Eli Keith

Welcome to the world baby Eli! Monday, April 23rd, changed my life forever. I have a love I have never felt before. This is a story of how that day went.

It all started around 12:45 am Sunday night or Monday morning, which ever way you would like to look at it. I started having contractions. I didn't want to assume they were the real deal or even really contraction so I just tried to go back to sleep. Well that didn't work so about an hour later I woke Brion to tell him. Bad idea, poor guy didn't get any sleep. I took some tylenol and 3 hours later was able to fall back asleep. I woke up the next morning exhausted from not sleeping well and the contractions were getting closer together. I told Brion that I was going to skip the first class, but come to the rest of the day. I also told him that I was going to have a baby that day and I really don't think he believed me. Or he was just in shock. So I rested some more, went to class, decided going back to class was a bad idea, came home, skyped with Marie (my bestie who is currently in Hong Kong) and figured I should start timing my contractions because they were getting a little more intense. Poor Marie, I totally freaked her out too. I was having contraction 5 minutes apart when I was on the phone with her.

Brion came home from class at noon and it was a good thing because I was starting to get very uncomfortable. Sometime within the next hour or two I called my mom, called our doula, called the midwives and started to prepare for our homebirth! By the time the midwife arrived, I was already 6cm dilated. I was super excited about that news because I didn't feel like I was really working that hard. The excitement soon faded when the contractions got worse and I was feeling a lot of pressure, like I already wanted to push. I got out of the birthing tub thing so she could check me again and I was still at 6! I wanted to cry. My water still hadn't broke by this point so my midwife broke it for me (super weird). After that it was 10 times worse. I wanted to push so bad, but she told me I had to fight that urge because I wasn't ready. When women have back labor, which is what I had, because of the positioning of the baby, it makes you feel like it's time to push when it's not. So we tried a couple of positions to try and move the baby and boy that was awful! I had to breath so hard just to keep my muscles from pushing that baby out. I would get super frustrated because I couldn't always help it so I would end up just letting my body push a little and then I would freak out that I was hurting my poor baby boy.

My midwife could see how frustrated I was getting and she checked me again. I was ready to go! (She told me after word that I probably was ready quite a bit earlier than she thought I was, so I was holding those pushes in for nothing. Oh well.) She then told me that baby boy had taken a poo in the womb, which is bad because they can inhale it and be in some trouble. Because of this, she called an ambulance so they would be here when the baby is born. Then she called her second (and third in my case) midwife who  come for the baby. While all this was going on, she told me I could push and I was not going to delay that any longer!

So I'm pushing away and my midwife starts to worry that the other midwives won't arrive in time. Soon after that the EMT's arrived and then the other two midwives arrived and boy we had a full house! All modesty out the window! After pushing for an hour, our son arrived! Oh my word, when they put this little boy on my chest I was in awe! God is so good. What a miracle. This little person was inside me and then before I knew it he was on my chest.

Luckily the EMT's were not needed, baby boy was just fine. They said their farewells and clean- up/check- up/snuggle time began. We had such an amazing homebirth. There is nothing more comforting than snuggling your baby right in your own bed the second he is born. Unfortunately we did have to make a trip to the hospital because I needed to get stitched up and it was more than the midwife felt comfortable doing. Now I am the kind of person that almost passes out when I get blood taken. Hospitals make me so sick, literally, so I was not looking forward to leaving our comfortable house and getting stitches for the first time in my life, but looking at Eli's face made it all worth it. I know that in the middle of that awful, no-pushing stage, I wondered why people have more than one child. Once he was in my arms, it all seemed like a piece of cake.

My little turtle :) (he really looks like a turtle!)

In the end we had a great hospital experience. Eli was a champ and slept the whole time. We didn't end up getting home until about 1:30 am and we were so exhausted, but all so worth it. For all you number people, I was in active labor for 5 and a half hours and pushed for an hour. Little Eli Keith was born at 8:30 p.m. This little man has changed us forever. We are so excited to watch him grow and explore his new world.

New Location :)

Hey everyone who reads this blog, Brion and I have a new blog site now through New Tribes Mission. I will be writing on there from now on, although if I write my birth story, I'll put it on this one. You can find our new blog at ntm.org/brion_kendzora. Hope you like what you see :)

Almost there!

Wow, I cannot believe that any day now I could have this baby. It's also crazy to believe that I could realistically be pregnant for a whole month yet. Babies are funny business :) We are so excited to meet this little stinker, so I hope he doesn't wait a whole month!

Every midwife appointment we have we listen to his heartbeat, they take my blood pressure and measure my uterus (which is just stretching a tape measure on my belly from the bottom of the uterus to the top). For the past couple appointments I have had, the midwives (I see lots of different ones) have said that my uterus seems a bit small or is not measuring quite what it should be. Last week at my appointment it was 5cm less than what it is suppose to be. Anything more than 2 or 3 cm off is suspicious. What this means is that on Thursday we get to see baby again! We go in for an ultrasound just to see how big they think he is and to see if something has possibly caused him to stop growing. In order to have a home birth, the baby has to be at least 5 pounds 10 oz, I think or something around that. We would really love to have this baby at home so I'm hoping that we find out on Thursday that he is bigger than they think he is :) I never thought I would be hoping for a bigger baby! I know that this baby is in the Lords hands and nothing is more comforting than knowing that God is in control. Whatever the outcome, that is what God has planned for us.

Last week seemed like an emotional roller coaster. I wanted so badly to be with all the people that we know that are hurting and going through really tough situations. Sometimes we get so caught up in the here and now and we forget that God is good all the time. He does not change. We may go through suffering and hardship, but that is nothing compared to the future glory we will have. I feel like I could go on forever about that, but you can just read Romans 8 and Paul will explain it better than me.

Our lives are about to change in a very huge way. We are excited, but would appreciate prayer for the weeks ahead. We have about a month and a half left of our second semester and then we start building our jungle camp house, which we will live in for four weeks. Between having a newborn, finishing up classes, having family visit and preparing for jungle camp, we are going to be some busy people. Please pray that God would give us strength and endurance for these next few months!

Baby Kendo- Week 38!

Think Spring :)

Well, when it's not one thing, it's another. Seems we have a bit of strep throat running around our little house. Brion and I have both been feeling under the weather. I really didn't want Brion to get sick too, but misery sure does love company. Lets just say it's nice to have someone to lounge around with without feeling like a burden to him :)

The only super down side to this sickness is that it is BEAUTIFUL outside and all I want to do it sleep and missing classes is a super big bummer too. But we are getting lost of rest and that's a good thing since in 6 short weeks our baby boy is due! I cannot believe how fast this is going by! I'm sure I'll be saying the same thing when he walks across the stage at graduation, but lets not get ahead of ourselves.

I have had lots of people ask me if I'm getting nervous or excited and frankly, it still doesn't seem real. I feel this little boy kick me and move around at all hours of the day, but for some reason it still doesn't seem like in a little over a month that Bri and I will be parents. We will have a little bundle to take care of and love and cuddle. I don't know what to expect. I don't really know how to prepare myself to be a good mom. I just know that God is going to be playing a big part in this whole parenting thing!

I cannot wait to meet him. We wonder what he will look like and if the poor boy is doomed to have acid reflux as well. I keep wondering what else we need to be "prepared" for his arrival and want to have everything ready and planned. But babies don't do well with plans, so I'm trying to just sit back and go with the flow. So I am excited, nervous, and a million other emotions all put into one, but I do know that my God is in control and that's the only thing that I really need to focus on.

                              Happy spring to everyone! And happy 34 weeks Baby Kendo!

Dreams

As baby Kendo's due date draws closer, I feel like my dreams are only getting even more bizarre. That is one thing about pregnancy that I truly do not think I will miss (well that and feeling sick). 2 nights ago I had a dream that we didn't have any cloth diapers ready and washed, therefore we were putting towels on our little boy. He was peeing so much that it was just going everywhere. Now this only points out that I spend way to much time thinking about diapers.

Last night I dreamt that someone gave us a $400 Target gift card. Lets just say when I woke up, I was really sad that it was just a dream. We are making a list of things to buy in the states when we go back next week and it found a way to plague my dreams as well.

All this to say that those are only the dreams that I have had the past 2 nights. Every night it's something different and even more bizarre than the last. They are so vivid and I remember them all. Sometimes they are a bit too vivid and I wonder how on earth I could really dream about some of this stuff. Oh well, less than 10 weeks and this baby will hopefully be here and then I won't be sleeping so I don't have to worry about my dreams then, right?!

Well, it's Saturday and there's a baby room that needs some putting together! I just cannot wait to get it all set up and I finally got Brion to agree to help me start setting it up. We've got our Timmy's ( that's Tim Hortons coffee, for all you people who think that Timmy is our baby's name) and a blizzardy day. Wish us luck :)

Change :)

Here is our living room when we first moved in. We really didn't change much with the furniture because our living room is really large and nothing else seemed right.

This is our new set up now. We wanted to put in some carpet so we can put baby on the floor without felling bad. And we moved Brion's computer into the living room and out of what will be the baby's room. 

Next step: Baby's room! 

Starting from Scratch

Starting tomorrow, as part of our training, we are not allowed to use any of our kitchen appliances (Except fridge and stove) and have to cook EVERYTHING from scratch. When I first heard that we had to do this, I was a little freaked out, but I think (if all goes well with my health this week) that it should be pretty fun.

So what's on the menu for the week?

Monday we are making tortillas and taco fixings for dinner. I figured we would start out with one thing super easy, taco meat, and one thing a little more time consuming, tortillas :) For breakfast we have powdered skim milk (eek) with some awesome homemade granola (Brion made it and gave it a special name, but I forgot what he called it). We are keeping lunch simple too with sandwiches on our homemade bread with some fruit.

Tuesday we'll do some breakfast burritos with our leftover tortillas and for dinner some awesome cheddar, potato, cauliflower, bacon soup.

Wednesday we'll make some more bread and have leftover soup and sandwiches for lunch and some crepes for dinner!! I just love making and eating crepes!

Thursday for lunch we are having grilled cheese with bacon and avocado and dinner is a spin off of shepherds pie. We are having company over so i'll probably try and make some sort of dessert. Maybe some chocolate pudding cake...

Friday I really don't remember what I planned for lunch, but for dinner we have a potluck with the rest of class to celebrate our survival of scratch cooking! I'm making a chicken pot pie and I think i'll do a apple crisp for dessert.

In the mix somewhere I'm going to try these awesome peanut butter cookies and maybe some other oatmeal snacky things. If all goes well, I will be the one making these meals, but maybe if you think about it, pray for Brion in case he has to cook this week on top of his already busy schedule.  :) I'm going to miss my toaster and my food processor this week, but luckily we have a hand crank coffee grinder and french press, so Brion will still have his coffee. Hope everyone has a great week. We are excited about ours!