Rosalie Jewel

 

So much has happened in our lives since I've written last. Our baby girl joined our family on July 20, 2021 completing our family circle.

I had a normal pregnancy and with my due date down as July 26, I knew that the 20th would be a perfect day to welcome our Rosalie Jewel into this world. She was born on our 7th wedding anniversary. 

We arrived at the hospital early in the morning for surgery prep. I had a covid test (negative) and I had two IVs put in - one in each arm. Because it was my fourth c-section, they were prepared for issues to arrive...and they did.

Everything went well until after they lifted an 8 lb 15 oz baby girl from my belly. While they were working on putting me back together again my spinal wore off and I started to "go into distress" so they intubated me and put me to sleep. I woke up 2 hours later in recovery. 

I have no recollection of this photo at all. This was moments after waking up in recovery.

We quickly bonded with our baby and enjoyed our quality alone time with her. We were allowed a pastoral visit so our pastor was our only visitor. Our three older children were lovingly being cared for by my in-laws so we had nothing to worry about at home.

We brought our baby home where she was quickly loved up on by her siblings. But our baby girl soon had a battle on her hands. She had jaundice really bad and was so close to being hospitalized again and put under a heat lamp.

I quickly started "force-feeding" her every chance I got and started adding formula powder to her bottles of pumped milk. She had been breastfeeding but I switched to pumping and bottle feeding her so that I could monitor her milk intake. 

Now reflecting on her early days while watching her crawl around or pull herself up is bittersweet. Our baby isn't a baby anymore. She is a ONE YEAR OLD today.

Rosalie Jewel was named after her stillborn aunt, Rosalie Joy. I wanted to pay tribute to a baby girl who was born into Jesus' loving arms.

Our sunbathing little girl trying to rid her body of that yucky jaundice.

Happy Birthday my darling daughter! 

🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 

You have brought so much joy into our lives over the past year. We thank God for blessing us by sending you to us. You complete us. Your brothers and sister love you so much. Keep on being the sweet ray of sunshine that you are...your smile lights up the room. 

Here's to seeing what life with a one year old is like! Best year yet!!

Duane Eugene Nolt

 Duane Eugene Nolt was born the day after Christmas in 2019 through a scheduled c-section. There were some complications during the delivery but everything turned out well. Somehow my blood and Denny's blood came in contact with each other so they had to monitor him. I'm negative and he's positive like his daddy. He also had jaundice. 

He was such a tiny little guy with gangly legs but in no time at all he filled out to a chunky lil dude! And he was the most content little guy and he smiled a lot. He still does. His smile lights up the whole room.

We spent most of his first year cooped up at home riding out a pandemic. But every chance we got we'd take the children to the park or for walks. 

We celebrated his first birthday with most of the Nolt family at a local cabin. It was special having his grandparents and most of his aunts, uncles, and cousins there to celebrate with us. 

He is now 13 months old and although he has taken a few steps and he loves walking around holding onto furniture, he shows very little interest in walking unassisted. His big brother was the same way. Then boom, he took off!

Here are a few pictures of Denny's first year:

Sweet baby boy, we love you so much. Thank you for being such a beacon in our life. Your brother and sister love playing with you and we love watching you grow into a precious little boy. Don't ever let someone steal your smile.

Happy Mother’s Day!!

Happy Mother’s Day!! This year is extra special for me. In 2014, I found out I was pregnant with our son in August. In 2017, I found out I was pregnant on Memorial Day after a discouraging negative test result on Mother’s Day. Two of my friends announced their pregnancies that day and I was happy for them while dying inside. Two weeks later, our prayers were finally answered.

After struggling for 18 months to conceive and crying over 36 negative pregnancy tests, we finally had our baby girl. After having a second c-section, my husband and I were quite content to just have two. We decided to leave our family planning in God’s capable hands. I didn’t stress out. I didn’t take a pregnancy test or two each month. I left it completely up to God. 

That being said........

Baby #3 is due in December! We are so excited! We found out the week after Easter! I knew right away that I would be keeping it secret until Mother’s Day! I have succeeded!!

Ruthie will make an excellent big sister! Just 22 months will separate them in age unlike the 34 months between Sonny and Ruth. 

Reality is setting in and we still can’t believe it. Two years ago we thought that it was just going to be the three of us. Now we’re going to be a family of five!!

Thank you, Baby, for loving me and for being such an awesome husband and father!  These have been the best 5 years of my life!

We are looking forward to the arrival our little one in time for Christmas as a family of five!!

A New Year, A New Chapter In Life

The year 2018 brought a lot of change to our lives. We welcomed our little girl into our family and we finally got settled into our beautiful house in Michigan once more. Just a few months later we decided to sell our house and move back to PA for good.
We listed our house with a local realtor and packed up all of our belongings. Wendell had an excellent job waiting for him in Carlisle PA training new drivers for Knight Transportation. Several years of driving and pushing it hard on the road was starting to have a negative impact on him and he was burning out.

On the morning we left for PA my mother in law snapped these pictures of us.

We moved back to PA in November and Wendell started his job right away. He loves it. He has a great working relationship with the team around him. More importantly, he’s only been in a truck a couple times! And those were short runs!
In December we rented a huge old house in Perry County from a family friend. We love the place and it’ll do until we are ready to buy a house. We finally had closing on our house in Michigan at the end of the year! It’s sad knowing that our first home is now someone else’s but I’m looking forward to settling into our forever home here in PA.
It was great to see the calendar page turn over to a brand new year. What 2019 has in store for us is still a mystery! One thing is for certain, there is no one I’d rather spend it with than my husband and my two precious children!

What's The Deal With Mom Shaming?

Lately the one thing that irritates me the most is mom shaming. Why do moms feel the need to shame other moms? Don't they realize that we are all just trying to do the best we can with the canvas we've been given? We do not have the same canvas neither do we have the same paints.
What works for me with my children will not work for you with your children. Likewise what works for you, will not work for me. So why feel the need to shame me because I "mom" different than you do?
When it comes to mom shaming, the two main areas I've witnessed are formula vs. breastfeeding and vaccinating vs. unvaccinating. I will not cover the latter in this post because it is known to cause too much controversy and my husband and I choose not to discuss with others what our decision is regarding this matter.

Formula fed vs. Breastfed - what's the big deal? Are mom's just formula feeding their babies because they're lazy or too busy to breast feed? Are they taking the easy way out? Or do they choose to formula feed their babies after struggling to breastfeed their babies after bouts of tears and frustration? We don't know what these moms have gone through so why do we shame them?
Personally, I was excitedly anticipating breastfeeding my son when I was pregnant with him four years ago. I didn't have formula or bottles stocked up to feed my baby. I was planning to feed him what was on tap! Then an exhausting labor turned into an emergency C-section. After delivery, our precious son was whisked away to the NICU due to pneumothorax (collapsed lung) and I was not able to hold him and bond with him until he was 30 hours old. (Those 30 hours were the longest hours of my life.) By the time I held him, Sonny was introduced to the bottle in order to get his weight up so that he could be discharged with me.
I spent hours trying to pump milk for my son. Through tears of frustration and feeling inept, I hooked electric pumps to my breast. When I was finally able to hold my son, I was excited about finally being able to breast feed him. Instead he fussed because my nipples were not cooperating with him. Instead they shriveled up at his every suck. Every hold I tried, the numerous nipple shields I tried, every trick I tried...it wasn't meant to be.

Almost three years later I planned to try breastfeeding again. This time around I had a healthy, hungry girl who knew what she wanted and she wanted it now. She arrived almost two weeks late through an unplanned C-section. Again I tried breastfeeding. I placed her to my breast for feeding after feeding. After a half hour of nothing, Ruth would begin screaming out of frustration. Then I would become frustrated and she would receive her bottle. It got to the point where my nipples were extremely sore from her gnawing on them.
For several months I struggled with feelings of ineptitude. I was a lousy mom because I wasn't able to breastfeed her. Time and time again my husband reassured me. My close friends and family reassured me. But still the struggle lingered.
Now as my husband and I are discussing adding a third little one to our family (God willing) my husband really doesn't want me to try breastfeeding again. We will be looking at yet another C-section, a scheduled one this time, and my husband just wants to save me from yet another emotional roller coaster ride.
WE SHALL SEE...…..
One thing is for sure, I will still be "momming" the best way that I know how. Bottom line: fed is best.
Have any mom shaming stories? Feel free to share by commenting below.