I love that the gown is pretty and functional. I was sent the Genevieve print and thought it was perfect. I chose to wear my gown for my hospital stay instead of during labor because I knew I would get more use out of it (especially since my labor only lasted 4 hours). But if you do wear it during labor the back has snaps so you don’t show off you bum to the world, but the snaps allow for quick access if you decide to have an epidural.

What I loved most about the gown was the breastfeeding access. The gown has two ribbon drawstrings so you can pull the sides away to allow for easy nursing without super exposure. You can watch a video here about how they work. The gown also has snaps along the shoulders so you can un-snap those and bring one side of the gown down to nurse, which I found worked best for us. I love that it has those different options.

I wish I had more and better pictures of us using it, but Stefan was at home with Capri so I only have a few photos. But you can see some other mama’s photos and thoughts on their gowns by checking out the testimonial page on the HMG website.

I want to thank Deidrea so much for helping make my hospital stay a comfortable and stylish one. Check her out on facebook and on Twitter.

Capri was 14 months when we got pregnant and was still nursing a fair amount during the day and night. I knew there was a good chance my milk would dry up but I continued to let her nurse. My milk supply did go down a fair amount but she was still able to get some and didn’t seem to mind the lack of milk.

I was thankful that I went into labor in the morning and that Stefan was able to pick her up only 5 hours after we had dropped her off at a friends house. Stefan was able to spend the two nights I was in the hospital at home with Capri and she did very well (though she did wander around saying “Mama?” a fair amount).

She was the first one to meet her baby sister only a few hours after Payson was born. She was kind of tentative at first but after a bit she was up in the bed with Payson and I. She would not touch her however and just wanted to snuggle with me. But before the visit was over she was holding her hand and gave her a kiss goodbye.

Over the last two weeks Capri has had her ups and downs with this big change in our household. She LOVES her sister and gives her lots of kisses and gets very worried when Payson cries. She also really likes covering her face with blankets and pulls on her arms a bit too hard or tries to turn Payson’s head to point to her ears. She has been adjusting fairly well to sharing mommy but it has been rough. She is down to nursing in the morning and right before bedtime but has a hard time when Payson nurses. Stefan goes back to work tomorrow so we will see how it goes with just the three of us at home during the day.

I was not planning on getting anything done to start labor but I decided to get my membranes swept because we have to go down and do some final things with our new job on May 18^th. My OB checked me and said I was 3cm and did the sweep. I went home and felt NOTHING. No cramping, I didn’t have any spotting, in fact I felt totally normal. I went to bed that night deciding that the sweep had not worked and that she would never come.

At 4am I woke up with the need to pee, so I went to the bathroom as fast as I could and started to lose my mucus plug. I had a couple of contractions but was able to go back to sleep and didn’t wake up again until 6am when all of a sudden I had contractions every 3 minutes. They were not super painful, but they kept coming. Stefan and I got up and he had breakfast and I sat on the couch contracting. Around 6:50 we decided to wake Capri up and let her have breakfast. Even though my contractions were coming every 3 minutes they were not that strong but I felt that we should get to the hospital. I packed the rest of Capri’s things up and at 7:30 dropped her off at our friend’s house (which was very hard for me because I have never left her for very long).

We had an hour drive to the hospital, though we made good time and got there at 8:20. The whole drive we listened to Queen and I hummed my way through contractions that were now every 2 minutes apart. We arrived at the hospital and registered, went upstairs and we were given a room. I told the nurses I didn’t want any drugs/IV or any monitors attached to me. They allowed me to put my own clothes on for the birth (tank top, sports bra and a jersey skirt) and I got myself set up.

I had Stefan put the birth ball up on the bed for me and I kneeled and leaned over it through contractions which were still coming every 2-3 minutes. I found out later that the nurses didn’t really think I was in active labor at this point. They told me to tell them if I felt the need to push though, and I felt like I needed to. They got me to lay back so they could check me (this was so annoying and painful). They checked and said I was only 4-5cm and that I was not allowed to push and I still had a bit to go. At this point I internally freaked out because I really did not want drugs but it was getting bad and I didn’t think I could go much longer without them.

I started to eat my labor-aid slushy I made to keep myself hydrated, after a few spoonful’s I started contracting and they would not stop. I was not getting any breaks and they were coming fast and strong. Stefan had Aerosmith playing by my head and I hummed and breathed my way through each contraction. I kept telling the nurses that I had felt like I had to push, so as much as I tried not to my body took over and would push a little with each contraction. I had incredible nurses who helped me control my breathing and showed Stefan how to push on my back (he was amazing). They made me lay down again to check me and I was 9cm (I also freaked out at the Dr. while he was checking me and told him to get out). I had them flip me back up on the ball and I informed the whole room of nurses and the doctor that I would not be pushing this baby out on my back but on my hands and knees with the birth ball. They told me I had to turn around if I wanted to do that and put the ball at the top of the bed. I freaked out at this because I didn’t think I could move. I had another contraction and I felt my water break all down my leg. They helped me get turned around between my next contraction and I informed them that I was going to start pushing. The other doctor quickly checked me and said I was 10cm. It was around 9:50am at this point. I started to push with all I had, I was screaming and the doctor said if I stopped screaming and breathed I could push better so that is what I did. I pushed and pushed and 6 minutes later I pushed Payson Malia out (9:56am, only 4 hours after contractions actually started).

I was trying to see her between my legs, and told them to hold off on clamping the cord for a bit. They finally clamped and cut the cord. I allowed them to take her and weigh her since I had to get myself flipped around before I could hold her (she was 7lbs 15oz and a little over 20 inches long). Finally they placed my little baby in my arms and we snuggled. I was able to deliver my placenta and had some local numbing done so I could be stitched up (which HURT like crazy). I had some second degree tears which I assume happened because she came out so fast. I was able to nurse Payson while this was happening and she latched on super well.

After we were settled in our room Stefan drove home to pick up Capri only hours after we had dropped her off. She got to come back and meet her sister. She was a little scared of her at first but seems to love her a lot now with tons of kisses. We spent the next couple of days in the hospital because her bilirubin (jaundice test) was a little low, we got out Friday morning. She seems to be an amazing sleeper and nurse-er. She is also a screamer. All the nurses commented on how loud she was.

I have to say that I felt so empowered during this birth. With Capri I was on my back and hooked up to an IV, fetal monitor and blood pressure cuff; I had an epidural and gave birth on my back. But With Payson I felt so in control and did what I wanted to do and it was incredible.

I got a Blackberry Playbook for my 25th birthday last week. I knew I would need a case for it and I am a sucker for having pretty things, so I went looking for a pretty case. I was looking on the Maxwell Designs page because I knew of someone who had their Ipad case and they told me that it was AMAZING. And since Maggie the owner of Maxwell Designs is awesome she made me a custom size case for my Playbook. I was able to pick out my fabric from all the different options you see on her site and I am in LOVE with it.

There is shock absorbent padding between the outer and inner fabric (I love the inner fabric by the way) to help protect your tablet and a zipper closure to keep it from falling out.

Not only was Maggie amazing to work with she was fast. This was a custom piece and she took no time to make it and ship it to me. And she is Canadian, the company is located in British Columbia. I love being able to buy things that are made in my country.

Maxwell Designs makes a lot of amazing products such as diaper bags, purses, change mats, wipes cases, laundry/toy totes, wet bags and cosmetic cases. I have had my eye on the cosmetic cases for a while now, I don’t wear a lot of make up (or none really), but I think it would be a great little bag to throw all of MY stuff into and put it in the diaper bag so it doesn’t get lost with diapers, snacks and other toddler and baby stuff.

So head over and take a look at all of Maggie’s stuff. If you have a tablet or e-book reader her cases are excellent and she can make them in any size.

If you have not heard, Stefan and I finally got a job in a church. It has been an interesting two years for us in regards to finding a job. I was a year ahead of Stefan at Bethany so I graduated 2 years ago, which meant we really could not start looking for a church until last May when Stefan graduated. I spent HOURS sending out our resumes to churches. We actually had a fair amount of luck with talking with churches. I can’t count how many phone/skype interviews we had. We even went and visited 3 or 4 churches to talk further about us coming and working for them. Stefan is one of those people who could be happy almost anywhere, but I kept having that feeling that each church we visited was not the place for us (which was REALLY hard because we wanted to be in a church so bad).

You see both Stefan and I have degrees in Pastoral ministry, both Stefan and I desire to work in the church and we had to find the perfect church for both of us. A church that would allow both of us to work out hours each week so we can be ordained in the Wesleyan Church in two years.

So sometime in the next two months we will be moving to Shelburne, Nova Scotia to pastor the Wesleyan church there (Hope Wesleyan). We are SUPER excited. Stefan will be the lead pastor and I will be the community pastor (aka I get out in the community and get people into the church). I am going to be doing a lot with families which is awesome because it will tie into me being home with our two daughters (I will be working from home). We are excited about this adventure in our lives and cannot wait to see what God has in store for us and for the people of Shelburne.

The top picture is the house we will be living in. I am so excited because it has a yard, and 4 bedrooms and a clothesline and a DISHWASHER.

The first one is a big sale that happens at my church a couple of times a year. A lady from the area organizes it and people bring their stuff in to sell and get a commission off of it. I had a few things in mind that I wanted to be on the look out for and I was lucky enough to find a lot of what I was looking for at the one place. For $10 I scored a pair of brand name baby legs, rain boots and two pairs of Robeez shoes. If I had bought those all new it would have cost me roughly $88. So not bad, and my mom bought them for me anyway.

The next day my mom and I went to a place called Growth Spurts (they have been open for 3 years downtown Halifax and just opened this store in Bedford). They have super nice stuff there and I was able to get the other things I had been looking for the night before plus a couple of more things. I spent $73 at Growth Spurts and got a Melissa and Doug train, a Melissa and Doug hammer thing, a set of soft blocks, a pink sleep gown and a stroller. So if we had gotten all of those retail we would have spent around $147. So not a bad weekend for thrifting. And the stroller is exactly what I wanted. It is super light weight, has a huge basket, and has asnack tray and parent tray.

I found a stroller I actually like. This has been a very long process. I do not like using strollers I much prefer to wear Capri on my back. I am looking forward to tandem babywearing once Payson comes but I had to be realistic and know that in the summer I would be too hot to wear them both. Also between Capri and Payson and me our diaper bag will be rather full and heavy. So I am getting a stroller.

But my problem was I had two strollers already. We have a small umbrella stroller, but it doesn’t have a basket, snack tray and is too short for Stefan to use. We also have a HUGE jogging stroller, but it is too heavy for me to get up and down our stairs and the breaks keep catching on it (it is like 3rd hand).

So I just stumbled upon the brand new Graco FastAction stroller today. It is like a small travel system style stroller (when Capri was first born we had the HUGE Graco travel system stroller). If we want to we can attach Payson’s seat to it, but mainly it will be used for Capri. You can watch a video all about the stroller here.

If you want to get us a little Baby Shower gift we are taking Toys R Us gift cards to make this purchase. Feel free to send us one, you can find out my email address in the message section of our registry.

Now if you have no idea what a third trimester tea is I will tell you. It is a tea with stuff in it that helps ton your uterus and prepare your body for labor. You start drinking it in your last few weeks.

Lots of people drink just Red Raspberry Leaf tea (or you can take capsules with it in it if you don’t like tea), but I really like Earth Mama products and their tea is super good.

So this is what I did to make my Popsicles:

1. Brew 1 tea bag with enough water for your Popsicle mold. I brewed mine for a super long time so it would be strong. You could add 2 tea bags if you wanted.

2. Stir in honey until it is your desired sweetness.

3. Add some fresh lemon juice (this is optional I just really like lemons).

4. Pour in your mold and freeze.

5. ENJOY.

Here is a list of the ingredients in the tea:

Rubus idaeus (organic red raspberry) leaf, Mentha spicata (organic spearmint), Urtica dioica (organic stinging nettle) leaf, Avena sativa (organic oatstraw), Matricaria recutita (organic chamomile) flower, Rosa canina (organic rosehips), Medicago sativa (organic alfalfa) leaf.