Showing posts with label Fox Family. Show all posts

I really needed to see this { focus } image today.  I wish I could remember where I found it, but I love it’s simplicity and how much I need to really focus and finish up some projects.  Hope you are able to find your own focus today!

Recently, I have been working on a train track play mat made out of cardboard.  We have tons of cardboard boxes from our recent international move and I was just dying to start on a project making something fun for Isaac. 

Hopefully, our son who is turning 2 very soon will love it.  I wanted to wait and share this project when it was officially finished, but I just saw a linkup event that brings you one new recycled material idea per month for 2014.  Since the cardboard linkup is happening now and ends in less than 3 days…  I thought I would share the cardboard train bridge that we made.  

We looked for cardboard bridge inspiration online and got lots of ideas, but Chris had a flash of inspiration one night and helped me create this tunnel / bridge out of cardboard.

His idea was to cut the same shape over and over out of cardboard, glue them side by side together, and voila here is our cardboard bridge tunnel.  The goals for our bridge was to create a gentle slope so the magnetic connections on the trains would not come undone, a on and off ramp to the bridge that merges almost seamlessly with the cardboard mat (used a large piece of black poster board), super strong bridge that wouldn’t buckle or bend, and a tunnel that is big enough for different sized trains to fit through.

Here you can see Chris cutting out each slice of cardboard.  He just traced the same shape over and over again and cut it out again and again until we got the width that we wanted.

Next we glued them all together using “Tough as Nails” glue.  I am sure you can use different glue it is just the glue that we had available to us.  The final steps were to glue a black piece of poster board inside the tunnel.  We used sand in a plastic baggie to help hold it in place against the cardboard while the glue was drying.  I then drew bricks and road signs on the side.  (In hindsight I would have made one sign German, 6,9 cm, and the other side US, 2.75 in., but alas I had already completed the drawings when I thought of that.)  It is still cool that we are mixing international signs in our cardboard train track. 

We still have a little more work to do, lay down the foam tracks, draw the railroad ties, and draw / create the scenery and landscape. 

Hope this helps inspire someone else.  Lots of Love – Judi

Looks like I might be experiencing a bit of Reverse Culture Shock.  It snuck up on me.  In all the excitement and turmoil of moving back to the US, it waited.  It was packed deep away in one of the boxes.  But now that it has been unpacked, I am not sure exactly what it is or what to do with it. 

What is Reverse Culture Shock? 

I would simply describe it as feeling out of step. 

Reverse Culture shock can make you feel like life’s rhythms changed… yet again.  However, there are many reasons for me to be excited to be back in the US.  I can finally do things like:

1.  Answer the door and talk to who ever is there without struggling and sometimes crying from frustration or confusion.

2.  I can look at a recipe or Pinterest post and say to myself – I know where to find those things, I can actually make that whole entire project or recipe without forming a local, German, fluent speaking search party to find certain items.

3.  I can walk into a grocery store, any day of the week, pick up eye contact saline solution, put it in my cart, and check out.  It is amazing! 

(In our small town in Germany, you could only buy contact saline solution through the Apoteke (drug store), where they kept it behind the counter.  I used to practice my German over and over and they still didn’t know what I was saying.  Either Chris had to buy my contact solution for me or I had to bring my almost empty bottle for “show and tell” and hope they had one left in stock.) 

Reverse Culture Shock also shows up when you start to see all the downsides to your {home} country that you were able to look past before.  I can now see aspects of both countries that I struggle with accepting and also that I LOVE.  When I focus on the things that I LOVE.  I really start to miss Germany.  It makes me want to confess…

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Dear Germany,

I sometimes took you for granted this past year.  You showed me so much unexpected kindness in many ways and shared with me the most amazing individuals. 

I could never have imagined meeting and connecting so deeply with that many beautiful, wonderful people in such a short amount of time.  They welcomed, loved, and offered me grace and help when I needed it.  I cherish the relationships that were built and strengthened while I was on your soil.  The impact you had on me is even more amazing, since I didn’t speak your language and our stay ended too quickly.  Thank you for sharing your food, people, culture, differences, and allowing me to learn from this experience and grow stronger.   

Love forever, Judi

PS – I also really loved the landscape (when it wasn’t rainy and cloudy :) and the castles!

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Maybe because our time living in Germany was so intensely hard at moments, that the people I met imprinted on my mind and soul very deeply.  That is one reason why Reverse Culture Shock can be so hard.   

With all the changes in my life over the years, it has naturally been easier to move on by numbing myself until enough time has passed.  Time can start to heal the parts of my heart that hurt when I miss people.  But I don’t think I have given myself permission or time to truly heal from all the aches that have been left in my heart over the years.

In addition, I haven’t taken enough time to truly thank and tell each person I have met and spent time with that I cherish them, miss them, and wish we had more time together. 

So this message goes out to many, many people that I have crossed paths with during all these years of moving.  Just know that you are on my mind and in my prayers often. 

Lots of Love – Judi 

PS – Here are some good articles explaining Reverse Culture Shock. 

Photo credit: Myles Davidson, stock.xchng

Notice that I didn’t say “How to Lose” the Baby Weight. I wish I could tell you exactly {HOW} to lose the weight, hold your hand, and be there for you ever step of the way. But what I can do is SHARE with you my story and some things that helped me, including a printable weight chart { AND / OR } an online graph to track your weight. Here is my story…
I started off my pregnancy at 130 lbs (5 feet 8 inches) and expected that I would only gain around 20 lbs.  But my baby and body had a different idea and I went up to 180 lbs – gaining 50 lbs total. 

Reading that number on the scale was pretty shocking.  I couldn’t believe that I went up to 180 lbs.  I was eating really healthy during my entire pregnancy and exercising on the elliptical and going for long walks.  I was even going to the gym up until the last two weeks.

My only guess is that all the Christmas food and Baby Shower indulgences caught up with me and packed on the pounds near the end.  The main thing that mattered was that I felt great and had very few pregnancy issues or concerns.  The only things I experienced were heartburn near the beginning which I was able to control by drinking pure pineapple juice and a temporary carpel tunnel swollen wrist (which made it super hard to hold a pen).

After giving birth in February 2012 {Birth Story}, I mentally knew that the weight was there because I just nourished and carried a baby for 9 months.  BUT I was having a super hard time with my body image and feeling good about myself.  My husband kept saying 9 months on – 9 months off.  But I wanted the weight to be gone yesterday!  Of course if I had gained less weight it would have been easier, but again I seriously have no idea how this weight got packed on me.  It just snuck up on me and suctioned its way ONTO my legs, butt, and stomach.   

So what did I do? 

Created a weight chart. 

Set some goals.   

And wore full body Spanx 24 / 7.  :)


My goal was a pound a week.  I didn’t want to do a full blown “diet” because I was breastfeeding.  The chart helped me see that I was making progress even though it didn’t feel like it and with a new baby I needed to keep things simple.

I could have recorded everything I ate, counted calories, and documented my life to the nth degree. But for me… just circling a number each morning reminded me to make good food choices, exercise, and drink lots of water.

I started charting my weight about a month after I gave birth.  On March 9, 2012 at 162 lbs, I started circling my weight each day and by September 2012 I was back down to 130 lbs.  I could finally retire my Spanx.

In summary, the following things helped me Lose the Baby Weight:

• Exercise – Took a stroller walk once a day and the rest of the day I carried my baby in the Ergo when we went shopping or ran errands.
• Drank TONS of water – and nothing else – no juices or sugary drinks
• Breastfeed exclusively until 6 months (and he still nurses a lot at 1 year)
• No Processed Food – Limited Sugar (even limited natural sugars like honey)
• Cut out Dairy – I didn’t realize my son had a dairy intolerance until he was about 5 months old – so I was losing weight before I cut out the dairy.  I will admit that I love cheese, so dropping dairy from my diet probably helped shave off the last couple pounds.       
• Some final personal things that helped me – During this time I was really busy packing and moving to Germany.  It helped that I had tons of things going on in my life.  We also went hiking a lot and enjoyed being outside.  So the time of year helped me to lose the bulk of the weight during the spring, summer, and fall.

This probably sounds all fine and good, normal information, nothing shocking… but when I started googling “Losing the Baby Weight” the first and only thing that showed up was celebrity weight loss pictures and stories.  Ugghghgh.  If I had compared myself to these celebrity women I would probably be so discouraged that I might never have lost the weight.  That was one reason why I wanted to post my story because I am just a regular person who wanted to lose the weight. 

These celebrity women worked very hard at keeping their weight gain low during their pregnancy. {That is great they were able to do that and there are lots of women who do keep their weight gain low – Yippy!!!} 

Here’s the thing… IF I think about it tooooo much I {might} feel bad that I gained so much weight and it took 7 months for me to lose it.  I learned that I needed to give myself a break and realize that it all worked our fine in the end and I felt great during my pregnancy.  I  just focused on slow and steady weight loss and NOT a 4-week bounce-back wearing-a-bikini weight loss strategy. 

On the opposite side of the spectrum I found… the website Scary Mom.  She has a hilarious post called “The Myth of Losing the Baby Weight”.  Visit her site to enjoy funny honest vulnerable motherhood posts.  Now this post about weight loss is something I can wrap my head around and stand behind :).

Here is an excerpt from her article (which is almost the entire post because it is too great to cut):


“I ran into an acquaintance the other day who had recently delivered a baby. She looked phenomenal, with no remnants whatsoever of the baby weight lingering around.

“How the hell do you look like that?” I asked, not even attempting to mask my utter annoyance.

“Oh, you know,” she explained. “Since I had a baby plus a toddler, I just spend all of my time running after them so the weight fell off. Plus, I just never seem to remember to eat!”

That was not the response I wanted to hear.

I’ve seen countless celebrities singing the same tune and it always makes me crazy. I have three kids and I have never once found myself running after them. Maybe I’ll dash over if I hear a loud thud followed by silence, but certainly not often enough to break a sweat. Sure, I’m with them constantly, but my normal pace is more like a saunter. My heart rate is steady and you could never call gently pushing a kid on a swing an aerobic workout.

And, how does one forget how to eat? Like, ever? …

If you’re rocking a post-baby body and I ask how you got it, please give me a response like:

“I’m starving and miserable, but I really wanted to get in these freaking jeans again”

“Breastfeeding. It’s the best diet ever.”

“I work my {butt} off at the gym 24/7.”

“Genetics. You should see my mom.”

“Honestly, I have no idea how the hell it came off so fast.”

Or, even the dreaded, “I’m eating less and moving more.”

Those I can understand. I can’t relate to them, but I can live with them.

But, please don’t give me the running around and forgetting to eat bull$#*!.

I’ve been there. I know better.”

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Hope the chart and story helps someone else struggling with losing the baby weight or I guess any kind of weight gain.  It wasn’t easy, but slow and steady wins the {results} and try to keep it simple, but not the simple carbs kind of simple :).  XO Lots of Love – Judi

We have a dog barking problem and we need a PLAN ASAP.  So today I created a one page guide to put on our fridge.  That way my husband and I can both follow it and hopefully get this barking under control. 

The PDF “Stop Barking Guide” is a compilation of advice from Cesar Millan’s Article 5 Tips for handling nuisance barking, Dog Barking 101, about.com, and the Humane Society.

{You can click on the picture to get the PDF document}

Each dog is different and individual owners have to figure out what is the trigger / cause of the barking problem. 

Even when our dog goes on long walks and gets out her energy, she still has a barking problem.  We are crossing our fingers that implementing this guide will help us get her barking under control.  I will report back in a couple of weeks if this has helped.
Lots of Love – Judi
PS – Here are instructions for “How to share a PDF File” on your blog.
And just in case you missed it above – here is the direct link to the PDF “Stop Barking Guide”.  Hopefully this guide can help someone else with a dog barking issue.  :)

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UPDATE – April 2, 2013 – We have been following the instructions on this guide for a little less than a month AND we have made some progress with the barking.  She doesn’t bark as much when someone comes to the door and a couple of times all she did was growl to let us know someone was approaching the house, but she didn’t bark like crazy!  YEAH for progress.
The thing that helped the most was the “Drop an Object” action.  We put some loose change in the bottom of a couple empty plastic water bottles and then dropped them or knocked them over “accidently” when she would start barking.  We still have a little ways to go until she is completely under control, but at least when Isaac is sleeping we can get her under control and her barking is not as much of a problem. 
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-hsmkFIwEtDM3R1MFVPSFFUbHc/edit?usp=sharing

Here is Isaac waving at a man walking by with his dog.  The man gave Isaac a smile.  It looks like Isaac might have brightened up his day.  I caught the final part of the wave on film.  He has just started to wave goodbye to Chris in the mornings, so we didn't realize he would start waving at people walking by - we thought this was Isaac's random act of kindness for the day.

 
Hope you enjoy!  Lots of Love - Judi

This was a really tough decision, but in the end we decided to go ahead and share Isaac’s birth story online in hopes that it might help someone else during their pregnancy and birth.  We are not medical professionals and we are not advocating that other people make exactly the same choices as us.  Everyone has a unique situation and their own path to follow, but we hope that our path helps inspire someone or give another family tips and resources during their pregnancy and birth.  The birth of a baby is an incredible moment and we are pleased that you are here reading our story.  Enjoy!



Chris joked with me over the weekend that he hoped I would give birth so he didn’t have to go to work on Monday. But we had also discussed having peace with not knowing when Isaac would arrive. We had to treat these days just as we treated all the previous months and days leading up to his arrival and not be anxious about what day he would arrive.

During my pregnancy I had never experienced any signs of pre-labor and at times I felt really unprepared and unsure about what was about to happen, but here are some of the things that helped me:



- Healthy Eating - Including protein, vegetables, and limited amounts of sugar

Everyone gains different amounts of weight, but here is what I didn't really want to tell everyone.  I gained 50 lbs (130 to 180 lbs. - 5 feet 8 inches).  That REALLY shocked me, but this is me at 38 weeks and closing in on 180 lbs and I didn't think I was really huge or anything.  Maybe since I was exercising some of it was muscle :).  It took me 7 months to lose the weight and I am back in all my pre-pregnancy clothing.  Here's a link to my story about "Losing the Baby Weight".

- La Leche League Meetings - Around 20 weeks, I started attending these meetings and met some great women, learned from their experiences, and asked lots of questions about pregnancy, birth, and babies

- "Husband Coached Child Birth" by Bradley - We both read this book

- “The Womanly Art of Breast Feeding”

- Bradley Classes

- Exercise – Including pelvic tilts, squatting, kegels, elliptical machine, walking, exercise ball (birthing ball)

- Vitamins - New Chapter’s Organic Prenatal Whole Food Vitamins, Vitamin D, Magnesium, Calcium, Vitamin C, Prenatal WholeMega Fish Oil

- Decreased Stress and Increased Relaxation - got massages regularly

- Chiropractor - Received regular Chiropractic care during my entire pregnancy and levelled my hips at 36 weeks to encourage a head down position.

- Pineapple Juice - Drank pure Organic Pineapple juice for heartburn

- Hypnobabies - Did the home study course for Hypnobabies– enjoyed drifting off to sleep each evening to the "Deepening" track

- Water birth at Home - We switched from an OBGYN practice to a CPM and CNM Midwife Homebirth Practice around 20 weeks. Basically I wanted personal individual care that focused less on checking boxes on a form and more about my personal pregnancy and health.

(*Please note that – Personal, individual care can be experienced at many OBGYN practices – it just wasn’t my experience at a particular practice.)

In addition, we were having difficulty with the hospital choices in our local area. My gut instinct when we became pregnant was that I didn’t want to give birth at Frederick Hospital. Mainly because they don’t allow any midwives. I had good experiences with Shady Grove, but because my husband works in Leesburg, VA it could take him almost 2 hours to drive there in rush hour traffic and I didn’t want to be dealing with that during labor.  Heading towards Baltimore or Annapolis was going to be over 3 hours for my husband. In the end, many things fell into place that finally lead us towards our decision to have a homebirth. Chris and I both felt like God was leading us down this path and He kept putting people and signs in front of us that helped us make this an easy decision.

On Monday, February 6^th – I woke up at 5 AM to go to the bathroom and there was some blood. That was really shocking to me. I expected the “bloody show” I had heard about, was going to be a little bit of faint blood – so I got really worried that something might be wrong. I went and woke up Chris and then I called my midwife. She told me that I “might “ be giving birth today and that I should keep her posted about how things were going and if I started to have any pressure waves (Hypnobabies term for contractions). I was also supposed to monitor the amount of blood. Turns out there wasn’t very much.

We went downstairs and Chris made me breakfast. I was having very very light / faint contractions that I barely noticed. I told Chris we should write down the times. We started to time them and the first one was around 5:15 am and then I had another one at 5:17 am. They were 2 – 3 minutes apart. I was really surprised that they were that close together, but they were so faint and light that I barely noticed them. I then took a shower to see if I could change the timing or see if anything happened differently. But nothing changed, they were still 2 - 3 minutes apart. Around 6 – 7 AM I started to feel them more clearly, but they didn’t bother me. We decided to go to the grocery store around the corner at 7 AM and pick up some cereal and cough drops (I was fighting off a cold and wanted some snacks for the “long” day ahead of us – turns out we just had 5 more hours before we would meet Isaac). The pressure waves were getting stronger around that time and the one in the car was pretty strong (maybe because I was confined by the seat belt and was not as relaxed). At the grocery store I had to sit down for them, but they were still manageable – yet I could no longer ignore them. I came home and talked to my midwife and she mentioned that I should send Chris out for a medicine because I had tested positive for something (that I can’t remember) and if I didn’t give birth in the water I would need this medicine. I am so glad that Chris never got a chance to leave the house to head out to the store because we ended up needing every minute of his time at home getting everything ready.  It is comical in hindsight, that we entertained the idea that he might head into work since we didn’t know when the baby would be arriving.

I wrote a facebook message to my friends at 8 AM that I wouldn’t be able to hang out today since I “might” be giving birth. I was still in denial that I was in labor. I then went to get into our bathtub while Chris was doing other things around the house. I burned my foot because it was too hot and that took my focus off of the contractions for a while. Chris was doing A LOT for me and helping me with everything. He helped get the hypnobabies set up so I could listen to it while I was in the tub. He was constantly doing something to get things ready. My memory and ability to focus on time started to get fuzzy around 8 / 9 AM. At some point I needed to go to the bathroom – so I had Chris re-set me up to labor backwards on the toilet in the guest bathroom with my pillows and the hypnobabies CD playing. It seemed like things were moving really fast and I still only had 2 – 3 minutes in between each pressure wave. I also lost the ability to realize that I should call my midwife and tell her what was happening. I guess I was still convinced in my head that babies take FOREVER to be born so I was thinking this was only the early stages. However, the pressure waves were getting more intense and I really had to concentration and breath through them. About this time my midwife called and Chris talked to her.  All of a sudden, he handed me the phone and she coached me through a pressure wave and she told me that she was on her way and the doula was headed there right now. They were about an hour and ½ away and in hindsight we should have told them to come sooner, but we just didn’t know how fast all this would happen and I lost the ability to really judge the situation myself.

Chris was then focused on getting the bed ready and the birthing tub blown up. I was starting to feel like this was getting pretty intense and I needed more physical support from him, but at the same time Chris needed to get the tub and other things in the house ready. There were some contractions on the toilet where I got pretty vocal and had difficulty relaxing through them. We then moved me to the birthing tub around 9:30 – 10 AM. From then until 10:30 – things got even more intense and I had Chris squeezing my hand really, really hard and yelling in my ear “IT’s OK”. I kept telling him to scream it louder into my ear and to really squeeze my hand. Not exactly the picture of peace and calm that hypnobabies envisions for your birth, but I wasn’t doing the yelling :).

The pressure waves started very faint and I could anticipate each one coming. It really is like an ocean wave – there is a build up and then the peak of the wave hits you and then it starts to fade away. I started to get anxious that it was just me and Chris and I needed our birthing team to get there.  I kept asking him “When will they get here???? What time is it??? Where are they???” I breathed a sigh of relief when the doula came in the room around 10:30 AM.

Our midwife showed up not too much after the doula. I felt so much peace when they put their hands on me during the pressure waves and tons of relief that they had finally arrived.  They quietly went about their work, checking the baby and me to make sure everything was healthy and normal.  Right about that time, I felt really nauseous for several of the contractions and I started expressing some doubts that I could do this for very much longer (classic transition stage signs). It is hard to imagine that my contractions started at 2 - 3 minutes apart and they were still holding strong at 2 - 3 minutes apart. That meant that I had very limited resting periods between the waves. 

Around 11 AM – the midwife told me that I would be pushing very soon. I just couldn’t believe it! It seemed shocking. She then instructed me to grunt deeply instead of moaning in a high pitch voice. She also placed her hand in front of me since I was laboring with my arms drapped over the tub towards Chris. Her arms and hands helped guide me into a more deliberate body position for each pressure wave instead of just letting them crash over me. I still had Chris yelling in my ear – “It’s OK” - over and over again whenever I went into a contraction. The birthing team never did any internal measurements or told me how dialated or effaced I was during my entire pregnancy and also during my labor. She had ways of telling what the baby’s station was and also relied on how I was feeling and what kind of behavior I was experiencing. It is amazing how it seemed to go naturally how it was supposed to go.

We had the room really dark and hypnobabies was playing in the background. Even our dog, Harlee came to me at one point to say “hi” and knew to be calm and quiet and laid down beside the birthing tub. Around 11:30 AM, I started to really push. The pressure waves were still really strong and I didn’t get much of a break in between. Things kept moving so quickly and it felt like I was just along for the ride. It felt like there was nothing that was going to stop my body from doing what it was supposed to be doing. It seemed like in no time the birthing team was telling me that they could feel his head.

Up until now I had been leaning over the tub, but about this time I wanted to lean back vertical on the tub. So Chris moved behind me to support my shoulders and chest. I had my feet under me and I was squatting. Chris wanted to go around to the front so he could catch the baby (he was outside of the tub and never got into the tub), but I told him that I really needed his support to hold onto my shoulders during the birth. I could feel Isaac crowning – which was burning – and because of my fear of tearing I felt very unsure about how this was going to happen. I got nervous at this point. I wish that I hadn’t been nervous, but I didn’t mentally process this part of the birth beforehand.  His head came out and that was the only time I opened my eyes and looked. I should have never opened my eyes. It didn’t even occur to me that I had my eyes shut for at least the last 30 minutes and I was in kind of a zone / bubble of peace inside my head. But once I opened my eyes and saw his head and processed everything visually that was happening – I was snapped out of that space and freaked out a little. Even though I “knew” Isaac couldn’t drown in the birthing tub, my brain went into “get him out now!” mode and I wanted to push the rest of him out in the very next push. I just remember bearing down hard and then he was born at 12:15 PM. I had so much emotion built up inside of me – that I let out a huge piercing scream. I am kind of embarrassed about that scream. Not exactly the most welcoming voice to greet your baby and I shocked everyone in the room, but this scream came out of nowhere. I don’t remember much other than they handed Isaac to me almost immediately and Chris and I sat there looking at him and marveled at how amazing he was. And I kept saying “It’s a baby”! I guess I was really in shock that I just gave birth to a baby. He was a lot cleaner than I expected and he had lots of really dark hair. He didn’t cry much, but he was wimpering a little and I sang “Hush little baby” to him.

They got me out of the tub and over to the bed about 30 minutes after the birth. Chris cut the cord after it had finished pulsing and I birthed the placenta. Time at this point all merges together. I had to have stitches (about 5) for a second degree tear. I started nursing Isaac and he took to it great.  We were off to a great start with nursing. We both did lots of skin to skin contact with Isaac most of that day. I have no idea how long it was (maybe 2 hours) when they finally did all the checks on Isaac that they couldn’t do while I was holding him.  They weighed him (8 lbs 6 ounces) and took his measurements (21 inches long).

That whole day turned into one long blur and it then blurred into the next couple of days. All I know is that I was in bliss and head over heals for our new little baby boy. Unfortunately, I didn’t fight off that cold and I got terribly sick with a horrible sore throat and cold (I discovered that Zinc really helped and also drinking cayenne pepper with water was soothing for my sore throat).  Our pediatrician and chiropractor both came to our house and checked on the baby within the first couple of days.  I am really glad that I didn’t have to leave the house for those visits and I got to spend so much time focused on nursing and my personal recovery. (Photo Credit - Isaac at 4 months old - Lindsey Welch Photography)

I was really unprepared for what would happen after the birth and what the recovery process would look like for me and how much help Chris and I really did need. This whole experience gave me an appreciation for new mom’s and what their needs are right after they give birth. I am so blessed that we had so many friends and family come and help us and even do little things like drop off a meal or a “recovery” care package. The thing I remember is that I equated trying to sleep with Christmas Eve and waiting for Santa to come. I was just so excited to lay next to this precious baby that I had been growing inside me for 9 months and I couldn’t fall asleep from all the excitement.

Here is our Birth Story (starting at minute 3:00 on the Mama Natural Show - Click on the Photo)





Judi woke me shortly before 5am. She was concerned by some blood, which she thought was excessive. I accompanied her back to the bathroom, where she showed me, only this time it wasn’t as much. I was a little concerned as well, but I also knew that this wasn’t unexpected. The questions were: was this too much, and, did this mean she was in labor? Judi called the midwife to ask about the blood. The midwife wasn’t too concerned, and asked in a kind of knowing tone if this was going to be the baby’s birthday.

We went downstairs and I asked Judi if she was feeling any contractions. She said no, that the whole area just ached down there. Shortly thereafter she told me she was feeling something, but she wasn’t sure if it was a contraction. We started timing the “something” and it was a consistent three minutes apart.

Surprised that the contractions were so close together, but still not positive she was in labor, we decided to go to the grocery store to pick up some things. While at the store, the contractions increased in intensity such that she had to sit down when one occurred. Judi mused about getting a movie to pass time while labor progressed – which in retrospect seems comical considering how fast things started to move.

Back at the house, the contractions continued at three minutes apart but continued gaining intensity. At this point it was obvious she was in labor, but we were both surprised that it was so intense so soon. We filled up the bathtub. Judi got in (after first burning her foot because the water was too hot). Being in the water helped, but she needed more space than the bathroom tub could offer.

She got out of the bathtub, tried several different positions, and eventually ended up sitting backward on the toilet. I tried keeping pressure on her upper back through some of the contractions, but they were still very intense. Judi called the midwife to tell her to come to the house.

While she labored, I set up the bed and the birthing tub. Once ready, she stepped into the tub which helped alleviate some of the pressure. However the contractions were still very intense. All I could do was hold her hand (very tightly at her request) and keep repeating in her ear “it’s OK”, which comforted her.

About this time, the doula showed up. She helped comfort Judi while also setting up her things for the birth. Judi was becoming increasingly concerned about the intensity. We had no idea how much longer this was going to last, but considering it had only started about five hours earlier, we thought it could be many more hours.

It wasn’t until the midwife showed up that we realized how far Judi had already progressed. She said Judi was “almost there” and that we did not have much time left. Initially I thought she was just saying this to help calm Judi, after all, she didn’t even know how dilated Judi was.

But, midwives have ways of telling progression without knowing dilation. Shortly after she said that, Judi started feeling the urge to push. The contractions, however, did not reduce in pain. She tried leaning back on the tub walls, which felt like a better position to push from. I moved around behind her to help hold her up, still holding her hand. At some point, her water broke. Judi kept pushing whenever she felt the urge, and soon I could see Isaac’s head peaking out (although it didn’t really look like a head at first).

About three minutes later, he popped out the rest of the way, whimpering but not really crying. Judi’s initial reaction to being handed Isaac was a ear-piercing scream followed by “It’s a baby!”. Not the typical reaction. His face was scrunched up, but very cute. He skin was clean, due to being birthed in water, and only slightly wrinkly. He had lots of hair on his head.

After spending about 30 minutes in the tub, the midwives coaxed Judi out and onto the bed. About 15 minutes later, Judi birthed the placenta, which was later dried and capsulated for Judi’s consumption. Apart from a short evaluation the midwife and doula did on Isaac, Judi was never apart from him (and always well within visibility).

While we laid on the bed, the two of them cleaned everything up, leaving the house around 3 PM.  This was 10 hours after Judi woke me up. I remember feeling a little shocked that everything had happened so quickly – and so conveniently too, regarding time. We had woken up that morning, only a bit early, and here it was: not even dinnertime, and we had Isaac in our hands, all by ourselves.

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REQUEST FOR SUPPORT - A homebirth or a midwife might not be something that you personally would choose, but everyone should be able to make this choice for themselves.  When I became pregnant, I was shocked to find out that my birth options were very VERY limited in Maryland.  I am saddened by the fact that I am unable to name my wonderful, amazing midwife and doula team because of Maryland laws.  It is difficult for me to even understand just how amazing it is that they put themselves in a compromised professional position – so that I could still have the freedom to choose a homebirth with a Certified Professional Midwife and Certified Nurse Midwife team.  If you believe ALL women should have a CHOICE in how they give birth (whether it would be your choice or not) – Please consider supporting – Maryland Families for Safe Birth and click to sign the petition! 

Thank you so much!  XO, Judi, Chris, and Isaac Fox 

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Frederick, Maryland Pregnancy Resources

Mid Atlantic Chiropractic Center - Dr. Rashidian – www.midatlanticclinic.com

Massages – Devon Casey - www.mandalahealingartstudio.com

Pediatrician - Dr. Rothschild – www.gaiahealing.com 

Placenta Encapsulation – http://belladonnaherbals.webs.com/services.htm

Bradley Class - Melissa and Brian Snyder - www.bradleybirth.com/melissasnyder

La Lech League, Frederick, Maryland - www.lllofmd-de-dc.org/Frederick.html 

Common Market – Vitamins and Healthy Food - www.commonmarket.com

Hypnobabies - www.hypnobabies.com  (Check out Ebay for used copies)

368 Athletics Gym – Shannon Wallace - www.368athletics.com

Photography - Barb Cambell - http://studio11photos.com/

Photography (Photo on the right - Isaac at 5 months old) - Lindsey Welch - www.lindseywelchphotography.com/

There are many HUGE changes that have happened in my life recently.  I am excited to share that....

Magazines and websites entice me with their "before and after" photos of furniture, kitchens, and bathrooms.  I love all things remodeled and re-purposed, especially since it rescues many objects from the landfill.  You can love an object for many more years after a fresh coat of paint or some more creative handiwork.  I am jumping on the bandwagon and showcasing one of my favorite "before and after" projects.