school, kids, self

Let's have a proper update, shall we?

Well, we aren't homeschooling this year. Not sure if I said that here or not. I had all our curriculum and what not picked out, but when it came right down to it, it's just going to be too much for me to homeschool Canon and Ephraim and making sure they are also getting the social interaction as well as routine and structure they need, and be working on potty training with Doyle AND be taking care of Hickory and still be able to keep up with all the household duties. I will always be the first to admit that I am *not* Super Mom and I need help. It takes a village after all. Tonight is their open house, tomorrow is Canon's first day of 1st grade and kindergarten orientation with Ephraim, and then Ephraim's first day is Friday. Just because of his age they are making him due kindergarten despite the fact that he's already done it at home. He's probably more ready for first grade than Canon is, actually.

Saturday, we're all being blown away in a hurricaine. John says we should be doing some sort of hurricaine preparations, but I have no idea what that entails. I'm an Oklahoma girl. Handling tornados, I know. Hurricaines, not so much.

I've totally fallen off the wagon with Couch to 5k. I liked it at first but once I got to week 4, I had some issues. A.)my knees really started hurting and B.)I started getting really bored with it. It was fun when it was like, run 2 min, walk 2 min, but once the run times started increasing and the walk times decreasing it got boring. I guess I liked doing the intervals more than just run run runing. *shrug* It's also pretty boring on the treadmill, but that's probably just something I need to power through for now.

Hickory is wonderful. He sleeps 8 hours straight at night, then takes two 3 hour naps during the day. He has a rather serious countenance just like Canon did as a baby. He does smile and coo, but he's no where near the social, smiley guy that Ephraim and Doyle were.

It'll be interesting to see how Doyle does during the day without Canon and Ephraim to play with. I'm going to have to start going to playdates again. Ulch. I always feel like I have nothing in common with the other moms other than mom stuff, which is fine, but sometimes I want to talk about anything OTHER than kid related things. Know what I mean? I'll probably sign us up for MOPS again.

I've been getting back into sewing, which is awesome, because I still don't fit into my old clothes (most of which aren't nursing friendly anyway.) I finished some awesome 1930's-esque trousers over the weekend, and have everything cut for a high-waisted pencil skirt, just need to start on it. I'm itching to get back on the path of vintage-inspired style. I STILL haven't gotten my hair cut and it's driving me nuts, especially now that it's in that post-partum shedding stage. The stuff is everywhere!

Only 3 months, 2 weeks and 3 days until we move back to Oklahoma City!!!! (But who's counting, right? lol.)

he's here!!!!

Sorry for the lack of updating. I always get very anti-social and snarky and overly emotional at the end of my pregnancies and this go around it was off the chart, so for the sake of everyone I pretty much decided to follow my dad's advice of "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all."

The Birth Story:

In the wee hours of the morning on Sunday, May 29th I had the baby!!! Despite my contractions being so far apart that the hospital staff almost didn't believe I was really in labor, the labor went by really fast- just under 3.5 hours. At my appointment on Tuesday, May 24th I went ahead and let the midwife check me even though I wasn't planning on it. She said I was 2-3cm and that the baby was REALLY low (that part I already knew.) I had been having some contractions so it was nice to know something was happening even if it wasn't a great indicator of when labor would kick in. Saturday the 28th was a really rough day for me. I'd been having contractions for days and they were decently strong- enough that I had to stop and breath and remind myself to relax through them, but they didn't last very long and after a couple hours they seemed to fade away. My husband kept telling me that I probably was in labor, but that I'd done it so many times it just didn't seem like a big deal to my body anymore and that I'd probably wake up one morning with a baby next to me- wondering how he got there. lol. Anyway, by Saturday afternoon I was an uncomfortable, emotional wreck and I huffed and puffed off and on all day having hard but short contractions for a couple hours at a time before they would die out, really dreading labor (which isn't really like me), but at the same time being so sick of being at the miserable feeling end of the pregnancy and wanting to move on. At 11:30pm my hubby and I were laying in bed watching tv and I had a *really* hard contraction and I just lost it. I started crying hysterically and saying, "I don't want to do this!!!" and just panicking in general....all signposts of the start of the transition stage of labor, and I knew this, but I also kept thinking that there was no way I could be at that stage because I didn't feel like I had been in "active" labor yet since my contractions weren't lasting that long and they seemed to come and go. However, after another one or two contractions that again, didn't last very long but were really intense, I went ahead and just said, "I think we should go to the hospital." and he agreed. He woke up the kids and ran them to his friend's house while I labored at home and waited for him to come back and pick me up. I started shaking during my contractions just a bit at this point, but didn't have too hard of a time staying relaxed. Eventually, he made it back and we headed to the hospital.
We arrived at around 12:30am and headed up to L&D. Of course they made me go into triage and hooked me up to the stupid belt monitors and someone who "said" she was a midwife (I think she was a student) checked me and said I wasn't having that hard of contractions (um, hello! do you see me shaking violently over here?) and that they weren't really coming one on top of each other (which that I knew) and that I was at 4cm and she was going to have the head midwife on duty come check me. Less than five minutes go by and before the head midwife comes to check me and says I'm at 7cm and 100% effaced. That kind of caught me off guard cause I kept thinking, "How did I go from 2-3cm to 7cm without being in active labor? That makes no sense!" lol. I went ahead and asked to get fluids started so I could get an epidural. Looking back, I'm a.) surprised they gave me one since I was already so far along and b.) think I only said I wanted one because it was the self-doubt transition stage talking and that if I had had a better midwife or doula with me to reassure me I wouldn't have felt the need for one. (No offense to my husband on that, because he was wonderfully supportive and encouraging, but sometimes nothing a man says to you in labor means as much as it would coming from another female who has been there before herself.) Never the less, they put one in, but epidurals take awhile before they take effect...and right after the anesthesiologist got everything in place, my water broke which always happens right before I start pushing and this time was no different. They didn't even have time to put a catheter in before I was grunting and making small pushes. (Fine by me since I didn't want one anyway.)
I pushed him out laying on my side cause I knew there was no way I'd be able to lay on my back with my joint issues. All the midwives and nurses basically just stood back and let me do my own thing which was awesome. They didn't really coach me or tell me what to do. Afterwards they were saying that they were amazed at how well I did and that I had such great control during pushing and that it was obvious that I knew exactly what my body was doing and where things were at with me and that I just didn't really need any help. :) It felt pretty amazing to hear that kind of praise, but it also made me a little sad cause they obviously don't get to see many natural, non-medicalized births because the female body TOTALLY does know what to do in about 90% of births. It really does go that smoothly when you just leave things alone.



Hickory Rutledge Wing was born at 2:49am on Sunday, May 29, 2011 weighing 8lbs 12 oz and 22 in long with no real interventions, no tears, no nothing. He did have the cord wrapped twice around his neck pretty tightly and they all said he was pretty blue when he first came out, but they quickly slipped the cord up and over his head and he was fine. Nothing on the monitors ever showed him having reduced heart rate or being in distress or anything. (I think people don't always realize that a cord around the neck isn't that uncommon and that it doesn't automatically mean imminent danger. Maybe if he had been in the birth canal a long time it could have gotten that way, I don't know, but never the less- it doesn't automatically mean the worst.)



He's the second smallest baby out of my four sons, and he's precious and wonderful. I'm still adjusting to my life being all about nursing the babe, and true to my track record at 2 weeks post partum I'm feeling quite lumpy and frumpy since I still have 20 pounds to go till my pre-preggers clothes will fit again, but all in all I'm the typical happy but tired new mom.