Joseph, Gabriella, Julianna, James, and Elora

Joseph, Gabriella, Julianna, James, and Elora

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Happy Six Months, Julianna!

Sweet little Julianna is six months old today! It's hard to believe the time has gone so fast. I guess it's true what they say about motherhood - the days feel long, but the weeks and months and years fly by!   

            

I know one should never have favorites among their children - and I don't - but I do have to admit to liking certain children better at various "stages." (For example, Joseph was my first baby and I was absolutely crazy about him...but the child would not SLEEP as an infant!! He would stay awake until 3 or 4 in the morning and just fuss and fuss and cry...I didn't really know what "colic" was at the time and I thought that was just what all babies were like. Oh, my, was I relieved was James was born and he was not like that! ;-) So far, it is hard not to be incredibly prejudiced in Julianna's favor because she is SUCH a sweet baby! She has been a great sleeper from the very beginning, hardly cries, and is sooo snuggly! She's just a happy, happy baby most of the time and so much fun to be around.



It's also quite interesting that she is the first of our babies to really show a marked preference for her Daddy! She has been "Daddy's girl" from the very beginning. I mean, she loves Mommy and wants me plenty, but she will sit with her Daddy for a very long time, perfectly content, and her little face just lights up whenever he's around! It's so very precious to watch, and I think Robert gets a huge kick of it because I'm sure it can be hard to always play second fiddle to Mommy! She's also the first baby he's been able to put to sleep on a regular basis.

  

About a month before she was born, we took the kids to see Frozen and they became absolutely obsessed with it. (Still are, in fact. If I have to hear one more rendition of "Let It Go" at the top of their lungs...) So when I asked Elora what she wanted to name the baby if it was a girl, she immediately said "Anna!" We had been talking about Julianna anyway, so I thought "oh, how cute - we can nickname her Anna!" (When asked what we should name the baby if it was a boy, Elora's suggestion was "T-Rex!" It's a good thing she was a girl.) However, somehow the nickname "Anna" never managed to stick. Sometimes we call her Julie, but everyone's favorite nickname for her is Jules or Jule. I love it because I think of her as our family's precious "jewel" - she is so loved and cared for and adored by her big brothers and sisters! They squabble over who gets to play with her, hold her, pick out her clothes, and even change her diaper! And she loves all the attention and just basks in the adoration (most of the time...unless it's all a little overwhelming.) 


She is a blessing to our whole family and none of us can remember what we did without her. Happy Six Month "Birthday," Sweet Jules! 



Thursday, June 12, 2014

Birth Story: Our Not-Quite Christmas Baby

So, six months later, I am finally getting around to finishing the birth story for my 5th baby, Julianna Evelyn Voss. I realize I haven't blogged since before she was born! Frankly, with 5 kids, I just haven't had the time! I started this post about a month after she was born and I have just kept working on it but never quite managed to finish it until now. I realize it's kind of ridiculously late at this point. But I will go ahead and post it anyway, just because each one is unique and interesting. At least it is to the mom! And since having a baby is quite a difficult feat and proud accomplishment, the rest of you have to listen and pretend to be interested!!

My sweet baby girl. She's been a great sleeper from Day 1.

I think the theme of Julianna's birth is that everything you think you know is wrong! Having my 5th baby, I thought I pretty much knew exactly what I was doing and what to expect, and boy did she prove me wrong! Things started off strangely when about three weeks before my due date (which was December 12), I started having on-and-off contractions. For the first day and a half, they were pretty mild, but on Sunday night they started getting stronger. As this was exactly what had happened with James, I was sure the baby was going to come. Of course, my mom was out of town at the time - which was exactly what I was afraid was going to happened when I heard she was leaving. I called Daniella and told her I was in labor - and she, like the dear, sweet sister she is, hopped on a plane and came down to be there for me and help out since Mom was gone. I laid everything out, and Robert inflated and filled the birth pool (which was just a large kiddie swimming pool). Isaac and Melissa came over, and we all chatted as I walked around the living room. For the next couple hours things seemed to be progressing...and then, suddenly, it stopped. I finally gave up and went to bed, thinking maybe labor had just slowed down and I would be awakened in the night with contractions again. Woke up the next morning and still nothing. The baby seemed to have changed her mind and decided not to come after all. I felt disheartened and a bit stupid. After 4 kids, how could I have mistaken false labor for labor? It felt so real at the time...and with Elora coming so quickly, I was all geared up for another fast labor.
Here she is on Christmas Day - sucking her thumb and holding her ear. She learned than trick from Grandpa Larry.

The next few weeks were quite frustrating. I would have on-and-off labor in the late evening several times a week, sometimes every day! Several times it was strong enough for me to convince Robert that the baby "really was coming this time!" and he would fill the pool again, and then it would just stop. I felt SO bad for all I kept putting him, and the rest of my family, through, getting everyone's hope up for no reason. I know that it was all technically "labor" and my body was preparing for her to come...but it was still frustrating and draining, both emotionally and physically. Everyone was very sweet and supportive and helpful, taking the kids and bringing me food and doing fun activities to help take my mind off the fact that baby hadn't appeared yet!

This is me "ridiculously pregnant" two days before she was born

My due date, December 12, arrived, and still no baby. I started to get seriously annoyed with this baby, especially since I'd only had one other baby go past her due date (Gabriella). Mom jokingly called her "Carlotta" after the opera star from Phantom of the Opera who is such a diva. Monday I had a midwife appointment, and they started talking about ways to help jump-start my labor. I decline most of them since I wasn't even a week overdue yet, but consented to drink a kind of tea that was supposed to help "move things along." Still nothing happened for two more days.

Thursday, December 19, my cousin Tiana came over. She lives in Nashville and I don't get to see her nearly as often as I'd like, but she was in town for Christmas. We had lunch and made fudge, and I felt a bit funny all day but didn't think much of it since I'd had so many false alarms. Tiana left and I started making dinner for the kids...and then I started having contractions in earnest. They got stronger and stronger, and when I started timing them they were finally both strong and consistent - something they hadn't really been up until now. I was afraid to call anyone, though, because I really didn't want to give another false alarm! By 6:30 or so, I finally had to call Robert because I could no longer handle making dinner and dealing with the kids in between contractions. It was about another hour before he finally made it home, and by then I was no longer able to talk during each contraction. This finally convinced both of us I might actually be in labor at last! My parents came, and Lydia took the kids home with her. Mom and Dad stayed, and my brother Isaac showed up a bit later. (Since he got married last year and I know he and his wife are looking forward to becoming parents in God's timing, we thought it might be helpful for him to get to see what "natural childbirth" looks like - especially when the father is the labor coach!)

She's been a Daddy's girl from the start - the only baby he can put to sleep on a regular basis.

Contractions got steadily stronger over the next two hours or so, and by about 10:15 pm I was "in transition." I remember thinking in between contractions "Wait - why was I so eager for labor to start?? I forgot how HARD it is!" ;-) An interesting thing that happened this time that had never happened with any of my other babies was that during the intense contractions, I could actually feel where baby's head was inside me and feel it moving down. It's hard to explain...but it was pretty cool. Right about this point, we finally called the midwives - I think we kept holding off because we really really didn't want to have them come just for a false alarm! But in this case we waited a bit too long. I knew it was time to push, so I got into the poor, tattered, duct-taped-together-after-many-blow-ups swimming pool, and suddenly everything stopped. I felt tons better...but I was afraid my body had tricked me once again and I had slowed/stopped labor by getting in the water. Sigh. I took a couple of deep breaths, felt my body relax...and then suddenly had to push! Two pushes and she was out - our 5th baby, another sweet little girl! Robert caught her, scooped her up, wrapped her in a towel, and put her in my arms. "I'm so glad you're finally here!" I whispered to her as I snuggled her and instantly forgave her for all the trouble she had given me.

Sisters!

The midwives arrived a few minutes later. This seems to be our MO - call them too late and have them arrive after the baby's already here! I think it's because Robert just loves to deliver his own babies! ;-) And may I add that he's great at it! They checked me and baby out, declared everything great, helped deliver the placenta (which, frankly, was more trouble to push out than the baby had been) and got me settled into bed. My sister-in-law Melissa, who had been hoping to be here for the birth, arrived a few minutes too late and didn't actually get to see her birth but at least got to see the new baby. I remember that back when Joseph was born, I insisted that the ONLY people who were ever going to be there for the baby's birth were Robert and my mom because it was too embarrassing to have anyone else witness it! Needless to say, 5 kids later, my threshold for embarrassment is nearly non-existent. Plus I feel so strongly about natural birth  that if it can help anyone to be less, well, "freaked out" by witnessing a homebirth, that's really important to me. Not that I'm going to invite the neighbors to come watch or anything.


Proud big brothers

So there you have it (finally!) - Miss Julianna Evelyn Voss, 8 lb, 6 oz, 20 inches long, born December 19 at 10:25 pm. And may I add that in spite of all her dramatic false alarms beforehand, she was/is the sweetest, easiest baby we've ever had. She was sleeping 6+ hours a night by the time she was about 2 weeks old and gave us less trouble than any of the others, which has been a HUGE blessing! I'll post some more recent pictures of her soon. (And yes, I realize this post took 6 months, so "soon" might mean any time in the next year or so.... Thank you for your patience.)

I just love this expression...so silly