I know I'm not
this weeks' MOW, but since I was gone last week, I thought I'd catch up (for those of you who were sitting on the edge of your seats, waiting for my answers).
Hope that's legal...
How did you meet DH and how long have you been together?
We met in college. It was my second year, his fourth. We were both involved in the same large campus organization (for which he now works). He had been studying abroad in Japan during my first year, so I never met him. The summer before my second year, we were asked to serve on leadership together (worship leaders, for those who are familiar with campus ministry). We agreed, and enjoyed a full year of serving and leading together while being completely uninterested in each other romantically. That really helped! We both got to see the good and the bad, the ups and the downs...we were very real with each other, such that by the next year (when we again served on leadership together in more involved roles) when he surprised me by showing interest, it was easy to see that we were right for each other.
We began dating in October 1999, were engaged in January 2000, and married in August 2000. We just celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary!
What's your favorite trait of his as a father?
I love that he's devoted. He's loved them whole-heartedly from the day they were born, and doesn't blink an eye when it comes to changing diapers, brushing hair, wiping bottoms, cleaning puke, etc. He also invests a lot of love in them, doing art projects and fun stuff with them that I don't always do.
Where are you going on vacation?
Boston! My sister and brother-in-law live there. It was very, very fun. We got to ride the T (subway) with the kids, do sightseeing at a kid-friendly pace, swim in the ocean (the girls' first time!), and brush elbows with Michael Dukakis (my first celebrity politician sighting!).
Have you decided on a name?
Nope. We're stuck.
Secret or not?
We'll keep it secret, if we ever figure it out. Gotta have some surprises, eh? Although, in my last DDC at MDC with my second daughter, I told the DDC what the name was. I didn't know any of them in real life, and it was freeing to be able to tell someone!
What did you do in your former life, before children?
I was an adoption specialist. I worked with older/special needs children, all wards of the state.
I am also a Bradley childbirth educator, though I'm not currently teaching.
Birth stories that you want to share?
My first daughter's birth was five weeks early. I hadn't even finished my Bradley classes yet! We were so scared and unprepared. She was a planned hospital birth with CNMs attending. My water broke at 6:30 a.m., and she was born at 1:10 p.m. It was fast and furious, and I had no resources for dealing with it all. I begged for an epidural, and they game me one--at 9 cm! (If I had known, perhaps I wouldn't have gotten it--I was
so close to making it.) The birth in general was a very managed hospital birth, and most things that happened caused me to look for better options the second time around. I just didn't know enough prior to birth to make good decisions and stand up for myself. From the external-then-internal fetal monitoring to the IV (inept nurse gave me permanent nerve damage in my hand) and antibiotics (due to "unknown GBS status") to the nasty nurse on duty to the whisking away of my perfectly healthy newborn, I was very mournful of my birth when it was all over.
Thankfully, God blessed us with a healthy, beautiful baby girl: Maya Joelle was 5 lbs. 10 oz. and gorgeous. She changed my life, made me a mother, and transformed the way I think about things. Now four-nearly-five, she's a sturdy, healthy kid who challenges me every day. I love her dearly.
My second birth was healing and transforming. It was an unassisted homebirth. It was supposed to be a CPM-assisted planned homebirth, but they didn't make it in time! Labor was a little over 1.5 hours from start to finish. She was born at 39.5 weeks, proving to me that I could absolutely have a full-term natural birth. Her full birth story is here:
Ellery Maeve's Birth StoryWhat are your hopes and dreams for this birth?
I pray for this baby to come full-term. I hope that we have enough time to ensure our kids are being well taken care of (either at a friend's house or at our home with a familiar caretaker) and for us to drive downtown to the birth center--all BEFORE transition. I pray my darling two-year-old (who is very attached to me) will deal with being away from me in a healthy manner.
I would love to begin this labor with contractions, not with my water breaking (which happened the other two times). I want to experience contractions with the cushion of the bag of waters, to see how it feels different. I hope for him to be born slowly enough for us to comfortably get settled into the jacuzzi tub, but fast enough to keep me energized.
We're planning a birth center birth. I've already done the other two--hospital and home--and I know that homebirth is the absolute best for me. It was difficult to give that up this time around, but the birth center here is wonderful, and our insurance covers it. I'm comfortable with the midwives and the home-like facility.
Besides the money/insurance issue, the other deciding factor in picking the birth center was the lack of homebirth midwives around here. The closest one is 1 hour 15 minutes away, non-rush hour--and my last birth was just an hour and a half!
What would your perfect postpartum babymoon look and feel like?
Perfect? Welllll.....I would love a full month or more with my husband home. (He will take at least a week or two, which is still a blessing.) I would love to not cook or clean for six weeks. I would love not having to travel for Christmas to see family. I would love for my daughters to fall in love with their brother right away, and not begrudge him for taking much of my time and energy. I would love to spend some good quality time with each daughter, each day, during which we would bond and communicate our love, and after which they would play like angels and help Daddy around the house.
I hope for my son to breastfeed like a champ, sleep lots, and not cry too much for his first three months. (My daughters both cried a lot!)
welldone 
, Mama.
