The C-Section

I got a call from our practitioner on Wednesday with all of the c-section details. Yes, I was going to be having a c-section on Thursday morning due to the fact that Ruth was breech. Lawson and I would arrive no later than 5:30am on Thursday to begin the admitting process. Hospitals are now making it slightly easier to get admitted into a hospital. Some paperwork can be completed online and sent in with a click of a button.

After dreaming about the way I wanted our baby to be born and then to have that dream taken away from me in an instant was really tough. I knew the risks involved with c-sections and worked very hard the last nine months to avoid unnecessary interventions and ultimately a c-section. Unfortunately, Ruth had other plans. She was in great position to be born until two weeks before the due date. At a prenatal appointment two weeks out, she had taken a breech position. I tried all sorts of "proven" exercises and strategies to try to turn her. Nothing worked. I learned there was a better recovery for mom and baby if a c-section was scheduled before labor began. So we took Andrea's recommendation and knew that this was the "safest" way to get Ruthie out at this point.

We spent our last "childless" evening going to dinner at Newk's Restaurant in Southaven, stopped at a Whole Foods store in Memphis to get some Arnica and granola bars and packed last minute items for the hospital. Boy, did we over pack! I think we were planning for a five day stay the way we packed!

It was surreal to wake up at 4ish in the morning to ready ourselves for the trip to the hospital. I quickly got on the computer to finalize the last details of our "c-section birth plan" and then got dressed and lamented the fact that I wasn't able to eat anything.

Upon arrival, we waited a moment in the Jeep to pray that God would take care of all of us and give us peace and comfort in the hours ahead. I certainly felt calmness and peacefulness! It had to be from God because if you really knew me growing up, I was always hysterical about medical procedures at the doctors' office. I wasn't able to handle getting a shot without crying and having a fit! The only previous hospital experience I have ever had was when I came in to have a shard of nail removed from the bottom of my foot. Knowing that I would go haywire, my parents had asked that I be sedated during the procedure. That experience only lasted a couple of hours. A c-section is a much bigger deal since ya know - it is MAJOR ABDOMINAL SURGERY!

We got admitted to the hospital and I was brought into my room. Lawson was asked to come back in 45 minutes after all the pre-op stuff was completed. Seeing the bassinet in my room startled me. Our baby was going to be out of me and resting comfortably in that bassinet in a matter of a few short hours! I was asked to trade my clothes with a uncomfortable hospital gown and then had the "pleasant" experience of having an IV put in and I got to watch as IV fluids drained into my arm. That was a first! The baby monitor was put on me next so the nursing staff could hear the heartbeat and know when contractions happened. Ruth didn't like having the assessment done. She kept evading the monitor and the nurses had to keep finding her by moving around the sensors constantly.

I was asked about 80 questions; some of which centered on physical/emotional abuse from the spouse. These questions are customary to alert staff about possible abuse situations and make arrangements for social services to come in and handle patients psychological well-being. Lawson was eventually allowed to come back in. He caught me in the middle of another embarrassing procedure that I wish he hadn't come for but whatcha going to do eh?

I made sure that the nurse had a bit of pay back time after all I went through :) It took her some time to go through our c-section birth plan and then she politely explained that due to hospital procedures, some of our requests would be denied such as playing music during the surgery. Little did she know, that my surgeon would say yes to this request! Ha ha!

Our practitioner, Andrea arrived about 1/2 hour late but it was great to see another familiar face in the unfamiliar surroundings. She checked the heart and contraction monitors and introduced us to our surgeon, Dr. Caruthers. I don't know if getting to meet the surgeon in your room is customary before surgery, but he came in, asked if I had any questions and looked over the nurses notes etc.. I asked him if I could play music during the surgery and he said he was planning on playing some for himself and didn't see why I couldn't. Score! After he left, we learned shortly that our surgery was moved to a later time and would be closer to 8am. I was getting somewhat nervous. I can always tell when I get nervous because I shake uncontrollably. Everyone in the room thought I was cold.

So the closer it got to 8, the more I shook and the more calm I felt - weird! A nurse came in and gave me some really disgusting red juice stuff for me to drink. She told me it was to keep the stomach acids calm. Lawson put on the sterile operating scrubs and was told to not touch "anything blue" in the operating room. Lawson's mother came in and kissed me on the cheek at that point. The nurses who would be with me in surgery came to wheel me out. I remained on my bed for the short ride down the hall. I am glad it wasn't a long ride, that would have been too much! Upon arrival, two nurses started placing sensors on the upper part of my body. I was put into a position in which my back was arched as far as it would possibly go while in a sitting position. My shoulders had to be kept down and relaxed. A nurse next to me said; "Arch your back like a mad black cat." So I thought about a mad black cat while another nurse started to explain what the nurse anesthesiologist was doing to my back. She put in some numbing medicine into my back first and once I was numb, she put in the spinal block. Although I didn't feel pain, I could feel the pressure of the needle going in between the spine bones. This gave me the eeby jeebies and the willy nillies. In my mind, I thought in a mantra; "This is all a dream, this is all a dream." What even made the experience more dream-like was the music that happened to be playing in my ears from Lawson's cell phone and wasn't from the playlist; it was from a game he had loaded onto it.

I first noticed my upper legs getting tingly and then my whole lower body seemed to "fall asleep" much like when your leg or foot falls asleep from poor circulation. I was moved to the operating table to get the dreaded catheter put in and honestly, I didn't feel it at all which I was extremely happy about. When the nurse said she was going to put it in, I told her this process was really disgusting and all of the nurses laughed at my comment.

A blue screen was placed up in front of my head, my arms were not tied down (which I had requested in the c-section birth plan) and I thought; "This is just like you see on T.V. Pretend you are on T.V. Alison." Lawson was admitted to the room and sat next to me on the left of my head. I asked him to help me find the play list since I had somehow "lost" it. He got the play list going and I didn't like the first song that was playing but didn't care to tell him at that point. The anesthesiologist kept testing and poking me saying; "Can you feel this?"

Dr. Caruthers arrived and started playing his "easy listening music." He looked over the screen and asked if we were ready to see baby Ruth. Of course we were ready. I felt no pain but did feel the pressure of all of the movements the surgeon was making. There was pulling, pressure, things being separated and I could imagine what was happening. Lawson watched most of the surgery over the screen. He didn't get sick. I really wanted to have the screen lowered so I could at least see Ruth being lifted over the horizon of my belly, but alas, I wasn't allowed to. :(

I don't really see how a c-section could be called birth because our baby came out of me but I did not get to see her being born. A c-section is more like "magic." All of a sudden, you have a baby outside of you and a surgery had to be performed to get her out. I did nothing to help her emerge...the surgeon and his helper nurses did..I felt like my role in her birth was just to be a "good patient" and lay there and pray everything would go alright. In a c-section, the mother does nothing but lay on the table and feel tugging, pulling, pressure sensations. I did not feel oxytocin, the natural "mothering" hormone that is produced during a natural birth. I felt like I missed out on a lot but nothing could be done to change the circumstances. With a c-section, you have to accept the surgery, that other people will surgically remove the baby.

Lawson watched Ruth being lifted up high and brought over the the warm isolet for an examination. He asked for my permission to be with her and I said - "Go on." The next sensations I felt were not very comfortable. There was a lot of intense crampiness and an almost painful sensation of things being taken out and then put back in. At that point, Lawson walked over with our daughter and sat down on a stool about a foot away from me. I didn't care to see her, my mind was on the intense crampiness and uncomfortableness of putting me back together. I asked aloud, "Should I be feeling this?" Lawson later told me that when I asked this question, he watched the surgeon take out parts, examine each and returned them back to my body. This by far, was the most terrible part of the surgery. I kept trying to count backwards from 20 to 0 so I had some sort of reference to hold on to. It seemed like putting the stitches in took forever. I kept thinking.."What's taking so long?" I told the anesthesiologist that I felt severe cramping and was not feeling so good. She left and returned shortly with a mask and some sort of drug to relax me. I don't think what she gave me helped at all. I just waited for the surgery to end. Lawson brought Ruth over to my head and she looked like what I had dreamed her to look. The emotions weren't there but in my head I was glad Ruth made it out fine.

The nurses pulled down the curtain and moved me in one motion from the operating table to my bed. They were so fast and efficient! At that point I was whisked out of the room and down the hall with Lawson and Ruth following behind. I was greeted by Andrea and a couple of nurses. At that point, Andrea helped Ruth get into a side lying position and we began our nursing relationship together. It wasn't as hard as I thought and Ruth surprisingly was very cooperative. Andrea mentioned that some c-section babies can be excellent nursers - it just depends on the mind-set of the mother.

After the first nursing session, Andrea had to leave, so I thanked her for coming and helping us out. Lawson wanted to know when his parents could show up. I told him to have them in. They arrived and I was very tired. Trying to keep my eyes open was challenging. I don't remember much of their visit. Lawson got most of the visit on video and I look so drugged up! It is a wonder that Ruth didn't feel the effects of the drugs too much. I am glad she came out within the first five minutes of the surgery - less chance of being exposed to drugs.

Rapid changes coming...

On Monday, I tried some strategies to get Ruth into position - but alas, it was in vain. On Tuesday, I spent the majority of my late morning and early afternoon at the office for my last prenatal appointment. The practitioners made the suggestion to try to turn the baby from the outside. So we tried it and got her to move a quarter of a turn until I felt a sharp stabbing pain and then they stopped and we spent the next 20 minutes listening to Ruth's heartbeat and checking if she was stressed. She was stressed a little bit as she was turning and then resumed her happy heartbeat sounds. If anyone was really stressed, it was me. I then learned that our practitioners highly recommended that we have a c-section scheduled before labor commences. The idea behind this was that my recovery would be faster if I didn't go through labor. Going through labor and then having to stall it for a c-section would be really rough on my body and stress Ruth even more. So, Lawson and I discussed everything and decided to follow Andrea's recommendation.

For the past nine month's and even a couple years ago, I had been mentally dreaming and preparing to handle labor and delivery with our children without the use of any medications/drugs. You can imagine if that was my mindset, how upsetting it would be to discover my dream dashed to pieces. One of my hopes is that our next child will choose not to be breech and want to come out without surgery! This is what is called a VBAC -(a vaginal birth after cesarean). So, that is my plan for our next child and hopefully, it will turn out to be a healing situation for my mind and body! To ensure having a VBAC, Lawson and I are requesting that the surgeon give me a double layer of stitching so that a VBAC will be possible in the future. If women do not get the double layer of stitching done after baby is out, their chances of having a VBAC are zero!

I called my cousin and a friend who have had two c-sections each and learned how to navigate through a c-section and recovery without too much fuss. One of the friends we made through our Bradley class was extremely helpful with the advice she gave online. Who knew that I should support my incision with a pillow every time I walk around or that I would need to get up and walk around to give the nurses the indication that I should be discharged early! I didn't know that it is helpful to keep a cool washcloth nearby to help keep baby awake during feeding sessions. Actually, this makes total sense to me since Ruth will be very sleepy from the meds and pain pills from the c-section and recovery.

My parents commented on the phone to me that I "seemed quite calm" about all of this. Well, I have no choice! I have to view this c-section as a way for Ruth to be born and getting upset about it will only make everything more stressful and make Ruth sad! Yes, believe it or not, a woman's negative emotions can make an unborn baby upset! So, I choose to be happy for Ruth's sake. This is the best situation for her to get out and the surgeon will let us know what clues they find to determine what got baby hung up in the breech position.

Last night, Lawson and I played "hippies" with a Moxa stick. I was given a Moxa stick at my prenatal appointment and instructed to have Lawson light it and hold it close to a pressure point on the outside of my pinky toe. When I felt it as being "hot" I was to say "hot" and Lawson would pull it away. This Moxa stick looks like a long cigar and smells awful. Don't let anyone say that Mugwort herb smells good! It smelled really gross and if we try it again tonight, we'll do it outside on the picnic table! The idea behind a Moxa stick is that for some women, babies will turn from breech to head down due to the pressure point being connected to the bladder. Ruthie didn't turn last night, but she was certainly very active!!! Her little hands and head kept bumping out all over the place.

Today's update on the c-section is that we go in to St. Francis - Bartlett at 5:30am, tomorrow, March 19th! The surgery will take place in the early morning after all the prep stuff of course. We'll have little Ruth out in the world with us before 9am and our new little family will be back home sometime on Saturday if all goes well.

The Weekend

During Friday and the weekend, I was pretty much consumed with trying out different strategies to get Ruthie to turn. The method I liked best and felt was getting us somewhere was lying inverted on the ironing board at a 45 degree angle which was leaning up against the couch. I coupled this technique with an ice pack at the top of my belly to discourage her from remaining high. After a couple 20-30 minutes sessions Friday and Saturday, we did notice that she had moved from being straight up to another position we can't quite figure out. Perhaps she is in a transverse sideways position? I felt for her head this morning and all I could feel was a knee or perhaps it was an elbow? Who knows? It could have been her little nose!

On Saturday morning, Lawson went over to the church to help paint our Sunday School room a milk chocolate color. It is actually lighter than milk chocolate - it is in the neutral family.

In between methods, I wrote more thank you notes, did laundry, folded clothes, cleaned, straightened up the house, walked on the treadmill and went on a "date" with Lawson since we both knew this may be the last weekend of non-parenting. We tried out a BBQ restaurant on Saturday night and decided it was one of our new favorite places. At Babies R Us, we purchased two cradle sheets (hopefully they will fit) and some other small things that we needed before Ruth made an entrance.

Sunday, we went to Sunday School and I was pleasantly surprised at how well the room looked with the new paint. It was much more cozier looking and I would not doubt if other Sunday School classes get jealous and copy our idea! The cozy factor may even bring in more people to join the class. We definitely have an advantage over other classes now! Who wants to have class in a white sterile looking environment?

For church, I sat with some people I knew in the congregation. It did not appeal to me to sit with the choir this time around since I would be standing up for a considerable amount of time and singing with a baby almost in my lungs is not very comfortable!

In the afternoon, we had lunch with Lawson's parents and helped them find a computer component at Best Buy. Afterward, we went to their house so Lawson could install the part on the computer and then we visited with Lawson's grandparents who came over for the afternoon.

During the early evening, we attended a World Religions class at church that Lawson had signed up for. It was very interesting to learn a little bit about the Muslim faith. The whole idea behind selecting this class was for Lawson to understand the differences between cultural and religious Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. He works with people on a daily basis of the Muslim and Hindu faith and understanding where they are coming from would be an advantage for Lawson to maintain conversations about faith when it is brought up.

Ruth is a challenge already and she isn't even out yet!

So on Thursday, we went for the ultrasound and it was very apparent that little Ruth was breech. The tech allowed us to hear and see her heart beating, watch the arms and fingers moving and pretty much observe all the important things that ultrasound techs are required to display using the machine. I had to take a break near the end of the session due to feeling nauseous. It didn't feel good to lie straight on my back while the tech ran her instrument all over my belly so I turned to the side for the remainder portion of the time. The lady told us that some women come in and during the procedure, vomit all over the place. I sure hope that ladies haven't upchucked on the expensive equipment!

I felt sad that Ruthie was not in an optimal position. On the way out, I called our practitioner and gave her the low down and she gave me a plethora of advice on how to turn the baby without resorting to extreme measures such as an external version (where professionals literally try to move the baby around with their hands from the outside of the belly). This procedure is very painful and has some risks involved. Some of the non-risky ideas Amy gave me were to lie inverted on an ironing board leaning against a couch, use of heat, cold, lights and music. The idea behind using heat and cold is that babies prefer being warm and would shy away from a bag of frozen peas held on the upper belly. A heat pack can be used below the belly to attract the baby to go towards it. By utilizing a flashlight below, it hopefully would encourage her to go towards the light. (My personal opinion on this is the light would scare her!) In addition, a chiropractic visit was suggested to have the Webster technique used on me.



I have received some encouraging words from people who have had breech babies a couple weeks before term. Babies have been known to flip a couple of times before labor begins and some move during early labor. The key is to be mentally prepared in case Ruth never turns by the time she is supposed to and then we'll have to go in for a C-Section. Yuck! A C-Section is the last possible item on my list to get this baby out. I am praying that she flips and stays put so we won't have to deal with major abdominal surgery and all the risks involved with that - never mind the cost! :) Bleh!

Happy Anniversary to us!

Three years ago at 7pm, we were married at Bellvue Baptist Church in the chapel. Believe it or not, the night we joined our lives together was the same night a year before that we had our first "date." Although people think we planned our wedding day on the anniversary of our first date, trust me, it's not true. We ended up picking March 11th due to the fact it was the beginning of my school Spring Break. Lawson's grandmother thought we had selected the date because it was her birthday, but alas, we did not. It sure does help us remember her birthday though!

Today I did some laundry, took a nap, exercised and went to my weekly appointment with our practitioner. She decided that I would need an ultrasound tomorrow to determine fluid levels and fetal positioning since she was uncertain at the office. Bottom line here is she said the B word; breech. I'm not too worried - worrying doesn't help any. Worst case scenario is a C-Section (Yikes!) and best case scenario is little Ruth turns and we can continue on normally. There is a chance that baby was never breech just hard to tell due to the waters. Sorry if I am grossing anybody out! :)

Back at home, I chatted with mom on the phone and then Kit and I spent some time in the office. She chewed on her bone and I typed. Eventually, she heard the garage door opening and ran as fast as possible to the back door, skidding at times. Moments later, Lawson walked in holding a card and a small cake box from Harriet's Creations. This was the small wedding cake company we utilized for our wedding. Guess what? Lawson ordered a replica of the top tier of our wedding cake for us to celebrate our anniversary with! The butter cream frosting smelled so heavenly! We held the cake knife together and sliced into strawberry cake with strawberry filling. This is what we had for desert. So it was a wonderful way to celebrate our third anniversary; even though the big celebration was the night before at that fabulously expensive restaurant.

Folk's Folley: a night to remember

Folk's Folley was a dinner to remember. When Lawson returned home at 5:30pm, I donned a dress and wrote some emails to people while waiting to leave. At 6:10, Lawson convinced our dog to jump in his lap and when she did, he took her to the crate. By 6:12, I had DH help me put on my necklace and we went out the door by 6:15pm after saying, "Kit, we love you and we'll be back soon!" It only took 30 minutes to drive to the restaurant. Upon arrival, we pulled into the parking lot by the front door and a 17 year old guy opened the car door for me, took our keys and parked the Jeep for us as we walked through glass doors. Talk about service! At the front desk, very friendly women welcomed us and a waitress led Lawson and I to a secluded table by two windows. The room was dimmed with candles glowing at each table. For an appetizer, we ordered some fried pickles and then Lawson ordered steak medalions with three different type of sauces while I chose a petite sirloin cooked butterfly style. For sides, we selected seasoned potatoes and artichokes with a sauce on them. While waiting for the food, we tried some of the bread brought to us. It might have been French bread. The meal was scrumptious and well worth the money. Lawson commented that if we go again, we'll make sure to order dinner in the "cellar" where a pianist plays. The funny thing about the "cellar" is that it is not a true cellar at all. The space is level with the street outside and you only step down two steps to be in the "cellar." This is where we had desert which was a chocolate brownie with almonds and vanilla ice cream. Ours arrived with a lit candle and the waitress stated happily that desert "was on us in celebration of our anniversary." The atmosphere in the cellar was happily cheery with two different pianists, one of which was a woman whose voice could have fit perfectly on N.P.R. She in fact, walked over to our table to wish us happy anniversary. After leaving and tipping the valet boy, we traveled five minutes down Poplar to retrieve our umbrella left accidentally a couple of weeks ago at Sarah's house. Folk's Folley was definitely a dinner and night to remember!

Sunday times

The "Spring Forward" concept is very hard to get used to but we're glad to have adjusted to it today. Due to the church schedule change, we were able to attend Sunday School for 1hr and 15 minutes rather than 1hr as usual. Since choir was not singing today, we remained in Sunday School longer and sat with the congregation for once!

Most of the bottom floor of the sanctuary was filled with students from 5th grade up to the college age level. It looked like a sea of blue since the students were wearing blue t-shirts to identify themselves as youth. I kept thinking back to when I was young person at our church in Massachusetts. Almost every week I'd dream that hundreds of students came through the doors of our very small church. You see, I grew up in a church pretty much by myself. There were no other children in my age group. What can you expect if a church has only a population of 30-40 people?

The service today was held by the church youth group. That meant that youth group praise and worship music played and some of the folks in the 60's and above group cringed a bit as an actual band set themselves up on the stage and sang music unknown to most. The speaker was a visiting pastor in his mid-thirties who focused upon Isaiah chapter six. The message gave hope to those who were failures in different areas and times in their lives. As long as people allow themselves to be used by God, He can use people mightily, no matter what failures have happened in the past.

After church, we hurried on to Lawson's parents home where we had a lunch of roast, carrots, green beans and mashed potatoes. Later, Lawson spent some of the afternoon helping his father fix a computer upstairs while I sat with Lawson's mother and watched with amusement, her stuffed animal type dog (a Papillon) slap a charcoal gray kitty around on the face.

We finished off the afternoon with a short nap back at our house and then took Kit for a one mile walk around the "block."

cradle project and grilling

Yesterday, after we returned home from the craft store, Lawson cut pieces of hard foam to fit in the spaces of the cradle. It turned out great and now the challenge is to place a clean sheet over the mattress and foam pieces. Once the space filling was completed, we straightened up the house and took Kit outside and had her run around to get extra energy out of her. Later during the evening, we had the in-law's over for grilled out hamburgers and all the "fixing's." There is something wonderful about being able to grill at this time of year. Grilling out occurs many more times a year for us than it does for those who live in the North. Even if it is raining, Lawson goes out with an umbrella and does his grill thing. Counteract that with Northern living where if you go out to grill, you most likely would have to contend with snow, ice and slush - not to mention colder temperatures!

Kit certainly enjoyed having Lawson's parents come over. She loves to get all the attention!

cradle project

Today we're going shopping for some foam rubber to cut and fit in between the sides of Ruth's cradle and the mattress. On two sides of the mattress, there are deep spaces about four inches deep and three inches wide. This was caused by the angle of the side boards of the cradle. The mattress does not fit snugly against the cradle sides. According to online wooden cradle guidelines for sleeping, the surface area should be free of gaps of any kind. When the baby gets old enough to roll around, we will be unable to have her continue sleeping in the cradle. If a baby is kept in a cradle and rolls around, she could roll to the sides and get caught in the space between the mattress and side or trap herself against the side and be unable to breathe. Our baby upon first signs of rolling, will graduate to a pack and play bassinet and from there move to a crib. The cradle precautions are necessary to prevent SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

Now you may ask why we would want Ruth to go from a cradle to a pack and play to finally sleeping in a crib. We want to make use of the cradle since it was hand made by my grandfather and will be a future heirloom for generations to come. Secondly, Ruth's nursery (bedroom where we have her crib) is located on the other end of the house and getting up multiple times to feed and change Ruth would be a pain in the neck. I cannot imagine waking up in the middle of the night to race (rather stumble) across the kitchen and living room to pick up a crying child. Therefore, we will have easy access to Ruth in our room using the cradle and pack and play during the first months of her life. We are still debating whether or not to temporarily place the crib in our room until she can sleep through the night. Ah the life of new soon-to-be parents!

Very blessed

I have just realized that our unborn daughter is very blessed with everything a new baby needs this side of the world. Looking in the closet the other day, I counted 35 outfits for months 0-3. In addition, there are 20 little outfits for months 4-6 and another 20 or so for months 7-9. Not to mention that little Ruth has 20 little dresses to fit her in months 10 to two years. What is surprising to me is that we haven't bought her any clothes except for two little onesies. One says; "Daddy did my hair" and the other sports our nfpcharting.com logo on it. Lawson took a glance at the "Daddy did my hair" onesie and commented that he had better make sure Ruth's hair looked good when she wore the outfit. I said he probably wouldn't have to worry too much because we both have a history of bald babies during the first year of life. Since I was bald at birth and Lawson had barely any hair to speak of, I decided to register for those cute head bands that wrap all the way around the head. Honestly, I was floored that we received NINE of them at the church baby shower. So, little Ruth will be decked out in a new outfit all the time and to boot, look very cute with an elastic head band on her little noggin.

Now that the weekend is here, I am getting more excited since our anniversary is next week on the 11th. It is hard to believe that we've been married for THREE YEARS! Since choir takes place on Wednesday night, we have decided to celebrate the night before and go to Folk's Folley Restaurant in Memphis. I have never been there and have heard that it is relatively expensive. We are going all dressed up which makes the experience even more different and wonderful! It will be a time to reflect on the past, eat food that is arranged spectacularly on our plates and relish the last BIG DATE before Ruth comes to meet us.

Pre-Ruth days

There are only 2.5 weeks left before Ruth's due date. For the past three months, I have been preparing for her arrival by washing and hanging up baby clothes, setting up the nursery and checking off items on registries. Ah yes, then there was the cradle, built by my grandfather out of walnut and cherry wood. Shipped to us using UPS, we were dismayed to discover that it arrived broken and splintered. Much energy was spent taking it to be repaired by a local wood craftsman. I have also spent time writing thank you notes, taking Bradley classes with Lawson and refreshing our brains with the Billings Ovulation Method.

We spent last year building a home and working at our respective jobs. I taught one-on-one students in History and English and Lawson tested computer programs for FedEx. Together, we have gone on a lot of dates. Eating out, spending time with family and friends, going on walks with our dog, taking drives through neighborhoods, exploring nearby areas we haven't seen before and visiting out-of state relatives. In addition to all of this, I have desired to blog about my Pre-Mother days before I forget them. People claim that once you have children, you can't even remember what life was like before kids came into the picture. Well, this blog is a way to save my thoughts before my brains forget the days of Pre-Ruth.

So what's it like to stay at home and prepare for motherhood you ask? A lot of energy is focused upon maintaining the pregnancy in a healthy way so I will be non-risk. Eating a balanced diet, drinking 80+ oz. of water daily, taking a one mile walk with the dog most days of the week, napping when my body signals me to do so and downing pre-natal vitamins, Evening Primrose Oil and Red Raspberry leaf tea are all essential to keeping little Ruth and my body healthy. Not to mention all the exercises such as keeping great posture on a large exercise ball, getting on hands and knees to produce relief in my back and stretching! The only thing I have been really surprised about in this pregnancy is the uncomfortableness that comes from stretching ligaments and cartilage. I didn't know I had so my ligaments and areas of cartilage! God is amazing. He has designed woman's bodies to prepare for labor ahead of time by allowing the body to stretch so the baby has more room to exit. I sure hope Ruth someday appreciates all of this work! Perhaps when she is expecting her first child someday, she'll have a new awareness of what her mother went through to have her! :)