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2 months Old

Samantha is now two months old. Can you believe it! How fast those first few months go. We headed to her two month old check-up last week while Miles had a blast at Helen's. She passed with flying colors. However she got her first shoot and wow, she did NOT like that! I remember Miles not even crying but boy was she aghast, letting out multiple loud cries and shocked looks. I can see this shot thing is going to be tough.

Here are her latest stats:

• Height: 22 inches
• Weight: 10 lbs
• Health: Perfect!
• Behavior: She smiles at us, holds up her head, turns and looks at you, gives you different facial expressions and coo's a tons!

Dedication of Kids

We dedicated both kids at church a few weeks ago at the parent-child dedication. We really believe that they are a gift from God and wanted to express our commitment to raising them up as followers of Christ. We hope they love God as much as we do and live out lives with strong moral values and a heart for others.

Here we are up front during the dedication.

Family at the occasion.

Geoff, Miles & I after the event. Samantha was asleep in the car seat.

Today's Naps

Ahh naptime. After an hour of attempted napping the house if finally quiet.

Miles insisted on not napping. He was so tired I just couldn't let him out of his room to run around. Instead I kept checking on him and putting him back in bed. Luckily I looked under the door before opening it! He finally fell asleep next to the door on the floor. Exhaustion finally won. Here's a picture form under the door. He's been there asleep for almost three hours!

Samantha sleeping without the need of a pacifier. She finds her hand and thumb instead! She has learned to love sleeping on her tummy for naps too. What an adorable girl. I love how peaceful they look sleeping. When she is tired she goes to bed on her own no problem. When she is not tired (or overtired) she gives us quite the fight. :)

The Adjustment to two Kids

I've made it a month and a half with two kids. Only 2 weeks at it alone during the days. Whew. Luckily the madness has slowed down. The sleeping is starting to come a little more often. The fatigue is lifting. And I am loving it. For a while I wasn't sure I would. But did I say, I am loving it. Motherhood is a wonderful thing. I think it has helped I started having a night out, coaching a women's training program. By the end of the evening I am missing the family so much and can't wait to see everyones smiling faces in the morning.

Yes there are days I'd rather be sitting in a office chair. Like the times when everyone thinks naps are optional and get overtired. But most days I realized I am the happiest person in the world and wouldn't want to be doing anything else. I love having the ability to be intimately involved in my children's lives.

Thanks Geoff for supporting me and the kids. Love you and everything you do for me and us.

P.S.
Samantha slept her first full night at 6 weeks old! 8 hours in a row. Too bad Miles woke me up in the middle of the night because he had fallen out of his bed! Poor guy. It was his fourth night in his big boy room, with a twin mattress on the floor and no railings. I guess you just have to learn some things the hard way! Besides falling out, he loves his new bed and the ability to get in and out of it on his own.

Us Together

It isn't quite our Anniversary but we headed out to Middleburg this past weekend to where we got married. It was so nice. We walked around with the kiddos and took a photo where we do every year in case we didn't make it back. So here is our early three year anniversary picture. :) We tried to include the kids in the background for one of them.

The Kids

Can you resign after 1 1/2 days on the job?

So can you resign after 1 1/2 days on the job by yourself? I am finally alone with the two kids after my parents leaving yesterday morning and the thought of resigning has crossed my mind (although I would never do it). I have dealt with more poop in a 1 1/2 day period then I thought possible.

Let's see... yesterday. If it wasn't enough to have a dog with the runs, I had a newborn with a major diaper explosion. During the diaper explosion I was on a call with her in my lap. By the time I was off the phone there was a mess everywhere. Lets just say an emergency bath was required and a change of clothes for BOTH of us. At the same time this was occurring the timer in the kitchen went off. So full on mess and baby in hand I dashed down the stairs to ensure I didn't burn dinner. By the end of it I have a toddler on my leg whining for attention, a baby crying and me trying to quickly wash an outfit out and clean up after a dog.

Today... new day, same thing. Dog makes a mess on the carpet, baby has an explosion while holding her. Plus two emergency feeds. (Don't know what an emergency feed is? Read on.) One while I was attempting to make an omelet for me and Miles. Baby crying, omelet in progress with hungry toddler in high chair. Which do you deal with? The second while walking back home with hungry toddler and baby. Solution...who knew you could breastfeed a baby in a carrier while cooking or walking.

Well that is only the start of the challenges these last two days but I must use my limited quite time to get some work done. The big question is what will tomorrow look like...

Samantha Photo Album

Here is a link to some photos from Samantha's Birth and then of us all after.

Samantha's Birth Photo Album

Samantha's Birth Story

Samantha Lee Beaty came into the world on Friday, March 12th at 6:22am. God truly had his hand around this baby and delivery and we are so blessed with her presence.

Our birth story starts out on a walk the day before. Geoff, Miles & I were out for a walk Thursday evening but decided to head back early. Good thing! Right after turning around I felt a gush. Uh, oh, my water broke. What do you do in this situation? I couldn’t think of anything but to quickly waddle back home. The whole walk back I was laughing with Geoff trying to convince him it was indeed true. By the time we got home I felt like someone dumped a bucked of water on me from the waste down. Luckily no one else would have noticed!

We weren’t expecting this scenario. No contractions were happening that made me think labor was starting. So what do you do next? Lots of different advice from heading right to the hospital to staying at home until labor gets going. So we sought some advice from my sister (her water broke for all three kids) and our Bradley Birthing instructor.

Both gave us some good advice and we felt reassured that labor was likely to start in the next 24 hours. This baby was going to be early. The due date was 5 days away. By 8pm that evening my mother-in-law was there in case we needed to head to the hospital. I had just gotten up from a nap, and some easy contractions had started. I was starting to get excited. This might be the real thing. But no fast progress so at 10pm, with bags packed, we all headed to bed to either sleep until the morning or wait until something more happened.

Something more did happened. I never got to sleep and by 11pm the tough contracts were starting. I was definitely in first stage labor. I was getting the uncontrollable shakes and hard long contractions. I woke Geoff up and he jumped right into coaching: timing my contractions, getting me water, and helping me stay relaxed. Thanks to Geoff we ended up doing a good amount of work at home. This is the recommended approach for a natural Bradley birth. Especially since I had to use an external monitor at the hospital due to attempting a VBAC (vaginal delivery after a prior c-section).

By 3am contracts were very hard and we were headed to the hospital. All I wanted at this point was to be done. When I arrived at the hospital I was 5cm dilated, and 90% effaced. Yah! I labored for another tough hour while they filled out paper work. Finally I was given the okay to get into the tub. What a relief! It reduced the pain a notch. With each contraction I was getting a severe backache and strong surges of pain send down my round ligaments towards my knees. I can remember telling myself with each one “This is only pain, pain with a purpose. Stay relaxed.”

Turns out the two things I was most concerned about having to use, those things that lead you towards an unplanned c-section, didn’t work. Both the external monitor and an IV drip were not working properly. Throughout the whole bath time the nurse kept holding the wireless monitor and adjust it. After an hour in the tub she needed me to get out to get some better statistics on the baby.

After exiting the tub the nurse asked if I had any urge to push. I did and quickly got the green light. We were on to the next stage and baby was in good condition. The next half hour of pushing flew by and before we knew it we our baby was born. Geoff surprisingly announced, “It is a girl!” as both were thinking boy. Before I new it they laid her on my chest only seconds after her birth while Geoff cut the umbilical cord. What a precious moment I was so thankful to be un-medicated for. I stared at this wonderful child that God created.

What an amazing experience! I would never change it for the world. We stayed in the hospital for one night then headed home on Saturday to be together as a whole family with Miles. All and all it took around 13 hours from water breaking to birth, with only 7 hours of hard work and no medication.

Samantha Lee Beaty’s Statistics

• Sex: Girl
• Date: March 12th, 2010 at 6:22am
• Weight: 7 pounds, 9.9 ounces
• Height: 19 inches
• Delivery: I was able to have a successful natural un-medicated VBAC (vaginal delivery after a prior c-section) delivery!

RBC Women's Retreat

I headed to my churches women's retreat last week. What a wonderful time away before I dive into parenting 2 kids. Thanks so much Geoff for being willing to take on a weekend of boy time with Miles. We spent the time relaxing, studying the book of Ruth and of course eating. At my OB appointment this week they said I gained 2 pounds over last week! I knew exactly why... Here are some pictures.

Pregnancy Update

I am now 5 days away from my due date. Wow so soon. It has really hit me. People have asked if I'm nervous about the whole thing, especially with trying for a natural VBAC (vaginal birth after Cesarean) and I've always said no. But after yesterdays OB appointment I'm not so sure I can say that. It's not that I don't feel ready. I am just reminded how much the doctors and I don't see eye to eye on the small issues. Each appointment they seem to add another thing. I knew from the beginning we didn't see everything the same, but now as the date looms it is bothering me more.

For example for a natural vaginal birth the best thing you can do is stay home as LONG as possible before being checked into the hospital. The longer you are at the hospital the more they will want to intervene and not always with necessary procedures. Wait well into the first stage. However now, as of the last visit, they want me coming in right away because of the "risk" a VBAC posses and labor in the hospital. This counters everything I've learned about a successful natural process. What do I do? Why are they mentioning this, among other things now? Why do they have to challenge the idea of letting a women, her body and her baby follow the natural process so much? Why isn't there a middle ground between a home birth and a hospital birth? I find I have many questions now swirling around in my head. In the end I know my main goal is still 'happy baby, happy mother' just like with Miles. But I do hope in the end I do not regret the decisions I made or are about to make.

Pregnancy Stats:

• Due Date: March 16th, 2010 (according to docs office)
• Timeline: 39 weeks, 2 days.
• Sickness: Nauseousness is back to very high. All day and night long. Ugh.
• Sleep: 2 out 10. I'm up most nights for hours at a time.
• Overall Feeling: Lets get this done.
• Visitor Hospital Policy: They lifted the restriction last week so Miles can now come visit us in the hospital! Ya!

Valentine's Day Meal

On valentines day Geoff and I cooked a new and fun homemade meal together. We had such a great time and Miles was a super star throughout it all. We pulled up his high chair to the counter in the kitchen and he sat watching us and reading a book the whole time. We made gluten-free meatballs with pesto pasta. Then had a layered strawberry banana fruit parfait for dessert. Yum! So good! If only we had the time to cook like that every night.

Pregnancy Update

At the Air and Space Museum

Only 1 month left! I SO cannot wait. 30 days and counting down...

So I have some good news. I went to my 35 week doctors appointment and found out baby is head down!! So for now we are on for trying for a VBAC (vaginal delivery after c-section). At 35 weeks it is very likely baby will stay in it's current position until birth. If baby was breech (head down) my doctor would be giving me the scheduled c-section discussion. But as of now I don't have to have a c-section! It is only one step closer towards a natural delivery but a big one.

Right now Miles and I are sick with colds so it made for a tough week. We cancelled most of our activities last week. Hopefully we can get better soon and back into the swing of things. Also Miles is getting all 4 of his cuspid teeth right now so it having a hard time with it.

Hopefully he will be in tip top condition by next Tuesday for his trip to Oklahoma with his Dad and Grandma. They will all be gone for 4 1/2 days. So I will have some downtime during week 37 of the pregnancy. I'm thinking it might be good to find a emergency back-up incase I go into labor early. :)

Snowmaggedon

Here are some pictures from our crazy snow these last two weeks. The biggest dump giving us 32 inches at one time. The government and business' seem to be running part time. And the schools seem to be closed permanently. At least to those with kids at home for a week straight!

So the question is how many snow storms do we need to have in a row for them to figure out how to plow a road? They are horrible here! (You MN snow plowers are awesome!) You will be driving down a road and suddenly your lane ends with a big pile of snow in the middle. Or some roads they just skip.