Natural Childbirth

I had a natural childbirth when I had Baby. I wasn't completely against medications during labor. Believe me, I signed the form for the epidural, just in case I needed it. I figured that I'd never been through this before, so how did I know whether or not I could handle it? But I wanted to try. Some people looked at me like I was nuts for wanting to have a natural childbirth. But I wanted to try to do it for several reasons: 1.) I figured I was capable of making it through the pain without meds. 2.) I didn't want Baby to come out all drugged up. 3.) I didn't like the idea of a needle in my back. 4.) I wanted to be able to get out of bed. 5.) I've had severe nausea with anesthesia before and didn't want that to happen again. 6.) I hate even having my mouth numbed while I'm at the dentist. Why would I want half my body numbed?

Even though I had plenty of reasons for not wanting an epidural, I hadn't ruled it out. And I've got to be honest: If I hadn't had hubby right there through the contractions, I wouldn't have been able to handle it. When a contraction would start, if he wasn't right next to me, I'd feel anxious and I'd call him to come over to me and hold my hand. He'd hold my hand and I'd close my eyes, and we breathed together--hee hee hoo--through it. I would have been overwhelmed and panicky without him. But he was right there with me, telling me I was doing great.

Even though I wasn't drugged up, I was out of it for much of my labor. At one point, the nurse came in and said, "Well, they're sending me home." And I thought she said they were sending ME home. In my head I was thinking, WHAT?!? I thought they were sending me home to labor for a while. It took me several minutes to comprehend that they were not, in fact, sending me (the woman in hard labor) home. Rather, they were sending her (the nurse) home, and I was getting a new nurse.

My sense of time during labor was nil. I couldn't tell you if 10 minutes or 2 hours had passed. The whole afternoon and evening were a blur. It felt like I pushed for 5 minutes (I actually pushed for 20). Suddenly, it was 8 p.m. and I had a perfect, sweet little baby in my arms.

The best part of having a natural childbirth was how normal I felt afterwards. I felt fantastic! I probably felt too fantastic, since I proceeded to not get any sleep that night. I was too excited about having a baby! Between my own excitement, and the nurses coming in every few hours to help me breastfeed, and getting moved to a new room at 4 am, I got about 40 minutes of sleep that first night. Not a great thing, considering many sleep-deprived nights were in my future!! If I had to do that again, I'd try to calm down and get some rest that first night. But my point is, I felt great. And I would do it again, as long as hubby is there to hold my hand.

Prairie Baby Has Arrived

The Prairie Baby has arrived!!!

He's as sweet as can be.

Baby Room

The baby's room is (pretty much) ready and just waiting for baby to arrive.

We've got the crib, and rocker, and changing table.

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The green sheep on the wall are a vinyl stick-on that I ordered online. I thought about painting something on the wall, but I decided a stick-on (that I can remove) would be easier than having to repaint an entire wall when I no longer want it there.

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I love, love, love the curtains. Yes, they're a little feminine. But the room needed a little softening. And if I have a baby boy, I don't think he'll notice the curtains. For a while.

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I have this picture hanging above the changing table. I may regret that, when baby gets a little older and starts touching everything. Then it might have to go. But for now, it's pretty.

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And here's the bookshelf, for toys and books.
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But the best part is the bookends. I found them at a Christian bookstore, and I just love them. When I saw the little lambs, I had to have them.

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And, finally, here's the bassinet, which is in our bedroom.


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Now all we need is baby!

Aunt L.

My aunt L. passed away on June 3rd, at age 45. I've put off writing this post because I felt like I just couldn't find the words. I still can't really believe she's gone.

My aunt had rheumatoid arthritis since the age of 3 or 4 years old. She was my dad's younger sister. She was always very involved in my life, and in all of her nieces' and nephew's lives. She had...what...40 nieces and nephews? I've lost count; someone will have to correct me. My point is, she had many, many nieces and nephews, and she never once forgot my birthday. I think it's safe to say that she didn't forget the birthdays of any of the other nieces and nephews either. But we weren't the only ones that she was interested in. There were also all of the spouses and children of her nieces and nephews, the people at church, the people at her apartment building (where she used to live), the young girl she mentored...I could go on, and I'm sure there are more that I don't even know about. She had a talent for making many people feel that they were individually special to her.

Aunt L. got married a few years ago. She was very happy, and it was easy to see what an effect her marriage had on her quality of life.

She was even a fan of this blog. She said it made her want to write one of her own. So it's only fitting for me to pay tribute to her on it.

She recently had a severe flare up of her arthritis. She'd had some medication changes, and was going to physical therapy. She ended up with severe infection, and passed away in the ICU.

Her funeral service was beautiful. I mean, really beautiful. I kept thinking about how she would've loved it.

I'm told another aunt (Aunt C.) has this picture of Aunt L. standing next to the sign for Finland, Minnesota, pointing up to it and smiling. And all Aunt C. can picture now is Aunt L. standing by the sign for Heaven, pointing up and saying, "I made it!!!"

And we all know she did, and is now pain-free. I love you, Aunt L., and I'll miss you forever.

Mini Baby Shower

Part of my contract for the last year has been to spend one day a week teaching at the college. The women I worked with there were great, and on my last day they surprised me with a mini baby shower.

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Did you notice the "1st Annual Cake-Off" sign? They also decided to have a little competition over who could make the best cake.

Chicago is My Kind of Town

Well, hello again! What's that? Two months have gone by since I last posted? Oops. What can I say except that life's been really busy.

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We went to Chicago in April. Hubby had gotten me tickets to Wicked for our wedding anniversary. So, off we went to Chicago. It was fantastic! Hubby had been there before, and told me how much he liked it. He told me how me how nice the people had been. I didn't really believe him. But he was right. Almost everyone we encountered was extremely polite and friendly. And there was so much to see and do.

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Here's the famous Bean sculpture.

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Here's the view from the Hancock Observatory. It's a lot like the Sears tower. The Hancock Observatory was recommended to us, and hubby had already been to the Sears tower, so we went to the Hancock. We weren't disappointed.

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Here's hubby, at the observatory.

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I had to go to the American Girl store. For my nieces, of course. Not for me.

Of course not.

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At the American Girl store, instead of having a men's and a women's bathroom, they had two women's bathrooms! Hilarious! (Not so hilarious to hubby.) Also, they have doll holders in the bathroom stalls. I had to take a picture, because I'm sure I'll never see doll holders in a bathroom stall again.

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We had deep dish pizza (twice).

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The Cubs game was an easy subway ride from our hotel. I'm not really a baseball fan, but I can see why people get excited about outdoor baseball.

We had a great time!

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Here's hubby with Ernie Banks.

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We had great seats--about the seventh row up, right by third base.

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Marissa Miller (the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition cover model) was there to throw out the first pitch.

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We went to Shedd's Aquarium, where we saw this komodo dragon. It was around seven feet long and didn't move a muscle.

A highlight of our trip was going to the Field Museum of Natural History. It was huge and it was great. I could have spent an entire day there.

.Did you ever see the movie The Ghost and the Darkness? These lions are the actual Man Eaters of Tsavo. Hubby is a fan of the book and the movie, so it was fun for him to see the actual lions (or, their hides, at least).

We had a great time in Chicago, and I would recommend it to anyone. I can't wait to go back!

This is April?!?

This was our white-knuckled drive back home. In April! I thought spring was finally here. Guess not.

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It actually doesn't look that bad in this picture. But it was bad. Really, really bad. That white you see there on the road is not just a dusting of snow. Oh no. It's about two inches of solid ice, occasionally with ruts in it that would threaten to throw you around. I should have taken pictures of the semis flipped over in the ditch, but I didn't want to be distracting hubby too much.

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Here's our street when we got home.

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I'm tired of winter and I'm ready for spring!!!