Luke's Birthday

Thursday, November 17 at about 12:30 a.m.

 I was jolted awake with a horrible pain in my back. Contraction. I did my best to catch my breath and I tried to ease the pain by shifting positions. When that didn't work I got up and went to the bathroom and hoped that would stop the contracting or at least make it not hurt my back so much. I laid back down.

Contraction.

I sat up at the edge of the bed and tried to huff and puff through the pain. Tyson woke up and asked if I was okay. When all I could do was groan he started worrying that I was in labor and should we call his parents and am I okay and what else do we need to put in the hospital bag? Luckily I had packed most of it the day before so not much. When I could talk again I told him that I wanted to get in the bath to see if the contractions would slow down before we did anything drastic like call his parents in the middle of the night.

We timed contractions while I did my best impression of a beached whale in the bathtub. They were coming every four minutes (and so painful! why so painful!?) so after about an hour and a half in the bath, around 2:00 a.m., I conceded defeat and we called Tyson's parents.

All I could think about at that point was how tired I was. I was so discouraged already, worrying that I was going to be in labor all night and then use my last bit of strength to push the baby out only to have to take care of said baby for the rest of its life. All I wanted was one more night of really good sleep.

But. Contractions.

So we went to the hospital. I had had a doctor's appointment the day before where she told me I was dilated to a 3 and that the baby was nice and low. Well, when I got checked at the hospital I was still a 3 and the baby was higher now. Defeat. They strapped me to a monitor and I laid in an uncomfortable bed and watched the contractions rise and fall on a screen every four minutes. Long story short... I was validated in having contractions but they weren't doing anything productive. So around 5 a.m. we got sent home from the hospital like the amateurs we are with instructions to come back when the contractions got more intense. Oh good.

I got in bed with Logan and a hot pad on my back, and after a short rest and another long bath the contractions slowed and finally stopped around 11 a.m.

Honestly, I was relieved. I wasn't ready to have the baby! Somehow 9 months doesn't seem long enough to prepare when the reality of another tiny human is staring you in the face. Or rather, pressing down on your... you know. I still had a week until my due date and I needed every one of those days to prepare. I had an uneventful rest of the day and got that solid night of sleep I was pining for.

Friday, November 18.

Had Tyson take my 39 week picture (a day late) and mentioned to him that I was having contractions again. They had started around 11 a.m., didn't really hurt, and were about 10 minutes or so apart. I wasn't worried. Phoebe and I went about our day and even went to Joanns to get yarn for the baby blanket I was making. I was timing the contractions at this point and just made sure to find a private corner to rest in every 8 minutes or so. The last thing I wanted was someone jumping the gun and calling an ambulance for me. I was NOT getting sent back home from L and D. Once was enough, thanks.

Frankly, I wasn't convinced I was in labor. Yeah, the contractions were getting generally closer together, but they still didn't really hurt and they weren't that regular. I first started wondering if I was laboring when I walked down to the bus stop at 4:00 p.m. and was having contractions every two minutes while pushing Phoebe in the stroller. I figured it was the cold making them worse. The cold makes everything worse.

But then I got home and they spread out again. Tyson got home around 5:00 p.m. sure that I was in labor, and that we were going back to the hospital later that night. I was pacing around the kitchen and eating a grape here and there to keep my strength up. I was feeling a little sick to my stomach but I didn't want to feel worse for not eating anything. The grapes helped. Tyson said he was going to call his parents, tell them no rush, but that we were going to head out sometime later. I waddled up the stairs for another bath. I kept thinking that the bath was my litmus test for labor. If a bath made my contractions stop, then it wasn't real.

So I soaked. And contracted. And changed positions. And contracted. And every once in a while the kids would sneak in and talk to me and make lots of noise until I would grunt at them to move along. It was at this point that the contractions started feeling serious. I remember thinking during one of them, "man, an epidural would feel really good right now" but then it passed and I went on reading my book and enjoying my bath until the next one. Whatever. Still, nothing was hurting as bad as those contractions I had the night before.

Tyson's parents arrived and I started seriously considering that at some point I was going to have to get out of this tub and back to the hospital. But I was in no rush to do that. Until...

I felt some pressure down yonder during a contraction. Now, I've always had epidurals in the past. I love them. I love being able to lay in bed, not feeling a thing, while my body does the work to get the baby ready to go. So I hadn't really felt pressure to push before, although, minutes before I had Phoebe, I felt something similar to what I was feeling now that I would also describe as "pressure". Huh. A little something in the back of my mind was sending a quiet alarm that it just might be time to go to the hospital.

But first things first, I was about to be examined in all sorts of ways by all sorts of people. Such things require a good soaping up. (side note: I figured a person in serious labor would have their mind on other things, such as pain, and wouldn't worry about silly things like washing up. this is why I still didn't think I was in serious labor) So I got out of the tub nice and clean and suddenly the contractions got really close together and really hard. Tyson came up and helped me get dressed as my "pressure" turned into an urge to push.

Crap.

Which actually made me wonder if I just needed to go to the bathroom. Better not. We finally made it downstairs and the kids hugged us goodbye. Phoebe commented on how good I smelled, and I did a mental fist pump. Thanks body wash. We had to pause for another long contraction and then we ran out the door before I had to stop for another one.

The drive was quiet. Tyson was silently freaking out and I was just trying to hold everything together so that we didn't have this baby on the highway. I could feel my epidural dreams slipping away. However, we still weren't taking things that seriously as we pulled in the parking garage instead of up to the front door. Tyson hopped out of the car while I recovered from the last speed bump we went over and miracle of miracles, there was a wheelchair in the garage. Tyson is convinced it was left there by the Three Nephites. We haven't seen a wheelchair there since. I told him I felt dumb riding in a wheelchair but then another contraction hit and I shut up while he fast-walked us in. I didn't want people to know I was in labor (??? pretty sure no one is assuming a huge pregnant lady is visiting the hospital for a broken leg. although I am the one who broke a toe two days before I had Phoebe. things happen.) so I kept my head down through the hall and focused on not making any noise. I REALLY wanted to push and it was taking all of my effort not to.

7:36 p.m.
We finally got into Labor and Delivery and Tyson started answering questions at the check in desk. The nurse was calmly having him fill out a form until I started having a contraction. I was gripping the bars behind my head on the wheelchair and grunting with every breath as I tried not to push. Next thing I knew she was on the phone and I could hear her saying something about third baby and contracting. I was immediately wheeled into the nearest room where the triage nurse told me to just take my pants off so we could see what was going on down there. As I laid there I joked that I was probably still a 3 (obviously wasn't having a contraction at that moment) and the nurse laughed and said noooo... then started talking about feeling no cervix and bulging bag of water and hard to tell... Then she looked at me sympathetically.

"No epidural for you today."
I think I whimpered.
"As soon as your water breaks this baby is coming."

No time to worry about it though, another contraction was rising up and the nurse wanted to check me again during it to see if she could feel my cervix any better. Unfortunately for her I finally allowed my body to do what it had been begging for. I pushed. And my water broke, or rather blasted, all over her. She exclaimed in surprise and I would have felt embarrassed but the baby was immediately crowning and I was thinking, "Okay. So this is the ring of fire everyone talks about." Although to me it felt less like fire and more like... I don't know. Not fire but something else that really hurts. Being constipated for a month I guess.

Things were weird for me at this point. I remember nurses running around, asking about an I.V. (no time), telling the triage nurse that no one was coming (they meant a doctor), and trying to prep the room for a baby. I was still wearing my T-shirt, the bed wasn't set up for delivery and I'm not even sure the curtain was pulled but I didn't care. I needed to get the baby out.

Tyson came over and held my hands which were above my head and murmured words of encouragement to me. At one point he asked if I could breathe and realized that no, I could not, and I was getting lightheaded. That helped me to pause for a moment to take some deep breaths and keep from passing out. I think I had my eyes squeezed shut the entire time so I didn't know how many people were in the room, just that there were voices around me.

Eventually I heard a male voice come in and heard him tell someone to hold my left leg for me. He was the hospitalist and no one I had met before. He was running from birth to birth that night, taking each emergency as it came. No time for my doctor, or any doctor from my office to come. As soon as my leg was in a better position I had a strong contraction and with a mighty grunt (apparently. i didn't remember making noise but I commented later that my throat hurt and Tyson said it might be from the sound I made when the baby came. In my mind I sounded like a pro tennis player.) our baby was born. And I felt the greatest relief that a human can feel. No doubt.

It was 7:45 p.m., nine minutes after we checked in to L and D.

The doctor asked if Tyson wanted to cut the cord to which he responded, "NO, that's what we pay you for", (darling husband still gets nauseous when we talk about this. it's a very good thing he didn't have to deliver this baby) and a few seconds later we heard a tiny cry.

"It's a boy!" said Tyson.

Oh. Right. RIGHT! I had forgotten that we didn't know the gender. I was so relieved to have the baby out that I didn't even care what it was. Honestly, the gender reveal was a bit anticlimactic for me after the drama of the birth but I was still glad that we waited. It made the anticipation more fun during the pregnancy.

They tried to stick the baby in my shirt for some skin to skin and I tried to wrap my mind around what just happened. I was just so surprised to be holding a baby. I was so sure up until the end that I would be laboring for several more hours, napping with the comfort of an epidural and allowing the hospital atmosphere to mentally prep me for giving birth.

What I should have been mentally prepping for were the stitches (and catheter, surprise! didn't know you could tear that far up) without an epidural. I had hopes that I would tear less this time, ha. I can laugh now because it's been 8 weeks.

 We enjoyed an uneventful hospital stay with lots of visits from an eager brother and sister.

Luke has been such a welcome addition to our family. He almost feels like a pet we adopted as we coo all over him. Also, he has amazing hair.

Thanks for coming to us baby Luke!

Ketchup

Yeah yeah, it's been so long, slacky slacker, no one noticed... moving on.

Here's what you I missed:

67 years of life have been celebrated between us all,

^real life^

6 family members visited for Christmas,

1 new member of the family added...

After 1 old member died. (there's a story for another day)

27 bazillion calories in treats consumed,

3 big trips with the family,

1 girls' weekend in California,

2 first days of preschool (1 co-op where the only lesson learned was that I do not find joy in teaching preschool)

11 new teeth,

And 8 years of marriage.

Of course there are lots more things happening in our lovely lives but that's as good a summary as any. See ya next year!

Kidding.

Hopefully.

Jewelry Display

I'm all sorts of behind on this, but here's my project from craft wars... like three weeks ago. 

I have been wanting to make a jewelry holder for forever. My jumbled tangle of necklaces and earrings was driving me crazy, plus I had them in an area where Logan could reach so he was constantly decorating himself and flinging my jewels all over the room. Ok, "jewels".

I went on the hunt for a frame and found just the thing at Salvation Army. The mirror came out easily and it already had a wire on the back so I could hang it without having to attach anything extra.

We were given fabric to use for this craft and it would have been so easy to just use a patterned piece that they gave us for the background. But no. I wanted mine to be different so I was like, yay! I'll paint some fabric and make one of those freezer paper stencils that everyone is talking about! Never done it before, but seize the day! What could go wrong?

I wanted a Moroccan style shape so I started drawing using my math skills to figure out proportions. When those failed me I used my eyeballing skills.

Yes, I used a cereal box to create my stencil.

After cutting out my main stencil I traced it approximately one billion times on my freezer paper.

And then I cut them out for one billion hours.

And. AND! After all my careful measuring, I decided I wanted the inverse of the stencil so I had to measure again as I laid individual pieces onto my fabric and ironed them down.

And then I spray painted my grey fabric white. Possibly I was high on fumes from spray painting my frame? Take a look at the picture above ^^ That is AFTER spray painting. Does that look white to you? I was pretty much sweating it out at this point. I guess this is why companies say to test in an inconspicuous area first, blah blah blah, I never worry about those things.

Soooo I went back and painted it by hand, worrying incessantly about the spray paint that had puddled and seeped under my stencils. This was my one piece of grey fabric by the way and I HAD to use fabric for this project so I was stressin.

Luckily the paint seepage was minimal and once I put it in my Salvation Army frame with wire mesh in front you couldn't really tell. Too much. Maybe a little. I had to move on.

I glued a random piece of moulding that I found in my garage to the bottom of the frame because I wanted a ledge to store rings and bracelets on and then I started brainstorming what I could use for knobs.

In a perfect world I'd run on down to Anthropologie and pick up a bunch of darling knobs, but, let's be honest, they are expensive. Pretty sure I was hoping my whole jewelry holder would cost less than one of those knobs. So, I decided to stick clear pushpins into the wood and then I made the knobby part out of those flat clear rocks with paper mod podged to the back. I used my favorite tough glue, e-3000, to stick them together. That's also what I used to attach the shelf to the frame. Heh.

Now I no longer need to use the "detangle-as-needed" method of jewelry storage, and I won't have to choose between being on time or having accessories. Yay!

Also, the jewelry hides my paint mistakes :)

sewing table redo

As you know I've been doing the crafting competition over at Just Between Friends. No lie, it's been a little stressful but also a fun way to get my crafting groove back after losing it when Phoebe came along. Here's the write-up I did for the sewing table along with some more information.

When I first opened the box and saw the Cricut Iron-on I had a moment of panic. I do not have a Cricut or other fancy cutting machine. I do have one nice pair of scissors and an x-acto knife. 

When I can find it. 

But since I have the scissoring skills of an angry third grader I knew I wasn't going to be able to do an intricate design.  As I was brainstorming I looked around my house and saw an old sewing table that my neighbor gave me about six months ago. 

I had been thinking of painting it, staining it, trashing it (?), but had done nothing so it sat in the corner collecting dust and preschool projects. Light bulb. I'd been wanting to paint it for awhile now but just couldn't find the motivation to get going on it, plus I wasn't sure what color to do. The nice (and scary) thing about having to do a project in 4 days is that you don't get time to be wishy washy about design decisions. You pick something and you go with it.

So I chose Benjamin Moore's Coral Gables because I had seen it in a few other tutorials and because I have coral pillows on my bed that I love. 

If you're looking to redo a piece of furniture I would recommend googling it before asking me because I still don't have a very good idea of how to do it. I'm probably not one to give advice at this point, although I will say that you should just make sure you have a nice smooth surface to paint on, which would probably require some sanding, and that you use a good primer. I used KILZ spray primer and it worked for me although I had to sand the grittiness away after priming. So I probably did it wrong. 

I used a combination of a brush and roller to get all my paint on and the guy at the paint store recommended that to help the paint cure faster I should take a blow drier to it after 24 hours. I did not. Probably a good idea though because if you set anything on latex paint before it's fully cured it'll dent. 

I discovered as I was going through the refinishing process that the 70s style sewing machine that this table was made for was a far different shape than my machine. It won't ever fit. So in the future I’ll just put my machine on top of the table when I’m sewing and use the inside to store fabric scraps. I took out some of the hardware inside then sanded and painted the wood to give myself a nice little shelf for storage. I may change the function of this shelf when I have a chance to really use the table but it works for now.

Finally, for the perfect touch of bling? The glittery iron-on film which I ironed on to my fabric before Mod Podging it to the front of the table. I printed off “sew.” from my computer, cut the letters out of paper, traced them onto the film, and then cut them out with scissors. 

In retrospect I probably should have written “sew what?” since it represents my general attitude towards sewing and my disregard for half the instructions that come with every project. I’m sort of a rebel. A rebel who likes puns and has crookedly sewn curtains. 

Time to vote!

All our crafts are up at Jonie's blog! I've been working hard all week (as has everyone else I'm sure) so I hope you love the projects and can decide which ones to vote for. So scary! Have fun checking out everyone's projects at Just Between Friends!

Blog Interrupted

Well, I'm already off track for blogging every day in May.

But! It's for good reasons.

1. We've had amazing weather and the kids and I have been outside non stop having fun and making memories. How can I make all of us come inside for things like cooking (we've been eating hot dogs) cleaning (can't remember the last time I mopped) and blogging (why do I start challenges I can't finish)?

2. I have been given an amazing opportunity to participate in a little something called Blog Wars over at Just Between Friends.

AAAaaaaahhhhh! I'm freaking out a little bit. I entered on a whim, after a little persuasion, not really thinking that I would get picked. If there was ever incentive to get back into crafting and find my groove again, this is it.

So. You should check it out, we start next week, and go vote! The projects will be anonymous but you'll know mine because it will be the coolest.

Actually, I shouldn't really joke about that because I scoped out the competition, and... they are really creative and super cute girls. Dang it! My plan is to just try my darndest, hope for inspiration, and try not to have a mega craft fail during my 15 minutes of fame.

P.S. the prizes are AMAZE and with that comes a little disclaimer: I am aware that if I am the winner of Blog Wars that I will be responsible to pay taxes on the camera provided by familyshare.com.

I can't even imagine winning a prize big enough to require taxes. Ooo!

Wish me luck!

A favorite quote

"And they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory." 1 Nephi 14:14

This is a quote from the Book of Mormon* which, as a member of the LDS faith, I believe in along with the bible.

I love this quote because it is about us, right now, and it conjures up a picture in my head. A picture of my children going out into the world with an invisible shield of protection around them because I taught them of God and of Christ. Of them being examples of kindness to their friends. Of sweet kids who aren't afraid to stand up for truth and righteousness. Of rooms that light up as soon as they walk in and people who become better just by knowing them.

Of perfect children. Basically. Too much to ask?

My visions are unrealistic (my babies may or may not sparkle with goodness in my dreams) but having this quote hanging in my house reminds me that to even a chance at this for my family it is up to me to teach them here in my home. And gosh darn, I'm going to try my best. Because there is some scary stuff out there.

*{if you ever want a Book of Mormon you just let me know and I'll get one to you. seriously. i'll send it wherever}