Welcome Penelope!

Penelope Elizabeth Ringia Was born this past Monday, July 25th.

I have another beautiful amazing daughter, Autumn, who is about 2 1/2, and I am absolutely amazed by how different the birth of Penelope was.

Sunday evening, or in reality, very early Monday morning, I woke up to go to the bathroom and my water broke.

I wasn't really sure what had happened, because I was under the impression that when your water breaks it is pretty obvious. It was almost more like I peed myself, and then continued to expel fluid for about an hour.

I had not had any noticeable contractions before my water broke in this pregnancy, and they did not start immediately after it broke, so I was not really sure what to do... so I called my mom, who just happened to be at the airport waiting to fly back to her home in Savannah.

My husband called the hospital, and they told me to come in within 6 hours or when I started having contractions.

I had an order that needed to be rushed, so I went ahead and printed that while I was waiting to start having contractions, and before I got it packaged I started having contractions. I quickly finished packaging the order and called my dad. I dropped the package off in the mailbox and my husband and I drove my daughter to my dad's house.

My mom decided to stay in Albuquerque a few more days to meet my new daughter and I was lucky enough to have my mom at the hospital with me. Only my husband and the hospital staff were in the room for delivery because that is what I was comfortable with, but it was really wonderful to have my mom there for so much of the process.

She was at the hospital for the entire labor and delivery process and kept us company for various parts of Penelope's birth. She was in the room when I called for the epidural and left when they administered the epidural. A few hours later, after a nap she came back and she was really impressed with the difference the epidural made :)

The delivery was easy and fast, and I had a successful VBAC.

I had my other daughter Autumn Via emergency C-Section and it was much more stressful. I never actually went into labor with Autumn, and I was really worried I wouldn't know when I went into labor with Penelope. When Autumn was two weeks past due I went to the hospital to be induced. I was 8cm dilated when I had the epidural and it was only starting to become painful at that time, but the contractions never felt anything like what they felt like with Penelope. Autumn was not positioned correctly and after 17 hours of labor I was whisked away for an emergency cesarean. The recovery for Autumn didn't really feel that hard, but in comparison I feel really great after this pregnancy. Recovery is MUCH easier after a vaginal birth.

I also am having much better luck breast feeding this time around. I know it is much harder to breastfeed after a cesarean, but I am sure that the hours spent with lactation consultants when I had Autumn probably helped a lot this time around.

I was surprised to have to stay in the hospital for 24 hours after Penelope was born, I guess I felt so great that I thought I should be able to go home right away.

I was released from the hospital in the afternoon on the 26th, and it was really wonderful to come home to my mom and my beautiful daughter Autumn. I have spent the past few days relaxing and recovering with my family and finally started production again for Caustic Threads. I have several orders that I will be slowly catching up on, and will reopen shop when I have all of my current orders (including my wholesale orders) complete.

I don't expect to be finished and back in full swing especially quickly, as I have more important things to tend to.










(The beautiful blanket in many pictures was made by Angela, her etsy store is http://www.etsy.com/shop/allthingsgranny )

It's July Already?!?

Hello!

This year has flown by for me. It has been a hectic whirlwind, and....

I'm tired.

It is so amazing that little Penelope will be here soon, and I am clearly nesting. I made new curtains and some decorative pillows for Autumn and Penelope's room, and re-coverd the rocking chair that we got in a very impractical light color because I am to frugal to spend twice as much on the same thing in a dark practical color.

I like how it turned out, I think it is cute. The pillows and curtains match, and the cushions are actually reversible. It was also a pretty easy thing to do that really made the chair look much better. The cream was a beautiful color, but not appropriate for an item used by a baby or a toddler. It is kind of like white and pastel baby clothes- which for some reason are available in abundance- but not good for more than a few wears because they get so stained. Which makes me want to run off on a tangent about baby clothes, but I guess I have digressed enough. Back to nesting.... I also really want to replace autumns bed. She has been sleeping on a futon mattress, because although her crib turned into a toddler bed, she does not like sleeping in it because it is a "baby bed".

Since we have another baby coming, we will certainly be keeping the crib, but it is really crowded in there with a futon mattress on the floor, so I would like to get autumn a proper bed. Either a toddler bed, or a proper twin bed... or what would be really cool would be to build her a loft that can be transformed into bunk beds later. I have a cool design in mind, that includes turning the bottom portion into a playhouse. Adam is not a fan of this idea, since it is likely that he would be making it. I also really want to paint the walls in thier room.

Oh... and the carpet... I want to steam clean the carpet- but not just in autumns room... in the whole house.

I am also finding that when I am working on orders for Caustic Threads, my mind is really wandering. I have so many fun items I want to make for autumn and Penelope, that it is hard to stay on task. Despite this, it seems like I am doing a better job of juggling orders, helping my dad at the shop, and taking care of Autumn, I just wish I had a little more free time to spend with Adam and Autumn.

Autumn has been pretty difficult lately. I am not sure if it is because there is a new baby coming, or because she gets less attention from me now that I am a little overloaded. It is probably a combination of things. I know why kids this age are so damn melt-your-heart CUTE at this age though.

Finally, speaking of being overloaded, Caustic Threads had a record month in June. Amazing. It was the best month ever, we even beat December of last year. It is exciting, and gratifying. I am not sure what kind of goal I should have for July though. Not only do I think expecting to beat June is a little unrealistic as far as actual sales are concerned, but with a new baby I know that the amount of work I am able to do right after she penelope is born will be limited too.

And to say Adieu, here is my newest design in Caustic Threads.

Tiger RAWR Onesie $14.00

Have an excellent weekend!

♥Erica