Introducing General Nutcracker and His Colorful Militia:)

Do you see those ten darling men up there?  They are what I spent the bulk of my Thanksgiving Holiday creating.:) 

To create your own you can get the patterns and instructions here.  AND I believe they are on sale until Monday November 26th if you put the word CRAFTY in the coupon box thingy.:)

ANYWAYS, back to my guys up there.  I had such a blast creating them.  In the pattern they have them all the same color, but I wanted them to kind of match my family room...which is WAY MORE than one color.  If you have been in my home in the last few months you know how I have about a million different colored picture frames on the walls.  I painted every one of them and had a ton of paint left over, so my little soldiers are decorated using those colors.:) I also should mention that these are supposed to be a Nutcracker Bowling Set.  But I kind of turned them into some other kind of crazy magical toy(though I do want to make a Rat King Ball to knock them down with...which feels completely disloyal to my little troupe so I think I will have to make a set of Mice Bowling Pins as well to knock down with a Nutcracker bowling ball.;)

Me being...well ME, I had to name each one...and give them a colorful back story.....

SO without further ado, let me introduce you to General Nutcrackers Militia.( For any real military person reading this please be aware that when I named these fellows I tried to do it in true "Fritz Stalhbahm style".  Fritz is the little brother of Marie in the original tale of the Nutcracker.  He wouldn't necesarily have known the perfect ranks either.;)

From left to right we have GENERAL NUTCRACKER, MAJOR GENERAL NUTCRACKER OF THE MARZIPAN BRIGADE, and MAJOR ALOYSHIOUS MARMELADE.

General Nutcracker is THE NUTCRACKER.  This is his militia.  Major General Nutcracker THINKS he is in charge, but it really is the General. 

Major General Nutcracker is a bit of a show off.....well way more than a bit.  You can tell by his fancy shirt, and TWO ribbons on his hat.  He is constantly competing with Major Marmelade(though it must be noted that it is a completely one sided competition as far as the Major is concerned. The Major doesn't really go in for rivalry within the brigade as it leads to disruption and bad manners all around.)  The Major General is very upset that his beard is shorter than the Major's but he tries to make up for it in brass buttons(which are not a sign of rank in THIS militia).  AND although the Major is more decorated than the Major General, the Major General's star is bigger.  And truth be told, how he got that star is one huge epic of a story, so we might forgive a little of his pride for it.

Major Marmelade is a quiet, sober type soldier.  He is very efficient and very dependable in battle.  He knows how to get the job done.  He is the most decorated officer in General Nutcrackers militia, but he is very humble about it.:)

Here we have(again from left to right) LIEUTENANT JAMES DANDY, TOOT, and SWEET.

These three fellows are the heart of the militia's moral.

Lt. Dandy is the militia's poet with a purple sash.  He runs faster than anyone else and records the epic battles...and the not so epic battles.  But he is so good with words that even the tiniest battles sound impressive. He is very romantic, and it is rumored that the purple sash he wears was given him by some beautiful doll whose name is unknown.  He is not a show off, like the General Major, although by his 12 sparkly buttons you might think so. He just tends to overdue things because he is a very fervant sort of fellow. 

Toot and Sweet(called "Sweetie" by his closest comrades) are twins, and joined General Nutcrackers army at the same time.  They were called as his Hussars, but when they were told, they misheard and thought they were the Nutcrackers "Huzzahs!" And that is why over all the battle din you hear "Huzzah!  Huzzah!" It is indeed Toot and Sweet fullfilling their "duties" with all their might.:)

Here are Colonel Sargent Brickle and Sargent Colonel Pickle.

These two fellows can never decide on anything!  Up! Down! Forward! Retreat!  They are fun to have around, but are somewhat of a trial to General Nutcracker(though his very good manners would never have him let on).

Last but not least, here is the General's entire Navy.  ADMIRAL D.DARLING and MON CAPITAN BON BON(He's french).

For the longest time Admiral Darling was the Nutcracker's ENTIRE Navy, and how Mon Capitan Bon Bon(he is french) came to join the navy is a really beautiful story...that shall have to be told another time.:)  The Admiral swears his full name is Dagmar Darling, but the real truth is that he was born Dainty Darling.  Of course that is a ridiculous name to name a little boy soldier, but his mother was a very ridiculous sort of woman, though also the most loving mother a soldier could wish for(as tokened by the picture of her that the Admiral keeps in his breast pocket.:)  The Admiral of course never ever lets on about his real birth name, and instead says his name is Dagmar, which VERY unfortunately is a girl's name, but he didn't know, he thought it sounded very fierce<----which is important when you are heading the navy, albeit a navy of one or two.:)

Mon Capitan Bon Bon is french, and the most loyal companion of the Admiral.




And there is the gist of the my little Nutcracker Army.  I would write more, for indeed there is epic upon epic to record upon these webpages, but alas, the baby calls and I must bid you adieu!

to get it over with

I have started and stopped SO MANY blog posts since last I wrote. 

SO MANY.

I have greatly desired to write about the experiences I have been having since having this new addition to our home.  SO MANY things have been happening over here. And I have been having so many interesting thoughts and feelings that I want to share.

BUT....

Some things have been stopping me.
Mostly peer pressure-y things.

And that is silly.

SO.

TO get things MAYBE started again here are some really quick, brief thoughts I was thinking about my post partum experience today. Maybe if I write them down really fast I will get past the nervous energy I have been feeling about writing.

Here goes.

Heidi Rosalind is over two months now..(like over by four days;), and I have been blessed with a really awesome emotional recovery this time round!  With Jane I honestly can not remember if I had bad PPD.  What I DO remember is that when Denny came I was worried about it enough to secretly encapsulate my placenta and eat it in little "magic pills" and IT WAS AWESOME!!! SO much energy and well being and balanced hormones!  WIth Alice the "magic pills" did not work, in fact they made me totally crazy and super unbalanced feeling.  We have come to the recent conclusion that this might have been because I am estrogen dominant and with a super estrogeny placenta from having a baby girl might have been hormone overload instead of hormone balancing(ps. if you want to know more about the awesomeness of placenta encapsulation look here---->MAGIC PILLS ).  I did find though that taking wheat germ totally balanced things out, and that was wonderful. 

For this newest baby I prayed and studied and felt like the best thing I could do to prevent PPD this time round was to eat greens to the max and keep up on my herbs.

And it worked out pretty well!!

On further reflection I found several other things that made this post partum experience emotionally awesome.  Here is a brief list:

-100 hours of therapy.  Seriously.:)  I was thinking about how calm I am this time around and I realized that I have had about 100 hours in the chair at a shrink's office over my lifetime, and I really think the things I learned in those sessions helped me out.  This last round I had, after my Dad passed, was especially significant.  I keep thinking about how my therapist would say, "Clair are you gonna die?  Then I think it will be ok."  Or "Clair are you gonna die?  Then it really isn't that important."  Kind of intense actually when you connect that to the fact I was in therapy because my Dad had just DIED.  Anyways, very good advice that has absolutely changed my perspective on parenting and life in general. 

-BREATHING.  Much intentional breathing has also super helped me stay calm and in perspective.  Good adrenal herbs have also super aided the anxiety and hormonal balance.  Your adrenals and thyroid(both stress related systems in the body) secrete hormones too you know, it's not just the female reproductive parts you gotta worry about with hormone balance!

-A phenomenal support system.  Friends, family, kids, and hubby.  THANK YOU.  Support from far and near.  So important.  Keeping BJ healthy also was key.  I am so grateful that he made sure that he was in good shape so that he could be a good helper and support to me and the kids.:)

-Eating my greens.  I already said this, but dude, SERIOUSLY.  Eating lots of nutrient rich food was KEY.  As well as keeping up on my herbs I take, and drinking RED RASPBERRY TEA.  I drank two qts a day the first week and about a qt a day after that.  I am still taking it, about a qt a day, combined with skullcap(a nervine) and sometimes catnip(also good for nerves and relaxation<---you can give it to your kids at bedtime ps...:).

-PRAYER and POSITIVITY.  SO essential for me. (My baby is starting to beckon me for supper...so this is going to start getting brief....)

A few really important things to mention that DID NOT HELP:
-Entering the world too soon.  Maybe it is because I am SUPER INSECURE, but letting myself back onto facebook, or having people over too soon was not so good for me this time.  There is something about letting the world back in that just makes you a bit crazy and SUPER DOUBTFUL of every good decision you have ever made as a mother. 

-Reading anything negative, especially about mothering too soon(OR EVER GOOD GRIEF).  People can be really insensitive to others, not meaning to even sometimes, and it just isn't good for the well being of a new mommy(even the new mommy of baby #4) to be exposed to that kind of yuck.  A mother should never have to feel that they are stupid, or selfish, or inadequate as a mother.  NO one has that kind of right to judge you but yourself and God. For REAL. We need to be kinder to ourselves and each other and apply "benefit of the doubt" to ourselves and others.  Basically at all times. Oi.  I had several experiences of this negative nature way too soon after the baby was born and the days those experiences happened were THE ONLY days I felt anything like PPD.  The adversary is very real, and it didn't take much for him to use those opportunities to make me feel like the absolute worst mother ever.  It was horrible!  And the truth is that I am a pretty good mother. We need to surround ourselves with truth.  It is the good idea.:)

SO.  I feel very blessed.  PPD is ugly and very damaging to the mother and the whole family.  If you have PPD please get some help.  People love you. SO MANY PEOPLE LOVE YOU, and want to help you.  Heavenly Father does not want us to be unhappy.  Not like PPD makes you unhappy.  A bad day is one thing, even maybe a bad WEEK, but longer then that is no bueno friend.  And life does not have to be like that.

OK, there you go.  First scary post done with.  And it wasn't THAT SCARY...(to write that is).:)
THE END. 

(photo by KAYLA CROUCH!!!<---SHE ROCKS!)
Thanks for reading my Mumma's blog.  She is a bit crazy and weird but she is a good egg when all is said and done.:)

The Cautionary Tale of Heidi Rosalind

This is Heidi Rose wondering if you are ready for THE CAUTIONARY TALE OF HEIDI ROSALIND!!


SO it has taken me FOREVER to get this birth story written down, and even at this moment I really just don't feel like writing it.:)  Not because her birth was horrible or anything, I just have not felt like writing lately.  I feel like TALKING.  Talking is so much easier than writing! At least it is for ME.

But I digress...

So this labor story really starts an entire week before she was actually born.  I went to my midwife appointment on August 6th and was told by my midwife that she really wanted me to have this baby by Friday so she could go to her high school 50th reunion in Idaho...and I was like...say wha?!?  But also very ready to have the baby if the baby was ready.  Also, important to mention, my parents were in town and leaving on the 13th, and my Sister Heidi(who MY Heidi Rose is named after) was coming on the 12th as well to see the hopefully born by then baby...

Anyways, so my midwife and I decided that maybe doing some cervical massage would be a great idea to try and get things going.  ALL of my previous labors had started with cervical massage, like within the following 24 hours. So I figured we were having a baby that evening or the next morning.  That was NOT what happened.

Finally on WEDNESDAY morning, very early (I believe it was about 5:30ish) labor began.  Contractions built, and continued until about 9:30, and then stopped COMPLETELY.  As soon as the contractions began I put on my Hypnobabies track(probably the deepening one, I can't remember), and then managed to get back to sleep.  The contractions were intense and building, but really manageable. (HYPNOBABIES FOR THE WIN. FOR REAL.)

So, after they stopped I was a bit frustrated, but after talking to my midwife, we figured that labor would probably start back up again that night, and we would pop that baby out pretty dang fast!

Well that didn't happen.  Labor DID start up again Thursday morning around 9am, and my midwife and her two assistants hurried on over.  Labor kept progressing until about noon...and then again stopped completely.  We all decided to let the midwives go home and keep in touch, labor would probably not begin again until the afternoon or evening.....which did not happen....AGAIN.

It also did not start up Friday....or Saturday. Friday morning my midwife calls and says that since labor hasn't started up again she is going to head on up to her reunion.  She gave me her back-up's number and left on her merry way.  I WAS NOT PLEASED.  I had been walking, and taking cohosh, and doing everything to get this labor going for her and my folks and everyone and I just felt abandoned. I need to add here that my midwife and I are both extremely prayerful people, and she had prayed very hard to know if she should attend this reunion and had a really strong impression that it was important for her to go, and I felt a confirmation of that when she told me.  I still felt abandoned though a bit. Mostly just super frustrated that all these people needed to see this baby before leaving to various places and I just felt helpless!

Sunday Sister Heidi came and went to SERIOUS work on some reflex-get-into-labor-points on my body.  Baby did not appear while she was there, but a few hours later my little family and folks went up to the BYU duck pond and hung out for about an hour I think.  Around 5:30pm I all asudden had a huge contraction....and then a minute later another one...and they kept on coming about every one or two minutes.  Really strong, really close together contractions are really normal for me in early labor, and labor had already started and stopped twice so I was a bit dubious that this was the real thing, but my parents were also planning on leaving back to WA in the next day or two and I really wanted this to be the real thing so I started concentrating REALLY hard on hoping this was for real!:)  We got home, my parents went to their hotel, my kids went to a friend's home for the night, and the midwives came on over.  My midwife had just got back into town and got to my home asap.

OK, I have to interject here again.  I have a REALLY hard time with feeling abandoned, and feeling let down by people I depend on.  Stupid leftover emotional scars from being from a divorced family.  Also, my labors super stall when I am upset and not relaxed.  I had to figure out super quick how to communicate my frustration to my midwife in a way that could be resolved happily and quickly so labor would not stop.  I really suck at that kind of thing so I was a bit freaking out.  Fortunately I had prayer on my side and basically an angel of a midwife who is SO receptive of the spirit.  So she got to my house and I basically told her that I was really upset that she had left, and she said she knew.  And then I said a few other things and she responded and it was totally AWESOME.  I wish communicating with my family was that easy! And then we moved on!:)

So since I had been seemingly laboring for a few days off and on the midwives all thought I was going to have this baby SOOOO FAST!  Well let me just spoil the surprise, Heidi Rose's last full stint of labor lasted for TEN HOURS.  From 5:30ish pm Sunday evening until 3:48am Monday morning.  Labor was EASY, ohmygator it was so easy.  We have pictures of my laboring and smiling, and that was seriously how it was. Hypnobabies people!  It is AWESOME.  I am sorry Meridy if you read this, hypnosis really does work in labor, and you really don't feel pain during contractions if everything is progressing normal. Which mine did for the first 8ish, 9ish hours.  You could barely tell I was in labor, and really you could only tell I was if you had been at lots of births before.  Everything was so peaceful, and quiet.  My favorite part was for a while when I was on the birth ball and BJ was in a chair in front of me with a couple of huge pillows on his lap.  I rested my head and front of my body on the pillows with my tummy hanging down and BJ did some light touch massage on my back.  IT WAS HEAVEN.  My midwife rested on my couch, and her two assistants were doing midwife homework in my kitchen.  The lights were dim.  It was just heaven.  I thought my baby down, and just was in deep concentration.


(This is me not being in pain during a contraction and feeling very happy about it:)

I think the reason why hypnobabies worked so well for me with this labor was because I had been listening to tracks almost non-stop many of the days leading up to her actual birth(I really was trying everything natural to get that baby out so my parents could see their newest love!:).  I had been not very consistent with practicing relaxing and hypnosis really until that last week.  By the time labor started I felt VERY in the zone and was able to relax super deeply.  The contractions really did feel just like a bit of pressure which required just a little bit of extra concentration.  Where I could really tell the difference in pain was when I got into the birth tub.  I LOVE laboring in the birth tub normally because it takes away like 80% of the pain.  The water super buoys your belly and all those hard working contractions and it is just glorious.  THIS TIME the contraction pain was already minimal so that when I was in the water I actually couldn't feel ANYTHING, which was really frustrating because I needed to know my labor wasn't stalling again!  So the birth tub for labor was not really what I enjoyed this time.  The birth ball ended up being what my body wanted most, which was interesting because I don't think I used my birth ball at all for any of my other births.

Anyways, around midnight we decided to go ahead and check me(I had been at about a 6 or 7 by the end of Thursday morning-hence everyone believing that my labor was going to go lightning speed....), well, turns out that my cervix was not aligned and that the baby's head was pulling my cervix down with it so I was back down to a 4. A FOUR?!?!?!?  I was so discouraged, even though I knew that the fact she was much lower was more important than dilation, and Denny had gone from a 5 to a 10 in 45 minutes, so dilation really is not a good indicator of progression.  ANYWAYS, another part of the problem was that since I am so short the pathway out was not aligning properly(chiropractor would have solved this problem as it had with another labor) and the baby was having a hard time moving down.  So every time from then that I had a contraction she wanted me to pull my tummy in with my hands in a certain way which increased the pressure, and helped align everything.  And BJ and I decided that it was time for a walk around the block to help gravity out.  Right before we left I asked BJ for a blessing(because I was so dang discouraged). During the blessing I felt a contraction,  and even though BJ was in the middle of the blessing I decided to pull in my tummy like my midwife had suggested.  Well immediately my water broke ALL OVER EVERYWHERE. Which was awesome, and nervous for me at the same time.  I knew the baby had time to come, but I was afraid of stalling, I was afraid of labor completely stopping!  Anyways, we took the walk and then things really started going. 

Labor was still very manageable UP TO THAT POINT, and things got crazy.  When things are lined up and normal the pushing stage feels SO GOOD.  With Denny it felt so good that it made me SO EXCITED for Alice's birth, just for that part!:) (Alas, if you know her story you know that that was not the wonderfulness that happened...) Anyways, I started to feel the urge to push and I could tell that this was not going to be fun pushing like with Denny.  This was feeling just like when Alice was born, and something did not feel right.  The pressure felt all in the wrong place and I could tell things were not opening.  I knew I was going to have to get out of the tub.  I knew my midwife was going to have to help my cervix open(which is basically a form of torture if anyone was trying to imagine how that feels!:) while I was pushing, and that it was going to hurt A WHOLE MILLION before that baby came out. 

The best part of this last hourish was that everyone was so perfect in how they supported me.  I was allowed to emote in every way I needed to, however I needed to without any explanation or apology.  They just did everything I needed to help get my baby into the world. And it was beautiful. 

So I began the arduous part of this labor and started pushing with the help of basically everyone.  I ended up pushing on my midwife's incredibly cushiony birth stool.  BJ was on my right hand, another assistant was on my left, and the other assistant was behind me supporting me.  I pushed for I have no idea.  I had pushed for awhile in the tub too.  I went into shock a bit, but they had the oxygen right there, and some shock tincture(with a WHOLE lotta cayenne let me tell you!:), so everything was very safe and OK.  Finally I could feel the crowning, and I was like, why the heck was I not feeling relief yet?!  And then I had to keep pushing and pushing that baby out! And then my midwife exclaimed, "holy cow that is a big baby!"(well, something like that:).  BJ caught her, and then handed her right to me(can I add really quickly what a super trooper this man is?!  It was such a long labor! And right before the end we were both in the tub.  I got to be dried off and changed right when I got out-cause we were all women but BJ-but HE had to stay in wet clothes for that last at least 45 minutes, and he was probably freezing!  We went right to the birth stool and into serious pushing mode, so he didn't have a chance to change.).  As soon as I had her I said, "hello baby!" and her head turned super fast toward me and her eyes popped super wide open, and she looked at me, and I melted.:) 

Usually when I hold my baby I feel a rush of emotion, and feelings of that baby's unique spirit.  With this darling baby I felt not a whole lot.  I felt patience.  I felt cautious emotions coming from this baby.  She just looked at me, and you could see her thinking and deciding about what she was thinking about.  It was a very curious experience which has continued right up to the present.  This is a cautionary baby.  She takes her time to figure things out.  She is teaching me how to be more calm and more patient everyday!:)

After she came out the placenta had to be delivered.  Usually not a big deal, but pushing out that lovely sized baby had taken a lot out of me and was way more painful than a water delivery where everything is supported.  Pushing was not feeling happy.  With Alice, the placenta wasn't coming out in the tub so my midwife let me get in the shower, and it immediately slipped out as soon as I did.  I was hoping for that experience again, but this midwife wanted it out before I got cleaned up.  It took several pushes, and no wonder!  It was AT LEAST 3-5 pounds!  It was HUGE!  Basically the size of another child!:)

THEN I TOOK MY SHOWER.  OK, seriously one of my most favorite parts of labor.:)  My midwives were so funny.  They could not believe how much energy I had, and how much I wanted that shower.:)  They were all thinking that if it was them they would just want to fall into bed and go to sleep, but I LOVE BEING CLEAN!:)

It was a long, beautiful labor.  The end was really hard, but I did it.  This five foot woman pushed out a 9 lb 5 oz baby, through her own pelvis, with NO TEARING AT ALL.  I had one skid mark that healed in half a day. 

One thing that surprised me about the recovery was how long it took this time.  I was really diligent about drinking my red raspberry leaf tea which helps heal things SO FAST(really, it is crazy), but things got SO STRETCHED OUT with this lovely sized baby that it just took WAY longer than I thought it would to start to get things back to even close to normal(yeah, we are still working on it four weeks later<---which testifies how fast of a recovery I have experienced with red rasp. tea before!:).

Pushing was super intense I am not going to lie.  There were definite thoughts about not having anymore children EVER again, and other such thoughts.  But honestly, truly, I could not remember the pain EVEN THE NEXT DAY.  And yes, I probably will have SEVERAL more children.:) 

I mentioned the chiropractor up there somewhere.  I went to the chiro. with Denny's pregnancy, and labor went WAY differently than my other labors.  And pushing was a miraculous thing.  I really am not joking. We took a BIRTHING FROM WITHIN class with the following pregnancy and they do "birth art" type things, and one of the art prompts was to draw a picture of the pushing stage, and my picture was of a party LITERALLY.(OK, that class probably sounds totally crazy, but it was REALLY AWESOME and fun.:)
My Sister Heidi has also experienced the difference that going to the chiropractor makes for the last 6ish weeks of pregnancy in labor.  It is a revelation friends!:)  I really think if I had been going to the chiro those last few weeks that this baby would not have kept getting stuck and that she would have come WAY earlier, and fast, and WAY LESS PAINFULLY AT THE PUSHING PART!!!<---FOR REAL.

Anyways, that is the basic story of the Cautionary Tale of Heidi Rosalind.  You can decide for yourself why it was cautionary.  Because of her personality, her weird labor journey, not having gone to a chiro...etc.;)

Yay babies!!! Also, you probably guessed, but I birthed at home under the care of an AMAZING midwife, Dianne.  She has been a midwife for 30 years, has hardly ever had a patient who tore during labor, and just brings the most peaceful and loving spirit to the births she attends.  I love her millions.  Her two assistants were also darling.  We had several really neat discussions about life, religion, movies, etc.:)  Hypnobabies totally rocked this labor. OHMYGATOR.  One of my bestest friends, JAMIE, was our teacher, and it was such a neat experience, and totally made a huge difference in the manageability of this labor.  TEN HOURS is a long labor(especially for a fourth child!), and it was not painful at all until the end when things were not lined up. The hardest part of this labor(ok, besides the pushing) was the emotional and mental endurance it took.  Starting and stopping, and then concentrating for ten hours is intense!  BUT it was TOTALLY DOABLE.  Yes, you could do it too.:)

I am so grateful to be a woman, and to have had four beautiful(if not sometimes super intense!) births.  AND four beautiful darling babies.  I am SO GRATEFUL for my little clan.  Being able to have a family is something not everyone gets to have in this life, and I feel so blessed that I get to be one of the few.  Birth is such a powerful and life changing experience.  I had a blessing where it said that it is basically a sacred ordinance being born.  That is definitely how I feel about it.  It is something sacred and precious and beautiful.  AND POWERFUL.  It has the ability to change you in ways you can't even imagine.  I am a totally different person because of each of my births.  I have learned something very specific from each of my children and their birth experiences.  I feel so grateful.  SO BLESSED.

Well, I should probably end this here.  GOOD GRIEF I AM LONG WINDED!:)
Happy Monday!!!

OK. PS.  One of my other favorite parts about home birth is that once you have had that beautiful baby the midwives tuck you and your handsome hubby into bed(together! Not on separate uncomfortable hospital beds!), they clean everything up, and then leave.  You are free to sleep and cuddle that baby and your wonderful helpmate, and it is PURE HEAVEN.  No getting woken up by crazy nurses every 20 minutes, and poked and prodded. Just PEACE. How awesome is that?!?! Pretty dang in my opinion.;)



Heidi Rosalind's UN birthday

SO no baby yet.

This week has been a roller coaster of emotion.

Wednesday morning I woke up with intense contractions that went about ten times an hour from 3:30 am until about 9ish I think.

Then they stopped...basically completely.

Lots of pelvic pressure throughout the day.  And other labor signs, but those illusive labor contractions were not to be found.

We had friends watch the kids because we thought that the labor would probably start back up....

...and it did Thursday morning, full throttle.
Again super intense, building contractions that began around 5:30ish this time and lasted until just about 11.  Midwives came over around 6am, and I progressed a TON.  When the contractions tapered off I was at just over a 6 in dilation(dilation is really overrated in my experience). So the midwives thought they should leave to see if me resting would get everything going again. The contractions had started to taper around 10ish and we had already tried a ton of things to get them going again.  Rest seemed like what my body was wanting.

I had maybe four more contractions throughout the rest of Thursday.  Lots of other labor symptoms(consistent bloody show, pelvic pressure to the max, etc...)

But again those elusive labor contractions were seriously lacking.

There was much talked of hope for a night labor as soon as the kids were asleep in bed.  The kids were completely wiped out from playing for a day and a half with friends and being away from home.  Hope was high that if labor started they would sleep through the night.  It took like no minutes for ME to fall asleep as these last few days have been emotionally draining TO THE MAX.  I figured, with everyone else, that labor would start up again in the morning.

Well, it is almost 9am, and no labor.  My midwife is leaving town today(she has a back up), and my parents are still in town(but leave on Monday).

I am dilating, I am having all sorts of labor symptoms, just this baby isn't ready to come yet.

And apart from being uncomfortable to the max, and worrying about my parents having to leave town, and my midwife leaving town and having to have this baby with a midwife I have never met, I am ok that this baby wants to come when SHE wants to.

Sometimes you need to induce a baby.  Alice was that way.  But I am healthy, this baby is healthy(she is moving lots and her heartbeat is super strong:), it feels selfish to MAKE her come if she isn't ready.  Which sounds really harsh and very contrary to public opinion, but there it is. She is not a "bad baby" for wanting to come when she is ready.  For goodness sakes!

I am tired.  I am very tired. Waiting is hard.  But you know what? That is life.  Sometimes you have to wait.  Sometimes you have to give up your control to God.  I am glad I get that. It is not easy giving up control. NOT EASY AT ALL FOR ME. But it is important to be able to do that.  I can not see the future, but HE can.  Everyone is safe, there is no REAL need to be freaking out about the progress of this labor.

Anyways, today will be another hard day, but it will be ok with lots of peaceful moments just like the rest of the week.  Heidi Rosalind is coming. I don't know when. I have had SO MANY blessings about this birth and they have all been so encouraging and amazing.  This birth is going to be exactly perfect for this baby and for me and for our family.

We have been so blessed with support from friends and family.  WE ARE SO GRATEFUL.  We will try and keep everyone informed as things continue to progress.(And they ARE progressing, just super slowly:).

Clair Logic;)

Today I am SO sick.  Completely nauseated. Headachey to the max. Pelvic area feels painful and sore and like it is breaking(<---I need a live-in chiropractor FOR REAL).  I am so exhausted from no sleep because I was headachey and pelvic painful all the dang night. Boo and blah.

I really love the Alice in Wonderland books.  A lot of people get creepy vibes from them(and then love Twilight go figure), but I LOVE Alice's adventures.  They are so completely creative and dreamlike to me.  I totally feel the "storytelling" aspect of the tale.  I always want to go create some kind of art or magic when I am done reading her tales. I get super inspired. 

There is one other link to me and Wonderland.  Logic.  Or rather unlogic. In Wonderland logic is different than it is in real life.  Somethings will sound logical there that aren't really.  "Clair logic" is super the same.

For example: If I have not started labor by about noon, then I figure the baby is not coming that day. If the baby hasn't come by Wednesday then the baby is probably not coming this week.  There is no real logic there, but that is EXACTLY what my body and mind believe.  FOR REAL. Not in a pessimistic way, dude there is no logic, that would require logic.  We are talking about CLAIR LOGIC. And it is just one of those things.  The baby will probably not come because it has not come yet, and the day/week is basically over. 

It makes no sense to anyone but Clair.:)

My husband wrote a song about me and my Clair Logic a few months ago. I wish I had a recording of it.  You will have to be satisfied with lyrics:

Her Uncommon Sense
by BJ HAMAKER
about CLAIR HAMAKER:)

My Clair's a clever thing
I can ask her anything
And when she answers then
she makes uncommon sense.

one night, no cloud, no thunder
in a field we lie
when aloud I wonder
"how many stars in the sky?"

she said, "All of them.
Where else would they be?
I don't think you're talkin
'bout the stars in the sea.
It's a simple thing
you can understand
it's no complex question
like two birds in the hand."

My Clair said "Ohmygator.
How cold is my nose?"
I said, "refrigerator.
You should hold me close."

She said, "Hold you close?
How else could I do?
I can't hold you here
if you're in Timbuktu.
It's a simple thing
you can understand
it's no complex question
like two birds in the hand."

Lately I have been having more Clair Logic moments for which new lyrics could be made, but since they aren't completely logical we haven't been able to remember them later...

It will be interesting when I take my rhetoric classes on campus in the next few years to see how Clair Logic will adapt.:)

Interesting side note QUESTION: This is my 94th post on this blog.  Do you think I will post my 100th post or have the baby first?

PS.This is my new best friend.  SONIC ICE.  Pregnant women in Vegas tried to convince me FOR YEARS this was the best thing ever. Only recently have I been able to be converted. YUM! It cools you down and takes away the queezies.  LOVE IT!  -as a side note-craving ice can be a sign of anemia, or low iron.  But if you live somewhere hot to the crazy then you are probably just needing to cool down and eat some of this ice.;)

I am not very good at waiting.:)

SO, there has been a list needing to get accomplished, well FEELING like it needs to be accomplished, before this baby makes its appearance.

The list included, but was not limited to:
-getting the family room more awesome
-Denny's birthday
-painting furniture
-nesting parties
-etc...

I can't remember everything on the list. What I wanted to mostly say IS that most of that stuff if not all IS DONE.

Now where is the baby?

STILL IN MY TUMMY.

I remember when I was pregnant with Alice how lots of people recommended having a birth project to work on for while I was in labor.

SO I made a quilt. I thought it was a GREAT idea to spend the first part of my labor doing something fun to help pass the time.

And then the quilt was done, and there was still no baby in the outside world. In fact I think it took more than five more hours for my Queen Alice to make her world debut.

I am not very good at waiting.

And it isn't like I have any energy to do anything at this point.  Just watch the Olympics and keep an ear out for my current offspring.  They have been really good so far<----I AM SO GRATEFUL.

Jane has been making the other kids lunch lately.  Can I tell you how much I totally dig that?!

Oh! And Denny's birthday was yesterday.  BJ ended up staying home for lots of various reasons, and so that helped the day totally rock, and be WAY LESS stressful than I thought it was going to be.
Denny had a great time with friends over.  BJ dressed up as a "bad guy" and then Denny and his friends got to "fight" him with homemade pool noodle light sabers. It was awesome until BJ was TOO SCARY and made half the little guys cry.....oh dear....

Anyways, now I am waiting, and doing some more waiting.  I am mostly fine with the waiting generally.  I would love to go into labor naturally.  But I would also love to have this baby today....you know.:)
I was really stressed about the baby coming yesterday because Denny REALLY DID NOT want a sister sharing his birthday. But now yesterday is over, and there is nothing more NEEDING to get done....except HAVING THIS BABY.  Did I mention that my Mum needs the baby blessing at church to be on the 12th of August so she can be there?:) No pressure. Well the full moon is coming.  Maybe that will be our sign.:)

Also, the flys in my house are driving me crazy. 

SUMMER OLYMPICS!!!!

So I was thinking, yesterday on my walk, how perfect would it be to have my water break on my walk, then be in serious labor during the Olympic opening ceremonies, and then have the baby right after midnight.  Then we could go to sleep, and wake up with happy times.

That did not happen.:)
Oh well.

So instead of posting super cute new baby pictures I will write a few thoughts on the Olympics.

I LOVE the summer Olympics.  My son was born right before the last summer Olympics, and it is just super fun to be having a baby around this time again. I remember it POURING down rain and creating our very own Chinese Olympic rice patty, atleast a foot deep....that completely soaked into the ground in less than an hour...VEGAS.:)

I LOVE the feeling of the Olympics.  There are a ton of cynics out there who go on and on and on about the materialism and so forth that sometimes surrounds the Olympic Games, but what *I* love is the world unity it brings out in people.  I love watching a game and seeing someone not quite make it, but still be smiling, and being congratulated on their great effort by other country team mates. 

I love that school children in England chose different countries to sponsor and cheer for.  I mean, if that isn't the true spirit of fair play I don't know what is.:)

Last night we let the kids stay up to watch the opening ceremonies and it was such a blast.  We had lots of crayons and paper so they could make all the different flags to cheer the different countries on in the next few weeks.  It was fun teaching them about different countries and cultures through the medium of the Olympics.

Anyways, some of the things I loved about the opening ceremonies:

-the lighting of the big flame! Holy cow that was GORGEOUS!! The view from underneath the flames was breath taking.

-Rowan Atkinson.  Oh man, I think he is so hilarious.  I am so glad he had a moment of awesome at the ceremonies.:)

-Paul, it was so completely delightful singing "na na na na na na na" with you.:)

-OK, was I the ONLY one getting a mega LOTR vibe in this part of the ceremonies?:) FORGING THE ONE RING...I mean, come on.;)

Anyways, we are so excited to watch the games here.  We have a super ghetto tv that gets horrible reception, even with an antenna, so we have had to totally temporarily rearrange our living room to accomodate the games, but it is worth it.:)  Beach volleyball....ohmygator....SO EXCITED!!!! I didn't really grow up in a sports mania home, but I am excited about the Olympics.  We will be rooting on all sorts of favorite countries.:)

Well, my tummy has been crazy all day today.  Could be practicing, could be the real thing.  Probably just practicing, but you never know.  It looks like a storm is brewing outside....MY FAVORITE!!!!!!!:)

Happy Saturday!

QUESTION: What is YOUR favorite thing or favorite part of the Olympics?  Who are YOU rooting for?:)