End of a Journey...

21 February 2012
Today we closed another chapter in our lives and we move on to the next.  Today was our last visit to the Midwife Clinic.  Furia is now 6 weeks 2 days old and is growing like a weed.  She measured in at 22" long and weighs 11lbs 3oz (3lbs 2oz more than birth).  Her cheeks are getting wonderfully chubby and her thigh rolls have started to fill out.  I am eternally grateful to Jess and Jenn at Blessing Way Midwifery for taking us on as patients.  Overall, my pregnancy was healthier and easier than my first pregnancy.  It made for a great birthing experience and not to forget a healthy baby and easier recovery.  They supported me in all my strategies for pain management and stubborness to achieve the VBAC that I insisted on having.  I felt comfortable and relieved to know that I was in good hands and experienced the best care I could have ever hoped for in a pregnancy.  I wasn't just a number, I was a person with a name that they would say hi on the street and not forget who I was... I didn't slip through the cracks, and all our needs were exceeded.  January 8th was one of the best days of my life being able to share that with two amazing women made it that much better.
With that said, today we are at the end of our journey with Jess and Jenn, I am having a hard time writing this with happiness and sadness, I will miss them dearly until next time we get pregnant again.  To anyone who lives in and around Gurneyland, I strongly recommend these two if you are interested in having a home birth, natural birth or even just a hospital birth, Jess and Jenn do amazing work and I trust them with my life and the life of my children (or future children for that matter).  So to Jess and Jenn THANK YOU a million times over.  I couldn't have asked for anything better.
So we start on a new journey as a family of four... and for now, we are just enjoying being at home as a family and working on our renovations to transform our house into a home.

09 March 2012
I didn't post the above at the time, I needed to contemplate the whole meaning of it before I set it in stone and actually posted it.  Furia hit the 2 month mark yesterday, I guess the realisation that she won't stay bitty forever has really hit me.  I am trying to keep up with her growth spurts and development.  She is almost mobile.  During tummy time, she will push her way across the carpet dragging her face and making coo-ing sounds or screaming depending on what she really wants.
Anomantia has really become an excellent big sister.  She even shares her maracas with Furia.  She even is starting to talk more now.  Anomantia's words are becoming clearer but they are still very limited.  I guess only time will allow her communication skills to develop.

Family Day

This is my justification for the current state of my house!  (and I'm sticking to it!)  Having a clean house is not on the top of my list of things to care about right now.  It is Family Day long weekend and we spent most of our day yesterday at the park on a "sleigh" (hay wagon) ride drawn by two beautiful Clydesdale horses.  Anomantia was thrilled by the bumpy ride and the snow on the ground, I had to bribe her with Shrek to come home.  Furia slept the whole time.  It was a nice overcast/snowy day.  Followed by a beautiful sunny day today.  Anomantia played in the snow in the back yard before lunch and then we played with toys and watched more Shrek this afternoon.  I have finally managed to get both girls to nap at the same time the last couple of days so I can try to get caught up on a couple of things... still hasn't happened as I have been suffering from the same stupid never ending headaches that I had during pregnancy. 
As of yesterday, Furia is 6 weeks old and we are heading to our very last midwife appointment tomorrow afternoon.  It is bittersweet as I really love Jess and Jenn for everything they helped me with through this pregnancy.  They are awesome and gave me the opportunity to have the birth I always imagined and would not have had if I was stuck with the same closed minded doctor as before.  I had better go get some chores done before they wake up.

Pre Valentine's day Weekend

Anomantia showing off her pony tails... she wasn't overly impressed with having them but I told her her options were to sit and have her hair brushed and pulled off her face or face having her hair cut like her dad's... also known as a buzz cut!  I am so done fighting over hair with her.  Originally there were 3 pony tails but we agreed she could pull the back one out as it wasn't really necessary to keep her hair off her face.

 Anomantia being so cute with her new hairdo... I love looking at her pretty little face.  Such a beauty (but I guess I am biased seeing as she is my child)!

 Yesterday early afternoon, I sat and had a cup of tea while Anomantia vacuumed the living room and Laurence napped with Furia on the couch.  I love this type of family time.

 Yesterday morning, after breakfast, while I was clearing the dishes up and cleaning up from our Friday night movie night, Laurence hung out and read books to our girls at the table.  Furia was totally awake just listening to Laurence and Anomantia talk.

As for the rest of this weekend, Anomantia and I are making valentine's day cards and getting some ideas ready for our family fun day on Tuesday afternoon.  Laurence and I are also cleaning out our home of the excess junk we have managed to accumulate over the past eight years (almost).  It is hard to believe that in a mere six and a half months, Laurence and I will be celebrating our 5th Wedding Anniversary, even though it feels like just yesterday we packed our little Sunfire to the roof and drove back to the island to get married.  We have been living in our home here in Gurneyland for the last five years and things have built up to the point where we feel like this house is getting too small.  So it is time for a purge... a huge one at that.  Most of the space has been taken over by kids toys and baby stuff.  So we have decided to downsize and start taking a minimalist approach to the way we live.  This month, I have vowed to remove at least one item from our home per day and so far, I have been 85% successful in doing so.  I am playing catch up today and tomorrow for the last couple of days where I have slacked in keeping up to my vow.  Laurence is still busy working on and moving the office so we can get Anomantia's new room fixed up and safe for her.  In the meantime, we are enjoying our family time tons and I am eager to get back to working out post baby.  At the beginning of March, I am hoping to do a trial gym membership that I was given while I was pregnant.  And until then, I have been walking and taking it easy when it comes to exercise.  I just want to heal fully before I go and start being active again. I am just so looking forward to more time with the three most wonderful people (IMO) in the world.

This morning step by step...

How to get up and ready for the day in 76 easy steps:

1. Maintain consciouness
2. reach over to nightstand table and knock everything over
3. find toothpicks
4. prop eyes open using toothpicks
5. feed baby and fall back asleep
6. wake up again to 2 year old yelling "UP" while standing next to bed.
7. Pull 2 year old into bed and try to get her to settle and not step on baby while baby finishes nursing
8. Get out of bed and change baby's diaper.
9. Convince 2 year old that it is time to get up (this requires a bribe somedays)
10. Go downstairs
11. try to get breakfast started
12. turn on kettle
13. Get distracted by 2 year old trying to turn on tv
14.. turn on tv for 2 year old
15. Get into heated debate with 2 year old over what is appropriate programming for her age group
16. Settle on PBS kids (insert whining here)
17. Go back into the kitchen 
18. put oatmeal in bowl
19. serve oatmeal to 2 year old
20. tend to crying baby
21. tend to crying 2 year old who burned her mouth on hot oatmeal
22. turn on kettle again
23. Get Cheerios for 2 year old who has finished her oatmeal
24. Get milk for Cheerios
25. realise that I still hadn't made my cup of tea
26. turn kettle on for a third time
27. Get 2 year old settled with Sesame Street and Cheerios
28. Get baby settled and napping
29. Decide to take a shower
30. Get shower started
31. Go upstairs to get my towel
32. Go back downstairs to get in the shower
33. Get to bathroom and find 2 year old stripping
34. Put 2 year old's nighttime diaper in the diaper pail upstairs
35. Go back downstairs to get in shower
36. Get in shower with 2 year old
37. Get half way cleaned
38. Stop due to screaming 2 year old
39. wash soap out of 2 year old's eyes
40. Have husband bring baby into bathroom
41. have husband hand me baby in shower.
42. wash baby
43. wash 2 year old
44. get out of shower
45. wrap baby in towel
46. wrap 2 year old in towel
47. wrap self in towel
48. get baby dressed
49. get 2 year old dressed
50. get underwear and pants on.
51. nurse crying baby
52. leak milk all over clean baby
53. try to put bra and breast pads on
54. think about tea
55. put bra and shirt on
56. think about breakfast
57. look at clock and realise that it is 12:16pm
58. turn on kettle again
59. think about lunch
60. think about dinner
61. pull soup out of freezer for lunch and ham out for dinner
62. put soup in pot
63. turn on kettle again
64. put tea bag in mug
65. change baby's diaper
66. check on soup
67. turn tv off
68. nurse baby again
69. realise 2 year old has decided on Cheerios for lunch
70. clean up Cheerios spilled on carpet
71. turn on kettle for last time
72. hover over kettle until it boils
73. pour water into mug and let tea steep
74. Sit down with tea and soup to eat
75. look at clock ... ugh 2:37pm
76. want to go back to bed!

And the baby is here! (*caution graphic*)

Furia Eevul Obsidian Gurney made her grand debut at 10:03pm on January 8th 2012.  Weighing a big 8lbs 1oz and measuring 20.5 inches long.  After typing my previous post, I saved it until I was ready to sit and write her birth story which is something like this:

I was sitting in the shower on the morning of the 8th feeling tired from not sleeping while worrying about the upcoming NST (non-stress test) and going over all the methods that I had tried in efforts of trying to coerce this baby to get out of my body.  I was in foreign territory being post dates, as Anomantia came before her due date.  I was trying everything I could think of and even in a last ditch effort, I had read somewhere about someone trying a stick of cinnamon in boiling water and drinking the water after letting it steep, so after the shower I tried that.  Shortly after the cinnamon tea, I felt my first contraction, followed by another in random intervals throughout the morning starting at 11:30am.  By 2pm they had intensified and were more regular, so I made the first call to my midwives to let them know I was residing in labourland.  (insert previous post here)  After several more hours of labouring at home, my contractions started to wind me and were coming about 3 minutes apart.  At 6:30pm my midwives suggested that we make the move to the hospital to be assessed and to prepare for the birth.  I was 4cm and the baby's heart rate was holding strong through my contractions, we were all geared up and excited anticipating the pending birth.  By 8:30pm I was trying to take a walk but my contractions were too powerful so I decided to try the tub to relax a bit.  Unfortunately I was unable to get comfortable in the tub, so I walked bare assed back to the delivery room to be checked again.  I was at 9cm and the baby's head was right there.  This was the only moment I ever doubted my ability to go through with a completely natural birth.  I got through it by repeating my mantra of OPEN with every contraction.  It was very empowering.  I finally settled on a position (a strange one at that), the back of the bed elevated, I pulled myself up and kneeled on the bed facing the back wall.  I was effective for me as at 9pm I had the urge to push and an hour later, I was catching my squishy baby, as soon as she was born, I was the first person to hold her, touch her and love her.  Blood covered and perfect, she just hung out on my chest for about an hour before she decided to breastfeed.  Meanwhile her placenta detached less than 6 minutes later and I hemorrhaged and needed stitches due to tearing, but my baby was perfect.  So with all that I ended up staying at the hospital for the night to be monitored and so I could get some fluids and Laurence went home to be with Anomantia and to relieve our support team who had so kindly helped us out.  It was great to get home the next day and to see how excited Anomantia was to meet her sister.  When Laurence and Anomantia came to pick us up, I could hear her coming down the hall calling Mum at every door until she got to mine and just started calling Baby Baby Baby.  And finally Laurence got to hold his daughter just before she was put into her car seat for the first time.  And since her birth Furia has been a wonderful addition to the family.

With my labours progressing so fast, I feel like there is something I forgot, but from start to finish, there was close to 11 hours from my first contraction to the delivery of the placenta.  I am finally healing the right way (for me anyways) and glad to say that Laurence and I are super happy with our girls and can't wait to see what the future brings.  And we had an awesome babymoon  (I just wish it could have started sooner)  and had a few great days just the four of us.

Labourland

So I am currently residing in labourland... hoping this baby will make an appearance tonight at the latest, but we will have to see.  The contractions are far more intense than I remembered but they are coming regularly and lasting longer and stronger each time.  With Anomantia, I only laboured in my legs this time it is everywhere and I am most comfortable on my knees leaning over a chair or the couch depending on where I am.  I am trying to find the right position, perhaps a shower will help to ease the tension.  Tonight is the Pagan Snow Moon which happens to be in its full glory at exactly 00:30am here in Gurneyland.  I spoke with one of my midwives earlier this afternoon to give her the heads up that this is happening and my support team is on high alert waiting for me to make the call to move this party towards labour and delivery, making it more real than before.  This is such a relief seeing as I have felt like a failure these past few days not being able to get my body to go into labour but I guess this baby has been just hanging out for the snow moon to come and join our party. 

Post dates

Well, my due date has officially come and gone and then some and this baby is still hanging out and has yet to make an appearance.  I have tried almost every old wives tale to try to kick start labour.  The one I haven't tried is Castor oil because I just think that stuff is gross anyways and unless I am told to take it there is NO WAY I am taking it selectively.  Today I am trying acupuncture and acupressure, Laurence thinks it is all hocus pocus but honestly I am at the point where I am willing to try almost anything.  I would really like for this baby to come soon but I guess I made things too comfortable for him/her these past few weeks.  Considering that every prediction I have had, from a care provider, was that this baby would probably come between Christmas and New Years... fat chance!  This is totally uncharted territories for me as Anomantia was born a couple weeks early and I have never been this pregnant.  Everything is so different between this pregnancy and Anomantia's, I was really sick at the end with Anomantia.  I had a terrible cough and a cold that I just couldn't seem to kick.  I was really sick throughout that pregnancy and this one has been relatively easy in comparison.  There were definitely a few hiccups along the way but overall this one has been smooth sailing until now... I am just having a hard time with the extra weight and its distribution on my body.  Unfortunately my 2nd trimester headaches have returned and insomnia has taken the place of sleep.  All of which my midwives assured me is curable with delivery.  So please send me good birthing vibes and labour thoughts... come on baby it is time to make your appearance.  Until then, I am going to be walking, cleaning, dancing, and trying to shake this baby loose.