Our Connor

February 22nd, around 630am ish, I woke up to use the restroom and noticed that my water had broken. I was in such a good mood after that. I called St. Joe's to let them know what happened and we would be coming in. I kissed Jacob and explained what was happening and by 8ish, Oliver and I were out the door. We stopped off at Top Food for some Kombucha and a fruit bowl. I was practically giddy, not having any contractions but knowing that soon we would be holding our son.

Arrived and checked in around 830. I think I was still only 2 cm dilated and around 75 percent effaced. The next several hours, I was a happy camper, pacing the room trying to bring on contractions. By 1pm however they brought up the possibility of helping the contractions along. I had really hoped for as little intervention as possible with this birth. If anyone knows anything about Jacob's birth then they know why.

I started to get concerned as I wasn't having hardly any contractions and I didn't want to end up with an infection like last time. After some consideration I agreed to take oral cytotek to help soften the cervix and bring on contractions. By 5pm, family starting pouring in and I still was full of smiles, having more contractions but they weren't staying. I was pacing like a mad woman down the halls and even raced Jake. I'm sure I looked ridiculous holding my big belly with both hands and running in my socks and gowns.

After the last dose of cytotek around 7pm the contractions had come on with a vengeance! And they were staying and it felt like I wasn't getting any reprieve. Hanna and Ollie stayed until 8ish and by then I was sure I couldn't keep a happy face for them. I was walking, laying, moving! It hurt! I clung to Oliver and wanted to bite him but somehow restrained myself.

I dilated pretty quickly after that, 5, 7, 9, complete! I used the tub with the jets for a while, I cried, I cursed and I cursed some more. I'm not sure what time but I finally broke down and asked for the something for the pain but NOT an epidural. They gave me a dose of fentanyl and it was supposed to take the edge off but it did NOTHING for the pain.

Pain that only got worse. I kept telling myself that I was doing what I wanted. Least interventions. Somehow through all this pain I remained HUNGRY. They let me have some saltines and some grape juice diluted in water.

Oh to describe the final feelings before pushing, I could feel everything this time around. I could feel him move down. I just remember those final moments before pushing as laying on my side clinging to the railing begging for drugs. And wonderful Oliver rubbing my back endlessly.

Finally the time had come to push and I remember resisting because there was some primitive self preservation part of my brain saying if I did push I would rip myself in half. Surprisingly I was told it only took 20 minutes to push him out and it did feel relatively short now that I think back on it. I was a wild woman, yelling and I remember telling the doctor to just PULL HIM OUT! I'm told he pulled an exorcist move and had his head completely turned around opposite his body. Glad I didn't see that as it took all my energy and focus to just push. Something inside clicked once I started pushing, I was determined to do it fast because if I didn't, I was scared I wouldn't be able to at all.

He was born at 3:41am February 23, 2011, with a proud Daddy and Grandma Lisa in the room. It's a cheesy saying but the moment they put him on my belly, all the pain vanished. He was alert and beautiful and I had such a feeling of accomplishment. We had brought this awesome bundle of happiness into the world.

38 weeks and 2 days along...

I'm mentally and vocally cheering Connor on. "COME OUT" hahahahaha. Today's green smoothie rocked the house. It was Kale, vanilla almond milk, cinammon, hemp seeds, chia seeds and hemp seed butter. Fantastic! The greatest news ever is that I've managed to hook my grandmother into having smoothies and juices. While she hasn't changed any other eating habit at least I got her to incorporate some nutritional goodness in. :) Yay me.

In other news, I've just entered this contest.
Its from Kristen Suzanne. So fingers, eyes, toes crossed! To win and for the baby to come out!

Meyer Lemons

I love the smell of meyer lemons. They bring a smile to my face. I did a lot of raw/vegan blogs this morning to help inspire and motivate me. Oliver and I are talking about joining a gym as he feels its the only way for him to work out and I'm excited that it would be a healthy way to spend time together. Also to model to the kids, an alternative to sitting on our rumps and playing video games. Although I do enjoy those, I am quite the nerd.

I'm waiting on some paperwork on school loans and deferment so I can then apply for FAFSA and then apply to my MSW program. I know it has been a common theme the last two years as has been this raw/vegan health movement. But I feel strongly that both avenues are worth pursuing. And obtaining!!

Today's intake:

Breakfast

Banana
Green juice (Cucumber, kale, celery, apple, pear and meyer lemon)
Water
Supplements (Prenatal, iron, DHA and Vit D)

Lunch:

An avocado smooshed with garlic powder and a teeny bit of vegannaise, then mixed it into a huge bowl of sweet baby tender greens
Caraway orange
Kombucha tea

Snack

Leftover vegan mac and cheese (small portion left). Since it has been sitting in the fridge, I used about a tsp of vegannaise after warming to make it moister and creamier
A small bowl of plain kettle potato chips with melted daiya cheddar cheese (was really craving something comforting)

Dinner

Since my Snack was practically an early dinner, I opted for half a banana and a whole kiwi as I was making those as side dishes for jake's dinner (He had a tofurkey sandwich on Dave's killer bread, and spinach)

My boys..

I'm grateful for my son Jacob, who is my awesome little man. I'm grateful for the wonderful little guy growing inside of me. I can't wait to meet him face to face.

Day 1 of real upkeep

Had a glass of water upon waking up this morning and was craving a smoothie.

Breakfast:

Banana
Vitamin powder
Hemp protein powder
Organic vanilla extract
Vanilla almond milk
Frozen strawberries
Tiny bit of raw honey to sweeten

Lunch:

1 Bottle of Synergy Kombucha
Vegan Mac and Cheese (recipe from Kristen Suzanne) An A+++++ recipe. Delish
Roasted Broccoli

Dinner:

Child's size bowl of Veggie pho (Bok choy, cabbage, carrots, onions, basil, sprouts)
1 spring roll minus the bbq pork pulled out of it

Snack:

Bowl of leftover vegan mac and cheese
Cup of Dark chocolate almond milk
1 1/2 Kashi cookies

I'm feeling very motivated today. :)

Addicted to the Shield

I've been on a shield binge.. On season 5 now, very good show. Good drama. :) So I'm going to try to blog my food intake once again for the hundredth time. I have good intentions, really I do. I lack backbone. I'm good for the sprint but poop out for the long haul. I'm still searching for that something that will help me keep on keeping on. So without further ado, here's my run down so far today. I'm having to walk Jake to school now as I'm too huge to drive so I'm getting about a mile a day exercise. Woohoo me.

-Big glass of water
-Spoonful of raw honey
-Half a pint of blueberries
-Banana and more water


PLANNED for rest of day:

- Green juice (kale, cucumber, celery, lemon and apple)
-Broccoli slaw made with vegannaise
-oranges for snacks
-Dinner is looking like stir fried veggies with brown rice and beans

Kristen's Giveaway...

I have drawn great inspiration from this blog http://kristensraw.blogspot.com/. I'm currently perusing her transitions recipe book, very exciting. Had my 32 week check up this Tuesday, everything looks great. Connor got the hiccups as I laid down to have his heartbeat listened to. Hilarious!!! My belly continues to expand and he continues to be an active lil guy and I'm realllllllllllyyyy getting excited to see him.

Our eating continues to be middle of the road..... but onward we go with goals in mind.

I'm also entering this contest.
Check it out :)

Happy trails.

Hypnobabies euphoria..

Good morning! Besides the fact xmas break is over and I had to get up early to defrost the car, struggle into the car and take my kiddo to school, its pretty dang good. Driving is a wee bit of a challenge as I'm uber short and my belly is uber big. Connor doesn't like sharing space with the steering wheel. Yesterday was full of nutritional goodies and I feel pretty darn good. I had a HUGE salad and green juice from Marlene's plus a delicious kombucha. I made an avocado smish smash with sprouted tofu, chopped tomatoes and a lil horseradish mustard. I served them with GF rice crackers. I do plan on looking into that more thoroughly, the GF thing. Lots of water, oranges etc. I listened to a hypnobabies cd last night and am thoroughly amazed. I'll explain more later, I think the sound of my typing is bugging sleeping Oliver.

31 weeks along...

Really feeling ready to hold Connor in my arms. He continues to grow and is very active. For the most part, I feel great. I do get out of breath a lot and have had some dizzy/fainting spells. I'm not exercising though. I have a prenatal yoga dvd that keeps calling me but to be honest, I've been enjoying being a complete and utter lazy butt. Once Connor gets here and with Jakey's school/soccer and then my own MSW program in Sept, I won't have ANY of that time EVER. I've been reading up on Hypnobabies as I desire a natural birth. I am open to the possibilities but my last birth was horrendous as most every woman has heard those traumatizing stories. Since this is the last baby I'm having, I'd like to have it on my terms LOL. I just downloaded this great book. I love love love Kristen Suzanne, her blog. Its been very inspiring. While we have not been vegan, we still continue to try to make healthier choices. Juices, smoothies, a plethora of fruits available and in front of us. My meat consumption is wayyyy down. Cheese consumption not so much. I take my vitamins. And funny since I started eating meat, etc again... my iron levels marked me as anemic and I've had to take another supplement. Blah. OH well enough blabbing for now.

Snowy weather...

Baby Connor is now kicking me back when I poke my stomach. Great fun. Love love love my belly, may not like the rest of the weight gain (which I've already gained almost as much as I did with Jake by 9months). Knock on wood, no new stretch marks on the belly, only the old white shiny ones. I've been consistent about oiling up my belly with all sorts of goodies (coconut oil, jojoba oil and Burt's Bee's Mama belly stuff). It snowed yesterday, school is closed. Roads look icy. Eeks. I need to get out today.
My eating has been somewhat fair. Continue to have green juices, didn't have any meat yesterday. I did have some cheese though. Damn that opiate affect. Had lots of fruit though. I'm eating through a Costco size bag of Clementines on my own it seems. Yum. Love that Costco now sells Larabar. I have to be in a really detoxed state to enjoy them though. I had the apple pie one for breakfast and it didn't taste that appealing but I do like the ingredients.
I've been psyching myself out by reading raw/vegan blogs, its a great motivator. However Thanksgiving is just around the corner. From re-reading my own blog I notice the summer time seems to be a much easier season to try going raw and finding some measure of success. The desire is still there to reach that, I guess I'm just taking my time. I seem to be lacking impulse control. "ooo that looks yummy, get in my belly." But I really want my family to be healthy.