"Your shoes are backwards!"

There are so many wonderfully sweet moments as a parent each and every day that I cannot dare to write them all down, but this particular event I was able to snap a photo of. 

Drakeford put his shoes on the wrong feet, and I said to Drakeford, "hey, your shoes are on backwards!"  

So, being the intelligent three year old just shy of six, he merely swapped his feet. I can't blame him for finding a quick solution to the problem. While his legs are crossed, the shoes are technically correct! Thank you son for making me proud, and laugh out loud at the same time. 

I should note that Drakeford knew what he was doing and he laughed as he did it. 

(Old) Pregnancy Photos!!

Back in March, we shot some footage right before Dinika gave birth to Aowyn. This footage will appear in our upcoming documentary!

Swimming and monkeys??

What an amazing day! Not only did daddy surprise us and join our morning pool outing but there were some other friends we made. 

As we pulled up I saw a dog stroller in the pool area so I began to tell the kids that we were going to see a cute puppy in that green stroller. Much to our surprise when we peaked in we saw two tiny pygmy marmoset monkeys! The smallest in the world. I did not think to snap any pictures so here are some that I found on the web for your enjoyment of these cuties! We did not hold them but enjoyed looking at them and asking the young girls who owned them a list of questions. How unexpected. 

Aowyn Grace is 3 Months!

Aowyn Grace is 3 months old and she gave us some sweet faces for the camera. Enjoy some family photos of the Peeples! And thanks for visiting our blog! More photos to come soon!

Oh and don't forget to check out the recent video of Drakeford & Marlow singing, below, or click here!

(VIDEO) Drakeford & Marlow Sing!

Friends and family, we invite you to watch this precious little clip of Drakeford & Marlow reciting their favorite Bible verses and singing their favorite songs. We hope you enjoy it!

Wisdom

I was thinking back to when I was younger that I prayed on my knees every night for wisdom from God. I wasn't even really sure what that would look like and how to know if my prayer was answered (did wise people know they were wise?) After praying earnestly for two years, The Lord let me in on what was happening around me. I had no friends. I was told that I was intimidating due to the "big words" I used. The neighborhood kids did not come to me to hang out. No, they came when they wanted to know something - when they had to make an important choice they would ask "what would you do?" Strange. At first I thought something was wrong with me, I'm not normal, I don't care to do mindless activities or play the dating game until you run out of prospects on the block. Then like the scales falling off I knew my prayers were being answered. I had not arrived at some higher level of learning, God gave me the wisdom a 12 year old girl needed. A desire to know and keep His holy word in the face of all worldly pressures. In fact, I'm not sure I had any scripture references for the small decisions in everyday life but there was a clear knowledge of right and wrong. A love for righteousness and a hatred of evil. Looking back on that time I see this incredible hedge of protection around me, one that I never understood why it was around me and not others. I believe a large part of it was an answer to this prayer.

So what did I do when I saw that God was answering my prayer? I stopped praying for it!! 

A couple years later I thought "sheesh I feel like I'm getting dumber by the minute, what's wrong with me?" Even though I had kept up my reading and school something was missing. Then I remembered to pray for wisdom. 

I say this as an introduction to the continuation of this story this week. Once again I had stopped praying specifically for wisdom for myself, but when I was praying over my children, the importance of it came up again. I began to pray for wisdom for everyone in my household, including myself. This time my prayers were answered immediately. God gave both my husband and myself a ravenous desire to study and learn His truths. From studying His word to watching theological debates, we have been caught up in long theological/philosophical discussions every night starting at dinner and lasting till bed time (and past!). The feeling is akin to a growling stomach who's hunger pangs consumer every thought. I.must.know. We have His revealed word, and he has given me a thirst that is not quenched by anything else!

Now I see. I pray for wisdom, He gives me a desire to know His word, to know Him more, "the fear of The Lord is the beginning of true knowledge..."

Kevin assigned us each a verse from psalm 119 to pray each week. Mine is:

Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. (Psalms 119:35 ESV)

You do not have because you do not ask...

Delivering a Baby on a Doormat

This is the birth story of Aowyn Grace Peeples, as told by Dinika & Kevin.

*Disclaimer: we know this post is overdue, but we hope you still enjoy reading it!

After a week of lots of "activity", I was not getting much sleep. I was put on antibiotics 3 days before my due date due to a bladder infection (despite my best efforts not to), and, "Baby Healthy" as Drakeford had nicknamed the baby, was posterior, so I was not expecting the best delivery I think I could have. Near 1am, Thursday March 28, I awoke with my first real contractions.

I would say that her contractions couldn't have started at a better time. I like to get up early, and God answered my prayer by allowing labor to start at the beginning of the day around 2am. Hard labor would probably be during the day, not in the middle of the night like it was with Drakeford, so I was ready to begin. I then sent this text: 

Even though laboring on my side laying down is not comfortable for me (despite the Bradley method's recommendation) I thought it would be best to rest. What I found after a while was that every third contraction or so, the bladder pains would come back. Bathroom breaks would then cause more pain. Needless to say, I was fatigued and anxious from the beginning, fearful that I did not have the strength to endure this kind of labor for a long time.

It wasn't long before Dinika's mom Doreen came and picked up the kids and took them to her house for breakfast. We were on our own to focus on the contractions. 5 hours of contractions went by pretty fast in my opinion, and after a breakfast of collars greens and rice chex we got back to it, and contractions were still 6-7 minutes apart.

It was just me and Kevin working through labor, just like we had wanted/practiced. Contractions were so regular that Kevin would set a timer, slip away to the office down the hall to process some shipping orders, then come back in time for a back rub! A week before, Kevin had made a point to read through the Bradley book to refresh. I am so glad we did! Ice chips were awesome, since I felt nauseous from the start, and he felt much more confident in how to help this time. I also had chills and hot flashes possibly due to fighting the infection.

At 8:45am I lost some of the mucus plug and was hopeful that I was progressing! I told myself that this was not a clear indication of progression as some women lose theirs weeks ahead of time, I didn't want to get my hopes up.

Dinika needed some rest and took a nap, and at 10:45am she awoke and I heard the self-doubt words "I don't think I can do this!"

My cry was more out of emotional disparity that I wasn't progressing or at least the contractions weren't that much stronger or longer or closer together. My fears were playing out: it was going to be a long day!

A brief few hours later we were standing and wondering if it was time to head to the birthing center. Our midwife said that contractions needed to be 5-6 minutes apart and 60 seconds long. Well, they were getting close together but they never made it past 35 seconds!

I mentioned going to the birthing center just to change the scenery. We both agreed that I was too chatty to be in "real" labor and that we could wait a bit longer. By 1:00pm I was bored of laying down and set a goal for myself to labor standing up for one hour, then we would head to the birthing center. I prefer standing up because things move faster when gravity is involved. Seeing as I was light headed and falling asleep every time I stood up I had held off, hoping to rest. But now was the time. Lets get things moving!

Labor sped up while standing so we labored as long as we could and Dinika reached a point where she wanted to lie down again but she was afraid it would slow down labor. I began packing the car as mentally my get-in-the-car leave point was 3pm. It was now 2:15pm.

Meanwhile I sat on the ball, rolling my hips forward so my legs didn't go numb. This helped a lot with the front labor. The contractions picked up in frequency but left by myself, I can tend to induce them by anticipation.


At 2:17pm I told my midwife this:

At 2:20pm I came up stairs to find that Dinika's water had broke at 2:16pm, in the bed. She described it as "ker-plunk, ker-plunk... splash". At that point it was go-time. I called Damaris at 2:23pm and told her the status.

I said "oh my word, my water just broke!! Ok don't panic..." And I think that was my last sane moment until baby was born. I couldn't move. I couldn't get out of bed. I felt like a huge weight was on me. Kevin helped me quickly climb out of bed and change my clothes. I tried to tell myself that the contractions weren't any more painful, I was just imaging no water which made a painful mental image.


We had stayed home too long. I had been hesitant as all advice said that our current contraction length was no reason to go to the birth center. Now I know, trust your wife and her body and not a book. I had everything packed but rushed to put everything in the car in between contractions. Dinika kept saying "I can't do this. We can't make it." But I had to try. I had to at least try to make it! 

"Can't we just do a home birth?!" I yelled. Kevin got me in the car. As soon as I sat in that seat, I had to get out. It was so painful. Knowing that we had a long way, I desperately moved around to find a comfortable position. None existed. It was as if the baby had landed on my spine and bladder and there was just one long painful contraction.

I was in such a rush I drove out of the garage before the garage door was all the way up. Talk about what not to put your pregnant wife through as she was already uncomfortable in the car, let alone jerking back and forth in the garage.

The only thing I could think to do was lean my chair back in the "leaning squat" birthing position and practice pushing. Or maybe that was instinct...

At 2:34pm we left for the Birthing Center in South Carolina and called the grandparents. After talking with our midwife on the phone, I knew Dinika was in a lot of pain. Dinika was screaming and calling out to God the whole way down the interstate. "Dinika, can you make it?" I asked.

"NO! GET ME OUT OF THIS CAR! GOD PLEASE HELP ME!" And quoting all the scripture I can think of. I yelled and pushed all the way for about 15 miles as Kevin nervously asks me "are you pushing? What if your not fully dilated? Your cervix could swell..." Can you hang on a minute, I feel another contraction coming. I have no fear, just pure instinct - THIS BABY IS COMING OUT NOW.

She started pushing and that was when I realized we stayed at home too long. I thought her contractions needed to double in length!?! And just then, the NcDOT sign flashed "wreck at exit 7. Expect delays." 

The words "uh oh" broke my concentration. Accident ahead, solid red tail lights, and a glance at Kevin's phone said red freeway all the way to the birthing center.

We were approaching exit 11 on I-77 and traffic was already starting to slow. Google traffic showed solid red for the next 7 out of 13 miles of interstate, so I took the initiative to exit and take back roads. But once I got off something told me we just weren't going to make it. And that's a scary feeling. My wife is pushing and we aren't going to make it to the "pros". That's one time in your life when you're supposed to make it to your destination on time.

We were just passing by his office and I had a little hope he would see my urgent need to deliver this baby now and stop. Nope. We flew passed it. Then miraculously, came up the 2nd parking lot entrance. This time I said "pull over, I have got to get out of this car!" He did and before we had even stopped moving, I was out the door and on the asphalt on hands and knees. I was hoping this position would provide some relief since Marlow was born this way. But to no avail.

The calm controlled Dinika was saying in my head "it feels refreshing outside! And look, no glass on the ground, how nice." Meanwhile the other Dinika (who had the microphone of course) yelled for Kevin to bring a towel to rest my knees on. This may have been the turning point for Kevin. He asked me one more time "can we make it to the birthing center?" After all, he had to try. My answer was that I was having the baby right now, right here.


Yeah, I had to try, I mean, we were less than 15 minutes from the Birthing Center. I don't know how it feels to be pregnant, but there's no way the baby is going to come in less than 15 minutes... I mean the pushing stage takes an hour, doesn't it? Are you sure we can't make it?!? I called the midwife and told her that I think they better start coming to us.... that is unless Dinika changes her mind and says we can make it. "Dinika, can we try to make it?"

He glanced up to see a man in the second story window on the phone and a chill of urgency struck him. What if someone called 911? They would immediately take us to the hospital for who knows how long. No. This was not happening here in the parking lot.

At that moment I took charge of the labor. We were going to get inside my office despite Dinika's protests and loud wailing. Repeatedly I offered to carry her so we could get inside quickly.

The thought of my body bending in half was in bearable so I opted for walking. At this point it was more of a side shuffle. And shuffle we did, all the way down the long complex, stoping to push and yell every few squares. No one even came out to see what the racket was. I could have been in trouble! But then again, one glance at my blue bath robe, pink fluffy socks and huge belly and naked legs may have been enough for people to stay away. Yes I was THAT pregnant lady. The ones I used to scoff at when Hollywood portrayed birth as some horrible excruciating experience. After all, my other two labors were not like this in any way. I had full control of myself and sanity the whole way through!

We got to Kevin's office and began climbing the stairs. Did I mention there was a flight of stairs involved? Surprisingly they were the easiest, probably due to the fact that I was clawing into Kevin's neck giving him leverage to carry my up the stairs somewhat.

I quickly unlocked the door, peered inside to see if anyone was there. To our benefit, the office was empty that afternoon. All we had carried in was a towel, so I swooped the doormat and towel against the wall and plopped her down. I had asked Dinika way too many times if she could make it to the Birthing Center, and I was certain that she wasn't going back down those stairs until there was no more baby in her. Buuuuut we were here by ourselves. Was this really happening? Were we really going to have a baby on a doormat?!? I wanted her to be comfortable, but there was no way we were getting blood on the carpet. Not happening.

I called our midwife on the phone and in between asking for directions, she asked me "can you see the head?"

With that push I felt the "ring of fire" and I yelled yes! I can still see the smirk of disbelief on my husbands face as he said yeah. It was really happening, here, in his office, just him and me! I don't know about him but I was ready! Next push, the head was out. But she hadn't flipped totally so her shoulders where stuck!


I could see the head. All my concentration went to trying to figure out what gender he or she was. I mean thats important right? Who is it? It looked like a really cold really wrinkly boy. I was honored to be the first set of human eyes to see my baby. I never really had a doubt that we could deliver this baby together. God has it perfectly designed, and as long as Dinika breathes, focuses, and relaxes, her body will do what it will naturally do. My only concern was knowing what to do in an emergency, like if the baby gets stuck, or if she isn't breathing, or something else unthinkable.

Two pushes and baby was out! Without even a blanket to wrap her in, our little girl, Aowyn Grace Peeples, was born into daddy's arms and then handed to mommy. The midwife kept asking on speakerphone "did she cry? Did she cry?"

Dinika embraced Aowyn (which technically, we didn't have a name for at the time, so she was still just "Baby Healthy". But the intensity of the quick birth pulled all of Dinika's strength, so she handed me the baby so she could rest her legs after being in the full squat position. Out came the placenta and I was holding by baby, attached by a jelly cord to a giant steak. It was priceless. Not only was I the first to see her, I had a moment in time where I was holding my baby attached to her food source, the placenta, and it was just me and her. Up until now, she had always been connected to Mommy - and it was this strange moment where I told myself "we can go wherever we want!" It was a moment that most parents don't have as the doctors are usually quick to snip. What felt like an eternity was a brief moment in time where the umbilical cord was able to naturally stop pulsing and Aowyn was able to transition to the outside world at her pace. I was able to see the handy-work of God without any pressure from "the establishment". I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

Kevin and I had three things we thought we would shoot for this delivery: we did not want to be checked at all, we would try the full squat for delivery, Kevin would be more involved in the delivery process (not that he wasn't involved before!). God listens to the desires of our hearts! Even though we never saw it going this way, everything we asked for was answered. Including a "healthy" baby!

Shortly after the midwives arrived. Clean up crew! They monitored us for a little over two hours, made sure everyone was well, then helped us to our car. We never even made it to the birthing center! Aowyn was totally healthy at 9lbs even.

I used a lot of essential oils during labor and was able to anoint baby with frankincense immediately after birth. The spray Claraderm has been amazing. I have had no soreness at all! Not even a tear. The only physical inhibitor has been a pulled muscle near my hip that was acting up during pregnancy. (at the time) It is still difficult to get out of bed and up out of chairs. Our goal as a couple is to get in shape, strengthen our muscles, to be better prepared if The Lord chooses to bless us with a fourth blessing in the future.

Did I mention we had the baby at 3:12pm and we made it home by 6:45pm? My sweet mom brought us dinner and we all had dinner in the bedroom around Dinika and the baby, who at this time still didn't have a real name. Below are pictures of her first moments at home. Doreen brought the kids back over after their dinner at Grammy's house and we enjoyed the toddlers eyeing for a touch and a kiss of their new baby sister. When you respect God's process and work diligently, you'll see that the body knows what to do and recovers quickly. I am SO proud of my wife. I'm glad I was able to help, but hats off to her for stealing the show, and doing such a great job throughout the day.

In the mean time, we are taking it all in, the sweet newborn smell, the soft skin, nursing - it's all so fleeting. May I cherish every minute for as long as it lasts!