Good Morning

Good morning Mister Sunshine
Why did you wake so soon?
You scared the little birds away
And shined away the moon

Sweet West

Grammie & Grandpa meet West for the first time

West gets his first bath

Granny (West's Great Grandmother) holds West

Our new family of five at the birth center

Mimi (Tirza's mom meets West)

Sisterly Love

Our First Week Home

Weston napping in his Moses basket.


Weston is awake and very alert for up to an hour at a time. He loves just watching us and listening to our voices.

Proud big sisters

My sweet Annah Pearl

Welcome Sweet Weston

Weston Lee Wibel

Born Sunday, March 7th at 1:15 pm.

West was born on a beautiful spring day at Bella Vie, a birth center housed in a 1800's farmhouse overlooking the Yamhill countryside.

He was 9 lbs and 22 1/2 inches. We are so in love and couldn't have imagined a more beautiful, peaceful and gentle birth experience.

Shane and his first son

Our beautiful room at Bella Vie where West was born.

The girls see their brother for the first time. Love at first sight!

Bella Vie Birth Center where West was born.

Belly art painted by my midwife Desiree two weeks before West was born

 

The Story of Weston Lee Wibel

Birth Story Added 10/9/11

A Peaceful Sunday

Sunday, March 7^th, 2010 began like any other Sunday rushing around getting ready for church after a special breakfast of Shane’s whole grain pancakes. At 8 am I was getting ready for church and was sitting in the bathroom on a chair doing my hair and makeup. Shane and the girls were in other parts of the house also getting dressed and getting our church things together. I leaned forward to put my makeup bag away in my drawer when I felt a popping sensation and water gushed out of me. I quickly stood up (wearing only my bathrobe) and amniotic fluid poured all over the floor. At that moment Shane walked by the bathroom door and I told him that my water had broken. He casually, distracted by looking for his watch I think, replied, “what water?” Apparently he thought I was talking about the sink. I told him “MY water, as in baby.” I showed him the water all over the floor and he quickly changed from his relaxed, distracted state into a more urgent, take charge manner.

I called Desiree, my midwife, and told her that my water had broken and was still gushing fluid. I literally couldn’t move out of the bathroom because so much water was pouring out. She told us to go ahead and get our things together and she’d meet us at Bella Vie birth center in an hour. Thankfully everyone was already dressed and ready to go to church so I called a friend, Rebecca Ortega, and asked her to take the girls to church with them and called my mom to let her know what was happening. Shane ran upstairs to get our bags and I slipped on some waterproof shoes (my Crocs) since I was sopping wet and gushing fluid. I also put on a shirt but pants weren’t really an option since they would only get soaking wet. There was a moment when we wondered how I was going to get out to the car without pants on but I wrapped a towel around myself and quickly dashed out after making sure there weren’t any neighbors outside.

The drive to Bella Vie was quiet and uneventful and it was a still, calm spring morning. I enjoyed the drive and listened to my ipod hypnobabies tracks to help stay calm and prepare myself for what was to come. I remember we were really excited that the day had finally arrived. We took the short ferry ride across the Willamette River and the river was totally still. There were cherry trees and daffodils in bloom everywhere. Once we arrived at Bella Vie I sloshed my way in the front door and a woman was steam mopping the floors. I felt bad about gushing amniotic fluid all over the just washed floors but we also laughed about it. My midwife had set up the big bedroom off the farmhouse kitchen for us and I climbed in the four poster bed. At this point I still hadn’t had any contractions yet so Desiree suggested we watch a movie and wait for labor to start. We got cozy in bed and watched a cute romantic comedy which felt like such a strange thing to do at 10 am on a Sunday morning.

Will Labor Ever Start?

After the movie was over, about noon, I still hadn’t had any contractions so my midwives suggested I go for a walk to start labor. Shane and I walked along the country road where Bella Vie sits on a hill overlooking the Willamette wine country. It was pretty and I remember noticing all the spring flowers popping up, especially the daffodils. Shortly after we started walking I began feeling contractions and we timed them at about 7 minutes apart. During those contractions I would just hold onto Shane and sway, not because they were at painful but more so because that was what I thought you were supposed to do during a contraction. I could talk during them and it was more of just a tightening sensation. This lasted about 1-15 minutes and then we decided to walk back to the Bella Vie farmhouse.

Once we got to the driveway, right by the orchards, I suddenly had the most intense tightening and horrific pain. I immediately fell to the ground and Shane sort of half caught me as we crouched on the ground together. I couldn’t talk and felt really out of it. Shane started to panic and told me I had to get up off the ground. As soon as the contraction ended I did and we quickly walked into the house. I smiled at the midwives (Desiree and the two apprentices) sitting at the desk but didn’t say anything to the them other than I was starting to have contractions because I thought it was still the very early stages of labor. I went straight to the bed and was immediately hit with another contraction as intense as the last one outside.

This continued for a little while and I remember the midwives coming in with a sandwich and soup and being surprised to see me in hard labor because they hadn’t even seen me have one contraction yet. At one point they gave Shane a washcloth to rub on my head and that helped so much as I was burning up. In between contractions I told Shane to put my iPod with hypnobabies in my ears and I tried to listen to it and focus on the calming instructions to allow my body to relax and open up. I couldn’t really focus on what I was hearing because the contractions were so intense and so close together. I remember thinking, “oh no, this is just the beginning and it will be like this for hours” and telling Shane I couldn’t do this any longer. Shane remembers me being very quiet and not seemingly like I was in much pain because I just laid there quickly on the bed. I did not yell or move around because I knew that tensing up against the pain would only prolong labor and not help my body open up. I tried to focus on totally relaxing my muscles and visualize the ocean tide coming and going along with my contractions. This must have made me seem like I wasn’t in pain because I lay so quietly. I could not talk or converse though because I was so overwhelmed by the contractions and felt like I was in another place, far from everyone there. The Hynobabies home study course I had done helped so much with training my mind to relax during labor and understanding how remaining lose could actually help ease my pain.

The Transition

Suddenly I felt the urge to go to the bathroom and Shane took me into the restroom where I sat on the toilet and had the most agonizing contractions ever. I was not comfortable on the toilet and realized I needed to get back to the bed and lay down and made a mad dash to the bed. Looking back I realize that in the bathroom was where I hit the transition stage and the feeling of needing to go to the bathroom was just the baby’s head moving down.

I made it back to the bed and only Shane and I were in the room. Right about that point I felt a lurching sensation in my lower body, sort of like the feeling you get when throwing up and you can’t stop your body. After this happened a couple times I realized that it was my body starting to push. It was doing it totally on its own without me doing anything to cause it or help it. I told Shane that I though I was pushing and Shane ran out and got the midwives who were playing on the computer and unaware that my labor was progressing so quickly. They scrambled into the room and I was moaning deep sounds and the pushing sensation felt so much better than the earlier contractions. It was not painful just such extreme pressure that caused me to moan loudly. I still had my pants and underwear on (the midwives had given me a pad and disposable underwear when I first got there to soak up the fluid). I was literally pushing out the baby with my pants on and one of the midwives pulled the pants off while the others tried to get the bed set up for birth as quickly as possible. I think the pushing only lasted a few minutes and about 55 minutes after the time of the first contraction while walking outside, Weston was born easily and without any tears or problems. They handed him to me and I held him on my chest while we waited for the placenta and allowed the cord to pulse. Shane and I both cried when we saw our sweet boy and were overcome with love for him, our first son.

Weston was born at 1:15 pm and no one there could believe that he’d been born so fast. I was halfway disappointed not to have gotten to try to labor in the giant bathtub, but I did get in the water with West right after he was born and that felt nice and was a wonderful bonding moment. He was still attached to the umbilical cord to allow it to transfer as many nutrients as possible and so the placenta floated in a stainless steel bowl in the tub with us which made for some funny pictures.

Bonding with Our Boy

The rest of the afternoon was a blur of watching sweet Weston, nursing him – he latched on easily – and eating my soup and sandwich which had been waiting for me since my first few contractions. The postpartum midwife made a delicious, healthy, dinner for us with lots of colorful vegetables and we played our worship birth CDs which I hadn’t had a chance to listen to during labor like planned. That evening Shane prayed over Weston and he blessed him and read Psalm 78. It was such a special moment for the three of us.

That day and evening was one of the most peaceful experiences of my life and it felt so serene and full of God’s presence. It was so unlike the hospital stays following the girls’ birth where there are harsh lights, nurses coming and going and lots of beeping machines and tests for the baby. At Bella Vie with West we were allowed to bond with our baby quietly in our candlelit room. At about 6 or 7 pm, my mom, grandmother, Chip and Mira and Annah showed up. The girls were let into our room first, alone, and they came in with flowers and excited smiles. Once they had a chance to see their new brother, everyone else came in and we all sat around on the bed and little loveseat talking. The postpartum midwife made everyone fruit smoothies and a big plate of gourmet crackers and cheese.

After our family left, Shane, West and I settled into bed together for the night. I vaguely remember the midwife checking my pulse and temperature once during the night and in the morning she made us a delicious breakfast on the huge vintage kitchen stove of farm fresh eggs from their chickens, bacon, toast and orange juice. I remember sitting in the window seat of the farmhouse by the fire looking out on the rolling hills of the west Willamette wine country and praising God for a perfect birth and such a peaceful place to bring my son into the world.

God’s Grace

Weston’s birth story is especially amazing because of the miracles and evidence of God’s grace from before he was even conceived. Shane and I had not planned on having more children and about 1 ½ years before his birth felt the Lord’s leading to have another child. Unfortunately, this was not any easy thing because we had already taken permanent measures not to have more children. Still, I felt the longing for a child and expressed this to Shane with resistance from him of course.

A few months later, at Christmas time 2008, he said he’d think and pray about it at least and during that time (about a 1 or 2 month period) he felt the Lord’s presence speaking to him and telling him that he was going to have a son. After that he agreed to go forward with another baby. However, doing so required surgery for Shane and lots of money ($5000) and was not a small decision. We couldn’t have afforded the surgery except that right about the time the money we was due we made the final car payment on our van and $320 was freed up in our monthly budget. That happened to be the exact amount of our monthly payment for the surgery which was paid over a year following the surgery.

I quickly got pregnant (about 2 months post surgery) and we shocked our family with our announcement on a camping trip on the Fourth of July. That morning I had taken a pregnancy test in the restroom of the state park campground at Nehalem Bay campground in Manzanita (Oregon Coast). It was an amazing day and we were completely overjoyed! The girls were thrilled of course.

We went ahead and planned for a hospital birth which our insurance would cover 100%. But when I was about 7 months pregnant I felt the strong desire to have a birth outside of the hospital and went to visit Bella Vie birth center where I feel in love with the midwives, the birth center and their philosophy of a gentle birth. I remember crying to Shane about it and wondering how I could have my baby there but unfortunately our insurance wouldn’t cover it and the cost was about $4350. Shane agreed it was out of the question. Several weeks later Shane felt we should go ahead with a birth there and just worry about how to pay for it later even if it meant going into debt. It felt so irresponsible to do that, yet we committed to having out baby there sometime during the end of 2009.

In January we did our taxes and since I had been self-employed the year before with my business, BrandBloom, we thought we might owe some money even though I had paid quarterly taxes and definitely didn’t think we would get any refund. Imagine our surprise when our accountant called and told us that we would be getting a refund of $4350, the exact amount we owed Bella Vie! It was an instant confirmation from God that he had led us to have Weston at Bella Vie and that this child was part of his master plan. We both were overwhelmed at the realization and speechless at the evidence of God’s plan for this child to be born and His work in our life.

Other answered prayers and evidence of God’s grace were the fact that Weston had my blood type and would not need light therapy in a hospital following birth (which he would have if he’d had Shane’s blood type – we have ABO incomparability). Also, at 39 weeks Weston was my longest pregnancy and after Annah, our last baby, we were told that we probably shouldn’t have more children because we’d only have another premature baby. God answered our prayers to have a full term pregnancy. He also answered prayers for Weston to latch on and nurse easily and although I still had milk supply problems, I was able to nurse Weston with formula supplementation for 3 or 4 months, the longest time I’d been able to do that.

Before Weston was even conceived we knew he was special and not just a gift or a blessing for us from the Lord but that he was brought into this world for a greater purpose. We feel that God has something special in store for Weston and know he will use his life for great things and to bring him much glory. We are humbled by and honored to raise this child for whatever plans the Lord has for him and look forward to seeing how God uses West for building His kingdom.

A Season of Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving Tree

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. Psalm 136:1

This year we've felt especially blessed with how God has been working in our lives and we have so much to celebrate. Here are some updates from us and some things we're thanking God for this week:

• Annah started reading and loves to try and sound out new words. She can read three and four letter words with short vowels. We're working with a kindergarten language arts curriculum and we'll move on to first grade level in the fall. She also loves to practice counting, loves her daily "Right Choices" devotional book and loves to do art projects and go to ballet. Annah also loves to help in the kitchen any time she can and we usually bake or cook together at least once a day. She helps so often that I can now let her do most of the weekly bread making, I just help her with the kneading part. Annah will turn five in two weeks!

• Mira turned eight in September and just finished another season of soccer. She's been with the same team and coaches for three years and loves it. Mira's real passions however are reading, writing and drawing. She has been writing all sort of stories and making lots of books, and her talent for drawing has become evident. She's taking after her two talented artists aunties and her grandpa in Denmark. Her talent for story telling and writing, along with her spelling, grammar and vocabulary are also amazing and she takes after her "Mimi" (my mom) there. She recently wrote a three verse hymn called "Oh, Won't It Be Wonderful" about what it will be like in Heaven. Most afternoons you can find Mira curled up on the couch with a big book or at the school table working on another book. She's been taking piano lessons and can already read music can play several hymns and other songs.
  

• The girls and I have been going to a twice-monthly mother-daughter club called Ruby Girls. We enjoy time with our friends, working on a project like baking cinnamon rolls or sewing aprons and a devotion time.

• My grandmother "Granny" moved in next door with my mom in September. We see her often and she comes to eat dinner and spend the evenings with us twice a week. We all love having here, Annah especially. Although she has dementia and can't always remember who we are, she is happy and cheerful. Annah enjoys tucking Granny into bed at night and loves to help her get into her pajamas, getting her a hot water bottle and singing her goodnight songs.

• Our baby boy is growing well and is healthy and very active! I'm a little more than six months along now and if all goes as planned we look forward to meeting our baby in late February or March. We're still struggling with name ideas because we can't agree and can't find any names we really like, but hopefully we'll come up with something soon!

• Last year we worked hard at paying off our car and streamlining (tightening) our budget so I could realize my calling and dream of just being a mother. As of January 2010, I'll be able to just focus on my home and family and I'm so excited to enter this season in my life. Although we won't enjoy the same luxuries or even some things we think of as necessities we had when I worked (I've been doing public relations consulting part-time from home the past eight years), we think this is the best thing we can do for our kids. I'm looking forward to a more family-centered lifestyle.

Autie Lissa and the girls My younger sister Lissa has been home since September, staying with my mom next door, and we all love having her around. She's also a big help with the girls.

Granny, Annah and I

Baking cinnamon rolls at Ruby Girls
Mira working on one of her books - this one a horse book she started at 7 am on a Sunday morning!

Our progressive Thanksgiving party with good friends. We get together with these three other families often for football games, dinners, BBQs and just hanging out. We had a fancy feast last weekend and we all had a great time. Here are the kids at the "kid's table".

Shane's mom, step-dad Darell and brother Dale joined us for Mira's birthday and we're so blessed with such an awsome family!

Baby Bump

Tirza, six months pregnant

"From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another"
John 1:16