Love my Life
13 years ago
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
Simon's Birth Story
I'm finally sitting down to share my wonderful birth story. I say wonderful because it's everything I wanted and more. Of course no one can prepare you for the pain but in the end it was SO worth every single moment of pain.
I don't think it was the luck of the draw that we found out we were pregnant on the day we thought we would birth our 3rd child so I certainly didn't think it would be luck if we had our 4th child on one of the days that I started miscarrying our 2nd child. I had this feeling we would have Simon between July 4th and 7th. I told Stephen out of all the days in the year only God would give us the gift of making such sad memories such sweet ones. On Monday the 2nd around noon I noticed a change in my body but chalked it up to lasting for the week and preparing me for birth sometime toward the end of that week. I also noticed that around noon my Braxton Hicks went from no pain to a slight cramp in my abdomen. It didn't bother me, just made me think about them more. Addyson and I went about our daily business, we cleaned, ate lunch with Stephen, picked up some fresh farm eggs and headed home to start dinner. My brother Dustin came over and I told him the baby would be here this week...he told me not to have him on Tuesday or Wednesday because those days wouldn't work for him. LOL After dinner I asked my neighbor to take a walk with me and around 8 we left. I started noticing these "Braxton Hicks" were getting a little stronger with a little bit more pain than I would of liked. I chalked it up to the baby dropping since he was at a 4 when I went to the doctor the week before. I had a hard time making it through the walk and without telling my friend that I was in pain we decided to cut it short and head home. I still wasn't in a lot of pain but enough to question what in the world was going on. They were pretty iregular so again I was in denial of what the pains were. I was 11 days out from my due date and it really make me think the baby was just dropping. I came home and took a shower (shower #1) and watched a little TV with Stephen and Addyson and then decided to get into bed around 10pm to relax and get comfortable. Around 11 the pain was getting a little worse so I decided to take another shower to see if that would stop it. I didn't have any "Braxton Hicks" in the shower so I thought nothing about it at that point. As soon as I got into bed they started up again but sitll very irregular. Sometimes 10 minutes apart, sometimes 5, sometimes 2. I also didn't want to bother family because again my head told me it wasn't time yet.....I was still 11 days from my due date and there was no way I would have him that early (who's that lucky?) At 1am Stephen came to bed and I took another shower (shower #3) then I tried to sleep.... contractions started coming faster around 2-3 minutes a part and harder to where I needed to hunch over and breathe through them. I went into the living room and hunched over the couch and felt this horrible pain accompained by a contraction....I think that was when Simon dropped! I came back and took a 4th shower and during the shower my contractions were about 1.5-2 minutes apart and Stephen told me that this is not how it was with Addyson and we needed to go to the hospital. I still was in horrible denial even though the pain was awful. I told him that was fine, call mom and tell her to come in 30 minutes because I wanted to do my hair. I think they both thought I was crazy because during the contraction I would set my straightner down and bend down and breathe and then continue doing my hair. LOL I wanted to look good for pictures. :) We finally got to the hospital around 2:30am and started checking in and the contractions were really starting to be really painful but during the break I felt fine, I jjust really needed to go into my own world during each one and at that point I could handle them. We went to triage where they checked me and I said "please tell me I'm more than a 2", the nurse looks at me and says "well you are more than a 2, you are a 7!" I started crying, because until then I didn't believe I was in real labor (it seemed too easy) and knew at that point we were going to meet our son soon. I walked to our room and got hooked up to the IV port (at that point I didn't need anythink so they just wanted the port in) I told them I didn't want meds or an epideral especially since I was so far along. I had the most wonderful nurse ever. She stood there and encouraged me to keep going when I thought I couldn't do it. She kept saying that I had just gone through the long journey and only had a tiny bit left (I was already an 8-8.5) I kept trying to just put myself in another place and breathe during each contraction, some left me breathless, some made me feel sick but after some antibiotics I felt a little better. ( I think I felt like I was going to pass out because Stephen informed me they took 4 vials or blood) lol. The nurse kept "trying" to break my water ( I secretely think she really wasn't trying to hard because she knew the baby would come and the Dr. wasn't there yet). I had to wait 30 minutes for the Dr. to get there at the point where I was a 9 and let met tell you, there is a huge difference between having an epideral and waiting 30 minutes to not having anything and being told to wait 30 minutes. That was the hardest 30 minutes of my life. I had some pretty hard contractions along with some piggy back ones. Finally the Dr. gets there and I'm almost a 10 so she breaks my water and I feel Simon drop and then a contraction hit and I told them I had to push right then.....I started pushing and 30 minutes later, at 5:57am) they laid precious Simon on my chest. Unfortunetly they took him back because he had had the cord wrapped around his throat and they needed to check on him. Little did they know he would cry for the next hour...poor thing got a little bruised when he dropped so fast. The pushing was probably the most painful part but it was wonderful having the ability to feel what my body wanted me to do along with having total control over my body. At the time I said I never wanted to do that again but afterward when I had no back pain, and I was able to walk around I knew that I wanted to experience it again! I can really tell you how must more easier this delivery was compared to Addyson's BUT wouldn't change my experience with Addyson for anything. It is what it is and there is a reason for everything. The only sad thing was my Dr. didn't get to deliver Simon and I really wanted her to. Maybe next time ;)
There you have it, I was surprised at how I managed to get through the pain and delivery with no meds. It's not for the weak but I believe if you really want to do it then you should shoot for it. But know this, no one can prepare you for the pain.....you just have to try to relax and breathe.
I did scream a little during the pushing...even though I said I wasn't a screamer.....it hurt! lol
Also, we gave birth to our son exactly 4 years to the day that we started losing our 2nd child. Due to leap year it gave us an extra day and therefore instead of July 4th being exactly a year July 3rd was. Isn't it amazing how God works? He could of given our son any birthday but he chose that day!! My heart swells with gratitude!
I don't think it was the luck of the draw that we found out we were pregnant on the day we thought we would birth our 3rd child so I certainly didn't think it would be luck if we had our 4th child on one of the days that I started miscarrying our 2nd child. I had this feeling we would have Simon between July 4th and 7th. I told Stephen out of all the days in the year only God would give us the gift of making such sad memories such sweet ones. On Monday the 2nd around noon I noticed a change in my body but chalked it up to lasting for the week and preparing me for birth sometime toward the end of that week. I also noticed that around noon my Braxton Hicks went from no pain to a slight cramp in my abdomen. It didn't bother me, just made me think about them more. Addyson and I went about our daily business, we cleaned, ate lunch with Stephen, picked up some fresh farm eggs and headed home to start dinner. My brother Dustin came over and I told him the baby would be here this week...he told me not to have him on Tuesday or Wednesday because those days wouldn't work for him. LOL After dinner I asked my neighbor to take a walk with me and around 8 we left. I started noticing these "Braxton Hicks" were getting a little stronger with a little bit more pain than I would of liked. I chalked it up to the baby dropping since he was at a 4 when I went to the doctor the week before. I had a hard time making it through the walk and without telling my friend that I was in pain we decided to cut it short and head home. I still wasn't in a lot of pain but enough to question what in the world was going on. They were pretty iregular so again I was in denial of what the pains were. I was 11 days out from my due date and it really make me think the baby was just dropping. I came home and took a shower (shower #1) and watched a little TV with Stephen and Addyson and then decided to get into bed around 10pm to relax and get comfortable. Around 11 the pain was getting a little worse so I decided to take another shower to see if that would stop it. I didn't have any "Braxton Hicks" in the shower so I thought nothing about it at that point. As soon as I got into bed they started up again but sitll very irregular. Sometimes 10 minutes apart, sometimes 5, sometimes 2. I also didn't want to bother family because again my head told me it wasn't time yet.....I was still 11 days from my due date and there was no way I would have him that early (who's that lucky?) At 1am Stephen came to bed and I took another shower (shower #3) then I tried to sleep.... contractions started coming faster around 2-3 minutes a part and harder to where I needed to hunch over and breathe through them. I went into the living room and hunched over the couch and felt this horrible pain accompained by a contraction....I think that was when Simon dropped! I came back and took a 4th shower and during the shower my contractions were about 1.5-2 minutes apart and Stephen told me that this is not how it was with Addyson and we needed to go to the hospital. I still was in horrible denial even though the pain was awful. I told him that was fine, call mom and tell her to come in 30 minutes because I wanted to do my hair. I think they both thought I was crazy because during the contraction I would set my straightner down and bend down and breathe and then continue doing my hair. LOL I wanted to look good for pictures. :) We finally got to the hospital around 2:30am and started checking in and the contractions were really starting to be really painful but during the break I felt fine, I jjust really needed to go into my own world during each one and at that point I could handle them. We went to triage where they checked me and I said "please tell me I'm more than a 2", the nurse looks at me and says "well you are more than a 2, you are a 7!" I started crying, because until then I didn't believe I was in real labor (it seemed too easy) and knew at that point we were going to meet our son soon. I walked to our room and got hooked up to the IV port (at that point I didn't need anythink so they just wanted the port in) I told them I didn't want meds or an epideral especially since I was so far along. I had the most wonderful nurse ever. She stood there and encouraged me to keep going when I thought I couldn't do it. She kept saying that I had just gone through the long journey and only had a tiny bit left (I was already an 8-8.5) I kept trying to just put myself in another place and breathe during each contraction, some left me breathless, some made me feel sick but after some antibiotics I felt a little better. ( I think I felt like I was going to pass out because Stephen informed me they took 4 vials or blood) lol. The nurse kept "trying" to break my water ( I secretely think she really wasn't trying to hard because she knew the baby would come and the Dr. wasn't there yet). I had to wait 30 minutes for the Dr. to get there at the point where I was a 9 and let met tell you, there is a huge difference between having an epideral and waiting 30 minutes to not having anything and being told to wait 30 minutes. That was the hardest 30 minutes of my life. I had some pretty hard contractions along with some piggy back ones. Finally the Dr. gets there and I'm almost a 10 so she breaks my water and I feel Simon drop and then a contraction hit and I told them I had to push right then.....I started pushing and 30 minutes later, at 5:57am) they laid precious Simon on my chest. Unfortunetly they took him back because he had had the cord wrapped around his throat and they needed to check on him. Little did they know he would cry for the next hour...poor thing got a little bruised when he dropped so fast. The pushing was probably the most painful part but it was wonderful having the ability to feel what my body wanted me to do along with having total control over my body. At the time I said I never wanted to do that again but afterward when I had no back pain, and I was able to walk around I knew that I wanted to experience it again! I can really tell you how must more easier this delivery was compared to Addyson's BUT wouldn't change my experience with Addyson for anything. It is what it is and there is a reason for everything. The only sad thing was my Dr. didn't get to deliver Simon and I really wanted her to. Maybe next time ;)
There you have it, I was surprised at how I managed to get through the pain and delivery with no meds. It's not for the weak but I believe if you really want to do it then you should shoot for it. But know this, no one can prepare you for the pain.....you just have to try to relax and breathe.
I did scream a little during the pushing...even though I said I wasn't a screamer.....it hurt! lol
Also, we gave birth to our son exactly 4 years to the day that we started losing our 2nd child. Due to leap year it gave us an extra day and therefore instead of July 4th being exactly a year July 3rd was. Isn't it amazing how God works? He could of given our son any birthday but he chose that day!! My heart swells with gratitude!
Sunday, July 08, 2012
Our beautiful baby boy!
Simon Reese decided to come into this world 10 days early on July 3rd 2012. He was born at 5:57am and was 8lbs 5oz and 21inches long. I'll share my birth story soon. For now here are some pictures of our beautiful, content, easy going, wonderful little boy. We are ALL in love!!!
Monday, July 02, 2012
Beauty from Ashes
This blog post is a LONG time coming. We are sitting here waiting for our precious son to be born and I think about the last 4 years and how it's all come down to these last 11 or so days until our prayers and dreams will be answered.
For those that don't know our story I'll share a little bit about the last 5 years of our lives.
When we found out we were expecting our daughter we were completely shocked and excited and overwhelmed with love for this small baby we had yet to meet. When I was 20 weeks pregnant I needed surgery to remove a 19cm cyst, which ended in the removal of my right ovary and folupian tube. I was told that she could of died either with the surgery or without. But the chances of our sweet girl living without the surgery was very low. She had no more room to grow. As you can see everything went great and our beautiful Addyson Faith is 5 years old, no issues and is one of the most beautiful, caring, sweet and thoughtful little girl ever. A week before Addyson turned 1 we found out we were pregnant again.....what a terrifying time in our life. I had this one year old and was so nervous at the thought of having another little one with a little one. (If I had only known) The same weekend we were going to tell our family my sister (who had been trying for years for a child) told us they were expecting also!! The next few weeks were filled with excitment and I was at that place were I couldn't of been more happier...to have a child so close to my daughters age, it would be wonderful. On July 4th 2008 I started having some issues and by the end of the night on the 7th we knew we had lost our precious little baby @ 11 weeks. I was devisitated...it opened a side of me I never knew I had....my anger came out...I was spiteful, mean, depressed, sad, mad....you name it I was it. It took months for me to even want to deal with my feelings but when I finally did we found out we were expecting our 3rd child in Feb 2009. That was a total surprise and we were extremely excited but very reserved. But then again who has 2 losses in a row?? At the end of April when I was 12 weeks I went to the Dr. for some issues and found out our precious child had passed away at 8 weeks 3 days, the day we had come in and heard the heartbeat...how devistating is that? We chose to do the D&C and I am forever greatful that we decided on that route, I couldn't go through the natural miscarrage again. By this point I'm making my brain feel like this was just an extension of my last miscarriage and it was the only way I could move on and get out of bed in the morning. I knew I still had our daughter to take care of and that brought me out of my pit one more time. I can't tell how how hard the next couple years were, I can't tell you how many emotions I had or how many times I "thought" I was pregnant but I FINALLY turned to the one that I knew would rescue me from everyone horrible negative feeling I ever had. God. I prayed that I would not get pregnant again unless this was our child to take home and to love, I knew I didn't want to go through those horrible feelings again.
In August of 2010 my dad felt that God was telling me "it was time". Of course my head is thinking Yay its time for a baby but then I had this overwhelming feeling to go to the Dr. and figure out what had been going on. In Sept I started getting tested for everything that could be wrong and by the next year they found NOTHING! lol....not really what you want to hear but then again relieved that it's nothing major that is causing you not to have another child. I got sent to a specialist and they decided to put me on Clomid. After the 3rd month of it I had a huge melt down in front of the nurse who told me she would be praying for me.....AND told me there was ONE last blood test to take to test to see if my folic acid levels were good. It was a long shot and it didn't mean that if I had this mutation it was keeping me from being pregnant. Well I found out I did indeed have this problem...my body was not absorbing it like it should. I was then put on a prescription for it and I told them it was my last month of Clomid. I knew at that moment that that was my problem and that God was keeping me from getting pregnant until I knew what was really going on. I read I should be on these pills for 3 months before getting pregnant so I can have the folic acid built up in my system. Of course they said they weren't keeping me from getting pregnant but I knew that God was protecting my heart and sure enough 3 months later we found out we were expecting our 4th child on Oct 31st 2011.
During those three months my faith was stronger than it had ever been....I felt like God was telling us we would have a son.....and Stephen even had his name. Simon (which means "God has heard".) Perfect don't you think? We didn't know when it would happen but I knew that it would happen and I just need to be patient and wait on Him.
I couldn't believe it when we got our positive.....it was such a crazy emotional experience and even though I knew in my heart everything would be fine, it was such a hard time for me to just let go and let God have control.
It was NO surprise when we had our first ultrasound and we found out we were having a son....I waas finally able to give my husband a son.....or God was!
He has been my everlasting strength and without Him I'm not sure where I would be emotionally. He has held our hand the last 4 years and I sit here with our son kicking me in my belly and I can't even explain to you how overwhelmed with love I feel from The Lord. He has created this miracle and kept him alive and has given us a son named Simon. We will be forever indebited to Him. I say that God has a HUGE purpose for both our children because through the odds they are both healthy and I know he has a great big plan for their life.
So as I sit here and wait for these final 11 days to pass until we get to meet our son....I thank the Lord for the past 4 years. I would never want to change anything because I am who I am today because of the trials I went through. Sure enough there is beauty from ashes. God has a plan!
For those that don't know our story I'll share a little bit about the last 5 years of our lives.
When we found out we were expecting our daughter we were completely shocked and excited and overwhelmed with love for this small baby we had yet to meet. When I was 20 weeks pregnant I needed surgery to remove a 19cm cyst, which ended in the removal of my right ovary and folupian tube. I was told that she could of died either with the surgery or without. But the chances of our sweet girl living without the surgery was very low. She had no more room to grow. As you can see everything went great and our beautiful Addyson Faith is 5 years old, no issues and is one of the most beautiful, caring, sweet and thoughtful little girl ever. A week before Addyson turned 1 we found out we were pregnant again.....what a terrifying time in our life. I had this one year old and was so nervous at the thought of having another little one with a little one. (If I had only known) The same weekend we were going to tell our family my sister (who had been trying for years for a child) told us they were expecting also!! The next few weeks were filled with excitment and I was at that place were I couldn't of been more happier...to have a child so close to my daughters age, it would be wonderful. On July 4th 2008 I started having some issues and by the end of the night on the 7th we knew we had lost our precious little baby @ 11 weeks. I was devisitated...it opened a side of me I never knew I had....my anger came out...I was spiteful, mean, depressed, sad, mad....you name it I was it. It took months for me to even want to deal with my feelings but when I finally did we found out we were expecting our 3rd child in Feb 2009. That was a total surprise and we were extremely excited but very reserved. But then again who has 2 losses in a row?? At the end of April when I was 12 weeks I went to the Dr. for some issues and found out our precious child had passed away at 8 weeks 3 days, the day we had come in and heard the heartbeat...how devistating is that? We chose to do the D&C and I am forever greatful that we decided on that route, I couldn't go through the natural miscarrage again. By this point I'm making my brain feel like this was just an extension of my last miscarriage and it was the only way I could move on and get out of bed in the morning. I knew I still had our daughter to take care of and that brought me out of my pit one more time. I can't tell how how hard the next couple years were, I can't tell you how many emotions I had or how many times I "thought" I was pregnant but I FINALLY turned to the one that I knew would rescue me from everyone horrible negative feeling I ever had. God. I prayed that I would not get pregnant again unless this was our child to take home and to love, I knew I didn't want to go through those horrible feelings again.
In August of 2010 my dad felt that God was telling me "it was time". Of course my head is thinking Yay its time for a baby but then I had this overwhelming feeling to go to the Dr. and figure out what had been going on. In Sept I started getting tested for everything that could be wrong and by the next year they found NOTHING! lol....not really what you want to hear but then again relieved that it's nothing major that is causing you not to have another child. I got sent to a specialist and they decided to put me on Clomid. After the 3rd month of it I had a huge melt down in front of the nurse who told me she would be praying for me.....AND told me there was ONE last blood test to take to test to see if my folic acid levels were good. It was a long shot and it didn't mean that if I had this mutation it was keeping me from being pregnant. Well I found out I did indeed have this problem...my body was not absorbing it like it should. I was then put on a prescription for it and I told them it was my last month of Clomid. I knew at that moment that that was my problem and that God was keeping me from getting pregnant until I knew what was really going on. I read I should be on these pills for 3 months before getting pregnant so I can have the folic acid built up in my system. Of course they said they weren't keeping me from getting pregnant but I knew that God was protecting my heart and sure enough 3 months later we found out we were expecting our 4th child on Oct 31st 2011.
During those three months my faith was stronger than it had ever been....I felt like God was telling us we would have a son.....and Stephen even had his name. Simon (which means "God has heard".) Perfect don't you think? We didn't know when it would happen but I knew that it would happen and I just need to be patient and wait on Him.
I couldn't believe it when we got our positive.....it was such a crazy emotional experience and even though I knew in my heart everything would be fine, it was such a hard time for me to just let go and let God have control.
It was NO surprise when we had our first ultrasound and we found out we were having a son....I waas finally able to give my husband a son.....or God was!
He has been my everlasting strength and without Him I'm not sure where I would be emotionally. He has held our hand the last 4 years and I sit here with our son kicking me in my belly and I can't even explain to you how overwhelmed with love I feel from The Lord. He has created this miracle and kept him alive and has given us a son named Simon. We will be forever indebited to Him. I say that God has a HUGE purpose for both our children because through the odds they are both healthy and I know he has a great big plan for their life.
So as I sit here and wait for these final 11 days to pass until we get to meet our son....I thank the Lord for the past 4 years. I would never want to change anything because I am who I am today because of the trials I went through. Sure enough there is beauty from ashes. God has a plan!
Friday, June 22, 2012
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Sunday, June 03, 2012
How far along: 34 weeks
Current weight gain: 30lbs
Gender: BOY!
Current cravings: Dr. Pepepr, pizza
Symptoms: Still nauseous after eating most of the time. Peeing all the time but then again I drink alot of water. Can't eat greasy foods or carbonated drinks.
Movement: He moves alot at night but occasionally during the day. He seems to be getting stronger every day. He lives in my ribs and feels like his head will pop out any minute!
Sleep:Horribly!!!
Current weight gain: 30lbs
Gender: BOY!
Current cravings: Dr. Pepepr, pizza
Symptoms: Still nauseous after eating most of the time. Peeing all the time but then again I drink alot of water. Can't eat greasy foods or carbonated drinks.
Movement: He moves alot at night but occasionally during the day. He seems to be getting stronger every day. He lives in my ribs and feels like his head will pop out any minute!
Sleep:Horribly!!!
Thursday, March 08, 2012
Baby questions
How far along: 22 weeks
Current weight gain: 16lbs
Gender: BOY!
Current cravings: Vanilla Milkshakes and Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting
Symptoms: Still nauseous after eating most of the time. Peeing all the time but then again I drink alot of water. Can't eat greasy foods or carbonated drinks.
Movement: He moves alot at night but occasionally during the day. He seems to be getting stronger every day.
Sleep: I sleep good until I have to get up and go to the bathroom. I'm enjoying this now because I know it will be over soon. LOL
Current weight gain: 16lbs
Gender: BOY!
Current cravings: Vanilla Milkshakes and Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting
Symptoms: Still nauseous after eating most of the time. Peeing all the time but then again I drink alot of water. Can't eat greasy foods or carbonated drinks.
Movement: He moves alot at night but occasionally during the day. He seems to be getting stronger every day.
Our SON
This picture is so precious to us....Simon is so adorable and looks just like his sister already!19 weeks 6 days
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Coming July 2012
The Griffis' will be adding a new addition to their family sometime around July 13th 2012. We can't begin to explain the joy and gratitude we are all feeling!!!!Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
The Big 3-0
This past week I turned the big 30 and we decided to celebrate in San Antonio and take Addyson to Sea World. We had so much fun and the crowds were light because the kids had just gone back to school. 30 wasn't as hard as I thought....I was able to spend the whole weekend with the loves of my life! Here are a few pictures that I took. I was extremely upset because I had forgotten to bring my extra battery so my camera only lasted until 10am. Oh well, I got some cute ones.
Watching a 4D Seasame Street movie
Getting ready to be shuttled over to Sea World
Pretty sure we wore her out!
Being Silly
The Natural Caverns
Watching a 4D Seasame Street movie
Getting ready to be shuttled over to Sea World
Pretty sure we wore her out!
Being Silly
The Natural Caverns
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