Spring is Here!!!

Just a few springtime images from around my neighborhood:

The people who live here before planted daffodils!! Yay!!

The Trees are budding --

The bumper was sick last week, so we were grateful to get out and enjoy the warm weather.

Kim

On MyMind

When Matt and I went to California to visit our former roommate, (He and Matt are the ones skipping stones into the Pacific) I was nearly eight months pregnant with the bumper. We were full of worry and woe, our lease was up at the end of November and we still hadn't found a house. As crazy as it was, we took off on a much needed break. Sometimes, even adults need to play once in awhile. At the time I thought this would be the last bit of playtime we would have in a long time.

I was wrong.

Just the other night, Matt and I took turns trying to make the bumper laugh again.We had so much fun! It is the simplest of things that bring a sense of peace and happiness.

Little Things

Just some little things that have made me happy this week:

1. Going to church for the first time as a family: Me, my husband Matt, and our little bumper. My husband liked being in the cry room because all the crying babies were in the main sanctuary and we could actually hear the service!

2. Hearing the bumper laugh for the first time. Matt was making silly faces, and our daughter laughed. Is there anything more precious than a baby's laugh?

3. My husband marveling over the fact that a $6.00 meat loaf fed the two of us for a whole week.

4.  Trailing Matt as he showed our bumper to his co-workers. He is such proud papa!

5. Warm weather that motivated me to get out of the house.

Sleep? Who needs sleep?

I was never one in college to pull all night cram sessions. I was a strictly in bed by nine type of girl, so I was completely unprepared for the schedule of a new mama. My little one seems to be a confirmed night owl!. She likes to sleep during the day and is awake all night long. She isn't fussy, or cranky, and I have been blessed that she does not have colic, just a touch of reflux, but she is wide awake and ready to go!. As a result I have become acquainted with hours of the night hitherto unknown to me.
These days I am lucky if I get four hours of uninterrupted sleep, I spend most of my waking moments bleary eyed and covered in baby barf (somehow she always manages to miss the burp cloth). I have learned, though to laugh at my self. One night, or rather at 2:30 in the morning, when my beloved daughter had just blown out two diapers in the space of 15min, I leaned over on the changing pad, looked her in the eye and said "Are you done? Seriously, are you done?" and this little blessing  from God grunted, shot stream of poo clear across the room, sighed and fell asleep right there. All I could do, after changing her into yet another fresh diaper, was stand there and giggle. I know I will look back with longing when she is older, but I am not there yet. For now I am still in the trenches.
I say all of this because my husband has noted that my blog posts are riddle with errors and I am supposed to be a writer. So I am asking for you indulgence dear friends, as I go through this season of my life. Right now my thoughts are a bit rambling, and not as precise as I would wish, yet I will continue to post for as long as God will allow.

February Goals

Jess over at Making Home has issued an invitation to set five goals per month here are mine:

1.Pray and read Scripture everyday.

2. Make time to spend with my husband Matt.

3. Play with my newborn during the day.

4. Make and keep a household schedule for cleaning and meals.

5. Lean to crochet a granny square.


Wish me luck and perseverance!
Kim

Bumper's Birthstory

Monday December 6th 2010: It is late afternoon, around three pm, I feel a rush of wetness just as I am getting ready to go to the bathroom. I look down and see a pinkish fluid has stained my underwear.
 "Sweetpea, I am going into labor."  I call out to my husband who has come home early from work to help me with the unpacking.
"Ok, I'll start the car," he replies grabbing the hospital overnight bag.

On the way to the hospital he coaches me on my breathing and keeps me calm. We arrive at the hospital, check in, and find out how much my cervix has dilated.  Several  long and painful hours later, the nurses hand, me a wriggling,, screaming, little blessing of  a  baby girl. My husband smiles at me and says "Congratulations Mama!"
At least that is what I wanted it to be like.

Here is what really happened:


Saturday December 4th, I noticed my discharge had turned the bright red of menstrual blood. Alarmed, I called the after hours number for my ob/gyn. I spoke with the doctor on call. She asked me a few questions, and I let her know I had been lifting boxes and climbing up and down the stairs of our new house.  I should mention we had closed on the house and moved in only three days prior. She assured me that I had probably just torn something by moving around and trying to do too much, and to call back if I soaked a pad in less than an hour.  I didn't, so figured she was right and I took the next day off to rest. Everything seemed like it was getting better, but on Monday afternoon I started bleeding again. Not really wanting to, but knowing it was probably for the best I called the doctor's office again.

This time my doctor told me to go to the hospital, so she could check whether or not I was leaking amniotic fluid.  Feeling foolish, I called my husband to let him know what was happening. He offered to drive me, but I thought I would be in and out in an hour, so I told him to meet me there, grabbed my purse and left.

Sure enough once I got to the hospital there was no sign of the bleeding.  Just to be safe my doctor ordered an ultra sound to make sure nothing was torn. Once again the results came back negative.The baby hadn't dropped and my cervix wasn't dilated. Feeling even more foolish I apologized to my husband for making him take off from work early. I got up to  use the bathroom and promptly began leaking onto the floor. I turned to my husband in irritation, "This is what I was talking about," I told him. My quick witted hubby called  for the nurse .  She tested what had fallen on the floor, and sure enough it was amniotic fluid.

She told me to put my gown back on and get into bed.  I must have been a bit confused because I asked "Can I go home now?".  Through the bathroom door I heard my husband and the nurse call out "No!".
 The nurse looked me in the eye and said "You are not leaving this hospital without a baby."

I was stunned. My due date wasn't until the 23rd. I was not prepared. I had nothing. No overnight bag, no change of clothes, no camera, not even a toothbrush.  The nursery was just an empty room with a crib box in it.

My doctor came in and talked with us about having a C-section. I could feel my heart breaking. I had so wanted natural childbirth., but because I wasn't dilated and the baby hadn't dropped my doctor was concerned about the baby's health and safety.  My husband and I talked about it, and prayed, and in the end went with the doctor's recomendation of a C-section. So at 9:24pm 12-6-2010 our little bumper came into the world, and when my husband placed her in my arms, all I could do was thank God for sending us the blessing of a healthy baby girl. It was not the birth experiece I imagined, it was what God had wanted for me. Later my doctor told me there had been a rupture in the amniotic sac, and  my baby  would not have survived a prolonged induced labor. God knows best and I have no complaints.

Priorities

Last night I did something every parent hopes they will never do: I dropped my five week old infant onto the floor.  I had her in my arms and was going to carry  her back to her room. In the town house where we live, the living room is a step down from the dining area and everything is hardwood. I tripped up the step, and she fell out of my arms, and SMACK onto the floor. I was devastated. I felt like the worst parent in the the world. Right away I called her pediatrician, and they told me to take her to the ER.  So int the freezing rain and sleet I drove our little bumper to the hospital. They gave her a head scan and Praise God she was not seriously hurt.

All of this taught me a lesson: I need to slow down, do one thing at a time and TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!
I dropped her because I was sleep deprived, and not carefully watcing where I was going. I can not take care of her if I do not take care of mysel.f  My life is unmanagable and the only way to help that is to pray and take one day at a time