Where is God?

Evalana says, “Mommy, where is God? Is He in my heart? Is He in your heart and Daddy’s heart?”

37 weeks

It's hard to believe Lazarus is now considered full-term. I'm trying to get everything ready for his birth and coming home by the end of November, which is tomorrow! Evalana, Joshua, and I are so excited. It really started seeming close when we put the Christmas tree up on Thursday evening. At my appointment today, everything again looked good. So thankful that this pregnancy has gone so well. Somehow I hadn't gained any weight in the last week, which is kind of funny with all of Joshua's great Thanksgiving cooking--not sure how that happened. And my uterus was measuring a little smaller than last week, but that's because Lazarus has dropped (meaning his head is now all the way down against my cervix). This doesn't mean much as far as timing, but it does mean that he's ready to go, and that he really shouldn't be turning positions now. Usually first babies drop a couple of weeks before birth and subsequent babies don't drop until labor, although Evalana didn't drop until labor started, and obviously Lazarus is doing something different, too. It also explains the pressure I've been feeling from his little head, not uncomfortable, just like i'm carrying around a little baby inside me. Joshua had said he thought my belly looked lower this past week; I hadn't really noticed. I don't have any long-sleeved shirts that fit me, so I'm glad that Joshua's willing to share his. Anyway, now that Lazarus is 37 weeks and head down low, I'm realizing that he really could come any time now. Other than being tired, especially when I don't eat enough protein (which I'm trying to remember to do, but sometimes 100g seems like a lot) or get enough sleep, I feel great and really pretty comfortable. Evalana's understanding a lot more about pregnancy, birth, and babies than I probably would have expected, but she loves talking about it, so I guess we do it a lot. Lazarus is now about 7 pounds. Oh, and the group B strep screen that I got last week turned out negative, which is great--means that Lazarus won't have to have antibiotics before he's born. Remember to put in your guesses for his birth at http://www.expectnet.com/games/vaughnbaby2

braids

Check out these cute big girl braids Grandma Kidd put in Evalana's hair.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. This was the first time Joshua and I have celebrated in KC together. Joshua cooked the whole dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, squash casserole, stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, rolls, cranberry sauce, chicken and noodles, pecan pie, and pumpkin pie. It was delicious. 

Evalana was a joy to celebrate Thanksgiving with. She likes saying "Thank you God!" She even prayed herself at dinner to thank God for the food and family. Evalana also helped set the table without being asked.

   

That evening Grandma and Grandpa went to the plaza lights while we stayed home and watched on TV. It was very cold outside, but it sounds like they had a great time at the plaza. And they took the bus, which really helped with the traffic and having to walk. Joshua and Evalana set up the Christmas tree and read Christmas stories while I cleaned up the kitchen and made white hot chocolate and marshmallows. Since April we've been saying that Lazarus will come after we get the Christmas tree set up and it gets cold. Now it's feeling really close!

Christmas in the Sky

Tonight we got to go to Christmas in the Sky fireworks at Longview Lake. Grandma and Grandpa Kidd came this afternoon, and we made some wassail and pizza and headed to Longview Lake. Evalana was so excited to see the fireworks, and it was great. The weather was actually pretty warm, too. The traffic was even no problem, and Joshua got us a great view.

peachwave

We've taken Evalana to Peachwave, a self-serve frozen yogurt place, a couple of times. After church on Sunday Evalana asked to go to Peachwave. We haven't been for about a month, and we hadn't talked about it, so I'm not quite sure where she came up with the idea. We finally convinced her we were not going to go to Peachwave on Sunday. I think Daddy said something about it being for special occasions, when we want to celebrate something big. Later that day Daddy was telling her again what a big girl she was for staying in Sunday school by herself. Evalana responded, "We go to Peachwave now?"

8 months

Everything's still looking great with little boy. Just got home from my 36-week appointment with Dr. Mara, and Lazarus is head down. Yea! We got to take an ultrasound peek at him, to confirm his position since I'm not dilated at all, and his head is right where it should be. Dr. Mara also said that she could see he has some hair and that his cord looks great. I'm so thankful he's in position, and now we pretty much just wait for labor to start, which will hopefully be at least a few more weeks. Thank you for your prayers.

Evalana wanted to show off her belly, too

naps

Evalana's always been on the very low side of the normal sleep range. She currently naps for usually 30-60 minutes, but she acts like she's getting the sleep she needs, so I haven't worried about it. Here's one of her naps when she fell asleep on the couch reading my No Cry Nap Solution book. I know I've mentioned it before, but Joshua and I love and highly recommend the No Cry Solution books.
Also, this picture was on our camera that we hadn't found for about a month, and my mom just found it behind the car seat in her car. Yea!

clothes

I finished organizing all the clothes. It pretty much looks like a used clothing store, but I know exactly what we're still needing for Lazarus's clothes for his first year, and I've got everything put away!
Slightly different from Evalana's room before she was born.

bad mood

Evalana's been waking up from most of her naps in a terrible mood for the past week. I don't know what's going on. She's been sleeping as long as she had been recently. Anyway, here's a picture of her from this afternoon. Thankfully she does great whenever we're busy with activities outside the house. Grandma Mo came over and took her for a walk. She came back in Mo's sweatshirt, which I thought was kind of cute.

one more month!

December 17th is just one month away now! So just about 2-6 more weeks before Lazarus's birth day. I'm so excited! Please keep praying for him to get and stay in the correct position. He's still moving a lot, and, at the moment, I don't think he's head-down. I'm so thankful to have this pregnancy time with our little boy. I'm having a great time preparing for his birth and arrival, too. I need to get some more hangers, and then we'll have his closet all set up. I'm listening through Christmas music, trying to put together a labor mix. And Joshua and I are trying to brush up on our Bradley and other birthing info. Evalana loves reading books about the baby coming. She likes talking and learning about everything having to do with having a baby. This past weekend we had a Saturday with no other plans, and we got so much done around here. It was wonderful! Evalana was so helpful, too. Lazarus is supposed to be gaining about an ounce a day now, so at this point he is around 6 pounds. I'm feeling large but still very comfortable. I just wish there were maternity clothes that fit this pregnant belly. I'm thankful that Joshua's clothes cover my belly, and I don't have a job to dress for, though. Remember to make your predictions for Lazarus's birth at http://www.expectnet.com/logingame.php?game_name=vaughnbaby2.
We also had another friend who had a baby boy today. I'm so excited for them!

Three fillings and no medication

Evalana was amazing at the dentist this morning. After her first visit to the dentist in September, we found out she had cavities, and one dentist wanted to use Valium or general anesthesia to fill them. Joshua and I didn't feel good about that option. Thankfully my friend Leah recommended the dentist we ended up with, and I think he did a wonderful job, without using unnecessary drugs. Evalana sat on Joshua's lap, with her head on the dentist's lap, and Joshua did a great job telling her all sorts of stories. Evalana laid completely still and didn't even flinch; she just did exactly what the dentist asked her to. I sat in the corner of the room because, with my lack of emotional control that comes with pregnancy, I was worried I might cry if Evalana got upset, or even if she did well. Joshua said at one point her gums bled a little, and one of the assistants, Miss Debbie, said that the dentist had to drill down to the tooth pulp, whatever that is. I guess those little front baby teeth are fairly complicated to fill, but it sounds like the dentist did an amazing job. It took about half an hour to completely fill her three top front teeth. They didn't use any pain medicine since the Novocaine can hurt on those front teeth. The dentist and assistants said things like Evalana's amazing, she's exceptional, only 1 in 500 kids do as well as she did, they haven't had a patient as good as her in years, she was a joy to work on, and we should have twelve children. I'm so very thankful we were able to take care of her teeth without any Valium and that she had such a great experience. Thank you so much for all the prayers for her little cavity fillings today. I know God gets all the credit for the wonderful dental experience.

The dentist even called this evening to check in and see how Evalana was doing. Here was Joshua's facebook comment. Maybe he'll write more about it later since he got a front-row seat to the whole thing while I was back in the corner of the room. "Joshua Vaughn No doubt, 100% positive Jesus was right there with us. Evalana sat on my lap and leaned back onto the dentist's lap where he could work. She had three cavities scraped, drilled, & filled with no medicine and never made one peep or flinch. Dr. And assistants were astounded. So was I. Thank you Jesus for being there with my brave little girl!"

34 weeks and breech

Just a quick update on lazarus. He's finally stopped flipping and turning so much. I'm pretty sure that last week he was head-down, but last night he was head-up, and at this afternoon's appointment Dr. Mara confirmed that his head is up, his body is on my left side, and his feet are on my right. My next appointment is in two weeks, and, if he isn't head-first by that point, then we'll have to talk about turning him. I feel like we'll be able to convince him to get in the proper position in the next two weeks. I need to pull my notes out from when evalana was breech (until 34 weeks). Otherwise everything with the pregnancy is going great!
Also, Evalana has her dentist appointment to get her cavities filled tomorrow morning. Please pray that it goes well. Thank you.

yoga

On Tuesday and Thursday evenings this month, I've been able to take a prenatal yoga class, which i'm really enjoying. I love being in a room full of pregnant mamas. Most of them are pregnant with their first baby. What an exciting time. The yoga helps ease some of the discomforts of pregnancy and also helps with preparation for labor. I was able to get a groupon for four weeks of classes for $30, and this is my third week. It's a little difficult to get the time away since I have to leave as soon as Joshua gets home from work and then I get home just in time to put Evalana to bed, but I think it's been worth it for this month. And Evalana loves her evenings with Daddy anyway. They've been making lots of visits to the dog park together, and on Tuesday Evalana went with him to learn about voting. So far this month I've been sleeping better and having much less pain in my hips, which has been great.
11/16/10 update: I had my last class this evening. I'm so thankful I was able to go to all those prenatal yoga classes. I enjoyed both the workout and the relaxation. I'm excited to be able to use some of those skills in labor. And I'm so thankful to Joshua for getting Evalana all fed and ready for bed so many evenings.

what was labor like?

Joshua was asking me some questions about my labor with Evalana, so I guess I didn't do a great job of describing it before. So I'll try now. Before she was born, I wasn't really nervous about labor since I figured it would be painful and we'd get a baby, but it ended up being a great experience. I am so excited for labor with Lazarus this December. I think it's just incredible to have God use my body in the birth of our baby. I didn't have much control over what was happening; I just got to experience the whole thing. And I know everyone has very different experiences with labor and each baby is different, but everything with Evalana's birth went so well. In the beginning, my contractions mostly felt like strong muscle cramps. My stomach was also upset. I had a really hard time just getting myself dressed to leave, so I was very glad for all that we had done in advance in preparing for our trip to the hospital; Joshua just had to follow the instructions I had hung up, and he got the car all packed up. We went to my dad and stepmom's house (since they lived close to the hospital), where I continued to drink water, throw up, and try to relax through contractions. The night went by so quickly. I had never gone to sleep, and we arrived at the hospital at 5am, but it didn't seem that long at all to me. Thanks to our Bradley class, I was really able to relax through and between contractions. Once I was hydrated with an IV, I was even able to sleep the few minutes between contractions. Then the pushing contractions started, which surprised me. I had no control over the pushing; it felt like backwards throwing up. I can't remember if my water broke right before or right after those started, but I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom, so Joshua helped me to the toilet, and then I heard a pop and realized my water broke. The part I remember being somewhat painful was the pressure when I was on my hands and knees pushing for a little bit. Then I got comfy on my side to work on pushing Evalana out. At that point, I kind of had to concentrate to know when I was having a contraction; they didn't feel nearly as strong. Although it was a workout pushing for 45 minutes, I was able to relax between contractions. And the pushing was very natural. I didn't have to think much about what I was doing; it just worked. And when she came out, I didn't feel anything at all. For me, labor was an amazing experience of feeling so close to God. The room was very quiet, other than my moans through contractions or grunting through pushes, but I knew that Joshua, my mom, and our doula were praying. And a birth day is a very exciting day!!

our least favorite holiday

Joshua and I debated back and forth on what we wanted to do for Halloween this year. Joshua and I don't really like Halloween so much, but we also couldn't completely avoid it around here. We ended up deciding to go to the family festival at the church, which evalana had fun at and we had some mixed feelings about. Evalana enjoyed seeing people dressed up in costumes, and she says her favorite was a chicken hatching from an egg.  In the evening we passed out candy at our house. We didn't really like the icky costumes coming to our door, but Evalana seems to not know enough about gross stuff to know what they're supposed to be. Evalana really loved handing out candy. She was so excited to share handfuls of candy with each child who came to our door, and she'd get frustrated waiting for more kids, so Joshua and Evalana ended up spending most of the evening on the front porch handing out candy. Evalana also really liked helping me tape Bible verses on the candy that afternoon. All week Evalana had said she wanted to dress up like a snowman, as soon as she started seeing other people wearing costumes. So Joshua got stuff to make a snowman costume for her. Unfortunately when he tried stuffing some of it with inflated balloons, she got scared the balloons would pop on her, and she refused to wear it. Maybe they can find a compromise in the costume creating, and she can wear it this winter. Last night Joshua and I talked again about how we thought the Halloween went and what we may want to do in the future. While it was nice and easy to avoid it all together in Palm Springs last year, we decided it's probably okay to hand out candy and dress up in non-scary costumes. As Evalana will be older next year, we'll also have to review some of our other Halloween ideas, which involves talking about Christian heroes.

november!

i'm so excited for November this year! This is our last month that we'll (hopefully) not have a baby. Then Lazarus will arrive sometime in December! With Evalana, her due date was July 26th, and I was so sure she wasn't going to come until August, and she did arrive August 1st. With this little boy, I'm just thinking it'll be sometime in December. i just don't know if he'll be before his due date, after it, or when. As long as he's ready, I don't care when he comes, although Joshua thinks sharing his birthday of Dec. 17th would be fun.
On Saturday I got all of Lazarus's clothes that we have so far sorted. Thanks to Aunt Kristen and Noah for letting us borrow so much! It's fun to see little boy clothes hanging up, and Evalana's so excited to share her closet with him. I love preparing for Lazarus's arrival. I'm so excited to see his cute face and hold him in our arms! I'm at 33 weeks now, so around 5-8 weeks left. He's now about 5 pounds and about 18 inches, and he's still very busy doing flips in my belly.