Another pregnancy update...

I went to the maternity clinic today. I have gained 29 pounds total now. I can tell some of that is just fluid. I think I am holding more fluid with this pregnancy than the others. That is the easiest to loose in the end. When I was being weighed the nurse asked me if I was getting nervous. I know she didn't mean that to be a leading question but why didn't she ask if I was getting excited to meet my baby?  Her question would just set a mom to thinking she SHOULD be nervous. I told her no, I was not nervous just a little anxious like a first time mom wanting her fantasy labor and birth. This will probably be my last birth so I have special expectations that I did not have with some of my other births. After I shared that with the nurse she asked as calm as can be "Are you having a C-section?" I sort of just stared at her for a second to take that in. I said, "No, I had one and it nearly killed me. I was in the hospital for 3 weeks and my child has lifelong problems." She seemed to be surprised by my response. Why would my desire for a "perfect" birth ever lead anyone to that question? I guess c-sections are so common that even nurses see them as "perfect". I find that so sad. I moved on to see the CNP. I agreed to be checked even though I don't think pelvic exams are really necessary. I am 2.5 centimeters dilated. I am not surprised. I can walk around at 3 for weeks. Little girl is head down but not engaged in my pelvis. Dad came with me to this visit because we wanted to stop by the hospital which is next door to drop off my birth plan and get the gist of admitting procedures. This hospital doesn't give regular tours. The only tours available are for those who take their childbirth classes that cost a pretty penny. We never made it in. There were no parking places at all in the entire hospital parking lots and parking decks. I have delivered at this hospital before but they have updated everything. On the up side I am sure it will be in wee hours on the morning when we end up there so parking should be better....

I thought it was bee balm...

I saw these yellow flowers about to bloom yesterday. Today they opened up. I thought they were bee balm. Now I am not sure what they are. What do you think?

First bean harvest

Lyn's little garden plots are growing. I think we are having some green beans with dinner tonight.....

A call from the school nurse....

I got a call from the school nurse. Annika wasn't feeling well. From what the nurse was describing it sounded like she had a seizure after lunch. No one observed any strange behavior so I can't say for sure but the way she was acting was typical for her after seizure activity. Since she had a sore throat last week and still had a slight upset stomach and headache from today's activity I took her home and set her up with a little TLC. I made her some chamomile, ginger, and lemon tea. I also offered her two tincture doses to help her recover. She rested for a little while and after that I had her sit in the sun for a few minutes. That always helps me feel better. I am sure she will be fine by tomorrow.....

Joe Tucker Park

Getting out of the house today.....

The next full moon

The next full moon is June 4th. I think that sounds just right for having a baby. I was thinking back to all of the dates of my other childrens' births. Danny was born 4 days after his due date. Lyn was born 9 days before her due date. Connor was born 3 days before his. Evan was 11 days after his. Eliot was 3 days before hers. Ben was 5 days before his date. I excluded Annika's birth because she was born so early at 28 weeks by c-section. I took the averages of all of their births and came up with the fact that my average for delivery is 1 day early.... That is about right give or take a day for the full moon. I have a feeling she will be here on June 1st though. If I break it down by girls though they tend to be earlier than the boys by average. No way to predict though when she will be here. My body is prepping just like it did with Ben. I am contracting throughout the day. Nothing is regular but I am sure it is helping to thin my cervix bit by bit and to help little girl move into position. I anticipate a fairly short labor. I will guess around 5 hours unless she ends up in a funky position. I don't think she will be very big. I am guessing she may weigh around 7 pounds 2 ounces. Watch her come out weighing 9 pounds!!! This will probably be my last pregnancy and I am a bit sad for it to come to an end. I do feel more tired and am very uncomfortable for various reasons and am not sleeping well. Usually by now I am so ready to deliver that I get impatient. The end of this pregnancy has been a little harder than usual. I chalk it up to being 37 years old and weighing a good bit more than I really need to. Even with that I will be sad to never be pregnant again.  

An herb bouquet

My cinnamon basil has gone to flower. I snip it as quick as I can but it grows so fast. My fennel is a bit out of control too so I decided to cut a small herb bouquet today. It includes fennel, rosemary, lemon balm, and cinnamon basil. It smells so good!! I tied it up and hung it up in the living room. It makes everything smell so nice.... I think I will go cut some for every room. What a natural way to freshen things up. Basil and rosemary help ward away flies too.....

Belly henna for Mother's Day

Thank you Lyn for painting some simple henna patterns on my belly for Mother's Day. I didn't want anything too big or overpowering. I like them on other people just not me. I look like I am about to pop... a few more weeks!

Mother's Day

I got breakfast in bed today and so far have been able to keep my feet up and watch the children play. We don't do a lot in our house to celebrate Mother's Day. I just plan on celebrating my children. They are the reason that I am a mother. For me, being a mother was such a driving force when I was younger that I was afraid I would never get the chance. Who would have thought that I would be so lucky to be expecting my 8th child any day now. Motherhood and parenting in general is challenging and difficult at times. I often have friends and even total strangers ask me how I do it. I am finding it really hard to answer this question. My home life and child raising situation isn't like most people's so I don't think they would understand that having at least 4 to 7 of the kids at home at all times is really not that hard. Two of my children (Danny and Connor) live with their dad most of the time and Annika goes to visit every other weekend. Being 13, Lyn is off with friends a lot. That leaves the little kids Evan, Eliot, and Ben home nearly all the time. Of course there are times when everyone is at home like on weekends and in the evenings. Our house is small. We have 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms. It is probably about 1100 square feet. We have a girls' room and a boys' room. We have more stuff than we need but I have had others say we don't have a cluttered house at all. If anything the clothes get out of control sometimes. We don't store a lot of food and the kids don't have a lot of toys even though Dad will argue that with me. We don't have a separate dining room and there are plenty of seating options in the eat-in-kitchen. I see that as just less rooms to clean. I guess it would be nice to have a bigger house but we have all we need. Now, where was I going with all of that? With a small house I don't spend all day cleaning. I spend my time just being a mom and a wife. My husband is a stay a stay at home dad. We are a team raising the kids. I work part-time so I can be there for my kids. I make my own schedule so I control when I am away from them. This works for us and we don't fight the natural consequences of things. If the kids are bored and fussy I change what we are doing. If they are getting on each other's nerves I try and engage them separately. I don't see changing diapers and doing laundry as chores to dread. I just see them as part of my day. Sometimes when a stranger who is obviously having a hard time parenting two children and unhappy with their life asks me how I do it I really want to just say "I am good at it and enjoy it so it is easy for ME.." That implies that they aren't good at parenting so I would never say that but sometimes it is a bit true. I honestly think some parents are just cut out to be parents. I am NOT cut out to be an accountant or a chemistry major. Each to their own and I hope everyone is able to enjoy their life (most days) as much as I am....

The Buck Creek Festival

I wasn't feeling 100% today but I took 4 of the kids to the Buck Creek festival. If it wasn't so local I would not have been up to it. The kids were so well behaved I could not believe it. Even Evan was an OK listener....

We made two trips to the park. In the morning we played and rode the rides. The kids spent most of their time on the swing ride. Lyn was such a great helper. I try hard not to treat her like a third parent. But, since I did not feel well she stepped up and helped with the little kids without being asked. On our way home we stopped by a local salon's table for some face and hair painting. I think this was the highlight of the day (pun intended)! After lunch and a nap for Mama we headed back to the festival for the duck race. I thought we would get there in plenty of time. It was scheduled for 3pm and we had 15 minutes to spare. As we were walking down the hill to the waterfall we heard the gun go off. A crowd of people were trying to see the drop of the ducks and a lot of small children were very disappointed because they dropped early. We had 2 ducks in the race and the little kids were excited to watch. I don't know why they dropped early..... I may just have to complain and I don't think I will be the only one. We hung around and the kids played on the rides some more and Lyn was able to slip off on her own to explore. She ran across a lot of people she knew. All in all I am glad I took the kids even though we were all tired by the end of the day.

Watching for butterflies

The butterfly bush in the backyard finally started to bloom. All types of bees and butterflies have been visiting it. Eliot ran around trying to catch them. Finally she just found a seat and waited for them to come to her. I am not a fan of this bush. the flowers are very pretty and striking but it smells just like beer. I guess that keeps the flying creatures coming from near and far.