June 29 2011

I herby claim this day as my daughter's birthday

It was a dark and stormy night, just kidding it was hot and clear as usual, June 28 the day I had hoped she would be born only so the days of the kids birthdays would be consecutive 26th, 27th, 28th. I had my prenatal appointment with the midwife and because I was 41 weeks pregnant an ultrasound to make to sure baby was still doing just fine, which of course she was except for facing sunny side up instead of down which is why I probably hadn't gone into labor yet. Renee my midwife said I was already dilated to a 5 and very ready for labor, I had high hopes. As I went about the rest of day not in labor and now fearing if baby is going to be too stubborn to be born within the next 7 days I would no longer be able to give birth at the birthing center and have to transfer care to the hospital (who wants to be in the hospital if they don't need to be, not this lady) I was getting more and more sad and tired. I gave up hope of going into labor that day and went to hang out in my bedroom with Billy. Suddenly I feel a contraction a real contraction and it hurt it was 11:30 pm and then a few minutes later another and so on. I thought what a stinker of course my child waits until the last minute. I called the midwife to let her know and she said to go ahead and come down to the birthing center if I wanted to, it was a 45 minute drive and not one I wanted to make in hard labor. Billy took the kids to his parents house which took 40 minutes by itself considering it was midnight and they were both sound asleep, he left me at home so I wouldn't have to drive the bumpy dirt road, he got home and we left right away. We got the the birth center at 2am I walked in the door to the smiling face of our midwife instead of the metal detectors and security guards and then a random administration person followed by another random nurse we would have had to meet at the hospital. It was wonderful the person who had been taking care of me the last 6 months was still the person taking care of me now, it's so much easier to stay calm and relaxed when you know the person asking you take your pants off. She checked me and said I was at a 6 and that she wouldn't need to check me again unless it takes a really long time, and then she said OK now we just hang out and wait, and helped me get comfortable in bed, Billy made himself comfortable laying next to me in bed thankfully he only snored a couple of times. A little while later contractions started to get more painful, Renee came in with her back up Tiffany and they rubbed my back and helped me breath slower, it was amazing having someone actually help you in labor instead of just offering medication. Once I started moaning they knew it was getting close, I asked if I got in the tub if it would help and of course they said yes and started running the water. Once I got in the tub it felt so much better, and then Tiffany the back up midwife/doula started rubbing my shoulders and back as I leaned on the front of the tub I had another contraction and I buried my face in the towel and tried not to moan to loud, she talked so sweetly and softly helping me to slow down my breathing. Luckily for me I didn't have anything to tie me down no IV, no silly band around my belly to keep track of contractions or the baby's heartbeat, Renee just listened to her heartbeat with her handheld doppler when she needed to. No pitocin to keep contractions one on top of each other, just my body doing a good job all by itself, which also let my contractions still be several minutes apart so I could catch my breath and refocus and relax my body before the next contraction came. And with the next contraction my body started pushing all by itself I was sitting on my knees with them apart still leaning on the front of tub the baby just started moving down, I don't see how she couldn't move down with me sitting in that position so much better than laying on my back legs in stirrups (who invented that anyways, they should get kicked right in the pants). And with the next two contractions my body pushed a little more and a little more, no need to check me again my body knows what it's doing. Renee said lets have a baby and was guiding her head out and it hurt like nothing I can ever describe some call it the ring of fire I don't think it needs a name it just hurt but was so quick I couldn't believe when they said OK her head is out, all I could say was " what?" Renee thought I was so funny. Apparently after the baby's head comes out they turn their body to the side so their shoulders are now vertical so thier shoulders comes out one at a time, well not my little angle she turned completely around backwards and now her shoulders were horizontal and not very easy to come out I barely noticed until Renee told me I needed to stand up and I again I said " what?" and her and Tiffany helped me stand up so she could get her shoulders out, this was no problem to me I had no idea I just thought she couldn't reach the baby and Renee had to climb in the tub to get to her I guess I'm only the second person she had to climb in the tub to get to, that part was pretty funny. My water never broke she was born in her sac of water, that hardly ever happens. Meanwhile Billy was standing behind them and hadn't seen the other kids being born he was at my side looking at my face and definitely not going to look down, but this time there was nothing he could do all of the sudden I stood up and the baby's head was already out and then the rest of her came out and I just grabbed a hold of her and pulled her up he saw the whole thing, and after everything was over he told me and I laughed so hard and said well at least you've seen one of your children being born. She was in my arms and I sat down, she started crying, the pain was immediately gone and the flow of endorphins starting flowing all I could do was smile and when I looked over at Billy and he smiled back at me. I of course checked to make sure she was in fact a girl I would have felt awfull had she tricked the ultrasound technician twice and came out a boy who now had to come home wearing a dress in a girly car seat, I was relieved she was indeed a girl, born at 3:37 am June 29, 2011 an hour and 30 minutes after we arrived at the birth center, only 4 hours of labor and 7 minutes of pushing and I felt amazing. I guess gong to 41 weeks has it's advantages after all. Billy came and picked her up and went to snuggle on the bed while Renee and Tiffany helped me into to bed and got me cleaned up and delivered the placenta, they made sure baby latched on well and nursed and of course was breathing well and had a good heartbeat and then they covered us up and let us rest for an hour or so, all 3 of us went to sleep and felt so peace full. A little while later they came in to do baby's assessment, she was 8Lbs 15 Oz's, 20 inches long, and beautiful. The name we choose for her was Irelynn and Billy choose her middle name to be Grace, she was perfectly healthy in every way. We both got dressed and then headed home at 6:30am, we picked up some breakfast on the way and I scarfed it down. I told billy your welcome for giving birth in a timely fashion so we can pick up the kids and get back home before the day had even started, he just laughed. Billy took us home and tucked us into bed and then went to pick up the kids I woke up a little while later to see two huge smiling faces coming in the room so happy to meet their little sister, both were so giddy and politely took turns holding her.

I loved being able to give birth to her in the birthing center in such a peace full natural way and then being able to come home right away and recover in the comfort of my own home, no nurses coming in constantly waking us up to check our temperature I can do that just fine myself. Just staying in my nice comfy bed cuddling with my new little one and Billy and the kids being able to climb in the bed to snuggle too. So today she is 4 days old aside from my very sore and enormous new boobs I feel great and she is healthy as can be not a touch of jaundice and already back at her birth weight, a nursing champ and sleeps well too. I feel so amazingly blessed for being able to have such a great experience and that both of us are so healthy.

look at this perfectly round head

sorry I don't wear make up to give birth especially not at 3:00 in the morning.

the big 3

Ashlynn is pretty much the same as she has always been, her favorite food is the same, her personality is the same, and she makes me laugh the same if not more, she still sucks her thumb (against my advice) she still steals my shoes, she still screams, she still sneaks in our bed to snuggle every once in a while, she still tries boss Holden around, and she still wants to so things her own way, but most importantly she is still my sweetheart.

I'm sure for the rest of her life most of these things won't change she will probably always love chicken the most and always try to steal my shoes. Hopefully some will change, the screaming and thumb sucking, but I hope she will always make us laugh and always be my little sweetheart. I hope in the future she will be loving and kind and a good example to her younger siblings like Holden has been to her. I hope she will use that blond hair, blue eyed, dimpled cheeked, tall, and skinny physique of hers for good and not evil, I hope she will continue to do things her own way hopefully making good choices in her life and not following in others not so good choices. And I hope that she always knows how much we love her.

Happy Birthday my darling, I hope three is a good year for you!

getting to know you through Facebook.

Things you would learn about Mrs. Mandi Dassler from her facebook profile

Mandi Dassler is married to Frederick Dassler

she has worked for Mr. Dassler for the past 10 or so years as a hit man, her professional duties include shopping, cooking, cleaning , child care, and being sexually harassed on a regular basis

she went to Lancaster High School

she is LDS

Gerard Butler is her favorite actor

she loves sewing, recycling, capoeira, and singing in the shower

she no longer lives in the ghetto

and she is afraid of strangers

If you're board and take a look at her photos you might learn

that her husband is pretty silly

she has a son and a daughter who are also silly

her Christmas trees are usually of the construction paper variety

she lets her daughter ride on her back while she mows the lawn

she likes to decorate her kids birthday cakes and make their Halloween costumes

she was very skinny in high school and ditched a lot mostly to do ridiculous things

she always has a blast hanging out with her brother's and their families

she is extremely excited to own a dishwasher

And then if you have even more free time on your hands you could look through some recent activity on her wall and learn

her husband enjoys posing for pictures with big guns

her friends know she can sew and enjoy when she shares her talents with them

she hates when it snows in Lancaster and germ spreaders

she rarely gets out of the house by herself

she is tired of hearing people announce their pregnancies (only because there are a million of them a day)

she is in fact pregnant herself

her best friend Annie misses her

her daughter hides her shoes for 6 months at a time

she can belch louder than any of her brothers

she likes power tools

and she starts projects and then procrastinates to finish them thus turning Christmas dresses into new years dresses and then again into birthday dresses

snowboarding lessons for the boys

We all went to Mountain High last week (Holden got to skip school) and the boys took snowboarding lessons. Billy hasn't been in over ten years so he took a little refresher course he also hasn't used those muscles in over ten years and was worn out before lunch to which of course I made fun and called him an old man. I didn't get any pictures of Billy because he was up too high on the mountain for me to walk/waddle to. This was the first time Holden has even tried snowboarding and did so well and he loved it. I was so surprised how well he did, after class when I picked him up his instructor said he was great and such a good sport he never complained or cried not even saying it was too cold, when he fell he got right back up and kept going, which isn't typical for Holden so I was very happy to hear, he tried something new without being afraid I was so proud of him and no bribery required.

now that he is a "pro" he gets to spend his day off of school with his dad and uncles and cousins snowboarding next week, I think I'm going to relax in the lodge and read a book while sipping hot chocolate.

I can't believe it snowed here again

I got one smile out of her

It was warm enough to wear flip flops for a little while in January and then there was talk of a storm on its way but you never believe that kind of talk. That is just how it is in Lancaster one day is hot and the next it's snowing. After an hour I knew they were going to cancel school the next day which was suppose to be the first day back from winter break. Ridiculous!!!! Holden had a great time and Ashlynn hated it she didn't even want to step in it she played outside for 20 minutes before coming inside, she also hates having to wear gloves and a hat and a big coat she though it was awful, but Holden played outside for a couple of hours before he got board.

2011

Is going to be such a big year for our family.

Ashlynn turns three and hopefully so will her attitude

Holden turns eight, the big eight, that's right baptism time and so happily for him (and me) his dad is going to be the one baptising him.

and sometime this summer we will have another member in our family. I'm not going to lie even though this little one was planned and very much wanted I was scared when I realized what I was in for. Thankfully the fear has worn off and the excitement has set in, it feels right like this was always how it was suppose to be, I knew I bought the car with a third row seat for a reason and I knew I left an empty wall in Ashlynn's room for someone, I just didn't know it at the time, good thing I trust my decision making skills.

So now as our family grows so do our goals, some goals we just carry on from year to year and hope they eventually can be met, kind of like roll over minutes.

Mandi's to do list for 2011

(in no particular order)

-sew an incredible amount of diapers to save an incredible amount of money

-still learn how to play the piano

-still plant a garden

-teach my kids to clean up their toys

-get out of the house a lot more often (by myself)

-buy an awesome camera and learn how to take awesome pictures of my kids

-give birth naturally and unmedicated in a free standing birth center with a midwife

-avoid having to visit the hospital for any reason

-learn how to make the perfect textured home made beef jerky

-think of a beautiful and meaningful name for our child

-finish decorating my house

-find jeans that actually fit my kids, the kind that aren't baggy or too short or too long or leave their butt cracks, or coin slots as we like to call it, hanging out for the world to see.

-enjoy another year happily married to my love

There is always more to do, more to learn, more to experience but I find it hard to do in just one short years time, hopefully time will be my friend this year.

What the heck happend to December?

It came and passed and I barely noticed.

Here is what Christmas morning looked like this year

For Christmas this year the kids got pillow pets. I have no idea why any kind of pillows would be such a must have for every kid but they just had to have them, good thing Santa thought they were good this year.

Billy got me a really really nice nail gun set and a new compressor, what more could a girl ask for, and I'm very excited to use them. I already know what I am going to build now I just need to time and energy.

And in Billy's opinion the very best gift of all come from my very kind brother Zach, a new 9mm Smith and Wesson hand gun.

I was really looking forward to hanging stockings by the fire for the very first time in our home but apparently you should have the chimney sweeped in order to prevent a fire and I felt like it was more fun to spend $150 on presents than a chimney sweep so I guess it will just have to wait until next year, maybe.