She Runs By Faith

 Our dear fourth child, who I did mention a couple times in sporadic blog posts, is now FIVE weeks old! And it's about time he has his birth story written up. Yes, HE . We had our fourth boy on September 18th and the whole family is in love! Let's hop back to just before Baby S arrived... With our first boy arriving very early at 35 weeks, boy #2 coming at 38 weeks and boy #3 at 40 weeks on his due date, my husband suggested that this one was going overdue. I just told him to not dare say that again! I had a gut feeling that this one was going to sneak up on us and would likely be fast (like the last guy!). I had Braxton Hicks contractions on and off starting at around 18 weeks, so my goal was just to carry this little one to full term! I did run up to 35 weeks in this pregnancy and strength trained following a prenatal plan from G Personal Training through the week before baby was born. Basically I stopped running at 35 weeks to spare my pelvic floor some stress as baby ...

Our third baby was born on Wednesday, November 8th — his due date — and, yes, we had our third BOY! We named him Curtis, or "C" as I will call him on the blog. The week started off like this. Very much still pregnant, and besides a week+ of on and off pre-labor contractions, there really wasn't much action. With our older children being born early (E at 35w, W at 38w), it was a huge blessing to make it to the full 40 with our third. The bouts of pre-labor contractions had been happening daily since 38 weeks, so I'm really not sure where to start this birth story! Strong Braxton Hicks contractions (but not painful) would pick up in the afternoon/evening, only to fizzle out overnight. The on and off contractions were a bit discouraging but in hindsight I'm convinced they were making progress of some sort. In the couple days prior to baby's birth, the pre-labor contractions  stopped and it seemed like any signs of baby's arrival had stalled out (henc...

How the time flies! Baby W is already 11 days old and he has gained back his birth weight plus 5 ounces. Before another week passes by, here is W's birth story: First of all, we made it to 38 weeks!  By a whopping 40 minutes :) I could feel that Baby had dropped at 37 weeks and was sitting head-down, but I didn't realize this would be my last "baby bump" picture: Thursday, May 21: E and I started our morning with bread-baking and playing in the backyard. No running that day as I planned on doing prenatal yoga in the evening. 12 NOON -  We had our last appointment with our midwife and she dropped off the birthing pool. Talk about perfect timing. While E was down for his nap, our neighbor stopped over and gave me a before-baby mani/pedi. That was a first for me and it was really sweet. She is really gifted. I can hardly stand the thought of touching other people's feet! I started having contractions but I couldn't tell if they were strong...

Here is a quick intro to our newest family member, Baby W ! Baby W made his grand entrance at 12:40 am on May 23rd in our home. We had an amazing first waterbirth/homebirth experience! He weighed in at 7 lbs. and measured 20 inches long. Baby W's homebirth story will be coming later... Today we are all resting, enjoying time as a bigger family and celebrating my birthday! Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts. 1 CHRONICLES 16:9 Linking up with Mommy Moments .

We met our midwife last week for my 12 week appointment and it was so great to meet her in person! I had contacted her back when we first started trying for Baby #2 in October 2013 and she was so helpful to answer my questions, even if it was over Facebook messaging. (See, there are a few good things about Facebook!) One of my biggest concerns was that she wouldn't work with us since E was born at 35 weeks. Because he was born without any complications, having a homebirth is an option for us this time around. He is our miracle baby! The doctors were shocked that our "preemie" would score a 9/9 on his Apgars. All the glory goes to God! Why We Chose a Homebirth This Time It's a better fit for me personally. Homebirths are not for everyone and I totally understand that! I'm most comfortable with having our baby at home in a more relaxed environment. Water birth is an option. This wasn't a possibility in the hospital where we had E and I was really hopi...