I apologize for taking one of my longest blogging sabbaticals without warning you. I haven’t written because I haven’t created anything since Noelle was born. However, I haven’t shown you her nursery.
I really haven’t had much time to create, but if I do I will return to this blog. This blog will always be about art, so I created a separate site for Noelle. Until I create again, head on over and check out my new blog. Noelle’s nursery is complete!
“Third time’s the charm,” Eric whispered as we prepared to head to the hospital yet again. I felt so discouraged and I prayed that I wouldn’t be sent home again. I had been having regular contractions for about twenty-four hours at this point. It was clear that I was in labor, but I was not progressing.
Sunday, February 3rd I started having lower back pain for the first time in my pregnancy. I hoped it would be the start of labor and I was right. The next morning at around 10am I started timing my contractions using contractionmaster.com. They were still far apart so I went into total nesting mode and straightened up the house and did laundry. By five, the contractions were getting closer together, and I called Eric to come home from work. I also called my mom, Eric’s mom, and our doula. They all came over and we hung out. It was actually a lot of fun having them there and it took my mind off of everything.
When the contractions started feeling worse, our doula Kristina and Eric took turns rubbing my back. Kristina helped me be as comfortable as possible even down to having my favorite chapstick and healthy snacks. I was so glad to have her there. She and Eric go back to his freshman year of college when they met at school. So although she was there as a professional, she was also there as a good friend. Here we are in between contractions. She wore an oxytocin (a labor-facilitating hormone) shirt which was perfect!
Later that night (maybe around 6 or 7?) we headed to the hospital for the first time. I was only a couple of centimeters dilated so I got hooked up to the monitors and checked again an hour later. No progress. So I got sent home and told to come back when contractions were worse. So I waited at home and contractions got worse. We went back to the hospital at around 3am and found that I had only progressed about a centimeter so I was hooked up to monitors for an hour and was allowed to take a walk after that. But it still wasn’t enough so I got sent home again and told to come back when I couldn’t walk or talk through my contractions. ”But I CAN’T walk or talk through them! grrrrrrr” At around noon that day (the 5th of February, the baby’s due date) the contractions were quite strong so I headed to my doctor’s office to get checked and she gave me the most glorious words. ”You’re dilated to about a four so you can head to the hospital now.” Eric was right. The third time was the charm.
Labor up to this point had been painful and extremely frustrating because it seemed like the pain was for nothing. Once I got to the hospital everything got better. One of the first things I did was get an epidural. I probably could have held off for longer, but I knew I wanted one anyway so I went ahead with it. The anesthesiologist was awesome and gave me the Mona Lisa of epidurals. The midwife came in and broke my water hoping that it would progress things. It didn’t. She said that my contractions weren’t effective enough and recommended getting pitocin. I said OK knowing that it was the best choice, because I wasn’t progressing on my own. It ended up being awesome because I already had my epidural and couldn’t feel the stronger contractions. Finally things were moving! I was told to try to sleep so I could have more energy for pushing. Although I hadn’t slept in 30 hours it was still hard to sleep. I was too excited.
Eric, his mom, my mom, and Kristina all settled into the quiet room and waited. It was such a peaceful time. My support people dozed off, read books, played on their phones, and I tried to nap. Eventually I started to feel building pressure. The pressure got kind of painful and definitely intense. It felt like I need to start pushing and I told the nurse. She checked me, but I wasn’t dilated enough. I was only an eight out of ten. So I waited as the pressure built even more. I had to start breathing through the contractions to keep from pushing. This was the most difficult part. When I finally was able to push things got so much better. The baby was already so low that the nurse could see the head right away. Another forty minutes later at 10:52pm our baby entered the world. Eric got to announce the sex: A GIRL! He also cut her umbilical cord. It was so amazing. I didn’t cry when I first held her. I just felt so much joy and couldn’t stop smiling. She weighed in at 8 pounds 1.8oz and was 20 1/4 inches long.
I had developed a fever during labor and it was passed to our baby girl. She was taken to the NICU almost right away and Eric went with her. I couldn’t hold her again for another two hours, but I’m so glad that Eric was able to be with her the whole time.
Eric and I did not find out whether our baby was a boy or a girl until she was born. We had a list of names picked out for a girl, but when we looked at her we didn’t connect any of the names with her, so we held off on naming her. That night we went to sleep and Eric dreamed of three names for girls. In the morning, he could only remember one. Noelle. She looked like a Noelle to us, and even though she was not born near Christmas we love that the name represents the birth of Jesus who is very important to us. We gave her the middle name Elizabeth after Eric’s grandmother. She is one of the kindest women I’ve ever met, and has been so supportive of Eric and I over the years we’ve known each other. She also had ten kids and loves babies more than anyone I know. :)
I expected to love being a mom, but not this much. Eric and I are absolutely loving being parents, and most importantly loving our little Noelle.
I want to tell you how amazing this past year has been. But to give you the full picture, I feel like I need to start in late 2010.
October 2010:Eric and I decided to start a family
November 2011: We had waited for over a year. I started to fear that something was wrong. The church that Eric and I go to has a healing service a few times a year (not the kind where they hit your forehead) and we went up and asked for prayer to get pregnant. I remember being prayed for by one of the elders of the church. When I walked back to my seat I felt this real warmth inside of me where a baby would grow. I didn’t know for sure that I would ever get pregnant, but I knew that God had heard my prayers.
December 2011: I had a bit of a sad Christmas while struggling with infertility and started to dread 2012. I feared that it would be as bad or worse than the previous year of waiting.
January 2012: I rung in the New Year feeling really let down and depressed. I feared the future and what it would hold. Eric and I went to the doctor’s and discussed a plan for fertility treatment. Later that month we decided to hold off on fertility testing so that Eric could run for US Congress. A friend of mine gave me a maternity top. She felt a little awkward about it, but felt as if God wanted her to give it to me. I clung to it for months thanking God for not forgetting about me.
April 2012: On the 24th, the fun and excitement of the campaign came to an end on voting day, and I didn’t have any more distractions to take my mind off of the valley that I was in. I started to dwell on what felt like a huge hole in my life. We continued to put fertility testing on hold until Eric found a job.
May 2012: I started to get really depressed and emotional about not being pregnant. I begged God to let this phase of life end. I went to my parent’s house and broke down. I felt like I couldn’t take it anymore. I shared my story at the Alpha course at church.
June 2012: I held off on taking a pregnancy test for as long as possible, because I hated seeing the “negative” sign. Eric urged me to take one. It was the morning of June 10th that I saw the “positive” sign. When I saw it, I couldn’t believe it. Then I just started sobbing. I was so happy. So relieved. The wait was finally over. When I finally pulled myself together I went in and told Eric. When we went to our first appointment the nurse told us that she believed the first day of our pregnancy (LMP) was May 1st. Which means I was probably pregnant when I cried on my parent’s couch about not being pregnant, and I was probably pregnant when I shared my story at Alpha. I may have even been pregnant on mother’s day.
January 2013: I am looking forward to 2013!! What a difference a year can make. We are expecting our baby in four weeks, and I am so thankful to God for bringing me through and for giving me this amazing gift! How wrong I was about 2012 being a horrible year. It was one of the best years I can remember. If you’re facing 2013 feeling hopeless and depressed, hang in there! Who knows what this year will hold? I pray that it will be a great year for you. The year that the waiting ends. The year that the sadness fades and hope is restored.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. It hasn’t been my best year of blogging as far as posts, but I’m still pleased to report that the blog is alive and well. Here’s to an even better new year!
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 10,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 17 years to get that many views.
You can go to Anthropologie and buy a snow globe for forty dollars.
OR you can make one for under $5. Last year I made snow globes for the first time after finding a tutorial on Pinterest. This year I stepped it up a notch and experimented with a couple of new materials.
First, here is the cast of characters:
I went to Michael’s and bought some white polymer clay. I made little stands for each snow globe so that the animals would be raised up more in the globe. I baked the clay and let it cool.
While the clay was baking, I cut some branches off of a faux green wreath that I had. I trimmed the branches into little trees and painted the tips with white acrylic paint so it would look like snow.
When the clay stands had cooled, I sealed each stand with a layer of acrylic matte medium. I’m sure there are other sealers that would have worked even better, but I was just using what I had lying around. I was hoping that sealing the clay would protect it from the water. Time will tell! I used hot glue to attach the animals and trees to the stands. After making sure that the stands fit inside each jar, I glued the stands to the jar lids…or in this case, the bottom of the jar. 
For the seal, I painted the white base with black and blue acrylic paint, and glued river rocks to half of the base. I wanted the other half to look like water, so I make a water-like texture using the hot glue gun.
At this point, I took a break until the next day to let the hot glue dry thoroughly.
Now for the liquid! I used distilled water, glycerin (to make the snow fall a little more slowly), glitter, and some white plastic that I ground up with my cheese grater. Have I mentioned that I like to use whatever I have lying around? 
Each jar was filled (almost to the top) with distilled water. Then I added about half a teaspoon of glycerin to each jar. Then came the glitter and the ground white plastic. Don’t add too much glitter or it’ll just cover everything at the bottom of the jar when it settles. Also, using too much glycerin will make the “snow” clumpy and it’ll usually stick to the sides and top of the jar.
When you have a ratio that you like of water, glycerin, and snow, seal the lid onto the jar. Set the jar lid-up so that the glue can dry. I used hot glue to seal the jar, but I think in the future I’ll go back to using epoxy.
After that, I used some twine that I had and wrapped it around the base of the jar and set it in place with hot glue.
Finally! Here are the finished products:
The igloo snow globe was the biggest disappointment because it leaks. In the future, maybe I’ll just stick to jars with lids that screw on.
I haven’t decided what to do with these guys yet, but if I don’t sell them or give them away, I might put a couple in the baby’s winter-themed nursery.
If you are a regular reader of the blog then you probably have read my recent thoughts on giving, and the painting that I’ve been working on for a special person. I mailed the painting last week, and now that I know it has been received I feel like I can share the final result with you. I wanted the recipient to be the first to see it.
Here it is!
I had to edit the photo a bit, but it’s still not quite what it should be. The lighting in this photo is a bit off, but you can get the general idea. I tried to add depth to the painting by keeping the foreground colors brighter with higher contrast. As you move back into the painting, the colors become a little more dull and there is less detail. Jade was a beautiful dog and I really enjoyed painting her!
This afternoon I’m heading to the store to pick up some supplies for making snow globes. ‘Tis the season!
I know that I said I was going to update the blog with a picture of the dog that I started painting, but I decided to hold off until I can tell you the full story behind the piece. So I’m hoping that I will have an update for you at the beginning of next week.
In the mean time, I’ve decided to follow trend and post a few pictures of my house at Christmas time. It’s nothing grand, but it’s still fun seeing little touches of the holiday season all around me.
I saw a few Christmas carol garlands on Pinterest that I thought were cool so I made my own using some leftover paper that I bought for bookmaking. I love this line because it gives me the mental image of a HUGE celebration at the birth of Jesus. A celebration so big that even now, thousands of years later, we’re still celebrating!
I grew up in Thailand, and as a result we never had a real Christmas tree. I like fake Christmas trees better than real ones for many reasons, but I did buy this real mini tree and put it in a pot that I had already. 
I feel like a bit of a ninny-muggins for having a theme for my Christmas tree, but I do. ”Let Heaven and Nature Sing!” I used natural colors and elements like animal ornaments. 
Stay tuned for more Christmas-y posts. I’m planning on making more snow globes this year as well as door swags for outside!
