Noelle Update, Big News and a Short Vacation

So, there are some crazy things going on right now in our little family. First off, Noelle is 9 months old now (as of Oct 5). She is such a rad little baby, I am so impressed by her gentle kindness and fiery personality. She really is gaining quite the personality. She has three teeth now (one is still coming in on the top gums). She is eating all kinds of foods: bell peppers, apples, freeze dried fruits, pulled chicken, asparagus, pita chips, hummus, muffins and more. She grabs for everything and can easily pick up very small things with her thumb and pointer finger. She has been crawling now since 5.5 mos. and is very fast and determined. She approaches every thing with a cautious, gentle curiosity. She is sleeping well in her own crib and waking up an average of 2-3 times for feedings. She is absolutely mesmerized by our pets.

Yesterday, without paying attention, she turned to see the cat next to her and she said "kee", which is first time she's used k sounds. Whenever we see the cat, Jeremy and I say "kee-kee" for kitty. She is clapping now and can do but gets bored fast with peek-a-boo. She lives for disorder. When she sees anything put away neatly she has to mess with it. She does great in carseat as long as she's fed and she gets up at least once every two hours (which is fair). She loves to be held and wants Jeremy to spend every second with her. She loves being carried in wraps and the mei tai, she's protesting the ring sling pretty often right now. She can get down off of the bed feet first, stand if she's leaning and loves to push her activity table across the room mimicking walking. She laughs a lot now and gets very excited hopping up and down. Noelle does wonderful with other babies- she is used to be around them and is especially enamored with my friend's two year old girl.

We cannot believe it's already been nine months! So, in the last year or so we've been working hard at establishing ourselves as adults. We've made a lot of bad financial decisions since before we got together and it's taken some time to un-do a lot of these mistakes. We're still picking up the pieces. As of now our savings account is growing, our credit is slowly improving and we have to move in January (our landlords want to sell where we are now). We've decided we would like to stay in Nashville for a while- we've made great friends here, found great food and its started to feel like home.

So, instead of renting again we're looking into buying a house. We never thought we'd consider this in a million years but there's something amazing about the thought of stability right now. We'd only buy if we could find something very reasonably priced, that needs some work (so we don't have to pay for it in the sellers price), in our ideal location (east nashville). We stubled accross this in a wonderful 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom 1936 craftsman off of Gallatin Pike. So, we're pursuing it. I'm learning about lending, mortgage rates, inspections, contracts & negotiations. Honestly, no matter what happens its opening my eyes to a whole new world that I used to just avoid understanding because I thought it was too complicated. Then there's the fun side of stuff. Pinterest has got my curiousity all in a tizzy- with laying down black and white checker vinyl floors, putting up peg board on a wall in the kitchen, painting a wall with chalkboard paint in what would be Noelle's playroom/nursery. There's so much to customize and while we wouldn't be able to really get things going (design-wise) until we had it saved up, its so fun to collect ideas.

So tomorrow until Sunday is really exciting for us. It's national babywearing week (yay) so International Babywearers of Middle Tennesse is doing a photoshoot with mamas carrying their babies! The backdrop is the Nashville skyline (fun!). I'm actually going to put on makeup for this. I'm going to wear her in a front carry in my Didy woven. Then on Thursday morning we leave for North Carolina, where my family rents a beach house every year! Its a gigantic house with 7 rooms and all of the comforts of home. I am going to sun myself, hangout on the beach, make some yummy food & drink plenty of wine (hopefully). I cannot wait to see my Dad especially, whom I have not seen since March. So many pictures to come...

So yes, lots is happening. Jeremy is loving his job and it feels to finally decide to stay in Nashville for a while. There was a lot up in the air there for a while and it would take a serious salary offering and relocating package to get us to move again. xo.

Noelle's Birth Story

At 42 weeks I was very ready to not be pregnant anymore. My estimated due date was December 25, 2013 and it was January 4. Through much debate my partner (Jeremy) and I decided to schedule an ultrasound to see how she was doing in there. She must've realized that she was going to be disturbed again because an hour after I made my appointment, my labor began. We were in midtown at a little gift shop, killing time before dinner with friends at 12 south. I went to use the restroom at a local bakery and my contractions began at about 15 minutes apart. We decided to have dinner with our friends and I ordered a vegetable lasagna and took most of it to go at around 8:30p.

We headed home. Very ready and very excited. I immediately got on my birthing ball and put on a comfortable robe. The contractions were light and easy, I kept telling Jeremy that I didn't think it was real labor because it was so gentle but suddenly, at around 10p, they hit. I went from 3cm to 9.5cm in a little under an hour and I stayed there until 5am the next day. The pain was incredible. The discomfort seemed endless. Sliding myself into our bathtub and then the birthing tub really took the weight off and I was able to labor much more comfortably. I spent the night laboring, through each contraction Jeremy held me and whispered how capable I was. I stayed very concentrated. The midwife assistant checked her heart rate every 15 minutes and she never went into fetal distress at any point during the labor and birth.

At around 10am I was exhausted. I couldn't stay awake any longer. I went upstairs, laid in my bed alone and slept through the contractions. After an hour I came downstairs and informed them I was ready to push. I pushed from 11a until 1:39p. I was on all fours and the last push was incredible. She was laid on my back to keep her warm. Then I held her. My husband and I couldn't believe what we'd just done. We couldn't believe how beautiful she was. We laughed at how her first noises sounded like a little baby goat and then we were a family. She immediately tried to latch onto my breast and I kept her warm and held her in the tub while she took in the new world around her.

When I was ready to get out of the tub and dry off my midwife held out her arm, I took it and suddently every thing went black. I fainted onto the tub and I woke up on the floor hearing my husband frantically asking if I was going to be ok. They checked my vitals and decided it was exhaustion. Noelle spent the next 6 hours skin to skin with her Dad and she met her grandmother (which was a very special moment for us). I went upstairs to sleep at around 9pm, after eating my leftover lasagna. I held her in my arms all night. I woke up to nurse her every hour & my husband brought me tea and toast to keep me nourished.

Noelle Snow Rivera was born naturally at home weighing 8lb 6oz. She was officially born on January 5, 2013 at 1:39pm. Perfectly healthy, wonderful latch. She opened her eyes the very next day and looked at everything with wonder. I am so happy I had her at home, with people I trusted, and got to fall asleep in my own bed that night. While having a home birth might be considered out of the norm I believe that healthy women with healthy pregnancies are fully capable of doing what our bodies were made for: laboring and birth. I would never trade in my experience for anything. There's nothing more empowering than the way she came into our world.

written/revised: January 13, 2013