Pregnant no more!

Well hooray for a new baby and the return of sleeping on my stomach! Phew - that was a long nine months but our Jackson is HERE and we are sooo excited! He came into the world last Sunday, March 16th crying his lungs out, weighing in at 8lbs 11oz - yikes! That's a big baby!

It started Sunday morning at 4:30am - I was awake walking around the house when I bent over to get my phone - a gush of something nasty came out and I said "uh oh." Tony then said, "what's 'uh oh'?" I said, "I think my water broke." Well, I then proceeded to take a shower, shave my legs and then do what any pregnant mama should do when they think their water breaks - wait for Trader Joe's to open at 8am so I could get some grocery shopping done before we went to the hospital. So I stuck a pad on (sorry for all of this TMI stuff) and waddled around a grocery store. Ha! I am an idiot sometimes. But I really needed to go to the store!

So we get to the hospital and they ask if I've been having contractions. "Yes, sometimes - maybe every 20 minutes or so." So I get hooked up to the monitors and it turns out I am having contractions but not every 20 minutes - more like every 4-5. So they tell us we will be admitted to the hospital. Hooray!

 I ended up having a c-section (I had one scheduled for the next day anyway) and since then, everything has been just awesome. The recovery from surgery this time seems easier, breastfeeding is WAY EASIER, and you just know more about how to care for a human being the second time around - MUCH MORE RELAXING!! With your first child, it's like "here's your child - good luck to you!" and you try to tackle breastfeeding, figuring out if you should pump between feedings, do you change your child's diaper if they are sound asleep, etc - very overwhelming. So this time around - ahhhhh, much easier in many ways. A little tricky though too since there is another child in the mix who still has a jog-a-thon at school, school picture money to turn in - and oh yeah, a birthday party to attend (to name a few). Luckily, that has all gone well too. Phew, what a juggling act. I don't know how people with more than two kids do it - I have the utmost respect for those of you out there! Seriously.

 We seriously though could not have done any of this without help from family. My mom and Tony's mom seriously saved the day with taking Ava to and from school, feeding her, cleaning up dishes, feeding us - it was freaking awesome to just BE and only have to focus on feeding a baby, spending time with Ava, eating, showering, and sleeping. Then my sister came to visit which was great - Ava got to play all day with her cousins, my sister jumped to get me water or anything else I needed - again, FREAKING AWESOME. 

Praise the Lord though that it is Ava's spring break this week and Tony is still off work. It is 11am and we are all still in our pajamas. So that will be the big task next week - can we get our child to school with some food packed, looking decent all before 8am? Hmmmm, we will see.

But seriously, perfect timing from the Lord when our Jackson would arrive - He knew we would need some time to adjust and spring break for Ava was the answer! Seriously. Love it. So my heart is full and our family feels full and I am just so in love with Tony, Ava, and Jackson. My cup runneth over.

-Emily

Just a couple more days . . . :)

It's soooo quiet in my house right now. It's 4:29am and I am just sitting in the living room finishing up some things I wanted to get done before our new baby arrives. I paid some bills, updated my young living oil autoship order, and even laid out Ava's outfit for Monday since it will be Saint Patrick's Day and she needs to wear green.

Because this baby will be here Monday at the latest. I have a c-section scheduled if I don't have him between now and Monday. And seeing that it is already 4:31am on Saturday morning, I don't see myself spontaneously going into labor in the next two days. So Monday it is! We will have a Saint Patrick's baby.

Everything is ready to go - like, literally everything. From Ava's Big Sister gift being wrapped and ready to be opened to the money we will pay Monday morning for my c-section.

It's so wonderful the way God works. And you can see Him working when you seriously hand everything over to Him to arrange - not that we just then sit back and do nothing - being prepared, active, and wise etc is huge too. But to constantly look to Him and then not have that WORRY is one of the greatest feelings ever.

He seriously arranged so many things this past week just to make it that much easier for us to move forward with peace and security. We received a generous gift in the mail of four gift cards which was AMAZING and totally out of the blue. One of our tax returns was just deposited into our checking account today. AMAZING. And I love watching all of this come into play - because I literally smile or tear up and immediately think, "Thank you, Lord." And I relax even more and even laugh a little thinking back to all those years when I would worry about finances or how things would be - and of course things would be stressful because the Lord was not included in the equation. So what a comforting and secure feeling to wait and see everything unfold so perfectly. My cup runneth over.

So our little boy will be here very soon. And we are ready. And soooo excited. We have waited and waited and waited for this day. And my heart will grow again when he is born as I will have another baby to love.

"If I am thinking correctly," said Pooh, "a new baby is probably, undoubtedly, the grandest gift that ever could be."

-Emily

Moms Just Know

Mom's just know - or they should know probably, or maybe they don't know so if that's the case, then I don't know and just forget it.

But, I just knew that Ava needed an antibiotic yesterday and I was not leaving urgent care until I got it from the doctor. I seriously was not leaving. My huge uterus was staying put in the chair until I was handed the prescription. Which is seriously a little weird for me because I have always just listened to doctors, did what they said, and didn't speak up. But this is what I did last year when Ava got pneumonia - I just went along with the doctor even though her temp kept rising, and even though I kept calling them to give them updates, and even then they still told me it was just a virus and "let it run it's course." And look where that got us? A trip to the ER with a child who had a 106.2 temperature - yes you read that right! 106.2! And how did they treat it? With antibiotics.

So naturally my anxiety started to rise when the doctor wanted to just send us on home yesterday and told us Ava had the flu and to just rest. I will have to say I am proud of myself for remaining calm at 9 months pregnant but also clearly explaining my case and advocating for Ava. Ava had puss pockets on her throat and was coughing up awful green phlegm! And was now running a temp! In my head, I'm thinking "this is an infection." And an infection she has had before that cleared up beautifully with antibiotics and then we were all on our merry way in life. So she listened to what I had to say but then said that she would prescribe Ava tamiflu and cough medicine - not an antibiotic. NOOOO!!! - is what I was shouting in my head. But out of my mouth came something very tame but also very clearly showed that I did not agree and yes, me and my huge uterus are still sitting here until you change your mind.

Now, I'm totally not saying we just always need to battle the doctors we see because most are wise and helpful - not saying this AT ALL. I have tons of respect for the doctor's we have for our family and are great! But I just felt like once this doctor honed in on "it's the flu," it blinded her to see anything else. So hooray to the doctor who took the time to listen to me even though she might have thought I was one of "those moms."

So last night, she took the antibiotic, and after that, didn't cough once, went to school today and is jumping around. It was not the flu. She is doing wonderful!

So listen to your instincts mamas! And when we need to be an advocate, I believe there is a way to do this with grace, manners, but some firmness, etc. Now of course, I have sucked at this on many occasions and just ended up sounding mean and degrading. So I am still working on it. But I want to show Ava it is okay to disagree with people but we can still be kind. Man, this whole parenting thing is so amazingly intricate! But it is the best job in the world!

- Emily

Operation Baby

I feel like I am preparing for every scenario possible with this child who will be born soon. There are all of these "what if's" going on in my head and I feel like I am training for some covert operation and need to be ready for whatever flies my way. I literally just typed a two page document listing Ava's schedule and her activities along with important phone numbers, name of her teacher, how many dairy items she can have per day, when her daisy troop meetings are, how to apply oils to her if she is coughing, etc. There is one for our dog too.

And I'm also making little piles everywhere with important documents. I have the "girl scout pile" with the money that needs to be turned in so if I'm not around to deliver it, it can be located and taken to Ava's daisy troop meeting. I also have a "tax pile" with all of our documents ready for our tax guy who we will see soon but, who knows? Maybe I won't see him soon. My goal for tomorrow is to stock up on toilet paper and food items for Ava so the person watching her while we are gone will be able to use our toilet without worrying. This time around being pregnant is soooo different.

When I was pregnant with Ava, we of course had things to plan for but we did not have another child who needed arranging. We just drove to the hospital at midnight, I had my sister straighten my hair first (what a stupid thing to do by the way), and all we had to remember was to lock the door when we left our home. That was it. I didn't need to have meals available for another human being, or directions for medicine written out, or a reminder for when library day is at school. We just blew away into the wind and came home with our beautiful Ava.

Now, I'm actually not stressing. It may seem like I am but I'm not. I am really glad I am getting all of this done because that makes me feel better. I do quality assurance stuff for work so me being organized is just a way of life for me. I'm getting the things done that I know I have control over. And I also know that flexibility is key to this whole birth thing because babies have their own agenda - and so does God. So while, yes, I am prepping and getting prepared, I also feel very relaxed in that the Lord has all of this covered.

I am literally just savoring these final weeks (or days - who knows?!) until our son comes. I am in a perfect place right now and just am thanking the good Lord for arranging all of this in His time. Because we had prayed for so long to have this baby - and now it is almost upon us! And the timing is just perfect. All of the noise around me - I just am shutting it out and focusing on our little expanding family. I am at such peace and peace like this only comes from the Lord.

So thank you to all who will be helping us with our sweet Ava while we are gone having our son! We could not do any of this without you! And I know she will be taken care of so well so that puts me right at ease.

I can't wait for this little baby to greet us all!

-Emily

It worked!!

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am that our first attempt at getting a sick child better with only oils worked! I have used young living essential oils for other things of course - especially Ava's asthma which has been amazing. But I haven't had to use them for someone getting full on sick. And I'm still a believer in medicine too so don't get all nutty about it (for instance, if Tony needs to use his epi-pen, I'm not going to do a trial run with oils while he's sitting there with his throat closing).

But yesterday's attempt worked!

So she had a temp of 101 in the morning so I diluted two drops of YL (young living) peppermint oil and rubbed it on her spine. I also put thieves on her feet and diffused it as well. She also sounded a little stuffy so I put a drop of lavender down the bridge of her nose and some lemon on the sides of her neck. Within a couple of hours, temp was down to 98.5 and she wanted to eat and play. Then it went up a tad to 100 and later to 100.8 but my hubinero and later my mother put some peppermint under her armpits ever few hours. Also diffused some purification and lemon throughout the day. So when I got home from work, her temp was at 99 but she had this nasty cough. I immediately had flash backs to when she suddenly developed pneumonia last year so I started to get a little worried (that's what prompted me buy the premium starter kit last year). But I put some RC on her chest, diffused some more thieves and had her drink some tea with one drop of thieves. Later she took a bath with some baking soda and two drops of lavender.

Today she is fine and went to school. Her nose is a little runny but she hasn't freaking coughed once. And I am so happy because this is not typical for her when she gets sick like this. If she starts with a cough and fever, it has almost always developed into an infection and there we are getting antibiotics from the doctor. We all know our kids and how things typically go for them so this was awesome! Now, we did have the Tylenol ready if her temp went over 102.5 or so but we never needed it. I am thrilled! Saved me a large copay at the doctor and best of all, Ava didn't have to suffer for days.

Now, I do want to say I put a lot of effort into researching the oils I wanted to buy. Hands down it is Young Living. I do not use anything else. I have in the past - they don't work so that's why I wasn't a believer at first in essential oils. I just wanted to throw that out there in case you're thinking of running over to sprouts and grabbing a cheap bottle of peppermint off the shelves. Don't waste your money (or risk your health - those contain synthetics as well as other crazy additives). So anytime I talk about using oils, know that I only exclusively use Young Living.

I also want to put out there that we are also cautious about using them as well. I'm not just dousing my family members with it haphazardly and of course if you're on meds for other things, be wise about your health and talk to your doctor about using new remedies. I did a ton of research on what to use while pregnant. Ava knows not to just start opening bottles of my oils and using them - no way. Only mom or dad can touch them. We handle them the same way as medication. I'm constantly reading and learning. I'm taking charge of our health over here people! And I needed to - the side effects of Ava's asthma meds are long and some even insane yet I just gave them to her because the doctor told me to (even though they didn't work very well anyway). The more I learn about things, the more I want to be an advocate. Yesterday I read the warning label for children's Ibprophen - stomach bleeding. Really?!

And again - don't think I'm against doctors or medical professionals or medications - I'm not. I just so far haven't needed them in the past few months that I've used these oils. No one in my family has actually (now that I think about it). But do you think I'm going to pass up the epidural when I give birth in a few weeks because I'm thinking an oil will help me?! No way! Pass the epidural Mr. Anesthesiologist! So you see, I haven't gone crazy.

So now I'm just doing some preventative stuff for Ava now that she's getting over being sick. I sent her to school with RC on her chest and thieves on her feet and I'll probably do that for a few more days. And she even told me last night that she was so happy she didn't have to take any yucky medicine. Fun times all around!

-Emily

Oh for crying out loud

I am writing this because I am confused. I don't think I know what a contraction is versus a braxton hicks contraction versus cramps versus who-knows-what. I also don't even know if I spelled braxton hicks correctly, but whatever.

Everyday recently there is something going on with my uterus. First, I start to feel warm, and then like my stomach is tightening, which then makes it a little hard to take a breath. It lasts for about 1 minute - sometimes longer. It's not that it really hurts though. But it's not that I'm just sitting there relaxed either.

Yesterday I had quite a few in an hour but then they stopped and I went to sleep. So obviously, a child popping out was not the end result so that's why I think it's not a contraction. But I don't know if that's the right answer.

So today I called my doctor to ask for clarification as to what the difference is between a real contraction and a braxton hicks thing. I don't really think they had an answer either. They just kept telling me "if you have more than 6 contractions in an hour, then go to labor and delivery to get checked." To which I kept responding, "but is it a contraction or just one of those braxton hicks things?" And then they wouldn't answer me but instead ask me something else like "are you drinking water?" So then I would come back around again with the same question thinking they must not have understood me. And then again "go to labor and delivery if you have more than 6." Me: "More than 6 what? Braxton hicks things even though it may not be a contraction?" And again some random comment: "when's your birthdate?" I felt a little like I was in crazyland but then I just figured, they must not be understanding me - maybe I'm not being clear. So I'd throw my question out there again a different way: "So if the tightening lasts for a minute, then it's a contraction?" hoping they would just fire back with an answer already. Nope. I even tried to speak more slowly thinking maybe I'm mumbling and need to work on my enunciation. Oh forget it.

I did not experience any of this with Ava. That girl did not ever make the slightest move to leave my uterus. I was overdue, induced, got to 10 centimeters, pushed forever, and then had my uterus sliced open finally so they could go in and get her. This boy I think wants out. So the only "contractions" I have ever known were when they were coming at regular intervals (and painful!) because of pitocin.

I know people have contractions before their due date - I understand that part. But if something is happening at regular intervals but they ARE NOT PAINFUL, do you still call your doctor? See, I don't want to go to labor and delivery and then find out I'm wrong and have to waddle back to the car embarrassed. I also get that you should go anyway because better safe than sorry. Ugh, things are so confusing sometimes.

So my prediction is that this little boy will be here before my due date. If he's not, I will be very surprised. We also need a name too for our son so if anyone has the answer to that question, that would be greatly appreciated.

Maybe his name should be Braxton . . . ? Hmmm, interesting idea.

-Em

Asthma? What asthma?!

So time for my asthma update! Ever since using Young Living oils, my daughter Ava has not had to use her inhalers or her Singulair AT ALL during this time of year! This is seriously a miracle! She has been on these meds since she was around 3 1/2 so I am sooo glad she will not be using these meds with all of their side effects for years and years. Woo hoo!

Also the hubs has come on board with the oils which has been quite amusing and exciting! The other day he was feeling sick and he always heads for some airborne - still was sick after trying it for a couple of days so I said, "can I just make you a capsule already?" So, there he was swallowing a capsule made by yours truly filled with 5 drops of thieves, 5 drops of lemon, and the rest filled with grapeseed oil - took another one in the morning. Was totally fine. He finally admitted it worked and tried really hard not to smile and show his true feelings but he could not resist! Ha!

My fun little mother even called me one night and said, "I have puss pockets on my throat - I'm getting sick. I figured you had something." Hang on mom! Let me run right over! She gargled with thieves and lemon and swallowed one of the homemade capsules, took another capsule in the morning, and was totally fine and back in business. I'm loving this hippie/witch doctor business.

And none of us Dual's over here have been sick this winter season - NOT ONE OF US! All because of thieves!! No one got the flu, Ava did not get her usual strep throat, I've been waddling around fine as a pregnant lady - what a fun adventure!

I just recently stopped using deoderant too (gasp!). Well, just the deoderant that contains aluminum. So I have some all natural stuff now but also will sometimes just make my own. Don't worry - I don't stink. But if I ever do, please tell me! Because who wants to walk around stinking all day?

But in all seriousness, I am trying to help my fam stay away from as many chemicals as they can. There are so many disorders, diseases, etc nowadays - I firmly believe it is because we, as a society, have strayed away from "natural" things to processed/chemical ridden things. We weren't designed to ingest all of this processed stuff. The good Lord gave us plants and things that grow naturally from the earth with sun and water - what a perfect design! The farther I have strayed from natural things, the worse I have felt - mirgraines, arthritis pain, etc. So now I'm just getting back to basics. I'm not doing all of these things perfectly by any means, but it's a start and I feel so much cleaner and happier.

So if any of you want to learn more about these oils, I can add you to some facebook groups to learn more. Or come over to my house and try what I have. You will love it! Because the only side effects so far I've experienced from the oils are healthy family members and no more asthma. You should read the list of side effects of Singulair!

Happy New Year folks!

-Em