Preparing for baby...

As my due date approaches (August 24th) I am flooded with emotions about the coming experience. I feel excitement, I feel such a strong sense of womanhood, and I feel a bit nervous.
When I was pregnant with Beckham I knew I wanted a natural birth but I doubted whether or not I would be able to do it. I expected to be in so much pain that all I would be able to think about was getting the epidural. I was so wrong. My labor was so calm and easy going. I never felt the need to scream or cry, I felt in control and so serene. I was able to ease into the pushing stage in the birthing tub, which was so relaxing for me! So much that they actually made me get out!
But, I am aware that each birth can be so different! Beckham was so slow and steady coming out, I pushed for two hours which sounds bad but it was so calm and peaceful. My body really handles pregnancy and birth well, before I ever went into real labor with Beckham I was dilated to a 3 1/2 and was %90 effaced! I  know that second babies can sometimes come much faster than your first and I am a bit nervous to have this baby come too fast! I don't want to push a baby out in seven minutes like some women! That sounds intense! I am so looking forward to bringing this baby to the earth though! However fast or slow he may come it will be so beautiful and a once in a life time experience - literally! But I do have my fears...

So as my due date approaches I am slowly trying to unfold all of the fear I have and embrace this babies journey, whatever it may be. I think that the more fear a person has going into labor and birth the harder your labor is bound to be. Fear and pain don't mix well, a pain tolerance can be shot to nothing if you are wound up too tightly in fear. Call me crazy, but pain is so mental. I don't think birth has to be excruciatingly painful like they portray in the movies! As birth has moved into the hospitals over the last 80 or so years it has become something much more "scary" than it needs to be. In my opinion hospitals are what made birth scary for most of the world...standard episiotomies and forceps? Standard pitocen and catheterization? No wonder most women approach birth thinking "Yes, I want to numb this process please!". I am glad to hear that America is slowly moving past episiotimies and forceps. And I feel SO blessed to have a hospital nearby like the Ashland Hospital where I was free to labor how I wanted. They didn't request that I stay in bed, they let me use a shower during labor, a birthing ball, they let me walk around the birth center for as long as I wanted to! I was offered a Doula (birth coach & help) at no additional charge to me (the hospital considers it a form of insurance for them because statistics show that births with Doulas present go smoother) I even had the option to birth in the birthing tub! I could go on and on about this subject but all I will say is that if you are  dissatisfied with what typical hospital births have become then you should watch 'The Business of Being Born' it's available on Netflix. I've also been reading a great book called 'Ina May's Guide to Childbirth' and I highly suggest it!

 I remember with Beckham I journaled a lot before he was born and I googled and researched about natural childbirth and read birth stories from many different women! Educating myself really helped reduce my fear about birth. I once heard a quote "If you don't know your options, you don't have any" which is so true!

Giving birth is amazing! I'm not saying it's a walk in the park, it is challenging but it's something we are so divinely designed for and something most women only get to experience a handful of times in their life. It is empowering, breath taking and life changing! There is pain involved, but is that not the best kind of pain a person can experience! The giving of life? *This pain can be so different for every woman. Birth wasn't nearly as painful as I was told it would be! There were stages of my labor and birth that were more uncomfortable than others but It wasn't an experience that was all about pain. For me it was a lot about learning about myself and my limitations and surrendering to an experience that is so much larger than myself, it was such an inward journey. In my humble opinion, raising children is more painful than birthing them! When we become parents we subject ourselves to years of passionate and heart straining emotion. Good and bad. There is a quote that I think says it exactly...

" Making the decision to have a child - it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." -Elizabeth Stone

People think birth is scary but parenting is the real ride! I can't imagine going through what I put my parents through growing up yet I choose to take part in this wild world of child rearing!

I have been all over the place in this post so if you're still reading - thank you for caring. In closing I will say that I'm so looking forward to bringing this baby out into the world. I'm excited to work with my mind and my body to do something so spectacular and breath taking! I'm excited to go deep into myself to bring this baby forth. I'm excited to grow closer to my husband through bringing another child to the earth and working through labor together. I'm excited for my family and my heart to grow. I'm excited to be blessed with one of God's precious children that I get the privilege of raising. -R

If you are interested in learning more about natural childbirth here are some resources I recommend:

birthwithoutfearblog.com

The documentary 'The Business of Being Born' (there are 2 movies)

The documentary 'Birth Story' by Ina May Gaskin

The book 'Ina May's Guide to Childbirth'

The book 'Spiritual Midwifery'

The book 'Birthing from within'

A Memorable Mother's Day

This was one of the best days, and it just happens to be Mother's Day. It wasn't special because I got any nice gifts, cards or flowers. In fact, we celebrated last night with take out Thai Food which was to die for! Pumpkin curry and eggplant "something" is a new favorite for this mama! 

Today was special for me because even though Beckham was sick with the flu which made us have to leave church in a hurry, leaving a trail of throw up down the hall way and many more puking episodes once we got home. It was special because through all of that, Jeremy, Beckham and I shared laughs, snuggles and sweet moments all throughout the day! I am so grateful for the humor that sometimes buffers those harder moments in life! It was a quiet day, spent mostly in the living room with movies, blankets, snacks (for Jeremy and I) and a throw up bowl for Beckham. We snuggled and enjoyed our sleepy babe who was so lethargic yet tender and affectionate in his brief moments of wakefulness. It was almost like having a newborn, which reminded me that in a few short months it will no longer be just Beckham anymore. The bond and experiences you journey through with your first child are so special. Of course I don't know what the journey with my second child will be like but there's something special about just the three of us and a lot of times just the two of us :-) 

To Beckham: As I gear up emotionally for the entrance of our second son, your brother, into our family it breaks my heart a little to think that the wee hours of the morning will no longer be spent having special "Mommy & Beckham" time. With you laying across my chest with your face nuzzled in my neck as you fall back to sleep for a few more minutes. I will miss giving you all of my attention. Although we will all be overjoyed to meet your brother, I am sad that this heart of mine which is so spilling over with love and admiration for you will have to share that love with another sweet soul. It's bittersweet. 

Things I want to remember about YOU, my Beckham right now (15 mos, 3 weeks):

Your adorable bow-legged little man walk!

Your chubby little naked body.

All your sweet little sign language talk.

How you are so 'matter of fact' in all your little actions and expressions. 

The way you solo dance, you hold your arms like you're ballroom dancing with a girl, while bending your legs and bouncing up and down.

The way you sing, "da-da-da, ya-ya-ya" 

How you say "IIII CHEE!!!" and have for quite some time and I have no idea what it means, I'm convinced you made it up!

Your aggressive love for our cat, Poppy. 

Your kisses, you always hum as you lean in for a smooch and you LOVE Eskimo kisses!

The way you spontaneously grab my face with both hands like you're having a love attack and you scream "AHHHHHHHH" with wide eyes and a big smile on your face then you bury your head in my neck. 

How you sit down in a quiet place with a book (without any instruction from me) and sit content babbling and pointing at the pictures. 

The way you are so excited to help me with any task! Throwing away your diapers and helping in the garden are your favorites right now! You work by my side with your mini shovel and carefully spoon the dirt from one garden bed to another with your hands..you help me weed out the rocks from the soil. 

Every time we walk by the picture of Jesus in our house you say "Jss-sss" and whenever you see the temple pictures in our home you sing "ya-ya-ya" because you love the primary song "I love to see the temple" 

I love the way you clap, innocently pick your nose, fall to sleep and your amazing expressions. 

And a person hasn't lived until they've seen you lift up your arms and flex so hard your face turns red showing us how strong you are!

You are an amazing little boy and I am blessed to be your mom! I always thought motherhood was my calling but now I know it was not just motherhood, but being YOUR mother is what I've always been meant for. Thank You for such a wonderful wonderful gift, I Love You!

Ahh Spring!

I am finally making it back here where I've had the intention of posting for the past month! We have been in our new house for just about three months now! We finally painted and hung pictures in one of the living rooms but have yet to decorate the rest of the house! Alas! However I am very proud to say that we have dug up a good area for our garden plot! Yes, dug, as in we used a shovel and a ho and one of those things that turns the soil. A hand tiller? It was hard work but fun work! Beckham and the Day Care kids played in the backyard in the sun and picnicked on a blanket in the grass while I worked on the garden! Jeremy helped after work. Now we just have to mix in some things to make our soil a bit more rich and then begin planting! I'm especially excited about the corn, kale, spinach, squash (we love barbecuing squash in the summer!) and strawberries OH and the cherry tomatoes. I've always hated cherry tomatoes but last year a friend planted some Sun Gold cherry tomatoes and oh my heck! They were to die for! Pictures coming soon on the Garden!
Beckham is 14 months and 3 weeks old! He started walking just in these last two weeks! He's really cruising now! It's so fun to watch him try to keep his balance! He sticks his bum out and walks real fast till he finally falls over! For the most part he can cruise all over the house but he still falls sometimes. He loves any kind of furry animal right now, he is always doing sign language for "Dog" when he sees any kind of furry animal. Its really cute! He is now signing: Grandpa, Dog, Please, More, Food, Banana, and a few others. He says please for everything, It's precious!
We can't believe this second pregnancy is already half way through! On April Fourth we found out we are indeed having another Little Boy! I totally had a feeling it would be a boy! In fact I've been telling Jeremy the gender order of our children for a while now and I think he's finally starting to believe me! For a while now I've thought we would have our kids in this order: Boy, Boy, Girl, Boy. We're half way there! We'll see if I'm right about the rest of our little babes!
Some have made comments to us like, "oh...ANOTHER boy" and I know that it would seem more exciting momentarily to find out we were having a girl, and that it would be something completely new; pink, bows, precious dresses and leg warmers! But I am SO excited to meet this child! He is my son, and he is the only one of him that there will ever be! He will be another boy, but he will be a different boy. And getting a feel for his spirit kicking and tumbling inside of me gets me so excited to meet him face to face, bosom to bosom! I'm so looking forward to another BABY, a warm, fragile bundle that yawns, coo's and cries innocently rather than manipulatively! Poopy diapers that don't stink! I'm a little bit worried about what this ones sleeping habits will look like because Beckham insisted on being nursed to sleep and once asleep I had to stay in bed with him to keep him asleep. Even in the hospital, he didn't go into "recovery sleep" like the nurses said he probably would. He woke every hour wanting to be nursed! But I have more experience now and will be busier and wont be able to nap with this baby every two hours so I'm sure we will all adapt! That's what this parenting thing is all about, right? So excited to meet our son, can't believe August 24th is just a summer away!

A profile pic of our sweet baby boy!

Personally, I've always found these 3D pics a little creepy, but he's just so cute I had to post it! Love that nose!

My enthusiastic garden helper!

A sweet pic during spring break.

Eagerly waiting to find out the gender of our new baby

Thanks for reading!

-R

A New Year & New beginnings!

Okay, I've finally found a moment to update here...SO much has happened since the New Year! We have moved into our new home that we bought, a little scary, a bit over whelming but overall very exciting for us to get out of our 900 sq ft, one bedroom apartment. I will admit, I miss our apartment dearly sometimes! So many sweet memories were made there, bringing home our first child to that apartment and all the experiences we've had with him thus far have been there in that little home! Needless to say, I balled as Jeremy and I held hands and walked through our first home one last time and said goodbye. I actually think I said "Goodbye, I love you" while my awesome husband said something like "Good reddens ya sardine can!".  Funny thing is, four months after we moved into that apartment I told Jeremy, "okay we are only going to live here for a year TOPS because it is way too small for us and I have no space to put anything!!!" I hated it at first, but we ended up there for two years and I slowly made a bond I suppose.

Our new place is a lovely three bedroom, two bath, 1338 sq ft home, one level with a great front and back yard. The biggest most beautiful tree on the block is in our front yard and I envision hanging a tire swing and my kids climbing and playing and making memories. I haven't fallen in love with the neighborhood yet, we have been quiet hermits and haven't introduced ourselves to our neighbors. BUT on our first stroller adventure Beckham and I discovered a neat little alley way at the corner of our circle that leads into a huge open field great for Frisbee or football with paved pathways for a bike or stroller. It's basically the back yard to the Elementary schools field so the play ground is there too. It's enclosed, but we may have to figure something out ;-). I think having that alley way there is my favorite thing about the neighborhood so far.
I still haven't painted the house and I'm still waiting for it to smell like us but we are slowly making this our home!

Yesterday on the twenty first was our little boy's first birthday! Beckham Eugene is One Year OLD! I really cant believe how fast the time goes by when those little ones finally arrive! My pregnancy seemed so long, and our first year with baby went by in a flash! This morning at five AM after trying to put B back to bed with a bottle (Yes he is weaned and we managed to do so somewhat gracefully) after the bottle he still wouldn't go back to bed so I brought him to bed with us. It was so cute, he laid still with his head on my pillow for twenty minutes and talked gibberish to us while we trying to squeeze in a few more minutes of sleep! Finally his blessed dad got up and rocked him back to sleep and he's currently snuggled up in our bed. He gives me warm fuzzies inside!

And finally, I am a tad reluctant to announce that we are pregnant with our second baby! I am only four or five weeks...I think...I honestly have no idea because I've only had one period since Beckham was born and that was three months ago so a trip to the doctor is in our future, a few times over I think :-) We were trying to keep it a secret until I was further along but we told our family and then SOMEHOW the word got out! I wonder how that happened...that's okay we are totally thrilled. Even with the nausea and drastic mood swings I am on cloud nine and Jeremy is beside himself with excitement! He is very much hoping for a girl! I had a dream it was a girl, but I've always always thought that I would have two boys and then a girl followed by another boy. We'll see...
So...life has been nothing short of exciting and exhausting lately! I am discovering that I need to lower my expectations of myself. I cant grow a human being, watch my two day care kids for nine hours a day plus my son (which entails a lot to say the least) while managing to get the laundry and the dishes clean, make dinner, keep house tidy, decorate our stark house and at the end of the day NOT want to pull my hair out, verbally abuse my husband and crawl into a dark and quiet place.
So last night I lit a candle, took a bath, got out my journal and decided I am ready for some transformation. I need to shed some of this dark angry energy and reduce my expectations of what I 'should' get done each day. I had a very thoughtful evening and decided I need to go back to simplicity, whatever that means, and however I get there I am taking that road! The house might not be spotless at the end of the day and Beckham might be in his pajamas until two pm but at least I will have my sanity and a smile...most days. I'm also going to try my darnedest to fit in some me time. Read a book, leave B with Jeremy in the living room for an hour while I go to our room and journal, Take myself to a palates class at the church where the kids can run around in the gym supervised. Whenever I have a melt down in life I try to break everything down and look at some basics. 1. Am I getting any me time? 2. Am I getting outside enough? 3. Am I getting enough rest and eating right? 4. Am I connecting with other people that aren't children? 5. Am I connecting with God?  For me these are some of the MOST important things! Happy momma & wife, happy family & life! More than a pretty house or nice hair and makeup, I need to maintain a happy life.
Thanks for reading my novel, now for some pictures!

Our baby boy right after he was born!

Our baby boy on his One Year Birthday!

The sign of another baby to come :-)

Beckham's Birth Story

A Birth Story

Beckham Eugene Foreman

I woke up on the morning of January the 20^th, I was now six days over due and decided “Okay…I’m giving up…this baby will come when he wants to and I’m not wasting any more time or energy trying to make labor start. I‘m going to get out of the house and distract myself!”

There must be something about that approach that works! Because at 3:45 that afternoon at Applebee’s my water began to leak. I wasn’t sure at first, so my mom and I ordered our food but by the time our food was brought out to us we were saying “Umm…can we have to-go boxes for everything please?” The waitress shouted “WE NEED SOME TO-GO BOXES OVER HERE, SHE’S IN LABOR!” I was so embarrassed!

My doctor, Jani Rollins, told me to come to her office right away. So we hopped in my mom’s car, thank goodness for leather seats because by the time we arrived, my pants were thoroughly soaked. I went inside and Jani felt the baby’s position and she told me to go home and wait for contractions to start. She said that once they were four minutes apart consistently for an hour to call her and then go to the hospital.

So at 1:30 AM we called Jani and we were off to the hospital to meet our son!

We arrived at the hospital and were set up in room 216, Leslie was the name of our first nurse while we were there. I got changed into a hospital gown and Leslie took my blood pressure and she checked how Beckham’s heart beat was and she set up the contraction monitor. I was so disappointed because right when we got to the hospital my contractions slowed WAY down! They were now as much as fifteen minutes apart and were decreasing in strength. I was a bit discouraged because I was already so tired and I knew I had a long ways to go still. So we just had to wait for the contractions to pick up. Jeremy stayed up with me for a little while but it was important that at least he get some rest while he could. So while Jeremy slept I sat in a rocking chair and rocked the night away and waited.

Nothing happened.

I woke Jeremy up at seven o’clock that morning because I was SO bored and lonely and to be honest I was feeling a little resentful that he had such a restful night and while I stayed up all night having contractions that weren’t strong enough to move a baby but hurt enough that I didn’t get a wink of sleep! So we tried walking around the Birth Center to see if that would make my contractions stronger, but that didn’t work.

By that time I had a new nurse, her name was Kemberly, “Kem” for short. She was one of my favorite nurses! She came into my room at about seven thirty that morning and told us that we might need to prepare ourselves because my doctor would probably want to get me started on a Pitocen drip (a drug used to induce or augment labor) to get things moving along. When your water breaks before giving birth, doctors typically want you to give birth within the following twenty four hours. If you go over twenty four hours you are at a higher risk for infection.

Jani arrived at the hospital at about eight thirty and she said exactly that. She recommended I have the Pitocen to get things going. I wanted to cry! I wanted a %100 natural birth and being the control freak that I am this really upset me. All the confidence that I had before then was gone because I felt that things were getting out of my control! Pitocen is also known to make your contractions much more painful, more so than if you had a natural labor. I was scared because I really didn’t want to get an epidural (a drug used to numb you from the waist down). Birth has always been very fascinating to me! From the time I was fifteen I knew I wanted a natural birth. In my eye’s it’s a ‘right of passage’ kind of experience. I think going through that kind of pain to meet your baby is an incredible bonding opportunity. So I was angry because I knew that Pitocen was going to make not getting the Epidural a hard thing not to do. After discussing it thoroughly with Jeremy and Jani we decided that starting the Pitocen was the safest thing for me and the baby. So I had to put away my controlling side and embrace the unexpected.

At this point I was feeling like I wanted some extra support so we requested for one of the hospital Doulas to come. I also called my sister, I wanted someone to chat with during the easier part of labor and get my mind off things.

After we ordered some breakfast my nurse, Kem, came to start the Pitocen drip. They use a really big needle because they have to feed a catheter into your vein so I didn’t look the entire time! It wasn’t so bad it was like a bee sting. But after it was in it freaked me out a little, I hated having something in my vein constantly. It made me not want to move that hand at all. I asked Kem if I would have to have the Pitocen the whole time and she said that it depends on how my body reacts to it. If my contractions were coming too fast and too strong that they would lower my dosage or stop the Pitocen altogether. That encouraged me a little.

After getting the I.V. set up I got down from the bed and immediately got onto the birthing ball, it’s supposed to help move the baby downward. About twenty minutes after they started the Pitocen the Doula arrived, her name was Shauna. She sat down with me right away and looked me straight in the eyes and she made me feel completely comfortable about the coming experience, we totally connected. She asked me questions about my thoughts on birth and how I hoped my birth would go and about any fears I had. She suggested that with each contraction I picture body my opening like a flower and that I visualize Beckham traveling further down the birth canal. I loved Shauna right away! She came in and took control of the atmosphere from the start and made me feel very in control and safe. I felt like there was someone there that understood what I was feeling, and I felt the whole time like she was looking out for my best interest.

I decided I wanted to get up and walk a little because I wanted my contractions to pick up and I knew I didn’t want to have very much Pitocen. So we started walking, we walked the loop around the birth center over and over again. I walked for probably three hours of my labor! We walked really slowly down the halls and when I would have a contraction I would stop, close my eyes, and sway in kind of a slow dance. Jeremy would massage my lower back with his fist to soothe the back labor, he was so present with me and supportive. Shauna kept reminding me not to fear the pain, but to use it as fuel for my labor. She kept saying “Go there Rylee, go to that place and allow that pain to open you up” I loved it! I felt so relaxed. McKynzie held my jell-o and water so that I could drink and eat when I wanted to. As my contractions started to get more intense I would make a humming sound during a contraction. Sometimes I would walk through a contraction and that was nice too. I just felt so in control and empowered. Looking back I think that the Pitocen was good for me personally because every fifteen minutes the drip feeder thing would give me more Pitocen. I think for me, it helped me to mentally prepare myself every time I heard that beep noise I knew I was getting more Pitocen and I knew that the contractions were going to get worse.

One of the ways I can describe it, the whole experience was a kind of dance...things just sort of ebbed and flowed. I would have a few progressively more painful contractions and then the pain would lessen for a couple and that went back and forth for a while. Even though I was in pain, I felt so serene and empowered…It was kind of peaceful actually.

Jeremy was such a trooper, he was getting so hungry and eventually had to eat something, so he finally went and got some food from the cafeteria. I had a couple contractions without him and then one of them hit me like a ton of bricks, it was by far the most painful one of them yet and I cried out for Jeremy and he came rushing back to me from our room. Shauna told me that I was probably going into transition, so I went back into the hospital room and got up onto the bed, which was hard to do when youre in so much pain. Kem came in and measured my cervix, and I was at a seven! I got up and slowly made my way out of the room and it was all I could do to just lean over something when I had a contraction! It was overwhelmingly painful. Shauna suggested that I get into the shower to ease some of the pain. So Jeremy got the shower running and I got in and it helped a little, there was a chair in there so I leaned over it and rocked my hips back and forth while Jeremy sprayed my back with the shower hose. At this point I was really in a different place, I had to get into “the zone” to deal with the pain. I remember I made a noise something like an Indian chant song, lol that’s the best way I can describe it! Shauna was going to leave the shower room and I asked her to stay, things were moving so fast at that point and I wanted someone there who knew what I was going through. It’s hard to recall exactly what the pain felt like, but it was far beyond what I had experienced in labor up to that point. While I was in the shower my nurse, Kem, filled up the birthing tub. I think I was in the shower for about fifteen minutes total. I got into the tub, and it was so relaxing. It was still painful but it helped to be in warm water and to feel more weightless. In the tub the pain of my contractions lessened and I made more of a humming noise when it hurt. At this point I was so exhausted, I had been up for over twenty four hours. I hardly ever opened my eyes, and when I did my vision was so unfocused. It actually took real effort to look someone in the eyes. I spent a lot of my time in the tub leaning over the edge with my arms folded. That way my belly could just hang down. In this position my knees kept slipping further away out from under me and It took so much effort to pull them back in.

At 2:55 Pm my third nurse, Kimberly, checked my cervix and I was complete! She told me that on the next contraction I could push. I was so calm and quiet, I felt like I was half asleep so it took me a while to kind of get back into gear and wake up so I could push effectively. I pushed for a total of two hours, but for about the first hour my pushes were making very little progress. Pushing felt almost like throwing up. When you throw up your muscles do all the work, you cant stop it once It starts. I felt the same way when I started pushing, you start to push and then your body wont stop until the end of the contraction.

At one point Jani told me to feel Beckham’s head while I pushed so that I could feel what was working. I tried pushing in so many different positions in the tub: on my hands and knees, squating, on the birthing stool (Which I hated!!!) they had me try standing with one leg up on the side of the tub. I was trying hard (I thought) but wasn’t making very much progress. At one point I told my audience in an exhausted voice, “I cant believe I’m doing it naturally!” Everyone laughed a little, I knew it was funny too but I couldn’t laugh. But it was true! Up until that point I had always wanted a natural birth but didn’t know, and realistically doubted if I would be able to! Once I went into transition I remember thinking… “this is it, beyond this point there are no epidurals” and I also remember thinking once transition had started and the crazy pain came “now THIS is why women request medication!”. But I didn’t, and I am so proud of myself for over coming that physical pain and the mental barrier you have to cross to get through that pain. Now, if you are reading this and thinking that I respect you less for getting medication you are very wrong. I believe that everyone’s Birth Experience is their own and it is amazing and makes you grow no matter how you get that baby out!

Now back to where I left off: I consciously decided that I needed to stop acting like I was taking a bath and needed to start giving it all I had when I pushed! A lot of people had told me that “its more pressure than pain” I definitely felt that here. A contraction would come and I would push and it feels like your bum is going to fall off!!! At that point things started moving a bit faster and for some reason my Dr and Nurses and the Doula all suggested that I get out of the tub to “wake up”. I got out of the tub which was the most awkward thing when you have a baby in the birth canal and with a lot of help made my way to the bed in the room and turned around to sit down and asked “how can I sit when he is right there!?” and my Nurse, Kem, told me to just throw my head back. The combination of cold air and the action in the room really woke me up and got me into gear. It all happened pretty fast from my perspective at that point, someone held my legs and I recall my Dr telling me, “Okay Rylee, I’m going to help you out a little” Jeremy said she poured some kind of oil on me and that during the next push Beckham shot forward!!! At the end of that contraction they all told me to stop and take a breath but I just kept pushing because I was ready to get him out!

Before my next contraction they told me to reach down and feel Beckham’s head so I could see how close I was…I didn’t really want to because I was in the ZONE! But Jeremy said, “no honey, seriously, you’re so close, feel” So I finally did and Jeremy said the look on my face was hilarious, my eyes almost popped out of my head! Everyone laughed and the Nurse said “they all do that!”

Jani (my doctor) told me “okay on the next push I want you to push and then stop when I say so I can ease him out” So I gave it a good push, and then his head was out and oh my goodness it was such a relief! Then I pushed his shoulders out, which was a breeze and then……..they laid him on my chest and I got to look into my baby’s eyes for the very first time! I just kept saying “oh my baby, you did such a good job, you did so good, you did it” And for some reason I told Jeremy and my sister that they did a good job too haha!

Getting to know Beckham’s spirit for nine months inside me I had always felt, and noted in my journal, that he was such a strong, steady spirit. And he was! And is! He was in the birth canal for two hours and his heart rate never changed and he never went into distress! He did it! I did it! And I felt more accomplished and beautiful and empowered than I ever have in my life!

I was so exhausted but so mesmerized by my son, after the initial cries to clear his lungs he was so peaceful and content just taking in the world around him with eyes wide open!

Now, lets fast forward through birthing the placenta and getting one stitch (thank my lucky stars I didn’t get more).

After two hours of gazing at my beautiful newborn son, resting, nursing and getting cleaned up we invited Beckham’s many family members to come in and meet him! How wonderful to be welcomed into this world with so much love! Jeremy held him for the first time which was so sweet! After an hour of visiting we got moved back into our initial room and I ordered turkey and potatoes with gravy!!! Haha! We pushed together the two hospital beds and enjoyed our first night snuggling with our son, trying to sleep through the amazement and excitement and hospital beeps and nurse check ups. I love these memories!

All in all, it was a beautiful experience, unlike any other! I grew so much! It was really a pivotal moment in my life, learning what my body and mind are capable of and over coming something that I had anticipated with fear and excitement for nine months!

I have heard many horror birth stories and I feel blessed to have had such a calm and peaceful birth. I might sound crazy but for me the pain wasn’t as bad as many women told me it would be…it still hurt!!! I just expected to be rolling on the floor and wanting to turn myself inside out. Jeremy nick named me his “warrior poet” afterwards….whatever that means haha!

I am honestly excited to give birth again, still nervous of course, because anything could happen. But I only get to do this a handful of times during my short time on earth. Pregnancy and birth were such powerful experiences for me. I’m excited to grow ripe with another baby in my belly and to settle somewhere in-between heaven and earth for a brief moment and to finally meet another one of my children!

 

 

The Foreman's

Welcome to Jeremy & Rylee + One, where we will try to record our family experiences, trials and triumphs and funny stories! If you are reading this, chances are you know who we are but let me officially introduce myself and the fam.
Lets start with my amazing Husband who I married on November 27th 2010, Jeremy. Jeremy just turned twenty four years old in October 2012. He is a fantastic Jeweler at Art FX Fine Jewelry, he is a fantastic cook (better than me any day), working out and eating healthy are very important to him, he is extremely playful, he is full of integrity, he's very honest, VERY funny, he loves the outdoors, a good movie night, a good family game, rafting, camping, hiking and he loves being a dad and most of the time a husband too ;-)
Then there is Beckham, our sweet son who was born on January 21st 2012. Cant believe he is almost ONE year old! Beckham loves his mommy & daddy, he is an avid reader at the age of eleven months, from the time he was in the womb he has always been a strong and steady boy, he is playful, curious, happy, "strong willed" to put it nicely, Beckham truly loves anything to do with being outside which we are ecstatic about, he likes oranges, dancing, books, and right now his favorite words are "Bye Bye", "BALL"and "momma" of course. He is so close to walking, he pulls himself up on everything! Oh and he LOVES dogs!
I am Rylee, a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, day care provider, my family and I are LDS, I am a home decor freak, I would like to say I am a frugal person, I love cats, games, the redwoods, quiet evenings, my kindle, a warm cup of herbal tea, the outdoors, hiking, I am honest, goofy, I love to learn and most of all I Love my Family!

Our latest adventure in the Foreman family is buying a house! We are about to close on an adorable three bedroom, two bathroom, 1338 square foot home in medford with a great front yard and big back yard! We couldn't be more excited to get out of our 1 bedroom apartment! More pictures and info to come...
until next time,
thanks for reading
-Rylee