My birth photos

I finally got my birth photos!! Here is the link (the graphic ones will be staying off the internet).

http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a152/kjtzk/How%20Eli%20got%20here/

Finally caught a smile!!

More newborn pictures

Taken By The Beautiful Life Photography

Newborn pictures

This picture is of Eli being weighed the night he was born.


The photographer came when Eli was 9 days old and did newborn photos. These are the ones we've seen so far, and I'm sure I'll be posting more when she finishes editing them.

He's here!

Elijah Daniel was born at 8:01 pm on September 2. He weighed in at 7lbs 12 oz. and is 19 3/4" long. The birth was very, very different from our last two at home, (I'll write up the full story soon) but Eli and I are both doing beautifully. The kids are totally enamored with him...Mia especially.

Joe was amazing labor support during the birth...Deb (our midwife) commented several times how attentive and tuned in to my needs he was.

We are thanking God for our new little boy, and all the wonderful people that helped him get here!

Maternity portraits

Here are a handful of my maternity portraits. Done by Emily Witkowski http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Beautiful-Life-Photography/153725851330824

Click on the image and it should pull up a larger view.

Almost done!

We thought we should do a 38 week picture just in case I don't go to 40 weeks...although we really don't expect baby until 41 weeks.

Other than that, not much is new. Baby and I are both doing great, and we have everything all set and ready for the birth. I feel great, and I'm not tired of being pregnant, but I'm impatient because I'm anxious to meet this little person!

12 x 3 = Me!

36 weeks already! At this point, baby is about 19 inches long and weighs around 6lbs. Now is when it's time to start bulking up and building fat layers, so s/he could gain about an ounce a day.

Our midwife visit yesterday was great! Baby is engaged and nestled into my pelvis nice and low, so the odds of kiddo flipping breech are small. Head down is only half the story, but Baby has also been persistently anterior, so I'm not as concerned with a posterior birth as I was. I will still be doing my OFP routine to make sure baby stays that way! :o)

All the banana peppers stuffed with cream cheese seem to have been doing their job, as in two weeks I've gotten 4 cm bigger. This is by far the most active baby I've ever had, and the kicks, stretches, and squirming has been a source of delight for the whole family.

I've got a few things left to order, and then we'll have everything ready for the birth. Although I still don't realistically expect baby for at least another 4 1/2 to 5 weeks, anytime after 37 is fair game, so our midwife likes her clients to be prepared just in case!

Woo-Hoo!!

Joe was told by the HR gal at his office yesterday that the insurance WILL cover our homebirth! YAY!!! I guess she talked to the two really "big dogs" at the office and part of the reason is they decided it was crummy to switch the policy in the middle of my pregnancy, and basically yank the rug out from under us. It's unclear if they'll cover homebirths in the future, but as long as we know ahead of time if they won't, we can plan accordingly. No, that does not mean we're planning another baby after this one, but it's good to know anyway.

Prenatal appointment was great yesterday. Baby was measuring right on track, and as I suspected, has finally flipped vertex. Now I just have to keep the bugger from going posterior on me. I'm 30.5 weeks now, so baby is opening and closing eyes, sees light, can distinguish sounds, and weighs somewhere around 3 lbs. So the next time you're in the meat department, find a rump roast that's about three pounds and stick it in your pants to see what it feels like to lug that around...okay...don't really stick it in your pants, you might get in trouble.

I'm feeling pretty darn good, as is typical for me and my pregnancies. The only thing I'm not digging right now is the addition to the front portion of my braces. They are really pretty painful right now, and I kind of wish I could get to be unconscious for the next couple of days until my mouth adjusts. Once again, if you're considering braces and pregnancy at the same time, DON'T DO IT!!

The boys have been enjoying the tennis program through our park district for the last month. Zack was bored out of his mind with playing t-ball last year, so we decided to put Dom and him in tennis this time. Today is their last session, so we're going to start taking them to the park and hitting balls around...they have this short little rackets, and it's so funny to see them dashing all over the court. Mia is in a program where they play different sport every week, and that just started. She wasn't at all interested in hockey last week (and it was cloudy, wet, and cold), so we only stayed for about 10 minutes. I'm hoping her second session on Friday goes better!

If you're on Facebook, you've already seen these pictures, but I thought I'd post them for those who haven't.

Yes, she fell asleep this way...We had to move the bird feeder thanks to this little guy...

The kids after Zack's first Cub Scout rocket launch.

This pregnancy seems to be flying by! I'm 24 weeks now, and am boggled at how fast this seems to be going.

Baby is about 11.5 inches tall, and weighs around 1.3 lbs. S/he is considered "viable" at this point, so if they were born today, there is a 36% chance they could survive. I don't plan on testing that theory. Ears are done, fingernails are done, and eyelids are clearly visible, although fused shut. Baby is developing taste buds, and apparently can taste what I eat...again, something new I learned this pregnancy. His or her eyeballs are also totally formed, although the iris is apparently colorless at this point.

We're all completely enjoying the baby acrobatics that are happening right now. The kids love to watch my belly "bubble" when the baby flips and trying to feel them move and kick. By my next update (around 28 weeks) baby will probably be too big to be flipping and rolling in there, so I'm trying to enjoy it as much as I can.

This pregnancy has me once again knocking around the idea of becoming a Childbirth Educator. I've yet to determine what approach I'd want to teach, since I've used more than one. Given my passion for birth, and increasing awareness of birthing women's rights, I know I'd enjoy it. I also think I'd be pretty good at it. Maybe someday I'll become a doula, but those kinds of hours don't appeal to me with having young and homeschooled kids. So for now, I'm going to look into training next year and being able to make a schedule that would fit our family.

Over halfway done...

I'm 21 weeks already! Yes the picture is from last weekend...sue me.

At this point, in yet another confusing aspect of obstetrics, they no longer measure baby from head to butt, they measure from head to heel. So Baby is about 10.5 inches right now. That's only about 1/2 inch difference from 19 weeks, but baby has been bulking up as opposed to getting longer. Kiddo weighs somewhere around 12 oz and my belly has gone from 17 cm to 22 in the last month, which my midwife said is great growth. Baby's digestive system is fully functioning now, and s/he is swallowing and eliminating amniotic fluid now...at least it's all sterile! As for looks, s/he is basically a mini version of what they'll look like at birth. All traces of "alien" are gone...we hope.

I can say this kid is a bit of an acrobat. I get feel kicks and squirmies all day, and am enjoying it immensely. The kids have gotten to feel a kick here and there, and since they know the baby can hear, they've starting having conversations with my belly. Zack has described in great detail the tour of the house he will give the baby once s/he is born. :o)

Once out of the first trimester, I really do enjoy being pregnant. I (praise God) do not have difficult pregnancies, and am just trying to remember to enjoy these moments as they are going to be over sooner than I think!

We're still waiting to find out what the new insurance situation is going to be...hopefully that will be resolved soon and I can have one less stress to worry about!

19 weeks

So I'm almost halfway there...it's pretty strange to think about that, actually.

At 19 weeks the baby is about 6 inches from crown to rump, or 10 inches from head to toe. Hair is growing, and if we were having an ultrasound, we'd be able to tell if it was a boy or girl. Teeth buds are developing, and if it is a girl, she'd already have 6 million eggs in her ovaries...although from what I've read, about 2 million will disappear before birth. I'm curious as to why, but I'm not curious enough to explore Google to find out. Apparently this is also the point where the baby starts producing poop. This just goes to show you learn something new all the time. In four pregnancies, I never knew that. I kind of thought it was later, but it makes sense as this is the time the baby begins to digest amniotic fluid. I also found it interesting that on three of the four websites I looked at to get the info for this paragraph, the authors felt this was important enough information to include it...some of them going into great detail, which I will spare you.

We did get some frustrating, and potentially costly, news this week, and that is that Joe's company is changing insurance carriers starting in May. The new one does not cover home as a place of birth (unlike the insurance we have now). The new insurance will cover licensed midwives in birth centers, but I have absolutely no desire to drive anywhere while in labor, and it would be at least 1/2 hour to get to one. We're hoping our midwife's new billing service (which she is signing up with in the next couple of weeks we think) will be able to work some magic and get them to cover it. Right now we're left waiting until she meets with them and they contact the insurance company. Oh, and the cherry on top is our chiropracter, whom we've been seeing for three years, is not in their network either.

I'm feeling fine, although feeling much bigger than the pictures of the typical 19 weeker I see. My energy level is getting better, and I think I'm starting to nest really early this time. Decluttering has been going off and on for about two weeks...except the basement. I haven't had the gumption to go down there yet. The baby is pretty active and I can feel him/her multiple times a day. It's been so long since I've been this pregnant that I'd forgotten what it feels like. It seems like there is so much going on, I've had to force myself several times to just sit and enjoy feeling the baby moving around for a few minutes.

The weather is getting warmer, the kids and I are getting more time outside, and we're all almost completely healthy. All in all, things are pretty good with us right now, and I hope it stays that way. :o)

17 weeks!

Yes, I know I just posted a 16 week picture when I am, in fact, 17 weeks pregnant right now, but I've been sick, and busy. :o)

At 17 weeks the baby is about 5 inches long from crown to rump, and would be about 9 inches if s/he could stretch out. I think that would be mighty uncomfortable, so thankfully for me, baby can't. S/he weighs about 5 oz. (think turnip) and no longer looks quite as alien as the eyes have moved from the sides of the head to the front. Light sensitivity is functioning, and baby can hear my heartbeat, although probably not much else right now.

I can feel flutters and light jabs at least a couple times a day, and Joe was delighted to feel a kick on Saturday morning. We were supposed to have a prenatal appointment last week, but our midwife had a birth, so we're rescheduled for this week.

We're still undecided on middle names, and have mutually agreed to just table that discussion for a while. I've presently got two dilemmas I'm puzzling. The first is deciding exactly where we're going to put the birth pool, since we're in much more confined quarters than our last two homebirths. It's going to have to go upstairs, since I want to have a bed on the same level, but there is no way it will fit in our room. Shortly after we moved in, we gave the boys the biggest bedroom since they spend more time the their room than we do. It also made sense considering they have way more stuff in their space than us. Our room isn't the smallest bedroom, but we have a king size sleigh bed in it, so unless we put the pool on the bed, it ain't gonna happen. I'm thinking we'll probably have to put it in the boys room (providing we get all the toys put away in early labor) but then we arrive at the other brain boggle I have, and that is where the kids are going to be during the birth.

At our other two births, we were downstairs in the lower level with a bedroom, sitting room, and bathroom, and the kids were upstairs in the main living space with my mom. Here, we don't have that option. The kids have already expressed a desire to see the baby born, which I'm fine with for the most part. The concern is whether having them here will distract Joe and take him away from the role he has for helping me birth. I've no doubt when I'm in "the zone" I wouldn't care if a marching band came through the room, but Joe is always very involved in helping me through labor, and we're not sure how the kids being present would affect his focus. I realize we have plenty of time to figure this stuff out, but I think if the kids are going to be here we need to start preparing them now.

How about this? Everyone pray I go into labor at like 9pm, and have the baby an hour or so later while they're all sleeping. After a 29 hour birth and a 27 hour birth, a one hour birth might be a nice change! :o)

15 weeks already!

I've been sort of distracted lately, and realized that I hadn't taken any belly photos, nor have I looked up the baby's development for a while. I'm in my 15th week, which means the baby is four inches long from crown to rump, is beginning to grow fingernails and toenails, and is able to sense light. I'm not feeling movement yet, but I expect to soon. I'll try to get a picture taken this week...the old saying that things "fall out" faster with subsequent pregnancies is very true in my case!

It occurred to me a couple of days ago, that as this pregnancy lines up with Mia's, it's been exactly four years since I was this pregnant. It's amazing how much you forget. Zack and Dom are 20 months apart, and Dom and Mia are 26 months apart, so this is a large gap for me. It's almost like the first time again. Joe seems to have also forgotten. He rubbed my already bulging belly the other night and said with a very large grin, "Wow, you're gonna get huge aren't you?" Not all the growth has been as...amusing for me. The women will understand...I went up three cup sizes in about a week and a half. Yeah...ow.

I had a blood test a few weeks ago, and am no longer anemic, which is a huge relief. I'm still more tired than I remember being in my other pregnancies at this time, but I think it's water and protein intake related...I often forget to drink and snack, so I've got to watch that.

We're pretty sure we've decided on first names for both genders, which would make this the easiest and earliest we've ever resolved that issue. Now the dilemma is middle names...that may take a while. We don't like to find out the gender before the birth, and I'm not one of those women who "knows" if it's a girl or boy during the pregnancy. Mia has decided it's a girl, and the boys say it's a boy, so no help there. They ask me every couple of days when the baby is coming out. A few days ago, Mia asked that and I told her Mommy's belly was going to get a lot bigger first. Her eyes got huge and she said, "Big like Daddy's?" I don't care who you are, that's funny. Joe thought so too.

Our family is growing!!

Joe and I were surprised, but thrilled to find out at the end of December that I was pregnant again. While we weren't trying for another so soon, we weren't abstaining either, and were open to the idea of another pregnancy whenever we were blessed with one. Our OB told us that there is no increased concern in relation to how close this pregnancy is to the miscarriage.

We had some wonky blood work at first, and there was concern about a possible ectopic situation, but everything turned out to be fine. I'm just reaching the end of my first trimester, and everything looks great. We had an ultrasound a few weeks ago at roughly 8 weeks gestation , and were told that if everything looked good at 8 weeks, there is a 97-98% chance that the pregnancy will be fine. We've got one baby, right where s/he belongs, with a good heartbeat! I've been dealing with a lot of anxiety over the last couple of months, but now that it looks like we're in the clear, I'm starting to relax and look forward to being pregnant again.

I've gotten several different due dates, and since I usually carry until 41 weeks, we expect the bean to arrive mid-September...right around Mia's birthday. I can't believe she's going to be 4!

I've been really, really tired, but part of that is probably still anemia from the miscarriage blood loss I had. We'll find out how anemic I still am when I get blood work done next week, but I'm back on the iron supplements and trying to eat as much as I can...I DO NOT recommend orthodontic treatment during pregnancy.

We're planning another home birth, which is a totally different ball of wax in a legal state vs. an illegal one...and a little more annoying, but I'll probably get into that in later posts.

I've decided we're going to keep schooling right through the summer, so that when school starts next year (right when the baby is due) the boys won't get behind when I slow things down for a bit after the birth.

I guess that's the pregnancy news in a nutshell!