. The house was a mess so Jason started the laundry and did some dishes while I cleaned up Brookie's room. Suddenly I heard a strange whistling sound. Then I heard Jason run downstairs and I could hear him and my mom yelling back and forth to each other over the whistling and I also heard a lot of banging....I thought, this can't be good. My mom runs upstairs, grabs some pots and runs back downstairs, telling me that nothing is wrong and to stay upstairs!!! Well of course I went downstairs where I discovered the water heater was going crazy and dumping hot water all over the basement. We had to turn the water off to the house and we had no heat. My mom was on the phone with the oil guy begging him to come down right away because "we're about to have a homebirth and we need heat and water!!" Well that pretty much stopped the contractions, I don't know if it was b/c it wasn't real labor or my body was reacting to the situation, but it is a good thing I didn't go into labor last night. Maybe tonight....Brooke was born four days late and today is day number four for this baby....maybe four is the magic number for my body......

Passing this along

The first time I thought about breastfeeding was when I was a sophmore in college. I took a class called "Living in the Envrionment" and it was one of the most interesting classes I've ever taken. Anyways, we studied the impact of overpopulation on the Earth and that led to us studying the benefits of breastfeeding, since one of those many many benefits is naturally spacing out children. I was amazed at the information the professor presented to us....breastfeeding can do all that? I remember turning to my friend and saying, "I'm going to breastfeed if I ever have kids." One thing the professor had us look at was a web site that helped put the Earth's population into perspective. I found that link again and would like to share it with you.

http://www.miniature-earth.com/

Enjoy :o)

P.S. Yes, I am still pregnant.

update

Well I am still here....still pregnant, and pretty miserable. My due date was Monday so I am officially overdue. I don't know why it is such a surprise, Brooke was four days overdue. I guess my babies just have a stubborn gene in them, or else they just like being all snuggly inside my belly. The worst part is, is that I am so much healthier this time around yet I am in so much more pain because of this stupid pelvic symbosis thing. It hurts to walk, to lay down, to move. The pain is the only reason why I am getting impatient, and the poor people who attempt to talk to me get their heads bitten off. I have to give a lot of credit to Jason, he's been dealing with my very well, cleaning the house every night and even doing the laundry.

Yesterday I saw my midwife and we picked up some Evening Primrose Oil. I'm taking them orally but I don't think I can bring myself to insert them vaginally. She offered to strip my membranes if I really wanted it, but I declined.....still a little too invasive for me. However I think if the baby hasn't come by the end of the week I will have her strip them, I don't know how much longer I can put up with this pain. The baby however is doing great, heartbeat is still strong, still growing. I'm a little worried that the baby will be big, but not really. I trust my midwives and I trust my body.

Brooke amazes me more every day. She is picking up and learning so much. Her alphabet, she can count to five in English and four in Spanish, so many new words. And she is so considerate of other people when she senses that they are sad. When she sees me in my worst pain she comes and strokes my face, like I do to her when she gets a boo boo, and gives me kisses. Her and Jason are the only things that make me smile these days. She's also got quite the creative streak in her, which she must have gotten from her grandmother, my mom. I posted some pics of projects that we've done this month so far. Also, one day when I was taking a nap my mom decided to make lasagna to freeze for the birth and Brooke helped, and did a great job. So I posted pics of that too.

Well I must go now. Hopefully my next entry will be the announcement of this baby. Ciao!

update

37 and two days pregnant, I can't believe it. I only have 19 days until my due date.

Things here have been hectic. I have my home visit last week, and boy was that a scary day. My mom left the safety gate open at the top of the stairs and Brooke managed to go down to her part of the house and get into her Benadryl. I rushed her to the ER and she turned out OK, but it was definately scary and heartbreaking.

That night the home visit helped me calm me down. The midwives were great, they answered all my fam's questions and it was a great visit overall. The baby sounded good. Yesterday I had a regular appt at her office, and the baby is really low and sounding good. Unfortunately I have that condition where the pubic bones seperate, which is very very painful. Most times I can tolerate it but some days I can't even walk. It really sucks but I just keep thinking that there is only 19 days left, and I think of it as practice for the labor.

This past Saturday night we had a birthday party for Brooke. It was a small party but she did get a lot of new toys, mostly Dora themed. I posted pics.

Well I think that is it for now. I will try to update more often, it's just so hectic around here trying to get all the last minute stuff ready for the baby. I do have a TON of articles and stuff, but no time to post them :o(

update

I can't believe how much I am slacking at writing in this blog. It's just that we've been so busy preparing the house for the baby and preparing for the baby in general that I've had no time. Then that stupid heat wave hit and I felt like I was dying all day.

Well let's see....I'm 35 weeks pregnant now. I still feel like I am ready to pop. Good news is, after we finish the bedroom, Brooke's room, and a few things in the living room and kitchen, the house will be prepared for the homebirth. Which is good, because my homevisit with the midwives is next Tuesday, so we have to have everything ready by then.

I posted some pics of things that we have been doing with Brooke. A few weeks ago we took her to the beach with some friends of ours. We had sooooo much fun, Brookie loved it, and even I had fun bouncing in the waves. The only problem was that Jason and I were so concerned about sun protection for Brookie that we forgot about ourselves, and we both ended up with HORRIBLE sun burns. I had to sleep sitting up and I couldn't wear a shirt or a bra for three days, because it hurt too much. It was awful, we definatly learned our lesson the hard way.

We took Brooke to the park yesterday and I included pictures of that. I also decided to do a little more arts and crafts with her, so I found a recipie for homemade clay online and decided to try it out. She loved it! She was so proud to show her daddy when he came home from his fantasy football draft. Right now it is goign through it's last day of drying, and then I think we will attempt to paint it.

Everything with the baby is going good. The midwife is pretty sure that she is head down, but they will do their final assessment during the home visit. Heartbeat sounds really good, and I've gained 40lbs less than what I gained during Brooke's pregnancy, which I am really happy about. I just feel healthier. I think it is due to the constant guidance of my midwife on what I eat, she has me write down everything I eat and then we go through it together. Plus all the house scrubbing didn't hurt, either ;o). Still wondering if this baby girl will actually turn out to be a baby boy, since Iam still having dreams of having a baby boy and I am still getting a slight boy vibe. Either way, this baby can KICK!

More good news is that we have someone coming to look at our car on the 23rd. If he buys it, we will finally be able to get our minivan. So wish us luck!

Also, just wanted to point out a couple of websites that I have been a fan of lately. www.theshapeofamother.com is awesome and so is http://truewifeconfessions.blogspot.com/ . I've submitted entries to both of these sites....can you guess which ones are mine?

Ciao!