Aaylas Birth Story: a home birth

My first son was born 10 days before his his EDD weighing 5lbs 11oz. I had prodromal labour for a week leading up to his birth and delivered him vaginally with an epidural and forceps delivery (Including an episiotomy). He spent four days in the NICU for low blood sugar and jaundice. 

My second son was born 8 days past his EDD weighing 8 lbs 9 oz. labour was induced via cervadil and later with pitocin after an epidural. He was also born vaginally with second degree tearing. We were home within 24 hours. 

Both recoveries were ok, not horrible but definitely had their painful moments. One distinct thing I can remember was the absolute throbbing headache I had after pushing each baby out, eight minutes with the first and twenty minutes with the second. My neck and eyes had burst blood vessels and my head was throbbing after each. In addition I hated the swelling and side affects from the epidural. 

When I got pregnant with my third baby I knew I wanted to do things differently. I wanted an easier recovery and a more enjoyable birth. I wanted a drug free birth. 

My first step was to hire a doula. I knew my husband could support me, after all he had done it twice already, but I really wanted him to know how and what to do in a non-epidural situation. If we're being honest he took a lot of naps during the first two labours. I got in touch with a friend who is a doula and after meeting with her we mutually agreed it would be a great fit! Throughout my pregnancy my doula got me in touch with a lot of information and reading material to prepare me for natural child birth (Childbirth without fear, Birthing from within, hypnobirthing and more). The more I read the more confident I felt in going drug free to deliver my baby. As my third  trimester approached I started to regret not having considered or looked into midwifery care. I voiced this with my doula but she assured me I could still have a wonderful natural birth under the care of my OBGYN. 

We also decided not to find out baby's gender as we had known ahead of time with both boys and wanted to try for a surprise just once. My suspicions were that I was having another boy as all three pregnancies were identical. 

I stayed very active with this pregnancy and felt wonderful throughout, gaining just shy of 20 lbs. 

One night at 37 weeks pregnant I was about to get into bed and do a little surfing of the Internet when my doula tagged me in a Facebook post. It was a midwife (The midwife who had delivered my doulas babies) who was accepting a handful of clients if they had a February or March due date. I freaked out a little at the thought of changing care provides just weeks before my due date but after a quick chat with my mom(the sounding board for all of my major life decisions) and a few text questions to my doula, l decided to get in touch with the midwife. I set up an appointment to meet her the next day and barley slept a wink that night. 

At my appointment the next day I met the midwife and her student and was given a ton of information and was able to ask questions. They accepted me into their care and the plan was to have a water birth at the hospital she was able to work out of. Over the next three weeks I continued to have prenatal appointments with her and stayed in touch with my doula. As my due date approached I began to get more and more anxious about going over due and requiring another induction. I felt I had come too far to have to give up my hopes for a drug free brith. 

On the morning of my due date I cleaned my house and got groceries. I took the dog for a walk in an attempt to move baby down and engage the head. I thought about having a nap but felt the desire to clean up the house and prep things for valentines dinner that evening (hindsight I was very clearly nesting). That evening during dinner with my husband and kids I started to feel spontaneous contractions, not overly painful but noticeable. I was assuming I would start experiencing some prodromal labour again like I had with my first. By the time we went to bed the contractions were slightly more frequent at about a handful every hour. I decided to let my doula know what was going on just so she had a "heads up" on the situation. After watching a movie we went to bed for the night. Around 2:00 am I decided to time things for an hour to see if we were progressing at all and the contractions were about 40 seconds long every 4-6 minutes. Back to bed I went to ignore the contractions. At 4:00am I was no longer sleeping well and decided to call my doula, who arrived an hour later. She advised me to call the midwife to let her know I was in labour and to let the birth photographer know as well. My midwife was at another birth so we were put in touch with her partner who would end up being present for my birth. We decided our plan of action would be to sleep a little longer, until my boys woke up for the day. At that point we would send them off to my Mom's and then get moving to help labour along. The other decision we made was to stay home rather than head to the hospital.

 

By 6:30am active labour had started. My contractions were painful and I was no longer talking through them. My doula came upstairs to help me through them while my husband got the kids up and fed before my Mom arrived to take them. At this point I distinctly remember thinking how much things hurt and wondering how I was going to do this as it got worse. I decided to relax and just do one contraction at a time and not worry about what was coming. I said my goodbyes to my boys as I knelt on the stairs. My photographer arrived by 8:30 and my midwives arrived shortly after. When the midwives checked me I was thrilled to find out I was 6-7cm dilated. Things were well on their way! My husband and doula started to fill the pool and by 10:00am I was able to get in. We tried various positions to help move baby down but when I was checked again at 11:00 I was sitting at the same point, about 7cm. We then decided to break my waters in hopes that things would progress. After a few attempts my student midwife was able to break them and things got very intense very quickly. I was very vocal through my contractions which surprised me, but also helped a lot with the pain. I was fed bananas and granola bars and sips of juice to give me energy for what was inevitably coming. I was tired and wanted to be done and began to complain that I wanted things to be over. I didn't want anything for the pain I just wanted to have a baby. In hopes of distracting me my doula asked me what I wanted for lunch. Through gritted teeth I replied "a baby". I kept my audience entertained!

Not long after my waters were broken I began to feel a sensation a lot like throwing up but down south, aka "the urge to push". I was told to let my body do what it felt like doing. I was completely unaware that I was in transition and baby was on its way out. After a few contractions with this sensation my doula started breathing with me, "he he he he" giving my perineum a chance to stretch out as baby started to crown. I remember her breathing with me so vividly. It was so encouraging and helpful, and not a single word was spoken between us. Moments later my midwife reached between my legs and passed baby through my legs to me. I remember being surprised that I didn't feel immediate relief once baby's head was born. The shoulders were equally as uncomfortable to birth. As soon as baby was in my hands I picked it up and lifted it out of the water. I held it up to my chest and sat back, feeling instant relief and satisfaction. I was overwhelmed with pure joy and happiness that this sweet little thing was finally in my arms. After a moment I realized my baby was born and earth side and remembered I didn't know the gender (not officially anyway, as I was certain it was a boy). I lifted baby up, cord still attached to baby and connected to the placenta still inside of me. I saw the cord tugging on baby's belly button and thinking "penis" I declared it's a boy! My team looked at me strangely and my husband said "no its not". I lifted baby up again and looked properly to discover my sweet little one was a girl. The most overwhelming and joyous surprise! I never imagined my third boy would actually be my daughter. My husband cried and I cried and we were so happy to have our first daughter.  

After celebrating and processing all that had just happened I handed off our daughter to my husband and birthed my placenta shortly after. My midwives got me out of the pool and took me straight to my shower where I cleaned up while my doula made me a snack. I got immediately into bed while the midwives checked baby and then me. We visited for a short while and revelled over all that had just taken place that morning in our very own home and within in a few short hours everyone was gone, leaving my husband myself and our new baby daughter alone for some bonding time. We napped skin to skin all afternoon and then began to call our family and closest friends to share the good news. 

Having a baby at home was the most amazing and unexpected experience I could have ever imagined. I felt so empowered and strong bringing my baby into the world, without any drugs or interventions and in the comfort of my own home. The care we received from our midwives was so wonderful and comforting and the support my doula provided was indescribable. She pushed me to explore a part of myself I didn't know was there, and allowed me to accomplish a birth I never thought I was capable of. My husband, my doula and my midwives were the greatest gifts in the birth of my daughter, I could not imagine a more beautiful birthday for our sweet little daughter. 

How to Disneyland

We just got home from the most ridiculously fun and magical trip to Disneyland with our three-and-a-half year old. Yep that's right we left the almost two year old at home (woah, with Grandma I'll add) and enjoyed our oldest all by himself. Side note: kids need that, the one on one time, maybe not necessarily to disneyland but how about for lunch or to a movie or swimming, they seriously need that time by themselves to get full and undivided attention from their parents. It's just so good for their little hearts. Anyway we made it a short trip, 4 days in total but only two and a half in the park. It was just enough time to completely tire our little guy out and to do as much as was possible for his age and height. When I first started planning this trip I had a gazillion questions for all my veteran disneyland friends so I thought I would post a little something about our experience incase any one is planning the same kind of trip with their littles. 

Getting there
we flew, clearly the fastest way to get there, but there are obviously other options if you want them. We opted for a direct flight from YEG to LAX but we did investigate flying into SNA (John Wayne Airport) as it's a slightly quieter airport. We couldn't find any direct flights so as I mentioned above we flew into LAX. I did try to cost cut where I could but for flights I didn't have enough air miles so it was what it was. 

Staying there
Ive been to Disneyland as a child, teen and young adult and have stayed at various different locations so I did have some idea of our options. For our trip with our little one we decided to stay at one of the Disney Land resorts and here is why:
- we had only a few days and wanted to waste the least amount of time walking (or even driving) to and from the park
- we wanted to be able to get back to the hotel quickly if he needed a nap (which he did)
- we had never stayed at a Disney Resort and wanted to give it a try
- Early morning access to the parks ('Magic Morning")  and other perks peeked our interest
- lastly my hubby is not a great traveller so making things as absolutely easy and convenient as possible was an absolute must

there is obviously a bit higher cost to staying in one of the three disneyland resorts but after our experience my hubby and I both agreed we would absolutely stay there again in a heart beat. Don't be swayed by our opinion though, this is just what worked for our circumstances. Hotels outside of the park and even renting a house on something like VRBO are also really awesome options as well and have their perks. 

Airport Transport
Because we were staying at the park we didn't need a vehicle for this trip. As mentioned above our time their was short and sweet so we wanted to get from the airport to our hotel as fast as possible. This trip we opted to arrange limo service from the airport to the hotel. (Another side note, this "limo" was merely a cab painted black, if you catch my drift). Anyway we asked that they provide a carseat thus eliminating an extra thing to cart around at the airport. In the future we would definitely attempt one of the million shuttle buses but this is just how we did it this time. 

Park Passes
And here it is, the absolute nail in your coffin for cost of your Disneyland trip. The park passes will seriously have you cashing out your kids college savings. Kidding but they are a bit pricey, so I suggest using your AMA membership savings or air miles. I got our adult 3 day park hopper passes with air miles and it saved us about $600
I also highly recommend doing the park hopper as it gives you the freedom to bounce between parks during each day. We spent mornings at Disneyland and evenings in California adventure and definitely utilized the "hopping"

Plan Ahead
I did a ton of pinterest research on all the "money-saving" "hidden secrets of Disney" and so on. We DID take a stroller for our guy as it made it easier than dragging him around when he was totally exhausted at 8:00pm (wait did I say 8:00, I meant noon, yes by noon he was usually spent. We carried backpacks with our essentials (camera, snacks, jackets, phones, passes). The back pack was easy to carry, and easy to bring on each ride. We brought our own water bottles with us each day (seriously water and drinks are expensive in the park) and our own snacks. Because we stayed in the resort we didn't have a kitchen thus we ate out for our meals but bringing snacks was perfect for between meals. If you stay off the resort or have a kitchenette type suite I highly recommend packing your own food for the day. Don't want to carry it around all day? No worries use a locker at the park and come back at lunch time to grab your food. Some days lunch cost us $40 for a hot dog combo. We bought a few "souvenirs" ahead of time to save cash, one of the best ones being our glow sticks for the evenings. Those things can be pricey in the park so Im glad we stocked up at the dollar store before we left. That being said you can buy some of your disney souvenirs ahead of time (such as shirts and trinkets for the kids) to save some money on your trip. Bring ponchos from the dollar store instead of $12 ones from in the park… you get the idea. 
We also planned our days out to fit in everything we wanted to do. I downloaded a free Disneyland app that included shows and showtimes, places to eat, maps, park hours and wait times for almost all the rides. With the app I was able to see what shows we wanted to attend, and which rides had long waits. I researched which rides our guy was tall enough for and saved them on the app and was able to see how long the waits were for those rides. It was an awesome little tool and helped with out trip so much! 
Lastly take advantage of fast passes if you are going during busy time. Want to beat the crowds, research down times at the park and go during the slower months. Disneyland can get stressful, especially with kids and crowds but if you do your homework it can be the trip you dream of.

I was really worried that taking a three year old to Disneyland would be a waste or there wouldn't be much to do for him, but like my Disney Veteran friends told me, there was tons. We absolutely filled our days from morning till night and had such a blast. We were busy and exhausted and had the best time. Our little man might not remember this trip in 10 years from now but I will tell you this, my hubby and I will never forget the look on that little guys face when he got to meet Darth Vader. We will not forget his crazy little giggle as we spun round and round on the tea cups. And will definitely not forget the magic in his eyes as he experienced Disneyland for the first time!

DIY Who-ville Christmas Tree

A year ago I found inspiration from a craft project a friend had done. It was a cute little christmas tree that could have been plucked right out of Who-ville from a Dr. Suess book. This year I decided to recreate this absolutely adorable project. I looked to my usual inspiration spot, Pinterest, but did not find much in the way of DIY instructions. So as we set out to make our who-ville tree last night, in a sort of trial and error way, I decided I would document my approach. 

And so here it is, my attempt at the Who-ville Christmas Tree, Grinch Tree, Dr. Seuss Tree or whatever you want to call it! 

Materials Needed

Cedar Branches (available at any local green house)
Styrofoam cones
floral wire
** a base of some sort for the trees (which I will go into detail about later)
glue gun and glue
scissors
one christmas ball ornament
and any sort of crazy fun decorations you wish to decorate with 
Including but not limited to :
- pipe cleaners
- pom poms
- bows
- bells
- garland
- feathers
the sky is the limit so pick your wackiest decorations and have fun with it.

** for a base we used small christmas boxes, wrapped in yarn. You could also use jars, cans or planter pots. Again use some creativity and create a cute base for your tree. 

Step 1
Making Your Tree
Gather your materials for the tree; cedar branches, styrofoam cone & floral wire.

Trim your branches so that you are using the part with the thickest amount of leaves. At the bottom of the branch the leaves are more sparse and the branch is thicker and harder to work with so trim that part off. Cut one piece of floral wire that will fit around the base of your cone. Next wrap your branches around the cone. and secure with the floral wire. (This part is definitely a two person job)

As you can see the leaves are quite sparse at the bottom of the cone so you may want to cut a few leaves from another branch and place them on the naked spots of the cone and wrap another piece of floral wire around to secure them.  Depending on how big the base is that you are using to put your tree into, you may or may not need to add extra leaves. If the base it tall enough you won't see the bottom of your tree thus eliminating the need to add extra leaves. 

Next you will want to start wrapping your floral wire around and around the tree. Starting at the bottom of the cone and securing one end of the wire, work your way up the tree, around and around, until you get to the tip. You want the wire to flatten all of the leaves making it look like a bundled christmas tree that you would buy from the grocery store. Make sure that you have several wire wraps where you want to create the bend in your tree as the wire is what will help you to shape the tree. 

Step 2

Making Your Base

Making your base. We opted to use square christmas boxes that we covered in yarn and garnished with a bow. But like I mentioned above you can most definitely get creative and use any sort of a base. Planters pots, vases, jars, cans, you name it!
Here is a link to a blogger that created truffula trees (from The Lorax) and I absolutely LOVED the base they used. I think it would make the perfect base for our who-ville trees and fits so well with the Dr. Suess theme.

Next you need to insert your tree in your base and secure it so the tree does not tip over. DISCLAIMER, the trees are very top heavy so make sure you have something to weigh your base down with or you will have a toppling tree. We opted to use rocks but I'm sure anything would work as long as it is heavy enough. 

Step 3
Decorating your Tree
This is the most exciting part. My kids loved picking out their feathers and pom poms and gluing them on! We used a hot glue gun to attach all of our trinkets (so I guess adult supervision required). Once you are finished don't forget to add your one dangling christmas ball ornament from the tip of the tree to give it that authentic Dr. Seuss feel!

We love how our trees turned out, they were so much fun to make and they are a wonderful Christmas decoration in our house. We have no idea how long they will last but I will update you once they have "served their purpose". We watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas while we made our lovely little trees and it was a perfect holiday tradition born into our family this year!

Here's to hoping I've inspired you to attempt and little tree of your own, and if you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment below!

You are enough

A video popped up on my facebook newsfeed the other morning and it could not have been timed more appropriately. Since having baby # 2 I have been working my butt off (literally) to get back to my pre-baby body. I have done this "gain and lose" game before, once before my wedding and again with my first son, but for some reason it has been even more difficult this third time around. 

Here is some background knowledge for you. I am a fitness and dance instructor, my Mom is a nutrition consultant and was previously a body builder. I have a wealth of knowledge regarding food, eating, healthy lifestyle choices, exercise and so on. But for some reason this excess of 11 pounds lingering after my second baby has been the biggest weight loss battle I have faced. It took me less than 6 months to lose just shy of 20 pounds before my wedding and I kept it off until my first baby. It took me 5 months to the day to lose approximately 30 pounds with my first baby. And here we sit, 6 months post partum with my second baby and I hover around the 1 or 2 pounds left to lose. I have tried it all, eating clean, calorie counting, food journaling, the 80/20 rule, the one cheat day a week approach. I do cardio EVERY day, I weight lift, I take classes, I run. You name it, I do it, but for some reason my body has changed. It started to get to the point of obsession. I would weigh myself before and after meals, first thing in the morning and last thing before bed. I took my scale with me on vacations. My husband and friends made jokes about it but I justified it by saying "seeing the number keeps my eating on track". 

But the truth is, no, it didn't. It kept me obsessed with my weight. Many times when I should have taken a nap or a even just sat and had a coffee I raced downstairs to my home gym and got in an hour workout while my kids slept. I got up 2 hours before my kids so I could get a workout in before they woke up. My weight was consuming my life. Over the weekend I had a complete breakdown and called my mom (moms always know best). I cried to her about how frustrated I was that no matter how hard I worked I wasn't getting to where I wanted to be. I wasn't enjoying food and time with friends and family. I was missing moments with my sweet babies because I was so consumed in a battle with myself regarding food and my weight. It had taken over my life. I have never been one to resort to unhealthy weight loss options but from a mental perspective I was almost at the point of an eating disorder. I decided it was enough. I gave my scale to my husband and told him to hide it. I went through my closet and packed away any clothes that didn't currently fit. But most importantly I told myself, I love you and you look beautiful. Not in a conceited way. In a truthful and loving way. I am enough, and I am more beautiful than I give myself credit for. 

I have stretch marks, and cellulite and varicose veins. But guess what, I also have beautiful eyes, strong and muscular legs and a big heart. I am a mother of two little boys that are still in diapers. I have my whole life to work on my body but for right now I want to work on my mind. I want to be a role model for my children, my dance students, my friends and other mommy's. 

You are enough and you are more beautiful than you think!

Another Picnic Table Redo

Hey, remember back in August of 2012 I got the idea from Pinterest to refurb a children's picnic table?  Well it has been a staple piece of furniture in our home. We seriously use that thing everyday, all day!

As you can see it gets a lot of love. So we decided to make one for my nephew for Christmas! I have had so many ideas about how I would do another one, so I finally got to put those ideas to use! I decided I wanted to make him one that was a children's version of a real picnic table. I used white and red checkered fabric for the table top to resemble a table cloth. I then used a brown "wood grain" fabric for the seats to resemble the wood of a picnic table. The rest we did black as thats the paint we had on hand. I think it turned out great!

Now that I did the project a second time I decided to take note of the fabric measurements I used to help with the original tutorial. So for the table top purchased 1 meter of fabric and had a little left over. I also used 1 meter of fabric for the seats of the table, again with some left over. If you were using the same fabric for both I think you could get away with closer to 1.5 meters of total fabric but that also depends on the size of your table.  For the plastic vinyl covering I used 1.2 meters which also came in a taller measurement meaning I didn't need as much length. Depending how it comes at your fabric store you may need anywhere from 1.2 to 1.5 or even 2 meters to cover your table and bench seats. Idea: measure your table before you head to the fabric sore ;)

For the painting part, if you want a good quality paint job try vinyl automotive paint, sold at NAPA auto parts. It sticks much better to the plastic and doesn't chip off like a spray paint would. We have been generously using our table for over a year now and have not had any paint chip off. You might want to also consider using felt bottoms for the underside of the table depending on the type of surface your table will sit on. We push our table around a lot on our laminate flooring and haven't had any issues but always better to be safe than sorry! 

For this project I found our table on Kijiji for $15 (although Im sure you could find a used table cheaper as my first time doing this I found the table for $10). My fabric cost me $26 and then of course the vinyl paint and staples for the staple gun. All in all its a super cheap project and ends up being very useful with toddlers! 

I hope my nephew loves his table as much as my son loves his!