Baby Pilates

Melva is 5 months old....

we have lived in Florida for about 2months.

When I woke up this morning I was reminded of all the blessings God has sent our way including this little apartment we have been calling home. 

It looks straight out into the inlet and this morning the water is as smooth as glass.

We have been truly spoiled with the view. As many of you know Henry and I have been looking for a house. It most likely will not have this view!

After two months I have ready gotten used to a lot of things here including a small area to clean and my sister Julie's help. I have also gotten used to Henry being able to come home earlier from work and at more predictable hours. 

There are some things I do not want to get used to. 

That is, there are things I don't want take for granted. They include the above items, but also, Melva's happy smile in the morning and Henry's at night.  

It gets so easy to fall into ruts no matter how many times one moves. Routine is not bad when it is in healthy balance with spontinaity. It generally includes a good dose of intentionality as well. Ruts however are exactly that. A hole one falls into with no thought at all.

Having a new start here, allows for us to live intentionally without pre-set ruts. But I am already finding it difficult to find time to excercise or to start the day listening to what God may have to share so my spiritual roots don't wither.

Melva however has been quite an inspiration. Within the past month she has mastered the ability to roll over in all directions, and learned to drag- push her self across the floor. I am afraid in another couple weeks she will be giving me a real run for my money. She already is grabbing at everything she sees. Melva never had to be taught Pilates. She does it on her own. You should see her little abs at work. It is amazing to me that the thing at the top of her list each day is to MOVE! God programmed human babies to move. And yet somehow along the way we forget or grow to disdain movement.

My baby is doing pilates but it sometimes takes all I have for me to continue to try to lift my feet in the direction of healthy habit.

Willow, has always been a dog on the move. We recently started going to training again. On the first day I asked the instructor what I needed to work on the most. She stated patience. Willow needed patience and so did I. 

As some of you know I struggled quite a bit with postpartum blues. And try as I did to prepare myself for everything a new life brings, I still found my self flat on my face with all the change that hit Henry and I as we not only had a baby, but had to also deal with job issues and house renovations and then went on to prepare to move and change jobs. 

Henry and I agree that we were still blindsided by even just the baby part.

Due to God's grace, though, I think we are up and running again. God even worked during a trip Julie and I made to Tennessee - one I was that I didn't think I could make due to my exhaustion. My dear Tennessee friends who are like family and my sisters all worked to encourage me and shared stories and pampered me. It warms my heart now just to think of it.

And now we are here in Florida with a five month old, dog, a good job, a little apartment with a great view and a nice cool night with which to enjoy it. We are settling into a nice little routine as well. Melva is even getting the hang of going to bed at a decent hour again.

And God is speaking through a baby and a dog.

I pray God gives each of you a breath of fresh air tonight so that you can soar tomorrow. 

As you sit in your easy chair or porch swing, pray that you don't get tired of pushing on. And pray the same for us.

The Gypsy and the Hippie get a baby

Two months ago today, Henry and I had a baby girl named Melva Lynn. She was 8lbs 1oz, 21 inches long and held her head up as soon as she could fill her lungs to scream a hello to the world. 

Today she is 12 lbs 6 oz and still holding that head up!

Her birth started with the end of a scrabble game. I couldn't do much during those last few days and so Henry and I discovered scrabble on our iPhones. Henry had just beat me when I thought I might have felt false labour pains again - as the night waned, we realized that Baby Knight had finally decided to come! The next morning I we told our mothers who were both staying with us. 10am my water broke and by 3 pm after bouncing on my big red ball for half the day we decided to go to the hospital. Birthing seemed as smooth as icecream up to this point.

However, once there, nothing went as hoped. Except the one thing that mattered. I wasn't able to get a birthing tub and the nurse stated they weren't getting a consistant reading on the baby's heart rate and I was confined to the bed. When I came to the hospital I had already dialated 5 cm. by the time I was wealed to the birthing room I had dialated 7cm. However later I was told I wasn't labouring fast enough and the midwife gave me pitosin without our concent. Henry noted at one point that the baby's heart rate didn't even make sense and asked if it was working properly. The nurse ignored his questions but later discovered the monitor was in fact not working. Eventually they wanted me to get an epidural. And after failed protests we agreed. Henry had to step out at this point for hygienic purposes and as soon as I was injected, my own blood pressure dropped dangerously low. It seemed like 20 people entered the room at once - all except the midwife and Henry. People were shouting orders and I had no idea what was going on. I asked for Henry but no one went to get him. Words of a c-section echoed in the blurry walls of my brain and I felt nothing except tears. I wanted Henry and i wanted my baby safe. I was floating and I was alone amongst shouting strangers. The midwife came in and began shouting. Then people slowly left. And Henry came back. He had been notified of nothing. Thankfully I did not need a c-section and I guess everything had stabilized. After all that - it was time to push.

I braced in the numbness against Henry and in 30 minutes, Melva Lynn was born. That was all that mattered. She was safe.

Henry and I were disappointed at how things went. But I recently heard a story of how a perfectly healthy mother lost a perfectly healthy 8lb baby for no known reason during labour. After hearing the story, I became extremely grateful that we made it through. 

I gave you the many wasn'ts and didn'ts side of the story. A choice. Just like other life happenings we can always choose to portray the good or the bad. Sometimes it is ok to portray the bad - to share with others a common experience. Or as a way to work through the disappointment in order to be able to see the good. Sometimes sharing the bad has no good purpose however. Knowing what to share and how is a skill. One that I am working on. In the mean time,  I am reminded of the  verse from the Bible 

28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. I hope God will use my birth story eventually for the good...

I dont want to connect the word blessed immediately with what the world calls good because the Bible talks about people being blessed when they are poor in spirit. But I have been given a gift. 

I don't know why God gave me little Melva, but I feel so very overwhelmed by this gift and challenged by this new task of sharing Gods love with her. 

And what a task! Who knew I could find boogers so cute and poop that didn't stink or gross me out! And her smiles! She tends to smile most often after I change her diaper and I like to think that it is her way of telling me thank you. She babbles on and on about things too. Henry seems to have found a new love. His smile when he plays with Melva is well...something very special. 

So here we all are. One happy family. Embarking on yet another adventure.