Mommy Life

I LOVE being a mom. Seriously, I think it is the greatest job ever! I am feeling really blessed to be able to stay at home. As challenging as it is sometimes, it is totally worth it and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Haven't had a lot of time to post lately...probably because I have an almost 4 week old with me all the time! Things have been going fairly well around here. I am able to move around MUCH better than I was right after Coleman was born. We are getting to know each other more and more each day. I am learning what his cries mean. My favorite one is when the bottom lip pushes out and he does an "oh so sad" sob which just means "I'm tired mom, I want to sleep". I think it is the cutest cry ever! The ones I'm not such a fan of are the screams that I can't do anything about because I've already fed, changed, and burped, and nothing I do seems to work. I then need to remind myself of my wonderful moms advice that "sometimes babies just want to be fussy".

Harley is adjusting well and has taken a HUGE liking to Justin. Not that she didn't like him before, but I think he is now her favorite person in the world, which makes me a little sad. I think because my attention is shifted on Coleman more than her now is making her sad. She has become very whiny and striving for attention. She likes to bring her toy to whoever has the baby and whines to go outside every 10 minutes, eventhough all she wants is a treat. Now that I am able to get around better, we can start going for more walks and then maybe I'll become a bigger fan of hers. She does love the little guy though....here she is taking a nap with him on our way home from Holland.



Life will never be the same again now that Mr. Coleman is here, and I am totally fine with that. We took our first family outing to Take of Kalamazoo last weekend and it went really well. It's funny how much "stuff" we have to make sure we bring with us (diaper bag, carseat, baby, stroller, etc.) We also took Harley to a lake so she could swim, which gave me an opportunity to dress Coleman in a cute hat and his sunglasses (still too big, but I couldn't help myself)



Isn't he just adorable!? Justin and I also went on our first date since Coleman's arrival. We had talked before he arrived about making sure we took time for ourselves and how shortly after he was born we wanted to make sure we went on a date for some "us" time. Well, at 3 and a half weeks, Justins mom came and watched Coleman for an hour and a half while we went to Applebees for dinner and Walmart for an errand (so romantic I know). It was nice to get away for just a short time and talk. It was also great to be able to finish a meal in less than 5 mintues! We are excited to take more "date nights" when Coleman is able to take a bottle and we can be gone for a longer ammount of time. Not that we want to be away from our precious son all the time, but we know that time together is super important for us to stay connected so that we can be better parents to Coleman.

Our Birth Story

Instead of re-writing our birth story, I'm just going to post the same one that I sent to our Birthing Class group. #1, it will take too long to re-write and #2, I don't have all the time in the world now (the little one is sleeping and I actually have a few mintutes to myself)

So here it is... Our Birth Story:

As most of you know, we went the full 42 weeks...that's right, 2 weeks past my due date. And I know my due date was right on too. It was probably the longest 2 weeks of my life. I tried to stay busy cleaning, walking, doing all the things suggested to get labor started and NONE of them worked! The baby's head was positioned very low at about 36 weeks - so I was just waiting to have my body decide to go into labor. I was being monitored every 3-4 days past our due date to make sure the baby was healthy. He had a great heartbeat and was moving around TONS so there was no need to worry. Justin and I were prepared to go 42 weeks, but not beyond that - and our midwives agreed. So we were scheduled for an induction on Friday July 2.

When we arrived at the hospital I was totally thinned out, not dialated, and the babies head was between a +1 and +2 station (again, his head was VERY low which is probably why I had such a great waddle) We began the induction by trying Cytotec. Less invasive, no needles, etc. This was inserted and was supposed to help soften and thin out the cervix to help get contractions started. Unfortunately we had to be monitored the whole time which was rather uncomfortable. Luckily, there were no chords attached to anything so we were able to walk around. The labor/delivery floor was in a "C" shape, so we couldn't do laps which was frustrating and had to keep turning around to do the "loop". My contractions started, but were not strong enough to really be doing anything. Around noon we decided to try pitocin. This helped my contractions to get stronger, but I wasn't making a ton of progress. At 5:30pm I was dialated to where the nurse could get maybe the tip of her finger into the cervix (BUMMER! all that work and no progres). Our midwife suggested that we take the evening, go off the pitocin, sleep and get some rest so we could have this baby the next day. We agreed that this was a good decision. We were able to cap off the IV and get off the labor/delivery floor, had some Subway with my mother in law, and just waited to see if my body would start up things on its own. During dinner my contractions were still coming every 4-5 min. We walked around the hospital, but the pain wasn't intense enough for me to have to stop and work through them. Around midnight, we headed to bed in the "comfortable" hospital bed on the labor and delivery floor along with that lovely couch that wasn't made for tall men (Justin's feet hung well off the end of it). At this point I was very discouraged and VERY tired, but Justin reassured me that soon we would be able to meet our baby boy.

Our "good nights sleep" didn't turn out like we had hoped. At 4:30am I was awakened by contractions! YAY - except I was SO tired. I tried to sleep in between contractions but they were getting stronger and I really had to work at them. Around 7am things were starting to get really tough. We were walking, side-lying, using the birth ball, and using the tub in the room. I began to have doubts about being able to do this on my own, but then there was my wonderful husband encouraging me to keep going and reminding me why we chose to go this rout (natural) and how happy we were that my body was doing this on it's own instead of being hooked up to and IV. (way to go Justin - although he later told me that he was wavering and wanting to help with my pain). Our midwife came in around 8:00 when things were really starting to get intense. I was having very bad back labor (as well as in the front) and it took everything in me to get through each contraction. The one thing that really helped was using those low birth noises and Justin rubbing my hand like we had learned in our birth class. Justin and our midwife made such a great team at this point because she knew just where to rub me on my back and help me through each contraction while Justin was rubbing my hand and encouraging me. At 8:30 I was dialated to a 3, maybe 4. At this point my back labor was so intense that we decided to try having sterilized water balls that get injected into the back. A more natural approach to pain relief than getting drugs. This was probably the worst pain I have ever felt, but it was only temporary. I can remember shouting "Stop please Stop, ouch ouch ouch". This was only temporary but it totally relieved the pain in my back for a little while which allowed me to sleep in between contractions. At 10:30 we had another decision to make since my body was not progressing like we were hoping. We could break the water and continue to go naturally hoping we wouldnt have to do any sort of intervention (pitocin) or we could do the epidural and break the water and see what happens. The epidural was never suggested to us by any of the nurses or our midwife, this was something we had to decide.

Since my pain was so bad and we had hardly gotten any sleep and had been "laboring" since the day before, we decided to go with the epidural. I don't regret the decision, it was the right one for us at that point. I firmly believe that because of the babys head position, my body just wouldn't progress how it was supposed to.

So, around 11:30, epidural was in, I also had to have a catheter put in because the baby was compressing on my bladder that I couldn't go to the bathroom (which was bad because we were staying hydrated and eating during the labor!!). I had to be monitored again from this point on. Our midwife broke my water as well. At 2:00 pm. I was dialated to a 5. 2:30pm we decided to start pitocin since my body wasn't making a ton of progress. The epidural helped with the back and front labor, but it didn't take the pressure so I still had to work through each contraction. Low labor noises and Justin rubbing my hand continued to be my "thing" during contractions.

By 6:00pm I was finally a 10! YAY! I pushed for an hour before they decided to turn off the epidural so that I could really feel where I needed to push. Another hour and a half later at 8:40 Coleman Douglas Wendzel was here and placed right on my chest as he cried and cried. It was the most beautiful experience ever!

We're not done yet! My placenta had a hard time detaching itself as well. I was given cytotec right after he was born to help with the placenta and only 1/2 of it detached. So while I'm having skin to skin time with the baby our midwife was trying to get the rest of the placenta to detach as well. 40 min. later it was delivered and we got to look at it. She said that you could tell the baby was overdue by looking at the placenta but it was still neat to see. I had lost quite a bit of blood at this point and was getting light headed and nauseous. Again, my husband to the rescue as he took off his shirt, took Coleman and did skin to skin with him. Coleman knew his daddy from the very first moment, Justin talked to him and sang to him and he looked wide eyed at his daddy (probably another one of the most amazing things I have seen in my life). At 10:30 we decided to have Coleman weighed and measured. 8 pounds 7 oz 22 inches long and a 14 1/2 inch head! =)

Although our labor didn't go according to OUR plan we were very happy with how it all turned out. God had a different plan for Coleman's birth and we did get our #1 goal of a healthy mom and a healthy baby. Our birth plan was followed just as we asked by the staff at Bronson. I was never asked to rate my pain, I got to wear my own clothes, they never suggested drugs or an epidural. We made all the decisions on our own with input from our midwife, which we asked for.

I am thankful that breastfeeding is going so well (I kinda think I deserve it after what I had to go through)

Here's another picture of my little peanut...I just can't get enough of him!

Coleman Douglas Wendzel

Baby Coleman is finally here! We waited a whole 42 weeks for him and he arrived at 8:40p.m. Saturday July 3, 2010. 8 pounds 7 ounces - 22 inches long

More to come later on our birth story...it's been busy around here!

Tomorrow I'll be a Mommy

Tomorrow I'll be a Mommy! WOW! It's a little weird to be writing this since I thought that I would be posting about my birth experience with photos and the introduction of the newest member of our family...but God had other plans for us. I'm sitting in my glider chair (anxious to be holding a baby in by the way), listening to the clock tick and the quietness of my home. Harley is sleeping on the cool linoleum floor since we just got back from a trip to the farm where we played with the 'chuck it' (a great toy for dogs!). I'm realizing that soon my house will be filled with noises from baby gadgets like the bouncy seat, swing, itunes playlists I have so meticulously created for my little one, along with baby cries and coos. I'm SO excited about that, but relishing in the silence right now as I know tomorrow will change our lives forever. It will no longer be a simple task to grab the car keys, Harley, and head off to the farm for a quick visit to see Justin and play ball. I'll now have to have the diaper bag and baby in tow, following his schedule. I was at the grocery store today getting some things for next week and realizing that it was probably one of the last "relaxing" grocery shopping experiences I will have for a while.

I'm so excited to be a Mommy. I have wanted to be a mom my whole life. Tomorrow is the day when we will get to meet our son (hopefully...unless we have a LONG labor and he waits 'til Saturday to grace us with his presence). We have waited so long for this baby plus an extra 13 days later than we thought we were going to have to wait. It was a little weird today packing up the last of the things we will need for the hospital tomorrow. I always envisioned us (Justin mainly) packing up the bags with the last minute items from the color coated notecards I made him so he didn't miss a thing while I was laboring at home. I envisioned us having the thrill of going into labor at home and getting through the contractions one by one and deciding together when the right time to go to the hospital would be. I thought about how we'd call our parents to let them know we were "on our way". I wont have these things with this baby, but I'm okay with that. I've been working through those emotions the last day or so since hearing that we will be induced tomorrow. And I'm okay with it...while it might not be the birth story we had planned, it is definitely the birth story that God had planned for us. We learned in our birthing class that you can have a plan all you want, but you have to know that it is a "flexible" plan and things may have to be tweaked here and there according to what's happening in that moment because you can't predict how it is all going to go. We are ready for what tomorrow has in store for us - we are excited, nervous, and ready to meet our little boy.

So here is my final "soon to be mommy" post. Next time, I will be a Mom and I'm sure the posts will get more interesting of things I have to share about! YAY!

*One of my friends posted a cute list of "Goodbyes" to things that she will and wont miss about being pregnant! Thought you'd enjoy a good laugh - the list of very accurate and the additions from other people are wonderful too! http://surprisinglysouthern.blogspot.com/2010/06/goodbye.html