Baby Girl Aisha's Arrival - DRAMA!!!

This time I planned to go all out and do things different with this birth, since its going to be my last. Little did I know that it truly was VERY different from any other birthing experience that I had before.

This pregnancy was very difficult. VERY difficult. I stayed sick practically the whole 9 months. I had one ailment after the next but anyhoo, I decided that since this was my absolute LAST child I would do things a bit differently.

I decided that I would have my baby at a birthing center in the whirlpool tub. I had always wanted to do it, but there were no facilities in my area. Since I live less than 5 miles from one, I decided to go ahead and take the plunge, especially after the tour and orientation that the midwives gave me.

When I was 33 weeks pregnant I went back to my hometown an started having contractions. I spent the night in the hospital and they stopped the contractions. A few days later I started having neck pains. I brushed it off thinking I slept wrong and had a crook in my neck. Everyday the pain got worse and worse until on a scale of 1-10 it was an 8. The pain was constant with no let up. It was actually worse than labor. Seriously. I thought that my chiropractor could work my neck out and the pain would go away, but he left early for the weekend and I had to suffer for 2 whole days, 48 hours, 2,880 minutes, 172,800 seconds of excruciating non stop pain. For 4 days my chiropractor worked on me and for the first 2 days it bought the pain down to a manageable 4 but the last 2 days it was back up to level 8 on the pain scale. What does this have to do with anything? I'll get to that.

That Thursday I had my regular check up with the midwives. Here you check your own weight and protein levels in your urine and when my levels werent normal I let them know of course. The midwife said it was one of two things. Either I had something minor like a bladder infection or my blood pressure was high. Well unfortunately it was the latter. My pressure was 170/110. This is extremely odd for me because my pressure runs low and I have NEVER had high blood pressure.

Of course I had to go strait to the hospital to be monitored. They did an ultra sound and not only was my amniotic fluid low, but my placenta was failing. I was 8 months pregnant but the baby was only the size of a 7 month old fetus. All that was code for immediate c-section.

Imagine my shock. Going from the most natural non invasive, least expensive method of childbirth to the most invasive, unnatural, most expensive method of childbirth. I am thinking Im going to my Drs visit and end up in the hospital for an emergency c-section. It made my head spin.

Aisha was born on November 6th at 12:23 pm and weighed in at 3lb 7oz and was 16 3/4 inches long. She stayed in the NICU for 3 weeks with no complications and I am VERY thankful for that.

So what did all that neck pain have to do with anything? In hindsight my midwife said that the early contractions I had that had to be stopped was a sign that my placenta was failing. My liver and other internal organs began to signal the body that the baby was a foreign object that needed to go and that made my blood pressure go sky high. High blood pressure can manifest itself thru pain and this is the reason for my severe neck pain. It as amazing that as soon as she was normal my pain went away.

Aisha: our newest addition

My namesake! She came 6 weeks early but she is blessed and precious!

What to do, what to do??? Is it all its cracked up to be?

I have been on a mission to grow my hair long, and now that it is, I dont know what to do with it anymore!

Its either in a high or low ponytail.

I cannot seem to self relax anymore either. Its just too difficult to manage now. Even doing my cheat rollerset, its very difficult to do. I dont know.  Maybe I should cut a few inches off or layer it. I have thought about cutting some bangs too but Im not too sure about that either. So..what to do what to do????

Cloth Diapering; Its really not as bad as you think!

Yeah, I know. The first thing you think of when you hear those two words is "Hell no!" or "Ewww thats gross" or even "No freakin way!!!" If you didnt think it, I shole did the first time one of my online friends mentioned it to me. I was like, there is no way Im stepping back in time to that. What for? Especially when you can just go to the store, buy a pack and throw it away.

The more my friend detailed the how to's and hit me up to the advances in cloth diapering it got my wheels to turning. I have to admit, when I found out I was pregnant again the very first thing I thought of was " DANG!!!! You mean I got to buy diapers again?!?!" Yeah, such an inspiring thought but its true. I hated buying diapers, especially when I had to take my last dime to go buy a pack of diapers.

So after MUCH research I decided to take the plunge. I found a system that would be the most economical and perhaps the easiest to use and stocked up. Of course I only bought a little at a time here and there but I managed to build a stash to last me my babys entire diapering career.

Cloth diapering is not simply just a piece of cloth folded on your babys butt and pinned up with safety pins, although you can go that route if you want. Now they have diapers that actually mimic regular diapers. The lay-under-them-and-snap-or-velcro-close just like your Pampers and Huggies.

I decided to go with prefolds, or the old fashioned kind that you fold and pin. Not with a safety pin but with a Snappi. I also got 3 dozen flats too with lots of diaper covers to go over them so that there will be no leaks. I also made a few wool covers. Im just crafty like that! LOL!!!

If the idea of folding turns me off some days, I can use these All in 2's that act like regular diapers, only they require a cover.

Washing the diapers isnt hard either. Since infant baby doo is mostly water its water soluble, you can just throw it in the machine and go. Once the baby starts eating solids, I plan to use liners that you can toss and flush down the toilet. I must admit that I do love the fact that after the initial investment, I dont have to spend another penny on diapers.

Now I know you are asking yourself, "Well what do you do when you have to leave the house?? Where do you stash the dirty diapers?" Well they have these cute wet bags that you put your dirty diapers in inside your baby bag. They dont leak or smell so that problem is solved.

So you see, its really not all that bad!

DISCLAIMER: the posted links are not ads. I just did a web search so you can get an idea of what Im talking about. :-)

Whoa!!!!!

Its been 9 months since my last post?! Good Lawd!!! lol!

The Importance of a Healthy Self Image

Children form opinions of themselves early in their lives, and that opinion is shaped by the most important people in that child’s life: the parents. It is incumbent that children see themselves in a positive light so that they will not go thru life thinking they are less than, not able to cultivate the best parts of themselves, and accept sub par treatment not only from others outside of themselves, but they will not indulge in behavior that is self destructive.

Most young girls learn from their parents self love and self respect, in particular from the father figure in her life. This man teaches her what is acceptable behavior from other males, he shows her how she should be treated by a man, and he shows her how valuable she is by offering her a certain type of protection only a father can give. If young women do not see the value that God has placed on them by the attitudes and lessons learned at home thru loving and strong parenting, then they will begin to accept disrespect from others all while disrespecting themselves.

A Beginning Sewer's Must-Have!!!

I got this book from Barnes and Nobel a few years ago when I was still a novice at sewing.

Its GREAT!!!

The color pictures really help you to see each step that they go thru and they cover a lot in this book.

They cover topics and pics of:

your sewing machine

the serger

stitches

reading the pattern

fabrics, tools/accessories

gathers

sleeves

zippers

and a whole lot more even pillows, drapes and bed covers.

Its an awesome reference book to have.

On a sewing frenzy!!!!

Man it seems like I have been on the floor cutting, and sitting at my sewing machine forever!!!

I have sewn myself a shirt, my youngest daughter a uniform, as well as my oldest daughter.

Now I'm working on an outfit for myself which includes a jacket, pants, and a tam.

*sigh*

I did the outside of the jacket and now I have to do a whole nother jacket for the lining. Thats what I hate, having to resew the entire thing for the lining.

Ah well it'll be nice once its done.

Heres a pic of the uniform I made for my youngest.

I have potty trained my youngest!!! Thank GAWD thats over!!!!

This is a major milestone for me.

My youngest and LAST child is potty trained!!!

For those of you with children you know what that means and for those of you without them- imagine the joy of not having to deal with doo doo anymore. Not having to smell somebody elses funk is like heaven, even if that someone is your own child.

I have been changing dookie diapers for almost 8 years strait and God knows I have been tired of it.

Now its time for me to congratulate myself by donating the leftover diapers to charity.

"I love you so much Mom!"

I was laying on the couch dozing off, when my two year old crawled up on me and hugged my neck and said to me, "I love you so much Mom!"

I was like, AAAAAAAAWWWWWW!!!!

My heart melted.

It made me feel all warm and tingly inside to hear her say that.

It makes all the hardships of parenting worthwhile when you get such sweet rewards as that!

Sweet Georgia Brown by Cheryl Robinson

I read this book a week or so ago and it was......ok at best.

The synopsis of this book is about a woman who stands by her man, who wants to go into stand up comedy. They start out dirt poor and living with his parents along with their 2 boys. I dont want to give the story away if you decide to read it but the story line was just too predictable and for some reason I didnt like the main character even though she was a lovable person. I saw her as a weak woman.

I always make it a point to read 50 pages into a book and if its ok keep going, but if its boring me to tears I put it down.

The beginning was pretty good, but as it went along the story went down hill. It has over 300 pages in it but by page 150 I was already not feeling it. Since I had already invested that much in the book I made myself finish it. I would not suggest this book to anyone. I give it 2 out of 5 stars.