Today was the day!

Today my beautiful daughter was born!  12:10 pm I gave birth to her submerged in a birth tub surrounded by my family and friends!  It was an amazing experience!  Today was a great day!  I will post more soon! I am sleepy and need to rest! BTW photos will be posted at some point! xoxo thank to all!

June 20th

Well it's 5:15 am and I have been resting since around 11 last night.  Well at least been doing the best I can to rest.  Contractions are still coming at pretty regular intervals but with trying to rest it's hard to time them. I just looked at my timer and I realized that i must have dozed off cause it told me I had an 34 min contraction. WEll darn!  Try again!  They are closer and more productive than they have been yet.  I am not particularly found of being having contractions allllllllll night but will take what I get and make the best of it.  I am still breathing and melting through each contraction, but am finding it hard to relax my hips and low back like I need to. But I am still trying.  It is all going to be great and I know within the next 3-4 hours our house will smell of cake and not long after that it will have the fresh sound of our crying little girl! More updates to come as I can! :0)

Happy Father's Day!

Ok so yesterday I was pretty tired all day. So I took a nap later in the day and then went to bed early.  I had some contractions yesterday but nothing too consistent to be concerned about.  Now today is a different story all together.  Started the day off GREAT!  I made potato salad and headed to my sisters around one this afternoon. The morning by the way was pleasant, my children cooperated and I was smiling, dancing and having them help me with my chores.  We headed to out on a great note and the day just followed along!  We had a blast at our cookout and got to spend the whole day with family and friends.  Too fun!! The kids went swimming and most of the adults went too.  However I was not going into water that was that cold!  Not to mention I was uncertain of how cold water would go with my contractions. They started this morning and just stuck around all afternoon. They were at first every 12-15 minutes then moved up to about every 6 minutes.  Then they did a bit of both.  One would be 11min, then 6 then 8 then 22. So random, but more intense than the other night.  Breathing and relaxing through each one is working for me.   So that's were I am now, just getting ready to get a shower and relax for the night. I just saw my dear Douala friend and talked to her for a minute.  Who knows this little one might arrive tonight! We will wait and see what happens next!  I will keep you all informed!

BTW

A donation update! To date my wonderful readers have helped us to raise another $80 for our midwives!!! A huge THANK YOU goes out to everyone who has donated, it really truly means so much to me!!
xxoxoxoxoxoxo from me to you!

June 17th and into the night

Well once again today I was a ball of emotions!  Things are getting to me so much faster than I really wish they would.  Oh well things have got to get done and someone has to do them!
The day started out really rough and then as the day went on things got better. I took the kids on a trip to the library, which we didn't even go in. They chose to not go in and so I just dropped the books in the slot. Well  at least the over due ones are back where they belong.  After that we traveled over to Subway for some lunch. Thanks goodness for subway reward points, cause if not I wouldn't have eaten!  We hung out for sometime, the kids had packed their own little lunch boxes to take with us. They ate those along with sharing a pizza.  They had a good time I think and so did I. Sometimes it's just nice to get out of the house for a bit. I had planned on taking them to the park after lunch, but walking to the van I realized that it was way to hot out for me and my little girl was in desperate need of a nap. Which is exactly what she did when  we got home. I was thankful for those 2 hours that she slept, she was acting up like crazy!  Anyway! Daddy got home and he took the kids out back for a bit and let mommy have some quiet time. Which I most definitely needed!  We made dinner and took a walk. During our walk was when I started having contractions. Before and during the walk I was planning a after dinner surprise for my kiddos.  Things worked out and we went swimming after they ate all their vegis and their fish and vegi nuggets.  We took them swimming for about an hour and I got to visit with a friend whom is prego at this time as well and due any day now.  Swimming brought about more contractions!  We all had a great time swimming and it was a much needed pick me up for my day!  My thanks go out to my dear friend who let us tag along to her swimming evening!  The contractions continued on the way home and still going now. About every 8 minutes for the longest time and now they are spacing out a bit more.  I have yet to feel the urge to sleep, mainly because sleeping is really so uncomfortable for me. I have just been doing a lot of relaxing. Oh yeah I ended up taking a mirror and a henna cone a retracing my belly henna. It doesn't look spot on but hey what do you expect from trying to trace it with a mirror image. I am absolutely terrible at that, I still have issues curling my hair the right way in the mirror.
We will have to see if the contractions continue through out the morning, but for now it's off to get some rest if I can.

Well here we are agian...

Ok so it's the end of day four past due and today has been a busy one.  We ran errands before the midwives arrived today and arrived back at home just as my primary had arrived.  My (mother-in law) bought me some oils today to make a couple of labour room mists.  This is something I am going to try and get done before I go to bed.  The day was a good one over all.  I think my body is trying to tell me that it won't be too long now because while making dinner I became REALLLY tired.  So then I ate and laid down for the evening.  Now that I am up I still feel tired and have plans on hitting the bed real soon.  Everything is ready to go here and my midwives have decided that we are ready when she is.  To be honest my primary is too funny.  They came for a visit and just kinda hung out for a bit.  SO I concluded that they were waiting around with hopes that my water would break, and she agreed that that would suit her fine.  From my house her drive time is about 2 hours depending on traffic and with it being summer and road construction happening it is a bit longer now.  Then my secondary lives an hour away but the road construction is effecting her drive time too.   After our apt they both met up with another local midwife for dinner and called me when they were done to see if there was any progress. I was sad to report that nothing had really changed and they would have to wait a bit longer.  I do have to say that i think it is kinda funny that everyone is getting a bit anxious for her arrival. My family are so amazing, they call and check on me all the time to make sure that they know what is happening now. My mom is concerned she will be in Toledo when I go into labour and my dad and step mom are heading to marietta too this weekend.  I wish I could help them feel more at ease about whether they will be able to be there or not, but I just don't have any answers for them.  Another thing that I find is funny is that I keep being asked if anyone has any idea of how much longer till she arrives.  I just say no that there is no real way of telling that at this point.  SO you all know as much as I do.  I am off to bed for the night, I will be in touch soon. Take care everyone!

The night time....

Well today has been a rough day. To  be honest the last 2 days I have been an emotional roller-coaster of a person.  Today was worse though.  I am trying so hard to stay level headed all the time but to be honest it's not that easy.  I have to say how thankful I am for my amazing man!  He rolls with my moods so well and helps me out even when I am having a day where I just am not as greatful as I should be.  I love my life and the people I share it with.  They make me so proud. That said I do wish that sometimes I was able to convey my needs better. I am the type of person to push on and not ask for help no matter what. Even being 9+months pregnant I still have a REALLY hard time asking for help with really anything.  It has a lot to do with how I was raised. I am proud to say that I am a strong woman, but I am not so proud to say I need to work on sharing the responsibilities of life in general.
Ok now off to a baby, or lack there of baby up date.  So today was a regular day (minus the mood swings) with no real changes in condition for labour.  Tonight I started having contractions around 8 and they have come and gone off and on since then.  I am just rolling with it knowing that they are doing the job they are supposed to.  So not much has changed except it's late and I am off to get some rest.  Who knows labour tomorrow and delivery soon to follow! I will keep you posted! :0)

4 days past due and well yesterday too!

So sorry for not doing an update yesterday, I had a lot coming and going yesterday!  So the day began with breakfast looking and smelling delicious, but making me too sick to even eat it! DAMN IT!  Super sucky!  Oh well I just too a reallllllllly long time eating what I could.  Small snacks are the way to go at this point.  Only a few mild contractions yesterday, but man my back is not happy at this point. I haven't really slowed down yet so my body is not too happy about the added weight still being there and my activity level still be just as high as ever. I know that everything is still going  to be there when the baby arrives, but my time will be cut in half.  (It will get done when it gets done-said by the little zen warrior in my head)
(Of course I have a few choice words for that guy but I will keep them to myself)
So things are still going well.  I have had a few contractions every now and then but nothing really substantial at this point.  That's the story for today and yesterday as well.  Yesterday I just did a lot of lounging with the kids and even got to do come henna on my little girl and my big boy.  They loved it! I got to see some friends and even a some family yesterday, which I have to say was really nice. Even though we live in the same area it just never seems like we see each other enough.  Even those 1hour visits are nice.
My (mother-in-law) treated us to Bobbie E's for dinner and that was wonderful! NO dishes, NO cooking, NO clean-up! Gotta love dinner out!  It was really good too and I was super hungry from not eating much all day and thankfully my little one and my body let me eat and enjoy.
Now today is a whole different ball game I feel!  There is a lot of speculation that today is the day!  With the full moon being today it creates an energy unlike any other day this month.  Who knows, maybe that's why I am more irritable than yesterday.  It's not a good feeling being 9+months prego, still dealing with the leftovers of a head cold, having my body yelling at me most of the time and feeling like today is the day all at the same time.  Well the good thing is doing what you can when you can and just being excepting of what happens and course that life will take me! So now I am alone at home, the quiet is great and I have a bit of time to myself. So off I go to do Something, maybe something for myself or maybe finally go through the mass amount of baby clothes that I have to sort.  More updates to come, even if I am in labour you guys will hear it here too!
thanks a ton for following along and have a great day yal! :0)

Well 2 days past due!

It really is no big deal to me that my little one has decided to stick around for a few more days. Though I do find it interesting that my other two little people made it our before or on their due dates. I find myself really excited about the upcoming experience.  I keep thinking of how everything will go and how smooth the birth will be.  My son keeps asking me if she's coming yet.  I tell him really I don't know honey we just have to wait till she is ready. I keep reinforcing that I am ready for her to be here, but then I am not quite sure. I am such a multi-tasker I find myself constantly thinking of all the things that I haven't done yet.  So i have spent the last few days recouping and doing house work. I really wonder if I will ever learn to just sit down and STOP doing stuff!  I am not quite sure that will ever happen, but who knows maybe tomorrow I will do just that.
  Do you ever wish you had robots that would clean for you? You know just so you can do all the other things that are not everyday chores.  Sometimes I do, or that I would have it in the budget to hire a maid service every now and then. But that's not going to happen.  To be honest I am such a control freak that I don't even think I would hire them. Just because I would be to paranoid that they were doing things all wrong.  Oh well you take what you get and run with it, right?  That's got to be my attitude about myself. I love myself yet find myself irritating as hell sometimes. So far so good that I have learned to live with me.
Well I can tell you this, I had some more contractions today. They came and went all afternoon, but then disappeared this evening. Hopefully they are doing something done there. I kinda wish I would get regular reports from my uterus just cluing me in on what's happening. I don't have an apt to see my midwife or my OB till Thursday. To be honest if the baby isn't born by then I think I will skip the OB apt.  When I was there last he said, "Well if you are still pregnant on the 16th we'll bring you in and see what we can do about that". After that statement I was thinking MAYBE not.  I trust my body and that it knows what to do and what it's doing now.  She's moving around good each day and I am not having any signs of distress at this point. So waiting it out is all good to me. Plus I really don't think it's going to be long now. My midwife thinks it is going to be on Wednesday (the full moon) or Thursday. But really who knows these things. Well night everyone and thanks for checking in with me!

Feeling better means getting things done!

Today I made sure to do facial steams, drink plenty of herbal tea and taking care of myself. Great thing about that is that I am feeling better. Not a 100% improvement but at least 75%.  With luck tomorrow will be even better. I have been so concerned with getting things done through out the pregnancy, but I have yet to complete my very long list.  With these extra days I am doing the things that I had yet to finish. Not to mention throwing in relaxation and some pampering when I feel like it.  I am off to bed early cause my kiddos are staying with friends again tonight. I miss my babies, but I know they are safe and sound and being taken care of.  I will see them tomorrow and it will feel so good to hug and hold them again! Good night everyone and thanks for staying with me!

My due date and the day after!

Well it's 11am the day after my baby was due.  Yesterday was a great day with my kids, they are really understanding of how mommy feels, well most the time they are.  My children contracted a head cold a week ago and then of course mommy got it now.  I was planning on posting yesterday but my body ached ALLLLLLLL day and on top of that I acquired a head ache and just didn't feel good all together. The strange thing is my kiddos were very well behaved yesterday even with me not feeling well. Unusually they are not to keen on listening when mommy doesn't feel well.  I would like to thank my parenting class that I have been taking each week for over a month now. I really feel as if I am connecting with the information they are giving me and using as I can at home.  With my body yesterday I was (and still am) in desperate need of rest before labour kicks in.  I went to bed early and besides getting up and down to pee slept most of the night.  I woke this morning feeling a bit better but still cloudy headed and aches all over again. Tylenol and a eucalyptus facial steam are in the future.  I can thank my night of rest to a great best friend who called out of nowhere and offered to take my two little ones for the evening.  I was floored by her offer, yet apprehensive at it as well.  My children haven't stayed at a friends house without me at all. They have stayed at family members homes before all night actually plenty of times.  My besty also lives 30minutes away which makes me nervous because they aren't right next door. I am sure that plenty of moms can understand where I am coming from with them staying so far away.  I know they are OK and they are being taken care of so I can take care of myself.  I spoke with them before bed last night and the first thing my little man asked me was if the baby had come yet. I told him no not yet but we will just have to wait and see.  He is so excited to meet his new baby sister.  he is all about being home when the baby is born, but yesterday he told me that he would be OK with not being there so that if they did something bad while i was having the baby I wouldn't get mad at them. He told me I need to focus and be able to have the baby without getting mad. I sure do Love him and he surprises me everyday with how smart he is!
         To be honest about it it is not a bad thing that my new little one has decided to change up the plan. With me having this head cold and my mother in law having it as well I feel as if I am not physically able to be at home right now and birth my baby. The whole thought of not being at home makes me super sad and even more of a push to get myself feeling better.  Plus talking to my midwife yesterday I found out that her birthing mommas are going out of order this month. Two of the women that she had due at the end of the month both went into labour this past week.  She was waiting for a call from one of them to deliver for her yesterday. So it was a great thing I didn't go into labour yesterday anyway.  Who knows when she will make her arrival, I just really hope to be feeling better before then.  I will keep you all posted as things progress. Have a good day and plan on hearing from me soon! :0)

Today!

Today was a great quiet day at home with the family! I love spending time with all of us together it really makes me happy!  Things are still looking good with baby, not to much happening in the way of physical signs.  Though I can say I haven't felt this tired in a long time.  I recently started seeing the chiropractor again to help with my hip and back alignment.  It seems as if it has goofed with my muscles, which I should have expected to happen.  It's now late and I am pretty tired now. I find myself staying up late each night , yet I don't really know why. Perhaps my darling baby will come late in the night. But who really knows, I sure don't. My 6 year old keeps asking me when she will be born. I told him I don't know. I know he is really excited about the birth, and can't wait to meet his baby sister. We are all excited to meet her.  Things here are quiet and everyone is sleeping, seems like the thing to do.

2 days till due date!

Today was a good day, except being overly tired.  I am the type of person who can't stand being tired when there is so much I am requiring of myself.  I push myself to the limit sometimes, and today I felt it for sure. I ended up crashing on the couch for about 2 hours. There were no contractions today, just me staying busy.  We got the adaptor for the facet to run the water to our birthing tub.  Now that I think about it I feel as if it's important to let you know how blessed I feel to have a birthing tub.  A very good friend of mine whom is a massage therapist has traded her trade for the use of the tub. This to me is such an amazing gift!!  I am so thankful that she was willing to do that for us so I can benefit from the tub.  On top of selflessly getting us the tub she has also given me her services as a Doula, at no cost. I no that I am blessed again to have her here to help pull me together and remind me of the various things I can do to help myself during labor.  Thank you so much for everything my dear friend! BTW if anyone in the Zanesville or surrounding area is interested in my dear friends services as a massage therapist or a doula please comment and I will get back to you.  She is VERY amazing and gifted at her trade.  I don't have much more to say tonight, tomorrow I will re read my posts and add some things that I may have left out. Anyway good night all and thanks again for reading my blog, it is helping me a lot!  :0)

Well things are progressing

Starting last Wednesday I started having contractions!  They didn't stick around long but I am sure they were doing something!  This past Monday I had contractions for about 2.5 hours straight.  Then they just went away. Once again I am sure they were doing something!  Everyday since Monday I have been having a contraction here and there, with out any real consistency. Tonight is no different. Well so far it's no different. Now that I think about it I have yet to mention my due date! Silly me!  Well it's really soon, can you guess? OK I'll tell you.....It's this Saturday!  I have been meaning to start my blog much sooner than this week, but you know how life is.  I have been doing everything I can to get the house as ready as possible before the arrival of our new little one. It has been a struggle to get things accomplished. There have been so many things to do and so many people to coordinate, it's been very overwhelming. The children are very excited about the birth and the prospects of us having a home birth. Things are planned to take place here, but you can only plan so far before mother nature takes over and tells you how things are going to go.  I have been keeping in touch with my midwife and my doula on a daily basis, not to mention my mom, step mom, and my sisters.  I am taking it easy and expecting nothing just enjoying the evening.  I find it rather funny that this time around I feel no overwhelming desire to no longer be pregnant.  I want my baby to let me know when it is time and my body to follow suit.  Things will go smoothly and peacefully! I am happy at this point and but growing tired again as the day winds down.

Ok some back story

Well it seems as if I have forgotten to give some pertinent background if.  As you all know we have 2 little wonders and we are expecting our third.  I am ashamed to admit that I have forgotten to add that we have a third child. He is an amazing 13year old.  Though he was not born from me I love him like a son.  Well that said lets move on.....
       Back in 2004 my love bought a home, with high hopes.  He began remodeling it as much as he could when he could. By the way did you know remodeling is expensive and time consuming!! In the beginning it was just him and our oldest.  Then shortly after that we got pregnant with our first little one.  Then 3 years later we got pregnant for our second little one.  So need less to say we add a bit to our plate. He still worked as hard as he could doing what he could when he could.  During the winter was the most productive time of the year for the house.  My love gets laid off each winter and then during the summer works EVERY day from sun up to mostly sun down.  We miss him a lot and I have never longed for rain more than I do then.  (he gets rain days off) I try very hard to keep the kiddos busy and still stay sane all summer long, but trust me it's not easy!  It was in 2009 that he had enough done for us to move in. Grant it enough was floors, walls and windows.  We moved in in February and we all shared one room, Greg, me, our 3 year old and our new born.  At this time we were only able to heat with a wood burning stove, that we really didn't know how to use effectively. We did as much work as we could, or should I say Greg did most of it.  It has taken the last two years for us to get as far as each of us having our own sleeping areas. Each time we get one thing accomplished we end up with about half a dozen more that arise as issues.  But we push on doing what we can when we can.
The majority of our daily/monthly funds go to the remodel or paying off the bills that have accumulated as a result of living.  But we all know how that is, because I don't know one person who does not have bills.
When I write all this down I am finding it very hard to portray where we are and where we have come from. It's so amazing to see all the progress that our lives have achieved over the last 12 years as our relationship has developed.  Then I stop and think, is this the way it is for everyone? It really makes me wonder.

Where we are at now!

In my last post I talked about the midwife that I contacted with hopes of securing her for my birth.  A few days after my first call to her she called me back.  We spoke for a bit about me and my situation and my previous births.  I enjoyed speaking with her and got a really good vibe.  During this conversation she informed me that she only attends births with another midwife.  This didn't bother me at all, I feel the more the merrier.  She spoke to me of a woman that she has know for a long time and whom lives a bit closer to me.  She gave me her number and requested that I phone her to set up an appointment. So that is what I did.  We set up an appointment and with in a week we met at my home.  She is a very pleasant woman whom took the time to meet my children and my "mother-in-law" as well. This made me feel very good that she cared about meeting them as much as she did about meeting me.  Our appointment went well, but she left me with the idea that she can make no promises of a commitment.  I of course understood this due to the fact that she would need to discuss with the primary midwife before making a decision. It was about another month before I heard from them and was happy to find out they would except me as a client.  This was wonderful news to me! I could finally figure out what I needed to do next.  Things just seemed to fall into place where they were supposed to.  Exactly what I had hoped for.  I have spent the last month gathering up all of my materials needed for home birth. I have gathered everything that we need, including a birthing tub.  The next step we needed to navigate was the financial end of it.  We found out the cost of our new midwife is 2400.  This is about 1400 more than what we have saved.  I guess I have skipped over the big reasons for us not being able to save up the money to pay them ourselves.

           

The Beginning

Hello world, my name is Natasha Oliver.  I am a 30 year old stay at home momma of two beautiful little people.  I am currently expecting a new little arrival any day now.  My children are my life and my love.  We are excited about our new little one, but to be honest she was very unexpected.  
              Back in 2008 we gave birth to our last little joy.  After my trip in the hospital for the delivery I told my love that if we got pregnant again I was going to have a home birth. We both laughed.  Well here we are expecting a new little one any day now.  
               I am very blessed to have a wonderful friend in my life whom knows so much about home births.  She helped me to locate a local midwife and figure things out from the beginning.  My first two little ones were brought in to the world at the hands of doctors.  The people that I trusted with all my heart to do what is best for me and my new little baby.  My first experience with child birth was crazy traumatizing, with so many interventions. With this pregnancy I felt I knew so much about my body and what was happening.  I felt in control of my situation, but still so naive of how things would be.  It didn't take long before everything was turned upside down and my "control" was stripped away.  So when I went in for the delivery of my second child I was prepared.  I went in with a great birth plan and the drive to get the results that I desired out of MY birth experience.  Things went much better this time around. But I still felt myself cut short of the birth experience that I wanted. I got to move around much more this time and soothe myself with aromatherapy as well.  I was able to have my family there for physical and moral support.  Which I can say they were the corner stone of my birth experience.  So the first down fall of this birth experience is that I was required to give birth on my back.  This is of course the "normal" birth position for a hospital setting.  The issue it raised for me is that I have a herniated disc in my lower back, L4-L5.  This is of course an area that receives a lot of pressure during labor, which then lent to unnecessary pain levels for me.  The second down fall to this experience is that my Doctor (whom I did not see once during labor) decided that I was NOT ready to push out my child.  I remember quite vividly looking at the end of the bed and seeing 2 nurses standing there saying that I needed to stop pushing because the Dr. said I wasn't ready yet.  Then they proceeded to discuss with each other that he was wrong and that she was crowning!! Seriously people! One of the nurses standing there was who delivered the head of my baby.  The Dr. showed up to help delivery her body.  This to me is unacceptable, but what can you do. This happens to women everyday.   
So with these experiences in my mind I decided to make a healthy change.  
In October 2010 is when we found out we are expecting.  I enlisted my dear friend to help me find a midwife as so as I had my love on board with the home birth.  It was in December that I met the midwife and secured her as my midwife.  I liked her and had heard only good things about the woman that she had done her apprenticeship with.  During the time I was looking for a midwife I began seeing my OB and having regular check-ups to make sure that our baby was growing as she is supposed to be.  I talked to my Ob about me having a home birth and he was confident in my choice and was very supportive.  The only issue with our decision at this point was the cost of the midwife.  When we got our taxes back we put back  money to pay our midwife.  The cost being approx. 1300-1500.  We put back as much as we could afford too which was 1000 dollars.  I continued to see our midwife until the end of March of this year.  It was the beginning of April that we spoke on the phone and she informed me of a change.  She had thought long and hard about my situation and determined that she was not the right midwife for me.  At this point I was slightly perplexed as to what had spurred this change.  With only 2 1/2 months left to go I was back at square one.  the great thing was she had given me a number to a new midwife that she felt could possibly help me out.  I called her immediately and eagerly waited for her return call. I needed to figure out what I was to do next.