Simply Dawn

Arrival of the Prince, Finale Sans Words

Arrival of the Prince, continued

The Prince lay on the bed and the Queen and King and Queen’s sister looked on with the nurse in stunned amazement.

The royal healer arrived and saw that his work would be short.  This was much to his liking as he had been on call all day and was sleeping when the Prince arrived.  He quickly got to work finishing his duty and with a quick handshake and congratulations, bid the royal family adieu.

The attendants came in with the healer and the room was vibrant with hushed voices and much activity…

The Queen’s attention was caught by the sound of astonished voices and was informed that the young Prince had survived a double knotted umbilical cord…

image of a "true knot" and explanation

further explanation of "true knots"

When they realized what could have happened to the young prince, the Queen and King and Queen’s sister praised the Lord for keeping him safe.

The birth of this prince could be nothing less than supernaturally miraculous.

to be continued

Arrival of the Prince

The Queen told the King, “My Lord, me thinketh myself to be with child.  What say you?”

The King could hardly contain his mirth and with a smirk shook his head.

This was not the first child to be born to the happy couple, nor was it the second…or third…or even the fourth.

This was not the fifth child to be born to the happy couple, as that one came with a bonus…child number six.

This was not the seventh child born to the happy couple, that one which caused so much concern with the royal healer, but not the royal midwife.

Nay, this would be the eighth child to be born to the royal family.  The child that would either even the hormonal load of the court or shift the balance to the more emotional and turbulent model.  Much rested on the shoulders of this young one, yet to be born.

The decision was made to give the royal healer another go.  When the blessed event occurred, the King and Queen would travel to yon hospital and greet their newest child.

The Queen’s sister would be hailed from the land of Cold Spring to bring her camera and record the event as well as provide moral support to the Queen and King.  Her only request?  “Can I bring some food with me?”

So the day came and the King and Queen traveled to the hospital and met up with the Queen’s sister.  The royal healer came and got the ball rolling and then the waiting began.

The waiting and the walking…

and walking and talking and silliness…

more walking… 

The Queen’s sister and the King ate and drank merrily in between the walking.  The Queen ate <shudder> jello out of a container with a peel off lid…and chewed ice chips…and drank water.

There was much bouncing on a ball and rocking in a chair and maybe even a little dancing to the great minstrel Harry Belafonte.  The Queen began to despair…there was little pain…labor couldn’t be advancing.

But joy of joys, the nurse came in and announced that two centimeters had been gained.  And her next visit announced that 2.5 more centimeters had been reached.

The royal family was astounded to hear this news as the Queen’s discomfort was so small, mainly just a desire to eat something tasty but a fear of having it revisit.

It wasn’t long after the nurse’s last visit that the Queen’s discomfort increased and she requested a tonic or a tincture or something to ease the pain a bit and to dull the terror that she knew would inevitably creep in.

The tonic was administered and as the Queen was awash with a comfortably numb feeling, she developed a twitching.  She asked those around, “I feeleth myself movingeth in the most oddest way.  Are you seeing the same?”

The nurse simply replied, “Yes, you are moving.”

The Queen rested fitfully between the contractions, until it was time to administer another dose of the tonic and miraculously the twitching stopped.  The contractions however increased in intensity.

The nurse was relieved by another nurse.  This nurse had not been there with the Queen all the hours of labor and had not heard the merry chatter of labors past.  So as she tried to administer another dose of the tonic, she was surprised that the Queen gave indication that the arrival would happen any moment.

As the nurse prepared the Queen pondered about the wisdom of going through this pain yet again, but the thought was soon washed away by the strong desire to end the pain.  The Queen pushed with all her might, not once but twice…at most three times and the Prince came.  The King tried to catch the Prince but the Queen could not let go of her comforter’s hand and so this Prince entered the world to no one catching but everyone watching!

to be continued…

The dinger just went off on the last load of the morning's laundry that is in the dryer!  Woohoo!

You know, when you spend almost every waking hour caring for someone else, you like to have a sense of accomplishment.

To me there is no better place to find it than a clean laundry room floor…well, relatively clean.  In the spring, when the laundry is off the floor, then it is clean…don’t worry about all the little footprints…the cleaning fairy will come and take them away…

except, I think ours is on maternity leave…

speaking of maternity leave…Honey, it’s time renegotiate the benefit policy round here!

Just kidding!  Sort of…but really I have the best hubby on the planet.

I don’t have long, gotta hit the road early today…run, run, run!

Oh, don’t get the wrong idea about me…I use my truck for the “running”.

As I told my friend the other day, “I don’t like sweat.  That’s why I walk instead of run.”

However, some sweats can’t be avoided…like the kind that happen because hormones are fluctuating…ugh!

Did I mention that I don’t like sweat?

My little man is a darling and so are my other kiddos.  We are all adjusting to the new life.  For instance, nursing.  Such a nice, quiet, restful time…unless you gotta leave soon, and then it’s rather stressful.  Or the way that everything has to be done at lightning speed because you never know how long little man will sleep.

Oh, and you can’t rely on 4 year old twins for babysitting because they would let the two year old throw around the two week old like a toss pillow and think that the noises he was making were happy noises and that the baby thinks it’s fun.

Or how your hands fall asleep typing because you have been practicing latching with the C-hold and the football hold, and the madonna hold because it takes a while to perfect the side lying hold.  It makes typing or even holding a mouse difficult…plus I keep dropping things…no, not the baby, just…things…

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Really, it isn’t all that bad.  It’s been busy, yes, but bad?  Not so much.  There are fringe benefits to this busy life, like getting skinny…so skinny your pants fall down when you walk, so you better put your hand in your pocket to hold them up when you are walking into the school to pick up kids kind of skinny.

Plus the little man is getting a little pudge developing around his backside and his cheeks, so that is a definite bonus.

Plus, one friend brought a meal last week that was Fab. U. Lous!  Absolutely!

Plus, plus, another friend is bringing a meal tonight.  Bonus!

oh, I gotta leave soon…better sign off…anyhow, hope y’all have a great day and I will try to chat again soon!

Lovies,DJ

Sneak Peek

I have anxious grandparents chomping at the bit to get a glimpse of our new little man.

I want to write more, but for now, here is a sneak peek at my upcoming post series about the birth…

Oh, and his name is John Patrick.

I will post more soon!

Lovies, DJ

Today’s the Day

So, I have been a bit preoccupied the last couple of days.

One false alarm trip to the hospital.

One day of frenetic house cleaning and enjoying my children.

All leading up to today.

The day we get to meet the newest Jansen…I hope!

Labor usually doesn’t last too long for me, so I would think we would have a baby before midnight!

Anyhow, your prayers for health and safety are deeply coveted.

Also say a prayer for our helpers and our children who aren’t going to be there…safety and calm and peace!

Well, it won’t be long and we will be telling you some good news and sharing some pictures.

Lovies, DJ

Today

This morning I took the girls to the mall for a walk a bout…around 7:45a.m.

No one but old people and cleaning crews.

We walked about the whole mall.

We played for a while in the petri dish play area.

We went to Target and met an 89 year old World War II veteran.  Married 68 years, just had his first great grand baby.  I wanted to bundle him up and take him home.  He reminded me of my grandpa.  But Target’s policies are pretty strict.  It would seem that old people aren’t for sale, no matter how cute they are or if they are sitting in the coffee shop.  Plus, they couldn’t find his barcode.

We then had a decision to make…toothpaste or a latte?  We went with the toothpaste.

We came home and had a snack and mommy crashed.

Mommy doesn’t crash.  It just doesn’t happen.

Hmmmmm….what could help?

Aha!

Get up and start the laundry and the dishwasher.

Make lunch.

Consume a latte.

Haze lifting.

That’s more like it.

On with the day!

Lovies, DJ

To Vaccinate or Not To Vaccinate

I want to hear some opinions on vaccinating children.

I know that there are many, and that this can be very heated, so here are a few ground rules first for those of you who wish to weigh in…

• be respectful – I don’t mind passionate, but please don’t slam someone else for having an opinion different than yours…if you do, I will remove your comment…you’ve been warned
• be honest – different things work for different families, and that’s okay AND a good thing

So here are some questions I have…

• do you vaccinate?  why or why not?
• If you do, when do you vaccinate?  Do you follow the recommended schedule?  If not, what schedule do you follow or are planning to follow?
• Which vaccines do you have given to your child?  Why?

I have a copy of the Minnesota Department of Health’s “Are Your Kids Ready for School?” form.  I am reviewing it and reviewing my own reasons for why we do and don’t vaccinate and what we will do in the future.

Some of our kids are vaccinated, some aren’t.  I actually don’t have a problem with some vaccines, mainly the old school ones, like DTaP, Polio and MMR.  However, I do have a problem with administering them to infants.  I think I would prefer to wait until the child’s immune system is more developed…that’s my opinion right now.

I will say this about my kids that are and aren’t vaccinated, I have not seen the correlation between vaccinations and some of the ADHD or autism spectrum type symptoms we are seeing in our family.  It would seem, for us in particular, that vaccines are not a factor.  (I am sure there will be some differing opinions to this, and please feel free to voice them, just please also be respectful…or I will pull your comment.)

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I dislike having to be so forceful about the comment issue, however, I have had some nasty comments towards me, and it really is icky.  With a topic this volatile, I am sure there will be some very passionate opinions.  Plus, I want to give my dear, lovie readers a safe place to voice their opinions.  At a certain point, we may just have to choose to agree to disagree on a matter.

Bears, Honey & the Virus

I wanted to write this down so I don’t forget…

Here is the what the doc saw and said on about day 6 of the virus:

Ears were clear and not inflamed.

Throat was not inflamed…interesting…I was pretty sure that would be inflamed.

Strep cultures came back negative.

Lungs sounded clear.

With viruses like this, we can expect the fever to last for about three days.  The cough will persist, usually becoming worse on day 5.  If the cough does not taper off by days 7-10, or becomes worse, then the child will need to be seen again.

***There was a study to determine which was better to treat a cough, over the counter meds or honey.  The study found that a few teaspoons of honey did a better job of treating the cough than the over the counter meds.***

So we treated Bear’s cough with the honey and still applied the eucalyptus oil blend (as a massage of the glands on his neck, and under his arms).  His night time coughing is less of a problem than with the over the counter meds, and his daytime coughing is almost gone.

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DISCLAIMER – this post is solely for my recollection, AND TO SHARE WITH YOU THE INFORMATION THE DOCTOR SHARED WITH ME ABOUT THE HONEY.  I am not suggesting you try this and if you do, you do so at your own risk.  I do suggesting that you always consult your doctor before trying new things with your family.

32 Days Left…and Thankful!

Ah, pregnancy, wonderful pregnancy!

So excited when you begin, yet chomping at the bit to have you finished.

We are now in the home stretch of this pregnancy.  Just about 36 weeks along, a little more than 4 weeks left.  Well, unless this one decides to go the way of my other pregnancies, in which case we may have 6 weeks left.  Whatever the case may be, the baby will come, when the baby comes.

Interestingly enough, the take home sheet said that at 36 weeks they consider the lungs fully developed.  Back in the day, the lungs were considered fully developed at 37 weeks.  It’s an odd thing, to have that change…

So basically what that means is that if I were to go into labor anytime between now and my due date, that we would be having a baby.  I don’t think they would take any measures to slow the birth at this point.

So, now it gets exciting.  I haven’t been so active at the end of a pregnancy since Gavin’s.  I am getting kids up in the morning and out the door to school…all seven most days.  Then there is the afternoon school pickup, the one in which Sybilla demands to be held the whole time and the contractions don’t stop until I get to STRIDE and if I am lucky, no round ligament pains.  Then a short nap in the truck after homework with Bear.  Then in to get the other kiddos and home to start dinner and get the evening duties underway.

Then there is the nesting.  I have so much I would like to accomplish before this little darling arrives.  I think the hardest thing for me is keeping in mind that I really am accomplishing SOMETHING even if it isn’t immediately tangible…just by investing my life into those in my family and friends.  Trying to make the world a better place, by giving love and extending grace.  Yes, silly me.  I have to remind myself of this, sometimes hourly, I am toooooooo type A.

Yesterday we went for a short walk…it’s starting to warm up a bit…I think when we went out it was about 35, not accounting for wind chill…we avoided that by walking in the sunny culdesac behind us.  I would have liked to keep going, but the little ones kept slipping on ice and having their hoods blown off.  Today should be better and then we are back to cooler temps and stronger winds…

Anyways, I am so excited to meet this little baby!  I can’t wait to bestow his or her name as I hold his/her pasty little body against mine.  I can’t wait to watch my hubby tear up as he gets ready to cut the umbilical cord…eighth…EIGHTH!!  I can’t wait to have my April snapping pictures and chatting away with me about all the details that I missed in my exertion!  I can’t wait for my favorite hospital after baby meal…a burger, fries and a milk shake…they have a grill…it’s pretty fantastic!  I can’t wait for the children to pile into the bed with us and meet their newest sibling.

Most of all I am looking forward to the continual daily praise of my Lord for making it all possible.  This newest addition to our family.  Our family for Pete’s sake…we’ve come such a long way and just keep getting knit more tightly together!  For all the bad that’s been turned to good…in them, but especially in me.  His supernatural provision in the slow season.  Keeping our truck running while we wait for the provision to have it fixed.  Laundry.  There is just so much to be thankful for!

Oh and I know that in just a few hours, my cousin will be having her first child.  A little girl!  I am so happy for her!

Lovies,DJ