C vs. D

A non-TMI musing on C-section vs. Delivery

disclaimer: I did not have a routine delivery with Hayley so I can't vouch for what is "normal" in regards to Delivery/Recovery as I'm told that its much different than my experience.

In The Hospital:
D - physical trumphs mental - you are just focused on getting that baby out... your brain pretty much shuts down and your body takes over.
C - completely mental - you have no physical control or action so you are left with your brain running 500 miles per hour while a sheet keeps you from seeing what's happing to your body
D - hello complete exhaustion, come be my friend for the remainder of my stay
C - hello lack of real food, I missed you for 36 hours of IVs and clear liquids
Both - thank you Jesus for adjustable beds which do all the sitting up for you
Both - Chic-Fil-A and Taco Bell are the perfect recovery meals.
Both - see Rules of Hospital Stays

At Home:
D - hello ice packs, waddling and unable to sit normally
C - hello pressure pillow, shower chair and sleeping on the couch for 2 days
D - hello zombie state with no desire to do anything other than sleep
C - hello sweet husband who has to help you get up and down for everything for the first 3-5 days home
D - feels like a mac truck ran you over, backed up and did it again for 6 weeks
C - feeling pretty good and mobile by 2 weeks
Both - thank you Jesus for all the family who comes and takes care of you and the friends who check in too!


Other Mommy confessions...

On baby number 2, at this stage, I can live without a Diaper Genie.. completely wack I know since I was completely smitten with mine up until her arrival

One extra pound really makes a difference in handling a newborn.

The reason second children don't have as many pictures, is not actually because their pictures aren't being taken as often, but its because the first child continues to have their pictures taken alongside the second. Seriously, Hayley has been pulling out the picture-perfect moments since Bowen's arrival.

Aunt Mischa will side with the second child on depravity... and don't get her started on it! : )

Changing a moving and unpredictable target takes more adjusting than I realized... Hayley had us spoiled with her "legs up, legs down, open legs, close legs" routine.

Random Hayley-ism for the day- up down side (instead of upside down)

Take A Moment...

Let's Compare.....

Hayley on 9/16/08 - 1 month & 10 days old

Bowen today - 2 weeks & 6 days old

hey... their feet match!

They did get something from their mama after all!!

things that are true

today Hayley took an early nap...

I checked on her 2 hours after she'd been down...

When I cracked the door, she wasn't in her bed...

So I listened and I couldn't hear her in the living room...

and I couldn't hear her anywhere else....

So I took a few steps into her room...

and I hear "hey mama"

and there she was...

in the infant swing in her room...

the swing she would have nothing to do with for the first 18-months of her life...

I guess its a good thing she's still under the weight limit...

Bible School

Hayley went to Bible School last week. You could ask her and she'd say "bible skool"

She loved it.

See her "Come Down" video (as posted earlier, you know, scroll down) if you don't believe me.

Also, come by and see her photo album that the teacher's made her.

She can sing the main parts of "Jesus Loves Me"... tell you how many fish "twwwoooo" and bread "fiiiive" fed the "lots" of people... do the motions and "come down" of Zacheas (I know that spelling is wrong).

I also have the first of many VBS crafts in my kitchen... a painted flower on the fridge and a painted hot pad with "I can help" on it.

And she's super cute while doing it all!!

Rules of Hospital Stays

1. When the doctor places you on "liquids only," the best looking biscuit you've ever seen will come on the breakfast tray.

2. When said biscuit comes, you will give your husband the glare of death if he even looks at the biscuit twice while wrapping it up to save for you for later.

3. The staff who comes in at 4:30 in the morning will be the loudest staff member you encounter and will start talking from the door and continue until they leave.

4. If you've been trying to get the baby to sleep for 2 hours, someone will come into your room, loudly, 15 minutes after you finally get her to sleep.

5. Daddies will not get more than 20 minutes of sleep/rest at any given time during the entire stay.

6. Nothing tastes better after 32 hours of no food than Chic-fil-A and Taco Bell.

7. The first time you laugh after a C-section will be when you are standing/walking and have nothing to hold your stomach in.

8. You will want to take the hospital bed home, not because its comfortable, but because its remote controlled.

9. You will come home with an arm that looks like a drug addict because of one bad stick.

10. Your family and guests will freeze because first you were pregnant and hot when you got there, and then you have a new baby and are hot when you leave.

Come Down!

Gone Fishing

Confessions of a Pampers Snob

Ok, so I have a confession....

I used, and preferred, Huggies newborn diapers for the first week of Bowen's life.

Their "cord curve" is much better than Pampers swaddlers.

However, true to my snobbish ways, as soon as the cord fell off, back to Pampers swaddlers.

I heart them.

Hey Baby!

more to come...

- rules of hospital stays

- rules of the first week home

- hayley's week at Bible School

- C (section) vs. D (delivery) - not going to be TMI I promise

- our 3-ring Circus acts as a family of four


Any ideas on any of these topics??

Our Redemption Stories

I’ve been reading a lot about redemption lately. It’s a word we hear often as Christians, and as people in general, but it’s a word that holds more power than most of us are familiar with, or rather, at least familiar with recognizing in its fullest extension from God.


Part of us, all of us I believe, is always searching for our own redemption story… maybe it’s the day we met Jesus, maybe its when we were freed from an addiction, maybe a moment of healing, maybe its when we found ourselves in our darkest hour and found God reaching down to pull us from the pit. Its our redemption story, our trademark definition of a finite encounter with God in His greatness.

The greatest illustration of redemption to me is that of an oyster and a grain of sand. Its not a metaphor with which we are unfamiliar with… a grain of sand finds its way into the oyster, who in its own right, is entitled to spit it back into the filth it came from, back to its ways as a grain of sand, recognizing it as an irritant. But the oyster takes the grain of sand and begins to refinish and refine it, coating it with goodness, covering it and smoothing it and making it into something of great value. The oyster doesn’t owe it to the grain of sand and the grain of sand hasn’t earned its place in the heart of the oyster.

So it is for us and God… we find ourselves embedded in His heart, despite our sins and shortcomings, despite our very nature being in contrast to the conditions of His heart. And God begins to actively cover us, first with mercy and then continually with grace and wisdom, growing us into the treasure of His heart.

We are His redemption story. A baby in a manager. A death on a Cross. The imparting of the Holy Spirit. The man-written God-breathed scripture. All part of the greatest redemption story of all time. A story that includes all of us, in our smallness as grains of sands compare to the sea, a testament of a living and active God, who continually chooses us. Refines us. Redeems us.

Oh, that we would learn to embrace our own redemption story… that we would see the divine presence of God in our lives previously, the way He is working actively, and how much awaits us in the coming days. I pray that if you’ve had your redemption moment, that you share it as one would a prize pearl. Likewise, if you are still looking for your moment of redemption, your defining story, that you would begin by embracing God’s will and purpose, surrendering your own desire to determine the ending, and look for the ways in which God is moving now, as He always is.

you are officially "too" pregnant when you go to a shower and only take 5 pictures...

total... as in 1,2,3,4,5

And all before the shower started

oh well, at least these are good

Who's Excited?

Baby Comin' Thursday!

Daddy's Catch

her only concern: "get me?"

her Daddy: "no, the fish won't get you."

her response: "big fish."

Her Loves Her Breezy, pt 2

especially when her dancin' involves beads and hats

Breezy & The Church Ladies

Out of the Mouths of Moms

note: there should be a way cool button here but I'm having trouble getting it to work... but it'll be up sooner or later... see the button (and the original post at MckMama's Place)

ok, so you may remember when I shared several of my Not Me! Moments (as read here and here and here and click on the "Not Me Mondays" label to the right of this post to find the others) as part of MckMama's Weekly Ta Da .... now, as seen above, a new aspect of the MckMama community, that I anticipate can be very, very, very entertaining.


So let's see.... what all discussions have we had at our house lately, actually how about just yesterday....

"no, don't poke Mama's belly, it hurts Bowen"

"no, Bowen can't hold you when she gets here, she's going to be a little baby"

"what's that? you and Abby (who isn't even at our house) are going to the party? and Mama is staying here? ok then."

"Did you lock Mama in the closet?" (from outside the closed but not actually locked door 'yea') "Can Mama come out of the closet now?" (still from outside the door 'noooooooo')

"Get your clothes on, its time to go to Sha Sha's house.... (reply: ' sha sha house gone. to beach. swim. ocean') ... "Sha sha's house went to the beach to swim in the ocean?" ('yea') "are you sure?" ('yes ma'am)

"No, don't stand on that... (plastic tea pitcher)" 2 minutes later "No don't climb on that (suitcase being packed for hospital) 3 minutes later "No don't jump off the bed, stay in the middle" 30 seconds later "yes, you'll fall and hit your head if you jump close to the side of the bed"

"yes that is a naked pillow" (she pulled the pillowcase off) "yes you are a naked girl.... no, Mama is not going to get naked and jump on the bed"

hello chunky monkey

Had an ultrasound yesterday.....

of our baby girl who'll be here in EIGHT days....

all EIGHT pounds and ELEVEN ounces of her.

yuppers, as it looks right now....chunky monkey here we come.


I have a feeling Hayley will only be on the giving end of hand-me downs for a short amount of time.