Pages

Friday, March 16, 2012

7 Things Learned with the Fifth Baby


This might have been our fifth birth, but I learned a lot of new things, like:
  • When I feel sick and tired (especially during the first trimester), I will feel even more sick and tired if I try and muscle through instead of giving in to a nap.
  • Eating a high (good) fat, real food diet, low in grains, actually made me gain less weight than any other pregnancies.
  • Pregnancy prep herbal tea works.  I avoided pregnancy teas with my other four because every ingredient was a uterine contractor and can send early pregnancies into miscarriage, but I did some reading this time around, and learned it's best to start drinking it at 31 weeks, working up to three to four cups a day.  The tea linked above has alfalfa included in it which is said to help prevent hemorrhaging after the birth.  All I know is I bled remarkably less with this pregnancy, and doctors told me women are more likely to bleed out the more babies they have.  I continued drinking it after the birth and I'm having a really smooth recovery.  Yay for alfalfa!
  • When you are speed walking around the trampoline with your kids to encourage labor and your parents are watching, your dad might get video footage of it and forever hold it ransom.  Be warned.
  • Staying vertical as long as possible can help speed labor up.  When I had hospital births, I always got so frustrated that contractions seemed to slow way down or even stop once I had to lay down so they could hook me up to the monitors.  With this labor, I was standing, walking, or sitting on a birthing ball until it was time to push, and I went from zero centimeters to holding my baby in four hours; much faster than the other four labors.
  • Having a home birth really brings things... home.  My oldest son ran to the kitchen sink to wash his hands so he could hold his new baby brother, only to find a placenta in a bowl, sitting in the sink basin.  All the color rushed out of his face and he quiveringly whispered, "Is that like... blood or something?"  A half hour later he said, "I'm finally not woozy anymore from that... I can't even say the word.  The 'p' thing."  That day's homeschooling lesson was entitled, "Hands-On Childbirth."  Just kidding.
  • It really is easier having a newborn with older, capable siblings eager to help with the baby.  Moms of big families assured me of this when I was "in the trenches" with three kids three and under.  I know what they mean now.  Many hands makes the work light.  And happy.
You might think I'd have it all figured out by the fifth child, but it goes to show you can learn something new with every new baby.

31 comments:

  1. Wow,it seems like you got this all right.I enjoyed my seven at each turn and yes they are all a new bundle of surprise and wonder.You are wise and this blog is SWEET!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love it. I'm a mama of nearly three-year-old triplets and expecting my fourth this June! They're just starting to get to the "helpful" stage, but I think they are going to love having a baby around. And by the time we have #5, they'll be pros! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. i say amen to the alfalfa! i have always taken herbal stuff with alfalfa (well, at least the most recent 4) and it makes such a difference. it is also rich in iron. i do wish that we were able to have a home birth this time for so many reasons, but i know that this one will work out just as God has it planned. it is true that you learn something new every time! i also agree that having older kids to help really does help!!

    my recent post: amazing asian chicken salad

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your comment on having older kids and newborns makes me think of the show 19 kids and Counting.
    Great, informative post!
    God bless and have a wonderful weekend. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yay for faith babies and learning new things! We are still learning and out fith is almost 3!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I do have that video for the highest bidder! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. hahaha, poor Levi!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm pregnant with #5, and I'm planning on having this one at home. My others were all hospital births so this will be different (but I am SO looking forward to it!) I never heard of that tea before but thanks for the link, I'm going to look into it.
    Also, I'm making a mental note now *don't put placenta in the sink. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. LadyofthehomeschoolMarch 21, 2012 at 5:17 AM

    I'd love more info on you thoughts experience with whole foods/high fat/low grain, etc. During pregnancy.
    I am anticipating that I may very soon find myself expecting our fifth (lord willing!) and I am trying to prep a bit ahead of time. I have been slowly trying to move us to 100% whole foods with a high percentage of raw for me and my husband.
    I tend to get bad morning sickness that lasts to some degree the whole pregnancy, with the sickness I tend to only want to eat simple carbs- bread, pasta, cereal- so despite the sick I sometimes gain a lot of weight. I'd like to have more of a plan to avoid that this time, I don't think super clear once I am pregnant :o)
    I'd love a whole post on nutrition/pregnancy both what you did and what you have learned. Also links to articles, sites that you found helpful.
    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Beautiful! I also have five, and I love that 'five' means 'grace'. Boy do I need it! I think with each child I just earn how to relax more, trust God more, and surrender my rights again. I love how you waited to name him, thats fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Howdy. I'm sorry to trouble you but I ran across your weblog and noticed you happen to be using the exact same template as me. The only problem is on my website, I'm unable to get the theme looking like yours.
    Would you mind emailing me at: marcelo.culver@zoho.
    com so I can get this figured out. By the way I have bookmarked your website: http:
    //www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8387877928907784339&postID=7881624596195348436 and will certainly be visiting
    frequently. Thanks alot :)!

    My web page ... compare auto insurance rates by state

    ReplyDelete
  12. With havin so much written content do you ever
    run into any problems of plagorism or copyright infringement?
    My blog has a lot of completely unique content I've either authored myself or outsourced but it seems a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my agreement. Do you know any ways to help protect against content from being stolen? I'd genuinely appreciate it.


    Here is my web page - %anchor_text%

    ReplyDelete
  13. Howdy terrific website! Does running a blog like this require a great deal of
    work? I have absolutely no understanding of coding but I was hoping to start my
    own blog soon. Anyhow, if you have any ideas or techniques for
    new blog owners please share. I understand this is off subject nevertheless I just wanted
    to ask. Thank you!

    Feel free to surf to my site ... official website

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and tell
    you I genuinely enjoy reading through your articles.
    Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that cover
    the same subjects? Thank you!

    Also visit my blog; link building program

    ReplyDelete
  15. I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your sites really nice,
    keep it up! I'll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back later on. Cheers

    Feel free to surf to my web blog; relevant resource site

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless
    I'd figured I'd ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest authoring a blog
    article or vice-versa? My blog addresses a lot of the same
    subjects as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other.
    If you might be interested feel free to shoot me an email.

    I look forward to hearing from you! Fantastic blog by
    the way!

    Review my site ... relevant website

    ReplyDelete
  17. Please let me know if you're looking for a article writer for your site. You have some really great articles and I feel I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I'd love
    to write some material for your blog in exchange
    for a link back to mine. Please shoot me an e-mail if interested.

    Thank you!

    Feel free to visit my web blog: average auto insurance rates by state

    ReplyDelete
  18. Your site appears to be having some compatibilty issues in my internet explorer browser.

    The wording seems to be running off the page pretty bad.
    If you want you can e-mail me at: desmond_latham@freenet.de and I will shoot
    you over a screen shot of the problem.

    my site - click resources

    ReplyDelete
  19. Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on
    the video to make your point. You obviously know what youre talking about, why waste
    your intelligence on just posting videos to your site when you could be giving us something informative to read?



    Here is my website - go to my blog -
    -

    ReplyDelete
  20. I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up!
    I'll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back later. Cheers

    Here is my website: check this out

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hola! I just noticed your website: Blogger: riddlelove when I was surfing around reddit.

    com. It looks as though someone loved your site so much they decided to bookmark it.

    I'll undoubtedly be coming back here more often.

    My homepage ... backlink tool

    ReplyDelete
  22. I was curious if you ever considered changing the page layout of your website?
    Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
    But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so
    people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of
    text for only having one or two images. Maybe you could space it out better?


    Also visit my web site this website ()

    ReplyDelete
  23. This design is wicked! You obviously know how to keep a reader amused.

    Between your wit and your videos, I was almost
    moved to start my own blog (well, almost...
    HaHa!) Wonderful job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it.
    Too cool!

    Also visit my blog; professional link building services (http://fc2-players.net)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Have you ever thought about including a little bit more than just your articles?
    I mean, what you say is important and everything.
    Nevertheless just imagine if you added some great images or video clips to give your posts more, "pop"!

    Your content is excellent but with images and
    video clips, this site could definitely be one
    of the best in its field. Wonderful blog!

    My blog post a fantastic read ()

    ReplyDelete
  25. I'm new to developing sites and I was wanting to know if having your blog title relevant to your articles and other content really that important? I see your title, "Blogger: riddlelove " does seem to be spot on with what your website is about but yet, I prefer to keep my title less content descriptive and based more around site branding. Would you think this is a good idea or bad idea? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Also visit my page; guaranteed seo services **

    ReplyDelete
  26. Hola! I was curious to know if setting up a blogging site such your
    own: http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8387877928907784339&postID=7881624596195348436 is tough to
    do for unskilled people? I've been wanting to set up my own blog for a while now but have been turned off because I've always assumed it required tons
    of work. What do you think? Appreciate it

    Feel free to surf to my homepage :: seo backlink service

    ReplyDelete
  27. I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this
    website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you?
    Plz respond as I'm looking to design my own blog and would like to find out where u got
    this from. kudos

    Take a look at my web blog ... portable ice maker reviews

    ReplyDelete
  28. You could certainly see your enthusiasm within the work
    you write. The arena hopes for more passionate writers like you
    who are not afraid to mention how they believe.
    At all times go after your heart.

    Here is my web page - search engine optimization (http://seofornown4eva.com)

    ReplyDelete
  29. Nice post. I used to be checking continuously this weblog and I'm impressed!
    Very useful info specially the final section :) I maintain such info much.

    I was looking for this particular info for a very long time.
    Thanks and good luck.

    Here is my weblog ... Massage Therapy Ottawa Downtown

    ReplyDelete
  30. Mounting kits, easy plug and play wiring systems, and other power electronics, are also some of the
    features that all combine to help you harness solar energy and convert it to useful electricity.
    The negatively charged electrons are knocked loose and flow through the cell materials
    and produce the electricity. And humans have owned solar
    energy for thousands of years.

    Also visit my blog post solar filter melbourne

    ReplyDelete

I value your feedback. Thanks for taking the time to share yours!