Kanen James

*** sorry this is a long post but I wanted to get everything down



Where do I start, they say every pregnancy and delivery are different.... I didn't realize how different they really could be. I remember thinking to myself at probably hour 12 of being in labor with Alyvia that I was not doing this crazy all natural thing if we had another kid, but after she was born our wonderful midwife Anne said the next one would be about half as long... 7 hours seemed much easier for some reason.


The 9 months leading up to our little mans arrival was different in many ways than when I was pregnant with Alyvia... I got to chase after an energetic almost 2 year old, try and keep it a secret until 20 weeks (just for the heck of it), I only had heartburn when I was lying down, and I seemed to carry a lot lower. August and I decided after we found out we were expecting again that we would keep it our little secret as long as we could; it was fun to have something just the two of us knew. I remember being at my family's Christmas in July celebration camping talking about how the next year we would have two kids in tow, though at times it seems like we never talked about it because we didn't want to slip up.


We didn't find out if we would be blessed with another beautiful girl or handsome boy, it was so much fun not knowing the first time.  All we prayed for was a healthy and happy baby, though deep down I wished for a boy... who doesn't want to enjoy the trials of raising a boy and a girl. I had my self convinced thought that we were having another little girl, which I was happy with... I already had a good supply of girls clothes and accessories.


When it came to labor and delivery, I could never have imagined there being such a night and day difference. With this pregnancy I had a lot more and stronger Braxton hicks contractions than when I was pregnant with Alyvia, I thought they were real contractions until I would go in for my weekly check ups and I hadn't had much progression. I told my self and everyone else that I was going past my February 15th due date. I had it planned: I was going to take the week off of work to help my mother in-law Pat out in her flower with the Valentine's Day rush and have the baby few days later.  Alyvia was a few days late so why would this baby come early.

My last day of work was February 10th. The next day I worked a few hours in the flower shop before heading off to my ob appointment, where they said everything was going good and I had progressed a little from my last appointment but nothing to be too excited about. I had been having what I thought were Braxton hicks all day and figured if they were the real deal she would have commented on them at the appointment but she didn't say anything.

With Alyvia my water broken so I knew my labor would be starting shortly there after and we would head to the hospital, I hoped and prayed that would happen this time also, because I had no clue how I would know I was truly in labor otherwise... I didn't want to be that mom went in 10 times and wasn't in labor and just got sent home. That night I had been having some contractions, we talked about if I was in labor or not and I told August if I could go to sleep that I wasn't truly in labor. OnceI got relaxed and to sleep the contractions subsided, I was so happy for a good nights sleep. The next morning we got up early to head to Parkersburg to watch district wrestling and decided last minute to get things pack in the truck just in case (up until this point we had very little pack to go to the hopsital, I just had a the clothes picked out for the baby, but nothing else done), since it would be a long drive back home if this started to progress more. While at wrestling I had a few contractions each other but nothing I couldn't make it through. That night I hung out with a few of my really close girlfriends, I continued to have contractions. I didn't really keep track of how close they were together... I just keep telling myself that I wasn't really in labor... I had a few more days, right! Once I got home I decided to take a warm bath and see if that stopped the contractions so I go could to bed... I didn't have a single contraction while I was in the bath so I figured I must not be in labor and looked forward to getting some sleep before a busy week working at the flower shop. To my surprise as soon as I got out they started right back up, August asked me what I wanted to do, I told him I just wanted to sleep. I certainly tried to sleep, but it just didn't work... August on the other hand slept like a baby. Finally sometime before midnight I started to time my contractions and over the hour I timed them they got closer together... guess I wasn't going to get any sleep. I woke August up around midnight to see what he thought we should do, I told him how close my contractions were and he fell back asleep... really I was having contractions about 4 minutes apart and he falls back asleep. Not sure why but I let him sleep, around 1 I woke him up and told him we need to decide what we were going to do... my contractions at this point were around 3 to 4 minutes apart. August I guess wasn't sure that was the truth (a winning uncomfortable wife I guess was enough) so he downloaded a contraction timer on his phone and timed my contractions and let me know that they were about 3 minutes apart... didn't I already tell him this. With the confirmation from his phone he decided to call our midwife and see what she thought. We had no clue which midwife was on call, we liked both midwives we saw but had a much stronger connection with Ann. She was there when I delivered Alyvia and knew how much we wanted an unmediated delivery and supported us 200% in that decision. As soon as I heard August say Ann's name I started to cry from relief knowing she would be there for this delivery too... God certainly knows what he is doing. Around 1:30am we called my mom to have her meet us to get Alyvia on our way to the hospital. In my mind, I was planning on my mom bringing Alyvia in the mornig, so she could be there when she became a big sister... we really wanted her to be there for the delievery. I was figuring a good 5 hours or so before I would even be thinking about pushing.

We arrived at the hospital around 2 and got escorted right to our room where Ann was waiting, she figured it was the real deal from what she heard from in the background when August called her. We also found out later that Kim had giver her the heads up after my appointment the day before that she would probably see us that weekend(once again why our midwives are awesome) She checked me right away and to our surprise I was already dilated to 8. My contractions were starting to get rather painful, they were about 2 to 3 minutes apart. I had a really hard time staying still enough for them to get the required heart rate read on the baby. I think I scare the phlebotomist for life, since I wanted an all natural delivery I didn't want to have an IV port started. Since, I didn't have an IV started the phlebotomist had to come and draw my blood, she would get ready to draw my blood and would have to stop because I would have a contraction. To help relieve some of the discomfort from my contractions I wanted to get in the bathtub, Ann said she needed to check me because I couldn’t have the baby in the tub and if I was dilated anymore I couldn't get in. Well guess what I was and she didn't feel comfortable with me getting in the tub.

I would love to tell you I was in complete control and relaxed perfectly through each contraction, but that wouldn't be realistic. Even if could have gotten in the tub I couldn't have made it there, I spent a lot of time on the floor in room. All my body wanted to do through the contractions was push.  I never had the urge with Alyvia, it was such a crazy feeling, I couldn't control my body through the contractions.  It amazing what your body know how to do things when we allow it too. I asked Ann to check me because I thought I felt something different down there, I was right our baby we getting really close to making his appearance. I made it to the bed barley and got on my hands and knees. I remember saying I couldn't push for 2 hours like I did with Alyvia, Ann reassured me that would not be a problem this time... I didn't believe her for one bit though, it couldn't truly be that different. I don't remember how many pushes it took, but no more than maybe 10 minutes and I pulled our baby out. It was an amazing feeling to be the first one to touch the him on the outside. I even got to be the first one to announce we were adding a baby boy to our family. The moment was so indescribable, I got to be the first one to hold our baby boy in my arms.

The atmosphere in the room was so differently than when Alyvia was born. The room became tranquil after he was born, no one was in a rush to cut the cord or take him to get weighted. Kanen James came into the world within about an 1.5 hours of being at the hospital, I guess he know how awesome it was out here and didn't want to wait He weighted in at 8.7 pounds and 21.5 inches long with a full head of hair and was as perfect as perfect can get!

I never thought it was true when they said each delivery was different... come one I'm the same women how different could they be!

time has flown by

Wow, where have the last 8 months went …. they have been the most blessed 8 months of our lives. It has been so amazing to watch Alyvia grow and develop her own personality. I’m going to do my best to try and catch up what I can from the last 7 months, starting with her birth story.

My due date was estimated for April 30th, and as most moms know that due date is defiantly an estimate. I had been preparing my self the whole pregnancy that there was a good chance I would go 2 weeks past my due date, I believe this allowed me to stay a lot more positive as the end neared. We had an OB appointment early the week I was due, I had, had a little change but not much. Anne told us she didn’t expect us to make it to our appointment the following week, I wasn’t going to fall for that line though, I was pretty sure we would be seeing her at our appointment the following week. The 30th came and went I was a little disappointed we didn’t have a little one yet, but knew it would be much longer.

The 30th was the last day I was scheduled at work. The day August and I woke up early to head to Jesup to go to a few garage sales before we had to head to Vinton for August to help a customer with a couple pigs at a show. After the show we headed to my parents to ride with them to my sister’s jazz band concert. When the concert was over I was talking with a family friend who is a nurse, she asked me to stand up to see if the baby had dropped at all. She said it didn’t look like the baby had dropped much so it would be a few more days. Little did she know, when I stood up I felt a gush of liquid… which meant we would be meeting our little on sooner rather than later. Luckily I had dark jeans on so I didn’t draw attention to my self and sat back down… since the contractions didn’t start right away. I stood up again and had another gush so, I got August attention and told him we needed to get going. On the way back to my parent’s house he called our midwife Anne to let her know what was going on. She told me to stay at home and try and get some sleep since I had been up since 7 that morning. About 20 minutes after I got off the phone with her my contractions started coming and were about 6 to 7 minutes apart. Once we got home I took a shower and August fell asleep, I tried to take a nap but that wasn’t quite possible.

At about midnight I woke August up and said we should call Anne and see what she thought about coming into the hospital, I wanted to try and use the water to relax and help with the contractions. She said we could head in if we wanted too. So, we headed to the hospital and got checked in. I was hoping to not have any pain medicine or iv at all. I had already talked to Anne about not wanting and iv and she said that would not be a problem since I didn’t need any antibiotics, she did let me know though that if I decided to get and epidural I would need to get and iv with fluids at least 20 minutes prior to getting it. We had tried to prepare ourselves as much as you can for labor, if that is possible. I kept telling my self I wanting to go all natural, but I think deep down inside I didn’t think I could truly do it.

August was amazing the whole time I was in labor, right by my side telling me to breathe when I was freaking out and telling him I could do it anymore. After, 14.5 hours of labor we were blessed with our amazing daughter Alyvia Marie. She is the best birthday present I could ever ask for, I’m not sure that any gift will ever top her. I surprised my self by having and all natural child birth, I think telling so many people I was planning on doing it helped, I didn’t want to let them down or hear the I told you so’s from them.

The past 8 months have been just amazing; we have grown as individuals and as a family. It has been trying at times, but so worth it!

I’m going to try and play catch up over the next few weeks, more for my self, but also for the few people who do read our blog.

Update

Wow, I can't believe it has almost been a year since I last updated, and man has a lot changed in the last year. We've moved a few times August changed jobs, I switch locations a few times and we found out some very exciting news... so here's a quick recap of our last year.

Last year at about this time August got a promotion with Lynch Livestock to being a Station Manager and was driving about an hour to work each day. In May we found out the house we were renting was being sold and we had to be out by the end of the month, so we started looking for a new place to live that was possibly closer to where August worked, which would have put me father away from where I worked. Luckily an opening came open in Storm Lake so I transferred there and we found a house in Mason, Iowa to rent. Manson is located about 15 miles west of Fort Dodge, so once again we packed everything up and moved.

We enjoyed out summer in Manson, we went camping a few times at a local park, and we even got in a few roads of gold and of course made plenty of trips back to eastern Iowa to see family. In the late summer August and I decided for him to take a job working in Charles City, the new job was working for a family helping to raise their show pigs along with helping out with other things on the farm. They were more than doubling their show pig sow herd and knew they need someone to help with it, August has really enjoyed working for them. He started working there at the beginning of August while I stayed in Manson looking for a job and continuing to work for US Cellular, it was hard having a long distance relationship... we've never done that before. We both made a few trips back and forth. We decided that at the beginning of October I would moved back to eastern Iowa to be with August. So we packed everything up and moved in with August sister and bother in-law in Waverly until we could find somewhere to live. It was a hard few months with me trying to find a job and us trying to find somewhere to live. At the end of October we moved to Dunkerton, to the house we lived in right after we got married. In December I got hired back on with US Cellular in Waterloo, I was so excited to be back with the company.

Since October we have moved one more time, to a larger house in Dunkerton that August's parents own. We are still working on getting settle but it is coming along and we are hoping we will be here for awhile, but you never know with us. Well that pretty much gets you update for our last year.... oh about that exciting news more to come on that

Love For Sewing

I have recently revisited my love for sewing things... to me sewing is like reading a good book to many people, once I get started on a project I find it hard to put down. As I stated previous post I have been busy completely some sewing projects the last couple months!

I started sewing when I was young, normally only once a year for 4-H. I would spend a week for so at my grandma house creating something to take to fair. The last time I can remember sewing cloths was my last year of 4-h, which was almost 5 years ago... where does time go!

Now, I hadn't completely stopped sewing the past 5 years, I have sewn blankets for several people- I made a blanket for Jaccie for Christmas a few years ago. This past summer I had to try out my sewing machine August got me for our 1st anniversary so I made baby quilts for our nieces Elsie and Madalynn. For Christmas made quilts for Lyle and our nephew Austin... Jaxon your quilt is coming!!!! I'm not sure why but I never took any pictures of the quilts I made, I will try and get some from everyone to hopefully post.

I don't remember what made me decided to start to sew clothing but once I got started I haven't stopped... in the past month or so I have sewn 3 kids dress, 2 adult dresses, 1 kids jacket, 1 adult jacket, and a hat. I have also started to sell (well hopefully sell) security blankets and burp cloths at the Farmer's Wife in Jesup, Iowa.... I can custom make either one for you too… I would also be willing to make clothing too!!!

I made Sara & Elise Easter dresses, I tried to coordinate the colors & styles some. They both looked really good!!!

I had made Madalynn's dress for her just to have, and was very surprised when she was wearing it for Easter. She looked so darling in her dress, I can't take credit for the her jacket though.

My dress, I never got a picture of me in along with the jacket I made for myself.

Security Blankets

I have really enjoyed getting back into sewing, and don't see that enjoyment stopping anything soon, hopefully some day I will have kids of my own to sew for, but for now I love sewing for our ever growing families!!!

Sorry about the quality of the some of the pictures, you should be able to click on the pictures to view the image a lot larger

Update!!!

I figured it was about time for an update!

Both August and my self have been pretty busy the last month or so. I have recently revisited my love for sewing and August kept him self busy with getting a couple of our lambs we raised ready for a sale.

At the beginning of March Bella had her fourth litter of puppies and once again had a whopping 7... not sure where she keeps all of them. They have been growing like crazy the last couple weeks and have really enjoyed being outside when... this is when it is warm out. If you know of anyone or if you yourself are looking for a great pet, they will be ready for new homes May 5th!

It took a couple days but we found a name we loved for our new puppy, her name is Britt. She has been a wonderful addition to our family... she is a very energetic puppy, she runs circles around Buddy and Bella. Her favorite thing to play with is our cat Blizzard; she plays with Blizzard as much as she can... or until Blizzard climbs to the top of the trees to get away from her. I've always heard the stories of firefighters having to go and rescue cats out of trees but had never seen a cat climb a tree... well Blizzard defiantly is a tree climber, he just kept going up the tree and out of the branches... we didn't have the call out the firefighters though to get him down. August decided he would climb the tree to "rescue" him... I'm pretty sure Blizzard didn't need to be rescued though.

In April we attended our first lamb sale as consigners. For a few weeks we finally had some livestock at our house instead of at our parent's farm. We took a weather and a ewe lamb to the Iowa State Block and Bridle lamb sale. Of course the day of the sale was when there was the blizzard in April, so we weren't sure what to expect for buyers, and since it was our first sale we weren't sure if we would sell either of the lambs. To our surprise we sold both of the lambs, we were both pretty excited about how everything went at the sale and plan to go back next and maybe even try selling at another sale or two. I was pretty nervous watching while the lambs were selling.

Probably the most exciting news from the last couple months was.................

August’s promotion at work, he has been promoted to Station Manager at the Knoke(sp) buying station (for those of you like my self who have no clue where that is... it is straight west of Fort Dodge about 20 minutes) So, it looks like we might be moving yet again this summer or fall hopefully some where in between both of our jobs. So much for not moving for awhile, but it is well worth August really enjoys his job... maybe not the hour or so drive to and from work everyday though.

Hopefully it isn't so long before I update again!

Newest Family Member

We've added to our family once again. I got a late Christmas gift today. They say not to get puppies as Christmas gifts, but I think I would love to get one every year.
Our newest addition is a West Highland White Terrier or "Westie". She doesn't have a name yet, still trying to come up with a cute 'B' name...... Please let us know of any names you think of!!!!!!
I will post more pictures of her soon.

New Way to Keep You Updated

I tried blogging from my phone about a month ago and it didn't work. Today I was going through my emails and noticed one from when I sent my blog up so I could blog from my phone and thought I would try it again today. To my surprise it worked.

It is crazy the things you can do from your cell phone now.... text message, check Facebook or your favorite social network, check the weather, or emails, and of course make a call. I wonder what they will come up with next.

Now I will be able to update our blog on the go if we are doing something fun or cool.

I'm going to try and attach a picture I'm not sure if it will work though. If there is a picture it is all of my babies(minus Bella she didn't want her picture taken) sleeping and enjoying my day off with me!!!

<3Katie