Tired and Thankful

I know the plan was to write about the birth in more detail this week, but to be honest the past few days have just been overwhelming and blogging hasn't exactly been on the top of the priority list. I am utterly exhausted and have realized that I had completely forgotten what a big job having a newborn is. To be honest, I've had my moments of being so tired that it's been hard to be in good spirits and keep a good attitude,(I'm sure no one else ever has that problem, right?) but all in all I am still very thankful that our little girl is finally here and realize how greatly God has blessed us. And I want to keep reminding myself even through the hard times that these moments will pass so quickly and I need to cherish every single one of them. So although I do want to write Darcey's birth story some time in the future, for now I'm just gonna focus on catching up on sleep when I can and making memories with my baby girl. I figured ya'll would understand. :-) Oh, and just to hold you over til then, here's a picture or two....

She's Here!

As most of you probably know by now, Darcey Ella was finally born at 4:29 am on Sunday! Things didnt exactly go as planned, but we're just thankful that she's healthy and here. She weighed 8 lbs. 6 oz. (our biggest baby yet!) and was 20 inches long. Has a head full of dark hair, which we were all wishing for, and we of course think she's beautiful. :-)

I'll be posting some pictures and more of the story when things settle down a little more around here. But until then thank you all for the prayers and please continue to pray as we adjust to life with a new little one!

Natural Ways To Induce Labor (or not)

For those of you who might be wondering (and I'm sure there's alot of that going on at this point. lol) I figured it would be good to give a quick rundown of the things I've tried so far to help this baby along when it comes to being born. Now obviously none of them have actually worked for me so I'm still not sure how valid the ideas really are, but they should be interesting reading regardless, right? And just maybe if you happen to be 8 er, make that 9 days over your due date one of them just might work for you! :-)
So here goes the list......

1. walking (of course, that one's probably a given to most)
2. taking herbs (which resulted in maybe a slight increase in contractions, but mostly made me nauseated I think)
3. rubbing various acupressure points (same as the herbs, minus the nausea...although I think these really do work well for some people)
4. more walking (which so far has still only proven to cause my feet to swell and make me tired and sore)
5. eating the core of a pineapple (now this one is probably by far the most unusual I've tried this time, but it actually is supposed to help move things along...for me it just seemed to be really tough to eat and I spent awhile picking pieces of it after my teeth, which I guess at least managed to get my mind off of other things for the moment. lol)
6. real acupuncture (yep, the actual needles...by a professional of course. now seriously I would've thought this one would work hands down, but no other than a few stronger contractions since having it done yesterday I really can't tell much difference)
7. strange positions (I'm sure that looks funny to read, but it's really just me trying different poses to try and help her turn in a good way to be born. these seem to just be uncomfortable for me and not really working for her. hmmmm, maybe that's a good sign I should just not do them!)
8. even more walking (okay, so I'm sure this really is doing more than what I realize, but I'm still not totally sure if it's a good or bad thing yet. it seems to cause progress in some ways but sometimes stop it in others so the verdict is still out as to whether it's all actually worth it.)

So there's my tried (and, um, unfortunately failed) methods of not self-inducing labor. I hope you all got at least some enjoyment out of it, cause so far I sure haven't! lol

All kidding aside though, I had an ultrasound yesterday and Darcey looks great. Everything looked and sounded fine and there's plenty of fluid. Honestly it just seemed like she should be coming anytime, which I'm sure is true that she will be. And considering that none of the above things have worked in causing her to be born by now then there is obviously a good reason why she hasn't been. One which I will probably never know of course, but it still helps to tell myself that at this point. haha I'm really just trying to trust that God knows best and that as long as things turn out okay the when she's born doesn't really matter much. Although I have to admit that in my humanness(don't think that's actually a word)it's sometimes hard not to worry and fret over things going wrong or question if the reason she isn't coming is a bad one....but I'm not the only one that does stuff like that, right? Please just continue to pray that I'll have peace about it all and that whenever something does happen that things will go smoothly and safely for us both. I really can't wait for her to get here so I can finally write a post about that! :-) Until next time.....

Quick Update

First of all, no Darcey has not made her grand entrance into our lives yet and secondly, yes I am officially a whole week overdue today. I think that wouldn't have bothered me near as much had I not had a really rough night of little sleep and just felt kinda rotten this morning. I did manage to pull it together enough so that we could meet the family for lunch and celebrate dad's birthday. Then while my parents let the kids play at the park I went for a walk to hopefully help things along some. I actually have been having irregular contractions for awhile now, but it just doesn't seem like the real thing yet. Which of course is super dissapointing in so many ways. But I guess that's about it for now. Please keep praying for mine and Darcey's health and that she will be delivered safely and soon!

Can't Believe That...

....I'm still just sitting here waiting and there's still NO BABY!! ('nuf said I guess)

Happy Fall, Ya'll!!

I've been meaning to post some pictures of our autumn decorations, but just haven't gotten around to it before now. It seemed like this morning was the perfect time though since it's turned so cool and actually feels like fall weather! (which is a relief for me since the heat while being so big was more than a little miserable) We love doing a harvest scene this time of year and I think these kind of decorations are quickly becoming my favorite. The colors are just so pretty and all the things about harvest and giving thanks serve as a great reminder of how much we've been blessed! Hope you enjoy the pictures......

(p.s. by the way, hobby lobby already has most of their fall decorations half off so if you're wanting to pick up some stuff now's the perfect time!)

Making Choices

So today is the big due date. The one you kinda plan you're whole pregnancy around as you countdown and look forward to when the baby is approximately supposed to come. The one which you are more than a little fearful of when it looks like labor starts too far ahead of it. And also the one which you tiredly sigh from the seemingly never-ending feeling of it all when labor hasn't started on or around it. Me, I'm obviously experiencing the second of those scenarios at the moment, although surpisingly enough we had more than one of the first scenarios this time as well. Obviously the Lord has more than answered our prayers for her to be born full-term tho and I am now trying to make sure my petitions are more along the lines of please let it be today....you know, just to be sure everything is clear. ;-)

All kidding aside, I am thankful that things have and still are going good and Darcey seems to be fine. My body is sore and tired and the miserable stage has seemed longer this time than I remember with the others, but I know that things could be so much worse and try to remind myself to keep that in perspective on the days when I'm discouraged. And as for today, I decided before even going to bed last night(or I should say early this morning since I couldn't really sleep)that I could choose to either let it be bad because I was dissapointed she hasn't come yet or I could choose to make it the best day possible in spite of that same fact. Thankfully the Lord seem to help me choose the latter and I can honestly say that overall it's been a really good day!

The kids and I started out with breakfast and then each of them picking something seperate they wanted me to do with them. Delancey chose for us to paint each others fingernails and Dathan chose a game to play. Both of those things turned out to be fun and we then moved on to doing schoolwork. They've been extra interested in math this week for some reason so that's what they wanted to start out with, following up with a couple other subjects. All in all it was a great morning and then my parents came to spend some time with the kids while the weather is still nice. We ended up eating at Grandmother's House for lunch (which by the way if you're in the area and haven't tried you really should!) and then visiting the Safari Zoo that's nearby....another place you definitely need to go to if you haven't been.

The evening has been good too and I've ended up having a much better day than I have in awhile in pretty much every way. We mentioned the fact that the baby hasn't come yet some today(especially the kids since they had seen this date marked on the calender) and of course it's crossed my mind a couple of times that after today I'm technically 'over-due', but I have to admit that considering how good the day ended up turning out just from me deciding to try to make the best of it I really can't have too many regrets. (and yes I think that was probably a major run-on sentence but hopefully it at least made sense!) So anyway that's what today was like for us, even though it could have turned out differently I guess and maybe before I would've thought I wanted it to. I'm thankful God gives us the freedom to choose what we'll make of our circumstances though and that at least for now, I was able to choose just to enjoy where we're at and be content. It was amazing what a difference it made! :-)

But I will wrap up this impossibly long post for now with the hope that the next one will have an announcement in it........if it's supposed to of course!

Still Waiting

I have to be honest and say that I write this post with no small amount of dissapointment. The last few days have been more than a little rough for me physically and added to that the continual wondering of when I'll actually go into labor makes for some up and down emotions as well. I am tired, miserable, and having some 'not-so-sure-what-it-is' symptoms that cause me to just be more ready than ever to have the birth over with and my body hopefully getting back to normal. (whatever that is too!) So anyway all of that to say that obviously she didn't come this weekend, we're still waiting, and I'm having a little bit of a hard time not being upset about it! Whew, now that I have all that off my chest let me also add that I am still thankful she seems to be doing good as far as we can tell and that since there must be some reason why she just isn't coming yet then I am sincerely trying to be okay with it for her sake. Some days that's just easier said than done....ya know, me being human and all. :-)

As for other things, it has been nice for Blake to be home four days in a row and we've enjoyed doing some fun things together as a family....as much as I'm still able to do anyway. Our van is currently being worked on so that the air conditioner will actually be in working order when Darcey gets here and Blake can finally have his truck back! (although the fact that it's still so hot in the middle of October and we even need so much air is pretty crazy really) Nothing much else to speak of is really going on at the moment. For now we're all just....well, waiting! And no one as much as me of course. Please pray for better health and strength for myself in the coming days and a quick and easy delivery time for us both, whenever that's supposed to be. And hopefully that will be what my next post is all about! Until then.....

Random Thoughts

I can't believe it's Friday already! Well, in some ways I guess this week was a little slow but then in others it seems this month of October is already flying by. As I'm sure you've guessed by now there is of yet no baby arrival to report, but I'm actually doing okay with that for now. Not that I'm not still miserable and ready for when it does happen, but just that I feel more at peace about it just not being time yet. Make sense?
Since we're speaking of babies though, my heart goes out to several mothers I know of at the moment who have either lost one recently, are about to give birth too early, or have given birth and are dealing with them being sick. I know all of that is in God's hands and He knows best but I sincerely ask for your prayers for them as they all face the hard times that each situation brings with it. And that I'll be able to trust in Him as well and not fret over what could be in our own lives. It's so easy to worry and want to try to control things....even when I know I really can't anyway! But please just remember to pray for each one of these I mentioned that they would feel God's grace.

We really haven't had alot else going on this week since I had some rough nights and was tired. Just tried to get some things done around the house and mostly rest. The kids are of course loving the weather still and getting to play outside every day. We had my parents and brother over last night for supper and just enjoyed visiting for awhile. And today Blake stayed home from work to get a jump start on the long weekend. But although we'd had some plans originally, we actually ended up just staying here and not doing any of it! It was nice just to take it easy though and just be home for a change. Now I'm needing to head for bed so we can get up early in the morning for another flag football game. They're short some players and the head coach is out of town so Blake is taking his place and Dathan will be playing the whole time....should be exciting to watch! :-)

Everyone is still rooting for Darcey to be born this Sunday so she'll have the cool birthdate of 10-10-10, but I'm not really getting my hopes up at this point. Although if she's supposed to come then I definitely wouldn't object! I'll be sure to let all of you know if that happens of course. So until then....

My Heart's Desire

Just wanted to share the words of this little song with ya'll today. And thank the Lord for touching me with them as I sang and played it earlier. It never ceases to amaze me how good the God of everything takes time to be to me. No matter what my circumstances, I truly want my hearts desire to be for Him. Hope it blesses you.....

"As the hart panteth for the water, so my soul longeth after Thee. You alone are my heart's desire, how I long to worship Thee.
 You alone are my strength and shield. To you alone may my spirit yield. You alone are my heart's desire, how I long to worship you.
 You're my Friend and you are my Brother, even though you are a King. I love You more than any other, so much more than anything.
 You alone are my strength and shield. To you alone may my spirit yield. You alone are my heart's desire, how I long to worship you."

Weekend Recap

It would be great to be writing this with the wonderful news of Darcey's birth, but alas once again it is not to be yet. Although I did begin to think last night that it would be what with the amount of hard contractions I was having before bed. Hmmmm, is it just me or am I beginning to sound like a broken record repeat myself alot when it comes to talking about this? Actually though I'm okay for the most part that she isn't coming....other than being kinda miserable and tired I truly do want her to be born when it's time and not just because I think she should be. We did get a good laugh Friday after someone mentioned that she was obviously going to be born in October now instead of September like we'd been thinking. To which Dathan replied, well maybe she will be. I was like, uh, no that is definitely something we're sure about! lol

We're still enjoying spending time together with just the four of us until the big day does arrive, although I have to admit some days are harder than others when I'm so tired and somewhat irritable at times from lack of rest and being in pain. Seems like I'm constantly having to remind myself to look for the good things and be thankful for them instead of focusing on the not so good....which to be honest, sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Surely that's not just me though, right?

Dathan had another flag football game yesterday and the weather was perfect for it! (finally) It's been so fun seeing him get to play and have fun, without having to spend alot of time doing it each week or it being made into something too important. I'm really gonna try to do a post soon and put some pictures of him playing on here. But please don't judge them too harshly as I find myself totally unable somewhat struggling to take very good ones while trying to watch him play at the same time. :-)

This morning Blake was preaching at a church in Guntersville so it was nice to be able to hear him again. Since we were over that way we decided to visit my momaw for awhile and see how she was doing. We ended up staying there until this afternoon and then made a trip back home, where I decided to just stay for tonight while Blake went back and preached again. Dathan went and kept him company while Delancey stayed here with me for some girl time. (and actually for me just to take it easy) I hated for us not to all go together again, but the baby has been pressing on the nerve in my leg alot today for some reason so I've been pretty uncomfortable at times and didn't think I could sit through another service.

All in all this weekend was pretty busy (although maybe not quite as much as the last one) but good too. I'm hoping once again to get some rest in the next few days and hopefully have a smooth, easy delivery to write about soon! Oh, I almost forgot one crazy thing that happened last night after we went to the grocery store. We were driving the truck and had put the groceries(and some other things from earlier)in the back. On Friday the front of the truck and the windshield had gotten covered in bugs so it was really needing to be washed. Blake decided to make a quick stop at the drive-through carwash so it would be clean for today....both of us totally forgetting all the stuff in the back! Thankfully as we were just beginning to pull in Dathan looked back and saw everything and managed to warn us before it got too wet. We then jumped out and piled it all into the front with us so we didn't waste the already paid for carwash. And got a really good laugh out of how entirely scatterbrained we've both been lately!! It's kinda scary to think about what it's gonna be like after we actually have this 3rd child. Now you can understand part of the reason behind the name of the blog. :-) Until next time.....

The Whitlow's