Millie Taylor's Birth Story

When we found out we  were expecting our second girl, we were overjoyed.  What a blessing!  The kids were so excited at having a second sister! 

My pregnancy wasn’t uncomplicated.  We were faced with the prospect of a c-section more than once, and our faith in God’s plan, regardless of the outcome, was something that pulled us through!  We were very relieved when my previa resolved itself.  We were relieved, once again, when she flipped from a frank breech, to head down!  We truly felt the prayers of family and friends throughout our entire pregnancy!

At 35 weeks, my blood pressure began to go up.  There were no other complications, but as it continued to creep up, my doctor decided that she wasn’t comfortable with me going past my due date of April 10^th. 

At 37 weeks, I was finally considered fullterm! I would head to my weekly appointments, hoping there had been some sort of progress made that allow my induction to go smoothly.  Every week, there would be no change, but I refused to get too discouraged.  She was following the rest of her siblings…not wanting to arrive before her time!

My induction was scheduled at my 38 week appointment.  Unless she decided to arrive earlier, she would be born on April 9^th!  I was very excited to have an end in sight.  My 39 week appointment showed some progress, and I was finally measuring 3cm and 60% effaced!  It was a relief to know that my body was moving in the right direction!

That last weekend before my induction was hard!  It was filled with choir practice, church services, Easter egg hunts, some last minute cleaning….and not much rest!  John could see the toll on my body and I was able to get some much needed rest after the Easter service on Sunday.  He was a bit nervous that I would go into labor, and he would have to deliver a baby at home….more than once he asked me if he thought we should go to the hospital.  I wasn’t having any contractions, and I was feeling a lot of movement from the baby, so I always said no.  I could deal with the nausea and tiredness…and I had my end in sight!

I woke up at 5am, Monday morning.  We were expected at the hospital at 6:30am, and I wanted to have some quiet time and didn’t want to be rushed. Our good friend, Amy, arrived at 6am to watch the kids for us.  It was such a blessing to know that our children were in good hands!

We arrived on time and brought to our room.  We settled in and then the waiting began. The nurse’s shift change was at 7am, so it wasn’t until the new shift settled in that we met our nurse, Chenoa.  She was very nice and made us feel very comfortable.  She had read of our history and knew this was our 7^th baby…and we told her there were only a few things that we didn’t want to happen.  First, I did not want to be close to transition and have that frantic feeling that no one was in the room with us. John did not want to deliver a baby…and I didn’t want him to either! Second, I did not want to have to wait for the doctor to arrive.  I wanted the staff to be prepared and know that once the intensity of my labor heightens, it won’t be long, and they are to have called my doctor before I reach full dilation.  She was very assuring and put us at ease.

Ha…more on that later!

Around 7:45am, the iv was placed and I was hooked up to some fluids. My doctor came in around 8am, checked me and broke my water.  I hadn’t made any change since my appointment the week before.  I was still sitting at 3cm.

The Pitocin began dripping around 8:20am.

The contractions began very mild.  They were immediately regular, but way too manageable.  I labored sitting in bed, figuring that maybe by sitting, gravity would help things along.

My nurse would come in every half hour or so and see how I was doing.  She would ask me my pain level, and I was not at the point of having to even concentrate through the contractions.  On a scale of 1-10, I would say, maybe a 2 or a 3. 

At 10am, she decided to check me to see if I had made any progress.  She said that I was still 3-4cm.  I really think that at this point, she began to wonder if this labor wouldn’t be as fast as we had warned her about.

For the next hour, things continued about the same.  I could tell that the contractions were getting a little stronger.  John would check the monitor, and I was in a very good pattern, but still missing the intensity that we knew was necessary!

Around 11:30, I asked to be checked again, and I was measuring about 4-5cm.  Since the contractions were still very manageable, I began to think that maybe I would have a long labor without the intensity I was used to.  I thought back to my previous labors. I had never labored sitting the way I was sitting.  I had always laid on my side.  It was at that time, I decided to change my position and proceeded to lay on my left side.

I felt an immediate change in the contractions.  I felt a little more pressure, so I knew that I had made the right decision!  I could tell the baby was moving down into a better position.

Around noon, things really began to intensify.  The nurse was having a hard time registering the baby’s heart rate and my contractions weren’t showing up on the monitor either.  She had to depend on me for how the labor was going!

 

The first time John heard me give a low groan during a contraction, I heard an excited ‘YES!’.  He knew that once that begins, it won’t be too much longer!

Around 12:30, I knew the contractions were doing more than they had all morning, so I asked the nurse to check me.  I was now at 6cm, and the baby had moved much lower.  At this point, John told the nurse that she had better call the doctor.  Her response was…we’ll just wait and see.  She had been warned early on that once I hit a certain point in labor, that my babies come quickly. But I think she was thinking that because the morning had been so slow, that this labor would be different.

It wasn’t.

Right after I was told I was at 6cm, I had 5-6 back to back contractions within 10 minutes.  Earlier that morning, I had told John that when my labor gets really intense, I would ask for prayers and encouragement.  When I asked him to pray for me, he did.  When I asked him for encouragement, he said “Baby, you’ve done this before!  You can do it again!  Just think, within the next hour, she’ll be here!”  To which I responded, “DON’T SAY THAT TO ME!!”  In my mind, there was no way I could continue breathing through these contractions for another HOUR!!

 I urgently told John to get a nurse because I needed to push.  We were once again in the situation of being completely dilated and were the only ones in the room.  John did not want to deliver the baby by himself!

He jumped up, screamed HELP!, ran across the room and yelled into the hall….”We need a nurse!  She needs to push!”

Then the scurrying began.  My room was filled with nurses prepping things for delivery.  This is when they finally called my doctor!

I rolled onto my back and said….I need to push NOW!

That is when the nazi nurse got right in my face and firmly told me to BLOW IT OUT!  To which I sternly replied….BUT I NEED TO PUSH NOW!  She then proceeded to blow in my face with such force and annoyance, John was surprised I didn’t slap her.

The nurses told me that Dr Yang was 3 minutes away and that they wanted me to wait.  Again, in a situation that we did not want to be in!

The moment Dr Yang arrived, one of the nurses asked her if she was going to put her scrubs on….her response was ‘no, just gloves!’

I immediately started pushing and within one and a half pushes, out came Millie!  John wasn’t able to get the bottom of the bed fast enough to see her crown!  She was out before he knew it!

One of my concerns with delivery had been about the placenta.  With my last birth, my dr had to manually extract it, since the cord began to unattach and it wouldn’t deliver. Thankfully, due to the red raspberry leaf supplements I had been taking since 32 weeks, it was not even an issue!

Millie came out screaming and was immediately laid on my chest.  She was beautiful!  She weighed in at 7lbs14oz and 20 inches long.  She received an 8/9 on her APGAR scores!

After giving her a quick once over, they handed her back to me for some skin to skin contact, and I was able to nurse her for about an hour! 

I have been blessed to have extremely easy recoveries after having babies.  Once again, I did not tear or need any medications afterwards. After she received her bath, I was able to get up and take a shower and get dressed into some comfy pajamas.

We named Millie after my great-grandmother Amilda.  Her middle name, Taylor, is after the Chinese missionary Hudson Taylor. 

Our family is complete….and we are so thrilled to have been able to end it with a pink caboose!

Millie was able to meet her brothers and sister on her birthday and they remain completely smitten with their baby sister!!

Since coming home, they just want to keep coming over to her to just stare at her because she is so beautiful.  The boys are having a hard time playing, because they can’t stop thinking about her!  I have been abundantly blessed and am so incredibly grateful to God for my family!

The Best Caramel Corn

I've played around with a few recipes, and this by far is my favorite.  I'm not even a popcorn person.  I don't even like Movie Theater popcorn that much.  If you mix in some home made caramel....then you've got a winner!

Here is what you'll need:
1 large pot
1/3 cup of oil
almost 1 cup of popcorn kernels

Over medium heat, place the oil and 4 or 5 kernels into the pot.  Keep it covered and watch it.  When the kernels start popping, remove the pot from the heat.  Pour the rest of the popcorn into the pot and set a timer for 45 seconds.  This allows the kernels to be brought up to the heat of the oil and makes for more even cooking.

Place the pot back on the heat, gently moving the pot around on the burner.  When the kernels begin popping, slightly crack the lid, so the steam can escape.  Otherwise, you will end up with soggy popcorn.

At this point, I pour the popcorn into a large bowl....being sure to get rid of the few kernels that never popped.  We don't want broken teeth, do we?

When it has been about 10-15 seconds inbetween popping, remove from heat.

At this point, you can add butter and salt.....but if you want to hit a homerun, then you'll make up a batch of caramel!

Here is what you'll need to make the caramel:

2 sticks of butter (not margarine)
2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda

In a large saucepan, melt the butter.  Once that is melted, add the brown sugar and corn syrup....mixing constantly.  When bubbles start to appear, stop mixing and set the time for 5 minutes.  Keep an eye on the pan, but do not mix at all!

When the 5 minutes are up, remove from heat and add the vanilla and baking soda and mix thoroughly.  The caramel will expand and turn lighter in color.

Once it's mixed, pour onto the popcorn and mix.  Be sure not to touch it, since it is still very hot!

Set the oven temp to 250 degrees.  Place the coated popcorn onto a large cookie sheet.  Be sure that you place them on a wire rack that is not too close to the burners.

This is going to bake for an hour.  You are going to mix it up every 15 minutes....so set your timer!

When your hour is up, remove it from the oven, and carefully spoon into a large bowl.  As it cools, you'll want to take a spoon and break it up a bit.  Once it's cool, bag it up or just eat it straight from the bowl!

After making it for your family.....your kids will thank you....and you will never go back to store bought caramel corn ever!!

My oldest boy turned 10.

We shelter our children.  They are homeschooled.  They stay at home with me most days.  Most of their interaction with other children is supervised and happens in Godly homes and at church.

Nolan's request for his 10th birthday was that he and his dad go hiking in The Smoky Mountains.  I thought this would be a great opportunity to begin the discussion that a parent should have with their children, as they get older.

You know the one I'm talking about....

Our goal as parents is that this be an ongoing discourse that goes on for years.  We hope that our answers to the many questions our children will have, would be God-glorifying, and truthful.  There shouldn't be embarrassment when explaining how our bodies were created and what happens to them as we get older.

We wanted to begin discussing basic body changes and see where that would lead....here is what the conversation was like that took place in the car, on the way to the mountains:

Daddy: Nolan, now that you are older, your body is going to start changing.

Nolan: Ooooh, look!  It's a golf course!!

There was a complete lack of interest on Nolan's part.

I'm thinking we need to take some advice from Amy's Humble Musings!

With 12 weeks to go....

I figured it was time to start sewing for Millie's arrival.  I've already made her several crocheted items...a couple hats, some booties, and a blanket.

I've had the flannel chosen for awhile.  I've had her towel material ready too.  I just had to sit down and do it!

Tonight, I had that opportunity!

Here is her hooded towel....the rest of her siblings have one, so she needed one too!

Here are two double-sided flannel blankets.  I can't wait to swaddle her up in them!

A response to the viral video "Does Jesus Hate Religion"

There has been a video that has gone viral titled "Does Jesus Hate Religion".  I couldn't bring myself to watch it because the title itself rubbed me the wrong way.

I was happy today to see that Kevin DeYoung at The Gospel Coalition wrote a response to it.  I found it to be very thought out and a good way to put into words what I was feeling.

You can read it here.

A great blog post about Tim Tebow

I like Tim Tebow as much as anyone else....but really, this article spells out my feelings on the whole situation!

Stephen Altrogge writes:

This past Sunday Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos beat my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers.

And believe it or not, it actually didn’t bother me that much. Of course, I wanted the Steelers to win, and I wanted to see the Steelers defense put Tim Tebow through the mulcher, but it didn’t happen. I’m okay with how things turned out. If it had been Tom Brady and the devil-spawn Patriots, I wouldn’t have been okay with it. But I like Tim Tebow, and I don’t despise the Broncos.

What does bother me is the way that many Christians are getting all weird and freaky about Tim Tebow. For example, on Sunday Tebow threw for 316 yards. Tebow’s favorite scripture verse is John 3:16. The NFL would not let Tebow write “John 3:16″ on his face. Thus, God let Tebow pass for 316 yards as a way of sticking it to the NFL and highlighting John 3:16. Get the message NFL: you can’t shut down God, and you can’t shut down Tim Tebow when God is on his side. Right?

You can finish the article here:
Can we please stop being weird about Tim Tebow?

To all my coffee loving friends....

Free Coffee Tasting Event at Starbucks!

A must share cooking website!

Over the past several months, I have weaned our family off of many processed foods.  I prefer cooking and baking from scratch, so it has been a joy.  It also helps when you have some great recipes to work with!

I was on pinterest awhile ago, and found a great website called Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

I have since made dozens of her recipes and have not been disappointed!  It helps to read the comments and see possible changes you may want to make or just to read other experiences with the dish.

Have fun and Happy Cooking!

Good News

At my follow up ultrasound, we discovered the placental previa has resolved itself!

As long as the baby assumes a head down position, there will be no c-section!

Baby Millie measured at just over 2 pounds and was hiding from the camera....so no profile shots for us.  She looked like she was in the cannonball position, ha!

And yes, she is still a she....if there is one good thing from all these ultrasounds, it's the re-confirmation that it's still a girl!

God is so good and has protected both of us!

Merry Christmas from us!

Idolatry

It's been awhile since I've shared a story from the kids.....thought you would enjoy this one!

The kids are allowed to play the Wii for about an hour or two, 3 days a week.  They were getting ready to play a few weeks ago, when they realized that the light on the Wii console wasn't lit up red, and we were unable to figure out why it wasn't on.

The first thing Gideon did was to pray.  He said "Please God, please fix our Wii!"

To which Nolan responded..."Gideon, you shouldn't really pray that God fixes your IDOL!"

To which I responded....."If it really is an idol to you guys, then maybe God broke it for that very reason!"

The boys were not thrilled with my response.

It was working just fine the next day!  Gideon was happy that his prayers were answered.

Please Pray

Last week, I went to my ob for a routine appointment and anatomy ultrasound.

Once the ultrasound begin, the technician immediately asked me if I have had any placental problems before.  I told her no.

She then said that I have what is known as CPP or Complete Placenta Previa.  Which means that instead of a high implantation of the placenta in my uterus, it is completely covering my cervix.  Because I have Complete Previa, there is only a small percentage that it will move up and out of the way.

I ask for prayers that it does move up as my uterus continues to grow.

Because of this condition, some complications can arise...and I've put myself on modified bedrest, in hopes that these complications are prevented.

I go in for another ultrasound in January....where, hopefully, we will see some movement.

If it doesn't move, I will need a c-section, probably about a month before my due date.

The good news is that baby Millie is doing great and looks perfect!  She is a fiesty baby that is a quick mover :)  She's already preparing for being in a very active house!

Please pray!

It's a.....

I went in for an ultrasound this week and.....SURPRISE....we're having our second GIRL!

Her name is: Millie Taylor!

My great-grandmother's name was Amilda, so she is named in her honor!  Millie also means gentle strength, which is an attribute we hope she will have as she grows into a woman of faith.

Taylor comes from the great missionary to China: Hudson Taylor.....you can read about him here.

We are very excited and can't wait for April to arrive!

Halloween 2011

We have:

Gideon the hiker, Haddon the clown, Jamison the fireman, 

Nolan the superhero, Judson the pumpkin, and Paysie the rainbow!

Baby #7

Yes, baby #7 is set to arrive in early April!!

“Oh!  I love God’s ‘shalls’ and ‘wills.’  There is nothing comparable to them.  Let a man say ‘shall,’ what is it good for?  ‘I will,’ says man, and he never performs; ‘I shall,’ says he, and he breaks his promise.  But it is never so with God’s ‘shalls.’  If he says, ‘shall,’ it shall be; when he says, ‘will,’ it will be.  Now He has said here, ‘many shall come.’  The devil says, ‘they shall not come’; but ‘they shall come’.  You yourselves, say, ‘we won’t come’; God says, ‘You shall come’. 

Yes!  There are some here who are laughing at salvation, who can scoff at Christ, and mock at the gospel; but I tell you some of you shall come yet.  ‘What!’ you say, ‘can God make me become a Christian?’  I tell you yes, for herein rests the power of the gospel.  It does not ask your consent; but it gets it.  It does not say, will you have it, but it makes you willing in the day of God’s power… 

The gospel wants not your consent, it gets it.  It knocks the enmity out of your heart.  You say, ‘I do not want to be saved;’ Christ says you shall be.  He makes your will turn round, and then you cry, ‘Lord, save, or I perish.’  Ah, might heaven exclaim, ‘I knew I would make you say that;’ and then he rejoices over you because he has changed your will and made you willing in the day of his power.

If Jesus Christ were to stand on this platform tonight, what would many people do with Him?  If He were to come and say, ‘Here I am, I love you, will you be saved by me?’ not one of you would consent if you were left to your will.  He Himself said, ‘No man can come to me except the Father who hath sent me draw him.’  Ah!  We want that; and here we have it.  They shall come!  They shall come!  You may laugh, you may despise us; but Jesus Christ shall not die for nothing.  If some of you reject Him there are some that will not.  If there are some that are not saved, others shall be.  Christ shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hands.  They shall come!  And nought in heaven, nor on earth, nor in hell, can stop them from coming.” Charles Spurgeon

Summer 2011

Cookies and Cream Fudge

WARNING: I will NOT be held responsible for overindulgence!!!

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter or marg
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 cups tollhouse premier white morsels
1 jar (7ounces) marshmallow cream
1/2 cup finely crushed oreos
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup crumbled oreos

Line 9 inch square pan with foil.

Combine sugar, butter and evaporated milk in a medium heavy duty saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes.

Remove from heat.

Stir in morsels, marshmallow creme, finely crushed oreos and vanilla extract.

Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle crumbled cookies on top. Gently swirl cookies into the fudge with a knife, without touching the bottom of the pan.

Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Lift from pan and remove foil. Cut into 48 pieces. Store in airtight container in the fridge!

Great reminder to moms of young girls!

A Girl's First Domestic Domain

Something to think about....

I’ve learned over the years that the simplest way to judge gray areas in the Christian life like movies, television, and music is to ask one simple question: can I thank God for this? (We are to give thanks in all circumstances, right?) Not too long ago my wife and I went to the movie theater to watch one of the summer blockbusters. It was a fun PG-13 movie, and you’d probably say it didn’t really have any bad parts. But it was very sensual and suggestive in several places. I got done with the movie (yes, I watched the whole thing) and thought, “Can I really thank God for this?” Now, I’m not a total kill-joy. I like to laugh and enjoy life. I can thank God for the Chicago Bears, Hot N’ Readys, and Brian Regan. But I wonder if after most of our entertainment we could sincerely get down on our knees and say, “Thank you God for this good gift.” Something to think about.

--Kevin DeYoung