I'm sooooo sorry that I've been away so long. But I've been extremely busy during these last few months and I really haven't been taking pix of my hair. So here are the latest updates:

1) The protective challenge... I failed miserably. I couldn't keep up with putting the braids or twists in. So I ended up going back to my trusty WNG with lots of Shea Butter. BTW - I got several questions about which Shea Butter I use - I use RA Cosmetic's shea butter (www.racosmetics.com) I love the mango scented one. I also use it on my belly to keep the moisturized - only have 1 new stretch mark since last pregnancy.

Anywhooooo... I'm actually going to braid my hair today and/or tomorrow b/c I need to get ready for the baby. Besides the braids are good for my ends. I hope to be able to keep them for at least 2 weeks. So I have to apologize in advance b/c I really don't have many hair pix. Just belly pix. Which brings me to....

2)The baby!!! The pregnancy is progressing well but I've had several challenges along the way. 1) Lots of back and hip pain. But I think that's b/c I started the pregnancy overweight so the added pull in the front is no help - good thing I've only gained 6 lbs during this whole pregnancy. I'm currently 9 months and it's a boy. I'm soooooo ready but lil man is not. I have gestational diabetes so I'm on a pretty strict diet - I usually cheat about once or twice a week tho. And the biggest challenge is that I started having pre-mature contractions about 2 weeks ago. Ended up in the hospital overnight & was put on meds to stop contractions. But now that I'm far enough along, I'm off the meds and lil man can come whenever he's ready {fingers crossed}.

3) I've started 2 businesses over the past several months. One of them is a non-profit org to help needy families. I'm still putting that one together. And the other is Reflective Stationary Designs where I design and create stationary/invitations and decorate them by hand. I'm really excited about both businesses and I've included pictures of my work.

You can also check out my website at www.reflectivestationary.com SO EXCITED!!

So that's the latest and greatest. I can't promise that I'll be back often til after lil man gets here. I just don't have the energy with everything that's going on. But I promise to take more pix so the next update will have lots more to offer.

JUDAH TRISTAN CAMDEN GROBRI is here! (Sorry so late!)

HAIR PICS ARE AT THE END OF THE ALBUM (sorry, but there's just a few.)

Lil man now 7 weeks old and he's such a joy. The birth wasn't as easy as the first - the nitty-gritty birth story is below... but it was well worth it. He's very, very spoiled already. He loves to be held and gives me grief if he's not being held. Little does he know that once he hits 9 weeks, life is gonna change. I have to put him on a feeding schedule and hold him a lot less. So needless to say, I love my lil man.
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Judah's birth story:
My last doctor’s appointment was on Wednesday, May 27th and thank God because I was sick of seeing doctors. I saw at least 2 every week and sometimes 3 since I was high risk. The plus side was that I got to see Judah on a sonogram every week – but by this week (38 wks preggers), I was very, very tired and my body ached all over (esp. in my hips and my back).

When I saw my doc, he checked my cervix and said that I was 3 cm dilated - YAY!!!. I was dilated 2 cm the week before so I was excited b/c there was progress. I was hoping that I’d dilate up to 4 or 5 cm by the time of the scheduled induction on Tuesday, June 2.

DH was scheduled to begin his vacation on Saturday. But at my last doctor’s visit, my doc "stripped” my membranes/cervix. Basically, he painfully ran a ring around the opening of the cervix to help things along. He said the purpose was to help the contractions increase in number to push things along. I didn’t’ really get more contractions b/c I was already having a lot – but they did get a lot stronger. The pain was becoming so intense that DH decided to officially start his vacation on Thursday right after my doctor’s appointment. We didn’t do much on that Thursday, but Friday, we went to the grocery store and to Wal-Mart to finish our shopping for the induction on Tues (The trip to the grocery store and Wal-Mart is funny all by itself. I was contracting all over the place. Sometimes, I had to stop in the middle of the street!!)

Anywho, Sat, May 30th came and DH was up early (around 6:15 or so) because he was getting ready to leave for an all day teaching & testing for deacon candidates at church. He was making his lunch in the kitchen when I had a really strong contraction (I was on the sofa – which is where I slept since I couldn’t get comfortable on the bed anymore). After the contraction, I was trying to re-position myself when I felt liquids flowing. I knew I wasn’t peeing and it was a small uncontrollable trinkle. So I said, “Uh oh, Eric… I think my water just broke.” You should’ve seen the look on his face – this huge grin came on his face and his eyes lit up. Since I couldn’t stop the flow, I knew that something was happening and I slid myself off the sofa before anything big happened. But I started to panic. I started crying (like someone died or something) because the whole thing was scaring me. I almost didn’t know what to do. So DH ran and got me a towel and came and held me until I calmed down. After I got myself together, I got up and went to the bathroom to sit on the toilet… and there the flood happened. Everything dumped into the toilet. When I looked, I started crying again b/c I was very surprised to see so much blood. But again, DH calmed me down and reminded me that blood is a part of the process and that we needed to focus on getting to the hospital. What was funny was that Kaisen came to check up on me while I was in the bathroom. After I told her that I was okay, DH said that she went back to bed and pulled the covers over her head!!!

So from that point, DH started acting goofy and being overly excited b/c it was “time”!! But I was perfectly okay. I had to think of what needed to be done – call the doc - call Kaisen's godmom to figure out something for Kaisen - call someone from church cuz we couldn’t make it to our training sesson – put last minute things in the car like food, my bag, etc.

The good thing is that I didn’t have any contractions after my water broke – not until after I got to the hospital. We arrived around 7:15a. After we got checked in and went to our room, they started hooking me up to stuff and checking my progress. Unfortunately, I had a nurse trainee and she was the first person to check how far my cervix was dilated. Since she didn’t know what she was doing – it was very painful and took a long time… at least 8 minutes. And she couldn’t even figure it out. So another nurse checked and in under 1 minute said that I was 2 cm.. My regular doc was on vacation so the backup doc took care of me and when she checked me an hour later, she said that I was a good 4cm, at -3 station and about 80% effaced. She changed my external monitors to internal monitors, and told them to start my Pitocin (b/c I didn’t have any pattern in my contractions). She also told me that I could have my epidural at any time. Unfortunately, I waited until the pain became unbearable before I asked for it… and of course, they don’t come right away. Even after I asked for it, the nurse told me that I had to finish my first IV bag (I had about ½ left) and then they could put in the order. Once the order was put in, it would take another 30 minutes for the anesthesiologist to get to my room.

Now I remember having contractions with Kaisen, but none of them were like these. First, my water didn't break with her so I guess the contractions were cushioned. These contractions were ridiculous – I felt excruciating pain in my belly, my back, my va-jay jay and my butt. It not only took my breath away but I completely forgot “how to breathe” and to relax and stuff. Now I know why women go crazy!!! I also kept clinching up and blocking my IV (in my right hand) because I was trying to deal with the pain. So when the anesthesiologist got there for the epidural, the IV machine wouldn’t work properly. It took them ANOTHER hour to figure out what was wrong (…me) and fix the IV in my hand before I could even start the epidural.

But once I got the meds, it was smooth sailing … or so I thought. I only remember bits and pieces from this point on.

I remember feeling great after I got the epidural. I could still move both of my legs, even though they were heavy. I could also feel a little pressure in my butt. The anesthesiologist gave me a button and said that I could push the button to give myself more pain meds anytime that I felt that I needed it. She said that I couldn’t overdose b/c it was set to release only after 10 minutes. So I pressed the button around 12:15 – 1 hour after getting the initial dose – and I planned on giving myself a dose every hour. After that, I tried to get some rest.

But after things settled down and got quiet (I was trying to sleep), nurses started charging in my room. Without saying anything, they were rolling me over to my left side, then gave me oxygen and then rolling me to the right. Evidently, my blood pressure dropped drastically and they had to fix it. But I felt fine – I was like, why are you guys trippin? The only difference is that I couldn’t move my legs anymore – not at all. Eventually, they had to call the anesthesiologist back so she could fix the problem. She lowered my dosage and extended my time to only being available every 15 minutes.

Unfortunately, the new dosage that she put me on was not enough. I started to feel the pain again and it built up gradually to unbearable again. I felt like I didn’t have anything at all. I was pressing the button every 5 minutes hoping that something would come out. By that time, the doc came in to check me again and she said that I had just a small piece of cervix left and told everyone to get the room ready. (so basically, I spent most of my labor dealing with issues and getting an epidural. I didn’t even get a chance to relax). Because I was in so much pain, the nurses called the anesthesiologist back so she could give me a boost to help me with the pushing stage. Unfortunately, the boost that she gave me didn’t work – it was too late – actually, it helped a little – it took the edge off – but I still felt a lot of pain. So not only did I have to find a way to deal with the pain from the contractions, but I had to find a way to PUSH through them.

I remember looking at DH and telling him that I didn’t think that I could do it – push thru the pain. I have no idea what he said b/c the room was very busy by that point. Since the room was already set up, my doc and the other 2 nurses took their time to break down the bed, get my legs into stirrups and put on their gowns. And when they were ready, they stood there talking and laughing. There were waiting on me and I was waiting on them. I kept saying – I feel pressure in my butt and one nurse (the new, dumb one) kept saying “that’s normal”. So finally, I asked my doc “Do you want me to push?” she was like… “oh, yeah, whenever you’re ready.” But of course, I wasn’t. I couldn’t imagine pushing!!!

So when I got the courage, I pushed... I didn’t even wait for a contraction – I pushed for about 5 secs and she said - look at how easy it is and she commented on all the hair. Basically, the dumby nurse should’ve checked me again or asked someone to check when I felt the pressure b/c he was coming out all by himself. On the next contraction, I gathered everything in me and pushed for about 10 secs…. His head was out. You know how people say that the pushing part feels great – well it doesn’t!!! My doc cleaned him up and then said, if you can give me one more like that – you’ll probably be done. That’s all I needed!!! I gave her one more push and he was here. Now being done and having him OUT of me felt GREAT!!!

Judah Tristan Camden Grobri was born on May 30, 2009 at 15:09pm.

I loved being at that hospital because they did everything in that room. Neither myself nor the baby had to leave for anything. They warmed him, tested his blood sugar, bathed him, etc. Even the stay was great. I had food whenever I wanted – no set times and I could have as much as I wanted. There was also a nourishment room right across the hallway that gave DH food whenever he wanted. Judah and I were released 48 hours after he was born (I know… that’s a long time!)

I hope all my nappy bros and sistas have a fantastic Nappy New Year.

I look forward to 2009. I vow to take better care of myself, including my hair. I've been lazy and only doing a WNG and even then, I haven't been taking care of my ends or moisturizing as I should. As a result, my ends have suffered. I look forward to ideas on better maintenance and routines for lots of GROWTH in 2009.

I pray many blessings on you all for this upcoming year.

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I've decided to join Lina 40 on a 100 day challenge based on http://keepitkinky.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-100-day-hair-challenge.html
I will begin on Jan 1 and end April 10th. Immediately afterward, I'll probably put in some yarn locs to prepare for the new arrival. I can't wait to see the growth results from my first real challenge.

Here are the rules:

1. Thou shalt not comb or brush thy hair more than once a week. (combing is not the same as styling.) - THIS WON'T BE A PROBLEM FOR ME B/C I BARELY COMB MY HAIR!

2. Thou shalt keep thy hair in protective styles at all times.(Protective styles are styles that require no combing and/or do not touch your neck. I'll talk more about this in a future post.) - THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I NEED TO DO TO AVOID WNG'S. I WASN'T REALLY TAKING CARE OF MY HAIR/ENDS WITH WNG'S AND THIS WILL FORCE ME TO LEARN.

3. Thou shalt not use heat on thy hair. - DON'T DO THAT ANYWAY.

4. Thou shalt not dye thy hair. - ALREADY VOWED TO STAY AWAY, EVEN FROM HENNA FOR NOW.

5. Thou shalt deep condition thy hair regularly. - I'VE GOT TO FIND ONE - ANY SUGGESTIONS?

6. Thou shalt moisturize everyday. - I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THIS. MY HAIR DOESN'T NEED MOISTURE EVERYDAY - I'LL HAVE TO SEE HOW THIS WORKS.

7. Thou shalt spray Leave-in on ends once per week. (I advise doing this after a wash) - I'M WILLING TO TRY.

8. Thou shalt cover thy hair with a satin scarf every night to keep the moisture locked in. - DEF. WILL DO TO PROTECT ENDS.

9. Thou shalt eat as healthily as possible and drink 8 glasses of water per day. - ALREADY DOING SINCE I'M IN MY 2ND TRIMESTER.

10. Thou shalt love thy hair enough to take the time out to keep it healthy and beautiful. - AMEN!
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UPDATE: March 14, 2009

I've learned that no 6 of the challenge works very well for me. My hair LOVES, LOVES, LOVES extra moisture. I didn't think that I needed it, but it actually does. My hair does very well with pure shea butter. I get mine from www.racosmetics.com (but I'm looking for something a little cheaper.)