Berkey Water System

As part of my push to be healthy I would like to change how we drink water. We have been using a Pur water filter, but I have not been happy with it. I don't think it filters out enough stuff (I'm particularly worried about flouride, chlorine, and prescription drugs) and I am constantly having to fill it (we have a counter top version). I have been eyeing a Berkey system for some time now and one of my favorite blogs, Keeper of the Home, is running a give away! I am so excited!!!! Check out the Berkey if you are interested in good drinking water!

Reviving the Blog

Hello friends. I am reviving this blog with a little different focus. I find that I need to process my experiences with trying to lose weight and blog posts have been coming to mind. So, I am back in the blog sphere as a contributor again. Welcome to my little corner of the web.

From Infertile to Happy Mom

Hello everyone. I'm sorry I have been such a bad blogger. I have heard other women talk about how time consuming having a newborn is, but I never fully understood the depth of that consumption until I had a newborn of my own. Baby is now 6 weeks old and finally in a sort-of predictable eating and sleeping pattern. Hopefully he keeps the predictability going as I need to return to work in a week and a half.

I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do with this blog over the past few months. I started this blog because of the desparation and despair I felt over experiencing infertility. I needed a place to unload and also to connect with other people who could relate to my experience. I have been very blessed by the infertile blogging community! I consider myself a much better person for knowing you all. Thank you so much for your support and empathy! I still pray for all of you and hope you are all blessed with a child.

Thankfully, I am no longer in that place of desparation and despair. For the first time in my life I feel perfectly happy. I'm not saying that my life is perfect. We do live in a fallen world. However, I have been feeling a deep sense of joy and peace. I am genuinely happy. It is such a nice change of pace and I am very grateful for the experience.

Since I feel like a different person than the woman who started this blog, I have decided not to add any more posts to this blog (at least for a while). I do have another blog that I will continue to keep current. I use my real name in my other blog so I do not want to just post the link here. If you are interested in following my other blog, please email me and I will be glad to share the link with you. If you would rather not follow my other blog I do understand. I will continue to pray for all of you and carry hope that your prayers for expanding your family are answered.

Thank you again for your support!
God bless you!

He's Here

Thank you Justme for posting a comment that Baby had arrived. I don't have time to tell the story of all 36 hours of labor (eek!) but let's just say it took 2 trips to the hospital, 2 doulas, 2 soaks in the tub, 30 hours without medical intervention, 5 hours at 90% effacement and dialated to 9 before finally agreeing to an epidural (heaven sent drug that let me sleep!!), a couple hours on pitocin, an hour off the epidural to begin feeling contractions to push effectively, 15 minutes of pushing, and arrival of the baby 5 minutes before the doctor arrived to "catch."


*Whew*


Here are a couple pictures. The first is fairly soon after he was born and right after hubby put on his first diaper. The hat does not do justice to the *major* cone head he was sporting. The second picture was taken this morning just after he ate. Hubby took some short video clips of his facial expression exercises this morning too. I'll ask hubby to save a copy on my computer so I can post one or two for those who are interested.

Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease

If you whine, things will happen... My water broke at 1:26am this morning. I then had contractions every 4 minutes for about 45 minutes. Then they got really intense but slowed to be 20 minutes apart for a few hours. I did manage to sleep from about 4-8am, on and off between contractions. Now, the contractions are sporadic in time and intensity. I did go for a walk, but it is now too warm outside to be comfortable. My next trick is to do laps around my house to hopefully get things moving along. Please pray that things go smoothly and that this baby arrives safe and sound. I'll try to update when I return from the hospital. If nothing else, I'll have a real life friend post a comment to this entry.

Thanks in advance for the prayers!

Waiting

I am 38w2d and I am ready for this baby to come. Periodically I still have some cramping and contractions, but it has slowed down since my 36th week. =( I have to say I am quite annoyed about that! Just when I hit "full term" baby decided to hunker down for what seems to be the long haul. Hubby and I have been doing *things* to try and encourage real labor to begin. Unfortunately, any contractions that result usually peeter off after about 30 minutes...

I don't mean to be whiny. I'm still ecstatic to be pregnant with a live and seemingly healthy baby! I have really had a pretty good pregnancy! I have only gained 20 pounds (metformin had a lot to do with that, I'm sure!) and I'm not even swollen like I would have expected. My heart hasn't had any episodes lately and my platelets seem to be stable. It's not that I am so miserable being pregnant that I can't wait to get it over with. I have had a good pregnancy. I'm just very eager to meet my baby. Also, there is another selfish reason that I am a little ashamed to admit. I have been having some frustrating experiences with one of the ladies I supervise at work and I really need a break from her...

However, I really don't want my baby to come if he's not quite ready. The most important thing to me is that we both are healthy. I am not asking to be induced or anything. I am going to wait until baby decides he's ready (unless I reach 42 weeks and then my doctor will induce). I really hope he comes soon though. It feels like this pregnancy has been dragging on for too long. Why does gestation have to take so long? I think I might have a talk with God about that...

In the mean-time, the carseat is installed, the baby's bed is put together and clothes are washed and put in drawers. We still haven't put the mural up in the baby's room, but we are waiting until my mom comes (Oct. 21st) to visit because she has hung wall paper before. I have had 3 baby showers and people have been very generous. I think we have all the basics that we need. We will probably need some more clothes, but I can buy those as we need them. I think we've got enough to get started. We also have *lots* of blankets. So many that we are probably going to give some of them to a cousin who is due a couple weeks after us.

Anyway, that's the short update. I will try to take a picture of my belly soon. Baby has dropped (which is encouraging) so you can really tell I am pg.

I hope everyone is doing well! Take Care!

Full Term

Today I reached 37 weeks. It is nice to hit this milestone! For the past week I have been taking it easier and working from home half the day because my pre-labor symptoms increased throughout the week. I know it is possible for me to have these pre-labor symptoms for weeks, but I also didn't want to go into pre-term labor. My cramps and contractions would increase when I was standing or walking around. So, I tried to sit or lie down much of the day... or at least not be standing for too long. Of course, the contractions eased up yesterday, just when I was about to enter the "non-danger zone." Today I haven't really had any contractions, just some gas... Go figure.



Anyway, I had a check up today. The good news is that I tested negative for group b strep. I was glad because it would be a hastle to *have* to be connected to an IV during labor to receive antibiotics. Now we don't have to worry about it. =) The other 2 tests I had done today were a blood draw to check my platelets and an u/s to check the size and position of the baby. My doc couldn't tell for sure if he was head down so he wanted to double check. Baby is weighing in at about 6.3 pounds (31st percentile). Hopefully that means that he will be fairly easy to give birth to...



So, now for your viewing pleasure I can share a picture of my son's face. For those of you who have a hard time distinguishing these pictures, his face is on the right-hand side of the picture, with his chin smack-dab in the middle of the picture. you can see the shadows of 2 eyes, his nostrils, and his mouth which seems to be a little open. =)