FITZILLA

I’ve noticed lots of folks give their kids nicknames for their blogs and have played with the idea but it was hard enough coming up with “real” names for everybody so I’m sticking with the names that took so much work. BUT, if I were to use nicknames, I would have one for my second child set. It’s almost a given. Fitzilla. Yep, the fitmeister.

She’s been throwing fits since before she was born and hasn’t stopped at 17 years of age. I swore when she was small that I wouldn’t let her grow up to be like “those” teenagers but, alas, what you have at 4 you get at 14 and we didn’t know about child-training until a lot of damage was done. I’m tired from the battle, tired of seeing the other children hurt and confused, and tired of “hiding” the elephant in the closet so here I am unloading on whomever.

I really don’t intend to sound hostile towards my lovely daughter, but the spiritual battle has brought our whole family to the end of our wits. I feel discouraged at the moment but know that since we have nothing left, God has us right where he wants us. My DH likens this struggle to the labor I experienced with Isaiah; it was long, it was hard, painful, excruciating, exhausting, I had nothing left. All we could do was continue praying and trust that God was in control and would bring us through. When it was time to deliver, God delivered the contraction we were waiting for to get our little man out safe and fast. That’s what we need now. Push us through, Lord, hold us up, and deliver my daughter and deliver our family! TMI to go into the history at this time… just pray for the F-Troop.

A Sappy Read

I can’t believe Isaiah is already 2 weeks old! Would you believe that little stinker already rolled over last night?? (Front to back.) Each time we add another child to our family, HA – oops…who do I think I am?? Each time GOD adds another child to our family, time goes by faster and faster. There’s a reason I have joined the scrapbooking cult – they only stay memories if you can REMEMBER them!! I like counting my blessings but lose count when they’re moving and growing at the speed of sound. These times are so precious but time goes by so quickly; it’s bittersweet. I love watching my children grow and become the unique individuals they are but I get teary-eyed as they lose their baby fat and get beautiful/handsome figures, their chubby fingers become strong hands to help haul wood or cook on their own, and I am no longer their favorite person on the planet. Heck, right now, Isabelle and Autumn crawl up on Lenae’s lap more often than mine. But that’s our family – most 19 yo young ladies are too preoccupied with themselves, boys, etc. to have time for toddlers. I don’t need to be jealous – what a blessing!

Recently, our home church ladies were sharing via email why the season of raising babies, toddlers, and youngins could be called the "Golden Years" and how to "have" joy in the midst of it all. I’m feeling sentimental so I’ll share my 2 cents that I shared with them:

It's golden because of the trail I blaze running through the house to get things done!! HA! That being said, I have a lot to say but not enough time to say it all at once.

My daughter (15 yo), Jillian, commented that I'm lucky - I get to have the little ones while having "big ones." That is such a blessing. I'm blessed by watching them grow into young ladies and, now, I have a young man (!!!!!!!) coming up who all agree that our babies and toddlers are the cutest, funniest tots on the planet (sorry folks, but facts are facts). There's not a day that goes by that we don't laugh... a lot...together because of little ones, middle size ones, and the big ones bring quite a bit of laughter, too. Yes, it can be crazy here, but the good kind. :o)

And later I added:

Wow - everybody is anxious to get in on this one! I don't have time to read the other ones right now which brings me to one thing I (selfishly) enjoy about having babies - READING! I didn't get to do that as much with Isabelle since she wasn't able to nurse well. VERY SOON, I will have an "excuse" to sit and read as many emails as it takes to nurse Isaiah or Cherish. OR I can read the Homeschool Companion cover to cover instead of bite-size pieces in the "Oval Office." OR I can read a "grown-up" B-O-O-K in less than, hmmm, 3 months. On joy - I am NOT a joyful person by nature. BUT, I am not in my old nature. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation! I need that this week as much as anybody. It's going to be hard to be joyful today. Autumn has been having nightmares every night for awhile and has added sleepwalking to her nightly routine (please pray - under spiritual attack over here). As if I'm not tired enough with being great with child, I haven't slept well in DAYS! We were awakened very early today due to a screaming, fearful fit. SO, I'm too tired to be "happy." What's to be happy about? I want to go back to bed! BUT...do I have patience? Do I have joy? The Fruit of the Spirit is LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE...... MANY Christian folk tell me on a regular basis that "they just don't have the patience like I do to have a lot of kids." If I'm on the ball, I tell them they're right and I don't have patience, either, but Jesus does. I'll ask them if they received the Holy Spirit, they say yes, and I say, "Well then, He gives the patience - you don't have to have it!" That tends to leave them mumbling to themselves. Me, too, for that matter. ;o) That also makes me accountable - mostly to my children. And we ARE accountable to our children. What a burden but what a privilege. Jesus gives us joy, which is not dependent on a full night's sleep, how pretty my kitchen is or is not (struggling with contentment on this end), how well-behaved my children are at the moment, or how clean the house is (or is not). Joy comes from knowing who we are in Christ and that our training, cooking, cleaning, playing, cutting and pasting have eternal value in the eyes of our Father. Now, I need to jump into the Word real quick (yes, real quick, I'm a mommy, for crying out loud) for a booster shot, myself! One more thing, I'm going to miss it when a Hello Kitty Band-Aid and a kiss have supernatural healing powers. :o) Hugs to all!

The 8th Day

Woo Hoo! Praise the Lord. He is sure taking care of us. Craig had been trying to find someone since Isaiah was born to do his circumcision. It’s very difficult to find someone when you have a homebirth and we really wanted Isaiah circumcised as close to the 8th day as possible so his vit. K would be up. We were getting discouraged with all the dead-ends we were running into and, well, here’s the email Craig sent me Wednesday at 1pm:

I am striking out on finding ANYONE to do a circumcision. Could you get a hold of T...... (the midwife who assisted mine) to ask who in this area will do one? Urologists in Richmond wait until the baby is 1 yr. old. Urologists in Eaton say June is the earliest. Dr. H (the O.B. I use to have) won't take a new patient. Rabbis are saying the mohels are imported form out of the area and won’t do gentiles.

Here’s the email Craig sent Wednesday at 1:37:

I have it taken care of. I have a mohel (pronounced moil) coming to the house tonight to perform a strictly medical procedure at 7pm. He is coming from Columbus OH. He will be in the area anyway. He says it takes about 2 min. and he does about 5 a week.

WOW! Craig said that once he stopped worrying and decided to just see how God was going to work it out, everything fell into place. Praise the Lord!

We asked the Mohel if we could share his name and number with our midwife and he said, "Please do!" He does A LOT of the Amish/Mennonite circumcisions and travels all over the place. He was just in Muncie this past week. He was also a delight. Though the procedure only took 2 minutes, he was here about an hour. He started by sharing with us the history of circumcision back to Abraham. He was a hoot and we could tell he loves babies (after he was done, he held Isaiah and Craig said he could tell he was blessing him – just no "official" prayers – we are gentiles, ya know!). He shared his background: He was being trained by his father who died suddenly of a heart attack in ’93. After trying to continue training under a conservative/reform Jew, he decided that wasn’t going to work since he is Orthodox. SO, he continued to train in ISRAEL and is certified by the board in Jerusalem. How "way cool" is that? Oh, and the kids think he has an awesome accent. Needless to say, we have been truly blessed and Craig was so jazzed Wednesday night, he couldn’t get to sleep even though he had to be at work at 2am. He’th tho thilly.

Welcome Isaiah Joseph!

Sing with me!:

On the blog again! I just couldn’t wait to get on the blog again! Sharing stories with my friends – I just couldn’t wait to get on the blog again!

I use to blog regularly when I was on MySpace – don’t know why I quit. I have procrastinated on doing anything with this blog for some time but I just can’t contain myself anymore! I don’t have spare time for blogging but declaring the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord is worth setting aside time for. He has been SO GOOD!

Praise the Lord – Isaiah Joseph Fecher was born Wednesday, April 11th, at 3:48pm after my most excruciating labor, yet! Baby number E-L-E-V-EN weighed in at 7 pounds, 1 ounce and 21 inches long – my smallest baby, thus far. He was also my first baby that was on time (due date was the 12th) – everybody else, save my first, has been overdue. I told everybody to look towards the 20th but here he is and he is gorgeous!

So, in the movie, Cheaper By the Dozen, the mom is interviewed and states that, after the sixth, they just walk out." Well, my friends, just ask any mom of many and she will tell you that is just not true. The uterus gets tired, Alzheimer’s even. It can’t always remember what it’s suppose to be doing. My womb still has it, though, because uterus and I decided a crowing head wasn’t enough after being in labor 3 days; we shoved little Isaiah’s whole body out. I just wanted to be done! I had a "unique" pain this time that wasn’t a part of labor. Isaiah was elbowing me causing a constant pain "down south" that radiated through my lower abdomen. By the time I was pushing, the pain went all the way around me causing nasty back labor. We know, now, that it was his right elbow as he keeps putting his right hand up by his ear with his elbow out, the little stinker. It’s not all his fault; his cord was under his arm which, of course, caused heart deceleration issues during contractions. My midwife had to call in back up "just in case." He also came out in his sack (I have the thickest membranes ever) so they had to rip that off real quick so he wouldn’t aspirate the fluid. Oh, and did I mention I had a pregnancy rash? First time in 11 pregnancies. Never heard of it? I hadn’t either – see itchymom.com. It’s for real and comes in so many varieties to choose from! I’m thankful mine wasn’t as bad as some ladies.

Needless to say, this pregnancy and birth has been a spiritual growth experience. I have prayed for years to get my "spiritual gift" of complaining under control. I whined for awhile when the itch first kicked in but just had to get used to it. I read Supernatural Childbirth and the idea of a pain-free childbirth experience sounded incredibly enticing! Oh, how I prayed. Learning not to question God was another growth opportunity as it became apparent that my labor was going to, indeed, be painful. I figured God, the Creator of the Universe, was still in control and I’ve been through this before. Then THE PAIN started causing difficulty in even walking. My hips are still messed up – time for the chiropractor. The pain was SO HARD to push against and my midwife and friend had me breathing through the "pushy" contractions while she waited for the other midwife to show up. I was in so much pain I would start crying which caused my DH and mom to cry which worried my 4 older daughters who were with us. But what a blessing when my buddy, Nan, stopped everybody to pray and they held hands around the bed and covered me with prayer. I was in pain but not worried. This birth was as much a miracle as a pain-free birth because Craig and I had come to a place of despair and could turn nowhere but the Lord. I could not request an epidural or a c-section for a quick rescue (although I knew we had a gun in the garage attic for hunting and thought about asking Craig to go get it) ;o) As Craig said, this was the "prayinest " we’ve been through. He prayed over me the whole time.

If we had been at the hospital, they would have pumped me full of pitosin (sp.?) and my midwife confirmed that they would have panicked and rushed me in for a c-section which would have been unnecessary. I know there ARE times when it is necessary but this wasn’t one of them and the euphoria we experienced when he was delivered just would not have been as sweet.

This is long enough for now. I’ll come back later with the hysterical things my little ones have said.

BTW, Isaiah means "God is my Salvation" or "God is my Helper". We picked these names out 2 years ago and could not remember the meanings. So, we had a good laugh when we found that Joseph means "an addition" or "God multiplies!" How fitting for #11!

Join me in welcoming my new son, Isaiah Joseph. Thank You, God!