rainy days

It rained here yesterday and so we spent the day indoors doing things like playing with trains, coloring, oohing over Mason and taking pictures. Once Gavin got home the little kids got to go outside for a bit to get some fresh air. Timber has a new raincoat that her Grandma bought for her and while it is adorable, it's still a little big. It's more like a raindress. The good thing is that she'll be able to use it for this winter and next!

Um, Mom, I can't really see anything...

Oh, wait, there you are!

Yep, just me and my purple raindress!

My little guys!

Baby lovin'.

going raw- for your health

I came upon this fantastic article a while back titled, "10 reasons to drink raw milk" and thought it was something that certainly needed to be shared! It's from the Nourished Kitchen blog which is all about eating right. Here is the article for you to read: http://nourishedkitchen.com/10-reasons-drink-raw-milk/ And don't worry- it's not really long but is full of great insight!

Raw milk has been in our fridge for almost 4 years now. I don't know how we lived without it before that! We once were able to get it from a local dairy here but now must order it from a dairy in Fresno, CA, Organic Pastures. Their milk is superb and can be shipped directly to your doorstep (in a frozen state.)

You owe it to yourself and your family to look into raw milk and see for yourself how beneficial it really is. Maybe there is even a dairy near you that offers organic raw milk from pastured cows! Check into it.

If you can't get raw milk then organic, pasteurized, non-homogenized milk is your next best bet. Organic Valley and Straus are two companies that offer it and I'm sure there are more.

After that comes regular ol' organic pasteurized, homogenized milk.

And after that I'd just recommend water. Don't even waste your money on non-organic milk. You're essentially paying for whitish, high calorie water pumped up with plenty of antibiotics and hormones and I'd bet that you can get good, clean water from your tap for free. Unless of course your water is flourinated.......... but that's a whole 'nother topic!

photo sharing

I obviously have been slightly busy lately and I haven't been able to blog much.....or really at all. 4 kids is a lot of work but I'm loving it! Here are a few photos to keep all the wolves at bay! :)

Out like a light!

I can't figure out why Timber always has to have a dirty face in photos but apparently she does!

Layton hammin' it up!

Mason is already going to work with daddy fixing the plug on the chipper!

welcome to this world!

He's here! Mason Allen was born this last Thursday, November 5th!

First let me say that I love, love, love my midwife. She is the best and I would never go to anyone else to have a child! I am so thankful for her and the person that she is! :)
She was a little off though in her expectations of what my labor/delivery would go like.
It basically ended up being VERY similar to Timber's birth. I went in, they broke my water about 9:30am and my contractions started very slowly. By 11:30am they started Pitocin. That helped a lot. My contractions started coming much more frequently and a lot stronger. Once I got to the point of "I probably can't take this much longer without screaming my head off" we called the anesthesiologist and he came and started an epi for me. That also made a huge difference because once it started working I went from being 5cm to 9cm in a matter of like an hour! By the time I was ready to push I was beyond numb. That wasn't so good. I pushed for almost 2 hours and baby still wasn't coming down past my pelvic bone. My midwife let me know that there was a chance that he wasn't going to come down any further and that I'd have to have a c-section. That certainly made me more determined to push this guy out! I did not want another c-section.......ever. I asked if we could turn my epi way down and that was all it took! Once I could feel my contractions again and feel where I was supposed to be pushing, Mason made his way down the birth canal and out. We welcomed him that evening at 10:29pm.

He came up onto my chest and we waited for the cord to stop pulsating before cutting it.

So needless to say, my labor wasn't as quick as my midwife thought it would be. And she was a little off on his size too. We were hoping for a baby smaller than 9lbs but we got a 10lb 10.9oz baby that was 22" long. Another ready made football player! I am so glad that we induced when we did and didn't wait till after 42wks. I would have surely ended up with an 11 pounder by then.

Anyway, we're all home now, breastfeeding is going well, he's a pretty good sleeper so far and all the other kids are in love with him. I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed us again with a beautiful, healthy baby. I'm also so thanful that my midwife had enough faith in me and in VBACs that she let me just keep pushing and didn't resort to the c-section.

Oh and Bobbi Jo, we did end up getting the vit k shot this time. Mason spent almost 4 hours in the birth canal, sideways! He did finally turn before he came out but had a huge bruise on the side of his very cony head. Gavin and I talked about it and felt that, in this situation, it was best. But otherwise he came home eye goop, vaccination and testing free. :)

thank you

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for Gavin. He is feeling a little better than yesterday but spent most of the night hugging the toilet. He is resting again now and hopefully will be feeling even better by tomorrow morning. We'll be leaving just before 6am to drive down to the hospital. I won't have any internet access down there so ya'll just have wait till we get home to hear the good news! It's supposed to rain and be windy tomorrow and Friday so please pray for safe travel and a safe delivery for Mason! Thank you, thank you, thank you! :)

please pray!

Everything is fine with baby and I but Gavin came home today and said that he wasn't feeling well. Tonight he ate about half of what he normally eats at dinner and when he went to bed at 7pm (you know my husband is sick when he goes to bed at 7pm and barely eats dinner) he said that he was cold. So I'm sure he's getting or has a fever and will probably be sick tonight and tomorrow when he wakes. Please pray that this is something that will pass quickly and easily- maybe with just one really good nights rest. He's my total support through labor and I'm being induced in less than 36 hours! I would hate for him to feel awful during that time. He needs your payers of healing over him! Thanks! :)

yep, i'm still around!

November 3rd. No baby. Looks like I'll be heading to the hospital on Thursday morning for an induction. Thankfully there is no Bible Study tonight because I'm just done every evening by about 5pm now. Plus Gavin has a Jr Church meeting tonight at 7pm. I'm really looking forward to Friday. *sigh*
There is a new quilt of the month though in my shop! Here's the listing and here's the quilt! Enjoy!

Saturday

It's Saturday. Happy Halloween! And no, there is still no baby. So much for an October birthday. Here's the update....... I spoke with my midwife yesterday and we decided to cancel my November 3rd appt. I mean, what's the point of driving 2 hours for an appt just to say, "Nope, you still haven't had that baby yet?" That would be obvious. So instead we set up an induction date. I wanted November 6th for a few different reasons but my midwife would not be able to be there that day so that was out. My next choices were the 5th or the 9th. The 9th would put me at exactly 42 weeks and my midwife didn't want me going past 41. So we settled on the 5th. I'm not too excited about it though. See, the 5th is my birthday. Now I personally am not big on birthdays so it doesn't bother me one bit that I will probably be in massive pain on that day or that I'll share my birthday with my little man. I was hoping though that he would have his own special day and not have to share it with me. So, I need more labor prayers!! I obviously won't be induced if I go into labor before then on my own. (Oh, and on the induction, it's really not that big of a deal since my midwife will just break my water to induce- no meds.)

baby update

Well I don't have that much to share. I'm still here. I'm still pregnant! :)

The appt with my midwife yesterday went well. Here are a few things that she said (that totally surprised me.)
1. "This baby isn't that big"- Wow, how great would that be? She's thinking 8lbs something oz. That sounds great to me seeing as both Layton and Timber were over 9lbs.
2. "Your labor is going to go fast" - Really? Because Layton was 25 hours and then a c-section and Timber was 8 hours of labor with pitocin and then 2 hours of pushing. But her words were, "When you go into labor you need to make a b-line for the hospital."
3. "Your going to go into labor any day now." - Well, I guess if you considered the next 2 weeks "any day" then I'd say that's right. Maybe she was just trying to make me feel better.

So here's our plan. My next appt is November 3rd. That's if I don't go into labor before then. And trust me, I'm praying that the next trip I make down there isn't for an appt! But, if I must, then on the 3rd we'll probably set up an induction for sometime around the 6th. Which is fine by me. I think that by November 6th I'll be ready to be induced if Mason hasn't decided to come on his own.