Friday, January 31, 2014


Birth Story: Arthur Henry Harris
Born January 19, 2014 in Aloha, Oregon


Arthur’s birth was absolutely perfect and mind-blowing. The only birth I had to compare it to was Jude’s, which was five years ago in a birth center in Utah. And as I remember, it was extremely lengthy and painful, and ending in shoulder dystocia and a partial separation of the placenta. I was prepared for the worst.
January 19, 2014 was a Sunday, and I woke up feeling a lot of pressure in my pelvis. “Hrm,” I thought. “That’s a lot of pressure.” My former mother-in-law had flown in from Utah the night before (thank goodness!) to help take care of all of us when the baby came. She’s had seven babies naturally, and I was grateful to have her around for advice that morning. I told her I couldn’t tell if I was having contractions, but I felt kind of crampy. She said, “If you’re wondering if you’re in labor, you probably are!” I just continued getting kids fed and ready for 1:00 PM church. Around 11 AM I went to the bathroom and noticed a bloody show. I called the midwife, and she asked me how far apart my contractions were. I told her I was too distracted to notice, but they seemed really irregular—some were strong and long, some were mini and easy to talk through. She told me to time them carefully for half an hour. “Okay,” I said foolishly, knowing I still had to get kids and possibly myself ready for church and would probably be way too distracted. At this point, Jeff told me to just yell out to him, wherever we were in the house, when I started a contraction, and he would time them and write them down for me. I remember kneeling down to help Leila button up her dress in the back, and I had to stop half way through to let a contraction pass. That’s when I thought I might be in labor. But I wasn’t that sure because I could still talk through it, and when it was over, I was pain free and I got up and got stuff done like nothing had just happened.
By 12:30, I knew I would not be going to church with the kids and my former mother-in-law that morning. I called the midwife and told her I just wanted her to come check me, just to see if I was actually progressing. She told me she was on her way, and Jeff and I sent everyone off to church. Suddenly the house was quiet and peaceful, and the SUN WAS OUT in Portland, Oregon! So, with sun streaming through my bedroom window, and the man I love getting everything ready for the birth, I could just relax and let my body do its thing. I’d had a full night’s rest, and I was still able to get up and do stuff between contractions. While we waited for my midwife, Regina, to get to our house, Jeff and I had this nice time together and he was able to give me a priesthood blessing. I heard Regina come in our front door around 2:00 PM, and Jeff brought her back to our bedroom. I was just finishing a contraction, and she got ready to check my dilation. I was ready for the words “3 centimeters” as had happened with Jude. That had been such a discouraging moment. But this time, when she checked me, she reported I was fully dilated, fully effaced, and my bag of waters was bulging way out of my cervix. She said, “You could start pushing now!” I could not believe how easy it was! I was barely convinced I was actually in labor, and here I was ready to push already!
At this point, the student midwife, Annie, arrived. Regina gave Annie a quick report, and then they seemed to quickly spring into action, opening packages and talking in hurried, hushed tones. I took this as a good sign things were moving along! Hooray! I was finished dilating! I remember Annie asking Regina if she should get the birthing pool set up, and Regina just kind of shook her head and quickly said, “No, I don’t think there’s time.” Sweeter words were never spoken. Then Carissa the nurse arrived, got report, and she too began quickly opening things and getting her clipboard set up to record times.  
But first things first. I had to get my water to break! Regina encouraged me to do this naturally so I would decrease the chances of having a prolapsed cord. So, I kind of squatted on my bed with Jeff kneeling in front of me. I don’t know how he was even upright because I was pulling down on his shoulders so hard as I pushed through a few contractions! Finally (and suddenly) that bag of waters popped, and all I remember is watching about a gallon of amniotic fluid hit my husband’s lovely denim jeans, and I thought, “Oh man. I hope those were the ones from Goodwill!”  To my knowledge, he didn’t change out of those jeans until bedtime! What a man!
Without that cushion of fluid, the contractions got a little more intense, and I was pushing on my hands and knees. Arthur’s heart rate and my blood pressure were monitored about every 10-15 minutes. We both stayed in normal range the whole labor. I felt like I’d been there forever, and while all my attendants were telling me I was doing everything right, I felt like I could have been making more progress. So, everyone helped me flip to my side to finish pushing. I suddenly just relaxed and almost all my pain went away (I’m serious!). I just closed my eyes and calmly pushed these little tiny pushes as this huge head came out! Then Regina told me to flip to my hands and knees (I knew this meant shoulder dystocia again), and she maneuvered Arthur’s shoulder out, and I pushed the rest of him out! It was 3:36 PM, a half  hour before church got out! There is no better feeling than getting a baby out! Wahoo! Hallelujah! I told everyone I had to just stay there for a second to rest, and I looked under my left arm and saw this HUGE baby with a HUGE umbilical cord! I almost didn’t believe he came from me! He was taking a while to start breathing, and I saw an AMBU bag on my bed, and Carissa started to grab it to give rescue breaths, but then Arthur spontaneously started crying. No rescue breathing necessary. Whew! The shoulder dystocia didn’t leave any lasting effects. Then I immediately asked if I was bleeding profusely, remembering the partial separation I’d had with Jude right after he came out. Everyone reported there was no abnormal bleeding, and I could flip over and hold our son. I gave one little push and the HUGE placenta came out with no problem. I got to watch Jeff cut the cord and just take in this new little person. He latched quickly and easily, and I was thanking my lucky stars I had a good breastfeeder. I did get a shot of pitocin in my muscle, just to help my uterus ball up faster.
 Artie was 10 lbs. 6 oz and 20 inches long! Because of the shoulder dystocia, I had a complete 3rd degree tear, but my midwife was worried it might be a 4th degree, and suggested I go to the hospital to get stitched up by an OBGYN. She could have done it herself, but the only place she had to sit was on my bed where she’d have to look down at my bottom. It was a bad angle, especially while trying to assess how extensive the tear was. I drank my amazing orange juice I had been saving for after I gave birth (which we referred to as my “afterbirth juice” for fun) and ate a little bit, nursed Arthur on both sides one more time, and Regina took me to St. Vincent’s hospital to get stitched up by an OBGYN she knew there. That whole thing only took about 2 hours, and I was back home. While I was at the hospital, the kids had come home with my former mother-in-law, and everyone was getting to know my little Artie Pants.
A lot of people have asked me if I had gestational diabetes, and I did not. The midwives screened me for it as a regular standard of practice. I think I just grow big babies. I feed them plenty of chocolate, that’s my secret.
I loved my homebirth experience, from start to finish! I feel like things progressed quickly and naturally because I was so relaxed and I didn’t have to go anywhere. I was able to get a blessing which helped keep me calm. I was the only patient there, so I got all the attention I needed and TONS of positive encouragement. My husband did an AMAZING job, especially considering this was his first natural birth experience (except for when he was born). He encouraged and supported me and kept me focused the whole time. He only left my side once to help Regina bring stuff inside when she got here. I could never have done it without him. He was such a great advocate for me. If anyone out there is considering a homebirth, I think you should go for it, as long as you have a low-risk pregnancy and a supportive husband. If your husband just wants to watch football while you labor, go to the hospital. Also, make sure you have good midwives who follow a medically approved standard of practice. While all natural is best, it’s still important to find out if you have gestational diabetes, or if you’re anemic, or if you’re strep B positive, etc. They need to be medically “with it” in my opinion. Then, anything naturopathic on top of that is just icing on the cake to make the experience as beautiful as possible. Okay, that’s all the soapbox I will give for now, though I have much more to say about the advantages of staying out of hospitals and away from epidurals!
I have to say one last thing. After I fed Artie and had spent a little time with him, my birth attendants took him to the end of my bed to weigh him and do his newborn assessment. I was sitting next to my husband and staring at this perfect little person we created, and my oxytocin kicked in and I just started crying my eyes out with gratitude for the chance I had to carry him and be his mother. My love for this little baby and for my family has multiplied exponentially after giving birth. It is a powerful testimony to me of how Heavenly Father’s love works. As parents, we don’t divide and subdivide our love as more children are brought into our lives. Our ability to love multiplies, and the borders expand without end. I am so grateful to experience at least a part of this perfect love while I’m here on earth. What an honor to share in the power of creation! 



Sunday, August 25, 2013

A few goings-on

I feel like my brain is in a million different places right now. Fortunately for you, you get to read all about it!

We went camping this last week with Jeff's family at Wallowa Lake State Park, in Oregon. The scenery reminded me a lot of the Wasatch mountain range in Utah. I miraculously remembered to bring a camera, but then, not so miraculously, forgot to use it most of the time. So, here are some goofy pictures for you to enjoy from our camping trip.

 Jeff caught a trout one evening while fishing with his dad. That poor fellow remains frozen in our freezer (the fish, not Jeff's dad)
 Leila and Jude. Jude does not have epilepsy, he just never takes his helmet off when he's done riding his bike.
 The Exuberant Jude
 See those bandages on Leila's leg? Any normal parent would have Band-Aids on hand. As a nurse, however, I was prepared with a roll of gauze, bandage scissors, and medical tape. 

Eddie was on this camping trip also, though we almost lost him when he had to urgently have a bowel movement, and I had to send him to the bathroom alone. We couldn't find him in the bathroom we thought he'd gone into, and the ranger station and marina were both notified, and a park-wide search was underway for a brown kid wearing swim trunks who had an urgent need to poop. Not much later, Eddie emerged from an unexpected bathroom with empty bowels, ready to play again. Whew!

Another notable incident occurred while I was getting into my sleeping bag one night and felt a very specific kind of pain on my left buttock. With great speed I pulled my pants down and told Jeff to look at my bottom (he was disappointed at the reason). We found a yellow jacket in my sleeping bag! Needless to say, I became the sleeping bag checking nazi after that. No child went to bed without having their sleeping bag thoroughly dumped upside down and a light shined into every dark corner. 

It was a pretty fun trip, and I got a little more used to cooking in a dutch oven. When I worked at Anasazi I became a whiz at cooking my food in a tin cup shoved into the coals in a fire. This mass-quantity idea is harder for me. But, no one got food poisoning or contracted a deadly parasite, so I consider it a success! 

I finally got around to organizing the kids' craft area, and one of the kids took this picture of it. I've been organizing more than usual lately. For example, I finally have a laundry basket dedicated to whites only. Jeff called me a racist when I told him. 

Jeff is bow hunting for deer with his dad this week, which leaves me alone with the children. I was excited to try it out . . . right up until the moment Jeff left and realized everything really is up to me this week. Because of the hunt, I pushed back our ultrasound of our baby another week so Jeff can be there with me. At long last, at week 19, I felt this baby move! I don't know why it took so long. Hopefully I'm really carrying a baby and not a very small fish or something. Or maybe this is just an extremely lazy child. I guess we'll find out at the ultrasound appointment. I mostly care that the baby's organs are INSIDE its body, because if they're not, you know, that's when things get serious. The boy/girl thing is interesting, but not as crucial as the organs being inside the body. Oh, and a brain. I hope it has a brain. That's how I feel about ultrasounds. I don't mean to sound trite and mean for those parents who have had babies born with anxiety-causing birth defects or diseases. I think you parents are amazing, and I just don't think I could be as tough as you are. 

Today I put Jude in time-out for breaking a rule, and he screamed from behind the door, "Mommy! You're a sh**!" I swear to you, as I live and flourish, I have NEVER used that word, especially in front of my children. I think he learned that word because the only movie we had downloaded on the iPad on the long drive home from our camping trip was Avatar, which includes that word a couple of times. We were so nervous when we heard it and saw it go into our children's innocent ears, and now I have paid for that mistake. Why didn't I have a strong-worded come-to-Jesus talk with Jude when he disrespected his mother like that?? Guilt. I believe it is my fault he knows that word, and I lost a part of my soul when I heard him use it.

I also read my friend Geoff Groberg's blog today about a gig my band played in 2008, and it made me so nostalgic. Here's the link to the blog post. It is magical (the link is actually just normal, but the blog post is really good, kind of magical). http://geoffgroberg.com/2013/08/25/koosharem/

Well, I hope your Sunday was a good one! 

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Squirty Thirties

Jeff and I have an excuse for everything. . . literally ONE excuse. . . for everything. Our excuse is that we're in our "squirty thirties" which just means we're in that time of life when a lot of things get neglected or dropped in order that other, more urgent, matters might me taken care of. It is also a nice excuse if one of us passes gas (which hopefully is not actually "squirty"). This blog is a great example of one of those things that got dropped. I can't even remember what I was going to blog about first, so I thought I would just put some pictures in here from the last week or so.


The elders quorum (of which Jeff is the 2nd counselor, and Dave my brother is the president) in our ward put together a coast day for any families that wanted to come. Here are a bunch of the kids from our ward in different stages of being buried. I would draw your attention to Isaac at the far right, jumping on Eddie who is, for some reason, smiling.

Isaac and Eddie

Jude LOVES finding body parts of sea creatures! This crab leg was a great prize!

Jude relaxing in the grass

This is my sister-in-law Jo, who claims she never looks good in pictures. I think this one is family calendar worthy!

Joseph and Leila (cousins) were running all around in the grass and hiding in there all day. At one point, we looked over there to check on them, and Joseph AND Leila were at least shirtless, Lord of the Flies-ing it! We parents, who probably should have been watching them more closely (but remember, we ARE in our squirty thirties, so. . . ) called out to them to put their clothes back on, and then Jo gave them a lecture about "appropriateness". 


It was not until we got out of the car in Seaside, that we realized Leila, in her scramble to cover her shame, put her swimming suit on over her pants. She was a little embarrassed and did not want her picture taken. 

I took the kids to participate in the all-comers track meet two weeks in a row. Jude fell asleep the 2nd week, and that's why he's not pictured here. But this is Leila (lane 3 in the white shirt, blue shorts) doing the hurdles. She claims she is a great hurdler because she gets it from her Aunt Carlie who is also a great hurdler and a track coach.

Of course this movie is sideways. This is Eddie hurdling in lane 4.

Leila always stretches at the start line. This is right before the 200.

This is Eddie running the 200 (2nd lane from the left), for which he got 3rd place!



Leila in the 50 meter dash

 It recently occurred to me that Jeff and I have not had our pictures taken on purpose since our wedding over a year ago! Despite that fact, I think there are some of you who are wondering what we look like lately. Well, there are always those great pics you find on your camera after your kids have gotten ahold of it. So, here's one of Jeff taken about 4 days ago by Jude.


Jude is actually a budding photographer, as is evidenced in one of my rarest moments he captured about 3 days ago.


But I got him back!

Thanks for reading! Don't give up on me! I will continue to add to this blog come Hell or high water!








































Sunday, January 27, 2013

Thanksgiving. . . we put the FUN in dysfunctional!

I'm backtracking a LONG ways here, and writing about Thanksgiving 2012 because I think it was a pivotal event in my life. So, the definition of "family" has been modified again and again to make sure everyone in the whole world is included in some type of family or another. I think this Thanksgiving used the most liberal definition possible. 

We had Thanksgiving at our house, and here is a list of the guests as they relate to me. . . 
-My brother, his family, and his children
-My cousin's husband and their 4 kids
-My husband (Jeff), biological son, and my 2 step kids
-My gay ex-husband and his partner
-My parents-in-law
-My father-in-law's brother
-My brother-in-law, his wife, and baby

Did I leave anyone out? I think we had about 22 people there, and it was a hodge podge of people who were and were not related in any way. It also sounds like it could be the recipe for disaster, but it ended up being such a fun, warm gathering! It was kind of weird to be introducing my current mother-in-law to my ex-husband's boyfriend, but we all ended up having a great time and the conversation was jovial. 

 This turkey had been in a horrible car accident not 18 hours before this picture was taken. My ex-husband (Carl) and his partner (Mike) bought and prepared about 3/4 of the Thanksgiving meal. On their way out of Yakima the night before Thanksgiving, they got in a car accident that totalled their car, and I got a panicked phone call from Carl saying they probably couldn't make it in time. So I  quickly ran to Costco and got everything they were going to bring. Then they ended up making it here, limping and bruised, with all their poor, smashed food. The tow truck had their car all tied up and ready to haul it away when Carl leaped up there and started pulling dishes and pies and a huge turkey out of the car and throwing them down to Mike, who had to catch it all with one arm, as his other arm had been somewhat mangled in the crash. After all of that, they spent all of Thanksgiving morning cooking everything for the feast. All their effort was SO appreciated because I am one who only cooks food when obligated and never for pleasure.
 Jeff's dad, carving the brave, brave turkey. Can you spot the objects in this picture that belong to a different holiday?
 Kids' table (Look at Joseph's grimace. That is awesome.)
 more kids

 Grown-up table. Where the heck are all the grown-ups?
 kids' pie fight


 not fun anymore


Jude and Leila helping Carl make the veggies for the turkey

This was a GREAT Thanksgiving! Let's do it again next year, and invite only people we meet on vacation! Keep that definition of "family" broad.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

An Introduction

Hilary, Jeff,
Leila, Eddie, Jude
We are the Harris’s and we’re starting this brand new blog. It is about the grape juice of life, you know the sweet, happy, times that seem to leave their mark on your mind like a purple stain on your turtleneck.  It is also about the wrath doled out by parents who discover grape juice stains left on the couch. . . and the carpet. . . and the clothes worn by the kids who got a hold of the grape juice. You get the picture.

A gaggle is a group of geese. A school is a bunch of fish that swim together. A pride is a group of lions. And an ingratitude is a group of children, according to my dad. I am beginning to understand what he meant.

Our ingratitude is made up of Eddie (6), Leila (5), and Jude (4). 



Eddie in thug mode

Eddie goes by his middle name. His first name is Jeffrey, which is his dad’s name, and which is still consistently used by his school and dentist. He started kindergarten this year. 

Pretty Leila

Leila is named after “Layla” the Eric Clapton song, to which she knows all the words. It seems like her name should then be spelled like the name of the song. But it’s not. 


Sweet Jude
Jude is not named after anyone in particular, but my ex-husband and I agreed that a boy named Jude could be a lawyer or a snake hunter, and it would suit him either way. Jude also can sing his theme song. Can you guess what it is?
wedding day, Portland temple

Jeff is my husband of a little over 6 months now. He was in the army for almost 9 years, and now he goes to art school. He is a sculptor, but can really do anything artistic. Everything he makes is beautiful and perfect, and I attribute that to his incredible attention to detail. I am opposite of Jeff. I get bored within the first 10 minutes of a movie because I can’t be bothered with details. Just tell me what happens, and it will be over in 3 minutes, and then we can get on with doing something productive. Like facebook.

Jeff and I started dating after we were both divorced and we both had our kids full-time. Eddie and Leila are his biological children, and Jude is my biological son. We are basically the experts at dating with toddlers, so we put together these guidelines. . .

THINGS TO REMEMBER IF YOU’RE DATING WITH TODDLERS

1.  Cleaning up vomit and/or urine together is a great way to bond (and also find out if your loved one is tough enough for you)

2. If all else fails, just turn on Dora.

3. There is no limit to how many Dora episodes you can make out to

4.  If you’re worried because you haven’t heard your kid(s) making noise for a while in another room, just get on the phone with the person you’re dating, and your children will miraculously come back to life LOUDLY

5.  A good potential spouse will be understanding and laugh when he/she finds out he/she couldn’t get ahold of you because you dropped your phone in the toilet while potty training your kid.

Well, that’s it. Someone’s yelling to me from the bathroom that they need to be wiped. Stay tuned!





family cake cutting---fun danger time with little ones!