What's in the Guitar Case ... the sequel

The much anticipated sequel to What's in the Guitar Case has arrived. (You can still watch the original film here.)  So without further ado, we present What's in the Guitar Case II

And because our original star wanted to be in the sequel, we present: What's in the Guitar Case III starring both Keziah and Reuel!

What's in a Name?

When you pick a unique name for your child, you get a lot of questions from friends, family, and even strangers. What does it mean? How did you come up with it? Just like the story behind the name Keziah Rain, the story behind the name Reuel Rock requires a lengthy blog post.

I'll start with the middle name because we came up with it first. Just a few weeks into pregnancy we decided Rock was the perfect middle name if we were to have a boy. Just like Keziah's middle name Rain, it pointed to nature, which is something we both always wanted reflected in the names of our children. There are a lot of nature-themed names we like. But we decided on Rock for the same reason we decided on Rain for Keziah. It reflected what was happening in our lives.

When we moved to North Carolina we were so thrilled to finally be living in the mountains. It is something Michael Paul and I had both always wanted and had talked about since we met. More than that, we had talked specifically about wanting to raise our kids here. So when Keziah was born, we stopped talking about it and started taking steps to make it happen. God just made everything fall into place and blessed us with a wonderful house with a wonderful mountain view. And just around the corner, we found a creek full of rocks for our daughter (and future children) to play in. A few months after we moved here, we were completely surprised to find out we were expecting another child. Still riding the high of finally living in our favorite part of the country surrounded by mountains and rocks, the name Rock was an obvious choice.

The rock theme of our lives continued throughout pregnancy as Michael Paul suddenly became obsessed with collecting large rocks to landscape our yard. He would go out at three in the morning with his trailer hooked to his truck and load it up with large rocks he found in creeks and on the side of the road. When he started lusting after large boulders that couldn't be lifted, he bought a winch for his truck. He even stopped to ask neighbors if he could have the rocks from their yards. By the end of the summer, we had an awesome fire pit to enjoy, a large stone bench, and a nice flat rock for the end of our driveway that we put our street number on, not to mention a nice pile of rocks for later projects. I have my heart set on a koi pond with a fountain!

This is the fire pit Michael Paul built where we spent a lot of time last fall

Since Reuel's birth, I've been reflecting on the images the name Rock brings to mind. Strong, Secure, Solid, Dependable, Firm, Grounded, Peaceful. These are all things I hope my son becomes. In fact I can already see a bit of theses qualities in his personality. When someone describes a loved one as being "my rock" you know exactly what they mean. Michael Paul and I can be rather tightly wound sometimes. Keziah, too, has a very intense personality. Our family needed a laid back personality to balance us out. And he is definitely proving to be laid back. I will not be surprised at all if he is the rock that balances out the crazy in the rest of us. God knows exactly what he is doing when he builds a family. I am now beginning to see that the name God gave us for this child truly reflects his destiny.

So we had our middle name, but no first name. I made a few suggestions and Michael Paul hated all of them. After months of frustration trying to think of a name, I told Michael Paul if he would come up with a list of 10 names I would be able to find one I liked. So Michael Paul started thinking of musicians and authors he loved for inspiration. After a few days, he gave me a list of 8 names. The name Reuel immediately jumped off the page at me. I had never seen it or heard of it, so I asked him where he found it and how you pronounce it. Michael Paul pronounced it "Ray -oo - el" and told me it was what the second R in J.R.R. Tolkien stood for. I loved how he pronounced it (I love three syllable names) and if you're going to be named after a famous author, who better than Tolkien? I loved it so much, I immediately grabbed my computer to look up the meaning: "Friend of God" Wow! I loved that too. And it's origin is hebrew. Keziah's name is hebrew, and while we never planned to stick with hebrew names, we now think it is pretty neat that they both have hebrew names. And for a couple of days, I was sold on the name.

But the more I thought about it, the more I had second thoughts. I found 4 different pronunciations from different sources. No one seemed to agree how to pronounce the name and that bothered me. Keziah's name is unique but once you hear it and see it, it is spelled phonetically. Reuel has no obvious phonetic pronunciation and that bothered me. The more I thought about it, the more doubts I had. I started back at square one trying to find another name. Most days I just told myself I didn't need to worry about it because I was going to have a girl. But I never found a name I liked as much as Reuel. In my spirit, it just felt like that was the name he was supposed to have. I just needed some confirmation to calm my doubts. I got that confirmation in an unlikely place. In late January, a few weeks from my due date, I was catching up on the blogs I follow. One of my favorite blogs is Dulce de Leche and she had posted this wonderful piece entitled "In Defense of Kreeaytiff Nayemz and Youkneec Spellings." I don't think God could have given me a better sign. Please click on the link and go read that post - it is so good. From that moment on, I had no doubts about the name Reuel. I knew it was the right name for our son. I love that it is unique. I love what it means. I love its three syllables and hebrew origin. I love how it flows off the tongue with Rock.

Reuel Rock. What's in his name? His destiny I hope. A friend of God; a person as unique as his name; a strong, grounded, dependable man; a lover of nature; a perfect fit to our family. It's all there in his name.

March Pictures

I can't believe how fast the month of March went by. I can't believe my baby is already a month old. At our check-up yesterday he weighed 11 pounds. He's huge! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the last month:

Despite having a newborn, we've managed to get out of the house a lot. The gorgeous weather has helped. And having an energetic two-year-old means we really can't stay in the house day after day or she goes crazy! So we've spent a lot of time at the park.

Thankfully, Reuel is so laid back. He just goes along with whatever we're doing, so long as he gets to eat when he wants. Michael Paul snapped this picture of us taking a nursing break while he was in the creek with Keziah.

I wish the time would slow down! Life is good!

The Birth Story of Reuel Rock

On March 2nd, a full two weeks after my February 17th due date, just after midnight, I finally went into labor. We had spent the week before trying every natural thing we could think of to encourage labor to start. The baby was super low and I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for months. But this baby seemed determined to stay inside me forever. In my head, I knew that no woman stays pregnant forever. But I really felt like it was never going to happen. On March 1st, we went out and bought castor oil. I was not looking forward to using it, but I really was getting desperate. I had every intention of taking it that evening. But as evening approached, I felt very strongly that what I really needed was rest. I decided to put off the castor oil one more day and instead take a nice long shower and go to bed early. I was asleep by 9:00 and slept hard until my first contraction woke me up right around midnight.

I immediately knew that this was not another Braxton Hicks. This contraction was productive. I dozed back off and woke 20 minutes later to another. I was able to sleep a bit between contractions until 2:00 AM, when I woke Michael Paul and told him I was in labor. At that point I was too uncomfortable to stay in bed so I decided to come downstairs. I texted my midwife that I was having contractions 20 minutes apart and called my sister, Julie and my mom to tell them to get on the road. I was hoping Keziah would sleep til morning. I told Michael Paul to stay in bed with her and get some more sleep. But a mere half hour later, Keziah woke up crying. Michael Paul tried everything to get her back to sleep, but I think she sensed what was going on. She was insistent on being with mama so he finally brought her downstairs. I held her as I bounced on a birthing ball and gave her to Michael Paul during contractions. I even nursed her several times in between contractions. Michael Paul got his pocket watch out and started timing contractions which were about 10 minutes apart now. At 4 AM, I decided Keziah really needed to get some sleep since the next day would be a big one for her. So we went back to bed and I somehow managed to nurse her back to sleep while having pretty intense contractions. Michael Paul brought me a heating pad for my back which felt heavenly. Suddenly I felt so relaxed I started falling asleep. I noticed it had been a while since I had had a contraction, but sleep sounded so nice, I decided to take advantage of the lull. I was able to sleep for another hour. When I awoke shortly after 5, I was afraid for a moment that it had all been false labor. An hour had passed since a contraction. I got up to go to the bathroom and immediately fell to my knees as I was hit by my strongest, most intense contraction yet. At that point, I decided I needed to call my midwife. We were definitely having a baby today.

The next few hours went by fast. I continued to have contractions about 5 minutes apart. I ate some breakfast and drank some juice. The baby was so low, the pressure against my sacrum was unbearable during contractions. Michael Paul went about his morning routine, but would drop what he was doing when I started to moan to come put my hot rice bag against my back. Keziah thankfully slept until 8. When she woke I tried to give her as normal a morning as possible. I let her nurse for a few minutes and got her some breakfast. I was laboring on the floor since being on my hands and knees was helping ease my back labor. We played house and dolls in between contractions. When I would start to moan, Keziah would say, “big one,” which we thought was so cute. But it was becoming evident I really needed my mom there to help with Keziah.

I texted Julie to see where they were and was discouraged to find out they were still hours away. Keziah’s labor was so different. It had started with my water breaking and contractions remained far apart and wimpy for a full 18 hours before active labor started. So when I had called Julie at 2 AM and told her contractions were 20 minutes apart and my water hadn’t broken yet, she mistakingly assumed they had plenty of time. I texted in all caps, STEP ON IT! And she later replied, “Mom’s going 90 Agggggghhhhhhhhh!” followed by a hilarious looking scared smiley emoticon. This cracked me up and I giggled until my next contraction.

My midwife, Sara, arrived around 9:00. Contractions were still about 5 minutes apart, although they were extremely intense. I started having the “what have I gotten myself into?” thoughts. I was sure I still had hours and hours of labor ahead of me. Surely my contractions needed to be closer together and they had remained 5 minutes apart for hours. Sara plopped down on the floor in front of me and observed a couple of contractions before announcing we needed to head upstairs. This really surprised me. Didn’t she know I had plenty of time. Another contraction came and went and she reiterated, “we need to get upstairs while we still can.” We made it upstairs just as Jennifer, Sara’s assistant, arrived. I settled into my rocking chair with my heating pad behind me.

playing with Keziah in between contractions

At this point, I kind of went into the zone, that part of labor where everything is kind of hazy and blurry around me. I lose all concept of time. I only have a few memories. I was vaguely aware of Sara bringing things in and setting things up and Jennifer was doing a great job entertaining Keziah. At one point in between contractions the baby became extremely active, kicking, and rolling around. I immediately panicked as memories of Keziah turning posterior and bringing my already dysfunctional labor to a standstill came flooding into my mind. I told Michael Paul to get Sara. She came and checked on the baby and assured me the heartbeat was normal and he was still anterior, but was a good bit lower than the last time she checked me. Around 10:30, my mom and sister finally arrived and Keziah happily started playing with my mom downstairs while Michael Paul gave Julie a quick tutorial on our camera.

The next memory I have is of Sara telling me it was fine for me to stay in my rocking chair but it would be hard to give birth with my pants still on. And again I felt confused because I thought I still had hours to go. Whenever I asked how things were going, Sara assured me I was doing great. I did finally stand up from my rocking chair to go pee and had a couple of contractions leaning on Michael Paul. And I immediately felt so much pressure, I could have pushed, but I knew my body wasn’t ready yet. I knew instinctively that I needed to slow things down. The baby who seemed content to stay inside me forever now seemed so eager to get out that he had no intention of waiting until I was fully dilated. Sara suggested we get on the bed to slow things down. I did not need to keep laboring in a standing position.

I asked Sara to check me because I wanted to know all this labor was doing something and I was 8 cm. Every contraction felt like the baby was coming out and I did my best to surrender to the pressure my body was creating without pushing past it. Michael Paul continued to put a lot of pressure on my sacrum during contractions. My sister sat calmly in the doorway projecting her peaceful energy into the room. My mom and Keziah played happily downstairs. Later I learned that whenever I had a contraction and would start to make my wonderful primal birthing sounds, Keziah would stop her play and say, “Mommy sing”. She seemed to know exactly what was happening. I love her observation. I had never thought of my birthing moans as singing. But I love the image of me singing my baby into the world.

Finally the moment came where I knew it was safe to fully surrender and allow my baby out. I told Michael Paul that if he intended to catch this baby he needed to go wash his hands. Shocked that it was time, he jumped up and ran to wash up. I announced that I was pushing, but I wasn’t really. My body was doing all the pushing on its own so I decided to just let the baby come out without my help. I was still holding my energy up high and Sara suggested I make low tones with my voice to bring my energy down low. When I did that, it made all the difference. Michael Paul would remind me with each contraction to bring my voice down low. My water finally broke and sprayed Michael Paul up his arm. My mom and Keziah came upstairs. I really wanted Keziah to be there for the birth. She watched in amazement. A few more contractions and at 12:25 our little Reuel Rock gently emerged into the hands of his Daddy.

The cord was wrapped loosely around his neck, but he cartwheeled right over it on his way up to my chest. We caught a glimpse of his manliness and Michael Paul announced to the rest of the room that it was a boy. A few minutes later I got him latched on and he started nursing. Meanwhile, Jennifer was giving me mugs full of nasty-tasting chinese herbs to help stop my bleeding while Sara massaged my uterus.

Keziah meeting her new little brother

It took a bit of work for me to get my placenta out, but eventually I pushed it out and my bleeding slowed. Michael Paul cut the cord with the special knife he had bought for the occasion.

Eventually, I got a nice hot shower and some food while Michael Paul got to bond with the baby.

I had made soup and frozen it ahead of time and Michael Paul had put it in the crock pot that morning so everyone had a nice hot meal to enjoy. We all enjoyed visiting and eating. We didn’t get around to doing the newborn exam until late in the afternoon. Reuel stayed awake and alert all afternoon. He just looked around and took in the world. It became clear pretty soon that he was going to be a laid back baby.

8 pounds 1 ounce

My midwife, Sara and her assistant, Jennifer

I don’t think this birth could have been any more perfect. There were a few specific things that I just loved about Reuel’s birth. I loved giving birth during the day, being able to look out my bedroom window at the beautiful view and having natural light pouring in my windows. I loved having all afternoon to talk to Sara and Jennifer and process the birth while it was still fresh on my mind. No one was in a hurry to get to bed so there was plenty of time for visiting and bonding with the new baby. I loved that my sister and mom made it in time, despite having a 7 hour drive. I love that my water didn’t break until the very end. This was the main thing I wanted to be different from Keziah’s birth. I love that I didn’t need any interventions. I love that Keziah was able to be a part of this special event and that she never got scared, (although she did call the placenta a “BIG boo boo”). I love that Michael Paul caught the baby and cut the cord with a special knife. I don’t think it could have been any better.

"Hello World"

Introducing Reuel Rock

It's A Boy!

Reuel Rock

made his grand arrival on March 2, 2012 at 12:25 PM

weighing 8 lbs 1 oz and measuring 21 1/4 inches

I was beginning to think this little guy was just going to stay in my womb forever. Exactly two weeks past his due date, a few minutes after midnight, I finally had a contraction that I knew was for real. After 12 hours of a pretty straightforward labor, he came flying out into his Daddy's arms. But I'll type out the whole birth story in a few days once I catch up on sleep. In the mean time, here are a few more pictures:

Yes I am still pregnant

No, I have not had this baby yet!

(sigh!)

I have passed everyone's predictions including my own (which was yesterday). My sister predicted today, but things aren't looking too good for her either. As of right now nothing is happening other than a random Braxton Hicks contraction here and there, but I've been having those for months so they don't really mean anything.

Michael Paul and his sister have expressed a desire for a leap year baby. And that is certainly beginning to look like a possibility!

As for me, I am beginning to accept that maybe my February baby is meant to be a March baby.

(sigh!)

Nine Months

I've reached 40 weeks! In case you haven't been paying attention to my little ticker in my sidebar, I am officially overdue. That is of course if you believe in due dates (I don't). Just as I expected, my due date has come and gone. So when will this little one arrive? That is the question on everyone's mind I guess. I go back and forth from thinking, "I really think the baby is coming tonight" to "I really think I have at least another week to go".

Miss Keziah just had to be in a picture. She seems just as anxious as we are about this baby coming!

So here I am. Michael Paul is calling the baby "the torpedo" for obvious reasons.

Well, if I have your email, you can expect to get an announcement within 24 hours of the birth, and if you just follow me here, I will try to post it as well. Here's to hoping my next blog post is a birth announcement!