Taking the Doc's Advice

So, I had my last doctor's appointment yesterday. The doctor did advise me to go ahead with the c-section in light of several things:

1. The baby is not positioning herself for delivery. Her head is not in the pelvis.
2. I am not even remotely dialated.
3. The Doc thinks she is a pretty big baby

In light of this, she feels that I would probably end up with a section either way so rather than waiting, and just letting the baby get bigger and bigger. We are going ahead with the c-section on Monday. I am okay with it and my Doctor was very supportive and encouraging about repeat c-sections. She said she has one patient with 10 kids that had 10 c-sections. That's a little extreme for me, but at least I know that it is possible to have more than 3.

Now that the decisions been made. I am totally pysched about Monday! I cannot wait to meet my daugther! I am so anxious to see what she looks like, how much hair she has, how much she weighs, etc.

After my doctor's appointment yesterday, I went and got some much needed pampering. I got a manicure and pedicure and got my hair cut. It was so nice. Mom's usually have little time or money to do something for themselves. But I think it's important every once in a while to take care of ourselves.

I am also really excited about our MC fellowship night. We are getting together Saturday night for a game night. We'll be playing games and grilling hamburgers. I am really enjoying getting to know Lane & Sean in our MC. There son David and Caleb are only 6 days apart in age and they love to spend time together.

I feel so blessed about how much New City Church has been a blessing to me and my family. It has, in all honesty, changed my life. I think about the changes we've made this year and the people we've met. We are truly bleassed. I hope next year I can be more of a blessing to others. With the pregnancy and everything, I feel that I have been very self-consumed. I hope to spend next year giving more and taking less.

So, Sarah Kate will be born around 8:30 AM on Monday! I can't believe its almost here! I am so excited. Please continue your prayers for a happy, healthy baby and a safe delivery.

Changing My Mind

So, I have changed my mind. About a pretty big deal. I have been planning throughout this pregnancy to go with the repeat c-section. But over the past few weeks I have been having second thoughts.

I had to have an emergency section with Caleb due to an umblical rupture that caused me to hemorage and Caleb's heartrate to drop fast. It was the most tramatic experience of my life. I was completely unprepared for a c-section and truly felt robbed. If I am being honest with myself, I would have to say I really had major postpartum depression afterwards because I was so unhappy with what happened and it in turn with the c-section recovery made nursing Caleb incredibly difficult.

When I found out Sarah-Kate was on her way, I decided on the repeat section mainly becuase of the uncertainty of what would happen and being able to schedule her delivery. But as it has gotten closer, I keep thinking about what happened with Caleb and how badly I wanted a natural birth. So I started researching...

Attempting a VBAC is typically not chosen becuase there is a risk of uterine rupture, which at its worst can result in infant and maternal fatality. The chance of this happening to someone with my type of incision is actually less than 1%, but it is still a risk.

However in reasearching the risks for a VBAC, I have also been studying the risks of a repeat section:
1. Maternal death rate while low, is higher than that of a VBAC
2.There are often many complications associated with c-sections which include risks of anesthesia with surgery, there are risks of operative injury, infection, postpartum pain, effects on subsequent fertility, and of psychological morbidity.
3. C-sections limit the number of subsequent pregnancies. Due to the scarring of the uterus, most doctor's recommend no more than 3 c-sections.
4. To the baby there is a risk of respiratory distress and injury from the knife during the operation.
A lot of doctor's perfer C-sections though because of malpractice fears.

So this gave me alot to think about. This Thursday I was truly distraught as I mulled over this in my mind. I had a doctor's appointment that day and unfornately my regular doctor was called out to an emergency, so I couldn't talk to her about it. So that night before I went to bed and after reading countless articles on line, I decided to pray about my decision and get some sleep.

When I woke up on Friday, I had a peace about the decision. I realized there there were risks either way, so I should instead look at the positives:

With a VBAC:
1. I would be able to experience a natural birth like I have always wanted.
2. There are less complications with breast feeding associated with natural delivery
3. The excitment of not knowing when it will happen.
4. less likly to cause limitations on future pregancies (Brooks and I would really like 4 kids)

With a C-section:
1. Convienece: me and all of my family would be able to plan around the delivery time.
2. My pregancy discomforts would be over in 2 weeks.

The positives to the VBAC seem to far outwiegh those of the repeat c-section. So I have decided to attempt the VBAC, as long as my doctor allows it. I know I may end up with a c-section anyway (Doctor's will not allow you to labor as long without progress with a VBAC due to the risks to the previous incision) at least I will know I tried.

Ultimately the most important thing is a healthy baby.

So this means.....who knows when Sarah-Kate will debut!

Please be in prayer for me and the baby for a safe, healthy delivery for mommy and baby.

Family Fun

Wow have things been busy around here! I am only three weeks away from Sarah-Kate's arrival now and I am getting really excited! We have everything I think we need to have and now we are just waiting on her to make her debut. In the meantime we have been trying to have some good ole family fun with the last fews days of being a family of three. So over the last few weeks, here's what we've been up to:

A Day Out With Thomas:

Caleb has gone crazy for Thomas the Tank Engine ever since his nephew Ethan gave him some of his old DVDs. Now, Caleb can't get enough of Thomas. So, one day when I was on the website I heard about the Day Out With Thomas that comes to Cordelle once a year and we decided to go. Caleb's Granma and Poppy joined us too and we had a great time! Caleb had a lot of fun riding on the train, going through the Hay maze, and seeing all the neat Thomas stuff. Here are some pictures of our day of fun!

S'Mores:

With Fall comes cooler wetaher and this is absolutely my favorite time of year! We mark the first cool night by having a fire outside in the Chiminea and making smores! Caleb loved it! We circled our chairs around the fire and cozzied up with a blanket and roasted marshmellows. Lizzie & Buddy (the dogs) liked smores too, Caleb realized. Some he found it was more fun to feed them than to eat them. It was some great family together time.

MC Buddies:

Recently, Brooks and I began hosting an MC- Missional Community at our house. We are really enjoying sharing this time with others and we have had the pleasure of really getting to Know Lane & Shaun McCulley. They have a little boy, David, who is acutually only 6 days younger than Caleb. Caleb and David are having so much fun playing together and getting to one another. Caleb calls him "Dabid" and they have such a good time playing together that they usually ended completly exhausted before the night is over. It is such a blessing to have this new opputunity in our lives and it is really good to open up and trust new people.

Halloween:

This year we had lots of Halloween fun! Brooks and I went and visited Caleb's school for his class Halloween party. I have never seen kids get so much sugar in all my life! Caleb was the last one to finish eating and kept eating long after the others were through. Later Caleb came up to the Union-recorder for the costume contest and his first taste of trick or treating. He has a new found love for grabing candy out of a bowl and devouring as much as possible. I think kids are just born with this natural instinct.
Later that night, we had a halloween party at my Mom & Dad's. It was so great to hang out with my sisters and enoy food and fun. Caleb went Trick or Treating to each door of the house and it was so hilarious how he would just come inside and starting grabbing candy out of the bowl and before the night was over he would even say "Trick Treat".
Here are some pics:

While I am getting really excited about Sarah-Kate debut, it does remind me how fast time has flown by with Caleb. I can not believe he'll be 2 in January. I just wish some times I could slow time down a little bit. It seems like it's just rushing away...all the more reason to take more pictures, plan more family fun, and enjoy every minute of life.

Only 6 weeks to go!

Well, It's only 6 weeks until Sarah-Kate is here! I am so excited I can hardly wait. I cannot wait to see what she looks like and to finally meet this little girl!!! I know these next weeks are probably gonna go really slow, but hopefully it will give me a chance to get everything ready. My wonderful sisters and mom threw a baby shower for me last week and I have some pics for you. The shower was decorated so beautifully and it was great food and great family time.

I got the CUTEST stuff for Sarah-Kate! I cannot wait until she here to try on all her pretty clothes! Her room has really come together with all of the things I have gotten. I am so thankful for all the family & friends that are showing love and support for Sarah-Kate and our family. i am also really psyched that two women from church are throwing me a shower next weekend. It's going to be so much fun and it will be great to spend some time outside of church with our church family.

In other great news, my contractions have subsided quite a bit. I am gettign really unformatble though, especially when I try to sleep. I just can't seem to be able to find a way to rest. Of course, as my mom would say, this is getting me ready for life after baby, when sleep will be minimal...

Getting ready for BABY!

So It's really starting to set in now that baby girl will be making her debut in just 7 1/2 weeks! I am sooo pleased and relieved that we have not only finished Caleb's room but we are almost done with Sarah-Kate's also. Praise God for how provisional he is! He has really helped Brooks & I with planning and preparing for this child. We are really starting to get excited now!

So take a look at pictures of Sarah-Kate's room. I will upload pics of Caleb's soon, but he is asleep right now. Let me know what you think of the room!

As far as how I am feeling now... the contractions have subsided a little. Luckily, September is over becuase it was a really tough sales month at work...but I did do a little better than August so that's good. October should be much better. I have been put on "desk rest" at work, this is great because getting in and out of the car on sales calls really wears me out and even over the phone I do pretty good sales wise. So things are looking much better. And tomorrow I get to celebrate my 27th birthday! I am gonna celebrate by getting my license renewed! Yeah! Actually, I am looking forward to getting off work tomorrow because me and my two favorite guys in the world are going out to dinner. In case you haven't figured it out--it's Brooks & Caleb....:)

So...only 54 days to go! I can't wait to meet her and not be pregnant anymore! I do enjoy being pregnant but I am starting to feel really uncomfortable! But I do so enjoy watching her acrobatic feats in my tummy! Also, the doctot said Monday that I am measuring a lot farther past my due date than I am. On Monday, I was 30.5 weeks and I am measuring 35 weeks. She must be a big baby! Please keep me in your prayers as the next few weeks will be increasingly uncomfortable.

Booked Schedules, Contractions & Biting OH MY

Wow...things are starting to get a little crazy. My once free evenings and weekends are quickly filling up with all sorts of things... just a few notes on whats coming up:

Finish carpet and install baseboards in Caleb's new room
Move Caleb & his things into his new room
Purchase a toddler bed for Caleb
Purchase and Paint the Baby's new room
Paint and recover furniture for Baby's room
In September, Attend the Company picnic,Lockerly Heritage Festival, work a (ugh) Saturday for the UR's Bridal Show.
In October, My wonderful family and Church family are throwing me 2 baby showers, I have to work two Saturdays--the Sweetwater Festival and Holiday Traditions Cooking Contest.

Pretty much every Saturday through October is BOOKED! I am excited to have so much to look forward too. It should make the remaining weeks until baby go by a little bit faster.

On a different note, I am trying to take it a little easy. I have been having contractions for a few weeks now (not cool since I have 11 weeks to go). I know they are not labor contractions, but they are increasingly more uncomfortable. For instance today, I have had them all day long ranging anywhere from 30 minutes to 7minutes apart. They are still definetly irregular, but enough for me to know--I gotta quite trying to do it all. I find that my stress level increases the occurances of the contractions...so I have to find a way to de-stress. Which is really difficult--I have all these preparations to do for baby-financial & more, I have a monster of a sales goal this month, and Caleb continues to bite all of the kids in his class (no joke).

On a much more positive note though....I am so thankful for all of the people that have helped and continue to help me throughout all of this--my wonderful husband, my mom and dad, my church, and so many others.

Caleb enjoys his ice cream!

Take a Look at Caleb enjoying his ice cream his Dada decided to get him on the way home the other day. Caleb really enjoyed every bite. I love how serious he looks about it! Eventually his hand got cold though and he handed it back to Mommy, but it was really cute! I'm still working on getting his car seat clean though...

My Crazy Kid

Family Fun Saturday

Catching Up

Okay, So I am finally blogging again. It's been quite a while, and that's mostly because I have been pretty busy. Over the last several weeks, we have gone on a family vacation (it was sooo wonderful---very relaxing) and started the renovation of Caleb's new room.

The room is quite a process because we are repainting. The last wall colors were a dark gray and we are repainting them beige and red. The beige walls covered great, but the red is taking FOREVER. We have already done 4 coats and it still needs at least one more. The next step is replacing the carpet and pad. We've already picked it out, just not quite ready to purchase. Then, we have to buy all new furniture for Caleb since his crib and everything will go to the new baby. It's quite an undertaking--not to mention as soon as we finish, we have to start on the nusery!!! I only have 13 weeks now until the new baby arrives...so I am feeling a little pressure to get things done. Prayers are appreciated!

Also, I think we've settled on a name for Baby, we've have come to agreement on Sarah Katherine and we'll call her "Sarah-Kate". I think it's really pretty and unique, even though it's pretty traditional. I like a little more traditional names.

We've had so many incredible things happening to us over the past several months. We have been so incredibly blessed by our new church. It has truly been an amazing transformation for us. We are starting to see the Gospel affect us in so many ways. Now that I really "Get it", I have seen a some big changes in my own chracter. Religion may have affected my behavior, but its the Gospel that is truly creating me into something...different--better--- I guess. I find I am more patient, more motivated, more understanding. I am beginning the process of transformation and it feels so good! I am definetly a work in progress, but it is so good to feel something in my faith again. And, it is neat seeing how even Caleb has been affected. Ever since he got his Jesus Storybook Bible at the covenant service, we have been reading it to him everynight. He loves it! It is his favorite book and we so enjoy looking at it with him--and he even points out Jesus! We ask him, "Caleb, what's this book about?" and he'll say "Jesus"---which comes out more like, "Jed-jus". It's so adorable--and so nice to feel that my son is learning about his Lord and Savior. And I have seen changes in Brooks too. He seems to be an even more patient, loving father and husband. I am so glad we took the risk and tried something new.I always said that I would never leave our old church (I had been there since age 5)--but I am thankful that Jesus moved us to have faith and follow him. Thank you Jesus!

It's a GIRL!!!!

I am so excited to share with everyone that Brooks and I are having a Baby Girl! We were so ecstatic when we got the news! I had a feeling it was a girl and I kept dreaming it was, and it was true.



The baby also looks very healthy & normal and already almost weighs a pound. It was so cool seeing her two legs, two arms, 10 tiny fingers & 10 tiny toes. Babies are such miracles.



I am so thankful for this gift from God. Some of you may know that Brooks and I thought we may never be able to have our own children when I was diagnosed with PCOS and after trying so long for Caleb. We were actually beginning the adoption process when we found out we were pregnant with Caleb. I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed me with not only one but another wonderful baby. I know we have a way to go until she here, but I am just so happy!!! Thank you Jesus!



I am truly in awe with my Lord & Savior. I have really been on a journey these last few months and I am learning the true gospel. The gospel that makes me realize how dirty & rotten I am, but how my Jesus saved me and everyone else despite what we are. We don't deserve his gift but he gave it and we should take and share him with everyone.



It's funny, Brooks and I were talking yesterday about how before coming to New City Church if you asked me what the gospel was, I would probably be like"uh, the first four books of the New testament." Unfortunately, religion has watered down Jesus to a nice story or a part of the bible. But He is what it's all about! Cover to cover it's all about him! It is so heart breaking that many modern day churches hardly even mention Jesus--except maybe in prayer---but he is the whole story- the beginning, the middle, the end. I hope that others will have their hearts and minds opened.



I have a long way to go in this journey. More humbleness to learn, more religion to scrap away, and I know I am a work in progress, but I am so thankful he is giving me a second chance.

My first blog...

Okay, so since everyone else out there is starting a blog. I said hey--why not. I think it will be cool to keep a journal of sorts, especially since I don't have time for much and I have awful handwriting and i can't spell (Thank you God for spellcheck!). I like that blogs can be short or long or whatever because I tend to get impatient and want to hurry and finish. You should see my failed attempts at scrapbooking! I keep buying crap for a scrapbook but everytime I sit down and do it it ends up looking like a kindergarten project gone seriously wrong.

I don't see how those wonder-moms out there have time for it all. The ones who work, cook, cart the kids around to a million activities and still have time to keep current photo albums and scrapbooks. That's not me. I don't cook a lot--for one thing I am expecting baby #2 and I am sooooooooo tired by the time I get home from work. Luckily, my wonderful husband is a very good cook and is much often obliged to cook diner for his exhausted pregnant wife.

It isn't that pregnancy is sooo tiring (it is) but its the combination of pregnancy and an 18 month old that leaves me pooped. My Caleb is the funniest, craziest, wildest little boy I have ever seen! He really lights my world up. There is nothing better in the world than getting him out of bed in the morning and seeing that first smile of day or picking him up from school in the afternoon and seeing him run towards me...Being a mom is the best, most rewarding, awesome job in the world. And now I am about to be a mommy times 2. I am really excited and scared about this next baby. There are so many thoughts that bounce through your head--will we be able to afford it? Will Caleb like the new baby? Will Caleb bite the new baby(we're having a little trouble with biting right now...)? Will I have enough energy to keep up with 2 kids and keep my house clean? But all of those worries pale in comparison to the thought of seeing that baby for the first time. To feeling those little kicks in my belly. I don't see how anyone can experience pregnancy and birth and not believe that we were divinely created by God. It is so incredible how at just 8 weeks pregnant you can watch your baby's heartbeat, to know that even though its only about .5 inch long that the heart has already developed into four chambers. That is amazing to me. The perfect divine creation of each of us by our heavenly father.

All the anxieties, fears, uncertainties seem very small when I think about Jesus and the incredible burdens he bore for us. Since becoming a parent I think often of how hard it must have been for God to send His Son to die such an agonizing death. As a parent the thought of any harm coming to your child is unbearable, but to offer your son as a sacrifice for the world, that is just incredible. I can't thank him enough....he bore my sins...paid my price....paid my husbands price...my sons...my unborn baby's.......I pray that all will know the incredible gift that Jesus is and what he has done for us.