Harper's Birth Story

Almost six months after Harper made me a mom, I am finding a few minutes to write what I have been wanting to write since the night that we brought her home.  Harper's Birth Story.  This story is written to Harper as a letter.

Harper,

It is very important to me that you know the story of your birth.  I want you to know how special the experience was and how it created a bond between your dad and I that will last forever.  I felt better than I have ever felt when I was pregnant with you.  Barring a few bouts with nausea, I loved the feeling of being pregnant.  With you, I craved lots of milk and hot sauce.  I just about ate us out of house and home. I used to go to Piasano's Pizza on James Island on 5 dollar calzone Tuesdays :)  Veggie Calzone please!  I also loved to eat the Buffalo Chicken Wraps from East Bay Deli. I would even dip the potato chips that came with the wrap into hot sauce!  I was pregnant with you on our third wedding anniversary.  Your dad and I took a "baby moon"/anniversary trip to Disney World. We went to Epcot Center and took a behind the scenes tour of Disney.  It was so much fun.  Towards the end of the pregnancy, I was tired a lot; but I was still very healthy.  I was able to work out a couple of days a week until pretty close to the end of the Third Trimester.  We got everything ready in your nursery for you, and Dad repainted the whole house and had wood floors installed before you came.  I used to tell everyone that he was "nesting" in a manly way.

So the morning before you were born, I woke up feeling different.  I knew we were close.  We went to the Charleston Birth Place to get checked out, and Leslie the midwife told use that I was dilated 1 cm.  She advised us to stay busy that day, so that is what we did.  We went to Mount Pleasant and shopped for shoes,  ate Japanese food, and enjoyed ice cream.  I was having contractions about every 8-12 minutes.  Nothing major.  I knew that the next day was going to be "game day" :).  That evening, I had Cory go out and get me some Chicken Parmesan...This was the meal that I always ate before my basketball games, so I figured that I should fuel my body the same way for this event.  I ate every bite.  We went to bed at our normal time, and around 1am the contractions woke me up.  They were coming about every 5 minutes then.  I remember starting to feel a little excited/anxiety, but I was not in any pain.  Around 2am, I called the midwife.  When Judy answered the phone, I said in a cheerful voice, "Good Morning:)."  She answered, "You are not ready."(Later she told me that I was too happy to be ready:)  She instructed me to have your dad call her back when I could no longer stand or talk through a contraction.  The next several hours seemed to fly by for me.  You dad was a champ.  Between contractions, he would feed me bites of banana and give me slurps of Gatorade.  He let me lean on him and sway back and forth to ease my discomfort, and later, when all I wanted was to sit on the cool floor, he sat behind me and let me lean back on him between each wave.
Around 7am, I knew you were almost ready to make your appearance.  We grabbed our bags and made our way to the birthing center.

When we got there, our midwife Judy met us and started filling up the pool.  I was dilated 8cm; and by the time she got the pool filled up, I was dilated 10.  You were what they call"sunny side up," which is a nice way of saying that you were going to be a little harder to deliver.  Judy had me in all sorts of different positions to try and turn you around, but you wanted to stay the way you were.  Although we were both still very healthy and safe, after several hours of trying, I was pretty tired and ready to see your face.  Judy called the hospital, and they got a delivery room ready for us.  One of the funniest things that happened all day was during the commute from the Birth Place to the hospital.  Judy was wheeling me up to the room, and I was pushing about every 15 seconds then.  You were ready.  I had my eyes closed for almost the whole ride over because I was so deep in concentration.  The one time I opened my eyes, we were on an elevator with several maintenance men.  Their faces were all flushed because they thought I was going to deliver you right there on the elevator!  I didn't, though :).

They got us into a delivery room, and in what seemed like a couple minutes later, you made your entrance.  I wish you could have seen your dad's face when he saw you for the first time.  He said, "There she is!  There is our baby!"  He turned away for a quick second because he was so overjoyed, but then came right back to my side as they handed you to us for the first time.  I can't express how awesome that moment was. There was so much love between the three of us at that moment, that although the room was full of nurses, it seemed like the three of us were completely alone.

That day, your Mimi, CiCi, Poppi, Papaw, Uncle Josh, and Aunt Jess came to visit.  I cried when my dad held you for the first time, and your dad cried when his mom held you.  Everyone remarked about your beauty and alertness.  Aunt Jess said that she was going to put mascara on your big eyelashes someday.  We'll see.

Love,
Mom

New Recipe: Homemade French Dips

This recipe has made the cut, and will be in the rotation each month in the Evans household.  Sorry, no pictures...but here it is. 

Homemade French Dips

Crock pot
Any cut of beef (or venison) that will shed well
1 can of dark beer
2 cans of Campbell's french onion soup
water
salt and pep
hoagie rolls and swiss cheese


Cover beef with ingredients and crock all day.  serve on rolls with cheese and a cup of the juice from the crock pot.  I served with fries. 

you can also save the stock and add chopped onions for French Onion Soup. 

Jessie's Cognitive Phases of Pregnancy

I was thinking this weekend about the different things that my mind has chosen to fixate on during these last nine months. It is amazing what happens in the mind during pregnancy. I thought it would be interesting to share my particular mental phases. Here we go...




Phase 1 - OUR LIVES WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.

The day we found out that we were pregnant, I just could not believe it. I took a Dollar Store pregnancy test in the morning. (don’t invest in those.) I took the test, then texted a picture of the results to Cory with the caption, "Does this look like two lines to you?" Neither of us could tell. On the way home, I splurged for the digital PREGNANT or NOT PREGNANT kind. After I took the test, I was too nervous to look at the result. Cory went in the bathroom as I paced in the kitchen...I yelled "What does it say?" He did not say a word, and I knew. He came out of the bathroom and handed me the test. The test read, PREGNANT. We sat at the kitchen table in shock. I felt scared, overwhelmed, and excited all at once. Our lives will never be the same. Wow.



Phase 2 - IT'S ALIVE!!!

After the initial shock and a few weeks of sickness wore off :), my mind became fixed on the fact that there was a living being growing inside of me! I could not wrap my mind around the idea that this thing that was the size of a grape would someday be as big as me, with thoughts and opinions and friends and a life of its own. It rocked my world to think about it.



Phase 3 - PREGNANCY QUEEN

About mid-way though, I loved being pregnant. All I wanted to do was eat from morning until night. I loved the liberating feeling of being able to eat my way through the day with no regret at all. I could get around easily, and people I did not even know catered to me :) It was magnificent.



Phase 4 - HOLY CANNOLI!! I HAVE TO DELIVER THIS THING!!

Feeling Harper move inside of me is one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. I know I will really miss that when I am not pregnant anymore. Once she really started to move, I began to think a lot about the delivery. I was pretty fearful about it at first. I dove into doing research about the process. I needed to find out what was going to actually be happening in my body during labor.

For me, if I can understand why something is happening (a pain or sickness of some kind), then I will do a better job of dealing with it. It is like when I was training during my college basketball days. Even though workouts would be excruciating at times, once I understood what that pain was doing to my muscles, I could handle it. During this phase, I actually thought a lot about my athletic experiences. I have definitely experienced the exhilaration of pushing past points at which I KNEW I could go no further. Through those experiences, I learned that my body is a lot stronger than I think it is. I know that when I get to the dreaded transition stage of labor that I have read so much about, I will be able to dig deep and push through.

Also, during this phase, I really have spent a lot more time with the Lord. It has been a sweet time. My house is currently covered with "labor scriptures" on post-it notes. I have also made a labor worship mix for the birthing center. I know that at the base of everything, through all of my experiences and underneath all of my head- knowledge; He is the source of my strength. He is where my help has and will always come from. I am thankful to know Him :).



Phase 5 - WAIT...SHE IS COMING HOME WITH ME??? TO MY HOUSE???

This is the stage that I am currently residing in . I am not sure how it escaped me before. HELLO?!

I am not thinking about the delivery as much anymore. I am now educating myself about the time after she comes home. I am learning about feeding, and bathing, and pediatricians. The house is also getting the fine tooth comb treatment. Everything has been cleaned from top to bottom. I have washed all of her clothes and bedding, put all of her toys in place, set up the changing area, and put the car seat base in the car. I am so excited to get her home.



Throughout the entire pregnancy, there are a couple thoughts that have not left my mind.

1. I am so thankful. We have prayed for this child for a long time, and the Lord has blessed us. I am thankful for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby. I overflow when I think about it.

2. Cory is going to be an awesome dad. I am so thankful that he is ours :) I am so confident going into this next stage and a huge part of that is because of him. Love him.

PLEASE SHARE YOUR COGNITIVE PREGO STAGES!

At a wedding a couple of weeks ago. 

preparing the nest

I sit today about 6 weeks from my due date.  Cory and I are so excited.  It seems like anytime there is a silent moment in our house, one of us will say, "I just cant wait to see her."  We are constantly daydreaming about her, I think.  I keep visualizing that moment when we will see her face for the first time.  I told Cory that he is nesting as much as I am.  Over the last week, the whole house has received a fresh coat of paint  and new wood floors. 

We are tired, but we are having so much fun.  This pregnancy has been a great season for us.  it has been such a sweet time.  The Lord is preparing each of us for this next step.  I appreciate my husband so much, and I am so thankful that he is mine.  He is going to be an awesome Dad :)  

Over the next week, we are going to be working room by room, deep cleaning and reorganizing.  The joys of preparing the nest:)

All of this work has worn someone out :)

Making the Switch: Part 1

Disclaimer: Every Pregnancy is different.  Every person is different.  This post is not meant to elevate one kind of delivery above another.  We have to all birth in the environment that we feel the most comfortable in.  That is what is best for the baby. These are just my thoughts about MY pregnancy.   

Over the last several months, the Lord has really changed our hearts about the way that we introduce Harper to the world.  For the first few months of our pregnancy, we were both kind of numb to any type of understanding that we actually had choices to make about this pregnancy and birth.  We just thought we were supposed to go with the flow and trust our doctor.  After all, doctors are the experts.  About four months in, however, we began to get a little discouraged the way we were treated at our huge OBGYN practice.  Our doctor called us her "easy" parents, and spent about three minutes per visit with us.  We needed more.  We began to do some research. 

Although doctors ARE experts, and we certainly need them; they are experts in pathology.  We have a completely normal pregnancy (thank you Lord).  The concept of a natural childbirth with a midwife began to come at me from all directions.  I researched and researched and researched and came to the conclusion that this may be a good route for us to take with our next baby :)  (once I get one under my belt).  Cory was supportive of me, but the more I thought about it, the more this question began to rise within me: "If  you know that this method is best for the baby, what is keeping you from giving this gift to Harper?"  the answer was fear.  I was afraid of the pain.  I knew that the right thing to do was to turn my fear over to the Lord and take a step of faith. 

We visited the Birth Center shortly there after for a consultation.  I asked the Lord to give Cory and me peace about which way to go.  As we walked around the place, we both felt immediately settled.  When we were in the birthing suite, Cory just looked at me and shook his head "yes".  At 30 weeks, we officially transferred our care to the Charleston Birthplace.  We could not be happier. I have never been a hospital person.  They give me anxiety as soon as i enter the door.  I immediately fell in love with the idea of delivering in a place that was like a home.  The calmness of an environment like the birthing center trumped the hustle and bustle of a hospital....BY FAR...  AND there is a possiblity that we may be the only family there at the time of Harper's delivery. We are very excited about bringing Harper into the world this way. 

For more information about The Charleston Birthplace, click this link: http://www.charlestonbirthplace.com/

Along with testimonies from friends, here are some links that helped me realize that natural childbirth was the right option for me.

http://www.birthingnaturally.net/index.html

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/business-being-born/ (this is a full length movie, fyi)

more to come about this topic...

Maternity Pictures

It has taken me about 7 months to talk Cory Lee into taking maternity pictures.  Finally, he agreed.  Sally from our church took these beautiful pictures for us.  She is so talented.  We went out to Sunrise Park on James Island.  It was a lot of fun.  I even think Cory enjoyed it :).  Here are a few of the shots I fell in love with. 

To look at more of Sally's awesome work, check out her website.  I have it saved to my favorites so I can stalk all of her new shoots :) http://www.sallywattsphoto.com/

refrigerator people.

When I was in Grad School, one of my friends did a speech about refrigerator people.  Basically, she said that one way you could measure your success is by counting how many refrigerator people you have in your life.  I have never forgotten that.  A refrigerator person is someone who comes to your house to visit; and feels like they can open your fridge, dig around a little, and choose something without asking.  I love it.

I have always loved to entertain.  I love to get everyone together.  I am sure I have annoyed my mother over the years with the "get togethers" I organized at her house.  I want so much for my home to be a welcoming environment for people...like my Granny Millie's house.   

I read a neat blog post today about preparing for guests.  Check it out.  This lady is one of my favorite bloggers.  I am always learning from her.  The blog is about preparing for your guests by praying for them and the visit.  This is one area that I have not thought much about during my prep for people.  I clean and think about what I am going to cook, but I don't spend time in prayer for the visit.  Hello???.  It is so crazy that I forget that entertaining/hospitality is a joy for me because it has been gifted to me by my heavenly father.  I get so wrapped up in enjoying it, I forget about the one who gave it to me, and that I should talk to Him about how He wants me to use it.   Great lesson to learn.