Monday, December 29, 2008

Christmas Cruise!




We have talked about taking our family on a cruise for Christmas for years.
Well... it finally happened this year!
All 10 of us on a 7 day Mexican Riviera Cruise.




It was FABULOUS!  In Puerto Vallarta, we swam with the dolphins,
in fact they took us on a belly ride!
We went kaiaking around an un-inhabited island in Mazatlan,
and in Cabo San Lucas, we parasailed over whales, toured in a
glass bottom boat, and jet skied in the ocean!
We could not have had any more fun!

Ate way too much food, enjoyed sunny warm
beaches with clear blue water.
Tons of ship activities everyday/night.
I was in heaven to have a date with my husband EVERY night!

No stress,
No cell phones, 
No computers, 
No beds to make,
No house to clean,
No food to cook,
No dishes to do,
it just doesn't get any better than that!
The best part was having our family all together!
I am so blessed to have the amazing, adorable, sweet, thoughtful,
good looking family that I have! 

Thank you family for giving me the best Christmas ever,
and for all you contribute to
making our family so fun to be with!
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE  you!!!

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Thursday, December 4, 2008

Remember the Little Details

Funny story… I came home from a birth this week… (Birth story to follow soon) to my defense, keep in mind I was VERY sleep deprived.  I just wanted to go out and sit in the spa for a few minutes and then go to sleep.  It was the middle of the afternoon, and no one was home, so I locked the front door, and slipped out the back in my spa suit, (for those of you that know me well, you know that is butt naked).  The spa was WONDERFUL for my tired body, now I just needed my comfy bed.  I dried off with my VERY small towel, and headed for the door.  To my surprise, I had LOCKED myself out!!!  We just got new doors and windows, and this new lock automatically locks unless it is manually unlocked. Ya… I’m not used to them yet, and my sleep-deprived brain didn’t remember that little detail.  So…. What am I to do????  I called Paul, he just about busted a gut, and I could HEAR him rolling on the floor.  Hearing my husband laugh is one of my FAVORITE things.  No one would be home for at least 4 hours.  I could curl up on the patio chair and sleep, but it was a bit too nippy for one with no clothes on.  I could go out the side gate, and sneak in the front door, my front yard is pretty hidden by all the big pine trees and no one would even see me, but I remember, I LOCKED the front door!  I thought about the predicament I was in for about 30 minutes, and finally decided just to bite the dust, wrap my “better than nothing” towel around my most privates and go out the side gate to the front yard, I use the keep pad for the garage door and go through the garage.  Yes, it is WIDE OPEN SPACE, and anyone looking out their window, driving down the street, kids getting off the bus, and the Fed X truck driver making a delivery could see this “not so pretty picture”, but at least I was in the my house and snuggled in my bed finally able to get some much needed sleep!

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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thanksgiving Dinner with a Midwife!


I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist!  °Ü°

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Thursday, November 20, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY!!



ASHLEY

You’re our

Spirit-lifting,

Joy-bringing,

Gift-giving,

Love-sending,

Heart-mending,

Problem-solving,

Laughter-sharing,

Soul-searching,

Story-telling,

Fun-seeking,

Forever

Daughter

Sister

Wife

Mother

Niece

Granddaughter

Friend!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!

WE LOVE, LOVE, LOVE YOU!

 


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Monday, November 17, 2008

Cooking Among Friends

They're popping up everywhere Meal assembly franchises like Dream Dinners, Let's Dish, and Super Suppers are storefront businesses that let you buy a freezer-full of fabulous entrées, prepared quickly and efficiently by you and a group of friends at their facilities, using their equipment and ingredients.  
Sounds great, but they are a bit pricey, and they may or may not be conveniently close to you.  We don't have any groups like that in my small town, but I ran across a cool site today called Cooking Among Friends.  So go check it out, they even have a recipe book you can purchase. Then gather some friends, do some planning, individually prepare multiple meals, freeze them, and swap them.  What a GREAT idea!

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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETIE!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

I have the most amazing husband/best friend EVER!  There were way too many pictures to choose from, and most of them are of him with his family because they are the light of his life.  You have heard the cliché “my better half”, well Paul is DEFINITELY my better half!  He is my "behind the scene guy" that helps me look good!  I love and adore him!  He is my very best friend, and I am SO grateful he came a into my life.  

I am grateful to his parents for raising such an AMAZING husband and father!  THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE you Sweetie – I hope this year is AMAZING!



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Saturday, November 8, 2008

My Fan Club

I added a new gadget on my sidebar.
"My Fan Club"!
so if you are one of my "fans" please let me know.  °Ü°

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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

A Midwife’s Midwife!

It’s so fun to be a midwife’s midwife!  We are just like any other pregnant mom who feels like we have lost our brain for 9 months.  All the blood that is normally circulating in the brain is now circulating around that uterus.  We have no memory for nine months just like most other pregnant moms.  We forget that an estimated due date is just that, an ESTIMATE, and we forget even the most common sense things that we know we know.  We sometimes forget to eat, drink and take care of ourselves, because we are too busy taking care of everyone else.  You see; we really are no different from the ordinary pregnant mom.

I tell my clients that by the time they deliver we are BEST friends!  We really have a trusting relationship and are usually on the phone everyday the last week.  This mom was no different, we stayed in touch because she was having a lot of contractions, and at the same time was moving into a new house with lots of finishing work still to be done, had sick children, then she caught the bug herself, it was hunting season, and she didn’t want her husband and son to miss out on this father/son experience, not to mention a LOT of other outside pressure. 

It was midnight, and mom calls to let me know what was going on.  She didn’t want me to come quite yet, but just be ready so when I call you can come quick”, she said.  I already had all my ducks in a row, I called my assistant and she came to sleep at my house until we got THE call.

3:00 AM Dad calls and says it’s time, contx are 2 minutes apart, and mom wanted me to come NOW!  My assistant and I were up, dressed, teeth brushed, contacts in, and out the door in less than 10 minutes.  When we arrived mom was on the toilet breathing through contx like an experienced mom.  I listen to baby’s heart rate and he sounds GREAT.  I locate all the birth supplies and get everything set up and in order, ready for a birth.  Mom likes her privacy, so I backed off and hung out in the front room, while she and dad were in her bedroom and master bath.  I could hear everything going on, I listen closely to her breathing, because this tells me how close mom is, and what best way to assist her is.

4:00 AM Mom wants to get into the tub, as she lowers herself a sigh is heard as she feels instant relief.  She and dad are breathing together and working through contx like she had done this five times before! 

5:15 AM Mom request a dilation check so I checked her while in the tub and she is 7 cm.  Mom feels a little overheated, so we cool the bath water down, put a cool cloth on her head and have her get out to go to the bathroom.  Baby’s heart rate is a little high, I attribute this to mom being overheated, so when we cool mom down, I listen again and sure enough, baby was back to his base-line heart rate.  Mom was eating ice chips because that is what she is craving.  They ate a late dinner, so food wasn’t appealing at all.  For the next hour mom was in and out of the tub to the bathroom, and I am listening to baby frequently as I don’t want his heart rate to jump high again, it continued to stay at his perfect base-line.

6:15 AM Mom is feeling lots of pressure, she wanted her other children present, actually, THEY wanted to be present, they missed the last birth because they were at grandma and grandpa’s, and they weren’t about to miss this one.  So my assistant went to each of their rooms and woke them up.  They all hung out on mom and dads bed to watch their baby brother be born in the large garden bathtub.  Well, they started out on the bed, they soon gathered ‘round the tub to get a closer look.

6:25 AM Mom gently pushes out her baby’s head, I had my hands down to help guard her so she wouldn’t tear, but she pushed my hands away, so I honored this, and just held the space for her to receive her 9 lb baby boy with grace and ease!  The whole family was gathered ‘round the tub in sheer delight!

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I VOTED!!!


TODAY IS THE DAY!
GO VOTE!  LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

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Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!

I LOVE Candy Corn.
There's not much to it except sugar
but I love the simplicity of it.
I can't think of a Halloween without
Candy Corn!


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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Happy Birthday to ME!




to ME!
Yes, I am doing my own Birthday Blog..
why?....Because I didn't want you to miss out on these CUTE
pictures of me 25 years ago!



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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Butter Birth!

I love births when their most important lesson is how easy birth can be when we give women the tools they need to birth with confidence.  We celebrate the accomplishment of what the women’s body is able to do as we surround her with supportive and empowering people who trust birth.

5:15 AM Mom calls with contx about 6 minutes apart.  They had been 20 minutes then jumped to 6-7 minutes within an hour.  This is her second baby, so we expect for labor to progress quicker than the last one.  I got a quick shower to wake me up for an hour drive.  I was on the road by 5:45 AM.

7:00 AM I arrive at the house, and mom is working hard through contx, with what looks like with ease.  As we start to set up the birth tub we are thinking, “were not going to get this filled before baby gets here”, so we changed plans and disinfect the tub in her bathroom instead.  She has a large garden tub, so it will be plenty big. 

We make her bed in the specific way we do for a home birth.  We put clean sheets on bed in normal order; fitted, flat, & blanket, then we cover the bed with a waterproof sheet or drop cloth (lg. Shower curtain works well also).  Then continue to make the bed again over the top of blanket with an old set of sheets; fitted, flat etc.  This makes it an easy and quick bed change after baby is born.  When mom gets up to go to the bathroom, we take the top set off and leave a fresh clean set for mom to return to bed with.  We make the bed like this even if the plan is to have a water birth, because we never know which plan is going to play out, and we want to be prepared for every plan.

7:30 AM When the tub is ready so was mom, she gets in and feels relief as she is emerges herself in water.  At this point comfortable is not in mom’s vocabulary.  Nothing or any position is comfortable now, but mom is breathing and rocking her hips through contx, and now she is feeling like she needs to poop, so she gets out of the tub and sits on the toilet.  She gives a couple of pushes on the toilet and we encourage her to go back to the tub, but she says no, she can’t move.  We tell her she can, and we will help her, but she still refuses.  We always trust that mom knows what her body needs and what position is best for her. Just to give you an idea of positions, and trusting mom to do whatever is best for her.  We asked mom to scoot forward on the toilet, but she said she couldn’t, instead she stood up and was in a supported, stand with her knees slightly bent, as she did this baby came right down the birth canal without even a push.  The next contx mom gave a gentle push and the head was born.  Within 5 seconds, no pushing, the body was born.  One midwife supported mom’s perineum and the other one received this beautiful baby girl in a soft towel.  Mom sat back on the toilet and we lifted baby into her arms.  The placenta came after the cord finished pulsing, and Dad cut the cord.  No bleeding, only a VERY small tear, and clean up was instant.  It doesn’t get any easier than that.  We call these “butter births”.   

8:13 AM Mom and Dad welcome their sweet baby girl into their family weighing in at 8 lbs 1 oz!

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Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Homecoming 2008



Whitney and Mitch - Homecoming 
October 2008
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Monday, October 6, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMIE!

Happy Birthday Jamie Lynne!
We love you and want you to know how blessed we are to have you in our family for the past 23 years!  You have blessed our family lots of laughs and yes, even some tears.  You have taught us many lessons, and continue to be an example for us.  You are extremely talented and we are grateful to be a recipient of those talents.  Jamie, with your courage and determination, you will accomplish all your dreams.  Thank you for choosing us to be your family!  We love you!



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Friday, October 3, 2008

Slow and Gently Born

9:30 AM Mom calls with contx 5 minutes apart.  This is her second birth with us, and she has a family history of having very quick labors.  Her last birth was normal in length, not really fast, but not long either.  She lives about 1 ½ hours away, so I didn’t want to wait too long.  I had appointments this day, so I called and canceled them and headed out to a birth. 

When I arrived I saw mom outside doing yard work, I thought, okay, this doesn’t look like a mom that is moving through labor very quickly, and I was right.  The good thing is we were out in the country, so it was a nice leisurely day as we waited for labor to progress.   We went to a ride into town to the little produce market and got a few groceries for dinner, (it was noon, but we know we’d be there for dinner).

7:30 PM labor finally picked up and contx were much stronger now.  Mom had to work through them with a bit more effort.  Still only wanting her husbands support we stayed in the front room to offer support when she needed it.

11:30 PM Mom wanted to get into the birth tub to help manage the intensity of contx.  We warmed the water to about 98 degrees, and mom was very happy to finally emerge herself in water.

12:00 AM Mom continues to work through contx, still really only wanting her husbands support, but we can tell that it is getting close.  The tub was in the dining room and she had a curtain set up as a privacy curtain in between the dining area and the front room.  As we listen to mom’s breath, we could hear a little catch in it as she breathes through contx.  This lets us know that the baby is coming down and mom will soon feel an urge to push her baby out.

1:00 AM  Mom is actively pushing now.  There is a little anterior cervical lip just at the top of baby’s head, as she has another contx and pushes we hold the lip back so the head can come down in front of it.  Within a few minutes of pushing we see the head crowning, and mom VERY slowly and with VERY controlled pushes, gently pushes her baby’s head out.  The head doesn’t rotate, so we ask her to turn over on her hands and knees, this opens the pelvic a bit more to make more room for baby to come through.  This rotation opened up the way for baby to be born.  Because of mom’s gentle, slow and controlled pushing she doesn’t tear, and Mom and dad welcomed their son at 1:17 AM

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