1 Year with my Boy

 12 months have gone by since my successful (and exhausting) VBAC of our surprise baby boy.  12 sleep-deprived, laughter filled, glorious months with this proud boy who sits tall and laughs hard (and lives hard too).

I love being a boy momma.  I love my girls to bits, but they adore daddy.  And girls are born with an agenda (at least mine were), boys (at least Sedryn) just seem to go with the flow. Plus my girls would never have ever shared part of their birthday cake with me willingly and with joy.


Sedryn Justice, I think you're an amazing little guy.  Snuggly.  Non-stop.  Easy going.  You think you're hysterical. Your fine motor skills are through the roof, but I think you won't walk until after Christmas (though you could prove me wrong).  You love details and romping with anyone within the reach of your social world.

You adore your sisters (even when they're unnecessarily and sometimes violently overprotective).  You can't wait to wrestle with daddy. I'm totally your favorite person (I'm sure that will change, but for now I'll eat it up). You flirt with all women equally.

You've purged a ton of sin from my life this year.  I'm a better person because of the surprise gift you are (and the grace of God).  The end of this year... so bittersweet to me.  Here's to seeking after the joy of your second year.

1 Year ago today

A year ago today I was eating my first meal in HOURS and watching my brand new baby boy.  I was still in shock that he was a boy.  But he was a champion nurser and an even better snuggler.

Happy Birthday, Sweet cuddly Sedryn boy.  I'll be back to write to you tonight, but right now I need to snuggle you after your nap.

11 Months

Dear Sedryn-Boy,

Eleven months is suddenly seeming so old.

You're crawling fast and pulling to stand.  You hate the feel of grass on your legs but in the name of exploring you crawl on hands and feet to conquer the yard.  You gleefully destroy entire clumps of grass.

You laugh so hard at your daddy knocking you over with his head.  You think everyone is here to visit you, and if they don't recognize that they're here to visit you, you'll climb right over them and inform them. You never stop chatting and singing.  You still don't have any teeth.

You have three moods: I'm hurting/hungry/screaming, I'm pretty tired by still vaguely smiley, and I'm happy happy happy.  The third one is your 96% of the time mode.

You're still not the best sleeper and greet us (happily of course) most mornings at 6 and at least one or so mornings a week around 4:30 (in the hurting/screaming mode).

You busted your gums on a coffee table a couple days ago.  Your first tooth is so so so close.  You've got a cold.  And suddenly you've refused your pacifier because of discomfort.  I'm on board with that... I don't want another thumb sucker nor do I want to go through another pacifier battle at 20 months.  Oh, but how I want to hang on to that paci and let you just stay a baby a little longer...

You think some of life's greatest moments are flipping the page of a book.  Part of that is mimicking and part of that is your own special brand of meticulous.  I fear by the time you're two, that I'll be watching in wonder as you take things apart and put them back together again.

You still adore me.  I walk into the nursery after church and even if you're crying tired, you light up with a smile so huge I have to squeeze all of your eleven month body so close to me.

I can hardly contain how much love you require.  I explodes in squeezes and nibbles and kisses and wrestlings all day long.  I don't think you'd have it any other way.

Stay a baby just a couple more months, okay?  I don't think I'm ready for another toddler yet.

Love you,

Momma

10 Months

I'm still wanting to freeze you, Sedryn.  You're just a perfect baby right now (except for some minor sleep issues).  Lots of laughter and exploring and crying only when gassy or tired.  I can hardly stop kissing and squeezing you, which explains why you crawl around the house making kissing noises.  It's the most frequent noise you hear close up between me and your sisters.

You still have no teeth (and mommy is eating up those ephemeral toothless grins!).  You've learned how to crawl like a big boy.  And finally to sit (though always on your own terms.  You stalk mommy if you're hungry or tired. You think Bronwyn is hysterical!  You avoid Aeralind and her tireless mission to make sure you don't fall or get into any trouble (you're tired of being laid on...).  You crawl all over daddy.  You love to clap for any audience and give high fives, too.

You are Mr. Meticulous.  Slow on most of the mass motor skills (at least compared to your sisters who crawled and sat at 7/8 months while you waited until nine), but your fine motor skills are remarkable.  You'll open little doors and bang little blocks together and pick up the tiniest bits.  You're either going to be a jeweler or a engineer!  So detail oriented.

Our home loves having you and the sweet sound of baby laughter!

9 Months!

It's been a big month of firsts for you, sweet boy!

In your 9th month, you've learned to

• crawl 4-6 steps as a real crawl (though you prefer the army/wiggle/scoot crawl that goes "faster" in your opinion. Mommy's not complaining... I'm hoping you don't learn how to really crawl... you're already fast enough!)
• get from your tummy into a sitting position
• get from your tummy into a pulled up position on something low like a step
• get your feet under you once again on something low so you're standing at a 45 degree angle
• blow raspberries in response to me doing the same
• climb over every low lying object in your path with glee (not limited to objects... people are your favorite)

However, my favorite part about you, sweet Sedryn boy, is just how happy your are to be talked to.  Your smile is easy and for everyone (unless you're sick or tired).  You crawl right up and join the fun.  You greet me with ridiculous grins after every nap.  It's adorable.

Oh, and that curly wavy mess you call hair...  (swoon).

I love you.  Stay little a bit longer... 

Breastfeeding Part 20: in which the 8 month old get his first bottle

Teeth.

The girls were slightly grouchy, bit me more often, and then POP! a tooth.  We didn't even use teething gel until they cut their first molars. I kind of snorted at everyone who drugged the mess out of their kids on everything from pain meds to teething tablets to amber necklaces.

Confession: I've been doing a drug cocktail with the boy for 48 hours... and now I ordered an amber necklace.

Apparently his teeth hurt so bad that I'm experiencing my first nursing strike.  Wednesday he didn't eat from 1 until 9pm (to be fair... he was also recovering from the stomach flu).  Thursday he didn't eat from 3-9pm.  Today was trending to be the same.  I'd be fine with that... but he screams pathetically for like 2 hours of that time, then cries himself to sleep, and then I wake him to nurse.  All that screaming (and crawling after me where ever I go) is way more that I can handle (+ two year old twins).

Today required drastic measures.  I borrowed a pump.

And the 8 month old got his first bottle.

I know he was relieved.  And I sort of was.  At least from the screaming.

But I was sad that he had to have a bottle at all. (Self-righteous humility-struggler that I am.)  Oh, and I hate pumping.  Hate it.

So I had a talk with the boy and said I'd only pump the dinner time feed for him... and help him through the other three with well-timed drowsy feeds (during which he will nurse).

But I do believe he liked that bottle... just... a... little... too... much.

Don't you think?

Mama Loves: G Diapers

I just did it.

I sold all of my Bum Genius 3.0s on Craigslist.

There's two years of love on those diapers and they all needed new Velcro.  So as the girls began to potty train, I began to pull off the Velcro on the BG's with the intention of sending them in to get snaps put on them.

Aerie was still in cloth diapers, Bronwyn was in underwear, and Sedryn was wearing a disposable/cloth combo platter.  I called Julia while at Babies R Us and asked her if the size medium gDiaper would fit the girls as "naptime" pants so I could send the BG's in to get resnapped.  She said no.  But she would gladly send me a supply of size Medium gDiapers for the boy to wear in the meantime.

For three months I hated them.  I was trying to use my BG inserts and they just didn't fit right.  All I had was leaks, leaks, and more leaks.

Then Angela gave me a stack of newborn sized prefolds and on a whim one day I stuffed that into my  gDiaper  cover.

gDiapers aren't nearly as bulky as BGs!

It was love at first stuff... or something.  The cotton prefold mean he hasn't had a single diaper rash and if I ever needed more, they're super cheap!  It also meant I didn't have to carry a huge diaper bag just to fit 3 ginormous pocket diapers if I wanted to be out for more than 4 hours.  I could simply stuff a couple cotton prefolds in a purse along with an extra gPant in case of poop.

So I sold my BGs on Craigslist.  And I'm ordering a set of size Large  gDiaper  with the proceeds.

And I couldn't be happier with the decision.

Neither could this handsome gDiaper boy :)

(Don't be jealous... that hair just keeps getting cooler!)

8 Months

Sedryn boy, you think you are hysterical.  You've spent most of the month rolling/scooting around on the floor laughing at yourself.  It cracks me up!  And you love making me laugh and smile.  I think you may be the first true extrovert in this family.  So now we're a family that does parties, corny jokes, and invites tons of people over because of you.  Okay... not yet... but I'm feeling it in the very near future!

You're sick right now.  Fever, sneezy, coughing, tooth-almost popped through miserable sick.  It's so very sad.  So I'm postponing your rocking chair picture for a day or two until your fever breaks and then I'll add it here.  Oh, but I've been enjoying my snuggles from my busy little boy.  Such a sweet little treasure those snuggles are!

You are most definitely mobile now.  There's no denying it any longer.  You've mastered an army crawl scoot, but for the last week I'm always catching you up on all four rocking and giving it all a try.  You love moving.  And chewing.  And grabbing things from your sisters.  And anything that makes noise.  The tiny piano and the girls Little People Zoo are your favorites.

Speaking of sisters, you enjoy trying to play with them.  Or at least just being near them.  Yesterday they were pig piling you on the bed and you were just eating up all that physical affection.  Well, until you had enough.  They were putting 60+ lbs of  wiggly toddler on top of you.  I'm still surprised you smiled and enjoyed it at all! (you were on the bed... good shock absorber.  But when you're older feel free to blame all mental deficiencies on me allowing this to occur.)

Oh, but what I love most about you is that winning grin.  Whenever you see me after nap or as I walk into the room, you just grin.  You've even started scooting over to me.  It just melts me.  All the time.  Boy, are you going to be trouble when you get a bit older!

7 Months

Oh, Sedryn, a few days ago I just started to weep over your beautiful joyful face.

You're an easy baby with some very rough spots (namely sleep predictability... which isn't entirely your fault...), but you were a surprise.

A surprise that we didn't want in the timing that God chose to give you to us.

I must confess: I've spent the better part of the year since you were conceived not sure if I really wanted you.

I'm not saying I didn't love you because you're very easy to love :)

But you were given to me to purge some very specific and very deep set sins in my heart.  Sins I don't like facing and, as you're so young, it's easy to make you the scapegoat for the mess I create.

But, Sedryn, you're an unbelievably beautiful joy.  One I've often taken for granted.  I apologize.

That said, let me tell you about who you've become this month.

I keep telling your daddy that you're going to become a soccer-playing engineer.  Here's why:

You still absolutely adore your feet.  You eat them.  You kick things with them. You rub ankles together.  You use them to push you across the room (yes, you're mobile... I'm in denial).  And craziest of all, you'll actually pick things up with your feet.  It's ridiculous!

You are very attuned to detail.  Even more so than Aeralind was.  Especially when it comes to all things edible (or your perception of edible). You scoot across the floor in search of fabric bits, tracked in leaves, and anything paper.  You pick it up.  Study it.  Gnaw on it... for hours.  I pulled a leaf out of your mouth a whole hour after we left the house one day.  Still intact.  This makes me slightly better at keeping up with vacuuming :) But it's funny how you ignore all the big toys and go for those tiny bits.

We started you on solids this last month.  For about 8 days you hated them.  And then one night at shepherding group, in desperate attempt to eat my own dinner before having to feed you, I started giving you some sweet potato chunks off my plate.  Chili powder encrusted sweet potato bites.  You LOVED it.  You loved real flavor and you loved the texture.  You tolerate spoon feeding, but what you really want is to be able to feed yourself real food.  Here's hoping your pincher grasp catches up to your culinary desires in the next month!

The other thing that makes me laugh is how much you want to move.  Like I said, I'm in denial that you're moving at all!  But you will not sit.  You have the muscle tone to do so; I've seen you sit up through the restraints in your car seat, a feat the girls never managed!  Yet, you have no desire to sit at all!  If I sit you down to practice, you'll immediately face plant and roll/scoot/snake slither to the nearest object of desire.  This movement focus is astounding and must be very boyish!  Even Aeralind, who crawled earliest, spent less time moving and more time practicing her rocking until she mastered the skill.  You don't seem to care about the skill/art of moving at all, as long as you're doing it every waking moment!

Happy Half-Birthday, Sedryn Boy!!!

I'm a little sad that this boy is 6 months now.  His first year is half over!  Yet at the same time I'm super excited.  The hard part of the first year is finished.  And the super FUN parts are just starting!

I'm so excited to report that he's finally sleeping 8+ hours at night.  Wa-hoo!  He gets up at 6:30 (an early riser like daddy) and takes about 3 1.5 hour naps.  This momma is super excited about finding our groove.

Sedryn is still obsessed with his toes.  Only now he can reach them too so they're even more exciting than rubbing his little ankles together endlessly.

He's also no longer petrified of his sisters.  He'll grab stuff from them or let them lay on top of him with no complaint.  Suddenly, he's even started smiling at him when they acknowledge him.  Ofcourse, when they do acknowledge him, most of the time their shrieking something like "Baby, KICK me!" or "Baby, douch me!"  Pour guy, even with innocent intentions he's already being accused of crimes.

The girls were late laugh-ers and Sedryn will be too.  When we tickle him or blow raspberries on his tummy or bulldoze him... all we get are bemused looks and lots of exhuberant grunting.  Boy, can this kid grunt!  It makes us laugh so hard.

I love you, Sedryn Boy!  I'm glad you've been given to us.

5 Months

You can reach and hold things!  I can't express how happy and accomplished you seem when you grab something you wanted.  You love to sit and explore your Dragon in your carseat.  You grab my shirt while nursing.

You rolled right over back to tummy for an audience at my MOPS table.  It seems you need an audience to complete any new skill.  Which is okay since two little girls are often caught fawning over your every move.  And, also, because you can woo just about any woman with your little smiles.

I still am in awe of how sensitive you can be.  Your sisters have begun to yell "God!" every time we read it in The Jesus Storybook Bible.  Each time they yell, your little lip begins to quiver and, if someone doesn't pull you close quickly, you'll burst into tears!  You grabbed the girls button lunch pail today and bonked yourself on the head with it to the same lip quiver and tears.  I'm not sure I'll know what to do with such a sensitive spirit when juxtaposed with my independent girl and my strong-willed girl!

You're also obsessed with your feet!  You can't get them into your mouth yet, but you can grab your thigh.  But mostly, you'll just lay on your back and rub your ankles together for hours.  It's adorable!

You're growing each day and learning so much.  I see you longing to play hard with the big kids and as strong as you are, I wouldn't be surprised if you were sitting or creeping this time next month!

4 Months!

It's been a rough last week, Sedryn.  You have had a very icky string of terrible nights.

However, it's easy to forgive you come sunrise: with your cheery grins and new found voice.

You're talking a lot.  Squealing some.  And always looking for my face.  I totally get the "Mama's boy" phenomenon now; you can easily wrap me around your finger.

You've managed to roll over tummy to back multiple times this month.  You're finally starting to adore tummy time.  Mainly because I can see that you really enjoy gross motor skills.

Your fine motor skill consists of reaching for and fingering anything soft.  No plastic rings or animals for you.  You much prefer soft crinkly stuff or a whole blanket to stuff into your mouth.

You smile at your sisters now instead of simply cower.  They get so excited and yell "Mama!  Baby 'mile!!"  But they don't understand yet how to keep you smiling.

Keep growing, little one, I love you more each month.

Home Life Project 52: Week 5

3 Months

Oh, Sedryn boy!  You have been battling sickness so much this month.  And you're a typical man: you wanted to be cuddled and coddled the whole time you're sick.  It's not working out so well for you because of your crazy sisters.

But one thing is for sure: your love language is physical touch.  You practically purr with delight each evening as I give you a tummy and chubby thigh massage before bed.  It's hysterical to watch... too bad the video camera distracts you too much for me to record it forever.

You've discovered two things this month.  First, that if all the noise/people leave the room and you start screaming, odds are pretty good we'll come back.  You want us to be there surrounding you.  You are such an extrovert.  Second, you've discovered you hands.  You favorite thing to do with them is stuff your whole fist in your mouth to munch on.  Your second favorite is to hold them in front of you nose and watch you fingers move.

Sedryn, there's also no question that God made you a boy.  Your biggest obsession for the last 3 weeks has been to play with your spit.  The girls never did anything like this! You sit there blowing spit bubbles until your entire shirt is soaking wet.  I may have to pull out the bibs after all!

 

Thanks for snuggling with me, little cuddle bug, even when I don't appreciate it as I should.

2 Months

Sedryn boy, you turned on the fussies at about 5 weeks and you haven't hardly let up since then!  You also rocked about 3 different growth spurts that had mommy waking up every 3 hours instead of once a night.  It has been a hard hard month for mommy.

But Saturday you finally turned on the grins and you haven't stopped yet.  And the best part: you like to spoil me with smiles more than anyone else!  I think I might actually like you now.  Keep up the flirting... it does wonders for mommy's morale.

What I've most noticed about you this month is that I'm about 100% sure that your love languages are touch and quality time.  You love undivided attention (which is hard to come by in this house) and you love being held and touched (gently... sister touches are almost always unwelcome).  I'm actually starting to enjoy quiet moments with you, too.

Last night, I tucked you in bed alone.  You're not a fan of going to bed around 7 like your body needs.  You want to stay up and join in the chaos and catch up on quality time.  But last night, I fed you, gave you a tummy massage, talked to you, and then wrapped you up for bed.  Two pacifier insertions after that and you were asleep.  We might be on to something.  And I might secretly adore that quiet happy time with you.

1 Month

Sedryn turns 1 month today.

He is such an easy going little guy.  He doesn't usually mind when his sisters literally lie all over him.  He hangs out in the bouncy seat without complaint. He hates having his diaper/clothes changed, gets impatient if his meal is late, and can shriek crazy loud if he has a gas bubble, but other than that nothing phases him.  Well, except for the bath.  He's horrified of that whole idea... and I have a feeling that might just be part of having a boy :-p

But the most adorable thing about this boy (besides those daily growing chubbier cheeks) is just how much he loves to be warm and snuggled.

Little guy, I can't wait to see your personality evolve over the next year.

A Hat for Sedryn

This boy has a big head (just like his daddy... ahem :-p)!

He couldn't wear the newborn hats in the hospital.
I have exactly 3 hats that sort of fit him.
So when we ran out to Target with a gift card to spend, I looked to get him a hat.

Apparently hats at Target only come in two sizes: Newborn and 12-18 months.

Disappointing, but crafting inspiring.

Meet Sedryn's new hat made from Daddy's old shirt (with enough to make a few more) and a bit of ribbing.   I used this free pattern from Sew Liberated.
Perfection.

And, oh my goodness!  Is this boy getting chubby or what?!  I might actually have a baby with rolls since the girls never did chunk out!

Little One's Birth Story: Part 2

The hospital policy on admittance was to do a cervical check and then let you walk for about an hour to see how you progressed before admitting a patient.  I was a little disappointed when the initial cervix check came back as 2cm and only 50% effaced.  I just wanted to head home and mope.  But after they got me on the wireless monitor and I set out walking, I calmed down a bit.  I got into a groove of focusing through the contraction pain and I was so soothed having Derek and Rochelle right next to me rather than listening to Derek snore.

About 2 hours later they finally got around to checking me again. 4cm and 80% effaced.  Woohoo!  The doctor admitted me and we rejoiced in knowing that a baby would be joining our family that day.

My nurse Debbie was amazing.  She overlooked me eating jello and popcicles and encouraged me to drink water (all things that anesthesia go crazy over for the "just in case" scenario).  She tenderly applied my dreaded hep lock (the one concession I was still pretty hostile over.. and postponed at least 3 times).  And when she and Rochelle talked about my crazy focus during contractions and I quoted 2 Corinthians 12:9, Debbie quoted scripture back.  I felt very safe with my labor team, even though my least favorite doctor in the practice was the doctor on call.

So the next few hours (8-12ish), I knitted, snacked on some jello, breathed on through the contractions, and got seriously annoyed with all the forms and speeches people had to give me during contractions.  Time seemed fluid, measured only in the moments of rest between focused contractions.

At noon, I got out of bed to use the restroom and decided to sit on the couch for a bit and play cards with Derek.  Suddenly nurses and nurse coordinators and a few other people swarmed my room.  They had seen some apparent decels with the baby's heart rate.  Little one had moved off the monitor and my upright position made is so that the monitors were picking up my heart rate.  To the nurses, it looked like the heart rate had dropped from 140 to 63 in the middle of a contraction.  They hustled me to the bed, made me lie down on my left side (insert triple the amount of painful contractions!), and hurriedly tried to find his heart tones again.  I remember squeezing Rochelle's hand in terror knowing the baby was okay (I could feel him!) and struggling to cope with the pain lying down.  The doctor walked in and I knew this was the defining moment of my VBAC.  If he saw this incident as decels... I was going to be wheeled into the OR that instance. 

He reviewed my contraction patterns and calmly requested to check my cervix.  I was 8cm, fully effaced, 0 station.  He shrugged off the 'crisis' and wished me luck as I entered transition.  Praise God!

Derek left the room to eat, knowing the baby would be here soon and he didn't need to have low blood sugar.  I started to doubt my decision to go all-natural.  So far, outside of the crisis, labor had been rather uneventful and not nearly as painful as I had been led to believe.  But I knew transition and pushing were ahead of me...  I asked Rochelle to describe what was coming up.   I knew this was the turning point.  If I didn't get the epidural now... I wouldn't be able to get it when I was pushing.

Derek came back after having eaten his Hot Pockets and I made him brush his teeth. I was so hungry... I couldn't handle the thought of food and I knew eating now would probably make me nauseous.  The contraction tempo started to change.  They were still 3-5 minutes apart but the first one would be pretty easy while the second one would be long and monsterous.  Little one was still trying to dodge the heart monitor so every so often we'd have to move that monitor to find him again.

And then came the overwhelming urge to use all my stomache muscles to bear down during a contraction.  I triumphantly called out that I had the urge to push!  Debbie checked me, called the doctor, and I was given the okay to push.

Pushing was hard.  I didn't want to move from my back.  Derek and Rochelle held my legs, but I just couldn't open up and surrender.  My focus on His Grace was being lost.  Rochelle held that baby heart monitor in the one place that it would pick up his heartbeat for almost 2 hours as I unsuccessfully pushed in that position.  She was amazing.  Derek held my hand and told me over and over how proud he was.  I was feeling pretty great about what was going on until my sweet nurse Debbie walked in and turned on me (or so I thought).

Debbie stood at the foot of the bed and demanded that I get up and pee to empty my bladder and clear up some room for that baby.  I told her I couldn't.  She put her hands firmly on her hips and told me that I would.  She said "Honey, if you don't get out of that bed, change positions, and get serious about pushing that baby out, then, we'll have to cut it out."  I could have thrown my hospital bed at her I was so ticked.  I squared my jaw and waited through two really hard contractions stifling the urge to push before waddling my tail to the bathroom just to defy Debbie. 

There was no urine in there.  But a monster contraction hit while I sat.  Derek squatted in front of me whispering encouragement and I couldn't help but push hard.  Suddenly, my water broke.  The relief was immediate.  Debbie tried to hustle me back to bed, but I sat and pushed through at least one more contraction.

I crawled up on the bed finally and assumed a sort of crouching lion position, just trying to rest.  Another massive contraction began and Debbie went out of the room.  I arched my back and pushed hard.  I felt the ring of fire; I felt the skin stretch.

"I'm crowning!" I yelled.  I'm not even sure the nurses got there to guide baby to the bed as I pushed that baby out below me.  Little one plopped down below and I could only see the bottom parts.

"It's a boy." I said in quizzical amazement as all contractions subsided.  I heard him crying and the commotion of Derek cutting the cord.  The doctor finally arrived and they flipped me over and stitched me up as I held Rochelle's hand and watched Derek and the nurses with my son.  Sweet Debbie stood over me and massaged my tummy to respect my request not to have pitocin.  I smiled up at her grateful for her tough love c-section speech.

I finally got to hold my strong little boy with his double 9 apgar scores.

Welcome to our home, Sedryn Justice Colton!

Thank you, Lord, for so much of your grace in this process.

Little One's Birth Story: Part 1

As I'm sure I've expressed over the past few weeks... I was so tired of being pregnant. But as anxious as I was to be done, I was also pretty fearful of how delivery would occur.


When I was pregnant with the girls and realized that it was almost certain that I would have a c-section, I wrote this post. I truly wanted to have an unmedicated homebirth. Now while the c-section was not altogether a terrible experience (I did get the most amazing pair of baby girls!), it did complicate my wishes for this birth. In my state (and the two states neighboring me close enough to drive to), I cannot be attended by a midwife as a Vaginal Birth after C-Section (VBAC) patient. That resigned me to another hospital birth attended by OBs. All of this was very disappointing to discover, but I took a deep breath, asked Jesus to guide my decisions toward this birth, and entrusted the results to his hands.

I switched OB providers to the local practice that was widely recommended by other VBAC hopefuls and successes. That practice also happened to deliver at a hospital with wireless monitors, a laboring tub, and a decent rate of VBAC success (especially compared to the 40-60% c-section rate with my old provider/hospital combination). The practice was small and with only 4 doctors who all said the same things about my VBAC, I continued to prayerfully have hope.

I wrote out a lengthy birth preference plan and hired an amazing doula-in-training whose name is Rochelle. And then I waited (rather impatiently) on the Lord's and Little One's timing.

Monday October 17th, labor began. S.......l......oooooo.....w......l.......y. I had decently painful contractions about every 5-8 minutes. I called Rochelle to let her know. I called "Aunt" Ruthie to let her know she might be needed to spend the night with the girls. And I waited. Around 11-12 I was pretty consistently 5 minutes apart so we told Ruthie to come on over and sleep in our bed. Around 1 we laid down for a little rest. And over the course of the next 2-3 hours everything fizzled out to about every 20 minutes. Rochelle called to encourage me that oftentimes VBAC patients had longer early labors and gave me some amazing times for coping.

By 9am, nothing was happening at all. I went to sleep from 9-11 and again from 1-3. That afternoon we took the girls to a tennis court and ran them ragged with sidewalk chalk and a pair of tennis balls. At a little past 8, I crawled in bed to sleep hopefully a long good night.

By 9pm on the October 18th, it was quite apparent that I would not be sleeping the whole night. The contractions had started again and were about 20 minutes apart and painful enough that I couldn't sleep. I came downstairs and knitted until 11:00 when we decided we'd go lie down to sleep. I could not tolerate contractions lying down. They hurt a hundred times worse because I tensed up. So I sat up in bed for an hour breathing in grace, breathing out eucharisteo (thanksgiving that He was sustaining me) and casually timing the contractions. They were consistently 5 minutes apart. Eventually, I went down to the computer. I was exhausted from not sleeping much the night before... and very frustrated that it looked like I wasn't going to sleep again that evening.

My dear friend Chanwey, who was blessed to have a vaginal birth with her sweet twins, happened to be on Google Chat. Her words of encouragement to me from 11-12 were a wonderful type of grace sweetly received at just the right time. Thank you for being available, sweet sister!
At around 1, I moved back to the couch to knit in the dark. Around 2, I tried to lay down again. I just could not labor in that position. I finally sat up against a couple pillows on the headboard and practiced breathing in His Grace (for its power is perfect in my weakness) and breathing out thanksgiving for everything I could think of. I dozed between the contractions. Around 3, Derek woke and I asked him to make me a smoothie which I gratefully chugged. Around 4:30, I woke him to discuss whether or not to go into the hospital. We decided that the worst that could happen would be that I would wake Rochelle and Ruthie and then get sent back home... but I was more than ready for change in scenery so we decided it was time.

We called our support ladies, gathered up our gear, and headed to the hospital. We arrived on a dark cold windy morning to an empty maternity ward around 5am. The nurses were excitedly preparing for shift change...

Little One's Nursery

Little One's Nursery is finally finished!  Except for a broken drawer slide that we're getting fixed. :(  But since Little One could come any day now, I thought I'd go ahead and blog about the space.  My original design board can be seen here and I'm super excited about how that little design board poured creativity into this space :)

I'm very proud of the handmade love in this room and would love to tell you about each little element in detail.  But if you're not so detail oriented you can just skip reading the following section and enjoy the photos.  It won't hurt my feelings :)

Curtains

I ended up choosing Premier Prints ZigZag in Village Blue for the curtain fabric. It did seem a little more gender neutral than my other option and I really love the zigzag effect.  I'm actually wishing the window in my bedroom was the same size so I could inherit them when Little One upgrades to a big kid room.

The curtains are unlined with tab tops. Basically it's just a simple rectangle with hems: totally my type of mindless sewing project :)

One of our favorite little touches was finding this nifty bird curtain rod at one of the local home improvement stores (Lowes, I think?).  I'm pretty sure that all bedrooms will have this rod before we're finished decorating.

Wingback Chair and Accessories

Our neighbor gave us this wingback chair when they bought new furniture.  There was nothing wrong with the piece structurally and it's actually a decent solid color blue with some fading.  But we had no place where it truly fit in, and I wasn't a fan of the formal look that wingback chairs have.

And then one day I stumbled onto this video tutorial series on Slipcovering a Wingback chair from Miss Mustard Seed.  Perfect!  I was super intimidated by the whole process of slipcovering and I have been for years.  My furniture is all mis-mosh side of the road finds and I've wanted to make it match, but the price of slipcovers and the scariness of messing up all that expensive fabric scared me!  But for this chair, I thought that giving it a try with about $25 worth of drop cloth was totally worth it.

To say I'm actually surprised by how easy this was is an understatement.  It was a pretty intense project with scraps and bits and pins and piping everywhere, but it wasn't hard.  And even though it's nowhere near perfect, I'm totally ready to jump into slipcovering my other furniture.... once life settles down a bit. ;)

Pillows

I wanted some pillows to go with the chair both to use my favorite accent fabric, Premier Prints Hooty Owl Village Blue,  and also to be able to give some support to my lower back while nursing.  Both square pillow forms were given to us with a couch from the same generous neighbor as the wing back chair. They're simple envelop style covers with leftover piping from the wingback chair.

The roll pillow is actually a rectangle form that I stuffed into a round pillow. I made that pillow by cutting a rectangle from the leftover zigzag fabric, sewing it into a cylinder while leaving a hole for stuffing in the form, and then gathering both ends.  It's not exactly what I envisioned, but I does provide ample lower back support!


Lamp 

 
I hate turning on the big light to nurse, so we got this little lamp.  I simply painted it Sherwin Williams Morning Fog and ModPodged some cut out owls on it.  The side table is actually a patio table that we've had for years.  Simple, and serves it's purpose :)


Dresser and Accessories
Oh, we wanted to build a dresser so badly for this room!  We wanted to give the baby a little heirloom piece to pass down.  But when we crunched numbers and found out that lumber alone would cost about $100 and we'd still need a few tools, paint, and stain... sight.  We ended up getting this dresser off Craigslist.  (Just a side note: dresser shopping on Craigslist when your budget is $50 or under is so frustrating!  No one gets back to you if they've already sold the dresser.)

This dresser actually wasn't terribly bad to begin with.  It had lots of dings and scratches (character), but was of a uniform color, had all of it's knobs, and had good bones. I especially liked the little etching on the front.  It looks like tree leaves to me.  The only real problem was one beat up drawer slide that we're getting replaced: hence, the currently missing drawer ;)  Not bad for $40!

We took her outside and stripped the top of stain. Derek and I actually really enjoyed that process.  It was smelly... but we had a blast destroying something to make it better.  After stripping, we primed and painted the bottom and drawer fronts.  The final color is Sherwin Williams Morning Fog.  It's a really great neutral gray.  Then, I stained and polyurethane-ed the top with an Antique Walnut Stain (I got it at walmart... too lazy to go look at it for the name brand).  Finally, I took a little brush and with some blue acrylic mixed with Morning Fog, I highlighted the fun etching. 

Changing Pad Cover

When I saw this fabric, I knew it belonged in this room!  It's Wrenly Mama Birds by Valorie Wells, and it had a Mama bird with three little babies in parts.  This is actually the only piece leftover from the quilt backing and it was the perfect size to cover this little changing pad.  I just rounded the rectangle, sewed a casing along the edges, and threaded through some elastic.  Easy :)

Fabric Basket

I absolutely love the fabric basket in the girls room.  It was purchased, but it's the perfect thing to hold wipes and creams.  I still had owl and zigzag scraps left, so I gave I decided to make one.  I loosely followed this tutorial and love how it came out!  It's a little floppy, but it'll serve it's purpose and, unlike the girl's basket, it's completely washable when that inevitable 'accident' happens!

Owl Bird Art

Sadly, the lovely Owl and Birch Tree vinyl art was waaaaay outside of our budget.  We couldn't make it work.  So I had to get creative with making wall art.  The Owls and zigzags here are simply adhered to scrap plywood cut to size by my sweet husband.  A few picture frame hangers later and we had some art!



Owl Book

 
My sweet friend Mandy made this with my final owl fabric scraps.  It's filled with notes and prayers from the ladies who attended my shower for Little One.  It's it such a sweet idea?!


Owl Print

Mandy also commissioned a friend to make this adorable Owl print for the nursery.  All those finger print leaves belong to people who love and are praying for Little One.  Can you tell Mandy totally spoiled me and Little One at the shower?!



Crib and Accessories
Like I mentioned in my design post, we have a borrowed Ikea Crib.  It seems a little longer than American cribs and the mattress is definitely longer.  If you get one of these, beware!, jersey sheets are the the only thing that will fit!  If it weren't a borrowed crib... I probably would have painted it a fun color... ;)



Little Owl

Another friend at the shower, Heather, made this little guy!  Isn't he adorable? The girls are in love with him!


Quilt

 I initially thought I'd use the Hooty Owls, but since it's home decorator fabric, it's a little rough for a quilt.  After I stumbled on Valorie Wells' Wrenly line, I knew that I needed to use that for my quilt! I grabbed a fat quarter set of cobalt, and a couple yards of Mama Birds for the backing and got to work.

I used a pretty simple pattern from Sew4Home, and I pretty much copied their quilting lines.  This quilt top came together in about 3 hours and I think the whole quilt only took about 6-7 with binding (as usual) being the hardest part.  I pieced all my leftovers from the fat quarters onto the back to add a little interest. :)

Tiny Rocker

This was another amazing gift from my neighbors.  It's so adorable.

Bird Mobile

I had some small scraps left from the fat quarters and I was set on making this bird mobile.  I had wanted to do it for the girls. Although the vinyl art was not in our budget, a package of stuffing and a couple packages of hooks were totally in the budget.  I didn't have anything to lose except $10.  So I went for it.  And I love it.  Hearing the girls shriek, "Burd! Burd!" makes it totally worth it!

Outlet Covers

Once we painted the room in Sherwin Williams Lemon Meringue, it became very apparent that the black plastic outlet covers were not going to match very well.  Since we'd already spent a lot of money on this room, I was feeling too cheap to buy new covers. I started by attempting to paint them... but the paint just peeled right off... So I researched on the web a little and learned I could ModPodge fabric onto them.  Brilliant!  They may be one of my favorite accidental details in the whole room :)