I Promised to Share More

A while back I told you I felt I should share more of my story.  And in that last post I shared quite a bit. There is obviously more since I shared that what I was learning was preparing me for things I had no idea were about to happen.  But I really procrastinate getting it all written.  I have never enjoyed writing and the words don't come very easily for me.  It's so much easier to just post a recipe!  Ryan keeps telling me that writing is good for us to do.  It helps us to know where we stand and what we really think and believe.  Well maybe he's right but I mostly just feel the need to share my experiences hoping they might help and inspire others.  I feel like there is a lot of unnecessary suffering just because we lack information that is available, just not as easy to find.  My goal for this blog is to make that information easier to find and to help teach principles that can be applied to every one's individual situations.  I especially want Mothers to be empowered with knowledge and confidence so they can make the choice that works for them and their family and not have propaganda pushed upon them.  I have never felt that a decision based on fear would be the very best one.  I don't like scare tactics!  I believe that the Lord does not use fear.  He uses faith, fear and faith are opposites like light and dark they cannot exist in the same space.  Alright see why I don't like this writing stuff, I just start rambling.

Onto more of my story!  I told you about the School of Natural Healing Courses  what I haven't told you is that while I was finishing up some of these courses I became pregnant with my third child.  It was planned and we were very excited to have another little one come to our home.  I was working on having a healthier lifestyle and went about things a little differently with this pregnancy.  I really wanted to have it at home but I still had so much to learn and was quite overwhelmed with that.  I had not had a baby "natural" before and wasn't sure if I could do it.  I wanted to be near the drugs just in case.  But I did plan to travel up North to Utah County (we were living in Price at the time) to go to a women's clinic with Midwives who could deliver in the hospital.

Well plans changed!  At about 20 weeks a long I started having cramping, contractions, and bleeding.    I went to the closest Doctor I could find who could do an ultrasound and give me answers FAST!  Well all he could tell me was that my baby appeared to be fine and that he wasn't sure why I was having the issues but that he thought it was probably a partial placental abruption and there was really nothing to do about it.  Bed rest wouldn't help, and it was just pretty much wait and see.

Mother's Day May 2002 a few weeks before Curt was born

I went home and read everything I could about placental abruption we didn't have Internet at the time so that reading was fairly limited and I didn't like what I found.  So I took it to the Lord.  I put my trust in him and I asked him what he would have me do.  I felt like he responded by letting me know he had already prepared me and that I knew what to do.  I went to my herb books.  Dr. Christopher talked about False Unicorn and Lobelia for Miscarriage and if bleeding is occurring to take it and rest with feet up as much as possible until the bleeding stops.  I already had the False Unicorn and Lobelia in the cupboard I just also knew that if the pregnancy wasn't viable then the False Unicorn and Lobelia was supposed to actually help the body with the miscarriage making it so a D&C wouldn't be needed.  To say the least I was worried about trying the herbs.  I continued to pray and finally I knew that I just needed to have faith and trust that God knew what he was doing and that he would help me.  I took the herbs and rested as much as possible.  After a few days the cramping stopped and the bleeding turned into spotting.  I started feeling the baby move which was a welcoming thing!  Long story short I had bleeding off and on the entire pregnancy.  Every time I would just take the herbs and rest it was stressful but I was able to go until about 34 weeks.

Then my water broke!  Now there were other things to be concerned about.  Would his lungs be fully developed coming this early?  I was able to deliver him "naturally" well if you count pit and antibiotics naturally.  I didn't have an epidural or an episiotomy and I didn't tear.  It was an intense but good delivery I was just worried about how he would be.  There was a respitory therapist there and the pediatric nurse to quickly take him and be sure everything was okay.  I wasn't thrilled about that but I had no idea what to expect.  He seemed fine he peed on the nurse and screamed.  He weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces. (a lot of people didn't believe he was that early but trust me I know he was and I even have ultrasound measurements to prove it so the Doctor knew too)  The respitory therapist checked him out and said he would go somewhere where he was needed.  Aside from a pretty good bit jaundice he seemed just fine.  Oh he also had pointy ears which I watched curl down to normal in the next few weeks that was quite fascinating.

We brought him home and put him in the Sun and that helped the Jaundice.  I felt great I loved not having legs to un-numb(is that a word), stitches to heal and not having that last month of pregnancy was so nice!  The Doctor had given me a hard time about gaining a lot of weight during pregnancy but since at 7 months pregnant I still weighed less then I did when I first got married I wasn't concerned at all about gaining 7 pounds in 2 weeks I figured it was healthy.  After Curtis was born the weight easily came off without me even having to try.  Like I said a new level of freedom I so loved not having to worry about such silly things as what the scale said and dieting!  After all I was a Wife and a Mother of three beautiful children I had much more important things to worry about.

Ten days after Curt was born we were at family weddings and graduations.  This picture was taken at the wedding.  Curtis was tiny and still a little Jaundiced but seemed to be doing really, really well!

 He grew fast and seemed to be thriving well.  That first winter he did get what I thought was croup.  A really bad tight bark sounding nasty cough but with lots of nursing, steamy baths and some herbs he got better quickly.  Then at about a year old he decided he didn't like nursing anymore.  He was a pretty picky eater and I didn't know about making green smoothies yet.  I did have Barley Green and gave him that but I don't think it was enough.  I still had so much to learn and I'm still learning lots.  But this post is already far to long hopefully I can get it all posted by Thursday!  Wish me luck just posting this took me way longer then it should have.  Still not sure why writing is so difficult for me.  I'm sure if you bare with me I can't help but get better with practice!

Read Part 2 here
Part 3 here