Thankful Thursday

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Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his miracles.
1 Chronicles 16:8-9

The Lord has done so much for me. My little Marin is doing wonderfully. Her jaundice is gone, she has a good latch and has gained 12 oz in one week! She is now 7lbs, 7oz, which is 4oz more than her birth weight... all in 11 days! She is growing so much. I can hardly believe it. The nurse was thrilled with how alert she is... and boy is she alert. She doesn't want to nap much anymore and it takes a bit to get her to sleep now. She sleeps well at night though when over her fussy period (which is 11pm till... whenever we get her to drop off... last night midnight, which is better than the previous night of 1am). She is so cute. I am so thankful for her, even if she does keep us up for awhile, (smile). I can still hardly believe I had her!

I am thankful for my healing. God has blessed me so much! My body is healing, and although I still have a bit of pain, I want to get out and walk. Oh... and I'm almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight! 2lbs to go... unbelievable. I love Wii Fit (although I'm not working out or dieting at all yet... dieting I won't do, but working out I will once I get the go-ahead from my doctor). I am thankful for my husband who helps me out with Marin so much. He's changed many a diaper already. And I am thankful for the meals we have been getting from church. They are such a blessing. I am just... so thankful.

Lately I cannot help but want to sing. So many songs have popped into my head lately... I cannot remember half the words to them, but they are old songs from when I was a kid. Old hymns. We haven't sang many old hymns in church in awhile. So where did these come from? All I can think of is that my heart is so happy that they are bursting forth from within... from a time and place long ago. Perhaps Marin will enjoy those very same songs someday. Perhaps we will be able to sing them together.

I am so thankful for the weather. It is beautiful. The leaves are changing color, fall is in the air and I just love the scent of autumn. The corn harvest is upon us, and while we wish we could have had a few more heat units to get optimal corn, it still feels good to know that we'll be getting it off the field and ensiled for the animals. I so wish to take photos of the fields again this year, and of the trees and sky... I love this season. It's amazing how God made each season so different and beautiful in it's own way. I SO want to have a bonfire.

That's my thankful thursday post. I want to make sure I keep doing these at least, as I've been having a hard time finding time to post at all. Have a great week and weekend! And let's let our thankful hearts lead us this week.

Birth Story

So, Friday night we finally finished the baby room. It looks great! Anyway, Chuck says to me ‘now if you go into labor at 2 in the morning, the nursery is done’. That was midnight. Two hours later, I felt contractions… not strong, just there. So I ask Chuck the time and he’s like ‘why’? When I told him I thought I was in labor, he was quick to find out that it was 2:03am.

We headed to the hospital at 4:30 as my contractions were already 4 minutes apart. When they checked me they thought I was practically there as I was completely effaced. She checked again and found me 2 cm… the fact that the baby was so low and right there threw her off.

Labor wasn’t bad… at first. And the whirlpool tub was great! Unfortunately when I got to 9 or 9.5 cm, the contractions were too much for me to breathe through anymore, and my body was tensing up and not finishing the dilation. Now anyone who knows me knows of my fear of needles… and the idea of one in my back terrified me. Well, the options we were given were the spinal and Demerol, which meant giving a needle to baby to counter the effect of the drug. So, hubby made the decision for me. I was to have a spinal. And to be honest, I’m glad we did. I fell asleep after it was administered which was around 4pm… I don’t remember exactly. Then within minutes my body was pushing. They checked me, I was ready, and away we went. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the moment I heard them say “It’s a girl”. I wanted to cry and collapse and everything all at once. That was at 5:32pm. Then we had complications.

I did tear a little, but didn’t need stitches. It still hurt like crazy. And the placenta wouldn’t come out. It took an extra hour and a lot of blood, and I needed the IV. I was able to nurse afterward, and she nursed really well, which was great. Afterward though, I couldn’t do anything else but sleep. I couldn’t even get up because the room swam like crazy. Then I had problems emptying my bladder and they were talking about using a catheter. I prayed like crazy that I would be able to go on my own, and thankfully I did. In the end, everything was ok.

I couldn’t eat anything all day Saturday, and Sunday I only had very little to eat. Monday I ate much more, but got sick over the night into Tuesday. We figure I had a fever as I thought Chuck was Marin and was going to roll off the bed, or that he would roll onto her, although she was in the bassinet. My milk came in that morning, and my cold came back full force that day too. And Marin got jaundice… so that made things even more difficult. Thankfully mom came down Wednesday and helped me out. I’m feeling better today, but I’m actually eating again which helps, and Marin is feeding really well again (I put her in the sunshine today a couple of times to help with the jaundice). The public health nurse came down yesterday which was nice. She’s coming down tomorrow too. It was good to know that I was doing things well, and her suggestions to help me feel better were great to hear, and when I did them it really helped.

I’m currently feeling a bit sick, but I think sleep will help. So, I’m going to head to bed. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and well wishes!

Thankful Thursday

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Today, I am thankful most of all for my little baby. God is so good. He has blessed our family so richly. He is helping me to heal, and He is keeping us safe. Marin is a great baby, as she sleeps well, is rather alert for what I thought a newborn would be, and eats well. She is a bit jaundice right now, but I had her in the sun a bit today (in the house, suggested by the public health nurse) and I can tell already that she is perking up again (jaundice makes them even more sleepy, and she was such that she wouldnt stay awake through a feeding). Hubby is wonderful with how much he's been helping me, and my mom came down yesturday and spent the day with me to help me out, which is such a blessing. I'm so thankful for family and friends who care so much about us and are praying for my recovery. I feel I'm recovering nicely... in fact I was able to do a little bit today (farmbooks needed doing, and all that it needed was a half hour of my time this morning, so I did them while baby Marin had some "wake time" kicking and enjoying the sun on the office floor... oh, and I did some laundry too which hubby helped with). I am thankful for the meal that was brought to us yesturday, and the fact that I could eat it (I got sick tuesday and didn't eat hardly a thing all day).

Yes... tis a great day to be thankful.

Baby is here!

And it's a GIRL!

Marin Ladawn,
7lbs, 3oz,
19 3/4 inches long,
born 5:32pm on September 20th

I'll post my 'birth story' later if anyone is interested. For now, I just figured I'd let you know. I may not post for awhile, but we'll see. I'm really tired as there was one minor complication with my placenta that caused me to lose a lot of blood (more than normal) and my recovery, while great, will probably be a bit slower than otherwise. I'm home now though (just got home, yippee for being home!).

Need Some Tunes?

I saw a post at frontporchlegacy.com on their "song of the week". Well, I don't do a song of the week, but I have a few songs I really like that I thought would be fun to share with you all. Feel free to listen and watch these music videos when you wish.

Here's a fun one called "Convoy". It's just plain fun in my opinion, and since my dad was a trucker, I just really like this song.


This one didn't have embedding enabled, so here's the link to International Harvester on YouTube. We're farmers... so we find this one hilarious. Oh, and this one is for you, honey! (I actually really like this song, not just because it's fun, but I think about how sometimes we take the "slow down's" in life and get all mad at them, when they are important to our daily lives as well).

And now for some songs that usually get me all teary eyed... especially lately (smile).

"Your Gonna Miss This" is a beautiful song that is reminding me to take note of the things around me, loving the life I have right now, instead of wishing for something different or focusing too much on the future.


"Long Black Train"... I really like the message in this song.


This one didn't have embedding enabled either. It's called, Waiting on a Woman, and I'm sure many guys can relate. I just adore the end of this song.