I'm actually sitting here in bed with the laptop with two hands free. *gasp* Two hands free! Hans just finished eating some and fell promptly asleep, but I don't think he's nearly done with his meal, so I'm just holding onto him right now, letting him rest against my chest until he awakens for course #2. He's proven to be a very good eater and is already back above his birth weight. If only he'd take less than 5-10 minutes to latch on for the majority of feedings. . . but I digress ;-). While I'm sitting here waiting to serve the next course, I thought I'd start typing up Hans' birth story, per request.
As a refresher, for the past month Hans had been flipping between transverse and vertex positions whenever it fancied him to do so, much to the emotional exhaustion of his mother who did NOT want a c-section. 2 1/2 weeks before his due date I started going to a chiropractor who is certified in the Webster technique, and Hans flipped head-down after I did a pelvic tilt, and his position was confirmed by my midwife. But then he flipped transverse again a few days later, and continued to waffle back and forth for the next week. He'd always go head-down after a Webster adjustment and a pelvic tilt, though, so I kept going to the chiropractor every day, per suggestion. This mommy was VERY glad that he finally permanently settled in vertex position a few days before labor commenced.
On Tuesday morning (the 17th, 5 days before his due date) I woke up at 6:30 a.m. with my bag of waters leaking. I already had a midwife appointment that morning, so I just went in as scheduled and had the leaking confirmed. As per procedure, my midwife instructed me to check into the hospital 12 hours later, at 6:30 p.m., so they could monitor Hans' heartrate. Because of the slight risk of infection (since the amniotic sac had been leaking), they would also start me on antibiotics at 18 hours, or just after midnight.
All morning and afternoon I had slight cramping that I totally would have written off as indigestion if I hadn't been super-sensitive to any possible signs of labor. But they were really so mild. Only just before we left for the hospital did they start to even have a defined peak to them, and even then they were so mild. About 20 minutes after leaving, Adrian asked me if I'd been having any more mild contractions since we'd left, and I'd just had 4 sitting right next to him and not even flinched, they were so light.
We checked into labor and delivery at around 6:30 p.m., as we couldn't be admitted to The Birth Place (our choice for delivery) on the same floor until I was in active labor (5 cm). I'd been checked that morning and been almost 4 cm, which amused me since I didn't feel like I was in labor. My midwife and I both didn't think I was in active labor, and we both wanted to minimize internal exams, so we just decided to wait out labor starting and not keep obsessively checking for the magic number 5. I did not want an induction, so we'd been praying all day that I'd go into labor on my own. The only thing I'd done to help encourage labor was take a few walks throughout the day.
About 10:30 p.m. I finally started feeling like I was really in something resembling labor,and the nurse said that I couldn't possibly have been in active labor before then, as I was functioning too normally. The midwife had gone down the hall an hour before to lie down, as I wasn't having strong contractions at the time, but had told me to have the nurse get her when I wanted her. I still wasn't convinced I was really in active labor, and I wanted to wait to get her as long as possible, so I was really in labor and could be moved to The Birth Place. I was given antibiotics at 12:30 a.m. (ugh, rotten burning feeling in the arm) and was quite uncomfortable by that time. Finally at 1:30 a.m. I told Adrian to please get Jessica, the midwife, because surely I was in active labor with contractions so close together and so intense, and I really wanted the tub at The Birth Place. She came in and checked me, and I was at 8 cm! No wonder the contractions were one on top of another by then ;-).
So we finally got to move to The Birth Place, and I just got in that tub as quickly as possible. Calling a birth tub a "midwife's epidural" is a bit strong of a description, because it doesn't take away the pain, but wow, I felt so much better after getting in the tub, mainly because I wasn't so uncomfortable with every position, and wanting to change positions constantly. The water held me up and equalized the pressure quite nicely. Also, as soon as I got in the tub my urge to faint (which I'd been having with every contraction for an hour or more) was completely gone.
At one point my body was pushing with every contraction, without my aid. I told the midwife this, and she said that was fine and not to fight it. She asked me if I wanted to stay in the tub for delivery, and at that point there was no way I was going to voluntarily leave the relative "comfort" of the tub ;-); prior to labor, I'd been about 50-50 as to whether I wanted to deliver in the tub. Jessica very nicely didn't even suggest checking me again, as it was really obvious I was fully dilated, and she told me I could push when I was ready. Delivery really didn't take that long, though it was no picnic either ;-), and Hans was born at 2:57 a.m. I was never so glad to have something over with!
The main things I took away from the experience:
I totally see why women get epidurals. Duh. Especially when most labors (especially first-time labors) are so much longer than mine. I had a remarkably short and easy labor, and it was still plenty uncomfortable enough at times so that a c-section sounded like a good idea.
Water births are wonderful options. Period.
Practicing relaxation exercises for birth does help (yay for Bradley). During most of labor I felt like I was not able to relax with each contraction, but apparently I was, as the midwife said she could see me physically relax each time. If I hadn't practiced that a lot, it would NOT have happened.
I made it through *a* natural birth. I would like to make it through 11 more, but I'll take each one as it comes, and one natural birth does not a natural birther make.
And yes, I do still want 12 kids. Because I know half of you wanted to ask that.
The Bradley method was very helpful, but is not what got me through birth. The midwife and nurse tell me they were quite impressed with how well I handled labor and delivery, but in all honesty, I did NOT feel strong at all in the midst of it. The one thing that got me through was God's grace and strength, I'm quite convinced. I was telling Adrian later that a passage from The Hiding Place came to mind. It's a passage where Corrie's father explains to her that God gives us the strength to endure tough times, giving it to us right when we need it, not before, not after:
…that night as he stepped through the door I burst into tears..”I need you!” I sobbed. “You can’t die! You can’t!”…
Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed. “Corrie,” he began gently, “when you and I go to Amsterdam- when do I give you your ticket?”
I sniffed a few times, considering this. “Why, just before we get on the train.”
“Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we’re going to need things, too. Don’t run ahead of him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need- just in time.”
On the night of Hans' birth, with each contraction peak, I felt like God was handing me a ticket. Only one, just for that contraction. No more, no less.
It was worth it :-). *snuggles up to little Hans*
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Monday, July 23, 2007
Our Story
One of my pet peeves is wedding websites that have "coming soon. . . " permanently published as the couple's story of how they met. I'm a female, so I like details! I love hearing how a couple met :-). So I vowed quite a while ago that I would definitely publish a story of how I met my future husband, when the time came. Of course, now I also realize why that story so often doesn't materialize. Time just gets away from you! So finally, 7 months after we began our courtship and 3 1/2 months after our engagement, here you go. I think some of you definitely pieced most of this together, but I still occasionally get questions from people who have read my blog, and still aren't quite sure how Adrian and I met. No, this doesn't contain every single detail (that's known as "privacy" ;-D), but I hope it satisfies some curious brains:
I dabbled in internet forums and blogs throughout college, finally signing up for my own blog in fall of 2005, soon after graduating college. My purpose in doing so was two-fold: (1) to have an outlet for my love for writing, and (2) to meet like-minded young women. I actually vowed to my mom that my purpose was not to find a husband online. *laughs nervously* Ah, irony.
I had briefly interacted with Adrian before I started blogging myself, both on his blog (which he had recently started) and a few other blogs. He seemed well-informed, but that was about the extent of my impression. Oh, and he liked math and was reformed in theology; I thought that was neat. Through the next year+, Adrian and I blogged quite a bit back and forth, going in spurts of greater and lesser blogging activity. At first we started out very casual, before later moving to deeper and more involved conversations.
Adrian intrigued me. He was very knowledgeable on a variety of subjects, very interesting to converse with, and his awareness of God's grace permeated his posts and his comments. I thought of him merely as a friend for quite a while, but the more I got to know him, the more I realized just what a dear brother in Christ he was, and how well-suited he seemed for me. He made me laugh, think, debate; sometimes he made me furious! He challenged me to think. He competed with me in math and constructively critiqued my poems. We discussed literature and debated every topic under the sun. I even challenged him to a debate on whether his blog background should be changed to something more exciting and easy-on-the-eyes than black (bleck!); I won that debate handily, for the record :-). Actually, I've remarked to Adrian that it's rather infuriating that I seem to win the inconsequential debates, and he always seems to win the more weighty ones. Ah well.
As we got to know one another, I found it quite amazing - and amusing - just how much we had in common. I mean, c'mon! The guy was a bigger math geek than me! He loved classical literature :-). He had a great taste in music. We had similar views on marriage, children, family life. We had almost identical views on Biblical doctrines and practical outworkings of those doctrines. And the man oozed the grace of God. So I watched, and waited, and typed, and prayed. Meanwhile my family had kept abreast of our internet activities, and I think my mom had read just about every word Adrian and I had ever typed to each other, since all our blogging interactions were public :-). Adrian's brother Lane had also interacted a bit with me, on his blogs and mine.
On November 1, 2006 Adrian e-mailed me, "casually" asking if he could come for a visit to meet me and my family. He said the reason, of course, was to claim a prize he had won a while back, on one of my geeky math posts in which I had offered cookies to the solver of a ridiculously-hard math problem; Adrian had solved it, naturally, but had never claimed the prize. In all my smart-aleckness, I e-mailed back, telling him that if the reason was for the cookies, we could overnight mail those to him, and save him time and gas money ;-). The man takes teasing very well, you must know; he revels in it, in fact. Good thing, or I'd drive him nuts! Anyway, Adrian came and visited for 3 days in early December, and we had a grand time. We met for the first time in person on December 8th, 2006, at approximately 1:25 p.m. At the end of his visit, he asked my dad for permission to court me, and my dad granted it. I accepted when Adrian asked me as well :-).
So we began a long-distance courtship. We've been very blessed to see each other every month since our first meeting in December, even with 6+ hours of driving time between us the whole time. I flew to Minnesota to meet Adrian's parents in January, and then I drove to Louisville, KY in May, to meet more of his family. Adrian spent 10 days with our family over his spring break in March, and he also drove here in June for my brother's wedding. We spent Valentine's Day together in Blacksburg, VA, where Adrian was finishing up a degree in Mathematical Physics at Virginia Tech. My parents were able to drive with me to Blacksburg in July as well, and Hannah plans on coming with me to visit Adrian in August.
I also drove up to Blacksburg in April, over my spring break from teaching, and Adrian proposed to me at the duck pond on Virginia Tech's campus, at sunset the day I arrived. I recounted the proposal in a separate story, so make sure to read that as well. I hadn't found the man of my dreams, as I've told Adrian several times. My dreams of the man I wanted to marry were far too small. Adrian surpassed those dreams; God has a tendency to bless us far more than we can imagine or ever deserve. So on April 2, 2007, when Adrian C. Keister got down on both knees and proposed to me, I said yes to the man beyond my dreams.
On September 22, 2007 when, Lord willing, we are joined together as man and wife, we will sing a beautiful song of God's grace, love, and sovereignty - a hymn that Adrian first introduced to me almost 2 years ago. Only God knew at the time that we would one day sing it at our wedding. Great and unsearchable are His ways. God also has a sense of humor. Not only did I end up falling for an "internet guy" after all, against my firm insistence to my mom, but the young woman who named her blog "An Old-Fashioned Girl" certainly found her husband in a very new-fangled way :-).
Soli Deo Gloria
I dabbled in internet forums and blogs throughout college, finally signing up for my own blog in fall of 2005, soon after graduating college. My purpose in doing so was two-fold: (1) to have an outlet for my love for writing, and (2) to meet like-minded young women. I actually vowed to my mom that my purpose was not to find a husband online. *laughs nervously* Ah, irony.
I had briefly interacted with Adrian before I started blogging myself, both on his blog (which he had recently started) and a few other blogs. He seemed well-informed, but that was about the extent of my impression. Oh, and he liked math and was reformed in theology; I thought that was neat. Through the next year+, Adrian and I blogged quite a bit back and forth, going in spurts of greater and lesser blogging activity. At first we started out very casual, before later moving to deeper and more involved conversations.
Adrian intrigued me. He was very knowledgeable on a variety of subjects, very interesting to converse with, and his awareness of God's grace permeated his posts and his comments. I thought of him merely as a friend for quite a while, but the more I got to know him, the more I realized just what a dear brother in Christ he was, and how well-suited he seemed for me. He made me laugh, think, debate; sometimes he made me furious! He challenged me to think. He competed with me in math and constructively critiqued my poems. We discussed literature and debated every topic under the sun. I even challenged him to a debate on whether his blog background should be changed to something more exciting and easy-on-the-eyes than black (bleck!); I won that debate handily, for the record :-). Actually, I've remarked to Adrian that it's rather infuriating that I seem to win the inconsequential debates, and he always seems to win the more weighty ones. Ah well.
As we got to know one another, I found it quite amazing - and amusing - just how much we had in common. I mean, c'mon! The guy was a bigger math geek than me! He loved classical literature :-). He had a great taste in music. We had similar views on marriage, children, family life. We had almost identical views on Biblical doctrines and practical outworkings of those doctrines. And the man oozed the grace of God. So I watched, and waited, and typed, and prayed. Meanwhile my family had kept abreast of our internet activities, and I think my mom had read just about every word Adrian and I had ever typed to each other, since all our blogging interactions were public :-). Adrian's brother Lane had also interacted a bit with me, on his blogs and mine.
On November 1, 2006 Adrian e-mailed me, "casually" asking if he could come for a visit to meet me and my family. He said the reason, of course, was to claim a prize he had won a while back, on one of my geeky math posts in which I had offered cookies to the solver of a ridiculously-hard math problem; Adrian had solved it, naturally, but had never claimed the prize. In all my smart-aleckness, I e-mailed back, telling him that if the reason was for the cookies, we could overnight mail those to him, and save him time and gas money ;-). The man takes teasing very well, you must know; he revels in it, in fact. Good thing, or I'd drive him nuts! Anyway, Adrian came and visited for 3 days in early December, and we had a grand time. We met for the first time in person on December 8th, 2006, at approximately 1:25 p.m. At the end of his visit, he asked my dad for permission to court me, and my dad granted it. I accepted when Adrian asked me as well :-).
So we began a long-distance courtship. We've been very blessed to see each other every month since our first meeting in December, even with 6+ hours of driving time between us the whole time. I flew to Minnesota to meet Adrian's parents in January, and then I drove to Louisville, KY in May, to meet more of his family. Adrian spent 10 days with our family over his spring break in March, and he also drove here in June for my brother's wedding. We spent Valentine's Day together in Blacksburg, VA, where Adrian was finishing up a degree in Mathematical Physics at Virginia Tech. My parents were able to drive with me to Blacksburg in July as well, and Hannah plans on coming with me to visit Adrian in August.
I also drove up to Blacksburg in April, over my spring break from teaching, and Adrian proposed to me at the duck pond on Virginia Tech's campus, at sunset the day I arrived. I recounted the proposal in a separate story, so make sure to read that as well. I hadn't found the man of my dreams, as I've told Adrian several times. My dreams of the man I wanted to marry were far too small. Adrian surpassed those dreams; God has a tendency to bless us far more than we can imagine or ever deserve. So on April 2, 2007, when Adrian C. Keister got down on both knees and proposed to me, I said yes to the man beyond my dreams.
On September 22, 2007 when, Lord willing, we are joined together as man and wife, we will sing a beautiful song of God's grace, love, and sovereignty - a hymn that Adrian first introduced to me almost 2 years ago. Only God knew at the time that we would one day sing it at our wedding. Great and unsearchable are His ways. God also has a sense of humor. Not only did I end up falling for an "internet guy" after all, against my firm insistence to my mom, but the young woman who named her blog "An Old-Fashioned Girl" certainly found her husband in a very new-fangled way :-).
Soli Deo Gloria
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Why Chicks Need Theology Too
I detest slang, but isn't the above a hilarious title for a women's Bible study? My pastor's wife has a friend who is currently leading a book study with that name, using the book When Life and Beliefs Collide, by Carolyn Custis James. Knowing such a book would interest me, she offered to let me borrow the book, which has proved very good so far! Women do need theology, as well as men. Theology has fallen by the wayside in general in our society, but especially for women, the pursuit of theology is viewed with suspicion. Carolyn Custis James addresses many of these suspicions in her book. Here is an excerpt:
Lane Keister's Message to Women was eerily timely, given my current read. He also followed up his Message to Women with an added list of resources for beginning a study of theology, for men or women. I encourage you to peruse both posts, both of which are short in length.
Far from diminishing her appeal, a woman's interest in theology ought to be the first thing to catch a man's eye. A wife's theology should be what a husband prizes most about her. He may always enjoy her cooking and cherish her gentle ways, but in the intensity of battle, when adversity flattens him or he faces an insurmountable challenge, she is the soldier nearest him, and it is her theology that he will hear. A woman's theology suddenly matters when a man is facing a crisis and she is the only one around to offer encouragement.
Lane Keister's Message to Women was eerily timely, given my current read. He also followed up his Message to Women with an added list of resources for beginning a study of theology, for men or women. I encourage you to peruse both posts, both of which are short in length.
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