Rough Days and Non-Schedules

The previous Monday and Tuesday were rough.  As in cranky-baby-who-is-on-strike-from-napping rough.  As in fussy-baby and worried mama wondering what happened to my sweet, happy Audra?  That kind of rough.  Monday the longest nap Audra took was a half hour.  And in between those cat naps, Audra wanted my attention.  My full attention.  You'd think that after such short naps Audra would have slept well that night... but somehow she managed to continue her crankyfest until 10:45pm.  Tuesday Audra seemed to be in a better mood, though she didn't nap much.  I had planned to get my hair cut and had a dentist appointment also, so my mother-in-law was watching her for part of the day.  I really appreciated having Mom Cundey watch Audra!  I was exhausted from my previous day!  (Later in the afternoon she did get one 1 1/2 hour nap, but that's only because I put her in my Kozy Carrier while I got dinner ready.)

Thankfully Audra, the happy Audra, seems to be back on track yesterday and today!  In fact, I'd say that her napping was the best it has ever been.  Wednesday she napped from 8:30-9:30am, from 11am-1:30pm and then again from 3:30-5pm.  Today she slept in until 8:30am, then napped from 10-10:30am, 11:50am-2:10pm, and also had a couple cat naps (each less than 20 minutes) while I carried her in the Kozy both at the grocery store and around the house.  What a relief to have Audra napping so well.  She's also been sleeping better at night... falling asleep between 7-8pm and only waking twice each night to briefly eat. 

Audra will be 10 weeks old in a couple days, and I figure it's still a little early to be hoping that she'll consistently follow any type of schedule.  However, I'm starting to keep track of her natural wake/sleep patterns to figure out what type of schedule will work best for us.  To be honest, I had hoped to keep her awake until at least 8pm each night since David's work hours are so unpredictable.  Especially as we head into the busy summer season, I know it's possible that David won't be able to see her at awake at all when he frequently leaves the house at 6am and doesn't get home until 8 or 9pm.  But it looks like Audra's natural tendency is to be an early bird instead of a night owl, so I probably won't try to fight her on this.

Weekend Visitors

David and I very much enjoyed having my father and his wife travel from Waxhaw, NC to visit us this past weekend.  I would've thought that after 33 years of being a grandfather to (the previous) 8 grandchildren, the novelty of the title would have worn off.  But my dad seemed to be completely smitten with his 9th grandchild, Audra...

 ... and she seemed to be equally fascinated with him.

Thank you for visiting, Dad and Gene!  You're welcome back anytime!

To Catch a Smile

Audra was a very happy baby tonight, so I grabbed the camera to try to catch a smile.  Thank goodness for digital cameras, because this turned out to be more of a challenge than I had anticipated! 

I tried...

 and tried...

 and tried...

 and tried... (maybe she's laughing at me now?)

 and finally Audra smiled when I was taking a picture!

And that was truly sweet success.  :)

Babywearing

Babywearing is a term that I only learned a few years ago.  And, at first, it sounded strange to me... like a person was turning their baby into some sort of accessory.  But thankfully I've learned a lot more since that time.

Studies have shown that babies who are carried in "soft carrier" (such as the ring sling that I am using in the picture) have improved sleep, reduced crying, improved breastfeeding rates and better attachment.  Also, it has been proven that "a baby who is worn experiences much more of the world than a baby hanging at knee-level in a carseat or isolated in a stroller", which aids in their cognitive development.  However, I will admit that I don't wear Audra just because of these benefits... I wear her because it makes her happy, and thus it makes me happy.

This past Friday Audra was having a rough day.  She didn't nap well and she pretty much just wanted to be held the entire day.  So when it was time to make dinner I put her in the sling and got things ready.  She fell asleep almost immediately and slept peacefully while I shredded spinach, chopped onions and cut up some chicken for our soup.  Wearing her at a time like that was my sanity saver.

Babywearing isn't very common in this part of the country, so yes, I get some strange looks when I wear Audra in public.  But mostly people have been kind in their comments.  When I wore her to the grocery store recently I met a few older women who wistfully said "I wish I could've had a carrier like that for my children!" and an older man commented "that little boy is so lucky to be carried around like that".  (Since he couldn't see her purple outfit I let the gender thing slide and just agreed with him.)  Lucky, indeed.  But Audra isn't the only lucky one... being able to keep her close and meet her need for human touch makes me feel pretty lucky too.





Lunch

A couple weeks ago David and I watched a documentary called "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" about a guy who goes on a 60 day juice fast to get healthy.  David and I took the information to heart, and decided to get our own juicer.  Since that time we've been having juice snacks, or sometimes supplimenting a meal with juice.  It's definitely a great way for me to get more fruits and vegetables into my diet, and it's also helping me lose the last of my pregnancy weight!

The picture above was my "lunch" today... it consisted of 4 carrots, 3 bunches of kale, 2 apples, 1 orange, 1 pear and 1 kiwi.  And yes, it tasted a lot better than it looked!!

Bring on the Bows

I was never a huge fan of those headband bows for baby girls.  I wouldn't say I was anti-bow, but I definitely thought it was silly to put a headband on a baby that barely had any hair!

But now I understand why people (moms, I'm guessing) do that.  It saves so much trouble if a stranger can have a HUGE, obvious clue as to the gender of your baby.  Especially if your little girl is dressed in yellow or green.  So I bought a few this past week, and when Audra leaves the house dressed in a gender neutral color, she wears a bow on her head.

Thankfully, Audra doesn't seem to mind too much! 

5 Weeks Old

Audra will be 5 weeks old tomorrow... which means 5 weeks ago right now I was in labor with her.  Wow... the time has flown by!  I found myself staring at Audra this week, thinking how in the world did you fit inside me just 5 weeks ago?  I feel as though she has grown and changed so much already... but I have a feeling I'm going to be saying that for the next 20 years!

Sleeping on the couch with Daddy.

Audra's Visitors

We've had many visitors over the past couple weeks who've wanted to meet the newest member of our family!  Unfortunately I didn't always remember to take pictures of Audra's company, but here's some shots that I did get.

Audra with her cousin, Cora Loucks.

Aunt Alenna and Cora.

My high school friend, Katie Heberle.

Audra with her cousin, Julian Hatch, in his first attempt to hold his cousin.

Later (after being fed) Julian and Audra had a nicer picture together.

Great-Aunt Cathy Decina.

My friend from Williamsburg, Karen Capossela.

Thank you to everyone who has visited!  We all feel very loved!

New Job

There were two births on January 28th, 2012.  When Audra was born, something else was born in me; I became a MOTHER.  Instantaneously.  Mama, Mommy, Mom.  These are now my titles.  And the enormity of this job is sometimes staggering.  But I feel as though I waited a long time to fill this position, and I am thankful every day that God has given me this role!

The Journey That Started With A Click

I started writing this blog in September 2011, but put it on the back burner since we were only mid-way through our pregnancy and I didn't want to ignite a confrontation (with people who would've been opposed to our decisions).  Anyway, now that Audra has been born, conflicting ideas on where to birth a baby and how to have a baby become moot points.  But, for those interested, here's how we arrived at certain decisions.


I had always dreamed of some day becoming a mother, though I never put much thought into the process of birthing a child.  Except for some older family members (pre-WWII), everyone I could think of was born in a hospital and then gave birth to their own children in hospitals.  There was no reason for me to question someday having a child in a hospital with a doctor, because that's just what people did.

But then...

In February 2010, on an online quest to find the words to a poem my mother used to recite, I stumbled across a blog called "Adventures in Babywearing."  The author quoted the poem I was searching for in one of her blog posts, so when I clicked on the Google result, I found her blog.  I read the post in its entirety and found myself really enjoying the lyrical way this lady wrote about leaving her parents house and creating a home for her husband and young children.  It was like reading a great short story, so I curiously read more of her posts, most which were about her joys and challenges in raising a family.  I had no children at the time, yet she had 4.  I've never lived west of Upstate NY, but she's from the mid-west.  She's a talented writer who gets paid to keep a blog and write articles for online sites and my blog posts tend to read more like 8th grade book reports.  Nothing in common at first glance, yet the more I read the more I realized we shared similar ideas on faith, raising children and working to be the best people we can be.  So, even though I doubted that I would ever meet this lady, I continued to read about her life (in a completely non-stalkingish way, I promise!).

Then I came across her post about the home birth she had with her 4th child.  What?!  Normal, responsible, relatable people birth babies in their homes?  I'd never heard of such a thing in the last 50 years, but I mentally filed away this story in case I would ever want to learn more.

Fast forward to June 2011... we're pregnant and I've started prenatal care with my regular OB/GYN.  But, based on this blog I once read and some limited research, I started to talk with David about my desire to have our baby outside of a hospital with a midwife in attendance.  (He didn't say much at the time, but he later admitted that the idea of having a baby out of a hospital sounded as risky as having a baby in a barn, hundreds of miles from civilization.)  Thankfully he kept an open mind and didn't try to sway me from researching our options.  We watched two documentaries together on Netflix, "The Business of Being Born" and "Pregnant in America" and our eyes were opened to the benefits of having a baby outside of a hospital.  So, at 20 weeks we switched care to a midwife group in Wilmington, DE, and we haven't regretted this decision at all!

And here we are today, with our own story of the completely natural, drug-free birth of our daughter and a strong desire to tell others what labor and delivery can be like away from a hospital.  It is not my desire to make anyone feel badly if they didn't have a natural birth.  I realize that this is a very personal decision, and a lot of people don't have birth centers and/or caring midwives available to them or, for various reasons, are unable to have natural births.  However, I tell this story in the hopes that it will give women the courage to search out their choices and make the best decisions based on what is best for them and their baby, instead of assuming that having a baby with an OB/GYN is the best (or only) option.

Who would have ever known that reading a blog would lead to a click that changed my view of childbirth and thus, changed my life!

Here I am, exhausted, but elated, with Nurse Tyler, Midwife Dorinda, and Nurse Peggy, a couple hours after Audra's birth.