Follow Me On My Journey With A Home Birth

Before eyebrows are raised, jokes come to mind, or horrifying stories come to you; stop them. You will need to keep an open mind when I write posts about getting ready for this next birth, which will be happening at home with my midwife.

First I feel I should address the reasons why I have chosen to have a home birth:
- I have gone into labor ON MY OWN both times, but when I got to the hospital they felt the need to augment my labors with either Cervidil or Pitocin (Shooting me into pain unimaginable)
- I will get to eat and drink if I feel I need to during labor! By the time I would reach a 10 and need to push, I would already be shaky from low blood sugar because I was NOT ALLOWED to eat in the hospital
- I will get to sit in a bath, walk around, bounce on the exercise ball, WHATEVER I need to do to get through the contractions
- I will NOT have an IV in my hand
- I will not be forced to give birth in the lithotomy position (on back with hips and knees flexed with thighs apart)
- It will be much more intimate, I will only have my hubby, midwife, and nurse there
- I am very much wanting a birth the way it has been done since the beginning of time
- It only costs $2700 for the whole thing, from prenatal appts to post partum

I will keep you all updated with appointments and eventually of course, the birth :)

Happy New Year

It's that time of year again. We reflect, we list, we promise, we try. There will be victories, there will be failures. I think we tend to focus and remember our failures more than we should. Yes, we should learn from our mistakes and try better but we should not always beat ourselves up about them. There are times where I make a same mistake over again and I just feel I will never be able to overcome certain challenges. But then I came across this simple but very profound quote by Richard G Scott that has helped me so much: "You are making better progress than you realize." I want you all to remember this quote throughout your lives as well :) Happy New Year!

Home Sweet Home

We have now been in Fort Wayne for 6 days now! We are SO glad to be here! Our home is BEAUTIFUL! New paint, new carpet, forced air for heat (We had been living with baseboard heaters-yuck), A/C for the summer, a water heater that works amazing, no smokers around us!, a dishwasher, washer and dryer, new cabinetry, assigned parking, and FANTASTIC staff and maintenance. We get all of this for $575/month!

We live on the outskirts of Fort Wayne so it is a quiet neighborhood :)

Our branch is just fantastic! I have NEVER been in one before, so when we walked into the chapel and I saw no pews just soft chairs, I was shocked! The building is sooo cute! Nursery consists of 3 including Rhychie. It looked like Primary had less than 20 kids in it. It is so awesome to experience church in a different way :) And the members are FANTASTIC! I think I met 75% of the branch yesterday! And a nice family and the only other ones under 35 :P had us over for fondu last night! Oh and we had AT LEAST 6 people show up to help us move in! When we left Laramie, NO ONE from the ward came and helped us pack up :(

Bo started work today! I am goona miss having my hubby around as often as I did while he was going to school but I am looking forward to those paychecks :) I am also very traditional, I have waited for this part of our lives! Hubby goes to work, I take care of the house and kids, and we have dinner as a family when he comes home :) Sounds silly I am sure, but I am excited!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! :)

Laneah is 4

 Being a goof!

 Opening presents!

 She got A TON of Magiclip Disney Princess's!

She wanted Strawberry Shortcake decorations, a Barbie crown, My Little Pony candles, a Smurf cake, and Lalaloopsy ballons... Silly girl

Rhycherd Is 2

 Kiddos goofing off :)

 Enjoying a red cake with chocolate frosting!

 Rhychie's obssessions lately are: Elmo and Spider Man.

Happy Birthday Big Boy :)

Halloween

Laneah went as Elsa, Rhycherd as Spider Man, and Bo and I went as parents :P

Your Little Ones Do Understand

For FHE this past week, we did our lesson on Gratefulness. We had our song, prayer, scripture, and then lesson. For the lesson, Bo and I shared something we were grateful for. Then we asked Nay what she was grateful for. She didn't get what we had asked of her, so Bo and I continued to share things we were grateful for. I feel that if I my kids feel the Spirit, the lesson isn't a total bust. But we soon realized, Laneah did get our lesson! (It just took some time) Every night since, for our family scripture study, Laneah would stick in a little plug about something new she was grateful for! It made us so happy!  I am so glad that she was not only able to feel the Spirit but that she DID learn from the lesson I had prepared :)