Pics of Lucy

Blessings, ♥T

The Birth of Baby #10

Well, she's here! It's been quite an interesting few months. I've been in a lot of pain due to my gallbladder issues and a pulled groin muscle. I've spent the last few months sitting on the couch unable to do much. My due date was fast approaching and I was really getting the nesting feelings, but had a very hard time getting it all done. My kids were a great help and did a lot of work. We managed to get most everything done (gonna finish up the rest this week I think). I was due the 14th. On the Monday before that I started a very busy week. Had Dr's and chiro appts, lots of cleaning and organizing to do, a baby shower to get ready for, and had to go grocery shopping. Not easy when you can hardly stand, let alone walk :) I managed to get it all done though. My mom came down from Idaho. On Friday we had my baby shower and had a great time. My mom was staying up at my sisters, about an hour and a half away and they went home after it was over. I am always late so was expecting to spend the next day cleaning up and then the rest of the week finishing up all the cleaning I wanted to get done. Baby had different plans...

These pics are the last 4 weeks of pregnancy

At 4:30 am I woke up to go to the bathroom, as I sat up my water broke! I have never had that happen before. I was in "shock" and couldn't wrap my mind around it. I called the midwife to let her know just in case everything went fast. I called my mom and told her so she would be on alert also. Then I thought I would try to get some more sleep since I wasn't contracting hardly at all. I couldn't sleep so I got up and curled my hair, put on my make up, and then went to work cleaning. :) I got it all cleaned up and when the kids got up they helped me finish up and my boys blew up the pool. My older 2 boys had a hunters safety course they were attending so my husband took them and dropped them off. My mom and my sisters came down. I was only contracting every 30 mins or so. I tried again to nap, but couldn't sleep. We put the pool in my room and then decided that it was too big, so my husband went to the store to try to find a smaller one. He ended up going to 3-4 different stores and found one that was better, though not exactly what I wanted. My mom and my younger sisters went to a different store and couldn't find one either. Katerina stayed with me. Still nothing was really happening. So the midwife called and said that she was leaving work and wanted to know what I wanted her to do. She could either come down and help get things going, or go home and we could keep waiting. At this point I was very tired and was not sure how long I should keep waiting since my water had broken. I've never done this before. Usually my water breaks right before baby comes out. Katerina kept telling me I should just try castor oil to try to get it going. I was really not wanting to because I am VERY picky about tastes. My midwife suggested I try it also though, so I asked my mom (who was still at the store) to pick some up for me. She also told me to get on my hands and knees with an ice pack on my back to get baby to turn because she was posterior. When my mom got home Katerina made a "delicious" PB chocolate shake with castor oil. I managed to down most of it before I started gagging. The midwife got to my house, James got home with the boys and the pool, and I started running to the bathroom. Castor oil is NOT fun! The midwife did the cervical pressure points and applied some borage oil to get me going. I was dilated to a 2 still. That was at 6:00. The contractions started up. Baby was still turned slightly posterior which was why I wasn't getting really regular contractions. After the pressure points contractions started up. I laid on my side and my sisters took turns putting pressure on my lower back. Back labors miserable. In between contractions I continued to run to the bathroom. After awhile the midwife checked me again. I was only at a 4-5. But she said I could get in the pool whenever I wanted. She gave me a homeopathic to help my cervix along and I got in. It was definitely a relief. Around that time my SIL got there.

My sister left a note for me :)

The contractions continued to intensify and I was feeling a lot of pressure. The midwife checked me again and said I was still not ready to push. I was so exhausted I was falling asleep between contractions. Then the midwife gave me a homeopathic drink. I laid on my side and I think I went into transition fairly quickly after that. My sister, Katerina, was talking me through contractions, reminding me to breathe and kept me focused. I finally felt her head come down and I told the midwife her head was coming out. All the girls came in and I started pushing. It didn't take long and her head was out. There was a cord around her neck, but with some more pushing she came the rest of the way out. The midwife unwrapped the cord from her neck and I pulled her to me.

Lucille Joy was born at 10:06 pm, July 13th. She was 7 lbs 11 oz and 20 in long. She is absolutely beautiful and has a head full of hair! She not only is my first one to break her waters before I went into labor, she was my first born early (day before her due date), she is my first to have such dark hair!

After she was out I started bleeding pretty heavily. The midwife gave me a shot of pitocin and some herbs to stop the bleeding. She got me out of the pool and onto the bed pretty quickly so that she could handle anything that might come up. Thankfully nothing bad happened though. I delivered the placenta and Emily got to cut her cord. I was bleeding a little heavier than normal so the midwife gave me some meds to help slow it down and it did. Everyone got to see her and take pics and then started leaving. Kids went to bed and I got cleaned up and went to bed as well. Lucy is quite the screamer and wanted to eat all night long. My milk came in the next night and I've spent the week trying to get as much rest as possible. She has her days and nights mixed up so we're slowly working to fix that. My mom and my little sisters stayed for a week to help out.

The day after she was born our septic went out. We had 16 people in our house and only ONE bathroom! Talk about loads of fun. We managed though and it got fixed fairly quickly. Everything is good now. Our life is now getting back to normal. Everyone loves Lucy and everyone wants to hold her all the time. We're gonna spend this week getting the house finished and get back on a routine of some sort. We're all madly in love with our Lucy Joy and are so glad God blessed us with her! The funny thoughts during my labor (I always have them) I kept thinking of some pics I'd seen on Pinterest "1 minute isn't long unless you're on a treadmill" and "30 seconds isn't long unless you're waiting for the microwave" and I just kept think "No, 30-60 seconds isn't long unless you're having a contraction! Those people do not know what they're talking about!" LOL...

My other sister updated the board

Blessings, ♥T

Recently

Recently life has thrown me a curve ball... Isn't that the way it always seems to go? :) Things had been going pretty well and then "BAM!" downhill it goes...

It all started back before Mother's Day. I started feeling sick to my stomach and had several days of stomach issues. Thought I had the Rotavirus. It "went away" but kept coming back randomly and I was having the most difficult time with eating. I couldn't eat much, my stomach would go into awful spasms when I ate, and I was miserable. I called my Dr who said there wasn't anything they could do for me since I'm pregnant. I called the midwife, but was already doing everything natural that she recommended. It just wasn't going away :( Then 4 weeks ago after church on a Sunday morning we went to my in-laws. My hubby picked up some pizza for our lunch. Now I haven't been craving much this pregnancy, but the one thing I really had been craving was pepperoni pizza. I took 2 pieces (they were the small square ones) and I literally had to force myself to finish the second one. I was so miserable afterwards. My hubby and I went to a thrift store in town to see if there was anything "good". They live in a different town so we don't frequent that particular store often and we like going to thrift stores :) By the time we got back to the house I was dying. My MIL was concerned, and asked if I thought it was my gallbladder. Seriously, felt like a light bulb moment. Duh! If someone had told me all the symptoms I had been having, my first suggestion would have been gallbladder. I had vaguely thought a few times that "that symptom" was odd because it was a gallbladder issue but there was nothing wrong with my gallbladder so that couldn't be it. This is why even if I'm sure someone knows something I always suggest it because sometimes when it's you you just don't think of things. Too close to the situation I guess? We headed home to go to evening service, but by the time we got home I knew there was no way I could make it. I tried to just lay down hoping it would just go away, but it wasn't very long before I knew it wouldn't go away and I couldn't handle the pain anymore. We headed to the ER. I was checked into L & D because I was past 20 weeks pregnant. They gave me pain meds and observed me. The pain meds did NOT work and I wasn't contracting and baby's heartbeat was fine. So then they admitted me and wanted to hook me up to an IV. Talk about not fun... They poked me 5 times to get it in :( Blew one of my veins and bruised me really bad. (the bruises are just now finally almost gone) They finally got it and gave me some different meds. Made me very loopy and worked for a few hrs. But the Dr had ordered them very spaced out so they got authorization to give them more frequently. I was able to sleep off and on, as much as a person can in pain and in a hospital. In the A.M. they did an U/S and confirmed that yes, it was my gallbladder. Stones and a dilated duct. The surgeon did a consult and we discussed options. While I could have had surgery right then, I really felt like the risks were too great because of how far along I already was. I was sent home with pain meds and told to go on a bland diet. That week I was still in so much pain it was unbelievable. My hubby was thankfully able to take the week off to take care of me and the kids. I spent most of the week in my bed. It's been very difficult, to say the least, to try to figure this all out. I have figured out a lot of my "trigger" foods, but it's more than just "what" foods I eat, it's also how much I eat. I can eat something that doesn't bother me, but if I eat too much... Thankfully I am doing well enough to not need anything stronger than Tylenol for the pain for the most part. I only have 3-5 weeks left for this pregnancy and then hopefully will be able to have my gallbladder removed so I can eat like a normal person. I do so want to eat healthy, and won't be going crazy eating junk, but I really want to be able to eat a normal sized meal without feeling like the food is just sitting in my stomach for hours on end and being in extreme pain. It's very hard to not be able to eat or drink much. I'm really struggling with not getting dehydrated, which is aggravating my kidneys :-/

In the midst of all this I am also having some severe issues with my hips/pelvis. I can barely stand, let alone walk most of the time. Makes it difficult to get things done, like grocery shopping, nesting, etc... I am so thankful that my kids are so good about doing things without complaining (for the most part) and taking a burden off my mind because of it.

Still, in the middle of all of it I am very stressed and frustrated by it all. I hate being in pain, I hate not being able to do things that I want to do without getting help, I hate feeling lazy/useless, I hate feeling like a burden. But I am coming to realize that I just need to be "content in the state I'm in". It's a very humbling thing to have to rely on others to help you with things. It's hard for me to come to grips with not being able to do all I want to do. I have had to get to the point where I accept the fact that I can only do a little bit during the day. That means that I have to pick and choose what I do each day. If I go to the store then I know that that is all I will be able to do that day and I have to be O.K. with that. If I go to morning service on Sunday then I know I probably won't be able to make it to evening service and as much as I hate it, I have to be O.K. with that. Etc...

It's so hard, but I know that the Lord is helping me through it. I guess sometimes we just need to be humbled by our circumstance so we can realize that we HAVE to rely on God. That we cannot do it all on our own. We have to go to Him for help. He is the only one who can truly help us through any and every adversity in life. I am so glad that He is always there to help. I am so glad that we have a Lord who is totally dependable :)

Blessings, ♥T

Sickness

Lots and lots of sickness. We have been fighting different things since around Thanksgiving. Because of how many people there are here it takes a while to go through everyone. Every time we "get over it" and are healthy, we've picked up something else :( Just a few we've had.. RSV/PinkEye, Flu, Strep, ear infections, stomach viruses, upper respiratory viruses, colds, allergies, etc... Lots and lots of sickness!

These are just a few things that have helped us through all this...

RSV/Pinkeye ~ Bee Propolis, Vitamin C, garlic, colloidal silver (eye drops) and breastmilk (eye drops). Pinkeye is caused by the same virus as RSV. Research it :)

The Flu ~ Homemade chicken soup, garlic, Vitamin C, Elderberry, Mentholatum, Oscillococcinum

Strep ~ Apple Cider Vinegar!!! Seriously a life saver for us! We tend to get it so frequently. (we're thinking we have a silent carrier?) We can't keep taking antibiotics for everything and it's kinda ridiculous to be on them for strep and within a month have strep again. So when that happened (we all were on antibiotics, all 11 of us! And 2 weeks after we got done my oldest girl got strep and antibiotics again) I did some research for remedies because nothing else I had tried worked. I know a lot of people swear by colloidal silver, but for us it's like drinking water. Nothing works. I found a few places recommending ACV and since we had it I gave it a try. Word of Warning... It BURNS!!! If you have strep it's like burning coals going down your throat. At first I just gave it to the kids straight. They cried :( So then I gave it to them in grape juice and while some don't like it, some actually do like it. But regardless of whether they like it or not, it WORKS! My daughter was the only one who had to be on antibiotics. Others were starting to get it but within just a couple days they were all back to normal. So from now on anytime anyone starts with symptoms they get ACV juice and Voila' they're over it super quick. I've gotten to use it several times and same thing every time. Yay for ACV!

Stomach Viruses ~ Charcoal, Slippery Elm, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Peppermint

Ear Infection ~ Warm coconut oil in the ear, juice fresh garlic with other fruits and drink lots

Upper Respiratory, Colds ~ Lots of Vitamin C, garlic, Bee Propolis

I am in no way a "Doctor" or expert, these are just things I've done and had success with. Hope someone else might find them helpful :D

Blessings, ♥T

Deodorant Recipe

My recipe for deodorant.... 

I tried a few different recipes and this is the one that worked the best. And had little to no irritation like the others. 

6-8 TBS coconut oil. 

1/4 c baking soda 

1/4 c arrow root powder 

1/4 c shea butter

mix the powders, then add in the coconut oil and then the shea butter. I generally store in a small tupperware bowl with lid and just apply with my fingers.

I am generally "lazy" and just get out my KitchenAid with the whisk attachment. But when that wasn't available I used a bowl and fork and it was still super easy to make. 

Thanks to changing hormones with all these babies I have had some major issues with sweating profusely and smell, even with store bought deodorant. I actually was buying the strongest stuff out there and it still wasn't working. After using it just once I was able to notice a major difference. No smell and much less sweat. Plus even when I did sweat it didn't get that weird smell. :) Pleasant I know, lol...

 I try to use the best products available, but have just used what's available at times. It does make a difference, IMO. I've tried the LouAnna and Spectrum brand coconut oil, but didn't feel like it gave the same results. My preferred brand that I can find is Nutriva. They sell Nutriva coconut oil at Costco now. For the shea butter I get raw ivory shea butter. I've tried the golden shea butter, but didn't like the smell, consistency or the way it worked. I get mine on amazon and usually just get 1 lb at a time. 1lb lasts forever! This Site has some good info, that is pretty helpful, on shea butter.

Besides the fact that it works, which I think is extremely important, it also is much healthier for you. Store bought deodorants are full of unhealthy chemicals that are very damaging to your body. Also, while it may seem like the cost up front is a little pricey (if you get the best product available) it actually makes quite a bit and you only have to use a little bit a time so it lasts forever. 

Let me know if you give it a try and how it works for you :)

Blessings, ♥T

Back to Life...

Yes, I'm still here :) Life...

We have had a very long year. Filled with trials, tribulation, and troubles. Most people have no clue what's going on, and I'll just keep it that way :) There are a select few who do and those who we know IRL who can probably guess some of it. Suffice it to say, it's not been pretty and it's been very hard on us all. I for one have been struggling with major depression because of it all. I do not understand it. Why? What did I ever do? What horrible sin must I have committed? Nothing...

It has affected me to the point where I just had nothing to blog about. I couldn't get on here and pretend everything in life was just great when I was so angry and frustrated. So I have remained silent. I'm not saying I'm back to normal, but I at least feel like I can (and want to) blog again. I'll be trying to stay away from subjects that are controversial, debatable, or "sensitive matter". I will be talking about what we've been doing in school, posting recipes that work for us, money saving tips, and just other "boring" stuff that's going on.

For now an update...

My oldest is now 14. Totally crazy being the mom of a 14 yr old. I cannot believe he will be in high school next school year.

We celebrated everyone's birthdays from October to March. Just have one in July, for now, as I will be having baby #10 at the end of July! :D It's another girl which brings the tally up to 3 boys, 7 girls. The boys aren't tremendously thrilled, but they're happy for another baby :) Everyone is looking forward to seeing her. She is nameless right now, but I'm hoping to settle on a name soon.

We spent most of the winter, from Thanksgiving til March, sick with everything from the flu to bronchitis to pinkeye to rotavirus to allergies. Just when we thought we were safe and done I've got 2 sick again. Hopefully it won't last long though. (I think Sarah is just teething as she's done this with every tooth that broke through)

It is now way past my bed time so I guess that'll wrap it up. Hopefully I'll put up another post in the next few days.

Blessings, ♥T