A Whole New World!

Lindsay the neglectful blogger here! I am now a mommy of one supercute (that is a word in my dictionary), precious baby GIRL. We had no clue she was a girl, but boy was I happy to hear it when she came out!

Emerald Lucy

April 20, 2010

7:38am

9 pounds 8 ounces

22 inches

bday and baby

my 23rd birthday was thursday. it was a nice day. i was by myself for most of the day until matthias got home from work. then we picked up amazingly good pizza from zpizza and ate it at Bond Park in Cary. after that we went by the Fishers and picked up some yummy cupcakes B made me and headed home. Matthias sang me happy birthday and brought me my cookies and cream ice cream cake form Baskin Robbins. yummmmm. then he gave me my presents. when he came out with an anthropologie bag i didn't think twice, thinking that he would never shop there, but when i opened it i realized he has indeed bought me a really cute journal and  funky cool apron from there. so cool.

friday my mom and i got pedicures. they're so cute. we even got little flowers painted on them. hehe

last night we had dinner at my dad's house. it was nice! kabobs and a pineapple upside down cake...yumm. my dad got me a new phone...it's fun too! samsung impression...i think

in other news....i am just about a week past my due date...booo. soooo wish i could go ahead and have my sweet baby. :( but i'm doing okay. not miserable (most of the time).

matthias' parents are on their way here right now. should be here any minute. hope they get to meet this baby before they leave in a week!!

PS- I just had a Cookout Snickers milkshake (with extra Snickers--lol). I feel so guilty!!

sleep

my sleep schedule was something like this:

10:30 get ready for bed
10:45 lay in bed and text ChaCha for a while until i feel sleepy
11:00 fall asleep
12:30 wake up wide awake, get online, eat some crackers,
1:45 finally go back to sleep
3:00 wake up to use restroom
6:00 wake up to make matthias' lunch and see him off for work, have a little something to eat, pray with him, read my bible
7:30 go back to sleep
10:30 wake up
and here i am

i do have a really strange sleep cycle these days.

i am 40 weeks and a day pregnant today. i'm  feeling okay, just a bit uncomfortable this morning. i'm having more and more braxton hicks, but i am not paying them too much attention as they don't really hurt. i do wish i would go into labor today. :)

my 23rd birthday is thursday (tax day), so that's exciting. my only request is an ice cream cake...haha. and a baby.

truthfully, i have a hard time asking God for the baby to come now, because what if His plan is better that it comes in a week? you know? but if He IS taking request, i'd request today or tomorrow :)

well i'm going to go. i'm mostly focusing on resting, but i have some things on my to do list today. would love to do them while in labor...

:) lindsay and baby-in-belly

"DUE" TOMORROW!

Please can these Braxton Hicks turn into real contractions and real labor??? :)

preparing for a home birth

my due date is officially this sunday, april 11. i've been waiting for the baby to come any time now. i've been walking at least a mile almost every day and i just finished a really spicy lunch :)... come on baby, come out!! i'm not a miserable pregnant lady, but i get tired very easily, my hands and feet swell often, and it can be just plain uncomfortable at times. i'm doing well though. learning patience and starting to bond more with my baby. i've had a hard time figuring out how to bond with my baby, but last night was good. i spent time on my drive home just talking to him or her and thanking God. i let my baby know how happy i am to be it's mommy. the hardest part being so pregnant for me would just be the anticipation of when? since i could go in to labor any day (but then again--could be weeks) and many of my (Bradley--birth) class mates have--i wake up each morning (and in the middle of the night) wondering if the time has come. it hasn't yet...but...hopefully soon. like today. ;)

i haven't told many people, mainly to avoid the shocked look and discouraging comments, but matthias and i decided on having our baby at home with a midwife. i had been receiving care from a local ob/gyn practice, but as my pregnancy progressed i began talking with more people, doing more research, watching videos, reading books, and started to rethink my automatic choice of going with a doctor and having a hospital birth. two things that really impacted my decision were the movie "the business of being born" and the book Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. i read, watched, talked, prayed and decided that the best thing for matthias and i and our baby was a home birth...matthias didn't need any persuasion, his mom had 3 at home! a big reason is the desire for a natural labor and delivery, without any/many interventions.. i'm broadly covering our reasons, but if you'd like to ask me a question, please feel free to email me or leave it in the comments section below.

as you can imagine, preparing for a home birth is a bit different than preparing for a hospital birth. we had to obtain supplies to have at our home for when the baby decided to come. we mostly just had to go online and order a "home birth kit" which included underpads or "puddle pads", plastic sheets, some sterile sponges and various minor sterile items, cord clamps, gloves, and some other little things. we also had to have plastic to go under the tub my midwife brings in the event i choose to use that. flashlights, an unbreakable bowl, and towels were also on the list. we are good to go with supplies. our midwife will bring all of her doctor-y medical and emergency equipment when she comes. she'll also be bringing an assistant- another midwife who worked for many years in england. they are both sooo nice.

since i am having my baby at home i have been sort of stressing out a bit about having the apartment really clean...oh yeah, that's another thing. i am having our baby in our 1 bedroom, second story, small apartment. :) anyways, i have lots i'd like to clean, but not as much energy to do so. if i could have it my way, everything would be dusted, vacuumed, mopped, and Windexed at all times. i have a feeling that i'll be tidying up some when i start to feel contractions. :)

i'm not sure what else to write about at this time...i'd just like to say again that i'd loveeeeeeeeeeeee to have my baby today. or even just go into labor today? oh well :)

here are some recent pictures:

this was a few weekends ago with some youth group gals at Acquire the Fire. what a fun, but tiring weekend! 37 weeks pregnant there.

here's a lovely one from january of lindsay, abby, janell, and i... we're real beauties, huh?

this one's a little better :)

in case you've forgotten, my due date is april 11...i'm 38 weeks and 2.5 days pregnant :)

i am hoping [a little too much] that i will go into labor soon. mostly because my mom was almost 3 weeks early with me and 2 weeks early with my brother. i think my hopes are up way too high though. oh well. my midwife reminded me that God has a perfect time for my baby to come...for me, for him/her...He knows. i certainly don't want a day before or after that perfect time. that brings me comfort.

being 9 months pregnant isn't so hard though. my feet swell pretty easily, but that's okay. it takes a good while to get comfortable at night to sleep...but that's okay too. heartburn isn't as bad as it was. i've been pretty emotional (poor matthias), but that is really okay too. makes me remember who i am without Christ and my desperate need for Him.

i've been having lots of braxton hicks contractions, mostly painless, so at least i know my uterus is staying strong and getting ready for it's biggest day thus far. :) i am just *waiting* for some painful contractions, or to lose my mucus plug (sorry), or something labor-ish. but like i said, i know it will all start when it's supposed to.

i can't wait to meet this little person inside of me. i'm thinking it's a little boy, but i truly don't know. we have cool (secret) names picked out now for both.

looking forward to having a homebirth... not sure how it's going to go, but i hope to write about it after it all happens. expecting great things. women were made to have babies and give birth. i was made to have and give birth to my baby...i'm confident of that. :)

well...that's all for now. until next time...

6 months later...

i just wanted to keep all you readers guessing so i decided not to update again for 6 months :) lol. (yes i still proudly use LOL)

i am 4 weeks from my due date and much larger than when i last posted. oh pregnancy. a wonderful, yet trying time. mostly wonderful.

looking at our wedding pictures taken only 10 months ago i am frequently reminded of my past life...the life where i could wear skinny jeans and shirts fit over my belly. i am also reminded of the ridiculously amazing trade-off i've been given. sure my body looks and will always look different and i was nauseous for a couple months, and blah blah blah, but the Creator of the universes is knitting together a tiny human inside of me. it doesn't get much more amazing than that. i am more and more convinced that those who get married and wait or choose not to have children are definitely missing out. it seems like a natural and God-ordained progression of things.

in other news, 2 christian artist have stolen our idea for a girl's name. shame on them. we thought we were so original. by the way...we don't know what we are having.

also by the way...we are having a HOME BIRTH. and yes it is LEGAL! and we are very excited.

i hope no one reads this.