Friday, August 15, 2008
Little Miss Jeanine
Well she's here! Labor was...um...fun? yeah right, but hey, we all go through it so I can't complain. The REALLY bad part was only a few minutes. Jeanine Marie was born at home last night (August 14th) at 9:36pm, weighed 7lbs even, and is 20 inches long. She's already stolen our hearts with her little newborn noises and sweet little face! Johnny came back this morning to meet her (Jim and Kathy Stegman took him for the night) and he is smitten! Here's some pictures to get you all through the day! I'll post more about the birth some other time.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
One of My Weird Passions...
Donating Breastmilk!
I'm so excited! My girl isn't even here yet, therefore I'm obviously not lactating yet, but I've already found a recipient family for me to donate breastmilk to. Here's some background on me and my donating passion. While nursing John, my eyes were opened by a friend who watched an episode of Oprah (whom I have my own opinions of, but I guess the show was still pretty good that day) about donating excess breastmilk to babies who need it. I was immediately interested and got myself signed up through the National Milk Bank to be a donor. One blood test later and I was ready. They sent me a hospital grade breastpump and a gazillion bottles and I got started! Once my freezer was full, they sent a really nifty cooler for me to pack and call for pickup. Of course this was all free to me, and I knew I was helping babies in need of breastmilk, which is truly the best thing for any and all babies. After getting a little tired of pumping I decided to quit donating and have always regretted not doing more than I did that first time around.
This time, I did some preemptive research before my little one even arrived (still hasn't, but will soon!). I decided to go through a private party this time around so that I could actually develop a relationship with the family and baby I'd be helping by giving my breastmilk to. I found a website called MilkShare, which is actually just an online Yahoo Group, and signed up to be a donor. Within days I had over 5 different families contacting me asking if they could be my recipient. I went through the e-mails one by one, contacted a couple of them, and finally decided on the best family situation for my milk to go to. Some of the things to consider when deciding who to donate to are: age similarities between donor/recipient babies, health concerns of a recipient baby, is the need a real need or simply a mom overworried (while still pregnant) about not being able to feed her baby (which is rare), location of donor and recipient (relevant to shipping or personal delivery of the breastmilk) and if you click with the family in general or not. As a recipient of breastmilk, you also have to decide if you want to trust the person giving it to you or if you want to pay for blood tests out of pocket to ensure your baby is getting healthy breastmilk.
So...after getting an e-mail from a family in CT I asked a few more questions and decided that they would be my primary recipients. I am so excited for this opportunity! The reasons I chose this family and particular baby are:
1) We are both having girls (I know it REALLY doesn't matter in the slightest, but I felt just a little more connected to them because of it).
2) This baby is being born to a surrogate mother, meaning her "real" mom (who contacted us) won't be able to produce milk for her at all, due to never having been pregnant.
3) The baby is due at the end of November, and mine is due NOW. This means that I will have plenty of time to establish a healthy supply for baby Jeanine and also to begin pumping and saving all of my excess for quite a while before they will actually need it. The timing is impeccable! God definitely knew what he was doing in this situation.
4) The last reason is simple: I believe that a family who knows about the benefits of breastfeeding and seeks out breastmilk as their first option for feeding their child from the beginning has the best interests of their baby in mind, even before she's born. Instead of resigning themselves to the fact that they can't breastfeed themselves (thereby choosing formula), they have proactively taken steps towards obtaining the very best for their baby, and I'm impressed with that!
So anyway, that is what has me excited today and this week, and probably for many months to come. I'm definitely a "closet" milk donator and would love others to become interested in this awesome opportunity to help babies get the best start in life.
I'm so excited! My girl isn't even here yet, therefore I'm obviously not lactating yet, but I've already found a recipient family for me to donate breastmilk to. Here's some background on me and my donating passion. While nursing John, my eyes were opened by a friend who watched an episode of Oprah (whom I have my own opinions of, but I guess the show was still pretty good that day) about donating excess breastmilk to babies who need it. I was immediately interested and got myself signed up through the National Milk Bank to be a donor. One blood test later and I was ready. They sent me a hospital grade breastpump and a gazillion bottles and I got started! Once my freezer was full, they sent a really nifty cooler for me to pack and call for pickup. Of course this was all free to me, and I knew I was helping babies in need of breastmilk, which is truly the best thing for any and all babies. After getting a little tired of pumping I decided to quit donating and have always regretted not doing more than I did that first time around.
This time, I did some preemptive research before my little one even arrived (still hasn't, but will soon!). I decided to go through a private party this time around so that I could actually develop a relationship with the family and baby I'd be helping by giving my breastmilk to. I found a website called MilkShare, which is actually just an online Yahoo Group, and signed up to be a donor. Within days I had over 5 different families contacting me asking if they could be my recipient. I went through the e-mails one by one, contacted a couple of them, and finally decided on the best family situation for my milk to go to. Some of the things to consider when deciding who to donate to are: age similarities between donor/recipient babies, health concerns of a recipient baby, is the need a real need or simply a mom overworried (while still pregnant) about not being able to feed her baby (which is rare), location of donor and recipient (relevant to shipping or personal delivery of the breastmilk) and if you click with the family in general or not. As a recipient of breastmilk, you also have to decide if you want to trust the person giving it to you or if you want to pay for blood tests out of pocket to ensure your baby is getting healthy breastmilk.
So...after getting an e-mail from a family in CT I asked a few more questions and decided that they would be my primary recipients. I am so excited for this opportunity! The reasons I chose this family and particular baby are:
1) We are both having girls (I know it REALLY doesn't matter in the slightest, but I felt just a little more connected to them because of it).
2) This baby is being born to a surrogate mother, meaning her "real" mom (who contacted us) won't be able to produce milk for her at all, due to never having been pregnant.
3) The baby is due at the end of November, and mine is due NOW. This means that I will have plenty of time to establish a healthy supply for baby Jeanine and also to begin pumping and saving all of my excess for quite a while before they will actually need it. The timing is impeccable! God definitely knew what he was doing in this situation.
4) The last reason is simple: I believe that a family who knows about the benefits of breastfeeding and seeks out breastmilk as their first option for feeding their child from the beginning has the best interests of their baby in mind, even before she's born. Instead of resigning themselves to the fact that they can't breastfeed themselves (thereby choosing formula), they have proactively taken steps towards obtaining the very best for their baby, and I'm impressed with that!
So anyway, that is what has me excited today and this week, and probably for many months to come. I'm definitely a "closet" milk donator and would love others to become interested in this awesome opportunity to help babies get the best start in life.
The One That Got Away
So last night as I sat alone in my living room watching tv (on my birth ball), my cats started going nuts over by the entryway closet. This used to be their litterbox closet so I thought maybe they were confused and I brought them both to its new location to remind them where it had been moved. They still came back out and laid by the closet so I ignored them. A few minutes later I saw something out of the corner of my eye running across the living room floor and it went right between my feet into the corner, closely followed by the cats!! It was a spider with a body as big as a silver dollar piece, I KID YOU NOT! I jumped up as fast as possible looking for something to kill it with, thinking about the aweful sound it would make if I squished it, and the disgusting amount of guts that would come out of a spider that big and get splattered across my carpet if I got up the nerve to actually do the deed. I ran to the kitchen for the fly swatter (it has a long handle) and when I came back all I saw was the spider running behind the entertainment center! It was gone and still very much alive in my living room. Several things crossed my mind:
1) Spiders are vindictive. This one knew I was coming to kill it and would now be hunting me in my sleep.
2) Now I have to put a towel underneath the bedroom doors so that it can't snuggle up with me or John
3) Spiders move...where is it now!? I'm so afraid now that I'll open a box of cheerios and it'll be staring up at me saying, "What?! My cheerios."
Oh what's a girl to do?
1) Spiders are vindictive. This one knew I was coming to kill it and would now be hunting me in my sleep.
2) Now I have to put a towel underneath the bedroom doors so that it can't snuggle up with me or John
3) Spiders move...where is it now!? I'm so afraid now that I'll open a box of cheerios and it'll be staring up at me saying, "What?! My cheerios."
Oh what's a girl to do?
Sunday, August 10, 2008
It has begun...
Isaac's crazy season has officially kicked into high gear. He left today for Bellingham, WA for 7 days and 6 nights; the first of many long home shows away from home. We're still waiting on Jeanine, but now let's hope she'll come after next Sunday so that Isaac will for sure be here! I think she's a stubborn little one like me, so that'll probably be the case. Otherwise, we're all doing just fine. Please continue to pray for Isaac and his work, and that the baby comes soon.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Where, oh where is our baby girl?
I know, I know, it's not even her due date yet and I'm getting impatient! I just can't wait to go through the experience of birth again and have our little girl here to hold. For the last 3 mornings I've woken up thinking I might be in labor, but as soon as I get busy with my day things settle down and crush my hopes and dreams (just kidding)! So she's obviously starting to get ready for her entrance to the world...on her own time. Please continue to pray for us as we get thoroughly prepared for Jeanine! Oh and by the way, the camera is ready; this means don't expect ANY pictures until the birth because we don't want to waste precious memory space and battery life on everyday stuff!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Where's Tom?
So yesterday morning I had a guy looking in our dining room window while John and I were sitting in there, and Isaac was/is out of town! As soon as I saw him he ran away and I didn't get a good look at him at all since I was immediately in freak-out mode, but I did call the cops. They came and took a report which went something like this: black male, dreadlocks, baggy grey sweatshirt. Sad I know, but I was too concerned about getting John out of the room than with getting a proper description. Hopefully he was just checking to see if anyone was home, perhaps because he was going to steal stuff, not peering in maliciously at me! Needless to say I didn't sleep well last night, but that's not much different from any other night lately...hurry up baby!
As for Isaac, the craziness has begun! He's away this weekend at a show, back for 6 days (during which we hope Jeanine is born!), then gone for 7 days 6 nights at another. That is only the beginning of the end-of-summer/fall madness that will be Isaac's work schedule, but monetarily it's already paying off and God has been blessing his work. We hope to get almost entirely debt free this fall so that we can spend our money more wisely on lasting Godly things in the coming months/years. I know this next few months will be hard on all of us, but it will be well worth it in the end, since our children are still too young to remember daddy being gone so much right now.
Isaac also got a job interview with the Kent Fire Department mid to late August, woohoo! They are interviewing 29 people, making a hiring list from those candidates, and beginning an academy in January '09. Please pray that the interview goes well and they look favorably upon Isaac! What a blessing it would be for him to be able to start a new job with the new year!
As for Isaac, the craziness has begun! He's away this weekend at a show, back for 6 days (during which we hope Jeanine is born!), then gone for 7 days 6 nights at another. That is only the beginning of the end-of-summer/fall madness that will be Isaac's work schedule, but monetarily it's already paying off and God has been blessing his work. We hope to get almost entirely debt free this fall so that we can spend our money more wisely on lasting Godly things in the coming months/years. I know this next few months will be hard on all of us, but it will be well worth it in the end, since our children are still too young to remember daddy being gone so much right now.
Isaac also got a job interview with the Kent Fire Department mid to late August, woohoo! They are interviewing 29 people, making a hiring list from those candidates, and beginning an academy in January '09. Please pray that the interview goes well and they look favorably upon Isaac! What a blessing it would be for him to be able to start a new job with the new year!
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