It's a... It's a... IT'S A BOY!

OK... so it has taken me a while to put this post up.. but .... we had a baby boy!! Linden Isaac Jardine was born on Thursday November 5th at 2:08pm! He was 8lbs 1oz and 20 1/2 inches long! He is a super good baby! The first few days all he wanted to do was nurse, nurse, nurse. Pretty hard on my poor boobies! ~ but my milk did come in on the 3rd day! He is a really good eater!! Certainly I know everyone has their ups and downs when a new baby comes into a family.. but a really good rule of thumb and schedule that I use.. is this: When baby is first born I just let them feed as much as they want until my milk comes in. Then I start with the 'schedule':


During the day I wake my baby every 3 hours. I can generally get the 'day' to start at 7a.. so then the feeding schedule is as follows 7a, 10a, 1p, 4p, 7p and then 10p. The steps I follow during the day are: feed, change, play and then let them fall back asleep (this whole process can take up to an hour or so). At night I let them sleep as long as they can go and I just omit the playing part. I just feed, change maybe feed again then back to bed. At first their bodies will automatically wake every 3 or even 4 hours through the night and I just feed on demand.. but once they get a few weeks older I don't jump up and feed them as soon as they wake through the night.. this is how I get them to sleep through the night. I let them stir or suck on their soother and prolong the feed for 15 mins or 30 mins.. then I feed. I do this a few nights in a row... then their bodies get used to going a little longer through the night. Another reason they tend to go longer through the night is because I feed them every 3 hours during the day ~ and wake them (I know, I know... everyone always says DON'T WAKE A SLEEPING BABY)...but from my experience you'll pay for it later... and it will likely be at night! If you don't wake your baby.. they can get their days and nights mixed up. Also they won't consume enough calories and I find if they don't eat enough during the day they are trying to play catch up at night. Also it helps to make your feedings more predictable. I know when I can go out.. I know when I have to be home.. and I know my baby is happy and gaining weight at a healthy and reasonable rate.


I remember reading this great book after I had Ava... and for the life of me I can not remember the name. But I found it soo helpful and this is where I got my 'schedule' from. I've altered it a bit to suit our family's needs.. but it works! And that's what matters to us!


Back to the birth.. we did indeed have a home birth. And it was everything I thought it would be! So comfortable, so familiar just a really natural process! I loved not having to go to the hospital.. I could just stay in the comfort of my own home... pace, eat, drink and use my own bathroom! Awesome! Once he was born.. I was able to take a shower in my own bathroom, put my new pajamas on and slip back into my clean bed that the midwives made up. It truly was a great birth experience. And I am glad I was able to do this considering this will be my last birth.


Jay was great too! He held his head when he starting to come out, helped with getting the shoulders out, caught and cut the umbilical cord. I was a bit surprised how involved he wanted to be... but he was really excited about the whole process! He was able to cut the cords of our other three children.. but again not as involved as this birth!


Ok Ok... so what you`ve all been waiting for.... some pictures of our perfect baby boy Linden Isaac! Enjoy!

Just born!

A few hours old..

2 days old

And that is our little man! Our family is complete... two girls ... two boys... all healthy! It doesn`t get any better than that! Thank you God for blessing us with our children and we pray that we can be the parents you want us to be :)

40 weeks and 3 days ~

So technically I am now overdue. Not sure what this baby is thinking or doing in me... but what I do know for sure is I am tired. I've been having contractions, mostly at night. Monday was a full moon, apparently for many women this affects them and go into labor, generally 4 days before and for a few days after the full moon. But for me... it hasn't brought full on labor but just a lot of contractions, again mostly at night which doesn't really allow me to get to bed early and have a good night sleep.

I'm hopefully that he or she is getting ready to come out. I have a midwife appointment tomorrow.. just a regular weekly check-up, but also to discuss what will happen if I go past 42 weeks (but I've been praying I don't). Because I am planning on having a VBAC I can not be induced (which is just as well for me)... however the ONLY other alternative if I do not go into spontaneously labor is a c-section. This is a very strict practice with both doctors and midwives that a women who has had a previous cesarean that they are not to be induced. Inducing considerably increases the chances of having a uterine rupture - which is something I certainly do not want to happen!

Therefore I am really really hoping that I go into labor before we even have to start discussing another c-section. Please pray that the baby will come before then and that we are to have a relaxing home birth.