Introducing "Marble!" Number 6 in a Growing Clan

This is the Story of an all-natural home birth...

Well, December 15 came and went without a new baby. It is the old game of Hurry Up … and Wait. How very military of our new youngster! As we went through the week following, I worked hard with the boys to keep laundry up, get the house clean(er) and basically set up so that when the time actually did come things could still run fairly smoothly without Mom and Pop having to be the driving force.

Christmas 2014 picture with The Widmife at Sunday's two-day-old check up

I didn't take the time to look at the list of "things to have on hand for a home birth" that Jennifer Rector, AKA: The Widmife (a title given to her by Buttercup), gave us until around the 17th. (Might be something a little too laid back about my approach for some people's feelings of security, hmmm?) Finally looked at that list and had to go out to pick up a few things. So we hit Target up, and I went to get groceries to make sure we were stocked up. I had only been getting two or three days at a time up to that point - don't ask me why. The impending birth of a child was just not putting much of a sense of urgency on this seasoned Mama.

The Waiting (For Baby!) Game

Well, I am at the official "due date" of December 15, 2013, and no sign of baby yet. I have had contractions off and on, but nothing worth taking note of, just the sort that tell me I am forging ahead and that delivery is imminent. I am a no-intervention kind of gal, and do as little as possible when it comes to medical interference in natural procedures. That means no hep-lock iv, no Pitocin, no epidurals, no, no, no, NO, NONONO!!!

Hi, Baby No-Name! See you soon!
You'll look less "creepy" then.

So in the last two weeks of this sixth pregnancy, I reached out and met with a midwife that does home births. I have nothing against the medical establishment, or even military medical folks. They are doing their jobs to the best of their training. I just don't follow the contours of their box and don't want to have to fight that while in labor, nor do I want the White Knight to feel like he has to fight for me when I need him focused on what is going on with my mostly non-verbal cues. 

I Hope You Get Everything You Deserve

Join me for a different sort of Christmas tale...

(This actually took place in December, 2012. I am reposting it this year because it is a story that - for the goods and the ills - takes place all over the country each year in some way, about this time. And it's a sweet story and one that blesses me again and again to read.)

About two weeks before Christmas in Washington state (where it is cold and gets darker earlier), a grandma and a great-uncle decided to give a little girl a birthday party. It was a bit late, but that's okay, in a big family "delayed gratification" is an important concept to learn early! They scrimped and saved to let her have her party at one of those party gym places, and invited the whole class. Little Girl was turning eight, and has six siblings and four cousins who live nearby, so the first 10 slots were taken by them; anyone over 15 guests were going to cost extra, but this was a once-in-a-long time party, and the gym was 25 minutes away, so it was anyone's guess at how many were going to come!

Endurance and Prayer

I am part of a FaceBook group that is specifically for people to request, and respond to, prayers for those in their lives - whether personally, in business, or whatever their needs may be. I also am learning to make the knots that are used in our Orthodox (Christian) prayer ropes, and I often wear one on my wrist to fiddle with; when I fiddle with the prayer bracelet, I am reminded to pray for those around me and in my life. 

What do I pray for? Personal needs, health needs, business needs, family needs... whatever comes to mind for a person. And here's the big thing, I cannot complain about anything in my life. My life is not perfect, but it is relatively hassle-free.

A Journey of Fifteen Years

Wow, how time flies by. When I was sixteen, I was "sure" I would never have kids of my own. I was too enlightened for that - there were so many kids in the world already who needed love and a family, so I was going to adopt.

14 candles on the cake - but it makes the point

When I was eighteen, I added on the aspiration to join, and remain in, the military for twenty years and retire.

When I was nineteen, I met a guy who was "nice" and who made me laugh - he was the best friend of the guy I was dating at the time. He had always said he would "never" join the military, and especially not the Air Force.