Call me crazy . . .

. . . but I think my last labor experience was given to me to prepare me for a marathon. I'll explain after I tell you about labor and delivery with Enoch. If you have no interest in labor stories, even fairly positive ones, then read no further. :)
This labor was induced. I wasn't given any hormones; they just broke the water. I haven't heard any good stories about pitocin so I think I was glad about that. Labor was so long though that I'm not sure if I wouldn't have rather had hormones just so it would have been faster. However, as stated at the beginning I think things happened the way they did for a reason, or even more than one.
At my final appointment with my doctor we talked about having labor induced in a few days. If I recall, this appointment was on a Tuesday and we discussed Friday. We didn't set a time at the appointment because of a conflict with an elective induction. It was expected that that one could be bumped, but a nurse called me later that afternoon and told me that one wasn't budging, "So how about tomorrow?" she said. That kind of threw me. I was nervous and didn't sleep very well. But my appointment was for 8:30 am. We had to go in at 7:30. A wonderful friend of mine came over to hang out with our kids for a while and eventually took them back to her home.
Before we left for the appointment David gave me a blessing, as he has before every baby. I remember nothing about previous blessings, but this blessing was really helpful during labor. I was told that the Lord was proud of me and that He was confident in my ability to raise this child (which I hope doesn't mean he'll be extra challenging). I was also blessed to have confidence in my body and in the process of labor. As I go on, you'll understand why these words were so helpful to me.
I was dilated and effaced enough that breaking my water was an option for getting labor started, and I gladly took it. I also had an IV for antibiotics started fairly soon after I got there. I had tested positive for Group B Strep. They attempted breaking my water at 10:30. It didn't work. I got more antibiotics and they successfully got my water broken at 2:30.
I was allowed to walk around, but I kept being monitored and was put on oxygen because they didn't like what Enoch's heart was doing. Eventually I'd had too much oxygen (strange sensation) and they let me leave the bed. Later, when they monitored and put me on oxygen again I hyperventilated (again, too much oxygen) and it didn't get better until I was able to leave the bed. I did get to use a birthing ball and that was really great.
This labor was so hard. David was a really great coach. I was pretty sure I was going to pass out at times, but he kept helping me breathe right and stay conscious. Have you every hyperventilated? It's a very bizarre experience. I wasn't actually even breathing fast as usually happens. It was just because of the excessive oxygen I had. My face and hands started feeling numb/tingly. David had to keep telling me, "Look into my eyes!" as my eyelids fluttered open and close. I really did nearly pass out. Besides not caring for the pain of it I was so glad when it finally was time to push. That must have been around 8:30 or so, but then I had to wait for the doctor! I hate that part.
It took me thirty-five minutes to get him out! Even though I was fully dilated and effaced, his head was still at -2. Plus they had me push in a position that I never had before, at least initially. I was offered a squat bar, but I was pretty sure that I was too tired to use it. My contractions were also further apart than they have been before at that stage. I totally had recovery time between pushes. In fact, he had started crowning just before a contraction ended, so I had to attempt to relax for a minute or two with a baby nearly out! I did manage to take full advantage of that time and relaxed pretty darn well I'd say. I seemed to impress the nurses with how I handled labor - one of them told me I should teach a class. Which I thought was funny because I've never even taken one. :)
One really nice thing was that I didn't tear! I used olive oil on myself before labor, and then my doctor used mineral oil during. I have to say I was really pleased with my doctor. He was every bit as desirous as I could be of keeping everything as natural as possible. After my nurses changed I was monitored much less, which was really great. It's wretched to labor in bed, even with David massaging my back and applying counter pressure.
Enoch was born at 9:22 p.m., so seven hours of labor from start to finish. That was the same as on my first (pretty much), including the pushing. There were times that I wondered if a C-section was going to be the end result after all; I even almost wished it would because I was so miserable and just wanted it to be over. But I just kept trying to listen to David and handle labor the best I knew how. The words of the blessing kept coming to my mind, and it really helped. It was just so unexpectedly hard and long. With Kate we checked in the hospital at midnight and she was born two hours later - we didn't even count minutes on the pushing stage! It didn't at all prepare me for this experience. I just wasn't mentally prepared for a marathon labor.
Which brings me back to the beginning. I feel that the Lord was and is aware of my goal to run a marathon and gave me this experience to prepare me for it. That may sound crazy, but as I was beginning to train for a 5K, a relatively easy race, there were days when I could run or walk and I had decided I was going to run the whole time. As I went on with the day's run I felt I couldn't keep running and may just finish on a walk, but then I would think, "I just went through a long, hard labor; I can finish this at a run!" Frankly, if I had thought I'd be given a labor experience like this to prepare me for completing my marathon goal, I wouldn't have made the goal! hahaha
It's over now, though and I am feeling great. I just ran a 5K this past Saturday, and it went pretty well. I ran the entire distance. I'm not fast, but I finished with a respectable time . . . I just don't know exactly what it was. Whatever it was I think it was decent, especially given that I had a baby two and a half months ago. But the Lord has blessed me with an amazingly swift recovery, and I'm so grateful. It may seem strange that the Lord would care about whether or not I succeed in this goal, but I'm convinced that in this case at least it matters to Him because it matters to me. And that's pretty amazing.

Three for Thursdays

Three things I'm up to these days: 

• Crocheting Halloween costumes. Dietrich and Kate will be the big bad wolf and little red riding hood this year - how cute is that?
• Trying to get my house in order. I hate cluttered corners.
• Feed the baby, burp the baby, change the baby, etc. You know the drill. :D He is such a sweet baby, though. He almost never wakes me up more than once a night, and has even slept the night through a few times . . . or at least that's what I call it. Since I don't wake up for the day at 6:30 it does interrupt my sleep, but he's doing awesome!
  

Three movies I've watched lately:

• Iron Man 2
• The Sound of Music
• Parts of BBC's "North and South"
  

Three of my favorite spices:

• Garlic
• Cumin
• Caraway seeds - I don't use them much, but I like them a lot!
  

Three things I'm counting down "sleeps" for:

• My first 5K (this Saturday)
• October General Conference. My parents and youngest brother will be joining us for it!
• Baptism and baby blessing in the same weekend on my side of the family.
  

Three things that get my blood boiling:

• When my fully potty-trained three year-old goes potty on the floor or in her pants. I don't handle that very well. :/
• When my kids won't stop fighting with each other!
• When I discover that I've been lied to.
  

Three pictures:

One of my favorite pics of my husband. MmmmMMM! Is he hot or what?

Me with my maternal grandma. I think I'm about 9 here.

College flashback: I was in a dance group called Kinnect. It was awesome!

Let's pretend . . .

...that this is last Thursday. :) Not that it really matters, but obviously today is not Thursday and this is a "Three for Thursdays" prompt. I love the prompts b/c it minimizes how much I have to think about what to post. Although I have some other things that I've come up with on my own that I want to blog about, but just haven't gotten around to yet. Someday soon. Really.

Three funny things I saw or heard today:

• I heard several delicious laughs from Enoch today when I rubbed my chin against his bare chest. I was delightfully surprised when he started giggling.
• Kate spun around enough that she fell down. It's always funny to see a kid do that - unless they hurt themselves, but she didn't so it was just fun. haha
• I watched a couple episodes of "The Cosby Show". Always makes me chuckle.

Three things on my Christmas wish list:
I'm embarrassed at how many expensive things I want, but here it goes! Try not to giggle at how specific some of the list is.

• 32 GB iPod touch
• 40-42" 1080p LCD HDTV
• Things to help me train for a triathlon, such as: high quality swimsuit or wetsuit, goggles, swim cap, etc.

Three things that I love about my neighborhood:

• It makes me giggle that my neighborhood is more of a glorified cul-de-sac. 8 two-unit homes, and they still bothered to give the "subdivision" its own name.
• The unit that is kitty-corner to us has a great boxed garden in the front yard. Who puts a vegetable garden in the front yard? This neighbor does, and I can't really explain why but I love it.
• There are flowers planted by the subdivision sign, but they're native to the area so they look like they occurred there naturally!

Three things that make me happy and sad all at the same time:

• My kids growing up. I don't miss the diapers that my two oldest used to wear, but I do miss the babies that wore them. But it's so interesting to witness their personalities develop as they get older!
• My husband's job. I am more fortunate than many women b/c my husband's job includes a long summer vacation, plus I am very grateful that he has a job. But I would like it if I could have him home more. 
• This will probably seem weird, but it's true. My younger sister has an opportunity to take a European tour for a semester. I'm really excited for her, but I really long to do some foreign travel myself (never have) . . . so I'm sad that I don't get to go with her.

Three movies I like that have Elephants in them:

• Swiss Family Robinson
• Dumbo
• Lord of the Rings (okay, Tolkien calls them 'oliphants,' but they're the same thing!)

Three pictures:

Flashback: Kate at two months, and nearly double her birth weight (so around 18 pounds). What a fatty!

Flashback: Two year-old Dietrich in the fall . . . in Montana incidentally.

Wedding scrapbook page. Can't help lovin' that man of mine . . .

Made a draft and never posted :D

THREE FOR THURSDAYS (prompt from awhile ago)

Three confessions:

• I promised myself I would not yell at my children before I had them. Ahem. I am constantly trying to think of how to break this habit.
• I sometimes let my kids watch way too much 'tv' (in quotes b/c it's really re-runs they're watching on Netflix). This last week for example I've done horribly. I really should try to make sure they get outside more b/c it won't be long before outside will not be where any of us want to be for very long.
• I don't really like running. So why am I planning on training for a marathon? One, I want to be fit; two, I just want to be able to say that I've done it.

Three things I do to beat the heat:

• This summer one of my solutions was to have a baby. The summer heat was much less oppressive when I wasn't growing a baby. :)
• Our area really cools off well at night, so we open the windows wide at night and keep the blinds closed during the day. I'd like to have a little more daylight in my house, but since I also like the house cool I just have to get over it.
• Eat copious amounts of ice cream . . . wait, I do that year-round!

Three lessons, skills, or new tricks I have learned this past month:

• I shouldn't choose not to do something just because it's hard. Example: continue having children even though the ones I have occasionally drive me crazy and make me wonder why I wanted to be a mom so badly. :)
• The number on my clothes does not matter a bit. Clothing is about being modest, and then it's about creating an optical illusion. Plus, the clothing industry is inconsistent across brands on how they size their clothes, AND they've been fudging the numbers for years. It's not about the number - it's about wearing whatever clothes don't make me look fat.
• There are many things that affect the speed of recovery after having a baby, and some of them I have no control over. Having just had baby number three, and having felt like my previous recoveries went pretty darn well I can say that this one went the best. The only thing that I did differently this pregnancy was exercise consistently, and I'm fairly convinced that that one thing sped my recovery process the most. Never again will I be less than diligent in exercising during pregnancy.

Three things that motivate me to be a better person:

• The first is not a thing, it's a person - my husband. We've been married almost seven years, and have known each other twice that long. I know all of his imperfections (and he knows mine), but I'm telling you he is awesome. He's strong where I'm weak and I love it that as time goes on I am growing in those areas. Marriage rocks.
• My children motivate me to be a better person. I'm not a super awesome mom (in my opinion), but I'm a better person b/c of my kids. For example, I would totally let the routine of having family scripture study and prayer slide sometimes (and then it would happen more often than it should) if it weren't for my oldest son. His OCD tendency is that he's a very routine little man. The situation has to be very extreme for him to let the regular bedtime routine (which includes scripture and prayer) slide. I just realized this today, and it's awesome!
• Temple covenants are a very strong motivator for me, and that's b/c I really want the promises to be fulfilled that are associated with those covenants.

Three things I would do if I wasn’t “Mommy”, married, and burdened with cares:

• I'd be trying to get married.
• If I were just married, I'd be trying to become "Mommy".
• Frankly, as hard as being a parent is (much harder than I suspected) I generally don't wish I were doing something else. I have my moments, of course but I'm thankful for this role.

Three people I call first:

• My husband
• My mom
• One of my sisters

Three things I changed about my parenting after testing them out on my guinea pig child (first child):

• Potty training will not happen when I want it to - it will happen when and only when my child is ready.
• Yelling is only effective once or twice. Unfortunately, the yelling became a bit of a habit which I am now trying to break. But at least I know it doesn't work. :)
• Ditto with spanking. In fact, in terms of disciplining children I just don't know what's the most effective. When I figure it out, I'll let you know. Everything seems to have varying levels of success at different times, with different children. Hm. Those kids really should have come with their own personalized manuals. hahaha

Three things that make me cry:

• When I learn of people who's young children die. I don't have to know them, either. I'm an empathetic person, so I don't find it hard to put myself in their place. So naturally, it breaks my heart.
• There have been a few times when I've been so unkind to my children I had to cry. It's a tough feeling when you reflect on how you've treated someone who is just a child and can't do so with any satisfaction.
• There are times when I haven't been able to keep my home in a tolerable amount of order, and it's been so discouraging that I cried. Understand, my discouragement is not based on comparison to other people's homes. It's just based on how much disorder I can tolerate. Perhaps it's a silly thing to cry about, but I can't help it if my spirit requires order! It weighs me down.

Three things I’m going to accomplish before the summer is over:
I'll change it to before the month is over . . .

• Run a 5K
• I have several little disordered corners in my house at this moment - at least half of them will disappear before the month is out.
• Go visiting teaching - right now I only have one sister to visit. That really should be a do-able goal. :)

Three pictures:

First day of kindergarten . . . WHAT!?!

At my family's reunion - what a mischievous, yet adorable face she has.

First smile that's been caught on camera - isn't he sweet?

3 For Thursdays

Three accomplishments that I have under my belt: 

• I've given birth three times - and all of them were done au natural. 
• I've taught myself to crochet and knit within the last year. I'm no expert, but I can make pleasing items. Just check out Kate's b-day present in the pics!
• I've lost 24 lbs. since having Enoch - sure half of it was baby and all of the accessories to help him grow in utero, but whatever! I'm excited about it.

Three things that my grandma and I have in common:

• I don't recall ever seeing my paternal grandma wear makeup (though I have seen it in photos). I only wear makeup on Sundays.
• My paternal grandma also had a lovely voice. I've been told I do as well.
• My maternal grandma really likes to dress well, and I do, too. We certainly have different ideas of what that means, but we're both aiming for our own version of classy. :D

Three plans for Labor Day:

• We hope to take a short hike on Saturday; probably Baldy, and then ride the lift down (it's free on the way down!). 
• We also hope to have company. That's still pending, as is our entire weekend pretty much.
• We will be watching BYU's first football game of the 2011 season. It may be live and it may not be when we watch it, but we will be watching. Go Cougars!

Three ridiculous things I have spent money on:

• Teeth whitening systems. Mostly ridiculous b/c it was from online ads. Never again. 
• Regular clothes while I'm pregnant. I just can't accurately guess how clothes will fit or look on me after I get my body back!
• Late/overdraft fees. Now that's ridiculous.

Three things that only time will fix:

• My remaining pregnancy weight gain will go away - just not as quickly as the first half.
• My imperfections. Those will take a lot of work, but after some of eternity has passed it will almost be like they never were. :)
• Potty training days. I will be thrilled when all children that I have are fully potty trained. No one can say that I'll wish for those days back. Seriously.

Three pictures: All about Kate's last birthday since I haven't gotten around to a post specifically about that. :D



Trying out her crocheted tea set. Dietrich liked it, too. :D

Isn't she just too cute?

This entire cake was made from scratch. I am awesome - or at least awesome at finding awesome ideas on blogs. haha