the birth of Poppy. video style!

So, Poppy is two now... but I feel it is never too late to help the fight to normalize birth!

When I was pregnant with her I had all these grand plans of how my home birth would go. A beautiful lit room, warm tub, light music, candles lit. All setting the tone for a beautifully edited video that would capture the moment we got to meet our sweet girl! Well...candles were lit and the music was playing... :)

Poppy Grey just came too darn fast! from my first contraction to the last was one hour flat! There was not an extreme intensity that told us her birth was near either. Nope, just some easy breathe through contractions and me chit chatting away and then BOOM!

Andy did have his iphone handy during this anticlimactic (or so we thought) time. So now today, these clips have given birth to my very own, badly edited, poor quality, birth of my sweet baby girl into our tiny, shallow, luke warm tub!

by far one of the best days of my life!

Enjoy :)

disclaimer: I am having a baby here but nothing overly graphic is shown(that is her head sitting there for awhile) . Oh and, do not try and watch in full screen, it makes the quality even worse!

you can read my entire birth story here

flawed?

last night I was sitting & praying... I eventually got to the point where I was asking for

covering over the birth coming up and thanking God for creating my body capable of

growing a child and bringing it into the world. I was saying "thank you for creating my

body to do this and allowing it the ability to know on it's own exactly what to do. That

I do not have to fear but that I can trust in the process you have made because I know it is not flawed."

Then it hit me! So many people DO believe this process is flawed... That without intervention our bodies would not be able to birth our babies. It simply is not true! He has created us to be knit together and grow and develop in our mothers womb. He also has created our bodies to open and for that baby to descend and be born in just as simple and natural of a way.

it's all so purposeful and so not flawed!

don't get me wrong, I do understand that ever so often a complication arrises that does require major medical attention! And I am so very thankful God had created intelligent Dr's and Midwives to facilitate when an issue arrises (though I do feel sometimes the issue is not truly there and is created in the minds of those who God has created to help)

That all said, I pray all my lady friends (especially you who are pregnant and growing a baby right now and will soon face the amazing moment of birthing your child) that you will trust and believe that your body too is far from being flawed! When God created YOU in YOUR mothers womb He designed your reproductive organs and hormones and everything else to endure and even flourish during the pregnancy and birthing process just like He is doing for our sweet babies as I type.

fearfully (beautifully) & wonderfully made...

love you all all lifting up your babies and future babes.

love what I do

I am beyond blessed!

I have many roles to keep this life exciting and purposeful...

I am a wife

a Mama

a carrier of life

a pastors wife- who gets to meet so many people and encourage them in the Lord

a birth advocate, labor supporter, doula...

(sweet baby born this past sunday)

and a daughter, sister, and friend...

All these roles are fun, exciting, life altering, purposeful, and what make this life worth living.

I do not want to lose focus on the roles God has placed before me or

get distracted by the petty things that can so easily consume my mind.

"to whom much is given, much is required"

and I have been given much!

I am so blessed to be who I am and where I am

non of these jobs I get paid for

(beyond the occasional birth)

but that does not matter...

I love what I do!

31 weeks

we are getting closer...

and I am still feeling pretty darn good!

my upper ribs are tender a lot but nothing unbearable!

still making it to the gym on average 5 days a week and maintaing my

usual routine with some minor adjustments and I move a little slower...

this past week I attended a 31 hour labor

and did not sleep for over 50 hrs...

lets just say I have spent most of the week recovering!

-and-

I have a mama who is now over 41 weeks

so I should be getting a call any day now

and then I will be at it again!

God somehow gave me the energy to make it through the last birth

so I know, giant belly and all, I can make it through one more!

... and then it's time to breathe, rest, nest, and focus on my baby!

I have to say I am pretty excited to go into labor again...

especially when attending births.

even if the births I attend (which are in hospitals)

are nothing like I would want for my own,

I still get so much energy and excitement from watching

a woman transform into something amazing

as she works so hard to get her baby out!

I am very very thankful though,

to be having this baby (just like alomae)

at home!

27 weeks & Mama got a new car!

I am 27 weeks today!

some would say the start of the 3rd trimester, but I am going with 28 weeks

for that (it will make it feel like less time)!

baby is growing and growing and growing...

(I will post a pic this weekend- I don't have one!)

every day I wake up a bit bigger :)

I am just now starting to feel really pregnant and have a slight back ache which I know

is just gonna get worse (bigger belly and lifting a 2.5 year old after all!)

Thank You Jesus for 24 hour fitness though!

I still feel so agile and am keeping up on my normal workouts

with only very minor adjustments, it truly is my sanity and is making

my body feel good.

Now that I am closer to the homestretch, I am thinking lots about my birth.

How I envision it, what I need here at home to make sure we are prepared.

I forgot all the supplies I need on hand:

extra towels

fish net

Large bowl

large ziplocks

straws

tarp

clean hose

faucet/hose adapter

sitz bath herbs

food for me

food for birth team

and these are just the things I could think of off the top of my head!

oh but it will be so worth it!

to get ready for baby, we traded in my Honda Element

last week and I got a Volvo V50.

I really love the look of them and have been eyeing them for awhile now. My Element needed new tires and some other work done on it so we decided that instead of putting more money into a car we knew we didn't want to keep- we would get

one we do want!

The Honda was great, but we originally got it for Otis, our 200 lbs

English Mastiff we had. It really is not the most practical car to drive with 2 kids.

those doors in a parking lot were the death of me!

so for now I will enjoy the newness of having a new-to-me car!

This Sunday begins the start of a busy time for me.

I go on call for 2 pregnant mama's due 5 days apart!

Oh how I pray they have wonderful, peaceful, smooth

births on 2 very separate days with some time for me

to rest in between!

I cannot wait to meet their babies!

sweet new baby

it's 11:00 am and i have just crawled

out of bed!

so foreign to me...

i spent last night (10:00pm-6:30am) attending the sweetest birth

of a handsome little man.

this mama had a cecerean 17 months earlier and did such a beautiful

job trusting & allowing her body to do it's thing and birth

her baby boy in such a gentle & calm way!

ladies, trust your bodies...

learn about them and what they are designed to do and capable of,

you will be blown away!

and when it comes time to have a baby (or another baby) of your own..

you will feel empowered and your body will do what it

was created to do...

you can find out what i do here