After Christmas

Yeah it's been a month since Christmas but we just celebrated with my Grandma and Ryan's family so I'm blogging about it now. This Christmas I decided to give all homemade presents. Now that I've done it I don't know if I'll ever do it again. I will definitely make homemade presents but not for everyone all at once.

So here's the roundup of what I made, some pictures but I forgot to take pics of all of them.
My mom and grandma- brown sugar vanilla scrub
My dad- homemade almond rocca
Andy and Mary- Tardis picture and saying
Ty- bleach shirt(it was supposed to be cooler. But I didn't really follow directions.)
Matt- quote mug
My grandma- a photo book to put pictures of great grandchildren in.
Ryan's mom- a framed nativity
Ryan's dad- chocolate covered Oreos
Lea- a framed quote

It really was fun making all of these things but at the same time it was a lot of work! I

What a Week!

Dax is a week old! What a week it has been. He spent his first day sleeping while family came to meet and hold him and then decided to wake up while mom and dad tried to eat dinner. His second day he spent time in the nursery for routine tests and I got us ready to be discharged. After coming home it has been a whirlwind of nursing, sleep for Dax, little sleep for me, a doctors visit, some car rides, diaper changes, spit up and a load of laundry.

When we went to the hospital last Wednesday for me to be induced I had a plan. No drugs, I had a whole lot of faith that my body could handle labor on its own after the little push from the midwife of breaking my water. I was determined and especially when they said I was already dilated four cm. I knew I had it in me. I didn't feel contractions much but we knew they were happening because of the monitors. When a doctor came in to suggest I be put on Pitocin I almost crumbled. It was four hours after my water had been broken and it felt like she was jumping ahead too fast. I sincerely surprised myself by telling her I had to think about it. After the doctor left I took a walk with Ryan and by the time I came back I was feeling every contraction.

At three in the morning I got checked again and was given the go ahead to move into a delivery room. The contractions were worse but for some reason I did not even really think of drugs. As they got worse my wonderful husband got me through them. I had been a little worried that he wasn't going to know what to do or how to help but now I know I wouldn't have gotten through without his strength and support.

After an hour and a half of pushing I gave birth to my big, beautiful, boy at 7:09 in the morning. I'd also achieved a major goal. Labor and delivery without any drugs. I knew I was strong enough and I made sure I kept the end result of having my baby in my arms in mind through the pain.

I really believe that every woman has the strength to have natural drug free labors . I respect that every woman has their own choice of how to birth their children and I'm not one to push my beliefs on others but I also highly recommend trying it!

Now because no baby post is complete without pictures here are some of my favorites.