Elsie Jane Birth Story

Elsie Jane's birth story began very early on in my pregnancy when we found out her due date. June 16 was the "projected" date for our little lady to arrive, and that meant that she might just carry on the Mechling tradition of being born on her parent's birthday. For those of you who don't already know (and if you don't, I'm shocked because Kevin told this story to just about everyone he met) Kevin was born on his mom's birthday, his dad was born on his mom's birthday, and his grandmother was born on her mom's birthday. So in a nut shell, there was a LOT of pressure put on Elsie...err....me to have this baby on June 19.

Also, June 16th happened to be my first day of summer vacation...good timing right!? AND that weekend we were supposed to celebrate Father's day, my brother-in-law Ted's Dental School Graduation and party, Kevin's birthday AND his mom's birthday...oh yeah, and I was supposed to have a baby somewhere in there. 

After successfully making it through the end of the school year activities without going into labor (thanks to my AMAZING job share Jessica), I was ready to take on the busy weekend and get this baby OUT! June 16th came and I put on the stretchiest dress I owned and headed off to Ted's graduation party. I had been having false labor for weeks, and was feeling like things just might happen that day. At the party our friend/masseuse Elly was there and even gave me a labor inducing massage during the party. Classy I know. ;) But to our disappointment she was not ready. 

The weekend continued with celebrations of Father's Day and Kevin's birthday, and baby was still not ready. On Monday, I even repeated the same experience I had with Clara of shopping and lunch with my mom and grandma to get some post baby jammies, AND getting a second massage from Elly, but yet again, Elsie just wasn't ready. 

Finally I went in for an induction on the evening of June 20th. The whole process was actually very relaxing, and exciting because I knew I would finally get to meet my little girl soon. That evening the inserted prostaglandins near my cervix to soften it, and possibly induce labor. That night I slept great, thanks to a sleeping pill, and woke up the next day rested and ready to go. When I got up to go to the bathroom the prosoglandin came out on its own, and so did my mucus plug. When the nurse arrived I told her what happened and she said that my body was just getting ready. Next they hooked me up to the pitocin at 9:00 am and I started to feel the contractions. For the next few hours I only went from 2 cm to 3 cm, and it felt that everything was taking forever.

So my Dr. gave me permission to walk around the maternity ward to hopefully get things going where I would walk for 15 minutes, and then go back on the pitocin for 15 min. after my 3rd loop around the maternity wing I went back to my room to go to the bathroom, and sure enough, my water broke! I didn't make a pop sound as some people say, but it was more a feeling I had inside of someone snapping a rubber band inside me or the actual feeling of when a water balloon breaks in your hands. 

Within minutes, the contractions became significantly more painful . By the time I got to 4 cm, which was in the early afternoon, I was in excruciating pain, and was ready for an epidural. Afterwards I was able to rest and since the nurse told me I probably had quite a while before I was ready to push, we told our family not to come to the hospital yet. It was then that I called my mom and told her about getting the epidural and she reminded me that after she had an epidural with Katie she started pushing within an hour.

Just as my mom had experienced, within the hour I also started feeling quite a bit of pressure and called the nurse to come and check me. Sure enough, I had jumped to 8 1/2 cm, and was almost fully dialated. Unfortuantely, I fluctuated between 8 1/2 and 9 cm for a while because  a part of Elsie's head was hooked on the edge of my cervix and was preventing it from fully dilating. Pushing now could cause swelling, and making things more difficult. 

An hour or two later I was fully dialated and ready to push. With Clara I only had to push for about a half hour, but this time around it was taking much more effort. I was using everything I had to focus on moving this baby down and out. After almost an hour of pushing (or so I think) my Dr. said that she saw the head and it had a LOT of hair. Now our Dr. also said this with Clara, so I didnt think much of it. As I pushed more, I had to muster all of my inner stregnth to get her out, and I remember feeling like this girl had to be big. My intuition was right and my beautiful girl weighed in at 9 lbs 3 oz! And the hair! They weren't lying! Elsie's beautiful black locks were some of the longest many of the nurses had ever seen. 

Overall, her birth was a wonderful experience and we are so grateful to my Dr. and the nurses for all their help and support. 

Hello Again

Hello Everyone...if there is anyone left reading our blog :)  It has been over a year since I last wrote a post, and a lot of life has happened in that year. I went half time at work (you would think that would give me more time for blogging right...uh no), I grew and gave birth to sweet Elsie Jane, finished my ESL endorsement, remodeled our TV room, took up sewing as a hobby, and moved Clara into a big girl room and got her mostly potty trained.

I could go on and on about all that we have done, accomplished, and enjoyed, but I am looking forward to documenting the latest and greatest happenings in our life. One of my Maternity Leave goals (I have many of them which I will share with you later) is to update this blog more often, but not beat myself up if I don't... luckily I don't have to go back to work until later November, which gives me a smidgen of extra time for crafts, cooking, and home projects, along with having two beautiful girls who I can't stop snapping photos of as they grow and change every day.

On that note, I leave you with one of my favorite photos as of late. Me with my two little ladies. There are many things I love about this photo; 1) Clara stopped for long enough to show her sweet little smile 2) We are at the beach, my favorite place in the world 3) Clara's beach tendrils are in full effect 

A Nice Little Saturday

I love time with my little family. We enjoy our friends and family and all of the fun events that come with, but more than anything, we love those rare Saturdays that are wide open and free for the three of us to do whatever our hearts desire. Yesterday was one of those days.

Here's how our day went:

To start off our morning, we headed out for breakfast. I love breakfast, and I especially love breakfast out in our great city of Portland, as there are so many amazing spots to choose from. Our first choice was Besaw's, but the line was...shall I say 'not toddler friendly', so we headed around the corner to St. Honoré. I love me some French pastries and cafe au lait, and this hit the spot.

Clara looking very French while nibbling on a petit pain au chocolat...yum.

Next, we headed to our favorite place to go as a family. Powells. When Kevin and I first started dating, we had several late night dates here we where would grab a coffee, and discuss life. I fell in love with Kevin at Powells, and therefor it holds a special place in my heart. Now that we are married, and have a our own little bookworm, Powells continues to be a great place for us to go as a family.

Clara reading Olivia.

Kevin and Clara doing some people watching outside of Powells while they waited for me to check out.

We had a very relaxed afternoon and evening, and wrapped our day up with a date night at home, which for those of you who have kids, understand this happens much more frequently than a night out. To make it special, I made some tasty adult fizzy raspberry lemonade drinks, and we played Dominion, which I won....for the first time...no big deal really.

Colorado Top Ten

We recently got back from a wonderfully relaxing and much needed retreat to Colorado. Kevin and I have friends and family who live there, which made it a great reason to visit, and easier on the wallet since lodging wasn't an issue. We had a great time, which I think would be best summarized as our...

"Colorado Top Ten"

10. Feeling the heat of the sun on my back as I splashed in the Strawberry Park Hot Springs with Kevin and Clara.

9. Walking down College St. in Ft. Collins and entering all of the great little boutiques and shops selling local goods.

8. Starting our road trip through the Rocky Mountains with air guitaring & drumming to Dire Straits Money for Nothing

7. Celebrating my daughter's 2nd birthday with her first movie theater experience. Can't get any better than Winnie the Pooh in an old mom and pop theater all to ourselves.

6. Quiet times by myself just lying in bed and feeling a gentle breeze come through the window of Bob & Linda's beautiful 100+ year old home

5. Having wonderful breakfasts at Snooze in Ft. Collins, and Creekside Cafe in Steamboat Springs.

4. Seeing old friends, and reminiscing and laughing about college memories.

3. Driving through Rocky Mountain National Park and seeing moose, caribou, and elk right on the side of the road. Also, going from 5,000 feet and 85 degrees to 12,000 feet and 50 degrees in less than hour...pretty crazy.

2. Having an outdoor massage under the shade of an Aspen tree while I listened to the gentle sound of a mountain creek run by.

1. Being with my sweet little family for 6 days where we had no schedule, obligations, or agenda except to enjoy each other and our time together.

My Memorial Day

Our day started off with Clara begging to put on her swimming suit. When I said, "Do you want to go swimming today?!" this was her reaction. (The sunglasses were completely her idea)

I looked up the pool times and realized that all of the pools near our house were closed for Memorial Day. After breaking the news to Clara, she was not a happy camper.

Instead of swimming I decided to finally get my veggie garden planted. Kevin got a fresh truckload of compost, and I was ready to go. I am doing pole beans for the first time, using bean seeds harvested by my dad from last year's bean crop. Check out the trellis I made.

We also did a couple tomatoes, spaghetti squash, zuchinni, and a pumpkin for Clara.

To do.

In anticipation of my new life as a part time teacher, I have been compiling all kinds of projects that I want to do once I have the time. At the moment, my to do list is long....very long... with not so fun tasks that all teachers face at the end of a school year. Instead of checking off that list, I would much rather make a new one. One with exiting, fun, and crafty projects that I plan on doing this summer and beyond.

Though doing report cards, filing, and curriculum planning for next year is necessary, making time to be creative is also important and is what brings me great joy in life.

This list will most likely get longer, but here is what I have so far on my summer (fun) to do list:

1) Bird Wings for Clara to perfect her "flap flap" moves

2) I love this simple kids tent, which would make a great fort, or quiet reading area for Clara

3) Even though I'm not a big fan of the giant fake flowers people stick on baby girl's head, these ones are adorable, and look really fun to make!

4) And just in case Clara needed another flower hair accessory, these felt flower clips are equally cute.

5) And just for fun, I want to make my first quilt. Like this one, or possibly this one, or maybe I should start off with something more simple like this one.

6) repaint Clara's Goodwill circular kids table with a fun geometric pattern. Sorry no pics...yet.

Symmetry

amazing.

Symmetry from Everynone on Vimeo.