Our Baby Story

On Monday (the 4th) I had my regularly scheduled appointment with the midwife.  I had her check me to see if I was making any progress with my evening prelabor sessions that I was having fairly regularly.  She confirmed that I was making progress, I was dilated to 3, but could be stretched to a 4. Baby’s head was engaged and at a –1 station and I was about 70% effaced.  I was so happy about this and gladly let her swipe my membranes to see if we could get labor going.  I thought I would be in labor within 24 hours.  I was getting pretty discouraged when I found myself still pregnant by Wednesday morning!  Still, I knew I was making progress and guessed myself to be dilated to 5 by then.

Wednesday started out pretty boring.  Pretty emotional too as I announced to my family that I was going be grumpy, so watch out!  Another thing worth mentioning is that my little people were all pretty sick.  Bubble Gum had been in bed for a couple days with tummy trouble, Laffy and Blue-Raspberry had been coughing with sore throats and aches.

The excitement started on Wednesday evening as we were dealing with some drama from different places.  One being Bubble Gum, who was looking so sickly and throwing up and losing weight, we were praying over her and trying to make her more comfortable when I had the the first BIG contraction.  I thought to myself, okay, that was a good one, many more like that and we are going to have to leave!  So Mr. Taffy and I got settled into bed with a movie to watch and started smell something terrible, it smelled like some one had let off fireworks in our house.  We thought his lap top was melting.  Upon investigation we found that whole main floor was filled with smoke and that smell, but we couldn’t figure out where it was coming from and what to do about it.  I had a couple more BIG contractions during this time and decided to start timing them.  18…13…9…7…uh-oh!  This is how my labors progress, once they start, they don’t waste time.  I declared to Mr. Taffy that we needed to GO!

We still had the smoke issue and the Bubble Gum issue on our minds and had to decide quickly what to do.  We woke up Banana and Strawberry, gave them some directions and left the house.  We arrived at the birth center at 11:20 pm.

This is a picture of the lobby…I took it from their website.

This is the room I gave birth in, it’s called the “red room.”

When we arrived at the Birth Center the midwife and her assistant were there, they had my room all set up.  I’m not sure they believed I was in labor, my contractions weren’t very long and I was still pretty happy when we arrived there.  But she checked me and I was dilated to 7!  Whoop!

So Mr. Taffy and I walked around and around the center, stopping every so often to breathe through a contraction.  It was nice and quiet and dark, they pretty much just let us be, every so often checking on me and listening to the baby to make sure she was handling labor okay.

About 12:45 I was ready to lay down.  Contractions still weren’t that close together but they were getting pretty intense and starting to feel a little pushy so I knew I was getting close! 

This was probably my most intense labor, I can usually push a baby out in two pushes, but this time it took quite a bit longer (like 6 or 8 pushes) and I was having feelings of, “why oh why did I put myself in this position again?!”  Turns out I had some kind of amazing water bag, so amazing that once it finally popped, it shot out of me like a torpedo, soaking the midwife’s assistant.  I had my face buried in a pillow but I still managed to ask what happened?  I’m sure, had I actually seen it, I would have been cracking up!

After that explosion, pushing became much more productive but I had to slow down a little because the cord was wrapped around her neck and there wasn’t enough slack to loop it over.  She was delivered through her cord…Mr. Taffy explained it to me afterward and that helped me understand the strange feeling of her delivery, it didn’t feel the same as the other ones.  She was born at 1:20 a.m. on April 7th.  I am so glad to be done!

She was ready to nurse almost immediately after birth!  She latched on and pretty much stayed attached until we left 4 hours later!

I did get a nice soak in a tub full of herbal water, what a delight that was!

My midwife Catherine.

Do you remember me complaining about the hospital practices and Pitocin and the risk of post delivery hemorrhaging?  Well, I’m happy to report that I astounded the midwife with my lack of bleeding!  I don’t want to get too graphic since I know people have different tolerances for that kind of information, but Pitocin would have been totally uncalled for and unneeded, just like I thought.  Sometimes it’s nice to be right. 

We were home by 6 a.m. just as my little people were getting up.  They were so excited to see their new baby sister.  I have yet to get any pictures of them holding her since they’ve all been so sick.  But I do have one…

Strawberry Taffy had every intention of coming with us to the delivery, but when Bubble Gum was so sick, she just didn’t have the heart to leave her and instead stayed home and dutifully cared for her all night long! 

I’m going to share her real name, just this once…I might remove it eventually but I’ll share for now, because I would want to know!

We named our sweet daughter Adrielle Judith.  Judith is after my mom…her name means, “Praising Jehovah’s Perfection.”  Our seventh baby, born on the seventh of April!

My heart is full of thankfulness and joy!  She’s been nursing constantly, my milk came in yesterday!  She’s pooped out all her meconium and has moved on to the lovely golden pooh of breast milk.  God is so good and I am overwhelmed with His love!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

She’s finally here!

So happy to report that after much anticipation and impatience on my part, our sweet little Salt Water Taffy has finally arrived!

Here’s a quick peek and over view for you.  I’ll write the birth story soon.

She was born at 1:20 a.m., April 7, 2011, weighing in at 8.65lbs and measuring a whopping 22” long.  (My first born was that long too—he’s 6’5” now!)  She’s perfect in every way!

Thank you all for the prayers. The support that you have shown has meant the world to me!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

I’m still here…

Just wanted to tell you all that I haven’t had the baby yet!  I noticed my little floating baby (on my blog) is starting to count up now…that’s disheartening!  We’ve had a few false starts so hopefully that means labor will be starting soon. 

Tomorrow is Mr. Taffy’s 38th birthday.  I would love for her to be born on his birthday!  We’ll see what God thinks about that! 

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Just another update!

Just wanted to tell everybody that I’m still here…holding my baby, just not in my arms yet!  Trying so hard to be patient!

Yesterday as I was getting ready to go see the midwife and as I was saying goodbye to my little people, Laffy Taffy came up to me and shouted at my belly, “Hurry up and come out, you are missing all the fun and Winter Wipe-Out!”  It was so sweet!  Then last night before Banana Taffy went to be, which was about 9 or so, he told his Dad to make sure he woke him up if the baby was going to be born before 11:00 so he could order pizza before they turned the ovens off at midnight?  huh?  Everybody has their own reasons for wanting her to be born! 

Did you see the banner on my blog about the Miracle Maker DVD?  I’m so excited to give one of you a copy!  I want you to get in time for Easter!  I posted the dates up there so you’ll know when to be expecting it!  This is our all-time favorite Easter Movie.  I’m pretty sure you can see it in it’s entirety on YouTube if you want to take a peak ahead of time.

Thanks again for all your prayers!  Anytime now and I’ll have pictures to share!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Ready to go!

So, the truth is, I’m terrible at waiting…especially when it comes my babies.  This would be why 4 out of 6 of babies have been induced in some form or another.  But since I managed to be patient with number 6, I’m determined to be patient with number 7, not that I really have any other option mind you.  ANYWAY…all that said, I’m kind of bored waiting around!  I just don’t have any more tasks to do to get ready for this baby! 

Here’s my pile of stuff to take to the Birth Center.  I really don’t need much…most of this is for the baby.  When it’s time to go, I just need to remember to throw my camera in the bag and grab a couple jars of my special water.  (That big yellow thing is a nursing pillow.)

I had a nice visit with the midwife this afternoon, everything is good to go, just waiting on baby now. 

So here I am…in all my…glory!  Oh my…I feel so BIG!

I keep wearing the same three pairs of underwear and the three same outfits! 

Thanks for all your kind, encouraging words!  They mean so much!  I promise to share the happy news as soon as I’m able!  I found out today that the Birth Center has wi-fi, so maybe it will be sooner rather than later!  hehehehe!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Friday

Feeling like I need to blog, but not having any real inspiration…so I’m just blogging to say HELLO!  Or Salve as we learned in our Song School Latin. 

I haven’t had loads of energy, waiting patiently for the nesting instinct to kick in again, both to signal eminent labor and to get some energy so I can get my freezer loaded.  I did do some freezer loading last weekend, with the tremendous help of Strawberry Taffy.

We made 2-22 quart batches of Chili.  One to serve at fellowship with some left overs and another specifically for freezing.

This is the handy-dandy way I load the freezer bags.  I let the chili cool off in the garage over night, it was like 2 degrees out there and the stuff never froze, but it did cool off nicely!

Then they are flattened and labeled for the freezer.  We got 6 meals out of the big pot.

I have a big list of other food I want to get in there too.  I was working on freezing hamburger last week and this week I’ll be buying a case of chicken breasts to cut up and bag up for the freezer.  I’m not really feeling the ambition to do it, that’s why I’m waiting for that lovely nesting instinct to kick in, rather I’m focusing on how glad I’ll be to have it in there after the baby arrives! 

We had a little glitch in our delivery plans, but thanks to my amazing husband and his ability to speak to the right person and say the right things, Health Partners is making a contract specifically for us for our delivery at the Birth Center, complete with their promise of payment.  Mr. Taffy took a whole day off of work, without pay, to make it happen.  I really am so thankful!  I met with my previous midwife this week and she was not very happy with me for turning down the Strep B test.  She got pretty cold with me and even a little tiny bit mean…I’m okay with it, just sad that it turned out like that.  I’m praying about whether I should write her a thank you letter, since I’m pretty much just going to disappear from her practice now.  It seems right to let her know what happened, without telling her how she made me feel. 

She did say one thing that I keep thinking about, she was asking me about a Pediatrician for the baby and how the hospital requires one before release.  I didn’t have an answer and she was so surprised, “Don’t you take your other children to the doctor?”  I understand where she’s coming from but it was slightly presumptuous .  Nobody in our family has insurance but me, for one thing.  And, she is assuming that I don’t know how to handle it if my children are sick.  I should have told her how my children were never once sick during our whole bout with unemployment, giving God the glory of course!  Thankfully we’ve never had an emergency that needed immediate attention either and since we haven’t immunized since Blue-Raspberry was born, there hasn’t been a need to go to the doctor for check-ups.  Anyway…knowing that I’m not going to have to worry about all this silliness during and directly after delivery is very freeing!  Thanks for your prayers!

I’ve been doing a lot of praying lately too.  Praying for my husband and our children, for our friends in Washington, for my delivery and the MACHE conference.  Praying that I don’t miss opportunities to teach and train and love on my children, praying that I can be a giver of encouragement instead of being so needy of it, praying that this winter will end … Please?

I guess I had a lot more to say than I thought…sorry about the rambling, it’s fun to look back after a few months go by, and see the different things that were important to me and on my mind. 

Have a great weekend!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

An answered prayer…

You’ll recall me sharing some of my concerns about my upcoming delivery in this post and this post.  Well, since the time I posted those I have been busy praying and hoping and believing for some different answers. 

One day it dawned on me that there was a new law passed in Minnesota the beginning of the year which allows Private Birthing Centers, with midwives, to be allowed to accept insurance.  Prior to this new law, you basically had to pay cash or use a medical reimbursement account for such services.  I started wondering if this new law would apply to me and my situation being as I’m currently on Medical Assistance.  (No flames please…if you know about our trial with unemployment you’ll know we waited until the last possible minute before getting government help and we aren’t receiving any now, except for medical coverage for me—they allow me to stay on because I’m pregnant, Mr. Taffy current contracting job has no insurance.)  So I started making some phone calls.  At first the calls went nowhere, the county and customer service at the insurance company didn’t know anything about it.

Then I got a call from a person who does know!  She’s the director of one of the birthing centers located 4 minutes from the hospital I was scheduled to deliver at.  She knew all about the law and their center is working on getting certified and that process should be complete towards the beginning of March.  Despite the date, the insurance companies are allowing retroactive claims be made, up until the 1st of January.  As she was talking to me I could barely listen and contain myself because I wanted to know if she could accept me being on Medical Assistance.  (I should mention, at this point I was willing to entertain the idea of paying cash for the delivery too…I would gladly forgo any of my organizing/fixer-upping plans to buy some peace!)  When I finally got to ask she told me they are allowed 2 MA patients per delivery month, they already have one for March and I’m the Second!  Phew!  In by the skin of my teeth! 

This is just an incredible blessing that I am still digesting.  I have an initial free consultation next week and then I’ll do whatever I have to do to get my care transferred over there.  These midwives are the real deal…the kind that believe a woman was made to deliver a baby.  I don’t have a disease or a problem to solve, just a birth to experience!  While I know that my current midwife does believe she has my best interests at heart, I also know that she has to be extra careful and take extra precautions.  I just don’t want to feel like I’m bucking the system constantly, I don’t want to worry about Pitocin and shots and cord tugging and hearing tests…I want to put all my energies and focuses on delivering a baby, then recovering from the delivery and then going on to nurse that baby into oblivion!  That’s where I’m at anyway. 

I am overwhelmed with how much God loves me.  Awestruck by the way He worked this out for me.  Saddened that I had any doubt that He would make a way for me. 

Our God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ever ask or think of!  That’s why He’s God.  I’m just His daughter that still needs to learn to trust Him completely and fully in every area of my life!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Baby Update

As promised I wanted to give you an update from my last midwife appointment and all the questions I needed answers to!

I didn’t get any answers that I like.  Isn’t that a blessing?

1.  My midwife feels very strongly about the Pitocin after delivery…she says it’s because I’m a Grand Multipara Mom and because I’m over 35.  2 strikes against me apparently.  That fancy word there is just a medical term for a woman who’s had more than 5 complete pregnancy’s.  The practice/belief is that the older a woman gets and the more children she has the more tired her uterus becomes, therefore becomes a higher risk for hemorrhaging, etc.  I’m still not sure how Pitocin helps when you are hemorrhaging, and I wish that I would have asked her if I had symptoms of having a “tired uterus.”  But I didn’t address either concern, I was kinda hung up on the whole idea of an IV being stuck in my hand during delivery.  I’m a hard poke…I’m not afraid needles, but my veins are rebellious.  I was all prepared to submit to this medical practice to keep the peace, but my husband has some pretty strong opinions, so I don’t really know what’s going to happen with this now.

2.  She said it just depends…whether they tug on the placenta or not.  Hmmm…didn’t like that answer either.  If you’ve had a drug-free delivery, you know that our bodies were designed to naturally push that puppy out with one final contraction.  It’s rather disgusting, but it gets the job done and I’ve never had anything left behind! 

3.  She said the other midwives don’t discuss their “practices” of delivery with each other.  I guess it would be disrespectful or something.  She’s not likely going to be there anyway since she’s going to Haiti for two weeks in March. 

4.  And finally, discharge time.  She has a big passion about the PKU test.  Honestly, I don’t have a conviction about this one way or the other, I don’t mind it as much because it’s blood coming out, not an injection going into baby.  They  can’t do the heel stick until 24 hours after the 1st feeding.  So, if I don’t want to go back to the clinic the next day…I have to stay in the hospital at least 24 hours (plus however long it actually takes them to get there) after the first nursing before I can leave.

You can see why I’m not exactly thrilled with any of these answers!  Homebirths are so much better!  My midwife actually came to my house and do the PKU test on Laffy Taffy. 

There’s only one solution—Prayer.  I’m going to be praying over these things from now until delivery day.  God knows.  He’s got it under control.  I will submit to His will and be content.  And I will pack-A LOT!

Something's on my mental packing list:

-pillows (I have a memory foam pillow that I can’t sleep without!)

-Water (I’m going to bring my beach cooler full of our good water.)

-raw sugar and organic cream (so even if I have to drink flat coffee I can make it the way I like!)

-Lots of food. 

-My lap top-I need to find out if the hospital has wi-fi.  Then I can blog…I know die-hard right?

On to other news.  On a happy note, baby is growing right along!  NO signs, whatsoever of a growth issue because of the two vessel cord.  She is still a she and she is busy!  Wiggly!  They said she weighs about 4.5 pounds right now and she’s head down!  Keeping focused on the prize (holding my precious baby) and the Source of Life (God Almighty) will get me through this even if it’s not ideal!

And now for a few pictures…

Bedroom re-arranged and changing table set up.  It’s even loaded with newborn clothes and little socks and hats.

My basket of diaper supplies.  Eventually I will unpack this and have the stuff on the changing table, this is just a little neater for the moment.  In the wet wipe box is cloth wet wipes.  I like to have a pack of new born disposables for those stain-causing first poops!  I bought a couple cute diaper covers too, I didn’t have any newborn diaper covers in my stash, I must have had the cheap Gerber kind with Laffy Taffy and thrown them away.

There are two dresses hanging here, the brown one came from a garage sale…I bought it before I was pregnant because I just couldn’t pass it up!  $1.00

These are the adorable flannel receiving blankets my mom made for the baby.  See the ribbon tags in the corner?  So cute and so soft!

And look how good they go with the quilt I made!

All my little girly blankets in one place.

And finally…

I have ultra sound pictures too, but I’m not going to share them.  I think she looks weird.  The images aren’t very clear and the bones are making strange shadows and she looks like she has a beak…you’ll just have to wait for a real picture, of her real face!  Sorry!  I’m fairly confident she doesn’t actually have a beak. lol

This post has gotten pretty long, thanks for sticking around with me!  It won’t be much longer now!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Baby Bulge

Since I’m almost done with this pregnancy and since I’m still fitting in my clothes relatively well, I thought I’d give you a chance to see me and my bulge.  I think I’m too big to call it a “bump!”  lol

At the beginning of February I have an ultra sound to check on baby’s growth because of the 2 vessel cord issue.  I’m so excited to see her!  Soon I’ll be ordering the newborn insert for my ergo—they didn’t have that available when Laffy Taffy was a baby.  So excited!  I have so many things I want to talk to  my midwife about, she let me have a 6 week break in between appointments and the questions are just piling up in my mind.

1.  Do I have to have an IV of Pitocin after the birth (this is what people keep telling me.)

2.  Will she allow my placenta to expel naturally or is it her practice to tug at it?  (When Laffy Taffy was born I felt it took a while for it to come out, at least 20 minutes…but once it did it all came out together with no problem)

3.  What if she’s not available to  do the delivery, are the practices of the other midwives similar to hers?

4.  What’s the soonest I can leave the hospital?  (I really can’t rest in hospitals…too many sounds and smells, too cold and dry, too boring, bed too uncomfortable, bad coffee, etc.)

Those are the main ones.  I’m sure discussing those will lead to other questions.  My midwife is a wonderful, no-nonsense lady that I am convinced will take superb care of me and my baby.  I just don’t want to be surprised by something that I’m not expecting, which might not be realistic but I can try!

So excited to hold my little baby and so excited to be able to walk normally!  ha!

joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Nesting

This happens to me EVERY pregnancy, even the ones where I’ve moved before delivery…I crave and conquer projects.  Especially sewing projects!  So this past weekend I indulged my “need to nest” and finished all my sewing projects that I had slated to do in January.

Two double-sided extra large receiving blankets.  These are for my brother’s baby due in May.  They were told it’s “probably” a boy! 

One more girly one…I’m not sure if I’m going to keep this or save it for a gift.

Two Aprons.  Can you tell which one is for me?  I made the other one for my mom, who is coming to visit in April.  This is part of the Thank You/Happy Mother’s Day gift I’m giving her.  She’s probably going to see it on here, but hopefully she’ll just forget about it!    I can hope anyway!

I’m also working on our little bathroom.  We’ve been living in this house with one shower since we moved back in, almost 2 years ago.  Mr. Taffy finally finished his part of the project so I can go ahead with my part--painting and decorating!  I painted this past weekend and I’m planning on making a shower curtain and a frame for the mirror so it looks like a picture frame.  The style will tie in with the rest of the house: Country folk art-ish. Hopefully my older sons will have a new place to take a shower before next weekend!  Woohoo! 

This happens to me every pregnancy.  I just can’t help it.  The ideas just pour in to my brain and I usually have the energy to tackle them!  I think creating a baby is the most creative thing a woman can do and I think that’s partly why this creativity comes out in other areas, through nesting.

By the way, if you are pregnant and having trouble sleeping might I suggest Red Raspberry Leaf?  I’ve taken it faithfully since the beginning of the 2nd trimester of this pregnancy and for both the 2nd and 3rd trimester of the last one.  Not only did it help me heal up quickly after birth, I’m talking not much bleeding here, it also claims to help with sleep!  Which I must agree does so very nicely!  I never have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep!  I buy mine from here.

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

New Year’s Eve

We don’t make a big deal about New Year’s here…we used to, but then we got old, I mean, we had children! Our day is pretty quiet really. We have a few that are sick, so they are laying low.

I’ve been busy planning our homeschool for the next month. I planned 5 weeks for each of the older three. It went pretty smoothly actually. It’s rather exciting because Banana Taffy is going to finish his Biology book this month and his Algebra 2 book! Does that mean he’s done with 10th grade? I’m not really sure. It’s an unusual thing teaching these older ones, it’s not like I can just take a day off here and there. I can’t just decide, “I don’t feel like doing school today.” They keep me accountable and I have to keep up with them! I love it! It’s exhausting but wonderful!

I think they all feel they’ve had a long enough break, except maybe Strawberry Taffy who would be content to keep busy all day doing anything BUT school work! lol I’m not sure I had a long enough break though! Phew! I feel like I made a lot of fun things happen for people around me, but didn’t really get to just participate in anything fun, you know, that I didn’t plan. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not unhappy in anyway, just reflecting back on the past two weeks.

I took the 1 hour gestational diabetes test last week, and I failed it. UGH! So yesterday I had to take the boring 3 hour test. It actually wasn’t too bad, they gave me a room to hang out in and the clinic actually had WIFI-who knew?! I haven’t heard back from the lab so I’m thinking that’s a good thing. Last time they called me the same day as the test!

Now I’m cleaning the homeschool room and playroom…are you wondering how I’m doing that and writing a blog post at the same time…well, it’s very simply because I mopped the playroom floor and I’m writing while I’m waiting for it to dry, which is probably about now!

I hope you are having a nice New Year’s Eve too! May the Lord bless you in all your endeavors this year and may you grow to KNOW HIM more in 2011.

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Pregnancy Update Week 20

I had a great visit with the midwife on Wednesday and I wanted to share with you a few things that are new information to me.

First off I have been thinking about how I can make my hospital birth experience as much like my homebirth experience as possible.  One thing I’ve determined to do, to keep things mellow after delivery, is forgo the “mandatory” baby bath.  You know, the bath the gets the baby all worked up and cold too.  After Laffy Taffy was born, my midwife did not bathe him.  I kept wondering…when?  She just casually said it’s not necessary.  All that white stuff that sometimes is left on a baby after delivery just absorbs back into the skin.  I didn’t know you could do that!  Ha!  Laffy Taffy didn’t have his first bath until after he had born a week, possibly longer.  And guess what?  He didn’t stink! And nothing bad happened!  The downside, according to my current midwife, is that they won’t touch my baby girl without gloves on until she’s had a bath.  Why you ask?  Because  the amniotic fluid which is considered “body fluid” and a “no-no” to touch with bare hands.  Sounds good to me, I think I would prefer them to touch my baby with gloved hands anyway!

She also said I don’t have to do the eye drops (because I’m in a monogamous relationship) or the Vitamin K shot (because I’m not having a son—no circumcision).  Phew!  I’m so glad she mentioned those things, I already feel like such a rebel!

Apparently there is a new position at the hospital called a “flyer.”  Any of my MN readers have experience with one of them?  She said they are assigned to the baby during delivery and she is really bothered by their practice of rubbing the baby (in a not so gentle way) after delivery.  Hmmm…not sure how I’m going to get around that yet.  I’ll just probably have to put my husband on “flyer” guard!  He He!

One more thing, she said that she’s known several of her mom’s who have been diagnosed with a two cord artery and after delivery and upon further inspection, there has been 3 cords there!  She’s not worried about it either!

Oh the thought of holding this little baby and having her be part of our family and our future is making me giddy!  I just feel so blessed and so treasured that God would see fit to give His daughter another child to care for and grow in grace for His kingdom!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

It’s a girl!

This morning was my level 2 ultra sound.  Baby looks good!  Actually baby looks GREAT!  And baby totally is a GIRL!

Here’s the baby’s profile.  She was laying in an unagreeable way to get a whole body shot, but I think her head is adorable!

Here’s a sweet little foot.  3 centimeters long. 

And here’s the proof that we have a little girl.  What you are looking at is basically directly up the baby’s rump.  You can see the legs, at least half of them, though I assure you that the rest of the legs were there!  That little white spot is the computer cursor pointing to the little girl part.  Even if you can’t tell that’s it a little girl part, you can definitely tell it ISN’T a little boy part!

On an interesting side note, we have a funny little situation called single umbilical artery.  Usually an umbilical cord has 2 arteries and 1 vein, my little girly only has one artery in her umbilical cord.  Apparently this happens about 1 in 200 babies.  It’s not a problem unless there are other issues with the baby.  We DON’T have any other issues, so they aren’t worried about it.  There is a slight possibility that it could affect the babies growth rate, but she already is measuring ahead of schedule, so we aren’t worried about that either! 

My appointment was really early this morning, but my husband and I were having fun hanging out together and going out to breakfast, that’s why it’s taken me so long to get this post up!

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

“You gotta eat your Spinach Baby”

Do you like Shirley Temple?  Ever seen Rebecca of Sunny Brook Farms and the annoying little girl who sings the spinach song?  Cracks me up, and every time I eat spinach I think about that song!

When I found out that I am slightly anemic I went on a hunt to figure out how to get my iron up (and hopefully my energy) without taking a bunch of iron supplements.  I have a wonderful Aunt who is a Natropath by trade so I asked her for advice first.  This what she recommended:

GREEN SMOOTHIES w/Whey Protein Powder

and B-12.

I found both of these at Trader Joe’s.  She also said rice protein powder would work—but NO SOY!  I’m not putting the B-12 in my smoothie, they go under the tongue, I’ve been taking one in the morning and one in the evening along with my prenatal vitamins.

What’s a GREEN SMOOTHIE?  Basically spinach and fruit, thus the reason for the title.  :o)  Another important thing she said, take some vitamin C with the iron (green smoothie) for better absorption.  So this is what I have been doing:

I took spinach (iron), peaches (vitamin C) 1/2 banana, a scoop of protein powder (iron), Kefir (you could also use yogurt without artificial sweeteners or water or milk) and piled them in my Magic Bullet.

This picture is before I dumped the Kefir in there.  This is what it looked like all mixed up.  I think I actually put some more spinach in there before I mixed it up.

 

Wah Lah!  A GREEN SMOOTHIE!  It tasted great!  The protein powder is vanilla flavored, so that’s pretty much what the smoothie tasted like.  I’ve been making myself 1 each day before lunch (mid-morning).  I think it’s too soon to tell if my iron is getting any better, but I’m hopeful!

So if your having some iron issues like I am, just remember:

“You gotta eat your spinach baby, that the only thing to do.  It’ll keep you kinda healthy too.  And what it did for Popeye it will do for you!”

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy

Baby Update

Last week during my tooth drama I also had my first appointment with the midwife.  Laffy Taffy was born at home, with a midwife, it was SO wonderful!  I really hoped to have a homebirth this time around too, but MN and WA are so different.  MN midwives can’t take insurance, at least not the kind I have.  So my second favorite option is a hospital birth with a midwife, which is an option here.  I found a God-Fearing midwife.  I am so thankful!  And she got to meet my husband.  I could just leave it at that, but I think I’ll have a little fun and explain what I mean by that.  My husband is definitely the more aggressive one in this union and he’s very verbal and not easily intimidated.  That being said, some women (in particular), don’t appreciate my husband’s strong personality.  I’m happy to report that my midwife wasn’t fazed in the slightest and actually enjoyed talking to him! 

During this visit I got to hear the precious heartbeat of my Salt Water Taffy…she had no problem finding it actually.  It was right where I was suspecting I was feeling the baby.  Yup, you read that right.  I’m going to publicly admit that I think I have felt the baby already.  I don’t usually feel my babies until almost 5 months!  So this unusual for me, but I like it!  :o)  The midwife just raised her eyebrows at me.  Snort!  Well, she’s never been pregnant 7 times, what does she know?  lol

My due date is March 31, 2011.

I have anemia.  Drat!  At least that explains why I’ve been so tired.  I was getting a little frustrated with myself wondering if I’d fallen into some cycle of laziness.  The test results I got today at least gave me a little peace knowing it’s not totally in my head!  I’m talking to my wonderful mom and natropath Aunt to get some tips on how to get this fixed without taking a bunch of iron supplements.  The problem is such a mystery to me because I’m already taking a multi-vitamin, folic acid and I’m on a pretty high protein diet, including eggs almost every morning. 

This is silly, but I really hope we are having a girl…I have so many cute Robeez shoes that I’ve collected at garage sales this summer….I’m anxious to use them!  :o)

Joyfully,

Mrs. Taffy