Cool iPhone wrap

I found this on Etsy

iPhone 4 Antenna Wrap in Sparkling Gold

$10.00


Visit the etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/listing/62715018/att-and-verizon-iphone-4-antenna-wrap

Lucy is here... and here's how she arrived

Lucy’s Birth Story 

On Saturday October 1^st, (2 days after my estimated due date of 9/30), Josh and I woke up and decided to take a day trip up to Julian to enjoy a short road trip together and see if the altitude change would help move things along starting labor. That morning I was having some mild, painless contractions that were around 18 minutes apart, so we weren’t too worried about things accelerating too fast and remembered from our Bradley class to ignore contractions/labor for as long as possible. It was warm in Julian. We did some decent walking up and down the main strip, had a slice of pie, and by the time we were driving back down the mountain, my contractions were around 11 minutes apart and 30 to 45 seconds long - still very mild and not painful.

On the way home we decided to stop at North County Fair Mall and do some more walking (in air conditioning). We headed home after that and by the time we made it home at around 3pm, my contractions were around 9-10 minutes apart, 45 seconds long – still not painful or very intense. I was hungry, so I had something to eat and decided to rest on the couch for the rest of the afternoon in case this was the real thing! As the afternoon and evening went on, my contractions became closer together. By 7pm, the contractions were starting to become more intense and harder to talk through, around 6-7 minutes apart, 45 seconds long. As they grew in intensity, and when I could feel a contraction coming on, I would let Josh know and he would put counter pressure on my lower back and talk me through the contraction reminding me to relax and breathe, which helped distract me from the intensity of the pressure on my lower abdomen.

I had been texting with my doula that afternoon to let her know what was going on, and at around 7:30 we called our midwife to warn her that she may be coming to our home to help with Lucy’s birth that evening or early tomorrow. At around 8:45, our doula texted that she was going to bed early to get some rest in case she was going to come over later, and suggested we go upstairs and try to rest/sleep too. I knew sleep wasn’t going to be possible, as the contractions were getting more and more intense and painful, but decided we should go upstairs and prepare our bed for labor, then lay down and try to rest as much as possible. We stripped our bed down, put fresh sheets on the bed, then plastic shower curtains, then put on our “labor” sheets that would be  “soiled” and washed or thrown out after the birth. Josh sanitized our soaking tub in our bathroom in between contractions, as we were planning on laboring in the tub and hopefully birthing Lucy in the tub if the circumstances would allow.

All our birth supplies were ready to go in our bedroom and the midwife (and her team) would be bringing all their medical equipment, etc when they got the call to come over. At around 9:30, my contractions were becoming stronger, longer and closer together, somewhere around 5 minutes apart. At this point my water had not broken, no bloody show – just intense contractions. At 10pm we decided to call my mom and our doula to head over. They arrived at around 10:30 and jumped in to soothe and support me during contractions. I labored through most of my contractions in bed, in the side sleep/relax position, with someone putting counter pressure on my back – and two other people either holding my hand or just lightly touching me on the leg and softly encouraging me and reminding me to relax. If I was on my way to or back from the bathroom, I would kneel against the bed, and have pressure applied to my back.

At around 11:15, we called my midwife again to let her know my contractions were at least a minute long and were getting really close together, around 3 minutes apart, and sometimes one on top of another. We decided to ask my midwife to head over based on the intensity and timing of my contractions, even thought it seemed like it could possibly be too soon to have her come over (glad we had her come when we did!). At our Doula’s suggestion, Josh prepared me a warm bath. I got into the tub, and immediately felt more relaxed and capable of handing my contractions. Within 15 minutes, Josh noticed some bloody globs in the water. The contractions in the tub felt much more manageable for me, as the warm water was so soothing and relaxing (although laying on the bed through contractions was good for saving energy, I felt sort of helpless and had a hard time coping with the intensity just laying there).

Some candles were lit around the tub and my doula continued to apply counter pressure on my lower back as the contractions came while I was in the tub. I remember being happy that things were so quiet and peaceful. My mom took some photos and started video taping here and there. After around 20 minutes in the tub, a contraction came on and I was slammed with the uncontrollable urge and pressure to bear down to push. I was suddenly grunting as my body told me it was time for Lucy to be pushed out! I vocalized this and my doula and Josh reassured me that it was good & that the midwife would be here any minute.

A few minutes later, my midwife (Michelle) and her team arrived and calmly began setting up their equipment, etc. Michelle got out her Waterproof Doppler and listed to the baby’s heart tones, which sounded steady and great. Michelle asked me if I wanted her to check and make sure my cervix was cleared/out of the way – which I agreed to & had my first and only cervical check. After a quick check - Michelle assured me that I was ready to go! After a few minutes of pushing in a reclining/relaxed position in the tub, I decided that I wanted to get onto all fours and try pushing that way. Pushing on all fours felt much better because it felt much more productive. Shortly thereafter my midwife told me to reach down and I could feel Lucy’s head, which was so motivating and wonderful, knowing that we were making progress and I’d be holding my baby soon. Her head felt surprisingly squishy, as she was still in her bag of waters.

Michelle told Josh that he should scrub up if he wanted to feel our baby girl’s head, so after he washed up – she had Josh reach down and he felt her head, which was completely birthed at that point. Josh announced that she had a lot of hair! During the next wave, my midwife prepared me to catch her between my legs and the next thing I knew, I was holding Lucy in my arms (after a total of 15 minutes of pushing). Lucy was born on October 2^nd (my birthday!) at 12:15 am. I held her on my chest in the tub as the midwives got out her pre-warmed hat and blanket, which Josh put on/over her. After 15 minutes, the midwives helped me and Lucy out of the tub, and onto the bed, where Josh cut her cord after it had stopped pulsing. My doula made me a bowl of yogurt with berries, which tasted great after that hard work! Lucy was only out of my arms for a minute as she was weighed and measured. She was weighed at 7 lbs, 3 ounces, and measured 20 inches long.

The Bradley Classes helped us immensely in preparing us for the process of birth, and reinforcing our beliefs that birth is a miraculous, natural process that doesn’t need to be feared. We are so blessed that our homebirth was the safe, peaceful and intimate birth we had been praying for, and the arrival of our healthy, happy baby girl, Lucy – the ultimate birthday present!  

remembering this truth

Psalm 103:15-19

As for man, his days are like grass;

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

and its place knows it no more.

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

and his righteousness to children's children,

to those who keep his covenant

and remember to do his commandments.

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,

and his kingdom rules over all.

40 weeks

today is September 30th... my estimated due date & the 40 week landmark. i am so thankful to have made it this far with little to no complications, and a nicely sized, healthy baby girl in my belly :)

now.... we wait...

names

we are 100 percent still set on the name Lucy Len but recently i've come across a couple other names that i could have gotten on board with

Iris 

&

Eleanor 

maybe the next baby??? ;)

full termin'

i'm officially at 36 weeks and 5 days - which means i'm considered "full term" and cleared to deliver at home! hard to believe that we are finally here! we had an awesome home visit yesterday with our midwife, her two assistants and my dearest momma. it was wonderful to have the birth team all together (except our doula chris who is on an anniversary trip w. her hubby till sunday) at our home, to talk about and pray over Lucy's birth in the very space where we I will be experiencing God's miracle of laboring, birthing, and holding my daughter for the very first time. Mom burst into anticipatory, joyful tears a couple times, which was so sweet of her. i can't wait to try my best to be the kind of mother God made her and blessed her to be <3

on the preparation front; i've washed & prepared all of Lucy's clothes, blankets, towels and cloth diapers. i've got my sling and my nursing pillows ready. we are re-studying our birth materials every night. watching infant care and breastfeeding videos. all our birth supplies are ready and sitting in our bedroom, organized and ready to go. i've started preparing/stocking up the foods i will need to eat and drink to keep myself energized and nourished for the hard work of labor. it's all coming together!

now we just WAIT... for the Lord's perfect timing when our precious baby girl will join us in the outside world. i'm not afraid, i'm not uncomfortable, i'm happy, anxious & i'm excited!

the longest post ever

things are moving & shaking around here. i'm marking things off the list left and right and it feels so so good. 

birth kit & all birth supplies purchased, check.

car seat adapters for our bugaboo stroller, check.

prefold diaper folding tutorials, check.

newborn babywearing/sling positioning guide printed, check. 

pediatrician interviews, check. 

car seat safety installation appointment scheduled, check.

diaper bag ordered, check. 

sleeping gowns, side snappi shirts, swaddling blankets, check check check.

newborn fleece soakers ordered, check. 

Newborn fleece soakers specially made for Lucy by a lovely etsian. 

after MUCH research and debate, I decided to move forward with a small stash of newborn fleece soakers for Lucy rather than wool soakers. although i initially was planning on going w. wool, i see a fleece soaker as the ideal diaper cover. if all goes according to plan, i can hopefully use the fleece cover twice or three times and then toss it in with the rest of our laundry. there's something odd to me about air-drying a soiled wool soaker repeatedly, and i'd rather use a fleece soaker less and wash it more to make sure Lucy is fresh and clean. plus once the wool soaker is deemed "dirty", it has to be handwashed w special wool soap, and the wait time for drying can be a bit lengthy depending on the weight of the wool, size of the diaper cover, etc. wool also has to be re-lanolized once it loses it's "repellant" quality. from what i've read, fleece soakers seem to be the way to go because you can use them a couple times before washing, wash them with the rest of your laundry,  they dry very quickly and don't need any extra care or handling like lanolizing wool. as far as breathability, wool and fleece are equal, and fleece is softer to the touch than wool. some children have an aversion or allergic reaction to wool, so that's another thing that's nice to not have to worry about. also, fleece soakers are about half the cost of wool soakers, so it's easier to get started w. fleece soakers financially too. the seller i found on etsy made us a set of 5 soakers to get started and the total cost shipped was about $25.00. Not bad at all! Plus if you are handy w. a sewing machine, you could EASILY sew your own fleece (or even wool) soakers from old wool/polar fleece sweaters you have lying around or find very inexpensively at thrift stores.

ultimately, i know that it's going to be a trial and error situation, so we may end up ditching fleece and switching to wool or some other cloth diapering system that works best for us - but you gotta start somewhere. i feel so blessed to have the ability to stay at home w. lucy indefinitely, so i can breastfeed and cloth diaper her and figure it all out together, in our own time :)

on a totally different note - check out what pregnancy can do for hair that just won't grow!



on the left is the length of my hair in December. on the right is my hair today (34 weeks pregnant). my hair grows really slowly after all the years of trashing my hair, so even though it's been about 9 months, this is monumental growth for me.

here's some examples of the hair craziness i have made my poor locks endure over the last 7-8 years from brown to red to black, to more black w. bleach, back to black.

i'm so glad that is all over!