He's here!

Emmett Xavier Weddell arrived on January 31, 2013. We did have our home water birth as well as the Lotus birth like we were praying for. I wrote Emmett's birth story below if anyone is interested in reading it. This was definitely the hardest pregnancy, birth and now nursing experience I have had so far. I was very run down and did not feel well the entire pregnancy, no matter what I did. The birth was nothing like it was with Tabitha or Grady. Nursing has been a challenge also. Nursing Tabitha and Grady was definitely textbook worthy. I never had plugged ducts, cracked nipples, pain... until now, although it is finally getting better. So to say the past 9 months has been an eye opener and humbling, is an understatement.


Here is Emmett's birth story.

I was "37 weeks and 4 days" when labor started at about 6:15am. I felt the baby doing head butts against my cervix 2 times before I felt a “pop”. I ran to the bathroom and only dribbled on the floor, but as soon as I sat on the toilet, there was a small gush. I called my midwife to let her know.

Contractions started while on the phone with her. We kept track of every contraction with Contraction Master app for Eric’s iPad. It was really cool, because at the end of labor I emailed myself the chart of every contraction I had. I can also see when labor “stalled” a couple times.

Grady decided to wake up at 8:30, since he heard us talking and Tabitha woke up around 9:00. Tabitha took over recording the contractions and Eric decided to go back to sleep in case it was going to be a long day/night.

Contractions were manageable all morning and early afternoon. Labor stalled around 10:40-12:15, then again 4:20-5:30. After labor stalled the last time, I wanted to get things moving, so I had the kids take a nap and had Eric call our massage therapist friend to suggest a few acupressure points. Boy did they work! I stood up from where we were doing the acupressure and thankfully, I was standing on a pad. A huge gush of water came out. I felt like I was uncontrollably peeing, so as soon as it slowed, I hopped in the shower. Strong contractions started and they just kept intensifying. I started crying, which is our cue that the baby was coming very soon, so we had Tabitha call the midwife and tell her to come NOW!

I hopped in the tub and started having back to back contractions. My midwife, Erika, arrived about 30 minutes before I had a huge urge to push.  I did scream 2 times because the pressure was so intense. I pushed for 21 minutes and out came Emmett Xavier at 9:17pm. We did not cut the cord, as we did a lotus birth, but did decide to cut it on day 3 since I was afraid I was going to move him wrong and rip the cord from the umbilical site.  His cord did come off on day 5.

After the birth we made sure I didn’t scare the kids. Thankfully they said they weren’t scared. I am happy I prepped them with YouTube videos before hand. Tabitha also came up to me and gave me a big hug and told me “You’re really good at birth!”.  I am so blessed!

Below are pictures of Emmett's Lotus birth.

 

 

Getting ready for our next homebirth

Well, here we are, in a month or so we should have a new baby in our household. If you ask me, I am ready right now! I am so miserable and tired that I am just ready for it all to be done, but I must be patient and deal with the little irritations for a little while longer. The baby seems to think 4am is exercise and playing time already, so at least I am trying to get into that schedule. I try my best to put my feet up during the day, but that doesn't always happen with 2 other children to homeschool and feed, as well as all the other household things that need done. Eric has become more attentive since he was on vacation last week. He is making sure dishes are done as much as possible, laundry at least started, food cooked so it can just be reheated, and letting me sleep as much as I need to when he is home. I am truly blessed to have him as a husband.

I am very much looking forward to the Lotus portion of the birth. I have never been able to actually see a placenta up close and touch it before. I know Eric is squeamish about this, but I feel this is what we are supposed to be doing, instead of what our current culture feels is medical waste.

My home birth kit and lotus herbs have been here at the house for at least a month already and the baby clothes are already in the drawer. The cloth diapers have been washed 2 times so far and will be washed another 1-2 times before the birth, so they have maximum absorbency. I have sewn the lotus birth bags and cotton wraps, snap down infant gowns (so the cord can be safely strung through the gown), multiple diaper covers, and almost finished hemming/serging the shirts I made out of onesies.

I am also looking forward to the water birth. We are going to be making the basement into a birthing suite, since there is a bathroom, couches, adjustable lighting, and refrigerator down there already. All that is needed to do is lay down the tarp, set up the tub, and fill the tub, but that won't happen until I start labor.

House cleaning has begun. I am trying to get it done slowly and thoroughly so I don't go overboard when the "nesting" hits.

Naming our children has never been easy. Eric and I rarely see eye to eye on any name until last minute. I had already chosen names and thought he liked them, then after further discussion, he didn't really like one and I really didn't like the other. So, we took an entire week to go over even more names. The hard part for Eric is my stipulation that the name can not be on the current top 200 list on baby name websites and Eric doesn't like all of my beautifully chosen Titanic era (long) names. We now have 2 names that we agree on. I really pray that those are the final decisions.

More Bible stuff

It is truly a blessing in finding the Facebook page Christians Against Pagan Holidays. I learn something new almost everyday. Yes, we do all still have our own opinions about certain things, but in the end, we all have the same belief systems running through our heads.

Recently the Apocrypha was brought up. I had run across it quite a few times in the past year or 2 and even felt compelled to buy the King James Version of it about a year ago, but yet, I never felt the need to read it, so there it sat until today on my dusty bookshelf. I made myself sit down and relax with my feet up and start at the beginning of the book. What I read astounded me, so I had to go to the internet to see if what I was reading was true. I went to Wikipedia and behold! There was my answer. Did you know that "All King James Bibles published before 1666 included the Apocrypha."?
I am really sad that people took upon themselves to mold and create a Bible they wanted, which is what we now call the "English Bible". I feel as if I've been lied to.

So now, if any of you would like to go on a new journey with me and start reading the Apocrypha and have discussions, I would love to hear from you. Even a comment would be greatly appreciated.

On another note. I did post a question to them, hoping that I was wrong, but alas... Birthdays are pagan. Upon more research candles on a cake originate from celebrating the moon goddess and Germans originally started the presents and decorations for birthdays. The only birthdays mentioned in the Bible ended horribly. Something to think about...

OK, one more thing. If any of you did get to read the blog I posted in my last blog, I would love to have comments on that also. The more I started researching and talking to my daughter about those verses found in that blog, and the more this is discussed on Facebook, the clearer things seem to become. Someone on Facebook also posted that the only thing Jesus told us to do to remember him was communion; not celebrate his death/ressurection, not celebrate his birth... Even today another person said that if Christmas was Christian, everyone would be against it...

Sharing a blog

This blog was recommended for me to read from the "Christians Against Pagan Holidays" page I have friended on Facebook. I read it and am very pleased with how much detail there is. It is a 10 part blog and has SO much information in it. More things consistently come to light, thanks to reading the Bible on my own and being part of this group. So, I encourage all of you to pray that God opens your mind before you sit down to read this blog.

http://therealtemple.blogspot.com/2008/11/dagon-connection.html?m=1