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By Alyssa, October 28, 2011 2:40 pm

If you haven’t read part one, start here.  If you are afraid of birth stories or tastefully chosen pictures of birth, flee now!

I know what you’re thinking… how in the world could Alyssa NOT think she was in labor?  You have to understand, however, my first two births I had time to wrap my mind around having a baby.  My water broke and a couple hours later contractions started, plenty of time to get excited about birth.  Seriously, forget the title of this post and let me remind you that I STARTED contracting with only three minutes break in between.  I didn’t have time to think about labor any more than I had time to make it up the stairs in my house.

Once I made it in our minivan, Haus took off and I positioned myself on my hands and knees behind our driver’s console and the middle row of seats.  Haus asked me if I wanted to call my mom as she was prepped to jump on a flight when I went into labor.  I told him no because I didn’t want her to tease me when we went home in a few hours because of indigestion.  We made it to the birth center by 10p.m. and as I entered the front door, I was relieved to explain things to my favorite midwife, Aubre, who happened to be on call. “Aubre,” I moaned as I laid my head and forearms on the front counter, “My water hasn’t broken and this all started with diarrhea.  It’s just not labor.”  She calmly explained to me that labor can be very different every birth as I nodded before dropping onto my knees and laid my head in the arm chair of the lobby for another contraction.  After the contraction was complete, Aubre and her counterparts, Tiffany and Kate, moved me into the “Log Room”, a master bedroom suite with a king log bed and furniture plus a birth pool.  I knelt next to the bed with my head on the mattress while my nurse, Kate, started an I.V. of antibiotics as I was diagnosed GBS positive earlier in the pregnancy.

Dehydrated from my massage, the I.V. took more than one attempt and during the second pass, I turned to Aubre whining, “Wait, you haven’t even checked my dilation yet.  How do you even know I’m in labor?” This comment set the entire room into giggles as Haus shook his head next to me, “Ummm, Alyssa,” Aubre replied, “I think you are the only one in this room that DOESN’T think you’re in labor.”  Around 10:15p.m., two hours into the entire ordeal, Aubre and Tiffany did check my dilation.  ”Seven centimeters, 90 percent effaced,” Tiffany announced.  Seven centimeters… SEVEN CENTIMETERS???  Suddenly my entire world changed.  I was having a baby!  Something about hearing seven centimeters made me believe that this was more than diarrhea.

The moment we all heard 7 centimeters

From that point forward, I let go of any control I thought I had with “indigestion” and concentrated on relaxing my entire body in between and during contractions. Aubre asked me if I wanted to get into the birth pool and I responded with, “Ummm, uuaahhhh, ummmm,” waiting for the next contraction until she told me that instead of thinking about it I should just get in.  I stepped into the birth pool, leaned my upper body over the edge, and thanked God for birth pools.  The water temperature was perfect and for the first time in hours, I let out a huge sigh of relief… then I felt a huge drop during the next contraction as baby moved onto, as Haus calls it, the baby slide.  My moaning during contractions immediately dropped into a lower tone and I knew that I was going to have to push.

Haus coaching during a contraction... I did NOT want to be touched this time!

During the next few contractions, Haus changed into swim trunks and I tried to relax as the “push” feeling grew stronger and stronger.  Annoyed that my arms kept falling asleep as they hung over the edge of the birth pool, Haus got into the pool, and held up my upper body for me.  The midwives gave him a stool to sit on in the pool and I started to freak out a bit.  My other births I mentally checked out once I made it to the hospital.  It was too stressful for me to hear nurses trying to move me, check me constantly, or tell me when I could push AND concentrate on relaxing through contractions.  This birth, however, as pushing neared, I realized that I was in charge and it kind of scared me.

Sure, Aubre and Tiffany and Kate were there in case something went wrong, but for the most part, they encouraged me in between contractions and just let me do my thing.  As the pushing became unbearable, I turned to Aubre and rushed through my fears, “Aubre, you haven’t checked me, I can’t push until you check me, what if I’m not dilated enough, I need you to check me.”   Aubre laid her hand on my back and firmly told me, “Alyssa, you are safe, your baby is safe.  You are supported here and you can do it.”  Haus told me later, they had been checking me with a mirror in the birth pool, but unlike the hospital that directs when you can push, they were letting me and my body decide.

Aubre's pep talk

I tried to remember what Aubre told me and pushed.  They tell me that the actually pushing was only about 15 minutes, but it felt like YEARS.  It was so painful and hard and exhausting all at the same time.  At one point after a contraction, I felt a pop like a balloon of fluid burst between my knees and announced to everyone that I thought my water broke.  A few contractions later, ready to give up, I pushed with all my might, squeezed Haus’ legs with my hands and then, believe it or not, took a big bite of Haus’ bicep just as I pushed our sweet baby into the world.  Yep, that’s right.  I bit my poor husband at the exact moment our kiddo was born.

Just before the big bite!

On October 4th at 11:07p.m., our baby was born.  The moment the baby was on my chest, I turned to Haus asking, “What is it?  What is it?”  He picked up our baby for a second, laid it back on my chest and announced, “It’s a girl, Alyssa.  It’s a baby girl.”  Thank goodness, my photographer genius doula friend, Misty, caught that moment in this photo:

It's a girl!

Three total hours of labor and we had a baby girl.  We sat in the birth pool for a few minutes in shock, before moving our way to the log bed… well, before Haus literally lifted me and baby girl out of the birth pool and set us on the bed.  After the placenta was out, our birth team left us alone as Haus and I admired our sweet little girlie.  She nursed and stared around the room as we counted toes and laughed about her cleft chin and long black hair.  I only realized a half an hour later that we still hadn’t cut the cord!  Tiffany came back in and helped Haus cut the cord then baby was off to be weighed and receive her final checks with her daddy while I sat in a warm herbal tub that Kate prepared for me.  Back from the tub and done with the checks, the three of us rested for an hour or two on the bed.  The birth center released us home about four hours after the birth, but not before reviewing a long list of requirements we would do at home before returning two days later.

Then the best part… home!  We arrived home around 3am after leaving at 9:30pm.  We introduced our very shocked friend, Allison, to our baby girl, and after she went home, snuggled in our bed waiting for our boys to wake up and meet their baby sister.  Sooo, there you have it.  Baby Girl’s birth story.  Fast and furious, it was by far my hardest birth, but also my most rewarding thanks to Mountain Midwifery Birth Center and their incredibly professional birth team.

Nurse Kate and Midwife Aubre with the Aarhaus girls

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By Alyssa, October 11, 2011 1:54 pm

She’s here!  Hard to believe that one week ago we were blessed with a baby girl.  I’m in love all over again and can’t wait to tell the story of how this little firecracker arrived.  Warning… if you don’t like birth stories, turn away now.

As I mentioned in Zeke’s birth story, although I achieved intervention-free births for both of my boys in the hospital, it wasn’t without a fight.  Combine that with doula work where I personally watched laboring women pushed into unnecessary interventions at their most vulnerable state.  I decided the minute we found out we were pregnant with baby #3 that I would NOT be delivering in a hospital.

Enter Mountain Midwifery Birth Center, a.k.a. the best birthin‘ baby place on earth (yeah, I kinda like the place).  From our first appointment at the birth center, I knew I made the right decision.  I don’t want to go too far off topic but here are the things I loved during prenatal care: the center is run and was founded by a former military family, my boys plus the mound of toys in the lobby allowed me to bring them almost every check-up, unlike most hospitals, the center allows water birth even if your bag of waters has broken (a key for me as my water broke beforehand with both boys), the midwives are ALL amazing, knowledgeable, experienced mothers that invested in me and my pregnancy, the nurses knew my name, my kids names, and elaborated for every question I brought, the pre-birth classes and required nutrition gave me invaluable resources even as an experienced childbirth educator… oh man, let’s just say they rock!

Fast forward to my weekly appointment on Tuesday, October 4th.  Bubba was born at 40 weeks, Zeke was born a little after 38 weeks, and I thought for sure that I would birth even earlier, but there I was, still pregnant, at 39 weeks and a few days.  The midwife was sweet at the appointment as she said I didn’t seem too concerned that I still hadn’t had my baby.  I’ve got stuff to get done, I told her with a smile.  Later that afternoon with Bubba at homeschool enrichment and Zeke down for a nap, I crashed instead of getting stuff done, woke up with Zeke a few hours later, picked Bubba up from school, and continued our Tuesday routine that afternoon, brothers playing in the basement while I made dinner.

Around 5 p.m. I got a text from a masseuse friend (yes, always good to have a friend that’s a massage therapist) who asked me if I wanted to come in for a free massage since her schedule for the day was slow. Ummmm, yes, I responded, before feeding the boys a quick pre-dinner snack, and loading them up to go to the fitness center where my friend worked.  Spa clients receive free childcare so while the boys played in the giant fitness playland, I received an amazing one hour massage.  Feeling thoroughly relaxed, the boys and I made our way home around 7:30p.m. and were surprised to find Haus home from golf night early with dinner set-up and waiting for us on the table.  During dinner, I started to feel a bout of indigestion coming on and was frustrated as I had experienced a little indigestion a few nights before.

Haus finished up the late dinner with the boys while I spent my time in the bathroom bemoaning my unlucky state.  Seriously, what is up with cleaning myself out every couple of days for no reason, I thought. As I heard Haus running the water for the boys bath, I realized that the stomach pains were moving from indigestion to more crampy discomfort.  Weird, these are like contractions, I thought.  Finally able to leave the bathroom, I got on the computer and decided to download a contraction timer on iTunes.  Why not practice is what I was thinking since my water had not broken and I didn’t really think I was in labor. According to the app, I started timing my “indigestion pains” at 8:45 p.m.  It was during my fourth pain that I interrupted Haus as he was tucking the boys in for bed.

“Check out this timer,” I said, showing him my iPhone.  My last four “pains” were about a minute to minute and a half long and three to four minutes apart.  I started to explain to Haus that this was some kind of crazy diarrhea before I had to rush into the boys bathroom.  After a couple contractions sitting on the toilet, I made it to our downstairs bathroom when Haus came in with his phone.  ”I’m calling the birth center,” he said. “NO, DUDE!” I argued, “I’m not having you call the birth center because your wife has diarrhea.”  Haus rolled his eyes and continued, “Alyssa, if you aren’t in labor they will just send you home.  You don’t have to fear going in to them… it’s the birth center, remember?”  I nodded realizing that unlike the hospital that has so many rules and protocol for a laboring woman to leave once checked in, the birth center was a safe place. “Fine… call,” I said and listened while trying to breath through contractions as Haus confirmed that the midwife on call did want me to come in.  He immediately phoned our friend, Allison, who was ready to babysit the boys at night if labor started.

All of this happened pretty fast, because I remember calling my doula friend at 9:30 p.m. and warning her that if she still wanted to volunteer to take pictures at the birth, we were going in to the birth center in a few minutes.  The conversation went a little something like this, “Misty, I’m having diarrhea, but Haus thinks it’s contractions.  Going into the birth center now, but…. (CONTRACTION STARTS) here’s Haus (PASS PHONE TO HAUS).”  Allison arrived at 9:45p.m. and I got up off of the bathroom floor where I’d been camped out as she came in the house.  Passing her on the way to the car, I said, “Allison, this is just diarrhea.  I’m sure we’ll be back in a few hours.”  As I made my way to the porch, I heard Haus say, “We’ll be back with a baby.” On the front porch, the wind whipped by me and I had my first truly painful contraction.  No way, I thought, this has only been going on for an hour.  I’m not going to have a baby.

To be continued… mwah, ha, ha!

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By Alyssa, September 23, 2011 9:25 pm

An all-encompassing, un-edited photo that perfectly expresses how I feel lately.  We’re almost there, baby.

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By Alyssa, September 21, 2011 3:45 pm

I mentioned in my nesting post that I’ve been, well, a little crazy about redecorating our house this summer.  Maybe it’s because Haus was out of town (and I could get away with it… mwah, ha, ha, ha), maybe it’s creative juices from the baby, whatever the reason, I’ve went a little nuts!  Be prepared for A LOT of pictures.

First, let me post a picture of something I could NOT do by myself.  I tried and failed.  When we darkened the wood floors throughout our house after the kitchen disaster, we noticed that the railing ended up not matching anything.  Wasn’t a big deal, but I got it in my head that I could paint it myself.  The rest of our house has white baseboards and I thought, why not paint the railing white.

So I dusted, cleaned, taped, caulked until it looked like this:

Not so bad, right?  What I should mention is that I did all of this six months pregnant.  Yep, ladder and all.  It got worse when I started priming the lower section and realized there was NO WAY I could reach the outside of the railing on the second floor.  It would put me much higher up on the ladder than when I taped and my big belly prevented me from leaning over the railing.

Soooo, I swallowed my pride and started getting estimates.  Didn’t realize how hard it would be to call painters, but after painting the rest of my house by myself (my mom and sis helped some too), it was really my first painting call for help.  Long story short, the guys I hired were worth every penny of their $500 estimate and the stairs now look like this:

After the railing was finished, I called in some help for my next project.  My super tough friend, Nanc, helped me pull down a 9 foot mirror from my bathroom.  Here’s the mirror and, yes, that sucker was probably a little too heavy for a pregnant chick to pull off the wall, but Nancy might be as crazy as I am:

You can see there is a common theme with me doing ridiculous things preggered.  I DO NOT endorse that kind of behavior for others.  Anyhoo, here’s another before picture of the bathroom:

Since moving in three years ago, I’d wanted that stinking mirror gone so when it finally came off the wall I was ecstatic.  My dad helped me recenter the light fixtures (with a super cute helper):

He also retextured a few spots where the mirror was glued and pre-hung some mirrors I found on Craigslist. Thanks, Colonel!  You can see from that last pic the mirror was HUGE.  My dad and a girlfriend’s hubby moved it to the garage, not me.  I’m not that nuts.  Once it was down, I painted, hung the mirrors and decor stuff, and made curtains.  Check out the transformation:

I painted the mirror wall light tan and the other walls a dark chocolate brown.  The curtains were really easy to make and almost all of the decorations were waiting in my basement to be put up somewhere.  Total cost for the shelves, mirrors, paint, and curtain material… $125.  That’s it!

About the same time I decided to transform the bathroom, I changed up our master bedroom too.  I pulled down a picture bar holder thingy (yep, that’s the technical term) from our den and put it above our bed.  I sewed curtains with coordinating material to the bathroom, and made wall art to create this:

Sorry, no before picture.  Just imagine this room without curtains or the wall hangings.  I love two things about this wall.  First, I faked a window.  There’s actually only one to the right of our bed, but I’m kinda weird about symmetry.  I also love the way the canvases turned out.  I got the idea from a friend of a friend’s website.  It was so easy!  I used her instructions to glue old atlas maps my father-in-law gave me on blank Hobby Lobby canvases:

This picture doesn’t really do them justice.  The Modge Podge made glossy, expensive-looking wall art and the materials only cost me $15.  LOVE!  I surprised Haus with the entire master suite transformation and, thank goodness, he LOVES it too.

With the picture hanging thingy off the wall in the den, it looked like this downstairs:

Of course I couldn’t leave it like that!  My final do it yourself project was to create a gallery wall.  I found some cute shelves at the new IKEA in Denver (my first IKEA experience and that’s a whole other post!) and gathered all the excess stuff I didn’t use in the master bathroom.  I discovered this website which showed me gallery wall options and just started nailing and affixing things with command strips.  Now our den wall looks like this:

I bought and modge podged the “A” from JoAnns, and, believe it or not, everything else was in the basement or in other parts of the house.

Hubby doesn’t LOVE this like he loves the master suite, but he doesn’t hate it so it stays.  Yes, it’s busy, but what I really like about our gallery wall is that it isn’t like anyone else’s house, encompasses a lot of aspects of our family, and, much like the other decorating, didn’t break the bank.  The two IKEA shelves and new picture printouts cost me about $30 total.

So there you have it.  Want to change up things in your house?  Gather every unused decor item that you can find, search some websites for inspiration, and just go for it!  I’m so glad I did.  I know I didn’t provide a lot of tutorials in this post, so feel free to ask questions in the comment section.  Happy decorating!

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By Alyssa, September 11, 2011 1:42 pm

September 11th, 2001: I was frustrated that morning that my car battery was dead and I didn’t have a way to get to work that afternoon.  Haus and I had only gotten married a few months before and were living in a townhouse in Caldwell, Idaho.  We had very little to our name and no television.

Despite just graduating from college, I was a waitress at the Olive Garden waiting for a school date to start my Army career and Haus was a framer for construction company waiting for us to be in a more permanent place to finish his engineering degree.  We were so young.  I called my parents to borrow a car as they only lived a half-hour away and it was my mom that told me the shocking news.  I spent the rest of the morning standing in front of their big screen watching the events unfold.

Later that afternoon, I idled in the lobby of the restaurant with the other waiters at work discussing the implications of the terrorist attacks… not a soul came in to eat.  I can remember thinking, I’m going to be in the Army and my Army is going to war.

That night at dinner Haus and I sat silently in our tiny kitchen knowing that this day would forever change the course of our lives.