Baby Tidwell

I suppose I will need to differentiate between "Baby Tidwell" and "Baby Kate Tidwell." It seems that no matter how old or big Kate gets she is still lovingly called "Baby Kate." We joke that she will be a teenager and people will still call her that. While she is still Mama and Daddy's baby girl, we do have another precious baby on the way. Yesterday, I had the awesome experience of hearing the baby's heartbeat: a firm reminder that there is indeed a baby in there! I think every time I have heard my babies' heartbeats a little tear came to my eye: life is so amazing and God an awesome God!

I have decided, although I am not sure Daniel is completely on board with me now that we're scheduled for another ultrasound to check the baby's anatomy, not to find out the baby's gender. Yes, I know this is a surprise to many because I am a planner by nature, but I really don't have a real reason to find out except maybe to narrow down names and help Kate get used to his/her name. But I would love the surprise and anticipation of finding out after I have birthed him/her. My guess is that it's a girl, but Daniel is determined it's a boy. Either way we have to get our boy names together. I think boy names are so much harder to come up with girl names. I'm not sure why either. Fortunately, I still have plenty of time to convince Daniel that while I love his grandfather and dad, I do not care for "Horace Boone" as the name for our son. People, please talk some sense into my husband. I'm all about family names but not ones that will get my kid beat up.

Thankfully, most of the nausea has ended with the end of my first trimester. Suddenly, it seems like I eat and eat and eat and never get full. The other day I ate an entire foot-long sub from Subway! But we are walking every day and I am trying to get in shape for this labor and delivery as I know it will be here before we know it. I will keep you posted on further progress!

Easter Eggs & Family Fun

Easter weekend was a fun-filled time with family and loved ones. On Saturday we went to Mema Jean's for lunch and an all-out egg hunt with over 100 eggs! Kate needed a little help at first finding the eggs, but once she got the hang of it, she did a good job spotting them. Like most kids what she really wanted was the yummy candy inside!



Ellie was too intent on getting the candy out of her eggs to be bothered to look up for a picture. Not long after this picture Kate fell down between the table and bench and bruised her back pretty badly, poor thing. What a bad Mommy for standing her up there!



Saturday was also Daniel's birthday, so Mom and Dad took Kate back with them so Mommy and Daddy could go to dinner. We had a very delicious dinner at Provino's, one of my all-time favorite restaurants. After we left I could have sworn garlic oozed out of my pores. I was stuffed but how often does one get to go to Provino's?

On Sunday the Easter Bunny visited Kate at Gram Gram and Papa's house.



After church and before a delicious lunch by Mom, we took some family pictures. What a good lookin' bunch we are!





Following lunch we had yet another egg hunt and then ate Bunny cake and ice cream outside. What a wonderful weekend full of fun and good times with our family.

My Fears List

So, I'm reading Peggy O'Mara's Having a Baby, Naturally, and she recommends writing down the things we fear while we are pregnant to help to face them. I think because I had such a relatively easy labor and delivery with Kate and because I know what to expect that I am worried that this next baby might be a lot more difficult.

Here are some of my fears:

(1) I fear not being mentally prepared for the intensity and emotion of natural childbirth.
(2) I fear not being physically prepared for the same.
(3) I fear the unknown during pregnancy, labor, and delivery.
(4) I fear the pain of labor and delivery as well as afterbirth pains.
(5) I fear for the health of the baby. (I know, a perfectly natural emotion.)
(6) I fear for Kate's adjustment to the new baby.
(7) I fear the challenges of taking care of two babies and therefore the loss of my own personal space and time. (A selfish fear but one that haunts me.)
(8) I fear not being a good mother.

While these fears are nothing profound or unique to me, they do stir up flutters in my stomach and, fortunately, motivate me to do my exercises, read my books, pray a lot, and begin to make the preparations necessary to combat these fears.

Some Exciting News!!

Kate is going to be a big sister! We can hardly believe it either, or, let me rephrase that, I can't believe it! Of course I am thrilled because children are a blessing from the Lord. Just a little overwhelmed at the thoughts of two little squirts running around. But, alas, little Kate does need a playmate. Daddy, her best buddy, just isn't around during the day and Mama is, well, Mama. So, sometime around the first two weeks of October we will be having a new little one.

I am going to try to use this blog to keep a record of my pregnancy because I really didn't do a good job keeping a journal with Kate. So, I am about 13 weeks along and therefore almost out of the first trimester. After meeting with my midwife Lauren Drees a few weeks ago, we had an ultrasound to get a rough idea about when this baby will be arriving. We took Kate, who didn't fully appreciate the images of the baby, but who really didn't like Mama lying there and not holding her. But in seeing this precious little one on the ultrasound screen, reality sank in. It's exciting to think about who this child will look like, what his/her personality will be like, and how s/he will be as a baby, a child, a teen, and then an adult. Kate is so outgoing and independent, so chatty and funny, always on the move and always smiling. She's got a mind of her own, which is a challenge, but is so smart. I know she'll have a tough time adjusting but will be a great big sister.


(Kate with all her hair barrettes. She wants them all over her head.)

Already I see differences between the two. Since the beginning of February, I have been sick as a dog. Totally different from Kate. With Kate I think I threw up a handful of times and was only nauseous in the morning hours. With this little angel, I am sick all day long and even wake up in the middle of the night to vomit (i.e., last night at 1:00). It is particularly difficult since Kate is so active but she is so good and usually "reads" her books or runs around while I lie on the couch. Every time she sees me throwing up I try to reassure her that Mommy is okay but she isn't the least bit concerned: she just stands by and laughs! Fortunately, those horrible first trimester side effects are dwindling although I still enjoy an afternoon nap with Kate because I am exhausted.

I go back to see the midwife April 19 and will keep you posted on our progress. We are very blessed and thank God for His gift of children.

Disclaimer

This is a disclaimer to the next post. In no way do I mean to demean or belittle any woman's birth experience. One benefit to advanced medicine is that when mother or baby is in danger there are fast and innovative methods to remedy the problem with little risk of mortality. Thank God for that! I simply want women to start taking control of their pregnancies and childbirths so that they can have an optimal experience and treasure wonderful memories about their experience.

On My Soapbox

Most people would agree that living in a modern, technologically advanced society is a blessing, but when that technology infringes on our rights, we need to stop and assess whether such advancements are really beneficial or whether they are setting us back thousands of years. To be blunt, I am frustrated and appalled by the medicalization of childbirth, notably the increased rise in inductions, C-sections, and other unnecessary interventions that are preventing women from trusting their bodies and doing what we were created to do.

In the past year, five women who I know and care about have had normal pregnancies only to end up being delivered by C-section. In three of the five cases, a cesarean was deemed necessary because of a failed induction, and in the other two, the women were told their babies were measuring large and they would not be able to deliver them vaginally. I am sick and tired of doctors who are so concerned about malpractice suits and the inconvenience of normal, physiological birth that they convince women that we aren't capable of knowing our own bodies and allowing labor to occur on its own, in its own time. A C-section is not a minor outpatient procedure; it is serious and major abdominal surgery that can result in numerous problems for the mother and the baby. The risks of cesarean include hemorrhage, infection, organ damage, threats to future fertility and, with future pregnancies, the possibility of uterine rupture and placenta implantation problems. And yet, today, 1 in 3 women have a C-section every year. Don't get me wrong; there are incidents that necessitate emergency surgery, but these cases are few and far between.

At the heart of the problem, I think, is that women no longer take control of their pregnancies and the childbirth process, preferring to remain ignorant and trust the doctor who "knows best." We have forgotten or perhaps never really internalized the fact that God made our bodies to bear children and that women have given birth since the beginning of time without the "aid" of doctors. It seems quite a setback to me that women have abandoned their natural instincts to birth, whether out of fear or ignorance I don't know, and given complete control to doctors.

Don't just read What to Expect When You're Expecting but read Having a Baby, Naturally by Peggy O'Mara or Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way by Susan McCutcheon. Find out what exactly is happening in your body and with your baby. And when your doctor tells you s/he wants you to have a certain procedure, don't just take his/her word for it but research it, find out your options, ask what the risks and benefits are. Don't just assume doctor knows best. Doctors know what's best for their bottom line; you have to take responsibility for your body, your pregnancy and childbirth. Having a baby is one of the amazing miracles that God has placed in our lives. Stop letting others control your childbirth experiences and be proactive.

We're Back!

It has been quite a while since I last posted. Kate and I have both been sick and it just seems like we have been very busy lately. Kate is babbling incessantly...no one knows exactly what she's saying but she sure has a lot to say! It will be nice when she learns to form words because last week she had an ear infection in both ears and it would have been very nice if she could have told me her ears hurt. When we were visiting my parents a few weeks ago, Kate loved to pat little Robbie on the back and say, "This? This?" So cute.

She is a funny kid though. She will sit forever looking through and "reading" her books, which is nice for Mama. However, she has recently foregone her morning nap when she really still needs it, so we are adjusting. At least she usually takes a 2-hour afternoon nap and lately, so does Mama!

We are looking forward to some warmer weather so we can have some outdoor adventures. There are only so many pairs of shoes Kate can try on.