This guy is loving holding his head up!
April 19, 2014
It was a good week. Lots of trips to the park, my mom visited, Jonathan's sister had her sweet baby girl, and we planted the rest of our vegetables. I'm glad I kept a garden journal last year with dates and details because I just did the exact same thing this year. My brain isn't exactly in garden planning mode these days. Quinn helped me plant green beans, zucchini, spaghetti squash, pumpkins, and sunflowers. I think all that remains is tomato and strawberry plants to purchase.
This guy is loving holding his head up!
He reached 9 lbs, 6 oz at my midwife check up this week. And he smiled a handful of times today! That is, aside from milk drunk smiles like this.
Happy Easter!
This guy is loving holding his head up!
April 8, 2014
Just popping in for a two week update and a nursery tour.
Archer had his two week check up with the midwives and pediatrician yesterday. He did great (as did Quinn, it was a long morning) and we are just feeling so blessed to have two healthy children. He is up to 8lbs, 8.5 oz now and 21.5 inches long. No surprise, because he definitely likes eating. He loves being swaddled for sleeping and is starting to have periods of alertness looking around with curious eyes, listening to stories, and watching his sister dance. He's a pretty strong little rascal and has tried to roll over a handful of times.
I snapped a few photos of his room today. I had so much fun pulling this together and practicing on my sewing machine. I made the mobile with wool felt balls and a branch from the same tree as Quinn's mobile. I sewed the changing pad cover based on a really simple tutorial with a fun tree print flannel. I wrapped a cardboard letter in green yarn. And I made stamps to hand-stamp the curtains. The painting is from a friend's etsy shop and the name card was made by a family friend. She made one when Quinn was born too.
Archer seems to like it too. Oh look, there he is now!
Archer had his two week check up with the midwives and pediatrician yesterday. He did great (as did Quinn, it was a long morning) and we are just feeling so blessed to have two healthy children. He is up to 8lbs, 8.5 oz now and 21.5 inches long. No surprise, because he definitely likes eating. He loves being swaddled for sleeping and is starting to have periods of alertness looking around with curious eyes, listening to stories, and watching his sister dance. He's a pretty strong little rascal and has tried to roll over a handful of times.
I snapped a few photos of his room today. I had so much fun pulling this together and practicing on my sewing machine. I made the mobile with wool felt balls and a branch from the same tree as Quinn's mobile. I sewed the changing pad cover based on a really simple tutorial with a fun tree print flannel. I wrapped a cardboard letter in green yarn. And I made stamps to hand-stamp the curtains. The painting is from a friend's etsy shop and the name card was made by a family friend. She made one when Quinn was born too.
April 4, 2014
Birth story time!
As soon as we found out I was pregnant, we started researching and doing interviews and decided that we wanted to try for a home birth. Quinn's birth was so textbook and straightforward, we felt confident that we could work together for another positive result. That, and the worst part of laboring with Quinn was the drive to hospital at 8cm, haha. We decided to work with a group of midwives at a local birth center that also do home births and we loved our experience. Quinn came to almost every appointment and thoroughly enjoyed it as well. I'm pretty sure she's planning to be a midwife when she grows up.
Sunday night, March 23, we went to bed pretty early because we thought Jonathan would be going to work in the morning. I awoke during the night a handful of times to very brief contractions but decided not to wake Jonathan up in case it was nothing. I had experienced a ton of stronger braxton hicks contractions over the weekend. When the alarm went off at 6am, I told Jonathan about the contractions and said I was going to take a shower and see if they still happened. I had three 15 second mild contractions in the shower. When I got out, Jonathan was trying to decide if he should catch the bus or not, he told me to walk briskly to the school and back to see if it changed anything. I had two contractions. It was 7am so he signed into work on his laptop and we started really timing the contractions. Quinn was awake and I made a hearty breakfast taking little breaks for my "waggle move" that helped me in early labor with Quinn. I was in good spirits and chatting. By 8am, I was still cheery, but I needed to close my eyes during contractions and they were getting a little longer. Jonathan decided to take Quinn to her buddy Landon's house. While he was gone I started inflating the birth tub between contractions and sipping water. The midwives arrived to set up when Jonathan returned at about 9:45am. They used the doppler to check Archer's heartbeat and headed to the coffee shop by our house to give us some relaxing space. At 10:45am I got a text from the neighbor about meeting at the park, that was the last time I looked at a clock. Also at 10:45, I decided the waggle move wasn't working anymore and I wanted to lay on my side. Contractions were coming about every 2-3 minutes now. At the start of this stage, I was looking out the window at the beautiful spring morning sunlight and watching rainwater drip out of the moss on our tree - very peaceful. As time went on, my eyes shut and I started breathing louder.
Jonathan had been filling the birthing tub between contractions, but unfortunately our hot water heater ran out before we realized it. So the tub was full with lukewarm water. The midwives returned and started hustling to empty water out and boil more to get the tub to a comfortable temperature. Jonathan stayed by my side, rubbing my back. Eventually, I felt I wasn't progressing on my side anymore and wanted to be upright. We decided to try what worked with Quinn during this stage - sitting on the toilet while leaning on Jonathan who was sitting on a stool in front of me. Very glamorous! It's a good thing we did though, because after about 15 minutes I felt like I was at a standstill. My water hadn't broken yet and I felt like there was no more room in there. Next contraction, my water broke. It was like someone dropped a bowling ball in the toilet, water splashed up and over the sides. The following contraction was horrendous and I felt the need to push. The midwife told me that the bathroom was not the best place for that and also that the tub was ready if I wanted to use it. They helped me take a couple steps out of the bathroom but the next contraction started so I waited it out on my hands and knees on the towel and tarp we had put down. When that contraction ended, they helped me take a couple more steps into the tub. It was so refreshing! It was just the change I needed to refocus and re-energize. The midwife told me to do a small test push this round and not go too strong. I could feel Archer's head a little bit. Jonathan had decided he'd probably be too emotionally moved to catch like he was with Quinn, so the midwife asked me if I'd like to catch Archer. She told me what to do and the next contraction his head was out. One more push and his body was out and I scooped him up and held him. He let out a sweet little cry. Words can't describe that moment.
We relaxed in the tub for a little while and eventually moved to the bed. It was so nice to be in my favorite place at such a special time. I felt so much more alert with this birth. Most of Quinn's I was in a focused trance, probably because it was in the middle of the night and was almost three times longer. It was fascinating how many elements from Quinn's labor came back to me as I went through them again. It was like I hit all the same milestones, just with shorter intervals between and the same strategies worked perfectly.
Archer was born at 1:34pm. Around 4pm, Jonathan saw the neighbors out for a walk and slowing by our house. He excitedly told them to come on in! They chatted with me while Jonathan went to pick up Quinn. One of the neighbor families generously brought us some awesome soup and we had a picnic dinner on the bed with Quinn as a little family of four. Such a sweet memory.
Welcome Archer! You are the perfect addition to our family and we love you so. To God be the glory! We just rode the merciful wave He sent our way.
As soon as we found out I was pregnant, we started researching and doing interviews and decided that we wanted to try for a home birth. Quinn's birth was so textbook and straightforward, we felt confident that we could work together for another positive result. That, and the worst part of laboring with Quinn was the drive to hospital at 8cm, haha. We decided to work with a group of midwives at a local birth center that also do home births and we loved our experience. Quinn came to almost every appointment and thoroughly enjoyed it as well. I'm pretty sure she's planning to be a midwife when she grows up.
Sunday night, March 23, we went to bed pretty early because we thought Jonathan would be going to work in the morning. I awoke during the night a handful of times to very brief contractions but decided not to wake Jonathan up in case it was nothing. I had experienced a ton of stronger braxton hicks contractions over the weekend. When the alarm went off at 6am, I told Jonathan about the contractions and said I was going to take a shower and see if they still happened. I had three 15 second mild contractions in the shower. When I got out, Jonathan was trying to decide if he should catch the bus or not, he told me to walk briskly to the school and back to see if it changed anything. I had two contractions. It was 7am so he signed into work on his laptop and we started really timing the contractions. Quinn was awake and I made a hearty breakfast taking little breaks for my "waggle move" that helped me in early labor with Quinn. I was in good spirits and chatting. By 8am, I was still cheery, but I needed to close my eyes during contractions and they were getting a little longer. Jonathan decided to take Quinn to her buddy Landon's house. While he was gone I started inflating the birth tub between contractions and sipping water. The midwives arrived to set up when Jonathan returned at about 9:45am. They used the doppler to check Archer's heartbeat and headed to the coffee shop by our house to give us some relaxing space. At 10:45am I got a text from the neighbor about meeting at the park, that was the last time I looked at a clock. Also at 10:45, I decided the waggle move wasn't working anymore and I wanted to lay on my side. Contractions were coming about every 2-3 minutes now. At the start of this stage, I was looking out the window at the beautiful spring morning sunlight and watching rainwater drip out of the moss on our tree - very peaceful. As time went on, my eyes shut and I started breathing louder.
Jonathan had been filling the birthing tub between contractions, but unfortunately our hot water heater ran out before we realized it. So the tub was full with lukewarm water. The midwives returned and started hustling to empty water out and boil more to get the tub to a comfortable temperature. Jonathan stayed by my side, rubbing my back. Eventually, I felt I wasn't progressing on my side anymore and wanted to be upright. We decided to try what worked with Quinn during this stage - sitting on the toilet while leaning on Jonathan who was sitting on a stool in front of me. Very glamorous! It's a good thing we did though, because after about 15 minutes I felt like I was at a standstill. My water hadn't broken yet and I felt like there was no more room in there. Next contraction, my water broke. It was like someone dropped a bowling ball in the toilet, water splashed up and over the sides. The following contraction was horrendous and I felt the need to push. The midwife told me that the bathroom was not the best place for that and also that the tub was ready if I wanted to use it. They helped me take a couple steps out of the bathroom but the next contraction started so I waited it out on my hands and knees on the towel and tarp we had put down. When that contraction ended, they helped me take a couple more steps into the tub. It was so refreshing! It was just the change I needed to refocus and re-energize. The midwife told me to do a small test push this round and not go too strong. I could feel Archer's head a little bit. Jonathan had decided he'd probably be too emotionally moved to catch like he was with Quinn, so the midwife asked me if I'd like to catch Archer. She told me what to do and the next contraction his head was out. One more push and his body was out and I scooped him up and held him. He let out a sweet little cry. Words can't describe that moment.
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