I'll post Jakiah's birth story soon (it's AWESOME!) but for now, here's a couple of pics for those who are waiting. He's perfect!!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Jakiah has arrived!!
Jakiah Gabriel Sigrah arrived at 5:44am on January 25, 2012, weighing in at 7lbs, 9oz, 20 inches long, 14 inch head!!
I'll post Jakiah's birth story soon (it's AWESOME!) but for now, here's a couple of pics for those who are waiting. He's perfect!!
I'll post Jakiah's birth story soon (it's AWESOME!) but for now, here's a couple of pics for those who are waiting. He's perfect!!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Belly Painting
Over the years I have seen a lot of images of women who get things painted on their pregnant bellies and have really wanted to try it. Many midwives paint images of the baby on women's bellies as well as a lot of other types of artwork. We decided to let Miss Kalaya paint baby brother last night and she looooved it! It was really fun and sweet and she enjoyed doing it a lot!!
Finished product!
Proud big sister!
38 Weeks
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
38 Weeks
I am now doing weekly baby appointments, I can't believe it! This past Thursday I had one and discovered that I am (was?) already 90% effaced and 1cm dilated. Now, I am well aware of the fact that this can last for several days, if not weeks for many women, so I'm not getting TOO excited. The other good news is that Jakiah is still head down and facing the ideal way for delivery. He has dropped, Jana (our midwife) could feel his head, so it could be any time! Or....a couple weeks. She mentioned that if she didn't know better, she would have thought that my body had already been through a vaginal delivery, since I was progressing so nicely. She offered to strip my membranes at my appointment this Thursday, but I'm going to say no thank you. Maybe if I go past my due date, but not now. Also, I never had an internal with Kalaya, those SUCK!!! I already have it in my birth plan not to check me unless I ask (meaning I don't want them to routinely check me and interrupt me during labor) and I'm GLAD!
Even though I am not getting TOO worked up yet about the 'progress' my body has made, but it definitely made me panic a little bit. Just in that I have about 4 different to do lists going (final baby stuff, cleaning, meals to freeze, date night, grocery trip stocking up, pedicure, haircut, etc) and wanted to get more things crossed off. Luckily, this past weekend was a 3 day weekend for Nelson, so we got almost everything done! I'm still making and freezing meals this week, but other than that, pretty much totally ready! We had a small shower done for us on Friday at Nelson's work, which resulted in a very generous gift card from Babies R Us, as well as a gift card to the Cheesecake Factory, so Saturday night my mom came over to baby sit and we had a nice date out (for FREE!!) and got the rest of the things we wanted from our registry. We went and had belly portraits taken on Saturday (email address is mcmahonkp@yahoo.com, password sigrah), I got a pedicure with my mom yesterday, my hair trimmed Fri, did a HUGE grocery trip yesterday (with coupons!) and Nelson was a huge help cleaning and straightening up around the house. We converted our crib to a co-sleeper next to my side of the bed (actually going to get some use of it this time!!), washed and put everything Newborn and 3 month related away, went to a few other places to get some last minute items, got our hospital bags all packed, camera charged, and many other things as well. We were busy, but I feel a LOT better. Now we're 'ready' for Jakiah's debut! We're going to do a belly cast this week too. Could be a couple more weeks, could be any minute, we'll see!!
Even though I am not getting TOO worked up yet about the 'progress' my body has made, but it definitely made me panic a little bit. Just in that I have about 4 different to do lists going (final baby stuff, cleaning, meals to freeze, date night, grocery trip stocking up, pedicure, haircut, etc) and wanted to get more things crossed off. Luckily, this past weekend was a 3 day weekend for Nelson, so we got almost everything done! I'm still making and freezing meals this week, but other than that, pretty much totally ready! We had a small shower done for us on Friday at Nelson's work, which resulted in a very generous gift card from Babies R Us, as well as a gift card to the Cheesecake Factory, so Saturday night my mom came over to baby sit and we had a nice date out (for FREE!!) and got the rest of the things we wanted from our registry. We went and had belly portraits taken on Saturday (email address is mcmahonkp@yahoo.com, password sigrah), I got a pedicure with my mom yesterday, my hair trimmed Fri, did a HUGE grocery trip yesterday (with coupons!) and Nelson was a huge help cleaning and straightening up around the house. We converted our crib to a co-sleeper next to my side of the bed (actually going to get some use of it this time!!), washed and put everything Newborn and 3 month related away, went to a few other places to get some last minute items, got our hospital bags all packed, camera charged, and many other things as well. We were busy, but I feel a LOT better. Now we're 'ready' for Jakiah's debut! We're going to do a belly cast this week too. Could be a couple more weeks, could be any minute, we'll see!!
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
37 Weeks
Well, potentially 3 weeks to go!! I have absolutely no inkling whatsoever about when Jakiah's arrival will be (duh!), so I'm trying to get as 'ready' as possible. (whatever that means)
At 37 weeks, I feel pretty good most of the time. I remember during this time with Kalaya, it was sooo different. I was praying, hoping and trying everything to get her to turn head down and dreading having a c section. This time, it looks as though Jakiah is still head down, though we will be confirming his position at an appointment in the next week or so. I am carrying him very differently that I was with Kalaya and he just feels BIG. I don't feel like I look enormous (except when I wear certain dresses to church and people tell me how big I am.....gee thanks....) but I don't feel like he has a lot of room left to move around in there! He is still extremely active, as Kalaya was, which I find very reassuring. Since who knows what God's plan is for us and how many more children we'll be blessed with, I'm savoring these last few weeks (days???) of feeling this little guy growing and moving inside me.
Since he seems to be head down, it's affecting my body much differently than Kalaya did. All of the weight is on my hips and pelvis, which makes me pretty sore. I don't want to complain, because it's not too bad, but there's really no way to feel comfortable for long periods any more. Unfortunately, that has started to include at night, so I haven't been sleeping as well. But, I made it for a LONG time getting good sleep, so I'm grateful it's taken this long. I'm also incredibly grateful for a toddler who sleeps long nights and sleeps IN! I'm sure that's just part of being this far along, but I just don't ever remember feeling the 'I'm ready for the baby to come out!' feeling with Kalaya and sometimes feel guilty that I've started feeling that way with Jakiah. But, really, I just want to see him and meet him and start being a family of 4!!! The only other minor thing that has been challenging is how itchy my belly has been this time, which I don't remember happening. It got to the point where I had hives all over it, but we did some home remedies and a few topical things and it feels much better now. Lots and LOTS of lotion seems to be helping. And, (don't hate me!) I have stretch marks this time. Made it all the way until about 35 weeks in my second pregnancy and BAM, there they are on my belly. So, maybe no more bikinis for me in the future. : P
We had our last Hypnobirthing class last night and we learned a LOT! It's really changed my whole outlook on birth, what to expect and how to prepare myself for labor. I could go on and on about it, but the main idea is that labor and birth have become what they are in our society because of so much fear and drama that we've surrounded it with. There is no reason that birth has to be this screaming, terrifying, horribly painful event. Women around the world have babies every day without medical intervention and are FINE. You know why? They don't know it's supposed to hurt and haven't seen these images of pain and been told they're patients in a hospital with something wrong over and over again. It's pretty amazing once you start learning more about the history leading up to the development of the program.
At 37 weeks, I feel pretty good most of the time. I remember during this time with Kalaya, it was sooo different. I was praying, hoping and trying everything to get her to turn head down and dreading having a c section. This time, it looks as though Jakiah is still head down, though we will be confirming his position at an appointment in the next week or so. I am carrying him very differently that I was with Kalaya and he just feels BIG. I don't feel like I look enormous (except when I wear certain dresses to church and people tell me how big I am.....gee thanks....) but I don't feel like he has a lot of room left to move around in there! He is still extremely active, as Kalaya was, which I find very reassuring. Since who knows what God's plan is for us and how many more children we'll be blessed with, I'm savoring these last few weeks (days???) of feeling this little guy growing and moving inside me.
Since he seems to be head down, it's affecting my body much differently than Kalaya did. All of the weight is on my hips and pelvis, which makes me pretty sore. I don't want to complain, because it's not too bad, but there's really no way to feel comfortable for long periods any more. Unfortunately, that has started to include at night, so I haven't been sleeping as well. But, I made it for a LONG time getting good sleep, so I'm grateful it's taken this long. I'm also incredibly grateful for a toddler who sleeps long nights and sleeps IN! I'm sure that's just part of being this far along, but I just don't ever remember feeling the 'I'm ready for the baby to come out!' feeling with Kalaya and sometimes feel guilty that I've started feeling that way with Jakiah. But, really, I just want to see him and meet him and start being a family of 4!!! The only other minor thing that has been challenging is how itchy my belly has been this time, which I don't remember happening. It got to the point where I had hives all over it, but we did some home remedies and a few topical things and it feels much better now. Lots and LOTS of lotion seems to be helping. And, (don't hate me!) I have stretch marks this time. Made it all the way until about 35 weeks in my second pregnancy and BAM, there they are on my belly. So, maybe no more bikinis for me in the future. : P
We had our last Hypnobirthing class last night and we learned a LOT! It's really changed my whole outlook on birth, what to expect and how to prepare myself for labor. I could go on and on about it, but the main idea is that labor and birth have become what they are in our society because of so much fear and drama that we've surrounded it with. There is no reason that birth has to be this screaming, terrifying, horribly painful event. Women around the world have babies every day without medical intervention and are FINE. You know why? They don't know it's supposed to hurt and haven't seen these images of pain and been told they're patients in a hospital with something wrong over and over again. It's pretty amazing once you start learning more about the history leading up to the development of the program.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Great Wolf Lodge
In honor of Kalaya becoming a big sister in a VERY short time, we decided to take a mini vacation as a family of 3 for the last time. We didn't have a huge budget, but wanted to do something fun! Disneyland would have been my #1 choice, of course, but we didn't want to travel that far from home, this soon before baby. Plus, it would have meant 4 days of driving or paying for airline tickets during the week after Christmas. Um, no thank you! The date had to be the week after Christmas, because Portland State (where Nelson works) has a furlough week then and all other vacation time is being saved up for paternity leave!
We decided to go to the Great Wolf Lodge, which is only a couple of hours away, but out of state. For those who haven't heard of it, it's a large hotel/resort that has a huge water park inside of it, 2 days of which are included with staying one night. It's on the spendy side for one night, and of course there are PLENTY of other ways to waste money there, but we were smart about it. The rooms have microwaves and fridges, so we saved money by bringing our own meals.
It was really fun! We're glad we went. I don't think we'll be heading back up any time soon, mainly because there is not as much for toddlers to do as we had thought. The water park had several play areas for her, and she loved the wave pool and another pool that had floating toys and basketball hoops. But, she wanted nothing what so ever to do with the slides. Any of them. We had her go on 2 small and one larger and she hated them all. Period. So...maybe a few more years. We had thought we could ride with her, but apparently not. Plus, I was just too big and too pregnant to do much of anything. When we have 2 kids in elementary or middle school. it will be just perfect! But, it was good to go, see what it had, and Kalaya had a blast, so that's what matters! The hotel is fun, there's activities and things to look at all over. It SNOWS inside, which was really exciting and there are all of these animatronic (sp?) animals that talk to and interact with you, including a big area where they sing and perform throughout the day. They have a craft and imagination room that Kalaya absolutely LOVED and lots of other ways to spend money too. The rooms are nice and the facility is very family and kid friendly and we will head back some day!!
We decided to go to the Great Wolf Lodge, which is only a couple of hours away, but out of state. For those who haven't heard of it, it's a large hotel/resort that has a huge water park inside of it, 2 days of which are included with staying one night. It's on the spendy side for one night, and of course there are PLENTY of other ways to waste money there, but we were smart about it. The rooms have microwaves and fridges, so we saved money by bringing our own meals.
It was really fun! We're glad we went. I don't think we'll be heading back up any time soon, mainly because there is not as much for toddlers to do as we had thought. The water park had several play areas for her, and she loved the wave pool and another pool that had floating toys and basketball hoops. But, she wanted nothing what so ever to do with the slides. Any of them. We had her go on 2 small and one larger and she hated them all. Period. So...maybe a few more years. We had thought we could ride with her, but apparently not. Plus, I was just too big and too pregnant to do much of anything. When we have 2 kids in elementary or middle school. it will be just perfect! But, it was good to go, see what it had, and Kalaya had a blast, so that's what matters! The hotel is fun, there's activities and things to look at all over. It SNOWS inside, which was really exciting and there are all of these animatronic (sp?) animals that talk to and interact with you, including a big area where they sing and perform throughout the day. They have a craft and imagination room that Kalaya absolutely LOVED and lots of other ways to spend money too. The rooms are nice and the facility is very family and kid friendly and we will head back some day!!
Tree at the entrance
Coloring; there are lots of activities around!
Favorite part of the water park; spraying water!!
Love the life jacket : )
Playing with Daddy
Very pregnant Mommy and Kalaya, main structure of park in background
Love the life jacket : )
Playing with Daddy
Very pregnant Mommy and Kalaya, main structure of park in background
Getting ready to leave : (
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