I <3 Valentine’s Day and I’ve been sitting here wondering if I’ll really get to celebrate it this year! Will I have a newborn? Will I be in labor? Will I be miserable? Haha. Either way, I’m planning for it just in case! And as always, Pinterest is my go-to place. LOVE these food and little gift ideas. Click through the photo for credit or more info.

What are you doing for Valentine’s Day?

A balloon for each year you’ve celebrated Valentine’s Day together and a memory attached to each!

And my favorite:

*2 weeks to go!*

This baby girl is making fists and my bladder is the punching bag. Oh, and my diaphragm. My ribs. My stomach. Pretty much everything.

She’s about 6.5 lbs and 19.5 inches long.

She’s still head down, but she has rotated. Remember I said she was on the left of my body and she needed to be on the right side, optimally? She tried. When I saw our midwife last Wednesday, baby girl wasn’t quite to the left side, leaving her.… half posterior? And her head kinda crooked, to the side.

My midwife gave me a book on optimal fetal positioning and I’ve been checking out spinning babies… we don’t want a posterior baby!!! So I’ve been spending lots of time leaning forward, sleeping on my belly in a nest of pillows, crawling on my hands and knees…

compare to my week 38 picture from the last pregnancy!

I’m just hanging in there! Ryan was 9 days late when I finally went into labor, so I always figured this babe would go late, too. But with the way I’ve been feeling lately? I feel like she could come any time and that is going to make the next 2 weeks nearly unbearable, lol.

Last night, starting at about 7:30pm, I was having consistent contractions every 6–7 minutes until I went to bed around 10:30pm. I’ve been having Braxton Hicks contractions forEVER, but they’ve never been consistent and they’ve always been at the top of my uterus–these were at my mid/lower uterus/back.

I slept terribly–the contractions continued all night. I’m not sure if they were consistent because I was trying to sleep and wasn’t watching a clock at all, but the strength of them woke me up many times.

At 6am, Steve was getting ready to leave for Indiana on a business trip. I was having contractions every 6 minutes… but I told him to go anyway. I mean, I wanted to be in denial–this can’t be real yet, right?–and even if it was, things progressed soooo slowly with Ryan, I figure they’ll be similar.

Steve got 5 minutes down the road when he decided to stop and come back, haha. He went to work at the office instead–30 minutes away, instead of 3.5 hours away

And wouldn’t ya know — the contractions have pretty much stopped. I bet if he had gone to Indiana, I’d be in labor right now, lol.

Weight: 140 lb (same as last week, up 33 lb total)
Blood pressure: 112/52
DONE!: washed all crib/cradle/bassinet sheets, washed all clothes size newborn up to 3 months, organized her dresser and armoire, got her cloth diapers ready to go (& newborn disposables just in case)
To-do: set up the co-sleeper, hang up stuff on Rebecca’s wall, put Ryan’s swing back together, clean out the extra bedroom
Looking forward to: A BABY! (meeting with our midwife Tuesday afternoon and our doula Tuesday night)

Ryan is testing out the baby’s crib for her!

I took this video of Ryan around Thanksgiving and kept forgetting to upload and post it. A lot of people have been asking recently what in the world we’re naming our baby girl so I’m finally getting around to it! I’ve said the name a few times on my personal facebook page and maybe even on Pinterest tags, etc, but haven’t announced it here yet.…

And since Ryan is such a proud big brother, I thought I’d let him share the news He knows her name well (although he can’t really say the whole thing).

When I took this video, he had just gotten up from a nap and he was a little… cranky. Normally, he’ll say her name, say he’s her big brother, kiss my belly and say hi to her… but he wasn’t having any of it for this video, of course. And he thought I was taking pictures of him so he kept saying, “cheeeeese!” Adorable… but he does finally say her name!

Did you catch it???

Like I said, he has trouble saying the whole thing.…

In the video, Ryan says.…… “Becca!”

Her name is.… Rebecca Kadlin!

We plan on calling her Rebecca (not Becca or Becky). Emily (my name) is my mom’s middle name.… and MY middle name is Rebecca… so I’m kind of following that “tradition.” I’ve always loved the name.

As for her middle name, we pretty much just decided on it like two weeks ago. We had some ideas (Kate, Malli, Alexandra…) and finally discovered Kadlin. “Kate” is the name of Steve’s mom and runs in their family so we were leaning toward that. We’re both Norwegian and while I was searching a Norwegian name site one day, I saw Kadlin and learned that it’s the Norwegian form of Kate/Katherine. PERFECT! A family name and part of our heritage. And if Rebecca has a daughter some day and decides to carry on the tradition of using her middle name, she has a lot of options: Kadlin, Kate, Katherine, Kaitlin…

Oh, and we pronounce it with a long “a” sound, like “cade-lin.”

So there you have it!

LOVE LOVE LOVE my BabyLegs! Ryan had some as a baby and now baby girl has a ton of pairs–all the pink, ruffly, hearts we could get! This is an awesome deal I just had to share… the entire BabyLegs store is 50% off until 2/6/12, just enter the code NOFOOTBALL at checkout. No minimum order required! (Excludes Gift Certificates and VIP memberships).

Buying some?? Let me know what you get!!! They’re all so cute!

Did you know I have the silliest, cutest little boy ever? I might be biased

*3 weeks to go!*

FULL TERM! My due date is still 3 weeks away so I know that doesn’t mean a lot, but it gives some peace of mind. This baby girl could be born anytime now with lungs mature enough to likely be just fine. I’ll take the 3 extra weeks though! And seeing how Ryan was 9 days late, I’m figuring I’ll get 4 more weeks with this little one.

Resources say she weighs around 6.5 lbs and is 19–20 inches long. Ryan was 20 inches long when he was born, so she’s about full size at this point! Still gaining more fat though. My midwife guessed (by touch) a few days ago that she’s currently 5.5–6 lbs… she’ll gain about 0.5 lb each week now–that will put her pretty close to Ryan’s birth size! (7lb 9 oz).

I’m seriously running out of clothes that fit. Even maternity clothes don’t fit. Most shirts aren’t long enough–as soon as my arms are raised at all, the shirt is up showing my lower belly. Hot, I know. I finally resorted to wearing Steve’s clothes around the house… now if only I could pass in public dressed that way, haha.

My ribcage is expanding to make space for all those squished organs.

Braxton-Hicks contractions are getting a bit ridiculous. If I hadn’t had them before (ya know, since week 20?) I’d probably think I was in labor. I’ve had them every day forever, but now I’m having a LOT more, fairly strong.

Steve and I spent the weekend in Lake Geneva, WI–our last getaway before the baby. It was really nice to just relax in the hotel, eat at a fancy restaurant, and escape for a bit. We also got in some good labor practice… we made a list of things to talk about during contractions and Steve really helped me work through some fears, it was great!

Weight: 140 lb (up 1 lb from last week, up 33 lb total)
Looking forward to: midwife appt Tues, doula appt Wed, baby shower for a friend on Saturday!
Complaints: contractions and pain at my c-section scar
Excited about: having the baby’s room almost done. It’s painted, the dresser is painted… just need to do lots of laundry, organize the closet and drawers, and hang stuff on the walls!
Bucket list? almost done!

**Jennifer is a lovely woman I met online. She was reading my blog and saw my lists of things we still needed for our homebirth… she had some items leftover from her own homebirths and she very kindly and generously sent them to me. I appreciate it SO MUCH! I asked her if she’d type up a guest post about her homebirth so I could share it with all of you. Please say hi and show Jennifer some love! If you have ANY questions for her, feel free to leave them in the comments below or send me an email so I can put you in touch with her! My email is erdickey at gmail dot com**

My name is Jennifer, I usually go by Jen.  I am a 29 year old, a twice laid off graphic designer working now in the stock market.  I hail from a small town in Maryland that has four streetlights and where cowboy hats are often still tips and “howdy” is still used as a popular greeting.  I have led what some might consider a very interesting life, I designed action figures and toy packaging, I worked for the NFL, was once an aspiring police officer and in my teens sported a pink Mohawk.  Despite all of my social bottom line, it is giving birth to both of my children naturally at home as the thing that most people are most curious about and find to be the biggest accomplishment.  They’re not exactly wrong either.

My story starts out simple enough. I, like many, had a hard time conceiving.  Although not diagnosed by a doctor, I attributed this to my use of the depo shot for a long period of time.  After almost exactly a year of trying to have a baby, which I considered  hard work and my husband considered to be a million dollar lottery win, we became pregnant.  I had at the time developed a blog on my trials, which a short 5 years ago wasn’t as common as it is now.  My husband and I both attended an appointment at my gynecologist who confirmed with an internal sonogram that we were pregnant.  There was a glimmer of a second baby so for a few short weeks we thought we were having twins when it turned out my body had later absorbed the other as it was not viable.

My goal was to have my gynecologist whom I had been with since a teenager and whom I trusted so much deliver my baby, and at the same hospital that I was born at.  I found out that day that just 1 month earlier he had retired from deliveries and was only working in his normal practice.  I was a bit devastated and had no idea what to do at that point.  For a few weeks I put off doing anything regarding finding a hospital/doctor, I had managed to catch a cold and made a visit to my general practitioner and to my surprise found her just a few months more pregnant than myself.  I took the opportunity to see who she was having deliver her baby.  She recommended me to see her midwife Evelyn D. Muhlhan, CNM, who specialized in natural childbirth.  I had heard the term midwife before but at that point never really knew exactly what it meant, I had ventured into foreign territory.

Since my doctor was so fond of this “Midwife,” I made an appointment.  The first time I met with Evelyn she spent about an hour talking to me about my expectations for my delivery and what I intended on doing.  I explained I just wanted to have my baby in a hospital, but since my doctor was using her, I wanted her to be there to help me so I would have someone I trust deliver my baby.  She had privileges at a hospital near by which was great and then suggested that I find a birthing class in natural child birth and rent some videos.  I watched The Business of Being Born and after making my husband watch it with me, we decided that a home birth might not be so bad.  We were up in the air for weeks, but it wasn’t until our Bradley class that we saw the statistics on hospitals and really were able to weigh the pros and cons on each method.  We had made up our mind and we were having our first baby at home.

After this decision, a rash of complaints and worries came from our immediate family.  I received a phone call almost everyday from family trying to talk me out of it and asking me questions like, “What happens if something goes wrong?” and “can the midwife give you an epidural?”  I answered all these questions and continued to tell relatives that it was our decision and that we knew we were making the right one for us and for our baby.

Then it all started the morning of January 7th. I was 40 weeks pregnant and waiting very patiently for the arrival of our son. I wasn’t exactly patient because we were hoping for an early arrival, he even had a Christmas stocking just in case. I woke up around 8:00, but didn’t get out of bed until around 8:30. I called my husband right away just to let him know I was awake and fine, I had to call him right back because after I went to the bathroom I saw that I had lost my mucus plug and a little bit of fluid. A few minutes later my water broke completely.  I called my husband back, he was on his way home! I started having little contractions about an hour after my water broke. Hubby was so excited that he started cooking and cleaning to keep himself busy. He started cooking the Chili that I wanted as my first meal after the birth, then he made jello and got the birth tub ready and many other things to keep his mind off the baby.

Around noon I started having stronger contractions. We had already called the Midwife, but she was going to let me go until we got a little closer. I was walking around and got in the shower a few times to help ease the pain. As the hours passed, the contractions got stronger and stronger and more people started to show up. My birth team: My Husband, Mom, Aunt, Cousin, Best Friend, and my Midwife Evelyn and her assistant, Sue. By dark we were in the basement where we had set everything up to give birth, the lights can be dimmed, and there is plenty of room for the birth tub, there is a bed and couches so everyone can be comfortable. I moved around a lot and tried to get through each contraction as they started to get stronger. I groaned like a Mamma Bear just like our class instructor Jessica had taught us and my husband was right there to encourage me to keep going and not to give up.

At 4:30 in the morning the next day I was 100 percent effaced and dilated enough to start pushing… I was so ready! I tried many positions but was most comfy on the bed propped up and using my birth team as support for my legs. I pushed for an hour and then his head began to crown. Evelyn shouted, “he has lots of hair!” I started to get so excited even though I almost fell asleep between pushes. After one more hour of pushing it was time for Diego to be born. His head came out after a long contraction and four or five good pushes. His father ran over to catch him and on the next push he was born! It was 6:17 on January 8th and our precious son was here. My husband put Diego on my chest and he began to cry right away. Everyone laughed and cried as they let the cord stop pulsing and we all got our first look at him. He was perfect. After a few minutes and after they made sure I was ok Jaime cut the cord and let Sue weigh and measure him; 8 pounds 2 ounces!!!

Hubby put Diego’s first diaper and outfit on then we passed him around and he didn’t cry any more. I nursed him for the first time after I had recovered a bit and had some breakfast, hand fed to me by my midwife. We took lots of pictures and welcomed our newest member of the family! After 22 hours of labor at home we had finally done it, our biggest accomplishment as a family so far; the birth of our first child.

My second baby is a completely different scenario but that’s a story for another day. To conclude, I find I get called many things for delivering my babies at home: Hippy, Crazy, Nuts, Hero.  Call me what you will but in the end I did what I did for myself and my baby, for my family and so I would be able to make my own decisions about my delivery.  In the end it was a sound birth plan, an amazing husband coach, a trusted midwife and the determination of knowing that so many women before me had done what I was about to do and I trusted my body enough to go through with it.  I know that home birthing is not for everyone and I certainly don’t ever push it on anyone, but if you ever felt as though it might be a good choice for you, I recommend education, classes, and a Midwife you trust along with a good support system.

Do you guys remember when I posted about the Mobi GloMate? Cute nightlight and awesome toy. A little recap: it glows in different colors, it’s portable and rechargeable, lasts for ~10 hours, and it slowly dims over 15 minutes for nap/bedtime. Ryan LOVES this thing. It became the #1 toy in our house about a year ago (when Ryan was around 1.5 years old) as we used it for many, many (MANY) games of hide-and-seek. It became Ryan’s buddy even when it wasn’t charged and didn’t light up, haha.

Now? We have a new favorite. The AnimaLamp, also by Mobi. Don’t get me wrong, the GloMate is still awesome and it’s still around. But why do I like the AnimaLamp even more?

It’s the perfect light. We had been on the search for a suitable nightlight–one that wasn’t bright enough to keep Ryan awake and distracted, but also wasn’t so dim that it was pointless. Ryan loves to read books in bed before falling asleep… his lamp keeps him awake, but we can’t read in darkness! We resorted to using our cell phones for a little bit of light, but then he just wanted to play with our phones! haha.

The AnimaLamp has LED lights with adjustable brightness and a rechargeable battery so you can take this thing wherever you want. It stands on its own on a dresser or can sit in bed with you for nighttime stories.

Since the top of the AnimaLamp (the animal’s face) actually moves up and down, we hang ours on the edge of the toddler bed rail! In fact, if the giraffe isn’t hanging there when Ryan gets into bed, he searches everywhere saying, “Giraffe! Giraffe! Hang it!” Hanging it there leaves the face half open, which is the perfect amount of light for reading stories and falling asleep. Need more light? Just open the AnimaLamp up all the way… or close it all the way for less light.

With baby #2 on the way in a couple weeks here, I realize this will be the perfect light for middle of the night diaper changes and feedings, too.

We were worried about it lasting all night in Ryan’s room if it wasn’t plugged in, but no trouble there. Mobi says it lasts 8–12 hours per charge, but it has always lasted much longer than that for us. Regardless, 8–12 hours is plenty for overnight!

You can get your AnimaLamp for $24.95 on Mobi’s site (the monkey is coming soon!).

GIVEAWAY: one lucky reader will win their choice of AnimaLamp from Mobi! Please use the form below to enter. None of the entry options are mandatory–do as many or as few as you would like.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also? This is why moms hate the phone, work-at-home-mom or not!!!

**4 weeks to go! Well, 3.5… because this post is a little late **

She’s somewhere around 18.5 inches long and 6 pounds. At my appointment today, my midwife guessed she was 5.5–6 lbs. And YAY we’ve reached the point that I could still have a homebirth if I went into labor now (ya know, assuming all signs are fine).… because most babies born now do very well. But we still want her to keep cooking–have those lungs mature a bit more!

She’s getting pretty cramped. Usually your uterus fundus height equals how many weeks you are… so at 36 weeks, my uterus should be 36 cm… well, my midwife hit my xiphoid process (bottom of sternum/ribs) and couldn’t measure any further–at 34 cm. I’m short-waisted, I’m small, and I’m running out of space! lol. That’d explain the nearly constant heartburn and why it’s soo uncomfortable to lean forward at all.

She’s ROA: right occiput anterior. That means she is head down (whoo!) and her back is to my right side (feet on the left side). Some people liken this position to a posterior baby. That’s because babies don’t typically come out on the right side; optimal positioning it LOA (on the left side). SOO, this baby would turn counter-clockwise to get there, which means she has to basically move to the posterior position before ending up on the other side. Make sense? But I’m not worried. Her head isn’t engaged yet, she knows what she’s doing and my body knows what it’s doing

compare to week 36 from my last pregnancy!

Our midwife came to our house tonight for the home visit–like the practice run before the real thing! I gave her a tour of the house and showed her where all my birth supplies are (in case things are moving really quickly when she gets here for labor!). We did the normal prenatal stuff… and our doula was here too, which was awesome. The doula and midwife have met before, but I’m glad they got to chat a little tonight before the real thing.

Weight: 139 lb (up ~0.5 lb from last week and 32 lb overall)
Blood pressure: 120/60
Baby’s heart rate: 136

I did the swab to test for GBS (Group B Strep), we chatted about birth stories and fears, and I got some “homework” from my doula–working through fears, practicing relaxation techniques, etc. Oh and we paid off some birth bills–slowly crossing off my bucket list!

Not much time left! EXCITING!!!