The Eclectic Dabbler

No, this is not our announcement.

This is not our little girl.

Just to be clear: No, I have not gone into labor!

In case there is any confusion: I’m STILL pregnant!!!

But my due date buddy, Donna, had her baby this morning! And I’m soooo happy for her.

Little Anna Noel was born at 38 weeks and weighed 5 lbs., 13 ozs, measuring 17.5 inches long. She entered the world at 12:50 AM, just 20 minutes after Mom arrived at the hospital, already dilated 9.5 cm! (This is the kind of situation Daniel envisions every day. I had to laugh when Donna told me! Amazing to cut it sooo close, and yet to still make it to the hospital!)

Like me, Donna was dilated just 2 cm at her last appointment, and like me, with very frequent contractions, she kept wondering what would be “the sign” she was in labor. Her oldest was born premature (31 weeks) and with two months of bedrest, her second made it exactly full-term: 37 weeks to the day. So this little girl made it longer than either of Donna’s previous pregnancies!

Donna never thought she would still be pregnant at this point. In fact, their insurance is changing at the end of the month, and if Anna had been born in March, they would have to pay everything out of pocket. They didn’t think it would be an issue, since keeping the baby inside had always been the challenge with the previous two pregnancies. Having been out of town twice before when his wife went into labor, Donna’s husband, a pilot, had taken off work the previous three weeks in anticipation of the baby having already arrived. By this point, he wasn’t really able to take much more time off.

And here she was, 38 weeks along–and still pregnant!–so yesterday she spent an hour working out and then she drank castor oil mixed with juice, in the hopes of delivering soon.

That did the trick! (I’m soooo tempted!!)

By 11 PM her contractions were quite strong. They called a friend to come stay with the boys, and then her contractions completely stopped for half an hour! Donna was frustrated, with someone on the way to watch the boys in practically the middle of the night. She asked her husband if they should just forget about going to the hospital, but he insisted.

Good thing he did! Donna’s water broke in the car on the way there–Donna screamed (her husband thought it was because of his driving! ha ha!) and they arrived at the hospital just 20 minutes before little Anna made her appearance.

So my due date buddy won! She beat me. And the best part is that both of us went full-term this time!

I’m trying to be content.

But I can’t wait. And I keep thinking, “Maybe that will be me later tonight–or this weekend. . .”

And then I hear the evil laughter of my other friend, Christina, saying, “Maybe you’ll be like me–and go two weeks overdue after all that bedrest! Ha ha ha!”

Yeah. Ha ha ha. . .

I really don’t want to start potty training Micah yet. Being 37 weeks pregnant, coming off two months of bedrest this week, preparing for a new baby (anytime now!!! or. . . mid-March???) and planning to go to my sister’s wedding in Florida the first week of May (I’m the maid of honor, Mara is a flower girl)–well, I just have plenty of other things to deal with right now!

But part of me feels guilty.

Micah is now 20-months old and showing a great deal of interest in going potty and major awareness of needing to be changed. In fact, when he’s wet or dirty, you better be paying attention! or he’ll take matters into his own hands.

Mara had already started at this age, because she absolutely hated having a dirty diaper, and would run around like crazy as if trying to escape it. . . In hindsight, I feel like I let Mara start potty training too early, and that caused the whole process to be a lot worse than it needed to be. Her constipation issues also complicated things, but probably if we’d waited she would have done better. And I don’t want to make the same mistakes with Micah.

Besides, he still seems so much younger! Today, for the first time, I heard him say the colors “pur-pur [purple],” “lah-lah [yellow],” and “reh [red].” He just seems so much younger than Mara did as this age–I’m sure it’s just a boy/girl, verbal/nonverbal thing. . . but back to signs of “potty readiness”. . .

I laugh when he pulls his pants down (or off) and lays on the floor to be changed. If that’s not trying to communicate, I don’t know what is! He will stand in the bathroom, while Mara’s on the potty, unrolling toilet paper for her and handing it to her (and yes, I know that’s not a sign, but it makes me laugh too!). Before he goes in his diaper, he will walk around pulling on the front of his pants–he knows it’s coming–then afterwards, he will say ‘diaper, diaper’ and try to go up the stairs to his room to be changed.

This morning, he was walking around, saying, “Poop! Poop! Poop!” and pulling down his pants and his diaper.

For awhile (over the last couple of months), I ignored this kind of behavior, because I figured he was just mimicking things he heard Mara say or do.

But I’m starting to realize: he knows what he’s doing. And he’s trying to tell me something!

I did bring the little potty back up from the basement again–just for these occasions. I figure it doesn’t hurt to at least familiarize him with the little potty concept, if he’s going to be sooo insistent that he needs to go!

So I sat him on the potty for about five minutes, while he beckoned for me to bring him various toys. (Ha ha!) But nothing happened, so I just decided that he didn’t really need to go, and I put his diaper back on and sent him back to play.

About ten minutes later, Daniel walked in the house, pointed at the kids in the living room and said, “One of them reeks!”

Sure enough, it was Micah with a major MAJOR poopy diaper! (Thanks to my dear husband for changing that one!!!!)

Micah really is beginning to understand, but Mom is not ready.

So I can plan to add potty training to this summer’s activities, after my sister’s wedding in May. . .

woo-HOO!

My daughter Mara Joy has always been quite the conversationalist. And as the oldest child, she and I have always talked about everything.

So early on, I talked to her about God’s love for her and told her that Jesus died for her on the cross. We read Bible stories together most every day, and over the past two months or so, she has asked more and more questions and expressed her desire to go to heaven and be with Jesus. She’s asked me how she can stop doing bad things. She has told me how much she loves God and wants to obey Him. So she and I have recently had many conversations about the foundational truths of the Gospel.

Micah is also a little conversationalist–It’s just that I can’t understand 90% of his jabber yet! Plus his attention span is much shorter. His questions much less complex. In fact, while he often asks to pray (several times throughout the same meal and other random times), I don’t know that He’s ever said ‘God’ or ‘Jesus’ at all. I have often prayed for him, told him how much God loves him, and how I pray that he will grow to be a man that loves God more than anything else. But I don’t think I’ve shared the Gospel with him in a deeper way.

That’s okay–his sister did! The other night at dinner, I just listened to this (one-sided) conversation between my three-year-old daughter and her 20-month-old brother:

“Jesus loves you, Micah, and He died for you on the cross. And we want you to love God and obey God, but you do lots of bad things. But God will still love you, even though you do bad things.”

I don’t know how much (if any) of this Micah was really comprehending, but I was amused that her intensity in conversation was matched by his intensity in expression: his jaw literally hung open as he sat there in his high chair, listening to her soliloquy.

“This is really important, Micah,” she finished.

Up until this point, I sat silently, wondering how she would explain these truths, and marveling at the ease with which she shared them.

Then Mara turned to me: “I told Micah all about God. And I started with the Bible.”

Today the Lord encouraged my heart that perhaps someday He will use my little “disciple” to reach others for Him!  I pray that these truths will be real in Mara’s heart–not just reciting things she’s heard–and that her life (along with her words) will continue to point her younger siblings to Christ!

We recently discovered two new recipes that we’re going to add to our family recipe box. Both are fairly easy with only six ingredients!

First: Monterrey Chicken Quesadillas from Kate at Cooking During Stolen Moments. This recipe was perfect one evening last week, because we had a cooked chicken breast in the refrigerator, an already-opened package of bacon, a bag of onions (which has gone largely ignored while I’ve been on bedrest), a package of burrito-size tortillas, a bottle of barbecue sauce in the basement  (which I found on sale a couple months back), and we always have a variety of shredded cheese on hand. So all the ingredients were right there, waiting to be combined. When I stumbled across this recipe, my mouth began watering just reading about it!

But the quesadillas were delectable! So good, in fact, that I completely forgot the ranch dressing (for dipping) and we didn’t even notice! I thought it was more of an appetizer item, but they are very filling. We are definitely adding them to our menu! Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures. But if you want to see Kate’s picture of the quesadillas (and the entire recipe), just click on the link above.

Second: Easy Chicken Enchiladas from my favorite recipe website allrecipes.com. Another simple, simple recipe with just six ingredients–all things I had on hand. Like other reviewers, I reduced the cream cheese by 1/2 and they were still incredibly delicious! I loved the 2 cups of cheese. Sometimes I end up adding more cheese than the recipe calls for, but this was perfect.

Hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

My son was born premature at 32 weeks, so my current pregnancy was considered high risk from the start, based on my history. Six months ago, my ob recommended weekly shots of 17p alpha-hydroxyprogesterone between weeks 20 – 36 of my pregnancy.

When we began discussing my options, a weekly appointment just to get my shot did not seem feasible: driving an hour or more each week, waiting, getting the shot, finding babysitting every week (and it had to be the same day each week). Of course, I wanted the shots, for the sake of our child. I was willing to do almost anything to avoid having another NICU baby, another baby coming home on the apnea/brady monitor, the endless possibilities of health problems for a premature child.

So we explored alternatives: the most viable one seemed to be the “do-it-yourself” way–ordering the shots from an online pharmacy with my husband administering them at home.

At the time, just the thought of my husband administering these shots gave me chills.

When we got married, our vows included the “in sickness and in health” line. But while you’re standing at the altar, that line seems so understood–even innocuous. (I mean, we all get colds, right? and let me tell you, I’ll be there for you.) You’re not reading between the lines, thinking, ‘in giving [or receiving] weekly shots for several months of pregnancy and bedrest.’

My husband loves me. And I knew he would do the very best he could while giving me my shots. But he’s not at all the medical type. He was repulsed by the doctor’s suggestion that he cut the umbilical cord (‘That’s why we pay you the big bucks!’ my husband replied) and he had no interest in “observing” the baby’s birth in any way whatsoever, except to hold the child–after a thorough bath.

Having experienced various pain levels while receiving shots, I assumed that smoothly administering shots–especially shots that were “thick” enough they have to be administered in your rear end–required years of medical training and experience.

So it was with a bit of trepidation that we had a home health care nurse come out to show him how it was done for the first two weeks. After that, he’s been on his own.

To my great surprise (and even delight!), my husband does a better job administering the shots than the home health care nurse! It’s been less painful–and not even as messy.

During four months of shots, I have. . .

• Had about three months of contractions (frequently 3-5 minutes apart especially during the night).
• Significantly reduced my activity (grocery shopping, carrying laundry, lifting the kids, “outings”) in order to avoid bedrest.
• Spent four days in the hospital during week 29, attempting to bring my contractions down to a reasonable level.
• Made several trips to Labor and Delivery Triage with contractions 5 minutes apart (or less).
• Been taking procardia (nifedipine) for about a month and a half.
• Had a shot of terbutaline, which was a huge success in reducing contractions that were 2-3 minutes apart down to only a handful per hour.
• Spent about a month and a half on bedrest.

With all of this contraction “activity,” I never imagined that I would still be pregnant at week 36. I never would have believed that my husband would have the chance to give me all 17 shots.

But here we are–17 shots later.

My last shot was earlier this week. We don’t need this stuff any more! As my 3-year-old daughter told someone today, “Mommy’s p’gesterone shots are all gone now!”

And next week, I will be 37 weeks–full-term!

It worked! It wasn’t easy, and it may have been the combination of progesterone, procardia, bedrest, terbutaline. . . but we don’t have a preemie this time around!

So my little girl will be one more success story, speaking to the effectiveness of progesterone shots in reducing premature births!

This Works for Me!