Calla's Birth Story

Calla Jade Zollinger made her entrance on Tuesday, June 11th at 2:50 in the morning. 7 pounds and 20 inches in length. Four days before her expected due date. Not many babies abide by their due date now do they? It was a bit unexpected, but I could tell my body was getting more and more ready, so I cannot say that it was a complete surprise. We were definitely anxious to meet our little girl.

On Wednesday, June 5th I had my 38 week appointment at the OB/GYN office. After seeing that I was 3 cm dilated, my doctor went ahead and stripped my membranes. She told me that 1/3 of the time this trick will put a woman into labor, and typically within the next 24-48 hours.

After hearing that, I scurried to the grocery store and back home to put some finishing touches on our hospital bag and also got Bennett's things around for his stay with grandma and grandpa.

Let me not forget to mention that we had decided to go ahead and be induced if I reached 40 weeks. June 17th was our scheduled induction date. I honestly do not know how women can handle going a week or two beyond their due date. I was so miserable. I became a bit of a home body the last couple of weeks due to not feeling good, tiredness, and it took such effort to get out the door.

After the membrane sweep, I felt some cramping and a bit nauseous, but fast-forward 48 hours earlier and no action. I decided that baby girl still needed some time to cook away.

I was induced with Bennett due to complications. Read about that here, if you wish. Although I was 6 cm when they induced me with Bennett, I had not had any contractions up to that point. The only contractions I was familiar with, were those induced by Pitocin, and let me just say....NO COMPARISON. In my opinion, contractions when hooked up to Pitocin are far worse, which is why I opted for an epidural with him.

I was rooting for an epidural this time as well. I made that clear to my provider at one of the first appointments, and since I struggle with low platelets, I requested lab work near the end of the pregnancy to make sure I was a candidate. I was doing everything in my power to make sure that I had the option of an epidural.

Monday night, June 10th, I woke up in the middle of the night to some major cramping, which I believe could be identified as contractions, but I was not certain. They were somewhat painful, but after a soak in the bathtub, they went away.

The following night I felt the same sensation wake me up right around midnight. This time I knew they were contractions. At first they were spaced about 7-10 minutes apart. I soaked in the bath again, and they were still coming on quite strong, closer together and more intense each time. Nate was up by now, after hearing me clammer around. We decided to load a few things into the car just in case.

At 1:38 a.m. I called the OB/Maternity floor at the hospital to see if I could come in and be checked, they agreed. I called my mom up at 1:44 to come over to be with Bennett. I told her, "I think it may be baby time!" Thankfully she lives next door, and she was over quite quickly.

We were on the road soon after 2:00, with a 30 minute drive to the hospital. The contractions kept hitting me, with not much break in between. By now they were every 1-2 minutes. Nate was not wasting any time on the highway, he had no intentions of delivering a baby in the car.

We got to the hospital, talked to registration (which thankfully did not take long), went up to the 2nd floor. We introduced ourselves and were escorted to our room. The nurse asked me to give a urine sample and put on a monitor. When I went into the bathroom to do the following, I literally felt the babies head coming out. I started moaning because I had an urge to push. The nurse came in to check on me and she (along with Nate's assistance) got me to the hospital bed.

She checked and sure enough, I was fully dilated and the babies head was crowning. No time to call my personal OB doctor, they paged the ER doctor, who I'm sure did not have 'delivering a baby' on his agenda for the night. After a few pushes, our baby girl arrived. It was a bit of a blur, and I am not certain of the times. The staff did tell us that there were 13 minutes in between, by the time they got myself registered into the computer, and the time in which Calla arrived. This birth story ended up being much shorter and less drawn-out than I ever expected. When our baby girl decided to come, she did not beat around the bush, she was ready to enter into the world.

We are so thankful that we got the move-on when we did. God's leading and provision was definitely felt. We would not have wanted to cut it any closer than we did. After a one-night hospital stay, we were on our way home with our sweet little bundle.

Big brother, Bennett, is doing pretty well. He does not want much to do with her, but he does ask about her, especially if she is in another room. I am hoping his fondness toward her will continue to grow, because she is here to stay!

He recently turned two, back in May. While he is cute as ever, he is one active little guy, and some days he makes me want to pull my hair out. I know he is going through the 'toddler' phase, along with a new transition, and so I will try to extend grace, but some days are harder than others.

A stinker one minute and the sweetest little guy the next. I'm sure many parents could relate.

  

We feel abundantly blessed to be a family of four. It may take a while to find our new normal, but we will get there eventually. Hard to believe that our girl is about to hit the three week mark. We will cherish every moment because they sure do not stay little for long.

House Projects

 I thought I would hop on and share a few of my projects from the last several months. It seems like I am most fulfilled when I have a project. At times I do get burnt out and just want to have everything finished. 

This trunk was given to me by my mom. It sat in our garage for a couple years until I finally got the motivation to tackle it. In a way, I am thankful that I waited to refinish it, because I am afraid I would have painted the whole thing white. My style has changed from when I was first married.

I restained the top and bottom and used black chalk paint on the middle. I did distress some of the fine details to add an aged look. A few coats of polyurethane finished it off nicely. 

I am very happy with how it turned out!

These pictures are from this past fall when I had it decorated for the season.

On one of my many late night scrolls through Pinterest, I noticed these neat black and white wood decor hangings. My motto is, 'do not buy it unless you cannot make it.' A piece becomes special to me when I actually put some work and effort into it instead of buying it at the store.

Mine are not exactly like the picture but close enough. I did buy the blank wood frames from Hobby Lobby and just used a ruler to draw the design on. I used paint pens and small paint brushes to do the fine edges.

Nate also gets in on a few projects himself, usually by choice. He does not seem to mind too much. We did a shiplap accent wall in a bedroom upstairs.

Do you spy a little helper?

I like the dimension and character that it adds.

Here are a few signs that I made from pieces of wood lying around our house.

While I like the saying of the aqua sign (left), I just did not have a good place for it. I needed a FALL sign for my porch.

I did glue some rustic craft wood around the edges to make it look complete.

This brown board was a shelf that we took down when we moved into this house.

This is not the best picture, but I turned it into a BAKERY sign for my kitchen.

This brown scroll is something that I made out of brown craft paper. So simple and cheap. I tied some burlap ribbon through the top in order to hang it on a hook. All of the sayings for these projects, I print off of Microsoft Word and transfer onto the paper or sign. No free-handing for this girl. I wish=)

This next project has been mostly Nate. Other than painting and staining, he did this all on his own.

Due to the fact that Nate works from home one day per week, he needs a private work space. With another baby coming he decided it might be best to move upstairs. He was not real keen on the pink stripe. 

These pictures do not do it justice, but it turned out really well. We have some trim and a bit more painting to do yet. This is one of our most recent projects. 

I am sure I will be back with more projects to share in the future. The outdoor projects have been calling my name lately and those are numerous. Numerous and not quite as fun in my eyes. I think we are all ready for the temperatures to warm up and have that sun peak through. 

Time for Spring to spring!!

Bennett's Big News!

 It has been awhile since I have hopped on here to say, "hello." I have a bit of catching up to do, and it may take a few posts.

We are living the life and always have so very much to be thankful for. It is hard to believe that this month marks one year since we moved to Indiana. 

The house has kept us busy with projects and having family around has added to our social circle, which has been wonderful.

Bennett has some news he would like to share...

I know many of you have heard from other sources, but Bennett will be a big brother come mid-June.

Although it will be an adjustment (for all of of us, not only the little guy), Bennett has a tender heart and has the makings of a sweet big brother.

Both Nate and I appreciate knowing the gender ahead of time. At the end of January we were able to find out.

I was expecting the baby to be another little boy, but to my surprise....IT IS A GIRL!

The sign says, "I am gonna be the mister to a little baby sister."

This sign is not accurate any longer, I am now 27 weeks along. 

The pregnancy is going smoothly thus far, at this phase I just have to be careful that I am not on my feet all day, otherwise my lower body pays for it.

It is fun to start thinking about some accessories for a little girl. I would say I am in full nesting mode, with an occasional nap sprinkled in there, of course. 

When looking for cute swaddle blankets that not every other mother owns, I was not having much success. I wiped off the dust on my sewing machine and made a few of my own, along with some suede pacifier clips, a burp rag, and some head bands. 

I am itching to go get more swaddle fabric. This mama loves swaddle blankets, especially those first few months of a newborn.

I have also been working on the nursery. I found this pegboard at IKEA last week and thought it would be perfect above my changing station.

I painted a black accent wall a few weeks ago, and we put up the new crib. I am still deciding what to put above the crib, one project at a time I guess.

That is all I have for now. I will try not to be a stranger to this platform, at least not as much as I have been lately. Thank you for stopping by!