Share Your Thoughts and Help Another Mom Out

The following is a guest post from my friend (also named) Emily, a professor at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania:

Hi all,
I’m a regular reader of Mommy Made Green and a friend of Emily’s who lived in Northeast Atlanta for a year. I have 3 little boys, and I’m a professor of media studies. My colleague, Julie, and I are conducting a research project about mothers, media use, and sustainable/green living, and we’d love your help with our research. We’re interested in how mothers are participating in online communities and using/reading/writing blogs, and we’re also interested in your ideas about mothering and green living. We’re looking for some women to complete a written questionnaire between now and the end of January. We would email you the questionnaire, and you could fill it out when you get some spare time (yeah right, I know!). It would likely take about an hour, but I imagine the questions would be about topics that you’d be interested in writing about, and you could do it on your own time and then email us the completed questionnaire when you’re done. We’ll use the information to write an academic article about the topic, and we won’t use anyone’s real names or reveal any personal information. If you’re interested in participating or have any questions, please send me an email eyochim (at) allegheny (dot) edu. Thanks so much!

Some Bad News and Some Good News

We have been on quite a journey this year already. I wanted to inform you all of what has been going on via blog post so you could hear the whole story.

First, the Bad News: 

Our Grand Opening is Postponed.

And the Good News: 

We still plan on opening sometime in the first quarter of this year

And the Story:

You all know that my heart for this is to create a community among moms, so I wanted to let you all know exactly what has been going on the past week. In summary, due to some zoning issues regarding a former residential home being turned into a commercial property the county will not grant us a Certificate of Occupancy without us bringing the building "up to code" (translation: spend tens of thousands on silly things such as expanding door jams and hallways, all new windows, and redoing the plumbing).  We decided that we would much rather spend that money on materials for classes and new cloth diaper lines (and hopefully a line of mama made toys) instead of remodeling. So we are looking for a new location. This past weekend I have gotten really sick with a case of bronchitis and the flu. So I am stuck in bed recooperating. However, at the end of last week I found four or five locations we are looking at and was able to see three of them. I am hoping to look at the other few early this week and make a decision in the next week or two. 

We are excited for what is to come and know that the new location, wherever it may be, is going to be just as great, if not better, as the other. I am told that these kind of hiccups are normal when transitioning to a physical store location. Please stay excited and connected and as soon as I sign my name on the lease of our new place you all will be among the first to know. Also if you happen upon a space in your area that you think would be a great place for us, feel free to send me an email. Thank you all for your support through this, after all if it weren't for you we wouldn't be where we are at now!

How to Make a Difference with Your Christmas Shopping

We are doing something different in our house this year for Christmas, something I am really excited about. We trying to do almost all of our Christmas shopping at small businesses and from work at home moms. In fact, ALL of our boys Christmas gifts are coming from small businesses. Why are we doing that? Several reasons actually:

1. I am a WAHM and I know first hand what a difference it makes when someone buys from me. That money helps me provide a better life for my family. We live off of Mr. Hero's income but money that comes in from me allows us to go on vacations or buy memberships to the zoo. Especially since he gets paid on commission and I know those of who also get paid this way know how tough it has been in this recession. 
2. It helps our economy. I rarely talk politics, but if you really want to hit Wall Street and big business where it hurts refuse to buy from big businesses this season. It will do far more than marching and heading up protests.
3. Better Products and Better Customer Service.  Moms are proud of their work and they want you to be happy. Normally they will bend over backwards to make sure you get what you want when you buy from them. Their business also depends on it. Unlike big businesses if they get one or two bad reviews it can seriously effect their sales in the future. I have also found that since their products are made by hand instead of being mass produced the quality is much better.
4. Better for the Environment. Small Businesses generate much last waste than huge factories but they also often upcycle things to make new beautiful products (see some examples below). 
5. They ARE affordable! I think the biggest myth of buying local and handmade is that it is expensive. I have found that to be not the case at all. I think you will see below.

So I thought I would share what we are buy for our kids this Christmas season. Mr. Mansee is 4 this year, Little Buddy is 2.5, and Munchkin Man will be 3 months.

The first thing I just have to share is something I only recently came across and I don't know if I am going to be able to squeeze it into our Christmas budget but oh my goodness I am in love. Check out these gorgeous hand made hobby horses made of upcycled fabric scraps from Manely Recycled:

And the best part is these cute little horses are only $37 each! I love these little guys!

Up next is one of my new favorite Toy Sites:

We got Mr. Mansee a really cute wooden bowling set and Munchkin Man several of their little teething toys. Something I LOVE about this company is that they plant a tree for every toy sold! How cute are these teethers? And there are so many more to choose from!

 

Here is the really cool bowling set I got for Mr. Mansee:

At only $35 I found this a steal considering the plastic set I bought him a few month ago lasted less than a week before the pins were covered in dimples. I know he is going to LOVE this!

Munchkin Man is also getting a custom, handmade blanket from Julia at Spit On This. I always buy a special blanket for my babies after they are born. I picked one out for Munchkin Man at Target on the way home from the hospital made by Carters. It is a really cute patch work blanket. Well after about 3 washes all the quilt pieces were coming apart. So I decided I was going to get him a completely custom one made for Christmas. It is going to have a really cute owl flannel print on one side, minky on the other, and satin edging. I don't have a picture of it yet but here are some pictures of other blankets she has made:

She also makes awesome burp cloths, beautiful afghan size blankets, blankets with tags, bed sets, and some other really cute stuff:

Up next is Little Buddy's gift. Ever since Munchkin Man has been born he has taken a liking to anything baby related. He loves to play with baby dolls whenever we go to friends houses and has taken to diapering and dressing his teddy bear. So we are getting him a doll for Christmas. Just last night I discovered that etsy has the most beautiful hand made dolls for very reasonable prices. We had planned to buy him a Cabbage Patch doll but i found the cutest doll for only $5 more. And the best part is they are made to fit preemie clothes so I can stop by Goodwill or a Consignment store and get him some clothes to play with for really cheap. Here are some of my favorite doll shops on Etsy and some of their work:

Puppy Threads

Sandra Lou Creations

This year my mom managed to grab an awesome wooden kitchen on sale at one of the local small toy shops in our area: Learning Express. So both of the older boys will be getting this as their big gift this year. One of my favorite bigger toy companies is Green Toys. This company makes BPA free plastic toys out of recycled plastic. SO COOL! The boys are also getting some utensils for their kitchen from this company. These toys are really competitively priced and are very durable. Here is the chef set I am getting for them for only $12:

They also make really cute trucks, blocks, tea sets, and so much more:

Then I have found some moms on etsy that make food pieces that are machine washable and some of them are even made from t-shirts! Here are my two favorite stores:

Kiddy Couture

Nue to Me

 The last store I wanted to share with you contains the item at the top of MY Christmas list. I love this mama and her things so much I added them to Mommy Secret's product line. Brooke over at BrookeVanGory Designs is one insanely talented lady. She makes gorgeous, completely custom cloth diaper friendly diaper bags, purses, totes, and so much more. Here are so of my favorite pieces she has done:

 

You can find her awesome bags at the link above or see more of her work on her facebook page. She has the best page, one of my favorite business pages.

That about wraps up our Christmas! Don't forget Saturday is Small Business Saturday and the perfect day to support small businesses by doing some Christmas shopping from them! Have you already bought some handmade items? If so what did you buy! I would love to check them out!

Shutterfly Holiday Card Giveaway

It is that time of year again!

I love shutterfly! We use them for all of our photo storage and I also use them to create our family albums. They have great prices and always offer really great promotions. This year they have asked me to host a giveaway to three of my readers for 25 free holiday cards.

I have a lot of family that lives out of state that we only see every 5-10 years and I know they look forward to our Christmas cards and letter every year. Last year I even got a return card from a distant relative that was widowed and told me that she was so thankful that I continued to include her in my mailings every year. I know digital cards and emails have almost taken over a culture but there is something wonderful about getting a beautiful personalized card in the mail. Here is just a taste of some of the awesome products they have this year:
Photo Christmas Cards

Address Labels

You also can't forget about their gorgeous photo books. These make excellent gifts for grandparents for family! Whenever I finish a photo book on shutterfly as a gift I often wish I had gotten a copy for myself!

Last year Shutterfly gave away free cards to bloggers, but this year they are giving away free cards to readers! If you would like to win 25 FREE cards from Shutterfly this year simply leave a comment below and I will pick 3 winners on Monday, November 14th! If you are a blogger and would like to host a giveaway on your blog simply click here.

The Truth

I haven't blogged in awhile, a month to be exact. First of all because I haven't had much time, but for another reason that I wanted to address today. Mr. Hero and I were talking the other night about how frustrated I am with my inability to do all that I want to do. I told him I read about all these moms who live on farms with 6 kids that they all homeschool in their perfectly clean and decorated homes all while serving 3 fresh, homemade, organic meals a day. Their kids are so cute and well behaved and I feel horrendously inadequate. Mr. Hero politely laughed and said: "Honey, no one is going to blog about how things really are or the hard days, they are just going to blog about the good days". And that inspired me. Along with a few other comments I have gotten lately about how awesome I am with feeding my family and having three kids so close together. I realized something: I, or any other mom blogger out there, is doing a disservice to other moms by not sharing at least some of the truth. So that is what this post is, it is a truth post. Not blogging about how hard it is has been to go from 2 children to 3 children is doing nothing but hide from the truth and if you know me, you know that I am not a fan of not being authentic. So here goes nothing:

I have always wanted lots and lots of children. I LOVE children. Mr. Hero and I both love children and have always wanted a house full. However, having three children in four years has been difficult. My mom (who is mom to 6, 4 of her own and 2 through marriage) always told me that your first child was just a general adjustment of life as a childless couple to life as a family. Your second child was a little more challenging, but manageable and your adjusting to a third child was excruciating, but after that it was more of a "eh what's one more?" feeling. This statement is 100% true. Going from 2 to 3 has been very, very difficult. And not for any particular reason, but if I had to narrow it down it would be because first of all I have more children than hands and second of all those multiple children are all still so young that they NEED my hands all the time and often at the same time. However, things have slowly gotten better, but I am far from where I want to be and there are many days I feel inadequate.

And to add insult to injury it seems every person I see wants to know if I am going to have more. Why do people ask this question? I mean, really. There is no right answer. If I say no they pity me for never getting "my girl" and if I say yes they look at me like I am nuts. And why is it any of their business anyway??? And the worst is when they ask me in the middle of bad moment. Like a few days ago, at the pediatrician's office. I was by myself with all three. Mr. Mansee and Little Buddy were in a knock down, drag out fight over a match box car and Munchkin Man was screaming because he was naked and the nurse says: "So you going to have any more?" To which I promptly replied: "Do you have children?" And she didn't, so I think she got the hint. But my point is that having several children, especially several young children is rough and I think many moms believe the lie that they are doing something wrong based on the moments we see on other blogs or on television of perfectly groomed children and spotless homes. So I wanted to share a few pictures I took while walking around my home this morning as I prepared to write this blog:

Since Munchkin Man joined our family if you were to come in my home at any given time I can promise you that will find several, if not all, of the following:
Dishes in the sink

Flour or other baking ingredients on the floor from the mad rush to get bread in for lunch

Leftover snack on the kitchen table

Random toys spread out in random places

Laundry waiting to be folded, put away, or somewhere in between

And even maybe a wet diaper or two that hasn't yet made it into the pail

I, and even my neat freak husband, have come to realize that messes and unfinished chores are inevitable with three children under the age of 4. I simply can't do it all. Without fail just as I get to putting the laundry away the baby needs to be fed or changed. Halfway through cleaning up breakfast 

the boys need me to help them work out a fight. Or just as I am about to wipe up the flour on the floor someone gets a boo boo, then the phone rings, then someone needs their nose wiped, then the laundry needs swapping from the washer to the dryer, and before I know it the flour has been sitting on the floor for a few hours and it is now lunch time even though the breakfast dishes are still sitting in the sink waiting to be put int he dishwasher.

At the end of the day it is easy to look at the dirty dishes in the sink, the uneaten banana from seven in the morning, the laundry that didn't get put away and think to myself. I am terrible at this whole mothering and household running stuff, what DID I do all day? But the truth is that I did a whole lot. I changed anywhere between 15-20 diapers between my two in diapers, I got three children dressed, I wiped bottoms, washed hands, kissed away boo boos, read stories, prepared and fed three meals to my children, sang lullabies for nap time, answered emails for business, answered a million questions such as why is our poop brown? (life with boys is so much fun), I rocked a crying baby, I let the dog out, gave the cat water, spoke life into a friend, and probably more things that I can't even think of and that is just a normal day at home!

My point is that the most important part of being a mom has nothing to do with how your house looks and everything to do with the love you pour into your children and your family. Relationships are so important and something I learned this week was that when you don't believe you can do something it is good to have people around you who believe you can. When I became a mom for the first time God placed me in Robyn's small group at our church. Robyn is an amazing mom to five children ranging in age from mid twenties to elementary age. She has poured into my life as a mother since then. Just this week I spoke to her on the phone and shared with her how I felt like I was so inadequate for all God had asked me to do. She encouraged me and then one morning last week she showed up at my house with some easy ready made meals; something easy and healthy for me to snack on since I told her that I was having a hard time finding time to feed myself especially since I have had to go dairy free again; a box full of dress up clothes for the boys; and a bottle of wine. Then she told me to go take a shower, a long shower. Aside from someone showing up at my door with a million dollars, I don't think anything in the world could have made me happier. My kids were thrilled, I was clean, and I didn't have to worry about cooking dinner on those days when nothing goes well.

In closing, I have a ton of really great posts coming up. I completed my mission to find the BEST newborn cloth diaper. I learned so much about childbirth. I have more great dairy free recipes. I ventured into the world of Crock Pots for the first time ever, I have a holiday card giveaway in the works, and so much more! But for now life is crazy and this post alone has taken me four days to write, but that is okay. And it is okay for you moms to know that us blogging moms do not have perfectly clean homes and feed our children perfect meals on time every day. It is okay to struggle and it is okay to admit that you are not perfect. Having a community of women behind you who love you and support you no matter what your house looks like or how your children are currently behaving makes all the difference in the world!

So check back for more posts and a great giveaway coming up, but know that I will post when I can and update my blog with new pictures when I can as well.

Amazing Micah Andrew

I am so excited to introduce you to our newest family member (excuse the watermark, we haven't gotten the ones without one yet):

Micah Andrew

Born September 8, 2011 5:45 AM

8 pounds 14.5 Ounces

20.5 inches

What a miraculous few days it has been! I have been blogging for my whole pregnancy about my hopes for a natural childbirth and this birth completely exceeded my expectations. I would classify the hours after this birth as some of the best hours of my entire life, but I guess I should start at the beginning. Before I begin, if you aren't familiar with why this birth was so important to me you can find the story of my last birth and the trauma it caused our family here.

And just a quick disclaimer: although none of the pictures I am about to share are inappropriate or graphic, they are all deeply personal.  I know that I have mixed company reading my blog and some may wonder why I am choosing to share such deeply personal photographs in such a public arena. The answer is because I am so deeply passionate about other women knowing how beautiful birth is. How it doesn't have to be scary or overwhelmingly painful. But is instead an incredibly personal and spiritual experience that when taken over by the medical field can become very scary and painful. So if you feel uncomfortable seeing deeply personal pictures of a birth, consider yourself warned. 

About a week ago I started experiencing regular contractions in the evening. They started out annoying but as each day passed they would get stronger and longer. Just as we were about to go in to the hospital they would stop.  I also started swelling. On the 30th I went in for my regular visit and asked my midwife to check my cervix, which is not normally something I would do but since I am about an hour from the hospital I really wanted to know if the contractions I was feeling were just Braxton Hicks or if they were productive. I was completely closed. The days that followed continued to be more of the same trend with each day having longer and more frequent contractions and then I started to experience some really bad swelling that would not go away. It has been really hot here so blamed my swelling on the heat, until we had a day in the 60's and the swelling continued. Tuesday, the 6th, my feet and hands were so swollen I could hardly bend them and they had turned purple. The swelling was unreal. Here is a shot of my foot and as you will see in the pictures below my entire body and face was completely swollen it was no fun:

I tried elevating but there was no change, so I called my OB that night. He asked me to check my blood pressure and told me to go to Labor and Delivery if it was high and if not to come in the following day. My blood pressure was normal, so I waited until the 7th to go in and I saw my midwife, Kim.

Since finding out I was Strep B positive I had been nervous about going into labor and not getting to the hospital in time to get my medication. And was also upset that this meant I had to be strapped to an IV for my labor. When I told Kim about my contractions and she witnessed one while I was there she checked me again and this time I was 3 cm and completely effaced. I was shocked, but I still didn't want to believe I was going into labor. I was convinced that this baby was going to be late. After my appointment I went to the restroom and my mucous plug was starting to fall out, but once again I just thought it was from the irritation of her checking my cervix and thought for sure I was not going into labor.

On the way home my contractions continued and I called my doula, Talitha a little stressed about what do next. I even toyed with the idea of going to the hospital then, due to my fear of not making it in time or having to endure transition on the way there but she helped me decide to wait it out. We prayed that God would get me to the hospital on time and he would make it abundantly clear when it was time to go by either providing another sign of labor or just giving my spirit peace that it was time to go. She told me not to time my contractions. I needed to do my best to ignore them and go about my day as normal and if they were real labor contractions they would not be able to be ignored. She also suggested taking some Evening Primrose Oil. So I fixed my family dinner and ran out to the vitamin store to pick up some vitamins for my boys with the Primrose Oil. I also made a stop for some cookies I had been craving on my way home. My contractions continued but nothing much changed and I was able to ignore them. I came home kissed my children goodnight and sat on the couch with my feet up to send an email to a friend that I felt I needed to send immediately.

After I finished my email I leaned to the left to set my lap top on the table so I could get up and get the cookies and milk I had just bought. When I did this I felt a "pop" in my pelvis and immediately stood up. Thankfully Mr. Hero just refinished all the furniture in our living room and I couldn't find the coasters so there were kitchen towels on the end tables. I grabbed the towels and shoved them between my legs and ran off the new carpet and into our tile kitchen yelling for Mr. Hero as he was in the garage finishing up the last of the paint on our armoire. He came running in and I told him my water broke and he needed to get me a towel. Aside- this was such an odd experience. My water had never broken on its own before and I could not believe how much fluid there was- two beach towels worth AND a ton of microfiber pads I grabbed and put in my panties. I called my girlfriend and told her it was time and to come get the boys. Although I still wasn't really contracting I knew this was the sign we had prayed for and we needed to go in. I called my doula, Talitha, and my midwife, Kim, and we got everything ready to go.

Our ride to the hospital was pleasant. My contractions were more regular about 4 minutes apart but I was able to talk through them. Mr. Hero even stopped on the way there and got himself a snack and me  some apple juice (my beverage of choice while in labor). We got to the hospital about 10:30 pm  and they confirmed my water had broke. I felt so calm. I told the nurse I just wanted to sleep while I could and amazingly enough she let me after I had my first 30 minute monitor strip done.  Our room was big and comfortable with dim lighting. The tub was already set up and I snapped a quick picture of it in my anticipation:

Talitha showed up about 11 even though I hadn't told her I was ready yet and I have to say this is what makes her such a great doula, she knew what I did not. She actually had another mother who was overdue being induced that she needed to be with and I was 3 weeks early so she wanted to stop by and tell me I would have her back up and make sure that was ok. I told her it was and asked what I needed to do and she told me nothing that the back up, Que, was already on her way. Another thing I am so thankful she did, because once again I thought this was going to take at least a day or so. Talitha gave me a hug and headed out. Que arrived about 11:30 and we spent a few minutes chatting and then I continued to try and sleep. She decorated the room with white lights and made the mood so relaxed. About 12:30 my contractions started picking up and by 1 AM I could no longer lay in bed. I got up and Que helped me get in several different positions to ease the pain. By 2 AM I was getting very uncomfortable and Mr. Hero woke up, as I told him to sleep after Talitha left so he could have energy. I was feeling terrible back pain with each contraction and it was frustrating and more painful than the contractions themselves. At 2:30, four hours had passed since my monitoring strip and I had to do another one. I begged not to have to lie down and they had me sit in a chair. Prior to getting in the chair the nurse checked my cervix and told me I was still only 3 cm, after that I told Mr. Hero and Que I didn't want to know my dilation again because unless it was 10 I was going to be disappointed. Those 30 minutes in the chair were full of tears due to the horrendous back pain. My midwife, Kim called at the beginning of the strip and had apparently been misinformed by the nurse and ended up talking to Que about my back pain. Que felt my belly and said she felt my baby was posterior (sunny side up), which is why my back pain was so terrible. By the end of the the monitor strip I was miserable in back pain and once they took the strip off Kim had arrived and suggested I get into a hot shower.

I believe I hit transition in the shower. The back pain intensified and rarely let up even in between contractions. I began sobbing and began begging God to flip the baby. I began to say "I can't do this, I can't do this with this back pain." For some reason I had it in my head that this was going to continue for another eight hours and the thought of that was overwhelming to me. I tried one last position in the shower and still felt no relief and Que mentioned laying on my left side in the bed. I thought to myself that I would try that and if it didn't work I was ready for some relief because I couldn't tolerate the intense back pain.  I had to go to the bathroom before heading to the bed and another terrible contraction hit and I became hysterical. Mr. Hero leaned forward and put my head on his shoulder. I know I have mentioned it before but the smell of my husband is the most relaxing scent in the world to me and I when I breathed him in I relaxed. Then Que began to pray over me and the baby. The combination of my husband's scent and embrace and her prayer were what I believe was the turning point of my labor. I laid in the bed on my left side and although the contractions still were painful, my husband's embrace and the renewed sense of the presence of the holy spirit brought me through. I spent each contraction praying through and asking Jesus to give me strength to push through each one while Que continued to pray, put pressure on my back, and spread lavender and peppermint oil to help me relax. About 4:30 I felt the pain of my contractions shift lower and began to feel a little bit of pressure. I asked if I could get in the tub, and my Kim wanted to check me first since I had told her I wanted to use the tub as a last resort pain relief and delivery method and once I got in the tub I would not be getting out without my baby. We agreed she would check but would not tell me my dilation (although I was told afterwards that I was a 6 at this point). After she checked they began filling up the tub, which takes about 30-40 minutes. Towards the end I began to get weak again and needed to get in the tub. The last two contractions before getting the tub I was begging them to let me get in early.

Once I got in the tub I had immediate relief. My whole body relaxed and the first two contractions were much more manageable (check out that club foot):

After two contractions I began to feel pressure and my contractions changed again. I got on my knees and leaned over the tub into Mr. Hero's arms.

It took me a good amount of time to figure out how to push in the water, it was very different than on the bed with my previous births. I wasn't doing it correctly, it was very painful because of this, and I became frustrated and very afraid again. I told Kim I couldn't do it and she told me I could. The contractions were pushing pressure every where and I couldn't quite figure out what to do. The intense pressure made me heave and I began to once again feel like I couldn't do it any more. Que began to pray again. I think at this point we all realized I need help figuring out how to push in the water. Kim checked me again and told me my baby's head was ready to be pushed out and coached me through a few pushes. Once I figured this out, everything became much better and my fear was gone. Once I got the hang of what I was doing and I had my first productive push he was crowning in about 4 more. Crowning was excruciating pain and I screamed at the top of my lungs. I was also very sweaty and Mr. hero was placing cold towels on my face and back. Que and Mr. Hero began to pray again and asking for peace.

I managed to hold the push until another contraction came and pushed him out with one more loud scream. Due to my position he came out behind me and he also had a short cord so I had to stand up and swing my leg over him to hold him after Mr. Hero pulled him out of the water.

Once he was in my arms, the tears ran down my face and I said: "I did it!"

I got to sit in the tub and hold my baby undisturbed for a good 20 minutes. He was beautiful and so peaceful. He didn't utter a single cry and snuggled up to my chest completely comfortable as if he didn't even know what had just happened. I kept asking if he was okay because he was so still and content. Everyone kept reassuring me he was perfectly fine and had beautiful coloring.

 I noticed the water was starting to get yucky so I requested to get out and deliver the placenta on the bed. The cord has stopped pulsating and was not long enough for me to carry Micah to the bed, so Mr. Hero cut the cord and held Micah for the first time while they helped me out and to the bed. After I was on the bed everyone left the room and let me nurse Micah for the first time and spend some time bonding with him. It was incredible. He was perfect, Que helped me get him to latch on the first time and he was a great little nurser. Everyone cleared the room for the next hour or so and we got to spend that time admiring our new baby and bonding. No one had touched or taken Micah from us since he was born. They had not weighed him or measured him and his apgar scores were all taken while he was in my arms. Micah was wide awake and absolutely perfect and I could not believe how incredible I felt.

My contractions became painful again and Kim came in and told me to push the placenta out. Pushing it out was a little more painful than I expected, but I felt so much better once it was out. After the placenta was out Kim checked me for any tearing or damage, and there was none. Considering I had torn with both my previous births and Little Buddy was two pounds smaller than Micah and he gave me third degree tears, this was incredible.

Typically after birth I can barely keep my eyes open and have fallen asleep while our parents come to see the baby for the first time. I had no pain and had this amazing rush of energy even though I had gone the entire night without sleep. It was remarkable. About an hour later I was anxious to see how much Micah weighed so we called the nurse in to take his statistics and Mr. Hero got to give him his first bath. This was the first time he had cried all night and the minute he was back in my arms his crying stopped immediately.

Following his bath, I wanted to take a shower, so I did. Less than two hours after birth and after no sleep in over 24 hours I managed to walk to the bathroom, shower, and put on some clean clothes (under close watch of Mr. Hero and two nurses of course). After my shower I put on my cute nursing pajamas I picked up a few weeks ago, climbed into my clean bed, Mr. Hero handed me Micah who was now a little drowsy and we snuggled down together for a nap. It was pure bliss.

My recovery has been seamless and close to pain free. My tail bone is bruised from his posterior positions and the after birth pains have been stronger than they were with my other births, but I am told that is normal for third deliveries. I have been walking around and getting around since that first shower and cannot believe how great I feel. My labor was less than 6 hours from start to finish so I was not able to get all the antibiotics I needed for the Group B strep so we have had to stay some extra time in the hospital to be sure Micah does not get an infection, but it has been wonderful. I know this post is long, so I will follow up with a another post with some more details and resources.

In closing, I would be lying if I didn't admit that even after all the research and all the stories I read, I was still a skeptic. I wanted to believe that a natural birth was better than a medicated one, but I just didn't know it was or think that it really mattered. Having two medicated birth and one completely unmedicated birth I am now 100% in support of women having natural births when they are having a healthy pregnancy. My birth experience this week was the most incredible experience of my life and I felt the power of God more clearly in the five hours I was in labor than I have ever felt in my life and I was surrounded by the man who prays for me without ceasing and by women who believed in me and prayed for me. It was an experience that I believe every woman should be given the opportunity to have. I just want to leave you with two pictures the first is of my amazing midwife at Isis OBGYN, Kim Storey:

And the second is of my doula Que Brown with Jessique Brown Doula Services who is good friends with the doula that took care of me my entire pregnancy Talitha Seibel.

If you are pregnant, this is something you can do and is something you will never ever regret! I will share more reflections in a future post.