Wow!  I've neglected this blog for almost a year.  So much has changed.
I just can't find the time to write. 

So let me write the only thing that really matters.

God is Good.  He is Amazing.  He is everything I need! 
Life is tougher now than I have ever know but God is caring me through it. 
I refuse to give up!  I will continue to trust in my only hope, rejoice in the Lord my God!

                       

Mirth had a wonderful 5th Birthday!  The cake turned out okay.  The color flow icing kept breaking (the pooh, etc). I think I made it too thin.  Mirth designed the whole cake.  I can't wait until she is old enough to make her own cakes..what an imagination she has.  Oh, and you have to love the 80's style pony tail on the side of her head.  That was her idea too :)

An interesting (and amazingly honest) article on shoulder dystocia... http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.shoulderdystociainfo.com/images/shoulder-dystocia-yellow_434.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.shoulderdystociainfo.com/shoulder_dystocia.htm&h=326&w=434&sz=76&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=A_NwX1hUfM9WNM:&tbnh=95&tbnw=126&prev=/images%3Fq%3DShoulder%2BDystocia%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

  I was glad to see that they do acknowledge Ina May Gaskin's all fours maneuver. Although, the author pretty much rules it out for clinical settings due to the mother being incapable of physically maneuvering; position (ie hospital room) and the high likely hood that she has been given epidural anesthesia. 
  I experienced shoulder dystocia with my first home birth.  My broad shouldered boy's beautiful face emerged but then retracted slightly.  Several strong contractions and pushes later, he remained stuck.  My father (who had been praying in the other room throughout the delivery) had come in earlier and told a friend of my mother's (who was present) not to be afraid when she put her and up inside of me to aid the babies delivery (it would be God doing the work through her).  She though he was crazy.  An hour later when they baby would not come, she gently inserted her hand during a contraction, looped her finger around the babies shoulder and did a cork-screw maneuver.  She had no idea what she was doing or why. She just did it.  It was God!  With the the next piggyback-contraction he gloriously emerged.  He only weighed 7lbs 2 ozs (my smallest baby yet) but he had broad shoulders and a broad chest.  To this day he is a big guy (he recently turned 8 but he looks like he is 10).  He not only pinked up quickly after delivery but turned bright red all over, gave one very loud annoyed cry, and then went to sleep.  He had no abrasions. No injuries.  I had a first degree tear (no stitches need). There was a GREAT rush of blood that followed his delivery, more than an acceptably 'normal' amount by far. The article mentioned this as a possible complication with shoulder dystocia.  I've always wondered if that was a possibility.  
  Anyway, the article is an interesting read.  Personally, if I should experience another shoulder dystocia, I will be flipping over onto all fours, Ina May Gaskin style.  :) 
 

This posted message is what I was greeted with upon entering the base OB/GYN office (which I have to use if I want my visit covered by insurance).  I would love to skip this whole process but I have to have proof of pregnancy (from a state approved facility) so that the state of California will give me a birth certificate, so that DEERS will put me in the system, so that TIRCARE will grant us insurance coverage for this baby.           


  I am not jumping through these hoops as gracefully as I wish I was. 

  I guess I will give this Xanga thing another go.  PHEW, it's been a while and everything in my life has turned completely around.  Only God can do that! 


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  I can hardly believe it but it's raining!  Yes, actual rain! We don't see much of that around here in the Mojave Desert.  It smells glorious!  The only thing I need now is a good old fashioned West Texas thunderstorm.

   My dearly beloved, is somewhere on a remote mountain-top (near Death Valley) tonight; dressed as a Taliban terrorist; engaged in a full scale army-laser-tag.  They dropped him out there by helicopter the other night.  I've gotten use to him being home. Now the house seems so empty without him here. His outfit for this rotation is pretty amazing.  They have been under orders to grow beards for the past two months and with their Afgani costumes, I have to say that they look pretty convincing.
 
  My tummy is growing in leaps and bounds.  I feel way more pregnant than just 24 weeks.  I'm not uncomfortable, just feeling huge.  If I feel that way now, I'm going to be miserable in three months :)  Being pregnant again is wonderful.