^^Birthday Boy^^

5 years go by in a wink. 5 years can pass far too fast...

Our sweet boy, Aaron, turned 5 last month. We had planned a fantastic party at the park, but were met with winter rains the morning of the party. My in-laws, who are amazing, let us bring the party to their house. It was a tight squeeze, but I think fun was had by all.

Aaron is really into Transformers and Power Rangers right now, so they were the "theme" for his party. Aaron can't have dairy, so I made him a dairy-free cake with rice milk. I was very surprised to see, and taste, how yummy rice milk cooks up in a cake. I got a pic of the Transformers logo and made it into a stencil for his cake:

All of Aaron's friends were so cute at the party! They had so much fun, and were so well behaved. This is Aaron and one of his bestest friends, Riley.

Aaron really wanted a pinata at his party, so we bought one with the strings you pull on the bottom to make the pinata open. That way, kids don't have to swing around dangerous bats and such to bust it open. Well, the strings came off our pinata, so we went "old school" and brought out the bat. The dads kept the kids in line and everyone got a good whack at it. I took at tip from Aaron's teacher, and put the treats and prizes in individual bags for the kids. This little trick keeps the kids from bashing into each other to get the coveted candy. Smart huh?!

What's next for our 5 year-old? Camping this summer and Kindergarten in the Fall. Time just keeps going by...

{a beautiful birth}

Nora Jean came into our family on November 27th, 2009; 4 1/2 weeks early!! This is our birth story:

Thanksgiving was really nice, and I even took a nap that day. I had my usual preterm contractions, but nothing out of the ordinary and certainly not painful or regular. I went to bed that night with some contractions (ctxs), but they usually go away when I go to sleep. Well, that didn't happen this time...

Around 1am, I really started to notice that I wasn't sleeping through the ctxs anymore. That was a big sign that things were changing. By 2 am, I couldn't stay in bed anymore and went to the couch. If it were the real thing, I wanted Clay to be rested so he could help me. I also realized that if it were real, I had NOTHING packed for me or the baby. So, in between ctxs, I did laundry and packed bags. By then, I had to stop what I was doing and use my Hypnobabies cues to get through the ctxs. I found the most comfort when I would lean over the washer (or whatever I could get to FAST) and sway my hips back and forth, kind of like dancing.

Once the ctxs got really hard, I got in the bathtub. I thought that would feel great, but no. I was having horrid back labor, and it just made it worse. I wish I had thought of getting on my hands and knees in the tub. That would have felt much better. I got out, and by then it was 5 am. I woke Clay and we got the rest of our things ready. His mom came over to watch the kids and we left for the hospital around 6am.

I was really really hoping that I wasn't progressing and they could stop the ctxs, because she was coming TOO EARLY! The car ride was the worst part of the whole labor. I couldn't do anything to help ease my ctxs, so DH kept giving me relaxation cues (THANK YOU Hypnobabies!) to get me to focus. He was so good, and it got me focusing again.

When we got to the hospital, I could hardly walk because the contractions were were so strong and coming on fast. And talking was out of the question. Clay had to do all of the communicating with the hospital staff and the phone calls too. They took me right back to triage and checked me, first thing. To my utter shock, I was already 7cm! DH called our doula, Rose, right away. She showed up 30 mins later - YAY!

I got in a room really fast and because I was so early, they gave me a dose of antibiotics. Otherwise, I had nothing through the IV. They tried to give me fluids through the IV, but I told them I didn't want any and I was happy to drink LOTS of water.

By 8am, I was 9cm and my water had NOT broken yet. I labored over the edge of the bed with Clay and Rose giving me counter pressure on my lower back. I had really bad back labor because Nora was posterior. I knew she was posterior when I went to the chiropractor on Wednesday! My chiro told me that she thought Nora was posterior too, but I had plenty of time for her to turn, HAHAHA!

Because of her position and my water not breaking, I was stuck at 9cm for 2 1/2 hours!!!!!! Finally, I had my OB break my water. I continued to labor on the edge of the bed for a while, then on the bed, then on my side. Pretty much any position to get her turned around. Nora turned shortly after that and I got to 10 pretty quickly. Whew, that was tough!

My legs were like jello from laboring on my hands/knees and over the bed. I only wanted to be on my back, so that's how I birthed Nora. I only pushed for 20 mins or so, and out she came. The relief was amazing!! Nora's birth was awesome and I am so happy with how it all went. I couldn't have done it unmedicated without Hypnobabies, Clay and Rose. Natural childbirth is hard, but SO SO worth it! My recovery was amazing and I felt wonderful right away. Yeah, I was sore, but compared to my medicated births, EVERYTHING was better. I was planning on my midwife being there for Nora's birth, but because Nora was early, my OB had to be there. He was fabulous, though, and even my doula commented on how great he was and how he even suggested positions for me to move into to get Nora to turn around.

Nora was born at 10:35 am and weighed 6lbs 5oz. For being 35 wks and 3 days, she was a really good size. My dates were accurate, so we know she was early, for sure. After she was born, she had some breathing issues, which resolved by the next morning. After that, I was able to nurse her. She did get a touch of jaundice, but nothing too bad. Once we brought her home (she had a 3 day stay - not bad at all!), we had to take her for weight checks at the pedi and bloodwork for jaundice. Her jaundice is better now and she is putting on some weight.

Nora is so lovely and sweet. We are all in love with her! She looks just like Aaron and is SO tiny.