what we did in October and the start of Nov.

We realize we've pretty much dropped the ball on updating this lately, and we are sorry. Also, something is screwy with the picture loader on blogspot so we aren't able to post photos right now. I did include a video though. It's at the bottom if you don't feel like reading all of this update.

I was sick for the last part of Sept and early part of October, then I started feeling better and started taking care of things I had let slip during that time, as well as giving Tom a break. Tom had been running the house, taking care of Clark and letting me rest whenever he wasn't at work working. Thank God for him. =)

We had a very nice visit with Tom's parents at the end of October. They are in Israel right now, and we were their stopover point before leaving the US.

We went up to Baltimore one day and saw Ft. McHenry - the fort that got attacked and from which attach Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner. It was a very patriotic and moving trip. I think we were all surpised at how American it made us feel, especially after we've done so many other USA things living near DC. This is one place to go to if you ever think that America might suck, cause its definitely makes you love your country.

We hung out at the house quite a bit and relaxed, which is always the best type of vacation in my opinion! For Halloween night, Clark was a little dragon. He LOVED trick-or-treating. He loves outside, he loves taking walks, he loves knocking on doors. All of the things combined with little old ladies and our sweet neighbors bending over and offering Clark a bowl full of pretty colored thingies resulted in a JOYOUS CLARK. He grabbed candy by the handsful and went back for more - to the utter delight of our neighbors. He really liked seeing the other kids dressed up and could have stayed up all night watching them. He also could have stayed up all night from all of the sugar he ate - as we did let him taste the delicious treasures he brought home for mommy and daddy to eat. The kid loves candy, as Tom's mom said, "He's no dummy."

In other news we just found out our insurance won't cover a homebirth, so we may have our baby at the birthcenter in Alexandria, VA where Andrea GG had Sophia almost 3 years ago! We considered switching providers and having Joy in the nearby hospital, but I really don't like the idea of it. The last thing we Greenwells need is a toddler, a newborn, a tired new mommy, and a Tom with C-diff, or MRSA or something like that. He's just too delicate to be exposed to hyper-antibiotic-resistant hosptial germs. We can switch our insurance through open enrollment @ Tom's work, but it will only go into effect on January 1, 2011. The new insurance should cover a home birth, so we are praying that Joy will come late (as Clark did) and join us in 2011.

The other big thing that's going on here is the Bradley Method is undergoing sort of a coup and another organization may begin certifying teachers to teach the same philosophy of birth under a different name. The new organization seems to be very responsive to the suggestions of new teachers and willing to do things that the older organization won't in order to reach as many mothers and families as possible with the positive message of natural childbirth. I may switch to the new organization, but I'm waiting to see what will happen as things with the new organization are made more clear in the coming weeks.

For those of you who love the Bradley Method, just know that there may be two certifying organizations teaching the same/similar thing, but organized and run differently. If anything it seems the new organization will have better looking materials. They are also saying they are going to improve the quality of scientific evidence referenced in classes and with the method in order to get more of the medical community on board with the safety that is found in reducing unneccessary interventions. So it looks like good things are coming out of the new group, but again, I'm going to wait and see.

I won't be teaching again until at least March and am looking forward to getting a (or more) doula client next summer/fall. I also have an offer to teach Childbirth at a local hospital. It would be a "hospital compliance" course but they would also permit me to teach a natural childbirth class (not a full Bradley course). It would be good because they would recruit students and I would show up and teach and get paid - nice and easy.

What else? Tom went to a retreat this Saturday morning and he said he had a wonderful time. I'll be working on a youth group retreat in two weekends and am spending some evenings going to meetings to prep for it. I'm the creative coordinator or something like that. I'm in charge of music, decorations and coming up with ideas for this "reverse" video we are making (look up "reverse" videos on youtube).

Tom is going to San Diego next week and I'm going to be alllllll allllloooooonnnnnneee for 6 whole days. Please pray for me that I'm a good mommy, cause Tom has always come home at the end of the day to give me a break. Maybe I should hire a babysitter one afternoon just to have some private time! eek!

Finally, Clark continues to be the light of our life and he is super awesome. Tom is a super awesome dad, and made a fun ride for him with the laundry basket. Here is a video.

Summer in review.

This has been a fun and summer with tons of travel. We've been to Ft. Lauderdale,Fl for a Tom work conference, San Francisco and Wine Country for Ray(Tom's older brother)'s wedding, two weeks later to New Orleans/Lacombe, La for my 10 year High School reunion, San Diego, Ca for a week for a Tom conference (in Long Beach) and some Tom NEI (National Eye Institute) work in SD, then a few days later to Houston, Tx to see my brother and family, to New Orleans again for a wedding out in "northern" Louisiana (Bunkie) and finally to Nashville for a baby shower of my dear friend, Maria.

Summer travel is now over.

I've been babysitting Bernadette in between travel assignments and will continue to watch her for a few more months. I'm hoping I can watch her until the Christmas holiday time, when I'll be about 38 weeks pregnant.

This pregnancy is going very well. I am amazed at the difference between my pregnancy with "Joy" and my pregnancy with "Gumbo". I think a huge part of the difference is the work situation. I love staying home with Clark, teaching the Bradley Method, and babysitting a few days a wekk. I am doing things I love with people I care about. Chemonics was not the same story. I was constantly stressed at work, and took it out on the pregnancy. I guess it makes sense because people always ask, "how are you feeling" and I said, "overwhelmed, emotional, stressed, exhausted." but it wasn't because of Gumbo, it was because of Chemonics. I'm staying a lot healthier this time around too. I'm eating very well and am 23 pounds lighter right now than I was when I was 20 weeks along with Gumbo. I feel like I have lots of energy most days. I exercise, and feel good doing it.

It is amazing. If this pregnancy was like Gumbo's it might have been the last, but so far its not, and I am thankful!

We had our 20 week ultrasound last Friday and the baby is in there, just one, and baby looks great. We don't know the sex because baby's legs were close together and then crossed. So, this is an unknown baby. I'm a fan of suprises, but would have liked to be suprised last Friday - not 22 weeks from now. Alas, Tom and I will learn the wonder of being suprised.

Clark is a wonder of a child. He learns a new word or thing about every other day. Today's discovery is "boo-boo". I hit my knee on the baby gate and have a gash and a bruise. He has been inspecting it, and comparing it to his own boo-boo, one he got while running on the sidewalk, and then falling. Two days ago he learned the sign for "diaper change"

He really pays attention to things and is interested in checking everything out. He was carefully watching the midwife take my blood pressure today, and even squatted down, and leaned in to get a closer look. This morning we took a walk in Rock Creek Park. There is a grated bridge over the creek. Clark spent 10-15 minutes walking back and forth over it, hitting it with a stick to make noise and watching the water move. I think he's got a lot of engineer in him. =)

His biggest thing lately is climbing. We'll find that he's climbed onto kitchen chairs (we've gotten him to stop and not climb on the table), a weight bench, or into the stroller. He is using his baby toys as steps and we might walk into the computer room to see him standing on his piano and clinging to the bookshelf. It is a pretty scary time, but he is surving falls, and his long bones know how to make fresh blood if any leaks out of his face or knees. =)

We are cleaning out our guest room to make it a guest/office room. Its incredible the stuff we have accumulated. Sometimes we wonder, "are we horders? why do we have so many things?" Freecycle has people begging for our stuff, and some things are leaving via Craigslist or the trash. We almost cleaned that room out and are a month away from moving the office stuff into the guest room. It will take us about a month to do that, then I guess we'll make the blue office into Clark's new room. I'm not really ready for him to move downstairs, so maybe it will be a playroom for a little while. I'll be happy to get his toys out of the living room and confined into their own special downstairs place (especially as it gets colder and the porch gets less usable).

Tom is pretty good. He thought he might be getting c-diff again, but it was some other bug that he fought well and defeated. He is doing his best to stay healthy and as part of it we have hired some people to come clean our house - dusting and de-molding and finding things we didn't know existed to clean. It is a luxury and a health issue, but we are so glad. They have come once already and will be back in a few weeks.

Tom really enjoys his job and the difference between his current situation and where he was when Clark was born is incredible. It is much better. He just got promoted, which helps pay for the cleaning people and for our new baby expenses. =)

We are pretty happy and having a good life. We're doing our best to be loving people to each other and to the world. It was lovely to see all of our immediate families this summer and feel it will be a while before we can make that sort of mega tripping again.

We hope you are doing well!
Love, V

Happy New Year!

I took a few weeks off from blogging. Of course, last month, I posted a picture every day or so and called THAT blogging. Here is an actual blog update about the family.

So January...

For New Year's Eve, we went across the street to our neighbor's house. We played Garage Band and celebrated the New Year by illegally lighting fireworks off on our street. (The ones we bought on Labor Day). It was much fun.

On January 1st we had planned on having one friend, Matt, over to play Monopoly. Our friend, Lauren, called and she invited us to hang out with her family. Instead we invited them over to our house. Then we texted all of our other friends and invited them over. We ended up with Matt, Lauren, Paul and Bernatte Z, and Katie N. and Will Clark. We hung out, played Monopoly and had happy times.

On January 2nd, I went to the gym and ran 5K. It was awesome. Tom and I are both doing Weightwatchers and are having great success so far. I'm back at my pre-pregnancy weight! Yay!

The next day we all started feeling bad. We all had a cold (caught from little Bernadette mentioned above..) It was annoying and I'm glad its over with. We fought back by eating Pho. Clark had his first taste of Pho and enjoyed it. We fed him noodles and warm broth from the fat asian spoon. He ate it really well, it was his first soup experience. The pictures below are from his first and second Pho times. It was very comPhoting to share it with him.



I started teaching The Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth on January 8th. I have two couples as students. Tom is watching Clark and teaching the segments on Coaching. I am really enjoying it and even more excited to be a part of these women's birth experiences. They seem to be getting a lot out of the classes as well.

We had our 4th anniversary on January 7th and had a date night on January 9th. Clark was babysat by Lauren, Bernadette's mom. Tom and I went to Red Lobster and saw the movie Avatar in 3D. It was nice to have some time to ourselves. We walked in the town square and checked out the dessert shops, finally settling on Ben and Jerry's for a scoop of icecream before heading back to our little boy.

Things returned to normalish in our lives. Tom went to work, I managed the house and prepped for classes, and Clark played with his toys.

He really loves brushes, pens, spoons and paper. To harness some of that energy. I gave him some markers and he colored his first piece of paper.

What am I doing?? Is this fun? Wee heee!!! I LOVE Coloring!!!!

Here is the masterpiece itself. I cut it into 3 pieces. I sent one laminted strip to both grandparents and Tom has one in his office.
On January 15th, John Paul B. had his first birthday! I can't believe the first baby in Clark's Cohort is 1 already! He will be one in a month and a half! If he was born on his due date, it would be a month from now! It's crazy how fast time flies. Here are some photos from the birthday and other hanging out with JPB.

Clark and JP both LOVE walking with the walker. JP has already taken some unassisted first steps, as has Bernadette. Clark usually learns from the older babies, so he might take some any day now (or months... whatev..) Here I am with JP and Clark on JP's Birthday.

Having a cold kind of derailed our early month, nature was also having a cold and was keeping outside temps below freezing. It finally warmed up to 40!!! YAY!!! and maybe hotter at lunchtime. The whole family went for a hike around Lake Needwood a few miles north of our house. We put Clark in the hiking backpack for the first time. It was wonderful to get outside and move around, see nature again, and breathe fresh air. It was the first exercise I got since running that 5K and I was glad to be back.

We've been eating much healthier since Clark started eating solids and we started weight watchers. Here is a delicious meal I made. It was a whole roast chicken that was cooked with Terriaki sauce. The "fries" are baked carrots, cut into strips. The green stuff is lots of different vegetables (onion, turnip, garlic, bell peppers, and kale). It was a delicious dinner and looked beautiful (hence the photo and blog blurb).

Last week at my weightwatchers weigh-in, I had lost a total of 18 lbs since November. It was 10% of my starting weight so I got this keychain that is a 10. When I hit goal weight I get another charm for it, and same for when I become a lifetime member. I've started WW so many times before and this is the first time I got the damn keychain. I'm so proud!


Tom is doing great on it too! He lost about 5% of his starting weight, even with having c-diff. We are really glad we are doing it together and are going to sign up for another 3 months when our program ends next Thursday!

Thats it for January. Maybe I'll post again soon.
Peace out,
V

Birth Story

Tomorrow I am going to be at a conference to get certified to teach the Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth. (!yay!) I will be gone for 3 nights and 4 days and stay in a hotel. Clark is coming with me. Tom will be joining us on Friday night. Because I won't be posting anything during that time, I wanted to share our Birth Story. Here you go in all of its glory and detail. I hope you enjoy it. I did.
Love, V



When I was 12 and got my first period, I was really excited because it meant that one day, I could make a baby. I knew that I had to find the right man to be my husband and make a baby with, but one day, it would happen.

Well, I found that man, got married in January 2006 and was ready. He wasn't. So we waited and waited until June 2008, when we finally made our baby.

I was pregnant! The hormones in my body were making two germ cells meet to make a single cell divide into a ball into a little grain of rice grow into a bean into a baby. They were also making me totally insane.

Well, we were thrilled! Since the baby was a grain of rice during our first ultrasound, AND since we are pretty sure we conceived the baby after a crawfish boil, AND it was due on Mardi Gras day, AND I'm from Louisiana we started calling the baby, "Gumbo".

I wasn't morning sick, I didn't have trouble with my balance, I didn't have many of the problems I hear other preggos talking about, but I did have crazy hormones which always made me feel on the edge of crazy or falling off the crazy cliff. They settled down into the 4th month, but already, being pregnant sucked. I had always wanted to be pregnant, ever since I could get pregnant and it was disappointing to me that I hated it and it was ruining my life.

I would come home from work, get a bowl of ice cream, sit in the tub and cry. I longed for the day I could give my husband the woman he married, not the emotional nutjob who ate lots of dairy and took too many baths. BUT I knew I had to stick it out and one day I would have my very own baby.

I had seen my sister in law give birth with Birth Care in February 2008 (Regina as midwife and Lori as her birth assistant). She had bad back labor and did not sound happy the entire time. I decided I would be knocked unconscious whenever I got around to having a baby. Suddenly I'm pregnant and I actually need to make that decision. My sister in law gave me a book, “Baby Catcher” which planted seeds of a home birth. I cried 8 times while watching, “The Business of Being Born” and then knew I was terrified, but thought I could do it. I could have a natural childbirth. We signed up for Bradley classes. I have a degree in public health and we did tons of research. We found that having a midwife assisted birth was safer than a hospital birth, so our decision was made: a Midwife Assisted Home Birth!

I had crazy braxton hicks contractions starting around Thanksgiving. I would contract for 4 hours straight. I thought, hey its just practice and maybe the baby will come early. We practiced relaxation rarely, but knew it was important. I relaxed with music, in the tub and held my husband while pretending to go through labor. I practiced squatting. As often as possible, I didn't do Kegels, pelvic rocks and whatever else we were supposed to do as much as I should have. Midwife Alice told me not to eat so much protein (the recommended 80-100 grams daily) if I didn't want to gain 100 lbs. I did eat less protien, but still gained 50 pounds. It was probably the long baths with Ben and Jerry...

We were ready for our Bradley prepared, Birth Care midwife watched, Birth Partner associates assisted home birth at 36 weeks, as instructed. Nothing happened.....

38 weeks, contractions while hiking~!!!!!!!!!! nothing.... I made a 12 hour long labor playlist on my ipod.... nothing.... nothing..... Chinese food..... nothing.....

40 weeks and due, .... nothing....we pray for the perfect team to arrive when I do go into labor.... nothing... I up the spicy food intake.... nothing... nothing....

41 weeks and ultrasound... plenty of room for the baby to frolick in. great..... nothing... I'm tired of trying to get the baby to come.... nothing..... I play Dance Dance Revolution..... nothing.....

2 days before my Cervidil induction at the birth center, I took castor oil... contractions commenced..... 12 hours of labor on a birth ball in the living room while hubby slept... they died down... nothing but a clean colon to show for my efforts and a night of missed sleep...

We give up. We will be induced Sunday. I beg my husband to stay home from work. We nap all day. We go to the movies Friday night. Not hungry due to the castor oil pain, but wanting some salt, I eat only popcorn for dinner. While watching "Watchmen" the contractions start again. Hubby thinks the movie is good, I don't really remember because I wasn't really paying attention...

Walking back to the car, I need to lean on Tom for support. The contractions really start up at about 8-9:30 pm that night. We take a walk around the block and I lean on him. We decided we would try to sleep and see if this was the real thing. We sleep in the downstairs bedroom so I don't have to walk the stairs if it picks up. At midnight we called the Birth Center for the midwife on duty. Regina called back and told us to let her know if the contractions became closer and more regular. They did. We tried to sleep, Tom rubbed my back, but kept falling asleep. At 3am, I demanded, “Stop falling asleep, I need you!” we called Regina again and she came at about 4 am Saturday morning. I started my 12 hour labor playlist in the ihome.

I was standing in the kitchen when she got there, moaning through contractions. She encouraged me to sit, but all of my Bradley training said, “Stand!” “Walk!!” so I kept trying to have the baby. I really hated being pregnant and I wanted it to be over!!! If walking made the baby come faster, then I was going to walk. Contractions continued and I labored hard with Tom's support. Audrey was called by Regina at about 6:30 am and she came over within 2 hours. Audrey had just finished her shift at the hospital and I felt bad for having another birth to attend. We labored and labored. Walking helped. I could moan and wiggle through the contractions. Audrey tried to help me sit or kneel or do anything but stand too, but I kept standing and walking. I tried the tub, but kept falling asleep between contractions and knew it was slowing the labor down. So I did more walking. I drank Dr. Pepper and Orange Soda (with caffeine).. I wasn't hungry. Maybe I was hungry.... I was scared of throwing up and didn't want to poo in labor. I kept telling myself I'd eat later. I dreamed of Mexican food and not being pregnant.

I have to say, I was disappointed when I heard my 12 hour playlist restart. I couldn't believe it had already been 12 hours. I felt bad for Regina and Audrey because they had been there awhile already. I was anxious to get un-pregnant!!!

My contractions kept coming and they weren't as horrible as I thought they would be. I didn't have back labor, so the time between contractions was peaceful and gave me a chance to rest. I took the contractions one at a time. A wave washed over me. I held Tom's hand, or if standing, hung around his neck while he gently rubbed my neck and told me I was doing great. The worst contractions happened when he took a break one time. When he came back I told him never to leave me again. He asked, “I didn't think I wouldn't get a break,” and I told him, “I don't get a break” so he stayed by my side.

I was almost 2 weeks late, and my mother was scheduled to arrive that day. She said she was afraid to see me give birth, she didn't want to see me in pain or hurt and is generally an excitably nervous person, so I was trying to have the baby before she came. Well, she was dropped off by my sister in law at the regularly scheduled time. Suddenly it wasn't just Tom and me and Regina and Audrey anymore, my sister in law and mother were there too! When my mom arrived, Tom showed her how to help and then she took over for about an hour. He took a nap and got recharged.

Things slowed down and slackened, but picked back up again. By about 2 or 3 in the afternoon, we knew the baby was going to come that day, but we didn't know when. We walked around our backyard, for 20 strong contractions. I pinned Tom to the fence, the side of the house, a tree. He said encouraging things, he sang to me. I stopped moaning through contractions, it was making my throat dry. I breathed out slowly. I did nothing that required extra energy. I was in the zone. I started feeling CRAZY powerful. Each contraction was awesome in its power. I was shaking with adrenaline. I felt like I could throw a car down the street. I was the Incredible Hulk and going through an amazing transformation. It was transition. I was fully dilated and it was time.

We went back into the house, it was 24 hours since my labor began, I had stood up or walked the entire time. I hadn't eaten, I had taken Castor Oil the day before and all I had for dinner was popcorn. I was tired. Instead of squatting as planned, I lay on my back and rested between contractions. Audrey coached me for every push. Once she went to the rest room or something and wasn't there. I didn't push as well, so when she came back I asked her to coach me for every push. Regina put the warm compress on my perineum and told me where to focus the pushing. My mother put a cool wash cloth on my forehead and gave me sips of drink from the spoon. Tom held my hand and the mirror and supported me. My sister in law held my foot and said encouraging things. The perfect team was assembled just as we prayed for.

After a million pushes, each one stronger than the last, each one harder than the one before it, each one mighty, powerful and squeaking my baby's head forward in the birth canal, finally, my pregnancy ended!!!!!!!!!!!!! My son was born.

He cried right away and was placed on my chest. In the pictures I look very happy. I was happy, but mostly that it was all over and I wasn't pregnant anymore and I didn't have to be in labor anymore.

I had another push and the placenta was out. Tom cut the cord and Clark was free of my body, he was on his own. Then I remember they were cleaning my outer thigh and telling me I was getting a shot of pitocin. I remember thinking, “Oh, I must have a hemorrhage for them to do that.” They cleaned my other leg and I got a shot of something else. They said, “Get the baby on the breast.” So my sister in law, an expert breastfeeder herself, attached my baby to my breast and somebody put the breast pump on the other side. The midwife massaged my uterus, saying it was going to hurt, but I didn't feel anything.

I was very tired and suddenly it was just me, Regina and Audrey in the room. Everyone else had cleared out, gone to get the baby dressed or something. I asked if I could go to sleep now and they told me, “No, we need to make sure you won't pass out first.” So I waited. I was really tired. I was also really happy to think that my husband was spending so much precious time with our new baby. I stayed awake for Regina and Audrey. I was happy that I wasn't pregnant anymore and the labor was over. I was shocked to hear that it was 9:35 when I had the baby! It was still daylight when I was outside feeling like the Incredible Hulk!

After they were assured I wouldn't pass out and I was all stitched up, they weighed the baby. My son was 9lbs, 6oz and came out with a compound presentation. The little bugger came out with his hand near his face, which probably made it take longer than it should have otherwise.

I asked my sister in law if she could get us some Mexican food. She called her husband who brought us some Taco Bell (it was 11pm or later...) I ate a few tacos and finally got to sleep. They would bring the baby to me to feed him and I would sleep some more. I was so happy to know that he was being taken care of by my mom and Tom.

In English, we say “give birth”. Birth is a sanskrit word meaning, “coming to life” but the word birth really doesn't describe much otherwise. In Spanish, they say, “da la luz” which directly translates to English. means to “give the light”. Which describes EVERYTHING. Giving birth is amazing, bringing forth life and holding it in your arms is amazing.

After Clark was born, we were overwhelmed with happiness. The depths of love that we know now are growing and growing. It is so amazing to have a child. I can't believe that we didn't know this type of love before now. So many people would say, "your life will never be the same". They said it ominously, but we now know our lives will never be the same – because of Love, and it is such a good thing to know.