Stories with the Strickland's

I have been feeling a pull on my heart that our next child is going to be arriving sooner than we had planned. With my baby girl, I knew in my soul that I was getting pregnant within the upcoming 2 months—and sure enough, as the second month came, I became pregnant with her. I also knew in my soul that she was going to be born at the end of May, even though she was due in June. And so, I know to trust my intuition when it comes to my children's timing. So, according to my sense, I will be becoming pregnant again in the next year. Which is so exciting, but also terrifying! My next child has also picked their name already—but I don't plan to share it publicly for their privacy and will be picking a pseudonym for them when they come.      We had planned to wait until our baby was at least 15 months old to start trying for our second. However, even if we try to aim for that, I feel in my bones that our next baby will be coming much sooner. So 2 under 2 is going to be somethin...

 I went to church for the first time in many months and it was lovely. With my difficult pregnancy and being freshly postpartum, it has probably been about 8 months since I've been able to attend church (in person, at least). It was so good to be able to partake of the sacrament, hear the thoughts and lessons shared, and meet new people—since this was also the first time in our new area since moving when our baby was 3 weeks old.      The lesson was meant to be about being mindful of each other, finding God in all of our experiences, and seeing how He uses our lives and circumstances to bring us closer to Him—and we did talk about that—but I also noticed how so many things shared were about parenting. It was the perfect lesson to return to, since my whole life now revolves around my parenthood. A sister shared that parenting is often hard and overwhelming, until she remembers that these little children are God's, not just hers, and they were placed with her so she c...

 Since becoming a mom, I have noticed a lot of new strength in myself. Not just physically either! I now believe that "mom strength" is wrapped into every part of this new being one has become when they become a mother. I noticed shifting and changing in myself throughout my pregnancy—I wrote about it in my other post What's My Favorite Color? —but I didn't know where it was taking me. I think I'm starting to figure it out more now.      Mom Strength starts developing, physically, as soon as you start having contractions. It was the workout of my entire life! I have never pushed myself so hard, been so exhausted and sore, and felt so powerful before. It then continues as you do constant exercise by carrying your ever growing baby all day. Holding my little girl is a back and arm workout. Bouncing and walking with her is great cardio. Even today, my quads are so sore because I was wearing her on my chest and squatting down to change the bed sheets and clean around ...

 My pregnancy was really difficult and somewhat traumatic. When we first found out I was pregnant, the first OB I saw thought it was an ectopic pregnancy—it was quickly confirmed that it was a perfectly healthy pregnancy, I had just been earlier along than we thought and they couldn't see anything at that point. As my pregnancy progressed, my symptoms became much worse than I expected, including horrible tachycardia that would make my chest hurt and my head spin; fatigue that kept me from being able to do much of anything most days; nausea that persisted without causing me to actually vomit which may have been something of a relief at that point; intense sensitivity to smell that made anything being heated up repulsive, smells around the house bothersome, and even made it hard for me to kiss my husband because of the smell of his breath.       Then I got Covid-19 when I was 17 weeks along and travelling that made things even worse! Blessedly, my husband seems to...

 In the 8 weeks of my baby's life thus far, I've experienced and learned a lot! I was incredibly surprised at how fast recovery from birth felt—I expected it to be painful, difficult, and long, but it was actually very quick. After the epidural wore off, I was able to start getting up to walk to and from the bathroom with a little help. By the end of that first day, I was able to walk up and down the hall while pushing the hospital bassinet with my baby and I could take a shower by myself. I was on a lot of Ibuprofen, but nothing stronger. I felt surprisingly good.      On the second day, I felt even better and went on a longer walk in the halls and got discharged from the hospital that afternoon. I sat criss-cross on the couch at home with a padsicle on and held my baby with no issues. It was fantastic! In that first week, I showered and felt good and capable enough to even shave my legs! Even with a second degree tear, a dinner plate sized internal wound, and a ute...

Birth was one of the most fascinating experiences. I remember most of it, but as my husband could tell you, I was definitely delirious at some points and I don't remember much of the conversations I had then.        It was very fast. From the time my contractions started (that I was aware of) to the time my baby was born was a span of only 6 hours! I labored for 4 hours and pushed for 2 hours. It all happened so rapidly!       3 nights before my scheduled c-section,  I felt that I needed to go to bed early — which I now recognize as a prompting from God to prepare me for a joyful, although sleepless, night. So, I went to bed around 7pm and woke up to terrible gas pains at about 9:15pm. After using the bathroom, I hoped the pain would stop and moved to go back to bed when I got hit with another bout of pains. I told my husband I was going to go sit in the living room since sleep was unlikely with the aching I was having. The pains were primarily in...