Merry Christmas From All of Us!

photos by Lori Elizabeth Photography

Love,
The Clay Rosary Girl

P.S.
Someone got her Christmas wish from last year. Remember when she asked for this?

http://lorielizabethphotography.com/blog/

Faustina's Birth Story- Part 1

Faustina's foot while being weighed. photo courtesy of Ginny

This birth was to be a lot of firsts for us.  After being stuck in the hospital for three days before my last baby came for a scheduled delivery, my husband and I were ready for a change of scenery this time around.  Despite the fact that I've always wanted to have a natural birth, for my hospital births, somehow I've ended up being hooked up to IV's, pumped full of pitocin, stuck to an obnoxious baby monitor that threatened me with every dip of the baby's heart beat to have this baby or have a c-section that I knew I didn't need and had my cervix checked more often than I cared.  That's not natural- not a natural setting, not a natural feeling and just plain uncomfortable.  This time I was ready for the "hand's off" approach, even if it meant I couldn't have an epidural. I've always had epidurals even though I tried not to. I would go as long as I could without one, but I would cave at the end when my cervix was going no where and the baby's heart rate was going down. 

I'm not going to lie, if it weren't for all my cool friends around here having babies at home, I don't think I would ever think about.   Thankfully, they all went through it first and had tons of great advice. Having a baby at home was so different on a few different levels. First, you have get so much ready at home for the baby and midwives. I spent an entire week cleaning and organizing my house. It's never been so clean! Second, there is different level of responsibility the midwives give you vs. the obstetrician. In many ways, I felt more in charge of this birth than ever before.  From being in charge of my own charts in the office to making all decisions about the birth, to being responsible for the supplies- surprisingly, I liked it better this way. I don't know if I would have liked it for the first, or even second birth when I didn't know what to expect. But this time, the doctors and nurses weren't having this baby- my husband and I were.  The midwives were along for the ride.

Now on to the birth. I started contracting on Tuesday morning at 4:00am.  They started off good- about 10 minutes apart.  I called my husband who was at work. He was more than happy to come home early. We spent the day preparing for a possible birth that day, but then the contractions slowed way down. We ended up running errands, doing last minute cleaning and driving around to see Christmas lights with the kids. It was a nice way to spend a day before the baby came.  I had checked off everything I wanted to get done before the baby came and now I could relax.

I have to say there is something about being mentally prepared to have your baby. With my other births, I've always gone 10 days over- the longest time the obstetricians will let you before being induced.  This time, I only went three days over and it was the first time I didn't need an induction. I was surprised it actually happened on it's own this time.  I attribute it to being able to mentally welcome the whole birth experience- pain and all. Letting go of the fear and anxiety of child birth was only made possible by all the reading up I did on natural birthing. The reading material led me to believe I could have a good birthing experience by welcoming contractions instead of dreading them. This was mostly true... there's a point, however, that no matter how much relaxing you do, the pain finds you and takes over. It's all good though. Having something to offer up is helpful at this point! 

For me, being spiritually prepared is essential for giving birth. I like praying the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of Mary with the meditations from Immaculee's Our Lady of Kibeho.  It's the third time I prayed it while in labor and it always gives me the right mind set for making the pain a spiritual offering.  This time, I prayed for the conversion of family members.  We received word that one person in our family (whom we were unsure of) went to confession two days after the baby was born.  I don't know if it's related, but we thanked God for the sign of hope that was given.

Back to the birth...The next morning was Wednesday 12/12/12, the contractions started strong again at 3:30am. This time, they didn't go away as soon as I got up and I was sure this would be the day. We sent the kids off to my friend's house continued to make last minute preparations- finding the perfect music and getting the bedroom ready with the bed sheets put on the right way, so that after the birth, there would be clean sheets ready to go.

When it was about 1:30, the contractions started slowing down again- from 10 minutes apart to 15 minutes apart and they were weakening. We decided to pick up the kids again.  The plan was to  have dinner at home, put the kids to bed and maybe have the baby the following day. But as soon as the kids got home, things picked up again! My two year old was crawling on me when I had a huge contraction. I yelled for Eric to take the kids away and he brought them to another friend's house.

While he was gone, I called the midwives and told them the labor was picking up and to think about coming down soon.  15 minutes later, I called again and told them they better head down. Things were picking up faster than I thought.  That was at 4:00pm and rush hour was at its worst.  It would take them at least two hours to get to Fredericksburg from D.C. I prayed they would make it on time.

For the next hour and a half, Eric and I worked through the contractions with Yanni and whatever other cheesy new age music Pandora could find. It's not my typical listening choice, but it was good for relaxing. I laid on the bed on my side with the lights off and Eric massaged my back the entire time. I wouldn't let him leave for a minute. I was working hard to stay in my zen and I knew the minute he left, I would lose it.  From all the birthing books and advice we learned, to have a successful natural birth, relaxation is the key.  Eric recited some hypno birthing relaxation scripts, which were somewhat useful. I knew I wasn't going to be able to enter any sort of state of hypnosis, but at least I could try to use them to relax. So he talked about rainbow colored mists and opening flowers while putting pressure on my lower back to counteract the pressure from the contractions that were getting stronger and stronger.  Now they were only a minute or two apart. 

To be continued...

Baby Faustina

Mary Faustina Guadalupe Harkins was born on 12/12/12 at 7:17pm on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She is so sweet and we just love her. More info to come, but here's a fun list of firsts with this baby:

1.  First baby to be born sans meds
2. First home birth
3. First midwife/birth assistant birth
4.  One more surprise, but I will explain that later.

God is so good!  He has answered all our prayers for a good, natural delivery and a healthy baby. He has blessed us beyond our expectations.

St. Andrew Bead Jewelry

I'm on a role here with putting new jewelry in my shop! These were all made with my purple star kaleidoscope beads that I used for the St. Andrew Chaplets (which is underway this advent!)

http://www.clayrosaries.com/necklaces.html

 This was a special request necklace that turned out so well, I decided it needed to be in my shop too. Thank you to Sherri for the inspiration!

http://www.clayrosaries.com/bracelets.html

http://www.clayrosaries.com/earrings.html

Those Antiqued Butterfly Beads

I went through quite the experimentation and thought process to transform my marshmallowy butterfly beads into something more appealing.  In the end, I think the burning process is too hazardous, so I will probably not be making more of these beads. Here's what I did to make the butterfly bracelet beads:

First I sliced large pieces of the butterfly bead and rolled them to make nice little marshmallow looking balls.

Then I took three colors of the Liquid Polymer and mixed them to make my antiquing color.  I rolled the balls into the liquid and then baked them.

I think I re-glazed them after the first baking because I didn't like the color.  Then I baked them some more at a hotter temperature than recommended and cooked them longer than recommended until the liquid polymer started smoking.  Then and only then, the liquid polymer transformed into a glassy glaze with an antiqued look. 

So you see, slightly hazardous, but very pretty.  These will likely be the only ones I will be making.

Oh, and the glaze clogged up the holes, making it impossible to string anything in them.  My husband had to drill holes through them. So from start to finish- it was quite the process.  The photo doesn't show how shiny these beads actually are- but take it from me- they are niiice and shiny.

http://www.clayrosaries.com/bracelets.html

Butterfly Rosaries and Folk Art Rosaries, Servite Rosary

I finally put my butterfly beads to good use and made two new rosaries with them.  The first is all clay- which is my personal preference.  I think the all clay rosaries (with clay cross and centerpiece) are nice because there are no metal parts with potential for tarnishing, or snagging. The feel of an all clay rosary is more comfortable to me than the cold metal parts and I definitely prefer it for sleeping with- if you like to sleep with your rosary as much as I do!  In the end, it's just a personal preference, which is why I provide both options.

http://www.clayrosaries.com/butterfly-rosaries.html

 I used three coordinating colors to outline the butterfly beads and gently rounded each bead to give it a nice, finished look.

http://www.clayrosaries.com/butterfly-rosaries.html

Now, my favorite rosary: the Folk Art Rosary.  I have two options for this rosary as well.  Remember those flowers I made to put on the rooster beads? I dug them out and reconfigured them into snazzy beads for this rosary (and also the jewelry set for girls).  The combination of the folk art flowers with the folky rooster beads is my personal favorite rosary.  I didn't think I'd like the turquoise glass beads with this rosary, but I ended up loving them!  If you'd prefer a metal crucifix with this rosary, I also have that as one of the options.

http://www.clayrosaries.com/folk-art-rosaries.html

Lastly, I put the Servite Rosary, or the Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of Mary back in my shop with my lastest black roses.  I guess there was something on EWTN recently with Immaculee and this devotion because several people have asked about this chaplet, so here it is:

http://www.clayrosaries.com/seven-sorrows-of-mary-chaplet.html

Butterfly Jewelry, and Loads of Girl Jewelry

Quite a lot of new things in my shop- just in time for Christmas! Some of my favorite pieces ever, I think.

Here's one of my butterfly necklaces- I have four different kinds! Check them all out here.

http://www.clayrosaries.com/neclaces.html

And for the girls, Butterfly Jewelry. Click here for more.

http://www.clayrosaries.com/girl-butterfly-jewelry.html

More Jewelry for little girls: Children's Immaculate Heart Jewelry.  These jewelry sets are very affordable.

Here's my daughter wearing the Immaculate Heart necklace. She loves it so much.

http://www.clayrosaries.com/immaculate-heart-jewelry.html

Folk Art Jewelry Set for girls with matching bracelet:

http://www.clayrosaries.com/rooster-girls-jewelry.html

Guardian Angel Set for girls with matching bracelet:

http://www.clayrosaries.com/guardian-angel-jewelry.html

Did I mention these sets are very durable and affordable?


More earrings added too!

http://www.clayrosaries.com/earrings.html