I wrote this post on another blog about a year ago, right after the birth of my FIFTH baby! She turned ONE today, and this last year flew by faster than ANY OTHER one of my children’s first year.  I suppose it is because she has been such a HUGE blessing (all of my children are blessings, of course), especially at a time when I needed someone to save me from the stresses of life.  I love ALL my children, but sometimes you get that one… that one that you weren’t meant to be the mother for, but the one that was mean to be YOUR CHILD.  She was put here FOR me… not the other way around.  She will always have her head above water, know right from wrong, she won’t need me to steer her…. she is already a very mature spirit.  I don’t know how exactly I know this, except that God told me somehow.  She helps me refocus and recenter and pull it together, so I can raise my other four kids and keep it all in perspecitve!  Happy Birthday, little J!!  I love you!

BABY NUMBER FIVE

Yep. You read that right!  We just had our FIFTH child!  I am still processing this new information.  Unlike with my other 4 children, this pregnancy was a breeze!  I finally learned what the NORMAL aches and pains of pregnancy were, and I gotta tell ya, I am super happy that I experienced them this time around!  I worked SO HARD to manage my chronic back condition throughout this entire pregnancy, and it actually worked!  I was able to keep up (for the most part) with my other 4 kids, my workouts, somewhat healthy eating, and still be a wife to my sweet husband 🙂

Let’s rewind.  Before I found out I was pregnant, I spent a long while figuring out how to conquer my back pain and stay on top of it, and I got there.  During the first trimester, my workouts were VERY hit and miss, if I was too nauseous, they just didn’t happen. I averaged 2-3 workouts a week for that first three months.  So you bet I jumped right in to 4-6 times a week as soon as I could stomach it!  I didn’t do this to be crazy obsessed, I did it to keep my back from hurting. And it worked!

Fast Forward.  Toward the end of pregnancy, it became a tad more difficult to stay on top of things, but I managed to make it to the end!

Labor time.  Did I tell you I was in labor for THREE DAYS!!??  You read that right! 3 days.  Day number one: Contractions 5 minutes apart, a few intense ones sporadically placed with in every hour. I could still walk, move, breathe, and eat! So I didn’t panic.  Day 2: Contraction still 5 minutes apart. Baby was even lower. Bathroom trips were frequent and a struggle (TMI?).  Took it easy, but I could still do what I needed to do without too much trouble.  Day 3: Contractions were sporadic at best, but I felt like I was about to split in half down the middle.  I was in a ton of discomfort, and had the worst cramping ever.

Climbing into day 4: 1:40 AM. I thought I wet the bed.  Cleaned up, went back to bed. 2 AM…  How could I possibly have wet the bed again?  That was a lot of water…. So I tell the hubs that I am pretty sure my water just broke, showered off, let the midwife know. Fluids were clear.  So we decided to try and get some sleep and then in the morning we would try and get my contractions closer than their current 10 min apart.  4:30 ish:  Time to get in the tub. Contractions were intense, 5 min apart, and I needed the hubs with me.  It was so quiet in my house!  Called the midwife. She RUSHED over.  (previous deliveries went SUPER fast once contractions were intense and my water was broken).  Baby wasn’t completely ready, I was at a 6.

About an hour later, I felt like the baby should be coming out, but I couldn’t get in the right position to help her down the rest of the way while in the tub.  Turns out there was a bit of an anterior lip holding her back.  Hubs and I were in the zone, so I just kept my eyes closed and imagined her coming into the world.  I could ‘SEE’ what I needed to do.  So it was time to get out of the tub and I needed to lay FLAT on my back.  I could literally ‘see’ with my mind’s eye how I needed to help her up over my tail bone and under the anterior lip. Hubs is my main helper, he delivered the baby, with my help of course 😉  Or is that vice versa?  Haha! The midwife talked him through it, but she didn’t need to do that much talking, Hubs had a pretty good idea since he practically delivered the last one!

In about 3 pushes, she was OUT at 7:17 AM!  I got to hold that sweet 6 pound 10 ounce baby girl right away! She is perfect!  The moment we saw her we were in LOVE!  And her siblings woke up almost right after that, but they didn’t come in until everything was cleaned up and we could enjoy showing them their sweet baby sister.  It was wonderful to be at home and be a family right away!  I loved snuggling all my babies in those moments following a birth.  You are on this huge high from giving birth and the entire world just stops for a moment 🙂

Our new little baby is doing amazing things for our family, we are totally all about this little girl!

Why am I sharing this on my health blog?  Because I FULLY believe that my healthy lifestyle was what allowed me to fully help this little girl into the world!  There were several moments during the last hour of labor that if I hadn’t kept up my stamina, I wouldn’t have been able to hold the positions I needed to to get her where she needed to be to enter this world.  I know being healthy is what kept us from harm.  There were several things that happened during her delivery that confirmed to BOTH my husband and I that my increased flexibility, strength from my workouts, and stamina from being active my entire pregnancy were what aided me in getting our sweet little girl here safely.  I was so connected with God in these moments, HE was showing me what I needed to do, and I had successfully prepared for this moment.

This is what being healthy is about!  It takes work, it takes consistency,  it takes perseverance through the hard times life throws at you.  Don’t let anything hold you back, and never let your bad days win!  You want to be prepared for whatever life has in store for you!  So hold your head a little higher on the days you decide to be better. It will be worth every struggle and every setback.  You will come out of this a stronger person!  So… Get up!  Let’s do this thing!