"Go Down, Death" by Wintley Phipps

So Long

Since about 3 months old, Ian has had a "squishy pillow". He has been through 2 already and today we say good bye to #3. I had painted Nia's toenails and she was drying them with the blow dryer. Ian was watching her and someone decided it would be fun to put the dryer to the pillow. Yep, it burnt a whole in it and it is now in the trash can.

The Birth of Kodah

My due date was July 23rd. Monday, all day long, me and the kids cleaned house (nesting). Tuesday, we had a really rough day. The house is Spur was getting complicated and I was an emotional wreck. Romeo had spent the night in Amarillo Monday night and drove in at 5:55 p.m. so that he could take Nia & I to my baby shower. I was super excited about my shower, a house full of Godly women whom I love so dearly, it doesn't get much better than that.

I was doing Nia's hair in the bathroom (it was 5:50 p.m.) and my water broke although I didn't think it was my water, I thought maybe it was just urine as my midwife said that could happen. I changed clothes and got ready to head to my shower. Romeo showed up just in time for Nia to tell him, "Momma's water broke she thinks and she is getting her bags packed up". I didn't want to be in OKC and be in real labor without all my bags and stuff so I took everything with me just in case. On the way I called the midwife on call which just so happened to be Ann Stewart, my midwife. I was thrilled she was on-call that night. I described what happened and she told me to go to urgent care at the L&D to check. WHAT? But what about my shower? Not today, of all days, I needed that shower for those women to lift me up from such a bad day. So I called to inform the hostess in charge that I would not be there. Funny, right, the guest of honor misses her own baby shower. And I heard the turn out was great - about 40 ladies.

At this point I wasn't having any contractions so I just knew it couldn't have been my water. 6:27 p.m. my first contraction hit but was not bad at all and the rest that came after it were pretty inconsistant and getting a little bit worse but not bad at all. We got to the urgent care for them to check and by the time I got into a room for them to check I was having more and more contractions. I was beginning to think maybe I was in labor. I was still in denial though. Romeo kept telling me to call Judy, a friend who was going to keep the kids for us until mom could get here. I was just still hoping to get to my baby shower.

You know how long it takes in hospitals. We showed up at 6:35 or so and I was still waiting to be checked by 8:00. By this time, I knew I was in labor because my contractions were getting stronger and closer together. I called everyone and mentally started preparing myself for delivery while listening to another women in a different room holler and scream for 20 minutes or so (not the best thing to listen to while waiting to have a baby).



I finally got into the birthing room at 8:45 or so and was feeling wonderful. There is a big difference between laying in a bed while having contractions and being about to get up and walk around. All the pressure is on your hiney so sitting actually is very uncomfortable and makes things worse. I tried the birthing ball - didn't like it very much. I tried swaying back and forth and that did work for 20 minutes or so. Then they started getting REALLY intense so I was just going to try the bath because sitting in the tub I thought would be uncomfortable as well. I got in and it helped take the edge off but the pain was getting worse.



With midwives, they don't check you every now and then to see how far along you are, they just depend on your body to tell you when it's time. I didn't understand this because the first two were with Dr.'s and I was checked frequently. I told Romeo to go call the nurse to check me anyway. He did but my midwife came in and asked me a lot of questions about the pressure and how I was feeling. She wouldn't check me. She kept telling me, your body will tell you when to push, don't fight the contractions (because when one would come, I would tighten every muscle in my body thinking that would help ease the pain), don't scream Amy if you need to yell keep it deep and low, focus all your energy on pushing the baby out. At this point I begged her to check me. Okay, Okay she said and she felt the babies head. She and my nurse started getting things together because it was happening!!

Romeo was there right beside the tub holding my hand and encouraging me. He was great. I turned on my side because my midwife suggested it and as soon as I did, I pushed a couple times and there you have it. Much easier said than done. He made his appearance around 10:03 on July 7th 2009, which was 16 days before my due date. They laid him on my chest, Romeo cut the cord, and they focused on getting him to take his first breath, which didn't take long.



I was up walking around in no time, feeling absolutely wonderful. No IV, no blood drawn, no catheter, no monitors, no hospital bed, I could eat & drink if I felt like it, by the way - I HATE NEEDLES! So this is the way to go for me. My midwife was telling me that she delivered twins the week before all natural.



I delivered at 10:03 but it was 3:00a.m. before we got to our room. It was well worth it for me - the pre and post were fantastic! Now the 45 minutes of torture was not fun but if I ever have another one I will do it the same way.

First family of 5 photo

Ian was trying to figure out how the baby came out.

they are so in love with KodahWe didn't have a name for him until 11:00 p.m. the night before we were to leave the hospital. We had talked about several but finally agreed on Kodah Romeo Tagle. What a blessing to our family.

By the way, this post took me 7 hours to write. I will try to keep you guys updated!

More Pictures of Kodah

So beautiful and sweet. He's 2 1/2 days old in these pictures.

Needed some pictures with his eyes open and his full head of hair.

Kodah Romeo Tagle

Born 7/7/09 at 10:03 p.m. weighing 6 lbs. 5 oz. and 20" long

I will be posting more pictures and the story later but I know one very anxious person waiting to see a picture. Sorry I didn't get one with his eyes open.

Breakfast in Bed

I can't express the joy my daughter brings me. She has been telling me, "don't get up early tomorrow because I want to do something for you" for a couple days now. This morning at 7:00 a.m. I heard my cabinet doors opening and I knew what she was up too, however, that was just to0 early on a summer day so I told her to go back to bed for a while. An hour later I woke up to her bringing me breakfast in bed. Such a SWEETIE!

As you can tell it was Fruity Pebbles!

And then she helped me finish it.

Mother/Daughter Day 2009

For Christmas last year Nia wanted to go on a Mother/Daughter day. She wanted to do lots of things like massages, manicure & pedicure, hair & makeup done, shopping, get coffee, and other girly things. I knew this was going to cost us lots so I kept putting it off until we had enough money. (Although the amount of money we spent still makes me sick to my stomach.)

Realizing the other day that if we wait very much longer to have "our" day, it could be a LONG wait due to the baby coming. So.. we finally went.

We headed to the mall. First, I got my nails done and Nia got a pedicure. She wanted that rather than getting her nails done and the pedicure was her favorite thing.


Then to Glamour Shots. Although this was lots of fun it was very expensive. We WON'T be doing this ever again. I think we will just have to find a cheap photographer and do our own hair & makeup. In fact, my sister loves to take pictures and we will be close enough next time to use her.

They airbrushed the foundation on which really freaked Nia out.

Almost through....

Onto the hair... and after the stylist was finished curling all her hair, Nia told her she didn't like it so the stylist brushed it all out. She looked so cute with curls everywhere, but it ended up looking great.

Okay, she got finished and grabbed my camera. She thought I looked funny!

After that, we got our pictures taken and then went to the
Cheesecake Factory for supper and dessert.

This is her expressing how unbelievably good it was. That is Oreo Cheesecake.
After the yummy cheesecake, we went back to the mall to view our photos and order. Nia was not interested in this long process so she grabbed my camera again and took pictures of everything. I think I deleted around 20 pictures of photos on the wall at Glamour Shots. And another 10 of random people walking through the mall. Here are a few she took of herself.

This girl did my makeover and then helped us pick out our pictures.
Nia wanted to remember everything about this day.

Overall we had a FABULOUS day.

Children's Museum

Today we went to the Jasmine Moran Children's Museum in Seminole, Oklahoma. It is about an hour and a half away but well worth the drive. The kids have been helping me pack boxes, we have been staying home so much lately and I had used all the boxes, so I decided to take the kids somewhere fun.

Nia liked the waterworks and the handicapped areas. She liked trying to figure out how to get lots of water so that is overflowed and walking around on crutches.



Ian liked the waterworks and the handicapped areas too. He loved playing with the pipes so that water came out in different directions and he also liked riding in the wheelchair.

This was something new. Very Fun!

Riding this thingy - what's it called?

He couldn't just stand beside the football player,
he had to climb on top of him. BOYS!