Mama's Don't Get To Be Sick

As I was told by the wisest lady I know, "Mama's don't get to be sick." The other day, I was telling Adam how hard it must be when mothers get sick because you still have to nurse the baby and take care of everything else too. Well, my time came sooner than I expected. I woke up in the middle of the night yesterday feeling very flu-like. I knew I hadn't been out of my house very much for the last 3 weeks. So there wasn't much chance that I had caught the flu from someone else. I got both types of flu shots while I was pregnant too. So, I spent the morning trying to take care of Sara Beth while my fever went up and my skin crawled. After a few hours, I knew I had to put my pride aside and call in some help. My sweet in-laws spent the rest of the day seeing to Sara Beth while I rested. Bless their hearts! Turns out, I have a case of mastisis which requires a round of antibiotics to rememdy. The medicine must be doing it's job because I'm feeling much better today! No fever, no aching, no headache or skin crawling. I'm able to take care of my baby girl again! So, even though "Mama's don't get to be sick." Sometimes they do, and when they do, they are super grateful for any help they can get.

Newborn Photos

Sara Beth's newborn pictures are finally up for viewing, if anybody is interested. I think they are fantastic! Nicole did a great job. If you feel like checking them out, go to www.nicolespikesphotography.com and click on "client galleries" at the top of the page. Click on Sara Beth's gallery and enter "Brandi" as the password. I can't wait to order a few to frame up. I have no idea how I'll choose the ones I want, but I already have the perfect spot to hang them.

Cloth Diapers 101

It's been 1 week now since we started our adventure into cloth diapering. Tomorrow will be our first pick up from the diaper service. Boy, is it about time! Our diaper pail is full to the top with barely enough room for today's diapers. It's been ok so far. I'm not over the moon about them yet, but they really aren't much more trouble than disposables. We are still perfecting our folding techniques, trying our hardest to find a way to contain the poo. Pee diapers are no problem! But the poo. . . it always gets on the diaper cover (which means more laundry for me). Oh well, it's a learning experience, I guess!

On another note. . . we've been loving all the sweet friends who have visited and brought over food and gifts! We feel very loved! Thanks everybody!

Video Memories

Adam's dad put this video together for us of Sara Beth's first few days. Hope you enjoy it!

Our Birth Experience

Wow! I can't even express how grateful we are for such a wonderful experience with the birth our first child. I really don't think it could have been any better.
Let me start at the beginning. . .
As you all know, I was quite a bit past my due date (10 days to be exact). My doctor let us wait as long as she could stand to, but finally scheduled an induction for Monday, May 3. She told us that she would break my water on Monday if the baby didn't come before that. So, we were more anxious than ever for our little one to make an entrance before that could happen. This entire pregnancy I had worked extremely hard to stay healthy- no medicine (not even Tylenol), no junk food (thanks to gestational diabetes), and lots of exercise. I really desired to cap it off with a natural birth. We had read a lot , gone to classes, and even practiced labor positions at home. We were so ready!
I had a doctor's appointment on Friday morning for a non-stress test. Everything still looked great with the baby. Dr. Shattuck did another sweep of my membranes in hopes that labor might start sooner rather than later. I went home with a terrible backache that didn't let up all day long. I had some sporadic contractions, but I didn't get my hopes up too much. I had experienced several nights of false labor before. We went out to dinner at Tokyo with our friends, Jeff and Nicole Spikes, but things really kicked up after we got home. None of this textbook labor for me. . . my contractions started out almost a minute long and 5 minutes apart.
We labored at home from about 8pm until midnight, only heading to the hospital once the contractions were rapid-firing. We probably should have stayed at home a little longer, but since I was already 4cm dilated and 80% effaced that morning, I didn't want to risk having the baby in the car or something like that.
The nurses at Christus Schumpert Highland were so amazing! We called them on our way to the hospital to let them know we were coming. When we arrived, my room was ready for me. I gave them copies of my birth plan, and they followed it, no questions asked. My family and friends were there to support us, even though it was in the middle of the night. They stayed in the room with us until my labor progressed to a point where I could concentrate on nothing else. As per my birth plan, I didn't have to be hooked up to the fetal monitor, an IV, or anything. I was free to move around the room and change positions as much as I wanted. The hospital staff stayed out of the room most of the time and let Adam do his job. He was the best labor coach I could have imagined!!!!!!!! There's no way on earth I could've done it without him. In the end, he was almost as tired as I was. Every other minute, he was pressing on my back with all of his might. It was the only thing that seemed to relieve the pain.
I labored for several hours, steadily progressing a couple centimeters every two hours or so. I kind of stalled at 8cm, so the nurse suggested I try out the tub for a while. By the time I got out, I was going through transition and feeling the urge to push. Dr. Shattuck arrived and broke my water because I was fully dialed and effaced, but the bag of water wouldn't let the baby come down. Soon after that, I started pushing. I pushed for a little over an hour. . . but I think it felt like more than that to my family and friends in the hall. At 7:01 am on Saturday, May 1st, little Sara Elizabeth Hart was born. She weighed 7 lbs. 12 ounces and was 19 inches long. She had a full head of dark brown hair and a dimple on the right side, just like her daddy. She is perfect in every way and we are already so in love with her!!!!! I am so thankful to everyone for your prayers. God is so good to us!

Here are a few pictures to tide you over until the next post.