Pumpkins!

Today we want pumpkin picking with our great friends, The Waltons.

Piggy Faces.
Elina loves Claire very much.

canning season!

Salsa Base in the making.
Fresh Cherry tomato bruschetta & homemade bread.

Corn Relish in the making!
Corn relish!
Cherry Tomatoes.
Chard stems & Beets.
Dilly beans & dried kale.

With Our Garden in full swing, it is time to start preserving! We have discovered the JOY of canning!!

Also the Democrat Herald did this fun little article. Check it out.

http://democratherald.com/news/local/article_2b31386a-de77-11e0-9d35-001cc4c03286.html

Delicious.

Crepes!!

This morning I woke up and realized that I really wanted some sweet time with my big little chica! So we decided to make crepes for breakfast!!

Elina was very helpful in mixing the ingredients for the crepe batter!

And she was very helpful at cleaning it up!

Can't have crepes without the homemade whipped cream!! (Heavy cream, vanilla, and Evaporated cane juice!!)

Elina Holding the cup for me While we whipped the cream!

Elina got nervous while whipping the cream and let go of the cup, and the cream went flying. :D

Whipped Cream!

We cut up some strawberries and finished cooking!!

Crepes are her favorite! Probably because it is one of the only times I'll give her cream and sugar!! :D

The Finished Product!

What a wonderful time with my Elina. And they were delicious!

The likeness of a tree.

My emotions like the Branches of a tree. Strongly attached to the core of my being, yet when a storm hits they seem to thrash in the wind. And on the occasion a branch will break off and crash to the ground leaving a slivered raged open hole.
My body feels worn and tired. My womb like a hollowed out hole in my trunk, inhabiting a small babe, creating the perfect nest safe from the cold winds and rage of the outside. My skin becoming calloused with time showing signs of wear. The carvings of my family and loved ones have been cut deep into my bark for all to see. From my head grows wisdom, like fruit, growing more abundant and sweet with years. As I move from the shade of my mothers covering, my hair like leaves grows more wild and untamed, covering my own children. The seeds of my fruit fall over them and take root. My unborn children, like the saplings who have died at my roots, leaving rich nutrients in my soil, helping me to grow stronger and taller with each passing day. My feet like roots remain firmly planted in the soil without sway. And my bark, my God. For without my bark I would be left standing alone, naked in the cold storm of life.
This is who I am. Who I have become. Time only aiding my journey through life. Reminding me that the scares and callouses only add to the beauty of the creation. And only speaks to the wonderment of the creator.

Home.

I got released today! I'm ready for good food and full BED REST. Ok more the food and less the bed rest. And the best of all back to our Sweet Elina!! So wonderful to be home with her! She is so happy to have us home again. At the moment she and seth are out shopping for some groceries. She was very adamant that only her and papa go. Not me. It is such a wonderful thing as a mother to see a fathers face light up like that.

So here is what my OB ended up feeling is wrong with me. I did have a slight partial abruption. Looks like a small tear around the edge of the placenta. Also I am very anemic. My Iron levels came back high because I had been taking floridex (Liquid Iron supplement) and this caused my blood level to show high amounts of iron. However my iron storage in my body is extremely depleted. So it's a matter of waiting for my iron storage to fill and bring my blood count back up. It will be nice to do this in the comfort of my home in my bed.

The reason for the bed rest is because if I do too much I could cause the abruption to continue to worsen and more bleeding. Also I have been trying off and on to go into labor. And it would be so wonderful for baby Bella if we could hold off until the 18th. (induction date) Sooo bed rest it is. I am much looking forward to my belly blessing on Friday, because this belly can use all the blessings it can get!

As most of you also know (I have an older blog on this) The reason for the induction is because I also have a rare condition called Cholestasis. I have to deliver by 37 weeks or our sweet baby is put under a high risk of stillbirth. But she is very strong and I feel that her birth is going to be wonderful and beautiful!

So once more thank you so much for your concern and love. I know the trials are not over and it will take some time to get my body back on track, but we are one step closer.

Still here...

Sacred heart RiverBend Hospital.
Day 3 here ending and I was ready to be home a few hours in. I know that many of you know I am in the hospital on bed rest and have been since Friday eve/Sat Morn 1AM. But for those of you who don't know I guess I will start with Friday night.

Friday night I noticed I was bleeding around 11PM. It wasn't an enormous amount of blood so we decided to drive to our Hospital in Eugene. At first we were told it was A placental abruption. At first I was showing all the signs. The numbers in my blood count shot down and I started to go into labor. I started having contractions close together and I dialated to 3. Then it all stopped. Which is good because I was only 35 weeks. Bella Is healthy and her heart is so amazingly strong right now. We are really proud of her.

Today my O.B. came and talked to us. He ordered me an ultra sound and said if it came back looking good I should get to leave Tomorrow. This however was before he ordered some blood testing. So now we are still in some sort of limbo of not knowing what is really going on with me or how long we will be here. Today I started having some pretty bad 'light-headedness' and shortness of breath. We thought that this must all be related to my anemia, however my iron levels are great. Now we have gotten other blood tests back and 3 of them came back a significant amount below what they should be at the lowest. It is looking like my body has stopped making red blood cells. We are so ready to be home and hopeful that we can get home tomorrow. It is hard to be in a time of waiting, and not understanding what any of this means for me or baby.

So that is kinda all the physical of what is going on. As far as emotional this has been very difficult. The unknown can be a terrifying thing. Seth and I have found it so difficult to be here without Elina. We as a family compete each other and her absence have left us feeling incomplete, and anxious. Most days it actually overrides my worries of what is going on with me.

I know this is a lot to take in. We are trying to understand it all ourselves.
Thank you for reading this and caring for us. We are so grateful for our support right now.

God is so good. We know in time this will all make sense to us.

Self portrait.

Positive.

So the Test came back showing what we pretty much already knew. I indeed have Cholestasis. Even though we saw this coming the reality of it all is something that is more than slightly hard to swallow. In one test my possibility of ever having a home birth has been cut down by 90%. I know that maybe some people wont understand my sadness in this. But birth is and has been for the past 3 years my PASSION. I love it! Love the beauty of it! Love the moment when sweet little baby enters the world as goes right onto mommy. That sweet moment that I so wanted to experience in the comfort and warmth of my home. I was able to have Elina at Bella Vie birthing center and that was wonderful. I will still get to experience that sweet moment with Bella, just not in the same environmental as was hoped for. I am grateful that the hospital where I am having Bella has started a new approach to child birth that is much like a midwives approach. Once the baby is born, as long as the baby is healthy, the little one goes straight to the mommy and does not leave her for at least an hour or more. And when they do take her for a short moment it is only to weigh and get measurements.

Sorry this is all a bunch of rambles... I hope that I am able to convey my hearts sadness at this time in a way that helps some to understand what I am feeling.

But please do not let this come out as if I am in anyway ungrateful for my healthy baby GIRL! I am so thrilled to meet her in just a few short weeks, and also so thrilled that she can be born healthy. I do love my Doctor and my Midwife/doula both so much. They are both extremely supportive of no epidural, as little if any pitocin. They are going to try some other was to induce first Pit is kinda a last resort thing.

On a very exciting note, we have some wonderful pictures of our sweet girl! Here is little Bella Coquille!

Test results tomorrow.

Tomorrow the test results will be in for whether or not I have Cholestasis. I am considered at this point a presumed case. Which means my Dr. and Midwife are assuming I have it even without results. There is just nothing else at this point that could be causing all these symptoms. I have started the 2 trips a week to Eugene and the meds... which is kinda helping but more just making me tired at night that I can sleep. About every other night I wake up scratching my legs and they are burning. I find that if I keep myself busy it is harder to pay attention to the itching. However it also wears me out to do to too much. We are continuing to go on with inducement plans :/ Kinda crazy how all my birth plans have been turned upside down in a matter of days. But I am grateful that we have the availability to even do this to keep our sweet girl safe. Even if I can not have an awesome home birth in my tub... at least I have a super awesome jacuzzi tub. :D For now we are planing to induce 3-4 weeks from today! Crazy. I went from having 8 weeks left to 4.
At this point that is all the update I have. I have an appointment tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.
I'll try to keep you all updated.

Birth Music...

My ears have been enjoying the sweet melodic sounds of Cat Power.
However I have been wanting to hear Nico Case and she is no where to be found. This is sad.

However this musicy mood has got me thinking. I need to start looking forward to what is going to be serenading the birth of my beautiful sweet Bella. With Elina I listened to Iron and Wine, and Sigur Ros. Both excellent choices.
Maybe Some Explosions...
Any Suggestions?

Bella = Baya

BTW Our name is pronounced Baya. The double 'L's are silent. It's Spanish for beautiful.

It's a GIRL???!!!

Um... what? hahaha.
SO as many of you know we were told boy at around 20 weeks. However during the appointment to day we had an ultrasound the revealed we are undoubtedly having a baby GIRL!
Welcome baby BELLA COQUILLE!!!

Cholestasis...huh?

I don't really know where to start. Our world in the last 7 months has drastically changed. One of those changes includes our sweet baby that is growing in my stomach.
With The pregnancy alone I have had many physical battles, that have left me housebound for days at a time. Broken foot, bad cold, pre-term labor scare... But the most recent development is possibly causing Seth and I to step outside our comfort zone into what is, for us, unknown.
On Friday morning I woke with a slight cold that developed into an all out cold with fever and other symptoms. On Monday evening I started becoming very itchy. At first I thought it was normal pregnancy and dismissed it. Then the itching started to progress. Since Friday I had a hard time sleeping at night, but dismissed it because of the cold. By Tuesday I was feeling better but then Tuesday night I slept only 2 hours because the itching became so overwhelming I couldn't sleep through it. I called my midwife and we started monitoring it. Wednesday night I only slept 20 min. My feet felt like they were burning and my whole body itched. After trying topical creams and other meds we realized that all my symptoms lead to a condition called Cholestasis of Pregnancy.
Cholestasis is a condition that affects your liver. The normal flow of bile in the gallbladder is affected by the high amounts of pregnancy hormones. Pregnancy hormones affect gallbladder function, resulting in slowing or stopping the flow of bile. The gallbladder holds bile that is produced in the liver, which is necessary in the breakdown of fats in digestion. When the bile flow is stopped or slowed down, this causes a build up of bile acids in the liver which can spill into the bloodstream.
The spill out can also be referred to as bile salt. Your body then tries to get rid of this by seeping it out through the skin causing extreme irritation and itching. (I think I have this all right) This being the case, anything topical will not work or your normal antihistamines. Because the itch is actually under the skin not on the surface. It is coming from inside. So if you do scratch it only multiplies the pain and itching. So my first question was, How is this going to effect my sweet little baby? Cholestasis may increase the risks for fetal distress, preterm birth, or stillbirth. A developing baby relies on the mother’s liver to remove bile acids from the blood; therefore, the elevated levels of maternal bile cause stress on the baby’s liver.
Tomorrow morning I am going to Eugene to see a specialist to get testing done. My midwife along with the specialist are pretty sure that I have this. All my symptoms point in the direction of this condition. The test will take around a week to get results back, however because of my lack in sleep and inability to function properly I am starting the medication tomorrow. If the medication works then it would seem very obvious that I have this condition. If the test comes back positive, it means major changes in my birth plan. From now up until birth (about 4-5 weeks) I would have to go to Eugene twice a week for ultra sound checks on baby. I would have to have a hospital birth, and I would have to be induced at around 35 weeks. For most of you who know Seth and I this would normally be something that would shake us up. But Seth and I both have a significant amount of peace surrounding this. The most important part of this whole thing is that our sweet little bay is safe and healthy! If this is the case my midwife will continue to play a significant role in my prenatal and postpartum care, as well as being present at my birth.

I know this is a lot to take in, and a lot to be praying for! Please join us in praying for safety and Papa's guidance. We have comfort in our Father and peace with our situation. Also pray for Elina to have a peace as well. She can feel the emotions of those around her very easily and is greatly affected by it. She is an amazing little chica. Thanks.

Remembering my passions...

Seth and Elina! (and little baby in my belly too!!!)


Someday Building our own Cob house!!!


Making all our own baby wipes solution using Organic Bamboo muslin wipes.
All Natural Baby Wipes Solution
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup Aloe Vera Juice
• 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Calendula Oil
• 1 teaspoon grated, unscented soap
• 2 drops Lavender Oil
• 2 drops Tea Tree Oil


Growing our garden. Taking another step toward becoming self sustaining.