God Was In A Good Mood When He Created Oregon

Jake and I (and Evie too!) drove to Roseburg yesterday to buy some music gear.

Here's some pictures from our drive.

Why I Chose A Midwife

It's 5:15am. The baby's asleep. She's been asleep for almost five hours. A world record in the Schmelzer house. One of the longest stretches that I, as little 7 weeks old Evelyn Joy's mama, could enjoy and here I am lying in bed and thinking about why I chose to have little Evie with a midwife.

First and foremost, beyond everyone's suspicions- I didn't have Evie with a midwife at a birthing center because I'm cheap. Yes, I am cheap. And yes, I will do almost anything to save a few bucks (Oh have I got some crazy stories...). But I would never risk my life and the life of my precious baby to save some money. No, I didn't choose Augustine Colebrook CPM, LM because of money. I chose Trillium Waterbirth Center because I truly believed and believe that it was the SAFEST option.

Even beginning this path to motherhood I was nervous. I remember telling my husband Jake when we were just courting that I didn't want to have kids. He, in usual Jake style, very vigorously attempted to get to the root of 'my problems.' Which resulted in, my usual style, me crumbling into a puddle of tears and confusion. What it's really always come down to for me is that I never really thought I could cut it as a mom. I didn't think I could do it. Any part of it. From carrying that baby for nine months, having that baby (YIKES), and then raising that baby to not be a serial killer. (That's every mother's goal- right?) So, when we got pregnant (suprise!) I was thrust into motherhood without anytime for fears to get in the way.

One night we had some dear friends of ours' over for dinner who recently had their first baby. We told them our wonderful news and that, of course, got us all talking about birth and how 'scary' it is. They told us about a documentary they had never seen (The Business of Being Born) and a midwife they didn't use. Augustine Colebrook. Soon after that we actually lost that baby, which only added to my fears that I wasn't 'good' enough to be a mom. I went to the doctors to confirm that I had had a miscarriage and sadly, my experience was not good. I had spent the whole night losing my baby and desperately pleading with God that He would save my baby, and the doctor acted suspicious if I had ever been pregnant at all. Once she had confirmed that I had been truly pregnant (Oh good- I'm not crazy...) then she began to act suspicious that I had had a miscarriage. I had to wait two days and take two blood tests to confirm what I already knew in my heart. This was one of the worst experiences I had ever had. In one of the most emotional and disappointing times in my life I felt like I had been treated as dummy in the situation. That only 'Science' could tell me what was happening inside of me.

But, one of the greatest thing that that miscarriage did for both Jake and I was that it made both of us desperately want a baby. We mourned for the baby we lost and three months later I was pregnant again. I watched The Business of Being Born one day when I was home alone and I was thankful that Jake wasn't there. There were quite a few actual births shown in the movie. I had never seen from those angles birth and it was a little freaky, but I had a feeling to Jake it would be a lot freakier.

I began researching birth today in America and that began to scare me. 1 in 3 women in the US have a C-Section this is compared to 4.5% in 1965 (that's like 1 in 20 women- slightly better odds). The rate of women who were induced doubled just from 1990-2005. At the same time the maternal mortality rates are shocking in our 'super advanced' nation. It's not a problem isolated in doctors and medicine, but in all of us. In our culture and mindset. We genuinely think of pregnancy as a medical condition that needs to be treated. All these things began to build the case in my mind to have my baby with a midwife.

When I shared my feelings with Jake he was slightly hesitant. Not because he didn't like my research but because we didn't know one single person who had delivered their baby outside of mainstream medicine in a hospital. (Besides my 92 year old grandma who had her first child in the 30's in a shack in the boondocks of Louisiana) In between all of our preparations for parenthood Augustine Colebrook had opened Trillium Waterbirth Center. Totally nervous we called for a free interview with her. Outside the birthing center we sat in our car. I was 12 weeks pregnant scared that I would lose this baby too. We just sat there. Finally I said, "We're just going to go in and see if she's a weirdo. If we're uncomfortable at all, we won't use them." And Jake, "Yeah. We'll just see what kind of vibe we get at this place." And with nervous feet we ventured in.

But from the moment we stepped inside the walls of Trillium we knew. We told Mina at the front desk who we were and a woman standing behind the desk turned toward us with a huge smile and big blue eyes and introduced herself as Augustine. (I, of course, already realized she was Augustine because I had been stalking her and her midwifery skills on the internet...) For an hour Augustine just talked to us and listened to us. We told her about all of our research, (By this time I'd watched quite a few documentaries and read lots of material on the subject) our concerns, and our hopes. She assured us that she was not against doctors and hospitals. That she was very happy that they were there for us in emergencies, but that she didn't believe that we needed to start there.

From the very beginning Augustine and her associates emphasized that woman was made to have babies. That we'd been having them since time began and our bodies were the best experts. Over the next 6 months I began to truly believe this for myself. They never referred to my baby as a fetus. She was always a baby. And they always referred to Jake and I as Papa and Mama. This seems trivial, but by the time I was ready to have our baby, I thought of us as Papa and Mama. A total mindset change for me. And I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God had created me to have a baby. I knew that I was designed in such a way that I wouldn't need outside chemical or medical help.

Then, on Oct 8th, 11 days after my due date, around 7 at night I was sitting in a tub, slightly delirious from the pain and hormones of birth. But I remember, clearer tonight than ever before, looking to my left and seeing my husband's big brown eyes. He was kneeling at the tub staring back at me with all the love in the world. I could tell he was scared for me, but excited to meet our little girl face to face. Moving my eyes to right I saw Augustine's big blue eyes looking at me, with full confidence that I could deliver this baby. To her left were the Amys. That's what I always called them in my head. Two women who I met at my first appt and had been with me throughout this entire journey. These three women knew me. They knew my body. They knew my baby. They knew my fears. My doubts. My strengths and my weaknesses. I genuinely felt like I was giving birth with all my best friends. (Extremely knowledgeable, trained, and experienced best friends, but best friends none the less.) They encouraged me and guided me. They would look straight into my eyes even when I couldn't look into theirs and tell me, "You can do it." "You're doing great." "Keep going."

And at 8:34pm at Trillium Birthing Center with Jake Schmelzer, Augustine Colebook, Amy Hendrickson, and Aimee Disharoon we met Evelyn Joy. All 8lbs 14oz of her. She was wide awake and beautiful. She had absolutely no drugs in her system and I had none in mine. And so we were both able to meet each other unencumbered by any outside substance. Jake and I were never separated from her and we were never separated from each other. We stayed at the birthing center for two more days where we were treated like royalty but also with respect. They respected us as parents (even though we barely even saw ourselves as parents yet!).

While I was pregnant, when I would tell people where I was planning on delivering they would ask why. Now they ask if I would have my next baby (a few years down the road, knock on wood) the same way. They look at me like I must be crazy. Now that I've experienced natural birth there's no way I could possibly choose to experience that again- right? But, honestly, I pray I never have to have a baby any other way.

I chose a midwife because I found it to be the wisest, safest, and best option given to me, my husband, and my baby.

Now, it's 6:36am. Marking tonight as the longest stretch Evie has ever slept.

Jake's B-Day

My husband loves the Fall! And I do too! What's not to love about it? The crisp air, the beautiful trees, corn mazes, pumpkins, high school football (GO PANTHERS), and, of course, Halloween. 

Now, I know Halloween is a controversial holiday. I, myself, never really celebrated Halloween as a child and I certainly wasn't allowed to go trick or treating. Every year my parents, they were children's pastors at the time, would host a huge Hallelujah Night. It was great! Hay bales separated games and activities where I could glean TONS of candy!

As an adult, (yeah, I know, that depends on who you ask) I love Halloween. Not the nasty, creepy, weirdo's Halloween. But the fun, slightly spooky, "Ernest Scared Stupid" kind of Halloween. (Side note- I was very much into all of the ernest movies as a child and when this one came out- it actually did scare the bejeebies out of me. I think that they should have put a warning on the movie because most of us 8 year olds were really not prepared for troll growing, child eating trees.) But, even more than I love Halloween- Jake loves Halloween! Plus he loves birthdays- specifically his birthday. And his birthday just happens to coincide in the same month as (Yep! You guessed it!) Halloween! 

So, we're going to have a Halloween Birthday Costume Party for Jake this year and it's gonna be awesome (hopefully...). Today, at the grocery store I spotted a little magazine filled with Halloween themed food! I quickly flipped it over to see how much it was- $4.99. Deeming that the magazine was not worth my money I decided to snoop inside and see if I saw any intriguing food. I spotted these meringue ghosts that are just so cool! So I repeated in my head over and over, "meringue ghosts, meringue ghosts, meringue ghosts," in order that I could look them up on the World Wide Web when I got home and get the recipe for meringue ghosts for free (thank you Al Gore!).

I hope that you too can enjoy these ghosts. I personally have no idea what meringue tastes like, but I don't care if they taste good- I just want them to scare people! 

Happy Halloween!

Day 1 Ireland!

I know it's been an entire month since I've returned from Ireland, but I still wanted to share about our amazing trip!

Day 1- We arrived in Belfast in the morning to the smiling Irish Eyes of good friend, Paul Bradley. We were pretty wasted from the red eye plane ride. Also, I was flying 10 weeks pregnant and that really wasn't a lovely experience. But how can you be at all disappointed flying into Northern Ireland?

On our last flight from Newark to Belfast I sat next to a charming old man who was born in Belfast but had lived in Toronto for the last 30 years. Needless to say, his accent was so strange I could barely understand him. He pointed out that Belfast Airport is the only airport in the world that has wild rabbits that run around the runways. Both of us strained to see floppy ears bouncing along the grass- YEP- I can confirm that there are cute little rabbits that dodge airplanes in Belfast. 

Paul gave us a grand tour on our first day. We traveled along the St Patrick trail. We saw the 1st church he established, a monastic village, his grave, and everything in between. It was a perfect day in a beautiful country!

When we asked what these ruins were, we got the standard answer from cultures who aren't shocked by thousand  year old ruins. "Umm, just some sort of castle maybe." Oh, some sort of castle. Yeah, of course, no big deal at all...

                                Jake and Paul walking down the lane towards St. Patrick's first church.

Love This Post On Homemaking

This is one of the greatest coupon blogs. Coupon blogs? Yeah- if you don't coupon that could sound pretty boring. But they always talk about so much more. Home projects, fun recipes, and this new series they're starting on homemaking! I'm so excited to read their next post on the subject- Plus I love the picture. Wish I looked that cute gardening...

Check them out at Frugal Living Nw!

How To Save Money During The Holidays!

Decor on the CHEAP!

When my husband and I got married we got A LOT of presents from our family and friends. We were really blessed- more than I ever imagined possible. (I literally got tired, like exhausted, when we were opening them...but it was fun) We got one present that was a good thought, but perhaps not executed properly. It was a box of Christmas decorations. (Really, really strange Christmas decorations) This is a great idea for newly married people because when our first Christmas rolled around we didn't have anything except what was in that present. And what's Christmas without garland, lights, pine-cones, stockings, and glitter? (Answer= Jesus' birthday) 

That's when the choice came- buy Christmas presents for each other or buy Christmas decorations... So, needless to say we had to become creative in order to have a decorated house and receive presents from each other. 

Here are some lessons I've learned about decorating your house for Christmas and not taking a 3rd or 4th mortgage out on your home. 

1. Shop the sales! Every  year big stores Target and Walmart will dramatically mark down there entire Christmas stock after Christmas. Walmart traditionally marks down to 75% and Target to a whopping 90%. This happen a few weeks after Christmas, so selection isn't as big as if you spent your money at full price, but you'll save LOTS. Think about pieces that you'll want next year and get them at the end of this year.  
2. Buy used! Check craigslist and second hand stores for decorations. I bought icicle lights last year at our Goodwill As Is store for about $1! I was able to plug them in and make sure they worked first, so why not? 
3. Bring the outside in. Bring in some branches from outside, keep them green or spray paint them silver or gold. Use evergreen branches, pinecones, and berries. You can easily make your own live wreaths.
4. Make a garland of Christmas cards that are given to you. Start with last years and add new ones you receive as the season goes on. Use clothespins to connect them or simply hang them with their crease over a string of twine or ribbon. 
5. From Reader's Digest: "Don't have Christmas stockings? Santa won't care. Take soup, peanut, or coffee cans... About one inch down from the top of the can, drill a hole. Now paint the can whatever color you like and either add a label with the person's name on it or paint it right on the can. Glue things on, paint, etc. Go for it. There are no rules! Paper snowflakes work great. Then string a ribbon through the hole and hang it on the mantel!"
6. Candles, candles, candles. Collect candles from all around the house. Cluster them in groups with some evergreen as the base, or around Christmas bulbs. Candles are an easy way to show that it's Christmas!
7. Make you own tree trimmings. String metal bottle caps together to make unique garland, use traditional popcorn, or red buttons. Make Christmas decorations out of origami shapes! Decorate with left over ribbons from last year!

The biggest way to save money is to think outside of the box. Of course stores want you to just rush down pick out the latest and the greatest and decorate your house- but you don't have to! Think of new ways to make your house a winter wonderland!

SNOW!

Today I woke up to a beautiful blanket of snow- in November no less! 

Thank you God- I know it was just for me!