Ramona Elouise’s official new born pictures. I had Wesley take them on day two, because she was starting to get newborn rash, then day three it was all cleared up and she’s had perfect skin ever since, so I probably should have waited a day so her eyes might’ve been open..
Oh well.
Ramona Elouise Smith has arrived!
Her pregnancy was one of my easiest; I struggled very little with morning sickness, I never had any of my passing out spells, my SPD wasn’t nearly as bad as with the last two pregnancies (maybe a boy pregnancy problem?), I didn’t go to sleep fighting off Alice In Wonderland Syndrome, an aura related to migraines that I’d had the last two pregnancies (again, maybe a boy thing?), and as I neared 40 weeks, passed it by, and kept passing day after day, I continued to stay patient and tell people I still wasn’t miserable enough anyways.
I had enjoyed this pregnancy and I was so looking forward to having a perfect home birth, the first in our forever home, the first with my forever favorite midwife and friend, Shay. Everything was going to be perfect.
I hoped for a girl.
I prayed for labor and delivery to be smooth and in God’s time.
Sunday afternoon Shay met for a quick appointment and the baby was so so low, engaged, and I hoped ready soon.
Monday at 1:42 AM I awoke seconds before my water broke. I reached over and woke Wesley saying “my water just broke” as I rolled out of bed. It was honestly odd, like I awoke knowing it was about to happen. I rushed to the bathroom, the water was all clear, I was good to put on depends and wait for labor to begin. I did the math of labor in my head, water broke at 1:42, active labor by 4, baby by 8 or 9 if it’s easy... please be easy.
I texted my midwives that my waters had broken and I was going to try sleeping until the contractions started. I had a few contractions, I fell asleep, I woke up around 4 having had only a few contractions, I got up at 6 to bounce on my ball and wander around hoping walking would help, why wasn’t labor starting? Morning came, kids got up, Wesley took the day off, our 7th wedding anniversary, ironically the only day I’d said I didn’t want to have the baby.
Labor never came. I walked, we got a picnic and went to a park, went out for ice cream, tried staying busy, keeping me moving, along with naps to prepare for labor. Shay came to check on the baby a few times. Everything sounded good, we just kept waiting.
And waiting.
By 10PM I was having decent regular contractions. We got the kids to bed, I thought about staying up and bouncing on my ball to be sure the contractions stuck around and real labor began but I was exhausted from the long day and decided to try and sleep first. For a few hours it was hard because of the contractions but things moved around and eventually I slept, the contractions had stopped.
I got up at 5, I bounced on my ball, still nothing.
I had decided that if labor hadn’t started on its own by morning I would take castor oil, if that didn’t work I would begin antibiotics for having my waters ruptured ‘too long’, and begin waiting for real.
I waited for Walmart to open so Wesley could go get castor oil, Shay came to check the baby and do a vaginal exam. Baby was good, I was only dilated to 1, maybe 2 if Shay was generous. It was hard to hear, I was starting from nothing, I was going to have such a long day, if castor oil even worked.
I took the first dose at 9, about an hour later my trips to the bathroom began.
NOTE: castor oil itself causes uterine contractions. The violent diarrhea is not what causes the contractions. You could take another laxative and not end up in labor. Think of the diarrhea as a side effect of the induction method instead of the induction method a side effect of the laxative.
So the trips to the bathroom began, no contractions, not abnormal, castor oil takes longer to affect the uterus.
By 12 it would be time for the second dose if the first wasn’t doing it. Leading up to 12 I had a few good contractions but not enough to think labor was beginning. I took the second dose. I ate half a grilled cheese sandwich. Before I was done eating I was up crying through a contraction, shuffling to the bathroom, having another contraction before I was done in the bathroom. By 12:30 we decided it was labor, just the beginning, but it was starting. The baby was slightly posterior and not engaged so hoping to avoid back labor I leaned forward on my ball or off the edge of the couch for several contractions. I paced, I summoned Wesley with glances at him and he held me as I groaned or hummed ‘How Great Thou Art’ deeply and swayed through contractions. Shay asked if she weren’t already here would I call the midwives? “Yes, but just to let them know I’m finally in active labor, it’ll probably be awhile before they need to come.”
Around 2:30 I rushed to the bathroom, again, this time I also threw up and had two contractions back to back. While sitting on the toilet waiting for the contraction to pass I cried in prayer Lord, please be merciful to me, I can’t do this all day, I just can’t and I felt guilty crying out for I know women who go through much harder labors than the two hours I had endured. Shay asked if I was ready to move upstairs, currently I was laboring in the living room, getting thoughtful pats and hugs from a concerned Estel, shushing Jerusha’s chattering as I would start a contraction, hoping the girls would be eased into the fact that labor is hard, but not scared away from it. I decided I was ready to head upstairs. I planned to get up there and lay down for a few contractions, hoping to give my body a breather, sleep between them, and be prepared for the next few hours. So far, although the contractions were definitely true labor contractions and continuously building, they were causing very little cervical pressure. I’ve always taken a long time to dilate, I always want to push before I’m ready, and I always have a cervical lip that the midwife has to help stretch or hold as I begin pushing. I had a lot of ground yet to cross, I thought.
Once in our room I sat on the edge of the bed ready to lay down when another contraction came, I stood and leaned against Wesley, I groaned, I cried, I was glad I was wearing depends since my water had broken because for the first time I didn’t make it to the toilet with castor oil affects. After the contraction passed I said “I felt pushy with that one, I can’t feel pushy yet, I have so long to go” it was discouraging. Shay supportively said I may not have as long as I think, she said “you’re doing great Haley, you’re almost there” I knew she was just trying to be encouraging, of course I had hours to go. I needed to go rinse off in the tub and then I wanted to come back and lay down to rest between, even if it slowed labor down. Wesley helped me, he used the shower spray head, I cried for his help as another contraction gripped me. More rinsing. Another contraction. With this one I noticed Shay at the bathroom doorway “you’re really close Haley” again with the false encouragement.
My mom had arrived, I’d wanted her to bring a sibling to help entertain the kids. “You’re close!” she cheered from the hallway. False.
Still standing in the tub I had another contraction and I felt the baby coming. “It’s crowning” I said “or coming, well something is coming? I don’t know?” I was so confused. I KNEW it couldn’t be the baby yet, I hadn’t had enough time, pressure, or contractions to be fully dilated and pushing, but something was definitely coming.
Shay was there checking and ready to catch, “it’s your waters” she said, okay maybe that made sense “No, it’s hair, there’s the baby”.
I was already reaching down, instinctively, I knew it was the baby, of course it was. She slid out all in the same contraction. I immediately checked for the cord, not wrapped around her, our first baby to not be wound in the cord. As I did that I looked to see if she were a boy or girl “it’s a girl! We have our Ramona, oh Ramona!” My childlike, giddy, post delivery oxytocin high cheer took over, everything was okay, it was over, I’d had a baby girl, everything was perfect. I sat on the seat built into our tub.
“Haley, you’re bleeding quite a bit, are you okay with me giving you a shot of Pitocin?” from Shay.
“Yes” from Wesley
“Is it really too much? Can we wait a minute?” From me.
We waited. Ramona latched and began nursing. I stood up to see if the placenta was ready to come, just blood clots, and a steady stream of blood. The cord was done pulsing, we clamped and disconnected Ramona from me. We cleaned me up as well as we could and moved to the bed. Again contractions, trying to push the placenta, more clots, more blood, a shot of pitocin, finally the placenta, trip to the bathroom, more clots, more blood.
By this time the other midwife had arrived.
Another shot of pitocin. We headed back to bed, I was dizzy, I don’t remember going down the hallway to our room, I was in bed barely conscious. The midwives administered 800mg of cytotec, two pills orally, the rest rectally.
“I’m still bleeding”
They gave me 200 more, 1000 total, the legal limit at home.
It was enough, the bleeding slowed.
“Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and chills can be side effects”
The chills started. “Is it cold? I’m so cold. Do I have hypothermia?” I was shaking so violently. They piled a quilt, down comforter, and heating pad on me, still so cold. Due to all the blood loss they started an IV. Cold water in my veins, I was so cold.
Finally the shaking had subsided, they say it was only 10 or 15 minutes, I think it was longer.
I nursed Ramona, perfect, beautiful, Ramona Elouise.
The room calmed, we’d all made it through. The children were brought in to meet their new sibling. I rested, the midwives and my mom cleaned and organized.
Shay began Ramona’s exam. She was perfect.
Born Tuesday, April 6th, 2021 at 3:12 PM.
Weight: 8lbs 6oz, Length: 22 1/4”
Born in her perfect, healthy time at exactly 42 weeks.
37 1/2 hours with ruptured waters
2 hours and 40 minutes of active labor.
I didn’t have the perfect, 100% natural birth I’d been patiently waiting for. I am a little disappointed in my body, I feel like it failed to do what it was supposed to do, but I’m becoming okay with that. Twice now, I’ve hemorrhaged, I’m high risk for it, next time I’ll take the midwives advice and accept ‘active management’ care and the pitocin shot that will likely come immediately following birth, the second the blood loss looks like it might want to get out of hand.
I am still amazed how fast things went from ‘maybe labor’ to her arrival, God certainly heard my cry for mercy and so graciously granted it. Throughout my labor I had so many friends and family keeping up to date and praying for my specific needs, again, God graciously answered His saints requests on my behalf. I am humbled, honored, and so very blessed to be the recipient of His goodness from their petitions.
And I am ever so grateful to have Shay as my midwife. Midwives are amazing, it is a personal, heartfelt, relationship, full of care leading up to the birth. But my midwife is extra special, she’s also one of my closest friends, she’s practically family, she’s definitely honorary family, and I am beyond excited to think she’ll be by my side for all my future babies.
I thought I’d write this post once the bathroom was completed but I’ve sort of stalled out. Everything is done except finding a mirror, I keep looking for a cheap used one and haven’t convinced myself it’s worth buying a full priced one, yet. I think Wesley is the only one who even misses it, what with shaving every morning. We have a small hair and make up mirror on one wall, that was there originally, and the rest of us get by just fine with that for hair brushing and whatnot.
When we moved in the bathroom was okay but I knew it would be one of the first achievable areas for updates.
This was before, and this picture is from the realty listing and was incredibly flattering. The wall paper was textured, white stripes, and all patched together, and that one far wall with the peeling ‘wood’. Note the odd shelf above the lights, and there were two on the wall above the towel rack, crooked and odd. The shower curtain was another issue as the rod was technically too short so located in a way that caused the curtain to hang in the middle of the tub and who likes showering with a wet curtain bumping into you? Not me!
The updates all started one day because we were out of extra toilet paper in the cabinet so I sent Jerusha upstairs to get some and restock it. She brought 6 rolls, WAY too many to fit in the cabinet along with the towels, rags, and miscellaneous items. As I arranged and rearranged I decided to take the towels out of the cabinet thinking I’d just stack them on the oddly placed shelves on the wall... but why don’t I just move the shelves to make them more sightly first?
And that resulted in my beginning to tear off the wall paper which was going quite well, so I should just take ALL the fixtures off the wall and get rid of all the wall paper. AND I should pick out paint because, now I was going to have unpainted bathroom walls...
...if you give a mouse a cookie....
Gone is the wall paper and all the extra fixtures!
Over all, from the day I first tore into the bathroom, I think it took about 6 weeks to get it to looking the way it does now, mirrorless, but nearly perfect.
And in the end did I solve the towel problem? No. I didn’t. I just couldn’t put those odd shelves back up on my pretty walls so the towels live in the cabinet, still, sharing space with all the odds and ends, and we only keep two extra rolls of toilet paper.
The route I went with the bathroom was freehanding a bunch of flowers, oranges, and figs on the wall with 8oz sample jars of paint from Home Depot. They ran about $3 a piece, shipped to home for free, and I just picked the colors on line hoping they’d be close enough to matching what I imagined; they were.
We ordered a special, neo-angle curtain rod from Amazon to curtain our oddly shaped, but wonderfully large, bathtub. The curtain rod had a design flaw but my brother Mark Jerry rigged it for us and you can’t tell, it looks fine and works perfectly. I ordered 2 standard size, hotel style shower curtains to enclose the whole exposed tub perimeter. They work great and allow for no leakage.
The mirror is left to be decided upon.
Current stage of ‘final product’:
6 Eggs
1 c Milk
1 c Flour
2 T Sugar
Sprinkle of Salt
4 T Butter
Preheat oven to 450°, regular bake, not convection mode.
Place butter in a 10” iron skillet and put into the preheating oven.
Whisk together the remaining ingredients being sure to well incorporate the flour. Let set while the oven finishes its preheat.
Once oven is preheated, pull the skillet with melted butter out, pour batter in, return to oven. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven, dust with powdered sugar, slice and serve.
We often just eat it with the powdered sugar but other versions we like include; fresh sliced fruit, thawed frozen fruit sprinkled with sugar, canned fruits such as peach slices, or maple syrup. Fresh fruit being my preference.
Flavor Options
(One I’ve personally tried)
1 tsp Vanilla
Zest of one Lemon
Nutmeg and Orange Zest
(Ones I’ve read about)
Replace sugar with Honey + Cinnamon
Thyme and Chives
I took a video back in December of myself making one for breakfast and I intended to add it to this post, I, however, am not very technically inclined and the file is too large so I cannot include it. I also considered putting it on YouTube first then linking the video, but, no luck figuring out how to upload it there, either! Maybe someday I will add it, if Wesley wants to show me how.
I’m splitting this post up because, for real, no one wants to scroll through, let alone read all this, if they’re just searching the internet for a Dutch baby recipe, the recipe will be in my following post.
I feel terrible calling them a Dutch Baby, I should adjust to calling them a German Pancake, another common name. When I first told the kids what I was making for breakfast Jerusha was shocked “a baby, why are you making food that’s a baby?!”
Once, years and years ago, I had partaken in a family friend’s breakfast that was a Dutch Baby and I remember politely eating it and wondering why that it would be anyone’s favorite breakfast food. In my memory it was just slimy and custard-y and not my style breakfast - at all. Now that I’ve been making them, I think the resulting texture could’ve simply been a result of putting a lid on it to stay warm while we did chores. I’ve since talked to my sister though, who put some pretty extensive research into Dutch Babies, and she says it is some people’s preference to turn out a ‘gooier’ one and found recommendations on America’s Test Kitchen for how to, so it’s also a possibility that the more custard like version is my friends’ preference.
Ever since then, though, I’ve never given Dutch Babies a second chance; until my sister-in-law asked “have you ever made a Dutch baby? It’s a super easy breakfast and high protein” and her cooking style is similar enough to mine that I knew if she were recommending them, they must be worth a second chance. She told me the basics ‘6 eggs, or more if you want extra, a cup of milk, a cup of flour, some sugar, and it just bakes in a skillet for 15 minutes.’
Sounded worth the effort, 20 minutes and I could serve everyone a protein rich breakfast? Yes please.
I checked Pinterest and all the recipes were pretty much what she said, a few varying slightly in oven temperatures and baking times, lots of variants in flavor choices. I picked one that had lemon zest in it and a lemon glaze, because I happened to have a bag of lemons needing used. I was so happy with the outcome. Fluffy, light, delicious, and all the kids gave it a thumbs up, their official way of rating of all my foods.
In the subsequent weeks I made several, sometimes I added a couple extra eggs and this always results in a more custard like ‘pancake’ and much less rising up the sides of the skillet.
I told my sister that she should make them because “they’re so easy” and that set her out on her own adventure of trial and error to create the perfect Dutch baby - every time. You can read her account here.
If you read her account you will see she had lots of trouble getting it to consistently puff up the sides of the pan, if it fails to puff up the sides, you are left with a flat, slimy sort of textured, extremely thick crape like pancake. Not at all the flavor and texture the well puffed version results in.
I find it fascinating how different our experiences with Dutch babies have been. Mine don’t always turn out perfect and fluffy, but more often than not, they do, and I never felt the need to trouble shoot it, I just took mental notes, like the fact adding extra eggs makes for flat custard-y ones, while white Montana whole wheat flour makes for dense, less risen versions, and the fact you can leave out (read: forget) the sugar and they’ll still be fine, in fact, I definitely recommend using less sugar than your general recipes call for.
My sister is much more meticulous in her cooking though, so in that regard I’m not at all surprised she wanted to find the perfect solutions to turn out a perfect Dutch Baby - every single time. But I also wonder what other contributing factors there could be, since after lots of conversation with her about her trouble shooting, it sounds like many people google it, blog about it, and offer their solutions to a problem I didn’t realize existed; ‘why is my Dutch baby flat?’.
I still wonder what differences there may be, like, do we bake them on different racks in the oven, does she use convection bake, maybe gas vs. electric oven would make a difference? I feel like there could be many variables to our differing success
At any rate though, we’ve embraced Dutch Babies and they’re on my weekly breakfast menu. All the kids eat them well, we usually finish one off without anyone asking for more or having to over eat, so for now, it’s a perfect breakfast option.
I would really love to hear who makes Dutch Babies/German Pancakes and what your version of a passable outcome is! And, if you’ve never made one, I recommend giving it a try. My following post contains my recipe version.
And one of my absolute favorite thing about making a Dutch Baby is the season it leaves my skillet with. It’s just amazing and beautiful.
I paint a picture for each baby I carry and grow. Usually I paint it during the pregnancy, Éowyn’s is the only one I didn’t finish until the baby had already arrived.
Estel’s painting has the most meaning, and oh how short a period that part of our life ended up being. My recordings from them seem so dramatic now, but how were we to know the time would be so short, and therefore bearable?
This baby, our fifth, came as a surprise this summer, but it’s such a blessing and wonderful surprise; along with a whole summer filled with blessings.
I was inspired by those emotions when drafting this one. Our trips west, to the mountains I love and where I happened to be when I realized I was most likely expecting, the promised coming of all things I thought God had asked us to give up forever, and the fruition of all my dreams and prayers being answered as we moved home, it was easy to draw from the joy and cheer filling my heart for this one’s painting.
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| Baby bump the fifth’s |
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| Estel’s |
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| Emmitt’s |
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| Éowyn’s |
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| Jerusha’s |
I really don’t know how to classify this recipe. I’m 7+ months pregnant and had a sudden craving for a dish from my childhood; some sort of spinach pastry with lemon zest in it that my mom used to occasionally make, but I also wanted some really melty cheese with my spinach, and some artichokes, and of course nutmeg. Oh. And buttery, flaky crust. Did I want Spankopita?
Wesley went shopping with my list. Ricotta, oil packed sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts.. “what fancy meal are you making?” Was his first question when he brought the groceries home. “Spanikopita, sort of, not really though because lots of cheese, and probably more like a crust not laminated puff.” Was my answer.
I asked my mom for the recipe I remembered as a kid, but warned her I wasn’t really going to follow it, just use it as inspiration. She sent me two different recipes, one she used as inspiration, and her own, what she actually had turned it into. My cooking style comes naturally.
What I made:
Spinach Pot Pie
Crust:
8 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup Butter, softened
3 cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
Cream Cream Cheese and Butter, using spoon add salt and flour, mixing until crumbly. Using hands form into ball, divide in two sections, one larger for base crust, one the size of the top of your pan for the covering (final size will need to be slightly larger than 9x13).
Filling:
2-3c chicken breast cooked and chopped*
12 oz Frozen Spinach, thawed and well drained
1 14oz can Artichoke Hearts, drained
3 Tbsp Oil Packed Sun Dried Tomatoes, chopped
Zest of one Lemon
3 cloves of Garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp ground Nutmeg
1 1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese
1/2 cup Cream
2 Eggs, well beaten
1/2 tsp ground Pepper
1 cup shredded Parmesan
2 cups shredded Mozzarella, divided
1 additional egg, beaten
Mix all ingredients well, saving 1 cup of Mozzarella out.
Preheat oven to 375°. Roll bottom crust large enough to fill a 9x13 pan, place in pan, add filling, top with remaining cup of mozzarella cheese. Roll out top crust to cover. Crimp or roll edges to seal, cut slits in top crust and brush with a beaten egg.
Bake 45-55 minutes or until Golden.
*my chicken was marinaded in our traditional vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, and pepper marinade and broiled on high for 12-15 minutes per side.
In my opinion this dinner was divine. It was exactly what I wanted. My kids aren’t a huge fan, which is too bad, because I’m just going to keep making it and have to hear them complain and sit at the table forever until they decide to finish.
