Clarity turns 4

Clarity is turning 4 on September 30th! Since the 3oth is in the middle of the week Dave and I decided to get together with the kids over the weekend and have a little party with her. She recently was in an accident and her leg got broken. So having a party with her was especially important since she can't really move much and is in a body cast from the waist down. So we started our little party with a craft. We decorated crowns and visors with glittery stickers. It was alot of fun.

I helped Clarity get the backs of the stickers off so she could stick them to her crown.

Jasmyn and her crown

Kaleb hard at work

Princess Clarity

The girls!

Claity kicking back watching the boys play a video game

Jasmyn hungout with her pretty much the whole time we were there! Mason too!

Clarity showing me how far her cast goes up. She can't even sit up right because teh cast keeps her hips immobile. She is such a trooper.

Her bean bag is her favorite spot to sit!

Opening her birthday gifts

My Little Pony!

Jasmyn and Clarity sharing a color book

The girls are so cute!

Taking turns coloring!

The Fearsome Five!

It was a fun day and one that she enjoyed! The kids were happy to get to see her and to have a play date. Happy Birthday Clarity! We love you!

pregnancy fun!

How about we make some predictions on when I will give birth, how much baby will weigh and how long the baby will be?!?!?! Just a fun little poll to see who gets bragging rights! So to help you make your predictions.... I will give you some stats on my previous pregnancies.

Here is a picture of me at 41 weeks pregnant with Kaleb

Kaleb's Stats:
Due date: 12/18/02 He was actually born 12/29/02... 11 days overdue (induced with Pitocin)
Birth time: 11:47am
Kaleb weighed 9 lbs 2 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long

Here is a picture of me right before we left to go to the hospital with Jasmyn at 40w 3 days

Jasmyn's Stats:
Due date: 7/12/04 Born 7/15/04 she was 3 days over due (I self induced with Castor oil)
Birth Time: 5:09am
Jasmyn weighed 8lbs 1oz and was 20 1/2 inches long

Picture of me 40 weeks pregnant with Mason

Mason's Stats:
Due date: 7/13/06 Born 7/19/06 he was 6 days overdue (waited patiently till labor started on its own)
Birth time: 6:39pm
Mason weighed 7lbs 7 oz and was 21 inches long

a Picture of me currently pregnant! 39 weeks

Baby #4 Stats:
Due date: 10/4/09

Here is where you get to guess! Send me an email at kalico24@hotmail.com or leave a comment on this blog or on facebook with the following:

Birth Date:
Birth Time:
Weight:
Length:

You don't win anything other than bragging rights on who is closest! And this little game will help me pass the time until I go into labor!

Thanks for playing!!!!!

Belly Compare - same dress!

Even though 1 picture the dress is black it is the exact same dress just in 2 colors. The first picture is at 29 wks, then 30 wks, then 37 weeks then 39 weeks! Crazy how much bigger a 10 weeks makes!

29 weeks pregnant

30 weeks pregnant

37 weeks pregnant

39 weeks pregnant

I am ready to POP any minute! I swear I don't want to get any bigger.... if I do I won't be able to breath and I will live in the bathroom peeing every 5 minutes! LOL!

Ugh! Yup I am STILL pregnant!

This should come as no surprise to anyone especially me. I cook my babies like a crock pot: slow and steady and slightly overdone. But oh how I wish I had a little Microwave in me at this point. LOL!

My days seem to be all running together. I get up in the morning and feed kids breakfast, make Kaleb's lunch, do Jasmyn's hair. I take the kids to school. Then Mason and I come home or maybe run some errands, but even the errands are few and far between because there just isn't much going on at this point. Mason has been watching and re-watching the cartoon movie "Bolt" every morning while we wait for Jasmyn to be done at Kindergarten. At 11:40am we pick Jasmyn up and then head home again. We wake Tim up when we get home and then we all eat lunch/breakfast together. I usually cook. Ugh. I am so tired of cooking and eating and cooking and eating. Then Jasmyn and Mason hang out with Tim while I lay down for a rest. My body is just tired these days. Eventually Tim picks Kaleb up from school and then he gets ready for work. Tim is usually out the door by late afternoon and I am on my own with the kids, internet, dinner, dishes and bedtime.

Before bedtime I have this routine where I pick up the whole house. The kids pick up the toys, put away dirty clothes, unload the dishwasher, take a bath, get into PJs and we do bedtime routine. After they are in bed I finish cleaning the house. Everything has a place and everything in its place. Because I do this routine every single day it takes oh about 20 minutes. But I just know I can't relax until it is all done. And my desire to have a stress free labor and birth at home inspires me to keep my house looking like a museum.

See my kitchen has to be clean so that if I go into labor that I can rearrange the kitchen table to put the birth pool in place. The kitchen sink needs to be clean so that we can hook up the hose to fill the tub. The table has to be clean so the midwife has somewhere to set up her supplies. The living room has to be clean so I have a place to lay down if I decide to labor out of water. The futon has to be laid down so I can cover it with water proof sheets to prepare for the possibility of the birth happening there. The bathroom has to be clean so it can be used during labor and afterwards. My room has to be clean so that I can relax in there and rest after the baby is born. And anyone that has been in my house knows the only other rooms upstairs are the kids rooms and they have to be clean because that is just the kind of Mother I am!

But if I am honest with myself and really think about when I actually need to start with this ritual of cleaning I would realize I could put it off for oh.... like...... another 10-15 days! I know I won't be pregnant forever... but at this point I would love to zap this baby OUT OF MY BODY!

And why do MW and OBs give women due dates? They don't know when you are gonna birth. More often than not they are WRONG with their "due dates" anyway. In fact my MW and I currently don't agree on my due date. She says 10/6 and I say 10/4. But since I was actually there for the conception I am sticking with my "due date". But really what does THAT mean anyway? Not even the experts can agree on how to calculate a due date. Some say it is 280 days from your LMP (last menstrual period). Some say you take your LMP, then subtract 3 months and add 15 days.

So by first method..... 280 days from my LMP which is Dec 28, 2008 would put my due date at 10/4.

By the second method I would take Dec 28 and subtract 3 months which would be Sept 28th. Then add 15 days to Sept 28th which puts my due date at 10/13.

A variation is that you take the LMP and subtract 3 months and then add 10 days if the women has had previous births. Since I have had previous births, that would put my due date at 10/8.

So my theory is that if I go by my LMP + 280 and then average how far overdue I went with each of my previous babies I would come up with a "due date". So with Kaleb I went 11 days overdue. Jasmyn a mere 3 days over. And Mason was a whopping 6 days over. So that is the average of 6.66 days over due. If you add that to my 10/4 due date that puts my AVERAGE due date at 10/10.

This puts a range of "due date" from 10/4 all the way up to 10/13. Then you add in the stress and pressure of NOT going over the MW's 42 week mark which according to them would be 10/20.

So really I have a due MONTH not a due date. Anywhere from 10/4 to 10/20. That ladies and gentlemen is a LONG spread of dates. As of today... I could be pregnant for another 3.5 weeks.

And I can't even drink any wine to help me pass the time.

Pregnancy update 15

Had a midwife appointment with a fill in MW. My regular MW is on vacation/honeymoon. The back up MW was attending 2 births. So that left the back up back up MW. LOL! It was an adventure in Midwifery to say the least! LOL! I was 38w2d pregnant at this appointment. Only 12 days till my due date! I have gained 1 pound since my last appointment which is right in course for me at this point in my pregnancies. My urine was negative for Glucose but my urine came back with +1 protein in it. So not trace but the next square up (for those that have seen the test strips). But my BP was normal at 122/59. I have no swelling or edema and no headaches or anything. MW's explanation for protein in my urine is that there is protein in vaginal discharge and she thought that since I was at 38 weeks that I was probably starting to have an excess in discharge. I had never heard of this before. I will touch more on this topic in a bit as this post continues.

Then she was asking me how I felt overall. Well lets see.... I am 12 days from my "due date", the baby's butt is squarely under my ribs so I can't really breath or get comfortable, I get up about 3 times a night to pee, cold water gives me heart burn, and I am still doing all my normal activities with taking care of the kids, house and husband. So I am gonna sum all of that up and say.... "I feel tired". LOL

MW says.... "well honey you have a ways to go before you have your baby" I ask "why is that?" Now remember this MW has never met me before, just glanced at my chart and is not gaining my confidence since the whole -protein in my urine- discussion. She goes on to say that since i was "big boned" (nice way of calling me fat! LOL) and tall (a whole 5ft6in) that I would gestate a baby longer than a 120lb petite woman. HUH?!?!?! Now I know I gestate babies longer than most considering my babies have been 11days, 3 day and 6 days over due, respectively. But I had no idea that this was because I am "big and tall"?!?!?! I mean my Mom and both my maternal aunts that have children all carried their babies overdue. All 3 of which are shorter than me. Granted we are all on the larger size as far as weight but I would not say that any of us are "big boned". LOL! SO I would say the longer gestations are more family history that "big boned". Yeah this midwife is not making friends or influencing people at this point.

Moving on.....

Then she has me lay down to check baby's heart rate baby's position, etc.... So she starts to feel for the baby and easily finds the head in my pelvis. Baby has been head down for like 8 weeks or more so no big surprise there. Then she feels on my left side and says... "I think this is his butt". I am like "No his butt is firmly planted under my ribs on the RIGHT side". I guide her hand there and she agrees. Then she says that baby is POSTERIOR. WHAT???? Ok baby is head down. Check. Baby is laying on his side with his butt under my right side ribs. Check. Knees and feet on the left side. Check. How does THAT equal POSTERIOR???? Beside the fact that she mistaken thought his KNEE was his butt. I would like everyone to feel their knee and then reach around and feel your butt. Do YOU feel a big difference???? I know I do.

So I am really just chalking this appointment up to an adventure in Midwifery! LOL.

And by the time I got home the baby was in a nice butt pressed out against my belly position, clearly NOT posterior.

So today I decide I should call my actual midwife and ask her about the protein in my urine. I spoke to Beth and she agreed that while some additional vaginal discharge can cause TRACE amounts of protein in my urine it should NOT be +1 protein. So she asked me a few more questions and we determined that the protein is probably either from me being slightly dehydrated at the time of the urine test or I could be getting a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). Clearly with my BP being fine at 122/59 and no swelling or headaches we do not need to worry about pre-eclampsia. She told me to drink at least a gallon of water a day and to consider taking Cranberry supplement capsules daily. We will test it again next Tuesday at my regular appointment. If there are any other issues we will go from there. Tim was sweet enough to go to the store to pick up the Cranberry capsules and he has been keeping my water bottle filled.

The only good news I got from the 3rd string MW was that my Group B strep culture came back Negative. That means that I do not have any live cultures of Group B strep in my vaginal canal so we are all clear for a homebirth!

I have been having lots of contractions and cramping. But I have to say I had the same cramping at the same stage of pregnancy with both Jasmyn and Mason. So I am thinking this is just how my body does the 3rd trimester of pregnancy. I am more emotional and just in general more cranky, but again that is par for the course at this point.

Stay tuned for more pregnancy updates as I get closer! I am honestly hoping the next one I post is a birth announcement.... but we all know that is unlikely! My next MW appointment is on Tuesday.

Henna Belly painting - Mandala

My beautiful and talented Aunt Kathy designs Mandalas. She has created Mandalas for each one of my children. She has created Mandala's for the 2 babies that I miscarried before I got pregnant with Kaleb. Kaleb's was not intended to be painted in henna but it is beautiful just the same. Jasmyn Mason and now this baby's Mandalas were designed and created with the purpose of painting on my belly with Henna. My dear friend Sara painstakingly paints the henna on my huge pregnant belly. It is a labor of love for all involved. But such a cool way to honor our baby and to allow my Aunt Kathy to take part in such a special time in my life. You can view a selection of Kathy's Mandalas on her website here. The miscarriage mandala is called "origin". Kaleb's mandala is called "moment of kindness" Mason's is called "mason's welcome". Jasmyn's mandala is not pictured on Kathy's website so I have uploaded a picture below:
Kathy dreams alot of the images that she uses in her mandalas. Her website explains a bit more about the process and she is always open for questions and comments on her healing artwork.

Here is the Mandala she created for this blessed baby we are awaiting

The process of getting the artwork from paper to belly is tedious! You start by making a copy of the artwork the correct size for my belly. This involved a trip to the copy store and some trial and error. Once I got the size correct for my belly size I then trace the artwork onto tissue paper using a washable marker. Here I am tracing the artwork onto white tissue paper.


Then you rub your belly with a lemon water solution to prepare your skin to accept the henna. With a slightly damp belly you apply the tracing to your skin. You dip a washcloth in lemon water and ring it out. Then you apply the damp cloth onto the the trace paper and press the ink onto your skin. Carefully remove the washcloth and then peel the paper off your skin. What should be left is a washable marker tracing of the Mandala artwork. You are then ready to start applying the henna to the skin over the tracing ink.

Here is Sara starting to apply the henna. You start at the top and work down so you always have a place to rest your hand. We figured this out using trial and error! But henna is NOT forgiving. So extra care must be taken to keep the henna only on the lines. It stains quickly and is difficult to remove.

Almost done. You can see the blue tracing marks. Sara is doing a fantastic job!

All done with the henna! Now it just has to dry.

38 weeks pregnant belly!

Close up of the henna side view

After the henna dries you leave the dried paste on for atleast 6 hrs so that it can stain your skin. I left mine on overnight. After Sara was done I was tired and my back hurt so she fixed me up a nest on the futon to get some rest and not smug the henna.

The next day I picked the dried henna paste off my skin and I was left with this beautiful Henna Stain tattoo of Aunt Kathy's Mandala!

It should also darker over the coming days.

38 weeks pregnant! So full of baby and so full of happiness to be pregnant and gratefulness to my family and friends for your support during my pregnancy!

Mud Goddess

This pregnancy seems to be coming back full circle to Sara and I's day in the woods that happened over a year ago. Here is the link to read about what all that included. A few weeks ago Sara and I traveled back up the river where we orginally did our fertility ritual to revisit the beautiful scenery and also to collect river stones to remind me of the river during my birthing time. Sara has also written a birth meditation journey that included elements of this special spot on the river. You can read her journey here.

We started out by making mud. We gathered dirt from the side of the bank next to the river. We added some of the mud we made at the original ritual to our jar and then we added river water to make mud. We stirred it with a tree branch until the right consistency was achieved. Then Sara spread the mud on my belly.

My view from above

Then Sara took the stones we had gathered from the original ritual and started to draw the Mud Goddess on my belly. She had wild beautiful hair.

And large full breasts that are able to nourish her child.

And a big pregnant belly full of baby

The star with the swirl represents our baby. This image originally appears in the birth Mandala created for me by my Aunt Kathy. I will post pictures of that belly painting in another blog post.

See the river behind my belly? So beautiful!

The full view of our Mud Goddess

View of the beautiful scenery beyond my belly.

It was an awesome experience and was shared with my dear friend Sara. She has been such a huge support to me during the course of my infertility and also this pregnancy. I love you Sara and thank you for all you have done to help me heal and to celebrate the new life growing inside me.

Belly Paintings by Sara

Sara painted my belly to look like Candy!

Since the baby is due to be born in October we figured a Pumpkin was a great way to celebrate my growing belly and the birth of our baby!

And since our baby is a boy and will certainly be the "prince" we figured a frog prince was a sweet way to celebrate that!

I got Tim beat on size but he totally beat me with hairiness! (thankfully)

My view from above!

My beautiful and talented artist Sara!

Love it!