Today was our due date, and our little guy is a full week old. He's quickly become an irreplaceable part of our family. There is never a shortage of someone who wants to hold him and snuggle with his little sleepy baby warmth.
We had several family members take the trip out to visit him today. It was nice to see everyone and I was ready for a nap once they all left. :0)
I've been doing well considering I'm still recovering from surgery. As long as I keep up on my medications, I have been able to be fairly active. I don't cook a whole meal, but I can be up and about doing things around the house for short periods of time. Last night was our best so far. I got about 3 hours of sleep in my own bed and another three on the couch.
Our weather has been cool for this time of year and our little guy is getting cold easily. He sleeps best in my arms on the couch when I am reclined, so I've been splitting my time between my own bed and the couch because he doesn't sleep as well on his own. I think I need to get him some warmer sleepers and sleep sacks. His hat helps at least, and the weather should be warming up soon.
Saturday, June 22, 2019
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Baby #4 Has Arrived!
Our second planned C-section went well. Little Man was born at 1:50pm, 7 pounds and 12 ounces, 21.5 inches long. We got to watch him be delivered to music by Chris Tomlin, and my hubby got to cut the umbilical cord after a delayed clamping.
(Delayed clamping means they allowed the umbilical cord to continue providing blood to the baby after birth for a short period of time. It helps overall with baby's health concerning blood sugar levels, jaundice, and iron counts.)
He was my second smallest baby, and the baby with the most -and darkest hair! He is precious and everyone fell in love with him from the nurses to doctors, to his sisters and other family members.
We stayed three days in the hospital, and it was the best service we've ever received for post partem care. The nurses explained things to us, joked around with us, asked our opinions, etc. It was wonderful. They truly seemed to care about each of us and were excited about our baby's birth. Regardless of him being our fourth. If anything, that fact made it even more fun for them. It was fun to see how they marveled over our different parenting style from other first-time parents on the floor. We heard that comment several times about how we had experience in parenting. They loved him and they loved us!
Everyone was interested and sharing our story of pregnancy after a tubal ligation. A modern medical miracle. Even our OR nurse had never seen a case in her 20 years of experience until us. The doctor joked with us that she would make sure my tubes were properly taken care of, and she was true to her word. My right fallopian tube had re-grown back together, which was most likely how we were able to conceive our son. She removed both tubes and cauterized them.
(As a small disclaimer, I realize permanent birth control isn't for everyone and can be quite the controversial topic. However, my hubby and I have prayed over this decision and are both in a place of contentment and peace that this was the best decision for our family and in our personal faith walk with the Lord.)
I had a small emotional meltdown our first night back at home. I was realizing that I couldn't care for my family on my own. The joyful care we received at the hospital was over and reality was hitting me. I forgot that my hubby was going to be home with me for a while, and I was feeling a bit insecure about being able to be there for my other children and a brand-new baby in my current state of healing from a major surgery. Chalk it up to baby blues if you like, it only lasted the evening.
Our first full day home has gone splendidly. Our older girls were awesome helpers and one even cooked supper for us all on her own tonight for the first time! Our toddler asked to hold his brother and gave him kisses without prompting. He did have a hard time not being able to sit on Mommy's lap, but he got to sit next to me at least.
We've also learned some lessons today as well.
I was having back pain off and on after surgery. It got so bad I googled it and shortly thereafter realized I hadn't taken my pain meds! Not fun at all. Thankfully I do have a tiny supply of real pain medication in addition to the Tylenol/Ibuprofen regimen they have me on. Once it kicked in, I was able to function again. I can see why opioids are so addictive. It is hands down a better pain blocker than either of the over-the-counter medications I have. I am thankful that doctors are doing a better job of teaching patients about the risks and how to take strong medications appropriately.
My last C-section, it was just one of the medications I took and true to my nature, I took them as directed on the package not realizing that they were only intended to be taken "as needed". It was a rude wake up call when I called to refill them and had to have a consultation with my doctor first. No one had bothered to explain to me prior to that about how to take pain meds.
Another lesson learned today was the common problem of "nipple confusion". Our little guy has been cluster feeding and sometimes feeding can take over 2 hours before he stops rooting for food. To help, we've been using the pacifier, which works wonders. He'll quiet down and sleep or relax in your arms for a while with his paci. Unfortunately with everyone taking turns holding him, he got too much pacifier and when it was time to eat, he had forgotten how to latch on to me to eat! It took me quite a while, but I was able to get him to take some milk from a bottle that I had just pumped and then after he was calm again, was able to get him to latch on for a real feeding. Praise the Lord! I was getting worried for a little bit when he was crying and not latching on.
(Delayed clamping means they allowed the umbilical cord to continue providing blood to the baby after birth for a short period of time. It helps overall with baby's health concerning blood sugar levels, jaundice, and iron counts.)
He was my second smallest baby, and the baby with the most -and darkest hair! He is precious and everyone fell in love with him from the nurses to doctors, to his sisters and other family members.
We stayed three days in the hospital, and it was the best service we've ever received for post partem care. The nurses explained things to us, joked around with us, asked our opinions, etc. It was wonderful. They truly seemed to care about each of us and were excited about our baby's birth. Regardless of him being our fourth. If anything, that fact made it even more fun for them. It was fun to see how they marveled over our different parenting style from other first-time parents on the floor. We heard that comment several times about how we had experience in parenting. They loved him and they loved us!
Everyone was interested and sharing our story of pregnancy after a tubal ligation. A modern medical miracle. Even our OR nurse had never seen a case in her 20 years of experience until us. The doctor joked with us that she would make sure my tubes were properly taken care of, and she was true to her word. My right fallopian tube had re-grown back together, which was most likely how we were able to conceive our son. She removed both tubes and cauterized them.
(As a small disclaimer, I realize permanent birth control isn't for everyone and can be quite the controversial topic. However, my hubby and I have prayed over this decision and are both in a place of contentment and peace that this was the best decision for our family and in our personal faith walk with the Lord.)
I had a small emotional meltdown our first night back at home. I was realizing that I couldn't care for my family on my own. The joyful care we received at the hospital was over and reality was hitting me. I forgot that my hubby was going to be home with me for a while, and I was feeling a bit insecure about being able to be there for my other children and a brand-new baby in my current state of healing from a major surgery. Chalk it up to baby blues if you like, it only lasted the evening.
Our first full day home has gone splendidly. Our older girls were awesome helpers and one even cooked supper for us all on her own tonight for the first time! Our toddler asked to hold his brother and gave him kisses without prompting. He did have a hard time not being able to sit on Mommy's lap, but he got to sit next to me at least.
We've also learned some lessons today as well.
I was having back pain off and on after surgery. It got so bad I googled it and shortly thereafter realized I hadn't taken my pain meds! Not fun at all. Thankfully I do have a tiny supply of real pain medication in addition to the Tylenol/Ibuprofen regimen they have me on. Once it kicked in, I was able to function again. I can see why opioids are so addictive. It is hands down a better pain blocker than either of the over-the-counter medications I have. I am thankful that doctors are doing a better job of teaching patients about the risks and how to take strong medications appropriately.
My last C-section, it was just one of the medications I took and true to my nature, I took them as directed on the package not realizing that they were only intended to be taken "as needed". It was a rude wake up call when I called to refill them and had to have a consultation with my doctor first. No one had bothered to explain to me prior to that about how to take pain meds.
Another lesson learned today was the common problem of "nipple confusion". Our little guy has been cluster feeding and sometimes feeding can take over 2 hours before he stops rooting for food. To help, we've been using the pacifier, which works wonders. He'll quiet down and sleep or relax in your arms for a while with his paci. Unfortunately with everyone taking turns holding him, he got too much pacifier and when it was time to eat, he had forgotten how to latch on to me to eat! It took me quite a while, but I was able to get him to take some milk from a bottle that I had just pumped and then after he was calm again, was able to get him to latch on for a real feeding. Praise the Lord! I was getting worried for a little bit when he was crying and not latching on.
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
Homeschooling: Taking a Risk
I took a step out of my normal planning process and am leaping us into a whole new curriculum next year with the exception of our math program -it just works too well to change up right now.
My philosophy concerning teaching is to find something educationally sound, affordable for our budget (which is minimal), and something I can use or tweak to fit our needs and learning styles. If my kids love it, I like to stick with it because if learning is fun...learning happens easily! We enjoyed our curriculum this year, even my daughter who drags her feet in Language Arts has learned to enjoy her lessons. I was hesitant to even consider changing curriculums, but felt I needed to at least make a fair comparison rather than blindly committing to a plan financially.
As I looked at next year, I knew I needed something that would enable my girls to be more independent in their work. Our new baby is going to add a lot of interruptions in addition to having a non-napping preschooler in the mix. At first I planned to stick with Easy Peasy allinonehomeschool.com for History and Science, as well as our Saxon Math program. I was only looking at potentially changing up our Language Arts because it is time consuming and though our math program also is time consuming, I don't want to change it because we are learning so well with it.
My two contenders were The Good & The Beautiful (non-denomination Christian, written by Mormons) or Masterbooks (solidly bible based)...they are very different programs, yet they both teach the same educational concepts. Initially I didn't want to switch because my girls were enjoying their curriculum, but the way that Masterbooks weaves the bible throughout everything, I couldn't tear myself away from the potential gift that would give them in these all-important years of learning. I prayed over the decision many times and couldn't escape that draw to the biblical foundations provided in Masterbooks.
After much back and forth comparison, I not only decided to switch to Masterbooks for Language Arts, but also for History and Science. Never before have I seen a program that takes the topic of the Periodic Table and provides biblical foundations and lessons tied to each and every element! It is simply amazing and I can't wait to dig into these lessons with my girls! I really hope they love it too.
My philosophy concerning teaching is to find something educationally sound, affordable for our budget (which is minimal), and something I can use or tweak to fit our needs and learning styles. If my kids love it, I like to stick with it because if learning is fun...learning happens easily! We enjoyed our curriculum this year, even my daughter who drags her feet in Language Arts has learned to enjoy her lessons. I was hesitant to even consider changing curriculums, but felt I needed to at least make a fair comparison rather than blindly committing to a plan financially.
As I looked at next year, I knew I needed something that would enable my girls to be more independent in their work. Our new baby is going to add a lot of interruptions in addition to having a non-napping preschooler in the mix. At first I planned to stick with Easy Peasy allinonehomeschool.com for History and Science, as well as our Saxon Math program. I was only looking at potentially changing up our Language Arts because it is time consuming and though our math program also is time consuming, I don't want to change it because we are learning so well with it.
My two contenders were The Good & The Beautiful (non-denomination Christian, written by Mormons) or Masterbooks (solidly bible based)...they are very different programs, yet they both teach the same educational concepts. Initially I didn't want to switch because my girls were enjoying their curriculum, but the way that Masterbooks weaves the bible throughout everything, I couldn't tear myself away from the potential gift that would give them in these all-important years of learning. I prayed over the decision many times and couldn't escape that draw to the biblical foundations provided in Masterbooks.
After much back and forth comparison, I not only decided to switch to Masterbooks for Language Arts, but also for History and Science. Never before have I seen a program that takes the topic of the Periodic Table and provides biblical foundations and lessons tied to each and every element! It is simply amazing and I can't wait to dig into these lessons with my girls! I really hope they love it too.
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